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A Tolkien Bestiary by David Day
David Day’s A Tolkien Bestiary may be the greatest companion book ever. Even if it’s not, it’s still my favorite. Day provides an overview of people, places, races, and Middle Earth’s history. Although Day explains why he refers to the work as a bestiary, I usually think of it as an awesome encyclopedia.
In A Tolkien Bestiary, readers can lose themselves for hours at a time. I have encountered this book in many places — classrooms,
August 3rd, 2015. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 5 | J.R.R. Tolkien | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen by Dylan Horrocks
I am giving Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen by Dylan Horrocks my highest recommendation with one qualification: Unless you are easily offended by depictions of male sexual fantasies — even those written and depicted in order to critique those fantasies — then you should read this book. Without a doubt, Dylan Horrocks has written and drawn a five-star graphic novel. The book offers various answers to this question: What is the nature of fantasy? In doing so,
August 1st, 2015. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Speak Easy by Catherynne M. Valente
I held off on reading Speak Easy by Catherynne M. Valente for a few weeks after it arrived because I knew once I started reading it, I’d want to do nothing else. When you look at the novella, this doesn’t seem like such a big problem. The advanced reader’s copy is a slim volume, thinner than my pinky finger (the signed limited-edition volumes for sale at Subterranean Press might be bigger; they are hardcovers, bound in cloth). But take a peek into the first page of Valente’s novella,
July 31st, 2015. Kate Lechler´s rating: 5 | Catherynne M. Valente | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
The Tingler: This movie really IS a scream!
In 1958, director William Castle delivered to the world a film that has been chilling the collective backbones of horror buffs for over half a century now: House on Haunted Hill. And the following year, in one of the greatest one-two punches in horror history, Castle came up with a film that is certainly every bit as good, and perhaps, arguably, even better. In The Tingler, Castle brought back much of his team from the previous picture — leading man Vincent Price,
July 4th, 2015. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 5 | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Were you a hard-core nerd or geek in junior high and high school in the 80s? You know, the ones who clustered at the library or at benches far from the jocks and cheerleaders, who thrilled at quoting lines from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, War Games, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Short Circuit, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Blade Runner, Legend, Dark Crystal,
June 16th, 2015. Stuart Starosta and Ray McKenzie´s rating: 4, 5 | Ernest Cline | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 17 comments |
I’m reviewing these films together because they’re available in this handy double feature DVD. Village of the Damned is also available on Amazon Instant Video.
Village of the Damned: These eyes…
A fairly faithful adaptation of John Wyndham‘s 1957 sci-fi thriller The Midwich Cuckoos (reviewed by Ryan), Village of the Damned was released in June 1960. Sporting the admonitory warning “Beware the Stare That Will Paralyze the Will of the World”
June 13th, 2015. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 5 | John Wyndham | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
I can’t think of any other SF book which is this incredibly funny, in that droll British way that Americans can never emulate. In 5th grade I first read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979) and three of its sequels, but it’s this book that stays most in memory. I’ve always wanted to revisit Douglas Adams’ story, even though I was a bit worried it might not be quite as brilliant as I remembered, but I can report that the audiobook narrated by English comedian and actor Stephen Fry is the perfect comic voice to capture the spirit of the book.
June 11th, 2015. Stuart Starosta´s rating: 5 | Douglas Adams | Audio | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Downward to the Earth by Robert Silverberg
Up until recently, I hadn’t read Robert Silverberg‘s brilliant sci-fi novel Downward to the Earth in almost 27 years, but one scene remained as fresh in my memory as on my initial perusal: the one in which the book’s protagonist, Edmund Gundersen, comes across a man and a woman lying on the floor of a deserted Company station on a distant world, their still-living bodies covered in alien fluid that is being dripped upon them by a basket-shaped organism,
June 1st, 2015. Sandy Ferber, Kat Hooper and Stuart Starosta´s rating: 5 | Robert Silverberg | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Not everyone may be a fan of Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange, but we all know of it thanks to the iconic film by Stanley Kubrick. The image of juvenile delinquent Alex and his droogs with their frighteningly ruthless smiles, black hats, suspenders, and kicking boots as they terrorize helpless citizens while singing “Singin’ in the Rain” in a dystopian near-future London is impossible to forget.
The story is simple: Alex’s little gang goes on a horrifying crime spree until he is caught,
May 25th, 2015. Stuart Starosta´s rating: 5 | Anthony Burgess | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
Solaris is an amazing little novel with a colorful history. First written in 1961 by Stanislaw Lem in Polish, it was then made into a two-part Russian TV series in 1968, before being made into a feature film by famous Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky in 1972. It only reached English publication in 1970 in a Polish-to-French-to-English translation. And just when you thought it had faded from attention, both James Cameron and Steven Soderbergh expressed interest in doing a remake, with Soderbergh getting the nod in 2002 because Cameron was busy with other movies.
May 22nd, 2015. Stuart Starosta and Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Stanislaw Lem | Audio | 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…