Previous SFF Author: C.M. Eddy_Jr
In our Edge of the Universe column, we review mainstream authors that incorporate elements of speculative fiction into their “literary” work. However you want to label them, we hope you’ll enjoy discussing these books with us.
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
I’m certainly late to the party when it comes to reading Audrey Niffenegger‘s first novel — I remember it making a huge splash when it was first published, and was astonished to flip open my copy and realise it was released back in 2003. Time certainly flies, which is an apt idiom to recall when reading The Time Traveler’s Wife.
Clare meets Henry for the first time when she’s six and he’s thirty-six.
September 23rd, 2016. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4.5 | Audrey Niffenegger | Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Colson Whitehead’s new novel, The Underground Railroad, is a brilliantly realized blend of magical and literary realism that grabs one hard at the start and rarely lets go. The magical aspect appears via Whitehead’s decision to make the railroad literal as opposed to a metaphor and in the way he has his protagonist Cora journey through an alternate history version of the South. The literary realism is seen in his searingly graphic depiction of the slave trade in all its gruesome aspects.
September 16th, 2016. Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Colson Whitehead | Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler
In our Edge of the Universe column, we review mainstream authors that incorporate elements of speculative fiction into their “literary” work. However you want to label them, we hope you’ll enjoy discussing these books with us.
The Book of Speculation, by Erika Swyler, is one of those perplexing novels I come across now and then where the book has everything I would usually lap up as a reader, but for some reason it falls just a little flat,
September 16th, 2016. Bill Capossere and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Erika Swyler | Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
In her follow-up to her acclaimed novel The Miniaturist, Jessie Burton adopts a dual timeline structure, following the lives of two creatively gifted women separated by time and place, but linked by a luminous, long-hidden painting that bodes well to take the art world by storm, and a decades-old mystery about the artist. The Muse (2016) lacks the subtle element of magical realism that lent a mysterious aura to the dollhouse and the titular miniaturist who furnished it in her debut novel,
September 5th, 2016. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Jessie Burton | Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon’s Gentlemen of the Road (2007) is a swashbuckling historical fiction about a pair of Jewish vagabonds in 10th century Khazaria. Amran is a large Abyssinian, while Zelikman is a somber doctor who explains that he does not save the lives of his patients — he only “prolongs their futility.” We meet our heroes in the midst of a con game and the two rogues soon find themselves in the middle of a royal plot.
June 22nd, 2016. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 3 | Michael Chabon | Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)
Though they are a far cry from the HARRY POTTER series, J. K. Rowling’s CORMORAN STRIKE novels still possess the same storytelling magic. Rowling’s ability to capture an audience, to evoke a character so vivid they become real, triumphs in her crime series.
Sending a leg to the office of Coromoran Strike is surely the most conspicuous way to get the detective’s attention. Strike is famously an amputee himself, and when he realises the leg is accompanied by a note bearing the lyrics tattooed on his mother’s body,
April 28th, 2016. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 4.5 | J.K. Rowling | Edge | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)
The second novel in Robert Galbraith’s crime series is, in large part, a musing on the nature of writing itself. This is all the more poignant when you consider the Galbraith is none other than the (far less obscure) J.K. Rowling herself. The eponymous silkworm was said to be boiled alive to extract its precious silk threads in tact; a metaphor for the writer, it seems, who has to “go through the agonies to get at the good stuff.” Sound gruesome?
April 26th, 2016. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 3 | J.K. Rowling | Edge | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson
Those who have read Jeanette Winterson before may not be surprised by Sexing the Cherry. Those who haven’t, or who have only read Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (as I had) may wonder what on earth they have got themselves into. It is a weird story, a surreal experience, and it is meant to be so.
In Sexing the Cherry Winterson celebrates the power of the imagination.
April 18th, 2016. Katie Burton´s rating: 4 | Jeanette Winterson | Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Doctor Therne by H. Rider Haggard
Hard as it may be to believe, there was a time in English history when the populace vigorously refused to be protected against the smallpox scourge that so often ravaged the countryside. Indeed, to this day in the 21st century, there are still many people around the world who view vaccination against disease an unsafe practice, and refuse to partake of its proven benefits. Back in 1796, when English doctor Edward Jenner first demonstrated the usefulness of introducing cowpox into an individual to prevent smallpox,
April 15th, 2016. Sandy Ferber | H. Rider Haggard | Edge, Free!, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Version Control by Dexter Palmer
“Knowledge is a big subject. Ignorance is bigger… And it is more interesting.” ~Stuart Firestein
Dexter Palmer’s Version Control is my kind of science fiction. I loved every moment of this book. The story is set in the near future and focuses on Rebecca Wright and her small circle of family and friends. Rebecca, who drinks wine at breakfast and works from home as a customer service agent for an online matchmaking company called Lovability,
March 15th, 2016. Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Dexter Palmer | Audio, Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 12 comments |
Previous SFF Author: C.M. Eddy_Jr
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…