Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Order [book in series=yearoffirstbook.book# (eg 2014.01), stand-alone or one-author collection=3333.pubyear, multi-author anthology=5555.pubyear, SFM/MM=5000, interview=1111]: 2015

Dawn of the Algorithm: Too many pop references, not enough poetry for me

Dawn of the Algorithm by Yann Rousselot

Dawn of the Algorithm is a collection of 33 poems by Yann Rousselot that take a wryly dark look at humanity — mostly our faults — through the lens of science fiction tropes, most pulled from pop culture. We’ve got AIs, giant monsters, depressed T-Rex’s, aliens, and loads of references to anime, science fiction films and fiction. It’s a collection that should have been right up my alley, but though it has its moments, I just didn’t connect with much of it,

Corsair: Solid, if a bit thin in its elements

Corsair by James Cambias

I was a fan of James Cambias’ debut novel, A Darkling Sea, a complex tale of First Contact that left lots of room at the end for a continuation of that story. Instead though, Cambias took a pretty strong detour with his second novel, Corsair, which as its name suggests has to do with space piracy, though perhaps not in the usual fashion.

The phrase “space pirates” usually conjures up in one’s mind (well,

The Fold: Fun for everyone

The Fold by Peter Clines

The Fold, by Peter Clines, is a science fiction thriller with a superhero aspect, a bit of Sherlock Holmes and a bit of H.P. Lovecraft thrown in. It’s got dry humor, plenty of pop-culture references and an engaging main character who can be surprisingly vulnerable. This is a perfect summer read; the ideal vacation book. It’s a book you’ll want to pass along to your friends when you’re done.

Leland “Mike” Erickson teaches high school English in a small town in New England.

Uprooted: Utterly satisfying and enthralling

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Agniezska is the brave, stubborn, sensitive heroine of Naomi Novik’s recent release, Uprooted — and she’s about to steal your heart. She comes from Dvernik, a remote village on the edges of the enchanted Wood, the dark forest that creeps like a blight over interior Polnya. The only thing holding the Wood back from engulfing the land is the Dragon, a feared sorcerer who lives nearby. For his work keeping the danger at bay, every ten years the Dragon demands one young woman from the village.

A Glance Backward by Pierre Paquet and Tony Sandoval

A Glance Backward by Pierre Paquet and Tony Sandoval

A Glance Backward: A disappointing portal fantasy

A Glance Backward, written by Pierre Paquet and illustrated by Tony Sandoval is a graphic novel that on the face of it might seem aimed at a younger audience, but thanks to its artwork and some grisly scenes, if I were to recommend it to anyone it would be 14 and up. That “if” is because I didn’t really respond at all to either the writing or artistic style,

May 9th, 2015. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

The Next Species: Examining humanity’s past and potential future

The Next Species by Michael Tennesen

The Next Species: The Future of Evolution in the Aftermath of Man, by Michael Tennesen, is an engaging, informative overview of the history of life on this planet and humanity’s impact on that life (mostly for ill), followed by a look into the future and what might happen were humanity to go extinct or diverge into a different species.

He begins with a trip to the rain forest in the Andes, cataloging the rich diversity of life in the relatively small area (“The tropical Andes contain about a sixth of the world’s plant life in less than 1 percent of its land area…

April 24th, 2015. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

The Affinities: What if online dating worked?

The Affinities by Robert Charles Wilson

Adam Fink was just another graphic art student in Toronto before he took InterAlia’a affinity test. The affinity test examines a person’s genes, brain patterns, and behavior and sorts people into one of twenty-two affinities (or into none of them). InterAlia has an algorithm that’s sort of like online dating, but it looks like they got it right this time.

The Affinities are still new when Adam takes the test. Not a lot is widely known about them, but there are twenty-two Affinity groups.

The Buried Giant: I Enjoyed It. Others Might Not.

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

I enjoyed it. Others might not. I suppose I could put that title on a lot of my reviews without sacrificing much for accuracy, but I mean it to be suggestive here that The Buried Giant is going to be a bit divisive. It’s a well-crafted book, certainly, and it has as much thematic heft to keep anyone happy, but whether or not it’s an appealing book may be a bit less cut-and-dried.

The story, in brief, is as follows: sometime in early British history,

Captain America, Masculinity, and Violence by J. Richard Stevens

Captain America, Masculinity, and Violence by J. Richard Stevens

Captain America, Masculinity, and Violence, by J. Richard Stevens, is the second academic exploration of comics that I’ve read this week, and while Stevens’ text isn’t as strong as Liam Burke’s look at comic book films (you can see that review here), its sharper focus and thorough exploration of the Captain America character makes it a worthwhile addition to the field.

[note: apologies for what may be a lack of specificity in the review.

April 4th, 2015. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Comics, Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

How to Clone a Mammoth: Highly informative and readable

How to Clone a Mammoth by Beth Shapiro

Those very few times we have covered non-fiction titles here, they’ve all been pretty firmly and directly connected to our main focus, limited to reviews of biographies or critical of well-known fantasy/science fiction authors.

Today though, I’m going to wander a bit further afield with a review of Beth Shapiro’s How to Clone a Mammoth, a straight popular science book. Why? Three basic reasons:

Jurassic Park,

April 3rd, 2015. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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