The SF Site: The Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy

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Gormenghast a give-away contest 77 generations built the kingdom of Gormenghast... Will one kitchen boy bring it down? We're having a give-away contest. To help promote it, we've built pages about the plot, Mervyn Peake, the cast and the characters. If you're among the first to correctly answer the questions, you could win a DVD (Region 1) copy of Gormenghast, courtesy of BBC America Shop.
Perdido Street Station by China Miéville reviewed by David Soyka If you're one of those people who avoid fantasy novels for fear of even the slightest whiff of wizards or elves, here's a well worthy quest: make haste to where your bookstore stuffs the countless Tolkien spawn and rescue a copy of of this book from the mediocre horde. This is a novel that has more in common with the work of that similarly named fellow, Melville, than any mere commercial conjuring of fairyland. Exiled from Camelot by Cherith Baldry reviewed by Georges T. Dodds In this novel, the author departs from the standard Arthurian romance of the Chrétien de Troyes and Sir Thomas Malory mold, to bring us a finely crafted tale that focuses on the trials of Kay, a knight usually depicted as a curmudgeonly bureaucrat, but whom this author puts in a position where he must save Arthur, who has renounced him, from the scheming enchantress Brisane. Resurrection by Arwen Elys Dayton reviewed by Lisa DuMond Easing into this world may be a bit unsettling at first. There are flashbacks, flashforwards, several flashsideways, and, Lisa thinks, a flashdiagonal. But persevere; once you find your way it's well worth the momentary confusion. This tale of planets, civilizations, and alternate histories offers some theories you probably never considered. It's a look into past, present, and future that seems strangely... probable. Babylon 5.1 TV reviews by Rick Norwood Rick offers his thoughts on TV's fantasy mini-series spectaculars which began with Gulliver's Travels in 1995. There have been good ones and bad. How did this one find an answer to the question of how you film a classic? Dervish Is Digital by Pat Cadigan reviewed by Harriet Klausner Detective Dore Konstantine runs the 3-person Techno Crime, AR (Artificial Reality) Division. Though swamped with work, as the net has become a copyright nightmare, Dore would not mind if they could win one, once a while. Proof is difficult at best to find and justice is a cyber-thought of the mundane realm. However, Dore is stunned when designer Susannah Ell claims her former spouse, wealthy Hastings Dervish, is stalking her via artificial reality. Geeks With Books a column by Rick Klaw Rick Klaw gives us a look at how things work from behind the counter of a book store. This time, he tells us of his dealings with book publishers on graphic novels and how they do in book stores. And guest reviewer Mark Finn gives us his opinion of the cover for Neil Gaiman's latest, American Gods. Asimov's Science Fiction, June 2001 reviewed by Nick Gevers There's a nice irony to these contents, one of the magazine's stronger issues. The theme linking its four novelettes seems to be New Blood, the necessity of rejuvenation; and it may be no coincidence, given Gardner Dozois's perceptiveness as an editor, that the solid established professionals who staff his pages here -- James Patrick Kelly, Nancy Kress, Kage Baker -- are joined for the occasion by Andy Duncan, the finest writer of short fiction produced by American SF in some time, and Charles Stross, who is Duncan's opposite number in Britain. To read Stross and Duncan is to experience all over again the aesthetic exhilaration that came from first acquaintance with the work of Lucius Shepard, or Greg Egan; they are new blood indeed... July Books compiled by Neil Walsh There's plenty of good reading out there, with new novels from Steven Brust, J. Gregory Keyes, Marion Zimmer Bradley & Deborah J. Ross, Dennis L. McKiernan; a new anthology from Martin H. Greenberg & Alexander Potter; Gardner Dozois's annual *Year's Best* anthology; and a new autobiography from Piers Anthony. All this and plenty more... In the Company of Others by Julie E. Czerneda reviewed by James Seidman Would-be colonists have flooded space stations meant as transfer points when Earth discovers the planets have become contaminated. The Quill, small alien filaments carried by some for their relaxing effect, have somehow morphed into a deadly threat. The stations have turned into terribly crowded permanent homes for stranded humans, wondering what Quill are and what happened to the promised land of the terraformed planets. Pilot's Choice by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller reviewed by Lisa DuMond Just the mention of some authors makes you smile. Announce that there is a new Liaden Universe volume out and you are going to see a great many people grinning, and laying down their money for their own copy. Certainly, you'll find Lisa scooping up their latest collaboration as soon as it hits the shelves. You won't find her putting it down until she's zoomed through to the last, satisfying page. Frequency #2 reviewed by Rich Horton This a CD audio anthology presenting "The Apple Golem" by Bruce Holland Rogers, read by William Foss; "Housecalls" by Jerry Oltion, read by Alistair Logan; "Christmas at the Cushingura Cafe" by Stephen Dedman, read by Tadao Tomomatsu; "Abbat01r" by Cory Doctorow, read by Alyxx Ian; "Chance in Hell" by John Rosenman, read by Martin Dunn; and "Rate of Change" by Bud Sparhawk, read by David LaFontaine.		