Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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The Gathering Storm: Kitchen-sink feel

The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges

The Gathering Storm is the first in the KATERINA TRILOGY by Robin Bridges. The trilogy blends historical fiction with the paranormal, and is set in St. Petersburg, Russia, in the late 19th century.

Bridges immerses us in an evocative setting. The pageantry of the Russian court is combined with that hard-to-describe fairy tale mood. Even though we see through the eyes of a heroine who doesn’t really like all the pageantry, we are swept away into a world that is elegant but filled with dark secrets.

May 14th, 2012. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 2.5 | Robin Bridges | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Watchtower: Fairly standard feminist fantasy

Watchtower by Elizabeth A. Lynn

Watchtower, the first book in the award-winning THE CHRONICLES OF TORNOR series by Elizabeth A. Lynn, follows the tale of a young prince — why is he called a prince when his father is a lord? I have no idea. This bothered me through the whole book — who has to fight against a usurper to regain his lands.

Watchtower is frequently included on lists of feminist and gay SFF.

Carpathia: A ship full of vampires

Carpathia by Matt Forbeck

So it’s April 1912, and here I am aboard R.M.S. Titanic, on her maiden voyage. By heaven, she’s a lovely ship! Big, too. But I’m a little worried we’re getting rather close to that iceberg. Oh I say, we’ve struck it! Not to worry, old man, everyone knows this ship is unsinkable. What’s that? We’re sinking anyway? Dash the luck! Off to the lifeboats then. What do you mean, there’s no more room? Blimey. Rest assured I’ll write a strongly worded letter to the White Star Line about this!

The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth: Of interest for Zelazny fans

The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth: And Other Stories by Roger Zelazny

My experience with Roger Zelazny has been hit or miss, and while I consider The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Moutha miss, it’s not terrible. The main fault of these fifteen stories is that characterization remains uniform throughout. The same cigarette-smoking, coffee-drinking, detective noir Joe Cool hero populates the main character role of seemingly every story. Though the type is likeable, this lack of variety gets monotonous.

The Tulpa: An uncomplicated unswerving monster story

The Tulpa by Ardath Mayhar

Araminta Palomer is the daughter of an elderly wealthy businessman and his second wife. Minta has been sheltered for all her life, living in the family mansion which is surrounded by high walls and patrolling Doberman Pinschers. She has a governess and is driven to town only rarely for shopping. Because she’s lonely, Minta creates an imaginary friend — an egg-shaped furry creature who loves her. Prophetically, she names him Willbe and she imagines him with sharp needle-like teeth because she’s got a really nasty older stepbrother.

Feral Cell: Performance-art-fantasy

Feral Cell by Richard Bowes

Richard Bowes published Feral Cell in 1986. It’s set in 1999, the last year of the second millennium, in New York City, which is starting, to “go bad” as many other cities before it have. It’s not clear exactly what is making the city go bad. Is it the strange weather, as summers grow hotter and winters grow shorter and drier? Is it the selfishness and complacency of the wealthy and the desperation of the young people? Is it the use of more and different drugs?

Dragon Mound: Solid but slow

Dragon Mound by Richard Knaak

Dragon Mound, Richard Knaak‘s first installment in the KNIGHT IN SHADOW trilogy, chronicles Evan Wytherling’s confrontation with long time enemies as he seeks to end his seemingly endless quest.

Evan has been a part of momentous war, nations fighting against nations with magic, dragons and knights all vying on behalf of two master wizards for control of the nation of Rundin. The final battle in that war took place hundreds of years ago, and Evan has been on the road even since.

April 18th, 2012. John Hulet´s rating: 2.5 | Richard A. Knaak | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Act of Love: A serial-killer thriller

Act of Love by Joe R. Lansdale

Originally published in 1981, Joe R. Lansdale’s Act of Love is a serial-killer thriller. A year before Thomas Harris’s Red Dragon took us into the mind of a sadistic serial killer, Lansdale was doing it, giving us chapters in the point of view of a necrophiliac, sadistic, misogynist cannibal as he terrorizes the city of Houston, Texas.

Act of Love is set in the 1980s and follows the murders committed by the Houston Hacker.

Beyond the Golden Stair: Better as a novella

Beyond the Golden Stair by Hannes Bok

Hannes Bokwas the pseudonym of Wayne Francis Woodward, a science fiction and fantasy illustrator and artist who also wrote. In 1948, Bok published a 35,000-word novella called “The Blue Flamingo” in Startling Stories. For decades, rumors circled the science fiction community that “The Blue Flamingo” was an excerpt from a larger novel. In 1970, after Bok’s death, Lin Carter found the manuscript and published it as Beyond the Golden Stair.

In his foreword,

Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human

Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human by Grant Morrison

Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human (2011), by Grant Morrison, examines comic book superheroes from the early days up to the present. Part memoir, part history, part literary/artistic analysis, it’s both an outsider fan’s view (from Morrison’s early years) and an insider writer’s view (from his working days at several comic shops,

March 16th, 2012. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 11 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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