Previous SFF Author: E.C. Myers
The Uncertain Places by Lisa Goldstein
The Uncertain Places by Lisa Goldstein is the story of a family haunted by a long-ago pact with the fairies. Like all fairy tales, it’s also a story about human problems, so it’s easy to find yourself within these pages even if mysterious beings have never cleaned your house in the middle of the night.
In 1971, Berkeley students Will and Ben go to visit the eccentric Feierabend family who live in a rambling house in Napa Valley.
August 1st, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4.5 | Lisa Goldstein | Mythopoeic Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Solstice Wood by Patricia McKillip
Solstice Wood is a sequel (of sorts) to Patricia McKillip‘s earlier novel Winter Rose. The latter book is a dark and intricate fairytale based on the ballad of Tam Lin, in which a young girl attempts to free her love from the designs of a faerie queen. Though still set in the mountains around Lynn Hall, Solstice Wood takes place hundreds of years later, as contemporary men and women deal with the repercussions of Rois Melior’s dealings with the fey-folk.
November 27th, 2010. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Patricia McKillip | Mythopoeic Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Little, Big: or, The Fairies’ Parliament by John Crowley
“All Part of the Tale. Don’t Ask Me How…”
This review is going to be well-nigh impossible to write, as the subject matter is so impossible to describe. Well, John Crowley’s Little, Big is definitely a book. That’s a good start. But the second I try to narrow down rudimentary elements like plot and character, my brain gets a bit fuzzy. It’s about a family. And a house. And how this family lives in the house which is situated on the borders of another world which sometimes intrudes upon their own,
September 8th, 2010. Rebecca Fisher and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4, 4.5 | John Crowley | Audio, Mythopoeic Award, Stand-Alone, World Fantasy Award | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers
I thought I was sick unto death of vampire novels until I read this one. The Stress of Her Regard reminds me of Anne Rice at her best, some years ago, except with more action and less description of the carpeting.
The story centers around the nephelim, Lilith’s brood. Seductive, serpentine, and deadly, they are succubi and vampires, draining blood and vitality from their hosts even as they inspire them to creativity. One of these beings attaches itself to Byron and Shelley’s circle of expatriate poets,
June 12th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Tim Powers | Mythopoeic Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Waking the Moon by Elizabeth Hand
I’m on either my third or fourth copy of Waking the Moon, I can’t remember which. I first read it eleven years ago, loaned it to everyone I thought might be remotely interested, sometimes didn’t get it back, and never felt quite right when I didn’t have it on my shelf. This is one of my Desert Island Books.
The plot revolves around Sweeney Cassidy, an insecure college freshman who goes wild in her first semester away from home.
April 13th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 5 | Elizabeth Hand | Mythopoeic Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Anyone who’s read my review of Flesh and Spirit knows that I was a little bit disappointed in some aspects of the book (I maintain that this is due to the fact that Carol Berg has left me a spoiled, fussy fantasy reader). So how did Ms. Berg do this time around?
Okay, fair enough, Breath and Bone starts a little slow. This isn’t a huge surprise, since the story is more like one book broken into two,
July 15th, 2009. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 4.5 | Carol Berg | Mythopoeic Award | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Ombria in Shadow by Patricia A. McKillip
Like all of Patricia McKillip‘s books, Ombria in Shadow is a dreamy, intricate tale, made memorable by her distinctive poetic prose. Symbols, circumstances and meanings can be interpreted on any number of deeper levels, making her books ones to be savored and re-read. If you are a lover of eloquent poetry and subtle imagery, then let Ombria in Shadow be the first of McKillip’s range of stories to let you drift away on language that must have been meticulously chosen in order to create a sense of faery and dreaming.
January 4th, 2009. Rebecca Fisher and Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Patricia McKillip | Mythopoeic Award, Stand-Alone, World Fantasy Award | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Neil Gaiman+ Lenny Henry = Twice the Entertainment
I like Neil Gaiman’s style — his writing is easy, intelligent, well-edited, dryly humorous, and just plain charming.
Anansi Boys is no exception, and it’s especially charming in audio format, thanks to Lenny Henry, an English stand-up comedian whose deep rich voice and character comedy is absolutely perfect for this novel which is based on the African/Caribbean mythology of the trickster spider god Anansi (introduced in American Gods). Henry’s voices are brilliant (especially the old Caribbean women) and he had me literally smiling nearly all the way through the story.
March 25th, 2008. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Neil Gaiman | Audio, Mythopoeic Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
THE ORPHAN’S TALES by Catherynne M. Valente
I haven’t read any fantasy quite like Catherynne M. Valente’s The Orphan’s Tales duology. This is the story of a young orphan girl who is shunned because of the dark smudges that appeared on her eyelids when she was a baby. She lives alone in a sultan’s garden because people think she’s a demon and nobody will claim her. However, one of the young sons of the sultan, a curious fellow, finds her in the garden and asks her about her dark eyes. She explains that there are wonderful stories written on her eyelids and that a spirit has told her she must read and tell the stories;
November 12th, 2007. Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Catherynne M. Valente | Mythopoeic Award | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Go, And Catch a Falling Star…
If you like fantasy stories filled with magic, adventure and romance, but are getting sick and tired of boring, long-winded fantasy epics, then look no further than Stardust. There are no long histories, family trees or endless descriptions of culture, landscapes and back-story. This is just a sweet, simple fairytale told by a great storyteller. Though be warned — the original fairytales were not written for children, and Stardust follows in their literary footsteps,
September 25th, 2007. Rebecca Fisher, Rob Rhodes, Ray McKenzie, Kat Hooper and Stuart Starosta´s rating: 5 | Neil Gaiman | Audio, Film / TV, Mythopoeic Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
Previous SFF Author: E.C. Myers
There were two interesting articles about publishing that I ran across, the first via a link in the second: No…
My pleasure, Robin! And yes, it surely is some kind of an experience, to be sure....
Thanks for the solution to a mystery many decades old. One of my favourite novels, this. Hilariously funny, completely unpredictable,…
Thank you. I’m all caught up. Back to reading Crimson Embers.
Enjoyed your review. I’m reading A War in Crimson Embers and am having the hardest time reminding myself where everybody…