Old Venus by Gardner Dozois & George R.R. Martin
George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois’s themed anthologies are some of the most popular on the market these days. Soliciting the genre’s best-known mainstream writers, selecting highly familiar themes, and letting the length run to 500+ pages, Rogues, Warriors, Dangerous Women, Songs of the Dying Earth, Old Mars,
November 18th, 2017. Jesse Hudson´s rating: 2.5 | Allen Steele, David Brin, Elizabeth Bear, Gardner Dozois, Garth Nix, George R.R. Martin, Ian McDonald, Joe Haldeman, Joe R. Lansdale, Lavie Tidhar, Matthew Hughes, Mike Resnick, Tobias Buckell | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Tales of Cthulhu Invictus: Nine Stories of Battling The Cthulhu Mythos In Ancient Rome edited by Brian M. Sammons
She shivers. She is cold, and she shivers, despite the blanket that wraps her, despite her mother’s enfolding arms.
It is not the fever, but the place.
A place that feels… old.
Old when Rome was young. Old when the she-wolf gave suckle to Romulus and Remus. Old… beyond old. Ancient, and wrong.
~from “Fecunditati Augustae,” by Christine Morgan
Tales of Cthulhu Invictus adds nine new stories to the large anthology subgenre of the Cthulhu mythos built upon the cosmic horror foundations laid by H.P.
October 20th, 2015. Jason Golomb´s rating: 3.5 | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Monstrous edited by Ellen Datlow
Whenever I see Ellen Datlow’s name as editor on the cover of an anthology, I know I’m in good hands. Datlow has a made a thirty-plus year career of choosing good stories and developing collections that take different aims at the theme. The theme of The Monstrous is monsters, and Datlow makes sure to explore all facets of that word with this mostly-reprint anthology from Tachyon Press.
There are twenty stories in the book. One is original to the anthology.
October 12th, 2015. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | A.C. Wise, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Carole Johnstone, Ellen Datlow, Gardner Dozois, Gemma Files, Glen Hirshberg, Jeffrey Ford, John Langan, Peter Straub, Sofia Samatar | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk edited by Sean Wallace
The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk lives up to its name, with 21 works of fiction ranging from short stories to novellas. “Dieselpunk” is the term the coined for concepts that grew out of steampunk but have left the Victorian era behind and are now, for the most part, set in the time period between the two world wars. There are exceptions in this anthology; one story takes places during WWII and one during the American Occupation of Japan.
What you get here,
September 10th, 2015. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | A.C. Wise, Carrie Vaughn, E. Catherine Tobler, Genevieve Valentine, Jay Lake, Nick Mamatas | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Cthuthlu Fhtagn! edited by Ross Lockhart
Usually, I shy away from reviewing books whose name I can’t pronounce. Since this title is in the language of the Elder Gods, though, it’s probably better that I can’t pronounce it. Aklo, H.P. Lovecraft’s mystical language, was never meant for human voices to speak anyway, as editor Ross Lockhart explains in his introduction. Lockhart also informs us that the meaning of “Fhtagn” was given to him in a dream (presumably by the Old Ones) and it means “house.” Anyway,
August 6th, 2015. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | H.P. Lovecraft, Jesse Bullington, Laird Barron, Molly Tanzer, Richard Lee Byers | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 9 comments |
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.