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In a Lonely Place by Karl Edward Wagner
In any number of my book reviews here on FanLit, I have had cause to refer to editor Karl Edward Wagner’s famous Wagner 39 List. This three-part list, which originally appeared in the June and August 1983 issues of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine, enumerated the editor’s choices for the 13 Best Supernatural Horror Novels of all time, the 13 Best Nonsupernatural Horror Novels of all time, and the 13 Best Sci-Fi Horror Novels of all time;
December 23rd, 2024. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 5 | Karl Edward Wagner | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Pippin’s Journal by Rohan O’Grady
“A spellbinding Gothic page-tuner,” the folks at Valancourt Books tell us on the back cover of their new edition of Rohan O’Grady’s novel entitled Pippin’s Journal, and happily, this blurb tells it just the way it is. The book was one that I had never even heard of up until a few months ago, and yet it has suddenly and surprisingly become one of my favorite reads of this year. Simply stated, I just loved this one!
December 6th, 2024. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 5 | Rohan O'Grady | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford
Cahokia Jazz is a detective novel, set in 1922 in the city and state of Cahokia, USA. Police detective Joe Barrow and his partner Phineas Drummond are called up onto the roof of the Cahokia Land Building in the middle of the night, where they find the mutilated corpse of a takata—a European-American–posed like an Aztec sacrifice, its heart removed. In most cities, this would simply be bizarre, but in Cahokia, this makes the murder a flashpoint for unrest in a city and state governed largely by the takouma,
November 26th, 2024. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Francis Spufford | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Ballad for Sophie by Filipe Melo (words), Juan Cavia (art and color), Sandro Pacucci (color), and Gabriela Soares (lettering/translation)
Ballad for Sophie is one of the best graphic novels I have ever read. Upon a first read, I immediately decided to add it to the syllabus in my college English class, and I look forward to teaching it next semester. The art by Juan Cavia is brilliant, and the colors by Pacucci are striking. And Filipe Melo writes a story that is incredibly hard to put down and that is quite tender.
October 12th, 2024. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
THE ASGARDIANS 1: Thor by George O’Connor
So I’ve lost track of how many of George O’Connor’s graphic novel retelling of myths I’ve reviewed, from his original series OLYMPIANS to the first book of his current ASGARDIANS series, Odin. He’s back with book two, everyone’s favorite Norse god — Thor, and all I can say is what I’ve been saying since the beginning: the story is great, the artwork is great, they’re not just for kids,
October 10th, 2024. Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Children, Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott
2023’s Thistlefoot, by GennaRose Nethercott, is one of my favorite reads of 2024. This literary fantasy draws from Jewish and Eastern European folktales, with a concretely modern setting, a gloss of mythic American West (hobos and tumbleweeds), and sentences that sing with poetry.
Isaac Yaga is a street performer and a con artist. He can impersonate almost anyone, and he is always on the run, either from the people whose pockets he’s picked, or from his own guilty memories, accompanied only by a small black cat named Hubcap.
September 13th, 2024. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | GennaRose Nethercott | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Complete John Silence Stories by Algernon Blackwood
For English author Algernon Blackwood, success as a writer came fairly late in life. Although today deemed one of the 20th century’s greatest purveyors of supernatural and “weird” fiction, Blackwood evinced little interest in the field until he was in his mid-30s. Up till that time, he had tried his hand in numerous professions – from a dairy farmer in Canada to a NYC journalist, from hotel operator to model, from personal secretary to bartender. It wasn’t until Blackwood turned 37 that his first short-story collection,
August 29th, 2024. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 5 | Algernon Blackwood | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Weyward, by Emilia Hart, (2023), is women’s fiction with magic. The stories of three different women in three different eras wrestling not only with their connection to nature, but with the restrictions and exploitations of society, are captivating, and it’s all delivered with beautiful descriptions and flowing language.
I’m going to go down a rabbit hole here. I recently had to make a long drive (2 ½ hours each way) and used most of that time to chew over why I categorize this as “women’s fiction with magic” rather than “fantasy.” Here’s what I’ve decided;
August 26th, 2024. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Emilia Hart | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Private Eye by Brian K. Vaughan (writer), Marcos Martin (artist), and Muntsa Vincente (colors)
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.
August 24th, 2024. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Brian K. Vaughan | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Reposting to include Marion’s new review.
Blade of Dream by Daniel Abraham
Blade of Dream is Daniel Abraham’s second book in his KITHAMAR trilogy, though to call it a “sequel” is a bit of a misnomer as rather than directly following the events of Age of Ash, this new story parallels that first book’s events in time, actually intersecting with a few scenes here and there but mostly, or at least somewhat,
August 16th, 2024. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Daniel Abraham | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
What a dunderhead, not like the Horseclans series? I just like stories that are pure entertainment like these or Stirling's…
No, Paul, sorry, I don't believe I've read any books by Aickman; perhaps the odd story. I'm generally not a…
I like the ambiguities when the story leading up to them has inserted various dreadful possibilities in the back of…
COMMENT Marion, I expect that my half-hearted praise here (at best) will not exactly endear me to all of Ramsey…
Ramsay Campbell was all the rage in my circle of horror-reading/writing friends in the 1980s, and they extolled the ambiguity.…