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/columns/best09.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Welcome to the SF Site's 12th annual Editors' Choice Top 10 Best Books of the Year -- our official Best Reading recommendations from 2008! As the votes came in for our official best read of the year, it seemed that our reviewers and other contributors were not reading very much of the same thing -- our tastes and preferences vary widely. In consequence, the results were very close. Nevertheless, I think you'll find that what we've come up with is a set of recommendations that will be sure to please. http://www.sfsite.com/02b/ss290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT This first book of a projected three, it is centered around Cinderella. The story opens not long after the happy ending, when new Princess Danielle is trying to adjust to castle life, after a long stretch being a slave to her wicked stepmonster and her two horrible daughters. In short order, one of the stepsisters, Charlotte, turns up to try to kill Danielle. That's not as surprising as the fact that the formerly lazy, slovenly Charlotte has suddenly got access to some heavy-duty magic. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/dave290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Reading and reviewing primarily short fiction for many years, it was a welcome change of pace in 2008 for Dave to find time to once again read more than the odd handful of novels. He read them for pure pleasure, hanging his critical hat on the peg by the door. Realizing that no short story or novel is perfect and has faults, Dave also remembered that to the average genre reader (newcomer or sophisticate), that what may be important to the critical machinery and its practitioners doesn't really matter to the average book buyer. They're in for a good read, and a good read can be experienced in many ways. http://www.sfsite.com/02b/sv290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT It's All Hallow's Eve in the bizarre alternate Manhattan where private detective John Justin Mallory has established himself over the past few years. He and his partner, the renowned hunter Winnifred Carruthers, are looking forward to the festivities. That is, until Mallory discovers that someone of a vampiric persuasion has been snacking on Winnifred, and said someone turns out to be her recently-arrived nephew. Well, that sort of thing just won't do. http://www.sfsite.com/02b/fd290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT The book, the first of the Monster Blood Tattoo series, tells the tale of Rossamund as he is selected for service with the Lamplighters (those who ensure that the lights of the empires roads never grow dim) and his journey to a distant city where he will be trained for his new job. The world he travels through could be described as Steampunk, but its technology owes more to Frankenstein than The Difference Engine. Perhaps Fleshpunk might be a better term. http://www.sfsite.com/02b/gg290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Very few fictional characters have seen their lives indefinitely prolonged by countless tales and books by various devoted followers as the mythical Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. Watson. This anthology assembles eleven new stories -- penned by a bunch of contemporary authors eager to revisit the classical characters and atmospheres created by Conan Doyle and graced by a number of black and white illustrations by Phil Cornell -- where the famous detective has to deal with the supernatural. http://www.sfsite.com/02b/jk290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Journey to Kailash is a handsomely designed book that brings together the very best of Mike Allen's poetry, collecting almost fifty speculative poems published over the last ten years in a variety of venues, several of which have been nominated for or have won the Rhysling Award. http://www.sfsite.com/02b/ro290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT No event in conspiracy history has ever topped Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. Whether you believe an alien space ship crashed, it was just a weather balloon, if the government covered it up or if it was just theories that have grown over the decades, the Roswell crash is part of our cultural consciousness. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/steven289.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Science fiction fans have always had a respect and understanding for the history of the genre. Unfortunately, science fiction has achieved such an age that each year sees our ranks diminished. Deaths in 2008 included Janet Kagan, Algis Budrys, Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Lynn Asprin, Tom Disch, Brian Thomsen, Barrington J. Bayley, Forrest J Ackerman, Leo Frankowski and Edd Cartier. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/booknews290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Specially dedicated to an exceptional book, we go behind the scenes with Coraline: A Visual Companion and talk exclusively to author Stephen Jones about why he wanted to follow a different path with this particular book... http://www.sfsite.com/02b/dy290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT The publisher describes the goings on here as; "The beautiful. The bad. The possessed." What that translates to is a somewhat camp, demons and damp knickers pot boiler, featuring possessed exorcist Morgan Kingsley. A woman who is one of the few humans with an aura stronger than her possessor. In this world, possession is rather common, it seems. As the story opens, Morgan has recently become aware that her entire past, including her identity, might be a lie. http://www.sfsite.com/02b/nu290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Nurk is a very small shrew with a very long name and a famous grandmother with a penchant for severed heads and adventure. Although he could do without the severed heads, Nurk has no objection in principle to the idea of adventure. It's just that he IS a very small shrew and there has never really been any opportunity to go adventuring. Not until the mysterious letter arrived. http://www.sfsite.com/02b/fs290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Following the untimely deaths of the rest of the royal family, only Prince Lucius remained to be crowned emperor of Ikaria. Now Lucius reigns supreme over a land that could crack apart at any moment, thanks to the high-level rivalries and scheming of the court, and the just-ended war with the seafaring Seddon Federation. What only a small handful of people know is that Lucius, at one time exiled for a treacherous attempt to usurp the crown in his youth, is not the man he used to be. Dark magics were used to place the soul of a dying monk, Brother Josan, into Lucius' body. http://www.sfsite.com/02b/sb290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT The world of Shadowbridge is a world unlike any other. It's a world built on an ocean, where vast bridges connect far-flung spiraling towers, and tiny islands underneath the spans are the only land most people ever see. But more than that, Shadowbridge is a world of dreams, of sea dragons and fox-faced tricksters, of capricious gods visiting their gifts upon unsuspecting mortals. And most of all, Shadowbridge is a world of stories. