Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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Bruce Wayne: Murderer? by Various Authors (an Oxford College Student Review!)

In this column, I feature comic book reviews written by my students at Oxford College of Emory University. Oxford College is a small liberal arts school just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. I challenge students to read and interpret comics because I believe sequential art and visual literacy are essential parts of education at any level (see my Manifesto!). I post the best of my students’ reviews in this column. Today, I am proud to present a review by Lixin (Lareina) Yan:

Lixin (Lareina) Yan is a first-year student at Oxford College and is considering majoring in Visual Arts and Psychology.

September 28th, 2024. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Facial Justice: Jael Bait

Facial Justice by L.P. Hartley

It was Anthony Burgess, writing in his 1984 overview volume 99 Novels: The Best in English Since 1939, who first made me aware of L.P. Hartley’s truly remarkable creation Facial Justice. In his essay in that volume, Burgess tells us that Hartley’s novel is “a brilliant projection of tendencies already apparent in the post-war British welfare state.” It is one of the very few sci-fi novels that the Clockwork Orange author chose to spotlight in his book,

The Wind That Sweeps the Stars: Often utterly fascinating

The Wind That Sweeps the Stars by Greg Keyes

Greg Keyes’ The Wind That Sweeps the Stars (2024) is a book that while it has its issues I’d say with pace and structure, is often utterly fascinating thanks to the underlying mythos that serves as the sub-structure of the story. That mythos, combined with several action-packed fight scenes and several engaging and likable characters makes it an easy recommendation despite my few quibbles.

The story itself is relatively simple. We open in a tall tower in the center of an Empire’s fortress capital,

September 17th, 2024. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Greg Keyes | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

Fullmetal Alchemist (volume one) by Hiromu Arakawa (an Oxford College Student Review!)

Stephanie Kola-Ogunbule is a first-year student at Oxford College and is considering majoring in Business Analytics or International Business Her home is Atlanta,

September 7th, 2024. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Darkwater Hall: A compelling and thought-provoking story

Darkwater Hall by Catherine Fisher

I must have read this book for the first time over twenty years ago, and though I had forgotten the title, author and much of the story, a few little details stuck with me: the evocative atmosphere it conjured, the central premise that concerned a young girl striking a deal with the devil, and something about a stairwell that ran up and down time.

Then, one day while perusing the library catalogue in search of another book entirely, the cover art for Darkwater Hall (2011) stirred something in my memory.

Play of Shadows: In which the play’s the thing

Play of Shadows by Sebastien de Castell

Welcome to Play of Shadows, in which, in the fabled city of Jereste, our Hero, Damelas Chademantaigne, flees a duel and takes refuge with a Theater Troupe. Our young Hero faces many adversaries, among them a Duellist, (the Vixen); An Assassin, (the Black Amaranth), and a dreaded vigilante army (the Iron Orchids), while he Confronts Undesirable Truths from the Past, and is charged by a Duke to perform A Play that will Reveal the Truth and may destroy Jereste in the process.

August 27th, 2024. Marion Deeds and Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Sebastien De-Castell | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |

A Sorceress Comes to Call: A charming love story interrupted with sorcery and murder

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

A Sorceress Comes to Call, T. Kingfisher’s most recent 2024 novel, is a magical regency-style romance, with lengthy interruptions by the machinations of a cruel, selfish sorceress, attacks by her demonic familiar, and the occasional murder.

I don’t think I’ve read anything by Kingfisher that I didn’t love, and this book is no different, although the questions I had with this one surfaced while I was reading and not afterward. To focus on what worked best,

One Hundred Shadows: A haunting novella told in simple, spare prose

One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun (translated by Jung Yewon)

One Hundred Shadows (2024) by Hwan Jungeun (translated by Jung Yewon) is a haunting novella told in simple, spare prose. But don’t let that simplicity, and the surface gentleness of the style, fool you. This is a story that is sharp in its criticism of Korean society (really, capitalist society in general) even as it is tender toward its characters, one that is thoughtful and moving even as it is spartan in its dialogue and language. It’s the kind of book that passes quickly in terms of reading experience but lingers in the mind for some time after you’ve turned the last page.

The Drowning House: Priest is the empress of the cursed house story

The Drowning House by Cherie Priest

Cherie Priest should be crowned the queen of cursed houses. First there was Maplecroft, her Lizzie Borden/Lovecraftian suspense novel with the atmospheric house there, then The Family Plot with the old house steeped in family evil. With 2024’s The Drowning House, Priest gives us not one but two cursed houses… and one makes an appearance in a way I’ve never seen before.

In the middle of a wild early-autumn storm,

Snow Rubies: Baz Kill

Snow Rubies by Ganpat

As you might have noticed, thanks to the publishing company known as Armchair Fiction, I have lately been on something of a reading binge when it comes to lost-race fare. Just recently, I wrote here of three books in Armchair’s ongoing Lost World – Lost Race Classics series, which currently stands at a most impressive 58 titles. Those novels were James De Mille’s A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder (1888),

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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