Blade of Tyshalle by Matthew Woodring Stover reviewed by William Thompson Seven years have passed since the climatic battle on the sands of the stadium in Heroes Die. Hari Michaelson, known to the world as the Actor Caine, has replaced his old nemesis, Arturo Kollberg, as Administrator of the Studio. But the years that have passed have not been happy ones for Hari, as he is bound to a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down by the wound he took at the stadium, his career as Caine over, his days spent in brooding and bitter memories as his bodily functions are controlled by the shunt of a neural bypass. But a mysterious illness is spreading across Overland, killing all the inhabitants in its wake, and setting in motion events that may threaten both worlds, and from which no one will escape unscarred. Sea of Silver Light by Tad Williams reviewed by Victoria Strauss In reading a multi-volume series that's still in the process of creation, not all the suspense lies in the plotline. This is especially true when the quality of the early installments is high: one can't help wondering whether the author will be able to deliver a finish strong enough to satisfy the expectations s/he has raised. In this concluding volume, the author accomplishes this and more, drawing his massive *Otherland* saga to a triumphant conclusion. Things Unborn by Eugene Byrne reviewed by Steven H Silver The author has postulated a world in which an atomic war in 1962 has caused the decline in population and civilization in much of the Western World. Rather than a post-apocalyptic tale, however, it tells the story of an England which is rebuilding its position in the world, aided by a strange phenomenon, left unexplained. In this post-nuclear world, those who have been killed before their time (and before the war) are being re-born in seemingly random circumstances. Time Future by Maxine McArthur reviewed by Hank Luttrell This is a thoroughly successful science fiction mystery. The circumstances of the crime arise from a power struggle on an isolated Earth-sanctioned space station. The station is rather mysterious right from the start, because it is technology abandoned by a more advance race, and claimed by Earth, which is otherwise a junior member of a multi-cultural galactic alliance. The station is under siege by a hostile alien force, while representatives from many other civilizations are uneasy occupants. Forthcoming Books compiled by Neil Walsh Here's a sampling of some of the F&SF books that are headed our way in the coming months... Dislocated Fictions a column by Gabriel Chouinard Gabriel Chouinard's column is dedicated to exposing the risk-takers working in SF and fantasy. He calls them the Next Wave, in a nod to the obvious influences that the New Wave writers had upon them. Here, he gives us an idea of why he presses on in his one-man battle for revolution, an apology, a glimpse of a 128-page illustrated novel, Frightening Curves, and a 20-questions interview with Kuo-Yu Liang, the Associate Publisher of Del Rey books. Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper reviewed by Stephen M. Davis This is a clever book, weaving together a number of faery tales in a novel that spans 1,000 years and moves from this world, to a world of imagination, to the land of Faery, and to Hell itself for a short time. The main character, Beauty, is half-Faery, and must find a way to avoid marriage, shipment to a nunnery, and a curse that states she will prick her finger on a spindle on her 16th birthday, falling into a sleep for 100 years. Orphans of the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein reviewed by Greg L. Johnson This is the prototypical multi-generation starship story. Most inhabitants of the Ship have forgotten that it is a ship; to them it is the world. They live the simple lives of farmers, and worry only about the occasional radiation problems and the ever-threatening muties. Their only history is a mostly mythic oral tradition of a past fall from grace, when the Ship moved. Then Hugh Hoyland is kidnapped by Joe-Jim Gregory and begins to learn the truth. Arslan by M.J. Engh reviewed by Harriet Klausner When the name General Arslan is first mentioned on American TV, no one has heard of him and very few people can locate his nation, Turkiston. Not long after, he decides to begin his plan to save the planet from the spiral of corruption and destruction that its leaders seem to desire. After becoming the Deputy Command in Chief of the US armed forces, people recognize him as the conqueror of North America -- without a drop of blood spilled. Ariel by Steven R. Boyett reviewed by Lisa DuMond For two years, Pete Garey wandered through the strange new world that is Earth after the Change, a moment when technology ceased to work and things like planes, trains, and automobiles became useless junk. He was alone until the day he was found by a unicorn who would become his familiar. Ariel is just one of the many mythical, magical creatures to appear after the Change, but the only one with the stunning ability (or, perhaps, the only one with the desire...) to talk.