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Mark London Williams is in New York, brought east by a production of a play of his, running in an off-off Broadway venue. While in the city, he's taking long walks around Manhattan, signing the odd Danger Boy, and stopping in at the legendary Forbidden Planet comics store near Union Square. He has been musing about the effect of the city on the development of the comic book itself. A distinctly American artifact, the comic book was born in NY, even if its antecedents -- the comic strip -- can be traced originally to early 19th century Europe. http://www.sfsite.com/books/new290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Plenty of intriguing new titles have arrived at the SF Site lately, including the latest from Bruce Sterling, Alexander Irvine, John Meaney, Stephen Hunt, Kit Whitfield, Tom Piccirilli, and many others. http://www.sfsite.com/ac290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT The US economy has collapsed, and political power seized by the Conglomerates, and now control the President, the currency, and pretty much everything else. The baby boomers are seen as an undesirable nuisance and symbol of what went wrong, and are now promptly shipped off to "retirement communities" in the south-western USA when they reach their eighties. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/qw289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT It's worth taking a moment to consider the title. Is a quiet war meant to make us think that in space no-one can hear you scream? But this is no space war, and the pitched battle, when it comes, is fought under a dome on a moon of Jupiter away from the silence of vacuum. No, I think we are meant to see this as war on the quiet, a stealth war, formented away from the public eye. Certain political factions and extremists on either side are eager for war, but while they are doing their best to stymie the peace movement and bring on the conflict, most people see no need for war and are actively promoting peace. Sound familiar? http://www.sfsite.com/02a/an289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Let's take a trip through time, space, and the history of human thought. The journey starts with the observations and suppositions of ancient philosophers, gains both credence and clarity through the development of the rules of logic, and eventually leads all the way to modern theories of everything, including the possible existence of not one but multiple universes and realities. That's the goal here and it succeeds better than any work of fiction with such ambitions has a right to. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/kj289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT When many authors want to explore how different decisions would have played out, they turn their attention to alternate history. The author has taken a different tack with Kilimanjaro, the follow-up to Kirinyaga. Set in the same universe a century later, Kilimanjaro has studied the errors of Kirinyaga so they can avoid the pitfalls Koriba led his society through. Despite their close study, the Kilimanjarans find themselves facing many of the same issues without a plan of action. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/pm289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT By day mankind tends to their fields, loves their families and gathers to drink beer and cheer the jongleurs performances. Come nightfall, however, and they must deed the earth over to the corelings, the elemental demons that crawl out of the earth and shadows. Wood, fire, air and water -- they are invulnerable, unstoppable and viciously, poisonously hungry. Wards carved onto doors and windows and walls can provide protection against the demons but they are complex, fragile things and the smallest disruption of precise lines can weaken them fatally. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/kk289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Rory Koestler is a member of the L.A.P.D's Protean Set, undercover cops with the ability to change their appearance recruited from L.A's actors. The Protean Set's reason for existence is a hallucinogen called Chuckle being dealt by a man named Bob Thermopylae. Then the Supercomputer named Eidolon Rex disappears from its lab at Eidolon Technology before reappearing 10 hours later. The stories start to mingle when the scientists discover an anomalous number of Rex's programs containing the name Rory Koestler. Then things get complicated. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/my289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Ariel Manto, seemingly by chance, discovers an extremely rare book, in a store she would never have found if her car wasn't stuck in the car park of the university where she works. Is it serendipity, or just coincidence, that the book is a fabled tome, which she had read about but never expected to see in person? The work, which is a supposedly true account, disguised as a novel, is by an obscure Victorian novelist named Thomas Lumas, whose body of work Ariel is familiar with due to the fact that he is one of her main dissertation subjects. The book, it is rumoured, comes with a curse: "Those who read this are doomed to die." http://www.sfsite.com/02a/bi289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT British writers currently dominate the horror fiction scene, so much so that the American publisher Cemetery Dance acknowledges the fact by releasing an anthology of twenty-one stories by UK-based contributors. Supposedly, the volume collects work by the best british horror writers, but several distinguished authors (L.H. Maynard and M.P.N. Sims, Graham Masterton, Mark Samuels, to mention a few) are unfortunately absent. At any rate, the book does include a number of top-notch tales. