| Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews

WWWednesday: May 14, 2014

The biggest news to hit the Internet in the last few weeks has been the addition of two wonderful new members to the happy family here at Fantasy Literature. Sandy Ferber is a name that readers who frequently visit the site will recognize, as Sandy has been a guest reviewer for a long time now; we’re delighted to have him as a full-timer. And Kate Lechler is someone we simply picked off the blogosphere because we liked her word-wielding. Please join us in welcoming them both!

And after that,

May 14th, 2014. Terry Weyna | World Wide Wednesday | 6 comments |

The Fire Rose: A Beauty and the Beast retelling

The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey

Mercedes Lackey’s ELEMENTAL MASTERS is a series of ten (so far) novels that take place on an alternate Earth where some people are born with the ability to learn to control fire, water, air, or earth. Each book is also a fairytale retelling, though you may not notice that if you’re not looking for it in the story.

The first ELEMENTAL MASTERS novel, The Fire Rose, is based on “Beauty and the Beast” and is set in 1905-1906 San Francisco.

Authority: A must-read and a must-reread

Authority by Jeff VanderMeer

I just finished reading Jeff VanderMeer’s Authority, the second book in his SOUTHERN REACH trilogy. When I reviewed the first book, Annihilation, Kat (our tyrannical managing editor, in case you didn’t know) butted into my review because she didn’t like what I originally wrote and she made me change it. I’m expecting her to do the same thing here, so if you see any bold red text, that will be her. She likes to talk in bold red.

Red Eve: A red-blooded historical adventure

Red Eve by H. Rider Haggard

For his 37th work of fiction, H. Rider Haggard, the so-called “father of the lost-race novel” and an expert at writing historical adventure tales as well, decided to go back to the Dark Ages. Red Eve, which Haggard wrote in a six-month period from 1908-1909, was ultimately published in 1911, and turns out to be yet another winner from this wonderful storyteller.

In it, we meet Hugh de Cressi, a merchant’s son who is in love with “Red Eve” Clavering,

The Heavens Rise: New Orleans may be the best setting for a horror novel

The Heavens Rise by Christopher Rice

New Orleans may be the best setting for a horror novel ever invented. Cypress trees and the dark water of interminable swamps are a spooky background for Christopher Rice’s story about rape, snakes and mind control in The Heavens Rise, one of the nominees for this year’s Bram Stoker Award for best novel.

Niquette Delongpre — Nikki — is a gorgeous teenage girl, the toast of her high school. She and Anthem Landry have been an item for three years before Marshall Ferriot figures out a way to break them up and move in himself.

The Master of the World: One of Jules Verne’s last novels

The Master of the World by Jules Verne

First published in French in 1904 and in English in 1911, The Master of the World is another of Jules Verne’s adventure novels with an SFF twist. It’s a sequel to Robur the Conqueror, though it’s not necessary to have read that book first (I didn’t). The story is set in 1903 and, as so many of Verne’s novels do, features fantastical machines and gadgetry. It should be of particular interest to those who love steampunk and to Verne’s fans who want to read one of the author’s last novels.

Thorns: The new maturity of Robert Silverberg

Thorns by Robert Silverberg

Although Robert Silverberg had been a prodigiously published author prior to 1967, that year is often spoken of as being something of a watershed time for him. Before then, the author had written no less than two dozen sci-fi novels, starting with 1954’s Revolt on Alpha C not to mention dozens upon dozens of short stories (over 80 in 1958 alone, according to a certain Wiki site). But in 1967, a new maturity and literary quality entered Silverberg’s works, to the surprise of both his fans and fellow writers.

The Red: First Light: A Parade of Ideas

The Red: First Light by Linda Nagata

James Shelley, the main character of Linda Nagata’s Nebula-nominated novel The Red: First Light, is the high-drama leader of a Linked Combat Squad or LCS. It is Shelley’s opinion, shared at length with his squad, that “there has to be a war somewhere,” and that these wars are consciously orchestrated by the cabal of defense contractors who grow mega-rich off military contracts.

Shelley and his squad are linked to each other via communication implants;

May 9th, 2014. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Linda Nagata | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Neptune’s Brood: Financepunk

Neptune’s Brood by Charles Stross

Krina Alizond-114, a metahuman, is worried because Ana, one of her sibs, has gone missing. It’s not that Krina cares much about her sisters — they’re all just the spawn (and, anagrammatically, the pawns) of their scary overbearing mother and, besides, metahumans don’t have all that mushy emotional stuff that so frequently hijacked the thought processes of the “Fragile” race of homo sapiens that created them. The problem is that together Ana and Krina hold the key to a vast fortune and, if Ana disappears,

Thoughtful Thursday: Favorite debut authors

Generally, the first time we humans do something, we don’t do it well. My college roommate’s first time doing laundry on his own?

“But my mom put bleach in all the time.”
“No. No, she really didn’t.”

First time driving a clutch?

“ I can make that yellow light at the top of the hill.”
“No, you can’t. And it’s good practice to shift on a—”
Acceleration. Horns. Squealing. Maybe a scream.
“See? Told you I could make it.”

First time… well, we’ll stop there.

May 8th, 2014. Bill Capossere | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 10 comments |

Images

WWWednesday: May 14, 2014

The Fire Rose: A Beauty and the Beast retelling

Authority: A must-read and a must-reread

Red Eve: A red-blooded historical adventure

The Heavens Rise: New Orleans may be the best setting for a horror novel

The Master of the World: One of Jules Verne’s last novels

Thorns: The new maturity of Robert Silverberg

The Red: First Light: A Parade of Ideas

Neptune’s Brood: Financepunk

Thoughtful Thursday: Favorite debut authors

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