Previous SFF Author: Martin L. Shoemaker
The Women of Weird Tales by Greye La Spina, Everil Worrell, Mary Elizabeth Counselman and Eli Colter
If I were to ask you to name some of the famous writers who had work published in the pages of the legendary pulp magazine Weird Tales, odds are that you might reply with some of the following: H. P. Lovecraft, whose Cthulhu stories sprung up in Weird Tales; Robert E. Howard, who placed his Conan stories therein; Robert Bloch,
January 12th, 2021. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | Mary Elizabeth Counselman | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire
I’ve been hit and miss on Seanan McGuire’s WAYWARD CHILDREN portal series, finding some of the novellas lyrical and emotional and others frustratingly slapdash. Her newest, Across the Green Grass Fields (2021), unfortunately falls closer to the latter end of the spectrum.
As one expects by now, we have a young girl who steps through a doorway into another world. We meet Regan first at seven, part of a best friends trio with Heather Nelson and Laurel Anderson.
January 11th, 2021. Bill Capossere and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 2, 3.5 | Seanan McGuire | Short Fiction, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Bishop of Hell and Other Stories by Marjorie Bowen
At the tail end of my recent review of D. K. Broster’s Couching at the Door, I mentioned that I so enjoyed this volume of creepy stories that I was minded to immediately begin another book from British publisher Wordsworth Editions’ Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural division … and I’m so glad that I followed through on that! My latest discovery from this wide-ranging series is Marjorie Bowen’s The Bishop of Hell and Other Stories,
December 30th, 2020. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | Marjorie Bowen | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
A Very Scalzi Christmas by John Scalzi
I spent part of Christmas Day 2020 reading A Very Scalzi Christmas (2019), a (mostly) humorous collection of short Christmas-themed pieces by, naturally, John Scalzi. As Marion so aptly commented in her review of Scalzi’s highly similar collection Miniatures, “this collection of works does verge on the silly. It jumps the border of silly. It tap-dances and cartwheels through the world of silly, shrieking ‘Wheeeee!’ ” It’s the same in this case,
December 28th, 2020. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3 | John Scalzi | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Couching at the Door by D.K. Broster
Once again, I find myself thankful to the British publisher Wordsworth Editions, and in particular its Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural division, for turning me on to an author who I may not have ever discovered otherwise. In the past, I have written here of several other writers brought to my attention by this extensive and wonderful series of economically priced books: Ambrose Bierce in Terror By Night, Alice and Claude Askew in Aylmer Vance: Ghost-Seer,
December 15th, 2020. Sandy Ferber | D.K. Broster | Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
How to Fracture a Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen
One year after Tachyon Publications published The Emerald Circus, a collection of Jane Yolen‘s fantastical short stories based on various fairy tales and legendary people (both fictional and real), it has followed up with a similar collection, How to Fracture a Fairy Tale (2018). Like The Emerald Circus, this is a compilation of Yolen’s older, previously published stories, spiffed up with new author’s notes in which Yolen briefly discuss each story and how she “fractured” it with significant departures from its original source material.
December 4th, 2020. Tadiana Jones and Skye Walker´s rating: 0.1, 3 | Jane Yolen | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Serpentine (2020) is a tiny tale set in between the two trilogies that have defined Philip Pullman‘s writing career. Whilst at a mere seventy pages it may seem, by Pullman’s standards, brief, it plays a vital function in understanding the adventures the future Lyra will embark upon in the THE BOOK OF DUST.
A note from the author explains that the story was originally written 2004,
December 1st, 2020. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 4 | Philip Pullman | Short Fiction, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Reposting to include Marion’s new review.
Sleep Donation by Karen Russell
In the near future, an insomnia epidemic has struck the United States. It’s caused by a dysfunction in orexin and those who acquire it can’t sleep. Eventually, they die. But there is a therapy that can help prolong life and, in some cases, even cure people. Donors can contribute sleep to those afflicted with the disorder. Babies make the best donors because their sleep isn’t contaminated by nightmares.
Trish is the top recruiter for a charity organization that finds sleep donors.
November 24th, 2020. Kat Hooper and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Karen Russell | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
And Go Like This by John Crowley
I don’t usually pay attention to the media blurbs on the covers of books, but the Newsday quote on the cover of John Crowley’s And Go Like This (2019) so perfectly describes this story collection that I must share it:
“Transforms the lead of daily life into seriously dazzling artistic gold.”
“The lead of daily life” in these stories comes from mostly average people going about their mostly average lives.
November 2nd, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | John Crowley | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
To Hold Up the Sky by Cixin Liu
In my review of Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem, I stated I thought the novel had gone on too long and noted that while it wrestled with “a lot of big ideas … I just wished such questions had been surrounded by richer characterization and a defter writing style.” It turns out I had pretty much the exact same reaction to Liu’s recent collection of short stories, To Hold Up the Sky (2020).
October 19th, 2020. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Cixin Liu | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Previous SFF Author: Martin L. Shoemaker
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…