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Some reviews are harder to write than others. Take God’s War, the first novel by Kameron Hurley, an author whose blog I’ve been reading with interest. The book had a long journey getting published (which you can read about on said blog) and has now, finally, reached the shelves thanks to the awesome folks at Night Shade Books. I was excited to get my hands on this book, because it’s in a sub-genre (or maybe more accurately,
January 21st, 2011. Stefan Raets´s rating: 3.5 | Kameron Hurley | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Never Knew Another by J.M. McDermott
AUTHOR INFORMATION: J.M. McDermott is the author of numerous short fiction and the critically-acclaimed debut novel, Last Dragon, which was shortlisted for an IAFA William Crawford Award and included on Amazon.com’s list for Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2008. Last Dragon will be reprinted in early 2011 by Apex Publications who will also publish McDermott’s next novel, Maze, in Spring 2011.
PLOT SUMMARY: When Walkers discover the corpse of a demon’s child — a city guard of noble blood named Jona — the memories of the deceased lead the Walkers to the city they call Dogsland.
January 18th, 2011. Robert Thompson´s rating: 3.5 | J.M. McDermott | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Salon Fantastique: Fifteen Original Tales of Fantasy by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling
Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling are the two greatest short fiction editors of fantasy and horror of our time. Their annual collections of the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror provided us, for 16 straight years, with the best short genre and slipstream fiction from all sources. Their anthologies have defined cutting edge fantasy.
Salon Fantastique is more uneven than most of Datlow and Windling’s collections.
January 15th, 2011. Terry Weyna´s rating: 3.5 | Catherynne M. Valente, Christopher Barzak, Delia Sherman, Ellen Datlow, Gregory Maguire, Jeffrey Ford, Peter S. Beagle, Terri Windling | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Blaze of Glory by Michael Pryor
Blaze of Glory is the first book in Michael Pryor’s The Laws of Magic series. It’s an engaging YA effort, if not particularly enthralling or captivating, with a solidly interesting main character. As you can tell by my somewhat qualified reaction, it didn’t blow me away, though it was strong enough that I’d take a look at book two.
The series is set in an alternate England (Albion) where the Industrial Revolution took place side by side with a magical revolution.
January 10th, 2011. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Michael Pryor | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Five-Twelfths of Heaven by Melissa Scott
The first volume of Melissa Scott‘s highly-regarded Roads of Heaven trilogy is an unusual SF novel in that it treats indistinguishable-from-magic science pretty much as if it were magic. It’s the sort of thing that makes scientific purists (and guys like me) roll our eyes much of the time. If I have a pet peeve, it’s when a “science” fiction story hits me with paranormal, unscientific concepts. If that’s what you want to write, then just write paranormal fiction. Scott avoids the claptrap trap,
January 8th, 2011. Thomas M. Wagner (guest)´s rating: 3.5 | Melissa Scott | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Superheroes — and supervillains — have always been problematic. They are usually all but impossible to kill, but have a single vulnerability that everyone seems to know about, and to aim for, a tradition that goes all the way back to Achilles (who was invulnerable because he was dipped in the River Styx as a baby — except for the ankle by which his mother held him when doing the dipping). Even after death, they always seem to come back in some form or another; Superman, for instance,
January 1st, 2011. Terry Weyna´s rating: 3.5 | Alan Moore, Bill Willingham, Chris Roberson, Daryl Gregory, Ian McDonald, James Maxey, Lou Anders, Marjorie M. Liu, Mark Chadbourn, Matthew Sturges, Mike (M.R.) Carey, Peter David, Stephen Baxter | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers
At first, Personal Demons reminded of those Christian romances I devoured like potato chips when I was in high school — the ones where a hot date meant getting together to read the Bible. Frannie, the high school girl who is the principal viewpoint character, comes from a large Catholic family and seems, initially, to be intent on remaining true to every bit of her Catholicism. In my own large Catholic family, that would most definitely include allowing no boy to touch me between my neck and my knees before my wedding night.
December 24th, 2010. Terry Weyna´s rating: 3.5 | Lisa Desrochers | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Spirit Eater by Rachel Aaron
The Spirit Eater (2010) is the third installment in Rachel Aaron’s THE LEGEND OF ELI MONPRESS series. Just like the first two books, The Spirit Thief and The Spirit Rebellion, it’s an entertaining, fast-moving fantasy story, although this newest novel does have a considerably darker edge to it.
The darkness starts right away with the novel’s prologue, in which we learn more about Nico,
December 21st, 2010. Stefan Raets´s rating: 3.5 | Rachel Aaron | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Book of Secrets by Chris Roberson
Spencer Finch is an investigative journalist who is researching billionaire J. Nathan Pierce for one of his stories. In the course of his research, he discovers that a mysterious book was recently stolen from Pierce, and it’s this book that will lead Finch on a fascinating and unlikely journey with far-reaching implications. Early on in the story, Finch also receives his recently deceased grandfather’s inheritance: a box full of stories and other texts. These gradually add a whole new dimension to both his grandfather’s legacy and the secret,
December 19th, 2010. Stefan Raets´s rating: 3.5 | Chris Roberson | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley & Peter Dickinson
Let me start by saying I’ve never been much for short stories. It’s not that they can’t be well done, and I admit that it takes a huge talent to do them well, but I usually find myself frustrated and wanting more. Probably because I am used to reading full-length novels. That being said, I enjoyed reading Fire. There are five stories, two by Robin McKinley and three by Peter Dickinson.
December 13th, 2010. Sarah Webb (guest)´s rating: 3.5 | Peter Dickinson, Robin McKinley | Short Fiction, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
BTW, Steve Sterner will be performing at seven films during this upcoming fest: https://filmforum.org/series/clara-bow
As far as I know, Bill, Steve Sterner is the only person who does the live accompaniment to silent movies…
And I'm positive that Kaidan will fondly remember watching these movies with his old man for the rest of his…
You bet, Marion!
Black Scorpion was one of the movie I watched with my son Kaidan as I introduced him to a AT-Home-Film-Festival…