Previous SFF Author: Michael A. Stackpole
These are stand alone novels (not part of a series).
Heroics for Beginners by John Moore
This is one of my favourite fantasy books ever. It might not have the epic scope of The Lord Of The Rings, nor the immersive quality of Feist’s Riftwar Saga, but what it does have going for it it has in spades: it’s very clever. This is The Hitch Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy of fantasy novels. Forget Terry Pratchett, Tom Holt, and Robert Rankin. John Moore is far funnier.
January 31st, 2009. Guest´s rating: 5 | John Moore | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
In the Forests of Serre by Patricia McKillip
Patricia A. McKillip once more takes us into her intricate and ornate imagination with In the Forests of Serre, which has the feeling of an old fairytale that McKillip has discovered in some old book and fleshed-out for us in her unique style of writing. Combining several components from various myths and legends, (predominantly the Firebird and a witch who bears more than a passing resemblance to the Russian Baba Yaga), In the Forests of Serre is a book that McKillip’s fans will find to their liking.
January 30th, 2009. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Patricia McKillip | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
My favorite novel by J.V. Jones is The Barbed Coil, a stand-alone novel set in both 20th century Earth and a strange and distant world. It begins in a most unusual manner, and I didn’t think it would work for me, but I read on, and I was glad I did.
Tessa McCamfrey suffers from tinnitus, or a ringing in her ears. She is never entirely free of it, but at certain periods of her life she suffers from especially bad spells.
January 26th, 2009. Tia Nevitt (guest)´s rating: 4.5 | J.V. Jones | Stand-Alone | 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 |
At first glance, Rocket Science might seem like a very short read at under 200 pages, but Jay Lake makes every word count. Set in a post-World War II Kansas, the novel starts off with a mundane premise but as one progresses through the book, Lake slowly adds an additional element of conflict so that by the time you reach the end, Rocket Science is a great novel about conspiracies, betrayal, family, friendship, and adventure.
Lake’s language is simple enough,
December 18th, 2008. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 3.5 | Jay Lake | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Finders Keepers by Linnea Sinclair
I enjoyed Ann Aguirre’s Grimspace so much that I thought I ought to start looking into this whole “romantic” sci-fi thing. It all seemed so right up my alley. And I’d seen Linnea Sinclair listed as an author of this type of work, and Finders Keepers sounded interesting.
Finders Keepers is undoubtedly a romance novel with spaceships and laser rifles (no lightsabers). No matter how you shake it,
November 19th, 2008. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 1.5 | Linnea Sinclair | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Into the Green by Charles de Lint
What a strange little book. That was the first thought that crossed my head after I closed Into the Green. It concerns the adventures of Angharad, a tinker-woman who is also ‘Summerborn’, which means that she has a mystical gift that connects her with the realm of Faerie, better known in this world as ‘the Green’. Traveling the three islands that make up her Celtic-flavoured world, Angharad’s mission in life is to awaken other potential Summerborns to their dormant gift and prevent the magic of the Green from leaking out of the world through her singing,
October 5th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 2 | Charles De_Lint | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A beautiful fairytale for the YA reader, Chalice is a very loose reinterpretation of a Beauty and the Beast story. Mirasol is a beekeeper who is forced to become the Chalice for her demesne after the previous Chalice and Master are killed in an accident. Her role is to bind her abused land back together and to the new Master, a Priest of Fire, a being who isn’t quite human and can burn both the land and human flesh with the barest touch.
September 18th, 2008. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 3.5 | Robin McKinley | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
As much as I love reading fairytales, there’s always the sense that I’m only getting half of the story. There’s never any character development, explanations on where those magical artifacts come from, or why the bad guys act so villainous beyond the fairly rudimentary: “they’re evil.” In fairytales, things just happen, with little or no back-story.
Which is why I’ve always appreciated authors who consider the missing pieces to any fairytale and fill them accordingly with their own ideas. Donna Jo Napoli has built her career on this technique,
September 1st, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Helen Lowe | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Situation by Jeff Vandermeer
I’m a big fan of both Jeff VanderMeer and PS Publishing, so imagine my surprise when I found a copy of The Situation in my hard drive, a giveaway from Wired that I had downloaded but forgotten, mainly because it wasn’t in my immediate must-be-read-for-review-or-else-we’ll-send-ninjas queue. The first scene immediately hooked me, evoking a New Weird atmosphere as corporate drones created insects that crawled into your ears and conjured nightmares, all the while being quite readable instead of the overwhelming details that characterize China Mieville‘s NEW CROBUZON novels.
August 26th, 2008. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 3.5 | Jeff VanderMeer | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Previous SFF Author: Michael A. Stackpole
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Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
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