The SF Site: The Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy

A Conversation With Jane Johnson An interview with Adam Volk On problems in publishing: "The problem with publishing in the genre at the moment, and it is a problem, in the UK at least, is that as publishers we are not driving the market, we are unable to shape our destinies and those of our authors. Over the past few years we have found ourselves at the mercy of a book trade which has focused exclusively on high initial turnover and short-term profits (the genre has traditionally worked as a long lived backlist, word-of-mouth area: so that hits us hard); a book trade moreover, in which the power resides in the hands of a very few (who therefore have no time to read, and when they are reading it's rarely fantasy or SF). "
Reflex by Steven Gould reviewed by Jayme Lynn Blaschke A decade has passed in Davy's world, and the world's only teleporter has settled into a comfortable routine: he and his wife, Millie, use his gifts to explore the world at will -- the only disruption to this idyllic life comes during Davy's occasional mission for the National Security Agency. It's during one of these missions that things go horribly wrong for Davy. Ambushed, drugged and his NSA contact murdered before his eyes, Davy finds himself held prisoner and tortured beyond human endurance. The Mysteries by Lisa Tuttle reviewed by Mario Guslandi In a way, it's a detective story, starring Ian Kennedy, an American private investigator now living in London, whose specialization is finding missing persons. Laura Lensky, another American on the verge of going back to the USA, hires him to trace her daughter Peri, disappeared two years before. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro reviewed by Trent Walters Trent was quite ecstatic to hear that Kazuo Ishiguro had decided to try his hand at the genre. His early novels have fascinatingly complex views of character -- books that require rereading. Much is made of Ishiguro's use of memory. Some consider Ishiguro's common motif of playing with memory to result in unreliable narrators. Certainly, this consideration is always crucial when probing memory. New Arrivals compiled by Neil Walsh The past couple of weeks have brought to the SF Site doorstep new works from Robin Hobb, Jude Fisher, Cory Doctorow, Robert J. Sawyer, Karl Schroeder, Larry Niven with Brenda Cooper, as well as copies of forthcoming works from Zoran Zivkovic, Terry Bisson, John Helfers, Dean Wesley Smith, Harry Turtledove, Mike Resnick. Plus a full slate of magazines, and plenty more besides. Aurora Awards compiled by Rodger Turner When the Canadian SF and Fantasy Association was started up in 1980 there was only one award given. Since 1991, awards have been presented in 10 categories. The Aurora awards are closest to the style of the Hugo awards in the method by which they are selected. First, there is the nomination phase to select a short list. Then a voting phase to pick the winner from the short list using the Australian voting method. The Prix Aurora Awards were initially called the Casper Awards, then renamed the Auroras in 1991. The Hounds of Avalon by Mark Chadbourn reviewed by Nathan Brazil As the story begins, the anti-life known as the Void has begun to make its move, sending enormous numbers of Lament Brood rampaging across the British countryside. This new invasion is the last thing the remaining population needs, coming as it does in the aftermath of the Fall, as depicted in The Devil In Green and the plague which was the subject of The Queen of Sinister. This time the enemy is all but unstoppable. The X-Files: Black Oil a give-away contest "The X-Files'" nine seasons of government conspiracy, paranormal phenomenon and alien abduction obfuscate the truth with every cover-up, and the further one gets from the beginning of the journey, the less clear the outcome becomes. Now key episodes centering around the black oil, that appeared intermittently throughout the series, are collected together in one comprehensive volume, allowing fans to uncover the core truths about the mysterious substance. Read the contents, answer the questions, win a DVD. Easy, eh? Tamshi's Imp by Jonathan Fesmire reviewed by Lisa DuMond Tamshi is a sorceress of no small power, which she is using to bring a dark magic into the world. Or is she? Tamshi herself is confused about exactly what she is doing with the god Unneyer's worshippers. Something is seriously wrong, though she cannot explain precisely what, only that she is in danger and she wants to escape the iron grip of Gentriu, the high priest. But, escape to where? Lost in Translation by Edward Willett reviewed by Georges T. Dodds The novel is a space opera where humans and a bat-like race, the S'sinn, are locked in a bitter interplanetary feud which risks degenerating into an all out war. Jarrikk, a male S'sinn who has seen his friends slaughtered by human colonists, and Kathryn, a young woman whose entire family were slaughtered by the S'sinn have both become empathic Translators. They must work together to defuse the situation, but a power- and revenge-hungry S'sinn leader