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Bury Him Darkly by John Blackburn
Although it’s been almost 18 years since I last read English author John Blackburn’s first novel, A Scent of New-Mown Hay (1958), I still vividly recall several segments of the book, mainly due to the forcefulness of the writing therein. And really, with its plot conflating a female ex-Nazi scientist, deserted Russian villages, and a fungoid mutation that is slowly spreading across Europe, the book is inherently hard to forget.
December 10th, 2024. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | John Blackburn | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Sunburn by Andi Watson (story) and Simon Gane (art)
Sunburn by Andi Watson and Simon Gane is a beautiful graphic novel that tells the coming-age-story of a girl named Rachel Collingwood, who is invited to Greece by acquaintances of the family. The story is unexpected, and the visuals are stunning.
The graphic novel starts off quietly in England as Rachel, complaining about her soggy toast, has breakfast with her family. Their meal is interrupted by a call from Dianne, wife of Peter Warner,
December 7th, 2024. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
These f—-ing people complaining about this f—-ing book. What the f—-ing f? Sure it’s f—ing weird, sure you don’t get any f—-ing answers, but if you f—-ing read the first three f—-ing books, what the f—- did you expect? Goodnight f—-ing Moon? The Very F—-ing Hungry Caterpillar? If you’re gonna f—-ing buy a Jeff Vanderf—-ingMeer book, then you better expect a f—-ing Vanderf—ker.
Sorry, sorry. Got a little too immersed in the final section of Absolution, and I’ve seemingly picked up the voice of that section’s narrator,
November 19th, 2024. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Jeff VanderMeer | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
The Navigator’s Children by Tad Williams
A long, long time ago in a world far, far away (otherwise known as 1988), a younger me picked a heavy (like really heavy) book titled The Dragonbone Chair off the shelf in the bookstore. If you had told that younger, thinner, more-haired me that I’d still be reading about those characters almost 40 years later in 2024, I would have laughed at the absurdity. But here I am, just putting down The Navigator’s Children (2024),
November 15th, 2024. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Tad Williams | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Doctors Wear Scarlet by Simon Raven
The British film Bloodsuckers, from 1970, was easily one of the worst cinematic experiences I’ve sat through in recent memory; a confused and confusing mess of a movie, made even more disappointing for me by dint of the fact that the two lead actors whose participation induced me to watch the film in the first place – namely, Peter Cushing and Patrick Macnee – don’t even appear on screen together once! And yet, I thought, the central premise of the film,
November 11th, 2024. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | Simon Raven | Film / TV, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Susan Price is a gifted author, though like Anne Pilling, I suspect her work is just a tad too dark and uncanny to draw in a devoted child fanbase. Truly, she pulls no punches with what she writes for her young audience – here for example, the protagonist is killed when she’s deliberately impaled with a large stake. Though she finds a way to reanimate her body, it’s not before hungry wolves chew off one of her arms. You know,
November 5th, 2024. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4.5 | Susan Price | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Abeni’s Song by P. Djèlí Clark
P. Djèlí Clark’s 2023 middle-grade adventure novel, Abeni’s Song, kicks off a new series with an engaging heroine, wonderful magic and thrilling adventures. Set in an African forest during the 18th or 19th century, Abeni’s Song follows Abeni as she tries to recover her friends and family from an enemy who calls himself the Witch Priest. The Witch Priest has given the adults of Abeni’s village to the “ghost ships.” It is up to her,
November 4th, 2024. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | P. Djèlí Clark | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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 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,
September 26th, 2024. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | L.P. Hartley | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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 |
Thanks! These are the "easy" ones, ha!
can't wait to get to these after the usual post-end-of-term review backlog gets a little cleared up--your review and David's…
Agreed! I have loved both of these books. I wasn't as perceptive as you at guessing the true target, though,…
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the Giallo genre! I love how you highlighted her unique blend…
Ever since Tor.com became Reactor they seem to have been focusing increasingly less on books and more on visual media…