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The Great Explosion by Eric Frank Russell
In his 1955 collection entitled Men, Martians and Machines, English sci-fi author Eric Frank Russell told, via one short story and three novellas, some of the adventures of a starship crew that strongly suggested nothing less than a proto-Star Trek ensemble. The collection featured visits to three very different sorts of planets, in which the men, Martians, and robot of the starship Marathon came up against a world of mechanical devices;
April 6th, 2017. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | Eric Frank Russell | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs
It’s pirating night in the werewolf house, and Mercy, a coyote skinwalker married to Adam, the handsome Alpha of the Columbia Basin werewolf pack, quickly gets killed out of the werewolf pack’s computer-based pirate LARP game. She heads to the kitchen to make a double-quadruple batch of chocolate chip cookies for the pack (her habit of baking treats after being exiting the game having more than a little to do with why someone always kills her off early in these games). Only, there are no eggs in the house,
March 29th, 2017. Tadiana Jones and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Patricia Briggs | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Wanderers by Meg Howrey
The Wanderers (2017), by Meg Howrey, focuses on a simulated mission (code name: Eidolon) to Mars more realistic than anything ever attempted before. Prime Space has chosen three exemplary, experienced astronauts (American Helen, Japanese Yoshi, and Russian Sergei) for a 17-month, fully immersive simulation in the Utah desert in preparation for the real thing two years later. We join the “journey” via their 3rd-person POVs, but are also given a broader view thanks to their family members (one might consider them “satellites” orbiting the main characters — always tied to them): Helen’s actress daughter Mireille,
March 22nd, 2017. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Meg Howrey | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Evil Wizard Smallbone by Delia Sherman
What is it about Maine? Stephen King and John Connolly both write terrifying horror stories set there, and Delia Sherman places The Evil Wizard Smallbone, a middle-grade fantasy published in 2016, in Maine in the winter. That state must have a lot of magical juice.
The Evil Wizard Smallbone not only shares the horror of a Maine winter, it’s got an evil wizard, shape-shifting coyote-bikers, a small and somewhat magical town called Smallbone Cove whose residents have forgotten their own strange history to their peril,
March 22nd, 2017. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Delia Sherman | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 9 comments |
Pat Frank’s Mr. Adam (1946) is billed as “[o]ne of literature’s first responses to the atomic bomb,” and the uncertainty of the freshly-minted Atomic Age is palpable within the novel’s pages. With the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki still fresh in his mind, and within the minds of his readers, Frank crafted a cautionary tale regarding the dangers of nuclear power and its invisible, unstoppable effects on the future of mankind.
Steve Smith, intrepid journalist and recent veteran of the European theatre in WWII,
March 21st, 2017. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Pat Frank | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
Passing Strange by Ellen Klages
Ellen Klages’ short novel Passing Strange (2017) is a beautiful, fantastical melding of history, romance, magic and revenge, set against a meticulously researched San Francisco of 1940. At just over 200 hundred pages, the story follows six women in the city, each one in some way an outcast. Add a present-day story frame that includes secret passages in Chinatown, pulp magazine covers of the 1940s, and an elaborate scam, and for many of us you have something irresistible.
I loved Passing Strange from the cover by Gregory Manchess.
March 21st, 2017. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Ellen Klages | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett
If indeed social movements occur in cycles that over time have a net result of zero, what then is the value of scientific pursuit? If humanity will inevitably revert to primitivism, of what use is maneuvering toward that fuzzy idea of ‘civilization’? Is it just to give us something to do with our time on Earth? Is it an innate, unavoidable aspect of being human we should shun? Is it just false hope? Or, is there a light at the end of the tunnel? These questions and more Leigh Brackett examines in her oft-overlooked 1955 magnum opus The Long Tomorrow.
March 20th, 2017. Jesse Hudson and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Leigh Brackett | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Magic of Blood and Sea by Cassandra Rose Clarke
Magic of Blood and Sea (2017) combines two of Cassandra Rose Clarke’s novels, The Assassin’s Curse (2012) and The Pirate’s Wish (2013), into one volume. Originally, these novels were published by Strange Chemistry, the YA branch of Angry Robot Books, but the imprint went defunct (as sometimes happens) and the publication rights to their various books were scattered to the four winds. In this particular case,
March 20th, 2017. Jana Nyman and Ruth Arnell´s rating: 4.5 | Cassandra Rose Clarke | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Greatmask (2016), the third and final book in Ashley Capes‘s BONE MASK TRILOGY successfully brings each character’s arc to a satisfying conclusion and wraps up all the disparate subplots — while still leaving room for the promise of new adventures on the horizon.
Anaskar has been invaded by the blue-cloaked Ecsoli; they now control all three tiers of the city, from the seaside docks to the lofty palace where King Oseto is held captive. Would-be rebels hide in the back alleys and taverns,
March 20th, 2017. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4.5 | Ashley Capes | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Hold Back the Night by Pat Frank
Hold Back the Night (1951; 2017) is the third of Pat Frank’s classic Cold War-era novels receiving a re-issue from Harper Perennial, after Mr. Adam (1946; 2016) and Forbidden Area (1956; 2016). Originally published during the Korean War, Hold Back the Night finds inspiration from the very real events which occurred during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir and tells the story of a single group of U.S.
March 16th, 2017. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Pat Frank | Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the giallo genre! I love how the post highlights her unique…
Pretty challenging book. Cut by half, speed up the cadence. Trying to figure out the plot, the main point of…
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…