The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer by John Bellairs & Brad Strickland
The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer appears to be the final book in the LEWIS BARNAVELT series of horror novels for middle graders. The series was started in 1973 by John Bellairs but most of the novels were actually written by Brad Strickland after Bellairs’ death. There’s nothing in The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer which indicates that it’s the last book but, since it’s been 13 years,
November 11th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Brad Strickland, John Bellairs | Audio, Children, Horror | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Night of Masks by Andre Norton
Nik Colherne lives in the Dipple, a planet-side slum that serves as the opening setting for a few of Andre Norton’s novels. Nik survived a fiery crash that left him orphaned and with a disfigured face that others find abhorrent. Rejected and friendless, Nik is targeted by the Thieves’ Guild who promise him a new (and handsome) face if he’ll impersonate the hero of a young boy that they are trying to find. The boy, Vandy, is the son of a powerful warlord and the thinking is that if Nik poses as the boy’s hero,
November 5th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Andre Norton | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Stay Out of the Basement by R.L. Stine
One of my kids loves Halloween – she starts celebrating in September – and, since she wanted to read some horror for children during October, we listened to a few of R.L. Stine’s GOOSEBUMPS books together. Each is a standalone short novel with a pretty hefty scare factor.
Stay Out of the Basement (1992) is the second novel in the series (which contains dozens of stories) and there’s no reason to read the first one first.
October 25th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | R.L. Stine | Audio, Children, Horror | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
I’m sure there is an audience for Timothy Morton’s Spacecraft (2021), one of the OBJECT LESSONS series titles. Unfortunately, I wasn’t it. I’m also thinking that based on the title, a number of people might find themselves in my position, a problem perhaps more of expectations than substance.
The OBJECT LESSONS, which I’ve generally been a big fan of, “start from a specific inspiration … and from there develop original insights and novel lessons about the object in question.” And there lies the expectations problem because from the title,
October 1st, 2021. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Dreaming in Quantum and Other Stories by Lynda Clark
It seems that putting The Rock Eaters by Brenda Peynado on my best of 2021 list and noting how it’s redeemed my faith in short story collections was a bad idea, as I’ve apparently jinxed myself with regard to said collections, being that I’m now 0 for 3 on them since then. The third “0-fer” is Dreaming in Quantum and Other Stories (2021) by Lynda Clark, which has its moments but left me disappointed overall.
August 5th, 2021. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | Lynda Clark | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Victory on Janus by Andre Norton
Victory on Janus (1966) is the sequel to Andre Norton’s Judgment on Janus (1963). The two novels make up the JANUS duology (Baen, 2002) which has recently been published by Tantor Media as an audiobook (2021). Gabriel Vaughan, the narrator, gives an excellent performance.
In Judgment on Janus, we met Naill Renfro, who was an indentured servant on the frontier planet of Janus.
July 19th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Andre Norton | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Eye of the Monster by Andre Norton
Tantor Media has published an audio version of Baen’s The Game of Stars and Comets (2009), an omnibus that contains these four novels by Andre Norton: The Sioux Spaceman (1960), Eye of the Monster (1962), The X Factor (1965), and Voorloper (1980). Each of these short novels stands alone and they are all set in Norton’s Council/Confederation universe. I’m reviewing them separately,
April 19th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Andre Norton | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel
Sylvain Neuvel’s A History of What Comes Next (2021) has both an intriguing premise and a potentially tense conflict at its core, but due to some issues with structure and style, the execution didn’t allow the book to achieve its potential.
Two women, Sara and her daughter Mia, are sort of Space Race Zeligs (look him up, youngsters), inserting themselves in key times and places to push humanity toward the stars. To that end,
February 10th, 2021. Bill Capossere and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 2.5, 3 | Sylvain Neuvel | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Bat Woman by Cromwell Gibbons
As some of you may have discerned, my favorite type of reading matter these days has been the science fiction, fantasy and horror books from the period 1900 – 1950, and so I am always on the lookout for modern-day publishers issuing new editions of these often out-of-print works. Case in point: Bruin Books, from Eugene, Oregon, which, a few years back, made it possible for me to finally obtain a reasonably priced copy of Paul Bailey’s wonderful horror novel Deliver Me From Eva (1946).
November 2nd, 2020. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 2.5 | Cromwell Gibbons | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Master of Poisons by Andrea Hairston
Master of Poisons (2020) by Andrea Hairston is an epic fantasy set in an African-inspired world that is facing environmental devastation. Fertile land is turning into poison desert, and void-storms are a constant threat.
Djola is called Master of Poisons because, when both men were young, he saved the Arkhysian Emperor with his knowledge of antidotes. He was rewarded with the title and a place on the Emperor’s council. Now, he thinks he might be able to save the land with a legendary spell,
October 12th, 2020. Kelly Lasiter and Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5, 4 | Andrea Hairston | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Yep, which is why I'm willing to give a sequel a shot
Thanks for the reviews you two. I put the book on my TBR as soon as I saw ads for…
We seem to be on the same page. Yeah, the depiction of some (at least two) of the women characters…
The correct and more accurate term for the book thing is "challenged," I think. Frankly, the intentional removal of books…
Not sure I can be persuaded on two of these articles. When I was young book-banning meant you couldn't sell…