http://www.sfsite.com/ The new issue of the SF Site is now online. Copyright 1996-2010 SF Site en-us http://www.sfsite.com/images/sfspot1.gif http://www.sfsite.com/ http://www.sfsite.com/06b/ln226.htm Fri, 16 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT The novel deals with the stuff of myth and legend. Desire and lust, self-sacrifice and the desire to merge into a greater whole are the essence of Jalaeka, the seemingly god-like character who draws all the other characters towards him and into his goals and plans. And it all takes place within a thoroughly hard science fiction framework, a landscape determined by the mathematics of string theory, with beings beyond human comprehension capable of manipulating space and time in all eleven dimensions. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/pa226.htm Fri, 16 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT This new novel is old again. That is, it's quite explicitly, indeed exuberantly, in the mold of planetary romances such as Edgar Rice Burroughs's Mars books, Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon serials, and Leigh Brackett's work. And, as the author reminds us, the television series Land of the Lost. He also includes buried references to many other SF books and grounds his story in at least vaguely plausible speculative science. The end result is quite a lot of fun. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/gf226.htm Fri, 16 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT The stated intent is to publish quarterly, with each issue offering at least one of the poems in both text and downloadable sound file of the author's reading of the poem -- a laudable idea, to be sure. The first issue has only ten original short poems, of which you may hear four being read by their respective authors. Regrettably, Neil only found one of those readings added to his enjoyment of the poetry, and that was Mike Allen's reading of his excellent poem "Sisyphus Walks." http://www.sfsite.com/06b/ag226.htm Fri, 16 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT Gillie, aka Captain Gillian Devre, has several problems, not the least of which is that she has lost 342 years of her life. One minute she's fighting in a war, enters riftspace on the tail of an enemy vessel, and then she's thrown through a freak hole in time/space, ending up more than three centuries hence. Her second big surprise is, during the lapsed years, she has become a goddess, the patron saint of the Star Fleet, an object of worship. Goddesses don't swill beer and play billiards in seedy space bars, and she wasn't the saint the religious texts claimed she was. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/c8226.htm Fri, 16 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT Some people camp out overnight to snatch up a copy of the latest Harry Potter adventure; Lisa moons around her post office now, waiting for the next issue. The strange thing is, no matter how high her expectations are, the magazine always exceeds them. There truly is no other magazine out there that brings readers the kind of stories you see in every issue of Crimewave. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/cc226.htm Fri, 16 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT When the peaceful land of Florengia is invaded by bloodlord Stralg and his horde of crazed Werist soldiers, the city of Celebre is among the first to fall, and the doge is forced to give up his four children as hostages. Fifteen years later, amid rumours the doge is about to die, those hostages suddenly become strategically important. One hostage will be selected and sent back to Celebre to be installed as a puppet ruler, and the others must be killed. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/xy226.htm Fri, 16 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT "Is it love, or just another psychotic episode?" This question is posed on the back cover of this enigmatic little book, and it expresses the main theme of the auhtor's first collection; you may find yourself asking it as you read many of the stories. http://www.sfsite.com/books/new226.htm Fri, 16 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT So far this month, books newly arrived at the SF Site office include the latest from Charles Stross, Ursula Le Guin, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Terry Brooks, Robert Rankin, Ramsey Campbell, Charles de Lint, and many more. No shortage of reading material for the summer months ahead. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/dp226.htm Fri, 16 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT All her life, Princess Contessa of Costenopolie has been raised as a proper princess should, well-versed in fashion, diplomacy, politics, and shopping. However, she's also been trained quite thoroughly in how to protect herself. Tess has never thought much about it, really. Being a princess is a dangerous job, and sometimes a girl has to protect herself. However, every skill Tess has learned still won't prepare her for the tasks at hand when her entire world is turned inside out, and her very identity revealed as a lie. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick226.htm Fri, 16 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT Rick asks what happened to the six new SF and fantasy shows that premiered on TV in Fall 2005? http://www.sfsite.com/06b/gk226.htm Fri, 16 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT Some of us are fortunate enough to have had that grandmother or aunt with a house full of fascinating things to discover as well as all sorts of family stories to tell. While the history in these books spans close to nine centuries, they capture the essence of such a time in a child's life when an unfettered imagination, a locale which invites exploration, and an older adult present to pass on the historical continuity of the family and locale, combine in a life-affirming and altering experience. http://www.sfsite.com/gary/intro.htm Thu, 1 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT Gary Westfahl's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Film has been a part of SF Site since March 2000. In that time, Gary has added more than 120 entries including the latest about Arthur C. Clarke and James Whale. Now, his site has been expanded to include samples of his columns, articles, reference materials and reviews. You'll also find a list of his wide-ranging contributions to science fiction from his academic writing to his televison appearances. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/bj225.htm Thu, 1 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT This short story collection is quite inexplicably classified as juvenile fiction. Though the author is perhaps closer to Angela Carter (to whom she is often compared) than Ray Bradbury, they do share the same strange landscapes just once removed from everyday reality, frequently seen through the eyes of an adolescent narrator, or involving an adolescent protagonist. But, like Bradbury, the subject matter is hardly limited to adolescence and one suspects that those who consider this "juvenile" fiction "safe" for younger readers probably haven't read it. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/sb225.htm Thu, 1 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT The book is a neat little magical mystery tour through Celtic myth and legend, taking a detour through the realms of True Love and True Love Thwarted and True Love Lost, a story of choices and of what they mean for other people and not only the chooser. There is mysticism and whimsy, following the lives of three American women with vastly different reasons to be in the weird little Scottish town of Appleton. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/si225.htm Thu, 1 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT The frozen world of Nevya experiences summer but once every five years, with the coming of a second sun known as the Visitor. The Nevyans are therefore dependent on quiru, the magical fields of light and heat generated by Singers. Mreen has just qualified as a Cantrix, and will shortly travel to the House of Tarus, where she will provide quiru for the inhabitants. Her quiru are exceptionally strong, such that a nimbus of light surrounds her constantly, but she is mute. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/sm225.htm Thu, 1 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT Commander Wilson Cole is witty, arrogant, sarcastic, entertaining as hell and almost always right. The book is filled with potshots at the military, particularly dealing with internal politics and public relations. It's also the story of a war hero, hated by his superiors, loved by the public; a man demoted for his success at ignoring stupid orders in order to save the day. Wilson Cole carries his mantle brilliantly, a soldier fighting the "bad guys," while trying to avoid being hamstrung by his superiors. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/wl225.htm Thu, 1 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT The single characteristic of Lawrence Watt-Evans's books that has strikes one most insistently over time is the way he features basically ordinary people in heroic roles. This doesn't mean nebbishes or losers: for the most part his heroes are fairly heroic, but they are heroic for reasons that make sense for regular people. The Wizard Lord is a practically perfect example of this. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/sc225.htm Thu, 1 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT There definitely should be more anthologies of comic book stories, especially if the high standards of this new book can be equaled. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/ap225.htm Thu, 1 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT The book is set unimaginably far in the future, when mankind has spread across the stars and is contemplating immortality and Earth is not even a distant memory; yet city scenes are described in terms of plate-glass windows, lifts, muzak, store fronts and the like. Cars fly, but they are described and treated just like the cars on our roads. The author tricks his novel out with all sorts of futuristic paraphernalia, aliens and robots and spaceships, but then layers them over a world that, visually and socially, is indistinguishable from late twentieth century America. Of course, all of this could be ironic. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/hd225.htm Thu, 1 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT "Well, the way I always think about modernism is that in the 18th and 19th century you've got two big, warring aesthetics: rationalism and romanticism. And to me, modernism is where these two come together. It's the battleground between these two aesthetics. Even Wells' fiction was rationalist romance. The writers Wells, Jules Verne and, to some extent, Edgar Allan Poe can be seen as romanticists. But at the same time, you can see them as rationalist. Or think of H.P. Lovecraft: a lot of people read Lovecraft and think of his "Elder Gods" as supernatural beings. But Lovecraft himself was a complete nihilist. He made a point of the fact that he did not believe in God. " http://www.sfsite.com/06a/tc225.htm Thu, 1 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT The Company novels, beginning with In the Garden of Iden, are among the best examples in current science fiction of a series of individual works that taken together add up to a larger, more comprehensive whole. This one is a look below the shiny surface of the Company and its time-travelling agents seeking lost historical artifacts into the life of one of the immortals, Executive Facilitator General Labienus, and his quest for power. http://www.sfsite.com/books/new225.htm Thu, 1 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT Well, there's quite a teetering stack of new and forthcoming books in the SF Site office right now, including the latest from Charles de Lint, Morgan Llywelyn, Justina Robson, Naomi Novik, Steve Cash, Steven Erikson, and many more. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/me225.htm Thu, 1 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT This book is the fourth in the Rabid Transit series of anthologies. If you haven't encountered the other three, you may not be sure what to expect; but the cover blurb promises that the stories "show different ways to break out of the conventions of the shopworn story." This should interest you in seeing what the authors had come up with. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/xm225.htm Thu, 1 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT The third X-Men movie is the best so far, which is saying a lot considering how good the first two were. You may be afraid the new director and writers would not maintain the quality -- as has happened with other threequels -- but have no fear, true believer. The writers know their Marvel comics. They pick the best stuff from hundreds of issues and weave it into a seamless whole. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick225.htm Thu, 1 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT Rick offers his thoughts on watching old TV series like Twilight Zone and Laugh-In versus today's series. He also gives us a list of what to watch on TV in June. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/hm225.htm Thu, 1 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT As the Napoleonic Wars rage on, the captain of the British ship, HMS Reliant, one Will Laurence accidentally gets swept up in events far greater than his own everyday experiences could ever have anticipated. The capture of a French frigate yields up a truly extraordinary prize: an unhatched dragon egg of unknown origins. When the egg hatches en route to a friendly port, the dragon within chooses to bond with Will, creating an unlikely partnership and the beginnings of a legendary friendship. http://www.sfsite.com/rssfeeds01.htm Sat, 1 Jan 2005 11:00:00 GMT After constructing our first RSS feed, it soon became apparent that the size of files could grow quickly. We decided to separate them into smaller ones, breaking them up by month. On this page you will find RSS feed files for all of our content beginning with January 2005.