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The Duke is in a Dangerous Mood…
City of Stars is the second in Mary Hoffman‘s Stravaganza series (of which there are currently five installments), following on from City of Masks. The basic premise of the story is based on people known as the Stravagante: a select group of individuals from our world who can transport in their sleep to the country of Talia, an alternative version of Italy in the sixteenth century.
June 27th, 2011. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Mary Hoffman | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Galápagos by Kurt Vonnegut
Kilgore Trout, who appears in many of Kurt Vonnegut’s novels, is a science fiction writer whose ideas and stories are interesting even though his plots and characters are dreadful. My favorite Kilgore Trout story is summarized in Breakfast of Champions. Here, Trout writes about extra-terrestrials that come to earth to prevent nuclear holocaust. Unfortunately, they rely on tap dancing and farts to communicate, so the confused humans immediately kill their furiously farting and tap dancing visitors. This depressing depiction of humanity is common in both Trout and Vonnegut’s writing.
June 24th, 2011. Ryan Skardal, Stuart Starosta and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Kurt Vonnegut | Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas
After black-leather vampires, dandified vampires, little-girl-lost vampires, CEO vampires and sparkly “vegetarian” vampires, Suzy McKee Charnas’s Edward Wayland is as bracing as a cold ocean wind in your face.
Weyland is the main character in The Vampire Tapestry, first published in 1981. For Weyland, there is no curse, no mysterious virus, no fear of the sun, crosses or garlic. Simply put, he is an evolved predator adapted to feed on humans.
Charnas unfolds her meditation on the mind of a predator in five linked novellas.
June 23rd, 2011. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Suzy McKee Charnas | Nebula Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Kushiel’s Avatar by Jacqueline Carey
Phèdre and Joscelin have had ten years of much needed rest… until the night that Phèdre dreams of her childhood friend Hyacinthe. He is still trapped on the island of the Master of the Straits and Phèdre has been studying ancient Habiru (Hebrew) texts to try to find a way to free him. If she can discover the lost name of God, she thinks she can use it to compel the angel Rahab to let Hyacinthe go.
Meanwhile (there’s always more than one major plot going on in the Kushiel books),
June 23rd, 2011. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Jacqueline Carey | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Miserere: An Autumn Tale by Teresa Frohock
FORMAT/INFO: Miserere: An Autumn Tale is 350 pages long divided over three Parts and 21 numbered/titled chapters. Narration is in the third person, mostly via Lucian Negru and Rachael Boucher, while other POVs include Lucian’s twin sister Catarina, the foundling Lindsay Richardson, and Lucian’s Elder John Shea. Miserere: An Autumn Tale ends at a satisfying stopping point, but is the first book of The Katharoi, which will have at least two more sequels: Dolorosa: A Winter’s Dream (Book 2) and Bellum Dei: Blood of the Lambs (Book 3).
June 20th, 2011. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4 | Teresa Frohock | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Turns out that when you kill a god, people want to talk to you. Paranormal insurance salesmen with special “godslayer” term life policies. Charlatans with “godproof” armor and extraplanar safe houses for rent. But, most notably, other gods, who want to first congratulate you on your achievement, second warn you not to try such shenanigans on them, and finally suggest that you try to slay one of their rivals — purely as a shenanigan, of course.
It’s been three weeks since Atticus O’Sullivan slew two gods.
June 19th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Kevin Hearne | Audio | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
The Nebula Awards Showcase 2011 edited by Kevin J. Anderson
The Nebula Awards are one of the great institutions in science fiction and fantasy. Each year since 1965, the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) have voted for the Best Novel, Novella (40,000-17,500 words), Novelette (17,500-7,500 words), and Short Story (less than 7,500 words) in SF and fantasy. Compiling a list of the nominees and winners for all those years would get you an excellent reading list and a comprehensive cross-view of the best that can be found in the genres.
June 17th, 2011. Stefan Raets´s rating: 4 | Amal El-Mohtar, Connie Willis, James Patrick Kelly, Joe Haldeman, Kage Baker, Kevin J. Anderson, Kij Johnson, Michael Bishop, N.K. Jemisin, Paolo Bacigalupi, Rachel Swirsky, Richard Bowes, Saladin Ahmed, Will McIntosh | Nebula Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
In waking from a dream, we obliterate worlds, and in calling up a memory, we return the dead to life again and again only to bring them face to face with annihilation as our attention shifts to something else.
After the destruction of the Well-Built City (detailed in The Physiognomy), Physiognomist Cley has been living in a village in the wilderness, acting as herbalist and midwife. One day a mechanical bird, obviously built by evil Master Drachton Below, arrives in the village,
June 17th, 2011. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Jeffrey Ford | Audio | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
Inventing Memory by Anne Harris
Inventing Memory is a book I found impossible to put down. Anne Harris kept me spellbound from beginning to end, with one hiccup: an aspect of the science-fiction twist that didn’t quite make sense.
The novel contains two parallel storylines. One is about Shula, a slave in ancient Sumer, who has visions that lead her to the service of the goddess Inanna. However, even as Inanna makes greater and greater demands upon her, Shula loses her heart to a different goddess,
June 12th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Anne Harris | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Sleight of Hand by Peter S. Beagle
Peter S. Beagle will probably always be best known for The Last Unicorn, the 1968 fantasy novel many consider his masterpiece, but the author has assembled a long and impressive bibliography since this perennial classic, including several excellent short story collections. The most recent of these is Sleight of Hand, recently released by Tachyon. If all you know of Peter S. Beagle is The Last Unicorn,
June 11th, 2011. Stefan Raets´s rating: 4 | Peter S. Beagle | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.