Rudyard Kipling | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews

SFF Author: Rudyard Kipling

(1865-1936)
Rudyard Kipling was not yet 25 when he burst onto the literary scene in London, where his stories of Anglo-Indian life made him an instant celebrity. He won the Nobel Prize in 1907. Born in India in 1865 to an upper-class military family, he spent his early years in Britain and India and achieved his initial success as a reporter in India. Kipling is revered for his adult and children’s stories and poems. We’ll present his works of speculative fiction.

The Jungle Book: Mowgli’s story is only a small part

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

Good Hunting All That Keep the Jungle Law…

If you were to ask anyone to describe The Jungle Book, they would probably take their cue from the widely known Disney film and say that it was about a young boy who was raised by wolves in the jungle, mentored by a bear and a panther, and who eventually kills a dangerous tiger. In this they’d be right, but they’d only be describing the first three chapters.

The rest of the book is a series of unrelated short stories about other animals,

Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4.5 | Rudyard Kipling | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

The Second Jungle Book: Did you know there’s a sequel?

The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

Now This Is the Law of the Jungle, As Old and As True As the Sky…

Most people are unaware that Rudyard Kipling wrote a sequel to his first highly successful anthology of stories, probably because most editions combine the two into one volume (much like the merging of Louisa Alcott’s Little Women and Good Wives). But for what it’s worth, the sequel (or second half) of The Jungle Book is better than its predecessor.

Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4.5 | Rudyard Kipling | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Puck of Pook’s Hill: Very valuable

Puck of Pook’s Hill by Rudyard Kipling

The Sword Gave the Treasure, and the Treasure Gave the Law…

Puck of Pook’s Hill is certainly not as famous as Rudyard Kipling’s earlier works The Jungle Book, Captains Courageous, or even The Complete Stalky and Co.. First published in 1906, it was his final novel (only an anthology of short stories came after it) and it is certainly an odd specimen of a book.

With the Night Mail: Kipling is a grandfather of steampunk

With the Night Mail: Two Yarns About the Aerial Board of Control by Rudyard Kipling

I didn’t know that Rudyard Kipling wrote steampunk, especially since that moniker didn’t exist during his lifetime. Kipling’s novellas “With the Night Mail” and “Easy as A.B.C.” have airships, vaguely defined etheric power sources and more energy weapons than you can hit with a stick. He may not have written steampunk, but he might be one of its literary grandfathers.

Written in 1905, “With the Night Mail,” narrated in the first person by a young journalist,

The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories: Humane science fiction

The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories edited by Tom Shippey

I read Tom Shippey‘s other excellent collection, The Oxford Book of Fantasy Stories some time ago, so it was only a matter of time before I sought out this one. Like its stablemate, The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories consists of a chronological collection of stories from a variety of authors with an introduction by the editor. I was struck by the idea of “fabril” literature, which is discussed in the introduction: a form of literature in which the “smith”

Mike Reeves-McMillan | Arthur C. Clarke, Brian W. Aldiss, Bruce Sterling, C.L. Moore, Clifford D. Simak, Cordwainer Smith, David Brin, Frederik Pohl, Gene Wolfe, George R.R. Martin, H.G. Wells, Harry Harrison, Henry Kuttner, J.G. Ballard, Jack Williamson, James Blish, James H. Schmitz, John W. Campbell, Larry Niven, Rudyard Kipling, Stanley G. Weinbaum, Ursula K. Le-Guin, Walter M. Miller, William Gibson | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

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SFF Author: Rudyard Kipling

The Jungle Book: Mowgli’s story is only a small part

The Second Jungle Book: Did you know there’s a sequel?

Puck of Pook’s Hill: Very valuable

With the Night Mail: Kipling is a grandfather of steampunk

The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories: Humane science fiction

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