According to Haggard Hawks, the same way a flock of crows is called a murder, the poetic term for a group of salamanders is a maelstrom. And you can find many more cool collective nouns for animal groups here.
Awards:
This year’s Tiptree Award went to Anna-Marie McLemore for When the Moon was Ours.
Independent horror publisher Word Horde had a very good day at the This is Horror awards. John Langan’s The Fisherman won for best novel,
March 22nd, 2017. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 3 comments |
The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Editor’s note: This title can be purchased free on Kindle.
The Chessmen of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ fifth JOHN CARTER novel out of eleven, first appeared in serial form in the magazine Argosy All Story Weekly from February to April 1922. It is easily the best of the Carter lot to this point; the most detailed, the most imaginative, and the best written. Carter himself only appears at the beginning and end of the tale.
December 13th, 2016. Sandy Ferber and Tim Scheidler´s rating: 4 | Edgar Rice Burroughs | Free! | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
I’m not sure what’s been in the air lately, but it seems I’ve been reading a lot of books this past year dealing with reincarnation/being reborn. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August is yet another of those, and while it isn’t my favorite of the ones I’ve read with similar ideas (that would be either Life After Life by Kate Atkinson or The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell),
February 22nd, 2016. Bill Capossere, Tadiana Jones, Ray McKenzie and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Claire North | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Dragon Coast by Greg Van Eekhout
Daniel Blackland, the most powerful osteomancer in the Southern Kingdom, will go to any length to rescue his adopted son, Sam. Sam’s essence is inhabiting a huge dragon, a Pacific firedrake that is wreaking fiery devastation on huge swathes of Los Angeles. To extract Sam’s essence, Daniel needs an artifact, and he and his friend Moth will attempt a high-risk impersonation in the warlike Northern Kingdom next door.
Gabriel Argent is the Water Mage of the Southern Kingdom. He, along with his human “hound” Max,
November 12th, 2015. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Greg Van_Eekhout | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
(MEGA-GIVEAWAY: One lucky commenter with a US address will get a copy of each of the nominated books — that’s right, eight volumes!)
Yes, it’s award season again. With the Prometheus Awards short list announced and the Arthur C. Clarke Awards already chosen, the Nebulas and the Hugos are coming up rapidly. The Nebulas will be awarded at the Nebula Weekend in Chicago, Illinois, June 4-7. The Hugo awards will be announced on August 22, at Sasquan, in Spokane, Washington.
The Hugos made the news this year with articles in venues as diverse as Slate,
May 28th, 2015. Marion Deeds | Hugo Award, Nebula Award | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 77 comments |
There’s really something special about Ian McDonald’s Mars books. McDonald’s Mars is a place I love to visit in all of its crazy, off the wall, illogical glory. I’ve rarely seen the numinous, and irrational, nature of magic so well displayed in fantasy books, let alone in a sci-fi one (the exception would have to be Sean Stewart who is also expert at such depictions, though in a very different vein). Despite the strangeness of McDonald’s Mars, I’ve rarely seen such a consistently envisioned and joyfully painted world.
March 23rd, 2015. Terry Lago´s rating: 4 | Ian McDonald | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Best of Connie Willis by Connie Willis
Connie Willis has received a staggering eleven Hugo and seven Nebula awards in her career, an achievement nobody has equaled. Her induction in the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2009 and receiving the SFWA Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement in 2011 can hardly be called surprising. Of her novels, three or four, depending on whether or not you count the two volumes Blackout and All Clear as a single work, have won awards, the rest Willis received for her short fiction.
March 19th, 2015. Rob Weber´s rating: 4 | Connie Willis | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Company Man by Robert Jackson Bennett
“I am a messenger . . . sent from afar.”
Robert Jackson Bennett is the author of Mr. Shivers, the best dark fantasy novel that I’ve read in a long time. Bennett delivers again with The Company Man, a detective noir science fiction novel set in a North America that is both familiar and radically changed.
The year is 1919. The city of Evesden perches on the shore of Washington State’s Puget Sound,
September 23rd, 2011. Marion Deeds and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Robert Jackson Bennett | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 2 edited by William Schafer
EDITOR INFORMATION: William K. Schafer is the head editor at Subterranean Press, which was founded in 1995. Schafer’s bibliography includes Embrace the Mutation: Fiction Inspired by the Art of J.K. Potter and the first Tales of Dark Fantasy anthology.
ABOUT SUBTERRANEAN: TALES OF DARK FANTASY 2: Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy — published in 2008 to widespread critical and popular acclaim — provided a unique showcase for some of our finest practitioners of dark,
April 28th, 2011. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4 | Bruce Sterling, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Glen Cook, Jay Lake, Joe Hill, Joe R. Lansdale, K.J. Parker, Kelley Armstrong, Steven R. Boyett | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Kill the Dead by Richard Kadrey
Richard Kadrey’s Kill the Dead is the sequel to Sandman Slim, and James Stark has been keeping himself busy working for various entities in order to pay the rent. The Devil is one of the entities that makes use of Stark’s services, and he wants Stark to serve as his bodyguard while he’s in town on business. Stark is forced to juggle the obligations of both Heaven and Hell, and manages to place himself in the middle of a conflict that started at the dawn of time.
November 5th, 2010. Justin Blazier, Terry Weyna, Robert Thompson, Greg Hersom and Marion Deeds | Richard Kadrey | Audio | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Marion, I'm saving James (and Orbital) for after my semester ends so I can devote my undivided attention to them.…
Susan, glad you enjoyed. Samuel Jackson should absolutely play him in the movie!
Troy, 100% agreed. Sadly the BBC adaptation is also confused about this. They seem to think Orciny is some kind…
Hey Marion! The weather is the *same* in Ul Qoma and Beszel in the novel. They even have a recurring…
Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson....