Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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Horror Movie: A “cursed film” and a cursed narrator

Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay

2024’s Horror Movie is the first Paul Tremblay book I’ve read. Having finished this disturbing, baffling and freaky tour de force, I will now seek out his other works.

Haunted films or cursed films are nothing new in the horror subgenre or even in pop-culture folklore. Tremblay takes this time-honored trope and runs with it. The book makes its way through three storylines; a present tense storyline narrated by our first-person narrator; his recollections on that time in 1993 when he was part of an independent film called Horror Movie (that was never completed);

The Last Song of Penelope: A powerfully tense and moving conclusion

The Last Song of Penelope by Claire North

Amongst the slew of modern myth retellings the last few years (so many the NY Times recently wrote an article on the number “flooding bookstores”), one of the strongest has been THE SONGS OF PENELOPE by Claire North. The first two, Ithaca and House of Odysseus, were excellent, and North maintains that high standard with the just-released The Last Song of Penelope (2024),

July 16th, 2024. Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Claire North | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli (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 Damien Cavallo.

Damien Cavallo is a first-year student at Oxford College who is currently studying political science.

June 8th, 2024. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Lone Women: The past is complicated

Lone Women by Victor LaValle

Victor LaValle’s Lone Women (2023) is brilliant. It’s about connections, family, secrets, guilt and love. Yes, there is a monster in it. Yes, it is suspenseful, and yes, it is gory, and those are both horror trademarks, but Lone Women is filled with hidden history and restored triumphs. Is it horror? That depends on your definition of “monster.”

In 1915, Adelaide Henry flees her family farm in Lucerne Valley, California. She leaves behind a burning farmhouse and her two dead parents;

Wicked Problems: Save the world, or fix the world?

Reposting to include Bill’s new review.

Wicked Problems by Max Gladstone

Save the world, or fix the world? Can we do either? These questions underlie the second book in Max Gladstone’s CRAFT WARS series, Wicked Problems. Other things are happening in this 2024 installment, too, and the ending, while anticipated, is a gamechanger for everyone involved.

In Book One, Dead Country, Craftswoman Tara Abernathy took on a student, the orphaned and traumatized Dawn.

May 21st, 2024. Marion Deeds and Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Max Gladstone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Witch Hat Atelier: Volumes 1-3 (An Oxford College Student Review!)

Mandy Sun is a first-year student at Emory Oxford University and is considering majoring in Computer Science.

April 27th, 2024. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

Utterly Dark and the Heart of the Wild: A fantastic middle book in a captivating trilogy

Utterly Dark and the Heart of the Wild by Philip Reeve

In his review for Skye McKenna’s Hedgewitch, Reeve said: “there are only two sorts of fantasy story: the ones that feel fake and the ones that feel real. It’s hard to explain the difference but you know the real ones when you read them.”

I know exactly what he’s talking about, because he writes the real ones too. His depiction of Faerie – that ancient place where all the fairy tales come from – captures its mystery and danger and uncanny beauty as it also exists in books like Neil Gaiman’s Stardust and Lord Dunsany’s The King of Elfland’s Daughter and Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell,

Neither Beg Nor Yield: Stories With S & S Attitude

Neither Beg Nor Yield: Stories With S&S Attitude by Jason M. Waltz (editor) & M.D. Jackson (illustrator)

I don’t know how aware SFF fandom is, but sword & sorcery has had a resurgence of late. Jason M. Waltz and most of the authors featured in Neither Beg Nor Yield have been champions of this subgenre, some for the past quarter century. Mr. Waltz first published sword & sorcery and other great heroic and weird fiction with Flashing Swords Press and later under his own micro-press, Rogue Blades Entertainment.

The Haunted Stars: Fairlie awesome

The Haunted Stars by Edmond Hamilton

At the tail end of my review of Edmond Hamilton’s The Star of Life (1947), I mentioned that this was the finest novel that I’d read by the Ohio-born author so far, and added that I now looked forward to reading Hamilton’s The Haunted Stars, which seems to enjoy an even greater reputation. Take, for example, these two sources that I have always trusted: The Science Fiction Encyclopedia,

System Collapse: Just as entertaining as all the rest of the series

Reposting to include Marion’s new review.

System Collapse by Martha Wells

The first thing to know about Martha Wells’ System Collapse is that if you can’t dredge up memories of its (chronological) predecessor, Network Effect, you’re going to want to refresh yourself either by a reread (fun enough) or skimming a few reviews, as System Collapse picks up directly afterward and really feels like it could have just been part of Network Effect (you know,

March 26th, 2024. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Martha Wells | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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