Previous SFF Author: Martin L. Shoemaker
Barren (2018) is a novella-length (just over 130 pages in my ARC version) story that answers some questions left after the conclusion of Peter V. Brett’s DEMON CYCLE series. Specifically, what happened back at Tibbet’s Brook, the small village that was home to Arlen Bales and Renna Tanner, two of the protagonists of the Cycle.
The first point I want to make has more to do with marketing and target audience than the book itself.
September 24th, 2018. Bill Capossere, Jana Nyman and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Peter V. Brett | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Black Druid by Frank Belknap Long
In my recent review of Frank Belknap Long’s short-story collection The Hounds of Tindalos, I mentioned that when this hardcover volume was initially released by Arkham House in 1946, it contained 21 tales, encompassing the genres of science fiction, fantasy and horror. I also mentioned that most later reprintings of this now classic collection contained only half of those 21 stories, including the 1975 edition that I recently wrote about; the one from the British publishing firm Panther.
September 20th, 2018. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | Frank Belknap Long | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Beyond the Stars: Unimagined Realms edited by Ellen Campbell & Patrice Fitzgerald
Beyond the Stars: Unimagined Realms (2018) is a space opera anthology released by Astral Books. I don’t know whether the realms in question are really unimagined. In some places they are pretty dimly lit.
A Lunar colony’s aroma of baking bread did enter into the narrative in “The Art of Baking Bread on the Moon” by David Bruns. Ah, fresh bread! But again, that’s more nostalgic.
My favorite story by some distance was “Adagio for Tiamat Station,” by Marion Deeds,
September 19th, 2018. Taya Okerlund´s rating: 3.5 | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Fright into Flight edited by Amber Fallon
2018’s Fright into Flight anthology, edited by Amber Fallon, contains a collection of stories written by women. Theoretically, each story deals with flight, although that definition is broad. Because this was published by Word Horde, I expected a horror anthology, but several of these stories aren’t horror, and one is straight-up fantasy. All but one of the stories is a reprint. “I Did it for the Art” by Izzy Lee, is original to this volume.
Here’s the table of contents:
“The Floating Girls: A Documentary,” by Damien Angelica Walters.
September 11th, 2018. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Our exploration of free and inexpensive short fiction available on the internet. Here are a few stories we’ve read that we wanted you to know about.
“Death and the Compass” by Jorge Luis Borges (1954, free online version)
When Edgar Allen Poe goes in for creating an all-divining detective, you get “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”; when Gene Wolfe does it, you get “The Detective of Dreams”; when Jorge Luis Borges does it, you end up with “Death and the Compass”. No disrespect to Poe or Wolfe,
September 10th, 2018. Nathan Okerlund, Tadiana Jones, Jana Nyman and Bill Capossere | Jorge Luis Borges, Lavie Tidhar | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
The Hounds of Tindalos by Frank Belknap Long
In my recent review of C. L. Moore’s Northwest Smith, I mentioned in passing that the author was a member of what has come to be known as the “Lovecraft Circle” — a group of authors who not only regularly corresponded with the “Sage of Providence,” but who were encouraged by Lovecraft himself to write to one another and critique their fellows’ work. Other writers in this loose-knit fraternity included Henry Kuttner (Moore’s future husband and collaborator),
September 7th, 2018. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | Frank Belknap Long | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day by Seanan McGuire
Seanan McGuire’s novella Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day (2017) is a sensitive tale of love, loss, and regret — the kind that haunts people, turns them into ghosts, makes them flee thousands of miles from their homes, makes them linger somewhere long after it’s time for them to leave.
In 1972, Jenna Pace’s older sister Patty committed suicide in New York City, far away from her family home in Mill Hollow,
August 29th, 2018. Jana Nyman, Tadiana Jones and Skye Walker´s rating: 3.5, 5 | Seanan McGuire | Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Our exploration of free and inexpensive short fiction available on the internet. Here are a few stories we’ve read that we wanted you to know about.
“Welcome to Your Authentic Indian ExperienceTM” by Rebecca Roanhorse (2017, free at Apex Magazine, $2.99 Kindle magazine issue)
Accolades have been pouring down on this 2017 SF short story, which won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, and is also a Sturgeon Award nominee, a Locus Recommended Short Story, a Apex Magazine Reader’s Choice Winner. Additionally, Rebecca Roanhorse won the Hugo’s John W.
August 27th, 2018. Tadiana Jones, Kat Hooper and Sandy Ferber | C.L. Moore, Henry Kuttner, Jeff VanderMeer, Rebecca Roanhorse, S.B. Divya | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Jirel of Joiry by C.L. Moore
Just recently, I had some words to say regarding the stories that Golden Age sci-fi/fantasy author C.L. Moore placed in Weird Tales magazine, during the 1930s, that dealt with the futuristic smuggler/spaceman Northwest Smith. But as most fans of Catherine Lucille Moore will readily tell you, Smith was not the only character from this beloved writer who made semiregular appearances in the legendary pulp that decade. From October ’34 until April ’39, Moore also regaled readers with a wholly different character: Jirel of Joiry.
August 22nd, 2018. Sandy Ferber and Rob Rhodes´s rating: 5 | C.L. Moore | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Dead Men Can’t Complain and Other Stories by Peter Clines
I love Peter Clines’ weird ideas and a short story collection seems the perfect way to experience a bunch of them. I found Dead Men Can’t Complain and Other Stories (2017) at Audible. At this moment there is no print version of this collection, but the audio version, with narration by two of my favorite readers (Ray Porter and Ralph Lister) is excellent and well worth picking up. It’s only 5 hours long.
August 20th, 2018. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Peter Clines | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Previous SFF Author: Martin L. Shoemaker
Thanks for the kind words, Ira! Much appreciated!
Fine review
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!