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/co289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Kira has been eking out a passable existence as a thief and pickpocket ever since the brutal murder of her family when she was in her teens. Occasionally using her psychic ability to "read" people, she picks her targets carefully. Unfortunately, she's finally crossed the wrong person. She wakes up in a dark room, chained, with an infamous mass murderer likewise secured. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/neil287.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Traditionally, the arrival of the new year is a time to look ahead, and make plans for the future. But it's also a time to look back and reflect on the year we've just completed. And at the SF Site, it's traditional to review the past year's worth of reading and to vote on what you considered to be the best of it. This is your chance to have your say. The same rules apply as in previous SF Site Readers' Choice Awards: if you read it, you liked it, and you want to vote for it, go nuts. If you've forgotten what you chose in previous years, you can find them all linked at Best Read of the Year including The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss which was the top choice last year. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/steven289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Science fiction fans have always had a respect and understanding for the history of the genre. Unfortunately, science fiction has achieved such an age that each year sees our ranks diminished. Deaths in 2008 included Janet Kagan, Algis Budrys, Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Lynn Asprin, Tom Disch, Brian Thomsen, Barrington J. Bayley, Forrest J Ackerman, Leo Frankowski and Edd Cartier. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/pr289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT This is a collection of Kelly Link stories which can be deemed "Young Adult." For the most part, this simply means they feature teenaged protagonists. Otherwise they are as challenging in many ways as much of Link's work -- they do not necessarily end happily, they feature twisted self-referential narrative structures, they... they entrance. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/bd289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Once again, secret agent extraordinaire Jaz Parks has been sent on a dangerous mission. Along with her mentor/sort-of lover Vayl, she's been dispatched to Greece, to infiltrate a Vampere Trust, a secretive community of vampires that once played home to Jaz's number one target, the terrorist Edward "The Raptor" Ramos. Unfortunately, the mission's pretty much screwed before Jaz and Vayl even arrive. http://www.sfsite.com/books/new289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Among the latest new arrivals at the SF Site mail drop are new and forthcoming works from Brian Lumley, Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, Keith Brooke, John Birmingham, David B. Coe, Ed Greenwood, plus much more. http://www.sfsite.com/lists/greg2008.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT 2008 may not have been the greatest year ever for science fiction and fantasy, but even in a down year there are plenty of good books to read, and when narrowed down to the choices of a top ten list, the quality and state of SF and fantasy look as good as ever. There are also a couple of trends that appear http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT From the time Rick could read, his mother took him to the library. As a child, he lived in Old Bridge, NJ, which had this minuscule two-story house for a public library. He could hear his mother from literally anywhere in the building. In the 70s, the prevailing wisdom in education circles argued that comic books impaired a child's reading development. Thankfully for Rick, neither his mother nor (apparently) the Old Bridge librarian ascribed to that view. Rick Klaw tells us of the joy of discovery of comics in bound book form and his geek future was all but guaranteed. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/booknews289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT A quick round up of internet snippets -- listen to an interview with Neil Gaiman and Stephen Jones about the upcoming Coraline movie and The Visual Companion book; the David Gemmell Award has been launched; Author Andy Remic is giving away free electronic copies of his books Spiral and War Machine; win a Sony e-Reader with Orion books but be quick; Watchmen movie tie-in publications are on the way from Titan Books; Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son graphic novel launches a new website; and Indy publisher AccentUK are previewing free pages of their World's Fastest Man comic on their website. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Rick has some thoughts on the second part of the 2008-2009 TV season beginning with the fate of Smallville, how Friday night is a sinkhole and will it kill Terminator and Dollhouse. He also gives us a list of what SF is on TV in February. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/ih289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Inkheart is a moderately good children's fantasy, much like last year's City of Ember. For the first few minutes, Rick had high hopes that this would be one of those memorable children's films, like the The Thief of Bagdad or Monty Python's Time Bandits. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/pa289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT The action takes place in Khesh City, an enormous disc-like construct, which orbits above the uninhabitable planet of Vellern. There, Angels are state-sponsored assassins, who bump off failed politicians according to public vote. As the name implies, the Angels have the ability to fly via anti-gravity technology, and fight using built-in weapons, in an almost peerless fashion. An Angel named Nual, who has never failed in her duties, does. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/ga289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT At the beginning of the novel, most of the world has done exactly that, gone away. The reasons for that happening, and how some of the world was saved by the Jorgmund Pipe seem to have something to do with a band of adventurers calling themselves the Haulage & Hazmat Emergency Civil Freebooting Company of Exmore County, who, as the story opens, are being called upon to save the world. Again. 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.