Previous SFF Author: Michael A. Stackpole
These are stand alone novels (not part of a series).
The Shores of Another Sea by Chad Oliver
1961 was something of a banner year for Cincinnati-born sci-fi author Chad Oliver. In the first part of that year, having already released four novels of anthropological science fiction, he received his Ph.D. in anthropology at UCLA, a degree that would help him become an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin two years later, and the Chairman of the Dept. of Anthropology there in 1967. And in the latter part of 1961,
April 10th, 2023. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 5 | Chad Oliver | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older
Malka Older’s 2023 novella, The Mimicking of Known Successes, gives us a Sherlock-Holmes-like mystery-adventure set on Jupiter. The extraterrestrial locale is more than merely a setting; it’s part of the plot of this charming SF mystery romp.
When humans finally rendered Earth uninhabitable, they moved to other planets in the solar system; at least to Jupiter, which is called Giant. The surface of Giant is also uninhabitable, but engineered bands encircle the planet at the point where atmosphere and gravity allow for human life (with obvious adjustments).
April 7th, 2023. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Malka Older | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Shadows in the Sun by Chad Oliver
Although it’s been almost seven years since I read Chad Oliver’s masterful fourth novel, Unearthly Neighbors (1960), such are the evocative atmosphere and compelling alien depictions in that book that I still manage to remember it quite well. And indeed, Unearthly Neighbors just might be the most convincingly realistic description of “first contact” on another world that a reader could ever hope to encounter.
March 31st, 2023. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | Chad Oliver | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse
The setting in Rebecca Roanhorse’s 2022 novella Tread of Angels is eerie and vivid, like a strange dream, both ethereal and concretely described. The conceit of this world is wonderful and I would like to read more stories set here. This particular one was disappointing, with fairly flat characters acting out a familiar plot.
Long ago, the battle of the rebel angels against heaven actually took place. In the setting of the story, Lucifer’s great general Abaddon was vanquished and fell to earth.
March 24th, 2023. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Rebecca Roanhorse | Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Super Barbarians by John Brunner
Ever since the mid-15th century, and continuing on for some 600 years now and counting, coffee has been one of planet Earth’s favorite beverages. Today, I believe, it holds the No. 3 spot, with only water itself and tea being consumed more frequently. But whether taken black or light, as an espresso or cappuccino, with sugar or not, the fact remains that the men and women of our 21st century drink something on the order of 2.25 billion cups a day, or over 800 billion cups a year.
March 14th, 2023. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | John Brunner | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Yellow Jessamine by Caitlin Starling
Having thoroughly enjoyed Caitlin Starling’s 2019 novel The Luminous Dead, I was very happy to learn that I wouldn’t have to wait long to read more of her work.
Yellow Jessamine (2020), Starling’s new novella, is completely different from The Luminous Dead but similarly features creepy atmosphere, a background of family trauma, and relationships filled with dysfunctional tension and longing.
Evelyn Perdanu is a wealthy woman in the city of Delphinium,
March 13th, 2023. Kelly Lasiter, Skye Walker and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Caitlin Starling | Horror, Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati
Clytemnestra (2023), as the style makes clear, is another entry in the ever-growing genre of Greek myth retellings. Casati does a nice job here of creating tension even within a well-known tale, and has several quite moving scenes, though the book’s somewhat flat style and — for me at least — odd choice of where to end, places it more in the middle tier of similar works.
After some a welcome family tree and large cast of characters that also serves to refresh a few details (who raped whom,
March 7th, 2023. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Costanza Casati | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Atlantic Abomination by John Brunner
In his 1953 novel The Kraken Wakes, English author John Wyndham gave his readers a tale concerning aliens who land on Earth and proceed to terrorize the planet from their bases on the ocean floor. But this, of course, was not the last time that a British writer would regale his readers with a story about malevolent space visitors living beneath the seas. Thus, in John Brunner’s novel of seven years later,
March 6th, 2023. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | John Brunner | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth
Arch-Conspirator (2023), by Veronica Roth, is a tautly written reimagining of Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone. While some will probably wish for a bit more world-building detail and deeper development of some themes, fans of the novella form will find a lot to like here.
Set in a post-apocalyptic, far-future refuge where the land outside the story’s locale is uninhabitable, it’s a world whose population rests on a knife’s edge of survival and so has chosen to lessen the chance of extinction by mandating births (“It didn’t matter if a person wanted a child or not … If they were viable … they were required to carry a child,
February 21st, 2023. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Veronica Roth | Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Secret Skin by Wendy N. Wagner
There are so many scary things in Wendy N. Wagner’s short 2021 novella, The Secret Skin. There is the nasty housekeeper who gives the nasty housekeeper in Rebecca a run for her money. There is the leering, unpleasant overseer of the Vogel family sawmill. There is Abigail, a deeply disturbed little girl who may be telekinetic. There is the “community meeting” of the white men in the nearby town of Coos Bay, Oregon, and their white robes and hoods.
February 16th, 2023. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Wendy N. Wagner | Horror, Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Previous SFF Author: Michael A. Stackpole
I really enjoyed this book. The lack of melodrama (as "plot") was a feature, not a bug, I think. Parts…
good points Mariion-. I actually had meant to talk about the ham radio but the review was getting long (I…
You got your review up before I could even write one. I loved this book--one of my favorite reads of…
Hey, any book with a ghost, a goat girl AND a vampire can't be all bad, right?
Whoa! Cool.