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The Stonekeeper & The Stonekeeper’s Curse by Kazu Kibuishi
Kazu Kibuishi is the author of the AMULET series, a set of young adult graphic novels published by Scholastic. Book One, The Stonekeeper, and Book Two, The Stonekeeper’s Curse, are fast, accessible stories with likeable characters who face difficult challenges.
In The Stonekeeper, Emily and Navin’s impoverished mother moves them away from everything they know after their father is killed in a car accident on an icy road.
July 27th, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Kazu Kibuishi | Children, Comics | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Thieftaker is an intriguing new book by D.B. Jackson (penname of David B. Coe) set in pre-Revolutionary Boston. While the novel has its flaws, its unusual setting, winning characterizations, and unique mix of historical fiction, mystery (with a real noir tinge) and fantasy mostly make up for relatively middling plotting and left me looking forward to spending more time in this world.
Ethan Kaille is an independent thieftaker in a 1765 Boston roiling with pre-War tension between loyalists and the patriots newly angered by passage of the Stamp Act.
July 23rd, 2012. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | D.B. Jackson | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas by John Scalzi
This is the part where you run and scream a lot.
Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Intrepid, a spaceship that has the reputation of killing off most of its non-essential crew. The captain and senior officers and one or two especially good-looking guys always come back from planetary “away” missions alive (though often mangled up a bit), but always, always, at least one, and often many more,
July 19th, 2012. Kat Hooper, Marion Deeds, Terry Weyna, Tadiana Jones and Stuart Starosta´s rating: 3.5, 4, 4.5 | John Scalzi | Audio, Hugo Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 15 comments |
Albert of Adelaide by Howard L. Anderson
“He was beginning to feel that his escape from the zoo and his flight through the desert had been for nothing. Here he was, where Old Australia was supposed to be, a place where he was to have a home, friends, and others of his kind. Now he was finding that the only way he could even get a beer in this country was at gunpoint.”
Albert of Adelaide (2012) is a new entrant into the ranks of talking animal books.
July 18th, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Howard L. Anderson | Children | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Counter-Clock World by Philip K. Dick
It’s 1998 and time has started running backward. Aging has reversed so that people are gradually getting younger, and dead people are awakening in their graves and begging to be let out. The excavating companies have the rights to sell the people they unbury to the highest bidder. When Sebastian Hermes’s small excavating company realizes that Thomas Peak, a famous religious prophet, is about to come back to life, they know that getting to him first could be a huge boon to their business. The problem is that there are other organizations that prefer for Thomas Peak to stay dead,
July 16th, 2012. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Philip K. Dick | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Blood on the Bayou by Stacey Jay
Blood on the Bayou, by Stacey Jay, starts with a nightmare and ends with a wedding. In between, Annabelle Lee learns more about her growing magical powers, the nature of the toxic fairies who menace humanity, and the secrets of her own heart.
Annabelle Lee… sounds all dreamy and ethereal, doesn’t it? Well, forget the romance, babe. Lee is a hard-drinkin’, hard-lovin’, kick-ass redhead doing a dangerous job in the war zone of Louisiana, where venomous sparrow-sized fairies have driven humans to live behind iron fences and travel in head-to-toe exposure suits.
July 12th, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Stacey Jay | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Farmer in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein
As I mentioned in my recent review of The Number of the Beast, I used to be a fan of Robert A. Heinlein’s “Juveniles” when I was a kid. I give Heinlein much of the credit for turning me into a speculative fiction lover at a young age, so I was really disappointed that The Number of the Beast was so dreadful. To cleanse my palate, and to restore my trust in a man who was such an influence on me,
July 10th, 2012. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Robert A. Heinlein | Audio, Hugo Award | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Prince of Soul and the Lighthouse by Fredrik Brouneus
This is Turning Into the Magic Mushroom Version of the Da Vinci Code…
The Prince of Soul and the Lighthouse (2013) is a quirky, funny, thought-provoking story by New Zealand/Swedish author Fredrik Brouneus, told in very colloquial first-person narration by George Larson, an eighteen year old high school student whose life is about to get very strange. Content with his dreams of becoming a soul singer and hooking up with the beautiful exchange student Kaisa,
July 9th, 2012. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Fredrik Brouneus | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
…Where Angels Fear to Tread by Allen Steele
Allen Steele promised himself he’d never write a time-travel story, but nevertheless, here it is. In his introduction to this audio version, he explains that he didn’t want to write about something he thought was impossible, but one of his friends challenged him to write a story that could overcome his own doubts. And thus we have …Where Angels Fear to Tread.
There are two timelines going on in …Where Angels Fear to Tread.
July 7th, 2012. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Allen Steele | Audio, Hugo Award | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Hayden Griffin is out for revenge. When he was a boy, the nation of Slipstream attacked his little home world of Aerie. Hayden’s parents had just managed to build a sun for Aerie so their world could be independent of Slipstream, but the more powerful nation attacked before Aerie could escape. Both of Hayden’s parents were killed. Years later, Hayden knows it was Admiral Chaison Fanning, the Admiral of Slipstream’s space fleet, who ordered the massacre, so Hayden plans to insinuate himself into the admiral’s household so he can get close enough to kill him.
June 23rd, 2012. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Karl Schroeder | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Kind of you to say. I certainly like to think so!
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!