Previous SFF Author: Frank Aubrey
Speculative fiction in audiobook format.
On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony
When the grim reaper shows up a few seconds early, Zane shoots him instead of using the gun on himself as he’d planned. Now, instead of being dead, Zane is Death. He has to take over the office, riding around the world in his convertible pale horse collecting and measuring the souls of those who’ve committed equal amounts of good and evil during their lives — those who are “in balance.” In his new guise (complete with all of the accoutrements: scythe,
July 9th, 2010. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2 | Piers Anthony | Audio | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Discord’s Apple by Carrie Vaughn
Evie Walker is a comic book writer who is to inherit a magical storeroom from her terminally ill father. Unbeknownst to her, it has been the duty of her family for thousands of years to keep this storeroom safe. The storeroom contains artifacts from myth and legend, such as the Golden Fleece, Cinderella’s slippers, and of course Discord’s apple. Not only is Evie about to inherit these objects of legend, but she is also about to inherit the attention of powerful beings that would love to obtain them.
July 7th, 2010. Justin Blazier´s rating: 4 | Carrie Vaughn | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
To be something abnormal meant that you were to serve the normal. And if you refused, they hated you… and often the normal hated you even when you did serve them.
In Nnedi Okorafor’s post-apocalyptic Sudan, there are two predominant ethnic factions: the light-skinned Nuru and the dark-skinned Okeke. Who Fears Death takes place amid a genocide that the Nuru commit against the Okeke, a campaign that (like genocides in our own time) includes both murder and rape.
July 2nd, 2010. Kelly Lasiter and Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Nnedi Okorafor | Audio, Stand-Alone, World Fantasy Award | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Tarnsman of Gor by John Norman
“Slavery apparently agrees with her”
While walking in a New Hampshire forest, college professor Tarl Cabot unexpectedly receives a strange communication from his long-lost father. Suddenly he is whisked away by spaceship to Gor, the Counter-Earth, a planet which we never see because it lives on the other side of the sun. Its powerful priest-kings have been able to shield it from even our theoretical view and, though the society seems primitive, its aloof rulers seem to be hoarding and selectively doling out secret knowledge and technological advances (such as spaceships and advanced medical and communication techniques).
June 28th, 2010. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | John Norman | Audio | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
Aerin cannot remember a time when she did not know the story. The tale of how her mother, a witchwoman from the north, had ensorcelled her father, the king, and bewitched him into marrying her so that she could bear a son to inherit the kingdom. When Aerin was born, her mother turned her face to the wall, and died of grief. Rejected by many of the royal court for her suspect lineage, and feared by the average person for the same reason, Aerin struggles to find her place in the court,
June 18th, 2010. Ruth Arnell, Rebecca Fisher, Tadiana Jones and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Robin McKinley | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Dark Prince by Christine Feehan
Mikhail Dubrinsky is the leader of the Carpathians, a powerful race that is dying out due to lack of females. Raven Whitney, a human, is vacationing in the Carpathian Mountains after using her telepathic skills to help catch a serial killer. Raven senses Mikhail’s distress and the two of them realize they have a connection to each other. Raven may be the life mate that Mikhail thought he’d never find and she represents hope for the Carpathians.
Ugh. I really hated Dark Prince and,
June 8th, 2010. Kat Hooper and Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 0.1, 2 | Christine Feehan | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Tale of the Thunderbolt by E.E. Knight
Tale of the Thunderbolt is the third installment in the VAMPIRE EARTH series. Each book has so far followed the story of David Valentine, post-apocalyptic warrior extraordinaire. In this third volume, Southern Command has sent David on a mission to bring back a secret weapon that lays hidden somewhere on the Haitian side of Hispaniola. David has been undercover for over a year in preparation for this mission, and has done things for the sake of humanity that he dares not speak of.
June 6th, 2010. Justin Blazier´s rating: 3.5 | E.E. Knight | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Rhialto the Marvellous by Jack Vance
“Flagrant and wild!”
If you’re a fan of Jack Vance, of course you’ve read, or plan to read, Rhialto the Marvellous, last of the Dying Earth books. If you’ve not read any of Mr. Vance’s work, you can start here — it isn’t necessary to have read the previous installments.
Rhialto, who has earned the cognomen “Marvellous” (this has something to do with him being a bit of a dandy) is one of the last of Earth’s magicians,
May 30th, 2010. Kat Hooper and Stuart Starosta´s rating: 4.5 | Jack Vance | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews
Ever since that teaser chapter at the end of On the Edge, we Ilona Andrews fans have been dying to get our hands on Magic Bleeds (2010). Curran stands Kate up, and when she calls the Keep trying to reach him, his people give her a humiliating brush-off. Not knowing why this happened, and what happens next, has had us anxious for months! Well, fellow Andrews fans, this is the book you’ve been waiting for. And the first thing you want to know,
May 24th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter, John Hulet, Tadiana Jones and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Ilona Andrews | Audio | SFF Reviews | 9 comments |
WWW: Watch by Robert J. Sawyer
Note: This review is slightly spoilerish; some of the themes I discuss are important to the overall story, but no actual plot points are revealed. Sawyer delivers his message through dialog between characters, so some of the ideas I mention do not get discussed till later in the book. If you had mixed feelings about book 1, you should read this review before deciding to read book 2.
The story of Caitlin and the emergent entity WebMind continues in Watch.
May 19th, 2010. Justin Blazier´s rating: 4 | Robert J. Sawyer | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Previous SFF Author: Frank Aubrey
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…