emerges, and the multi-racial Commonwealth is at risk. What's in a World?: an interview with Stan Nicholls conducted by Sandy Auden "I'm someone who once offered to navigate on a car journey from London to Devon and got us halfway to Portsmouth. A person who for years thought north was whichever way I happened to be facing. I'm not kidding! A sense of direction, let alone geography, is not my strong point." Hercules: The Legendary Journeys a give-away contest He's fought against overwhelming evil with god-like strength for six seasons. Now, Kevin Sorbo, in his world-renowned role as Hercules, wages his final battles before he and his friend and side-kick Iolaus (Michael Hurst) march off into the sunset. Read the contents, answer the questions, win a DVD. Easy, eh? Xena: Warrior Princess a give-away contest Ten years ago, a new breed of hero exploded onto the television airwaves. A female warrior emerged, tortured by a dark past, and dedicated to fighting evil across a timeless mythological landscape. The series forever changed the action-hero genre, catapulting Lucy Lawless' dazzling portrayal as the mighty Xena - along with the actress herself - into the hearts and minds of millions of devoted fans. Read the contents, answer the questions, win a DVD. Easy, eh?		The Resurrected Man by Sean Williams reviewed by Greg L. Johnson It is a worthy blending of near-future high-tech, private-eye noir, and the police procedural. Along the way, we get a provocative look at a world being rapidly changed by a new technology -- personal teleportation booths. Here, the process occurs with a person being dematerialized in one place and reconstructed in another. The process is important because it amounts to copying a person. What if an extra copy is made? Epic by Conor Kostick reviewed by Sherwood Smith Human beings are living on New Earth, governed by The Committee. Erik and his parents, Harald and Freya, live in a small town called Osterfjord, working hard on a failing farm. But hard as farm life is, it's far better than being forced to reallocate, leave everyone they know -- and maybe be stuck in the coal mines. Erik's parents hint that things could even be worse than that, but they won't tell him why. It's All In The Details: an interview with Neal Asher conducted by Sandy Auden "In other fiction, a table is a table is a table. In SF, a table can be made of materials we can only imagine, it might follow you around the house like a dog. 'Hey, do you like my Parker Knoll dog-table? It doesn't have to recharge itself as it eats coffee stains and breadcrumbs. It also acts as a security system. I heard the other day about a guy who had his house broken into -- he found the burglar's fingers in his table's mouth!'" Babylon 5.1 TV reviews by Rick Norwood Rick offers his thoughts on what to watch on TV in August. He also has some ideas what has merit for all of the old television science fiction being released on DVD this year. Stealth a movie review by Rick Norwood Rick doesn't ask much from a Summer movie. He doesn't expect it to make sense. A few nice explosions are all he asks for and Stealth provides them, though Cliché might be a better title. The Island a movie review by Rick Norwood There is some fun to be had from the car chases and explosions, if you can accept the idea that an evil corporation thinks that crashing a helicopter into a skyscraper is a good way to cover up its wrongdoing. Just a few of the explosions in this film would be enough to spark the biggest investigation since 9/11. Roswell a give-away contest Living among the citizens of the infamous New Mexico city of Roswell are four who are not there by choice. They are there to follow a destiny given to them by the members of their dying race, a race that they are someday destined to save. They are human/alien hybrids, sent here as replacements for the royalty of an alien race. Their counterparts have already perished in a war of attrition, thus one day, the "royal four" will return to their home planet and save their race. Read the contents, answer the questions, win a DVD. Easy, eh? 3rd Rock From The Sun a give-away contest Set in the fictional city of Rutherford, Ohio, 3rd Rock from the Sun follows a team of eccentric aliens cleverly disguised as humans on a quest to learn about earthlings and their traditions. The high commander of this team of aliens is Dr. Dick Solomon, who has taken a position as a professor of physics at the University of Ohio. Dick's associate on the mission include a decorated military officer who takes human form as a sexy female named Sally and his intelligence specialist is put in the body of Tommy a teenager going through puberty. Read the contents, answer the questions, win a DVD. Easy, eh? The Crown Rose by Fiona Avery reviewed by Steven H Silver This appears, in many ways, to be a straight historical novel about Isabelle of France and her family, yet the author successfully manages to weave threads of mystery and fantasy into the work in a manner which intrigues the reader without asking the reader to suspend their disbelief too far. The Shadow Chaser by Dylan Birtolo reviewed by David Hebblethwaite Darien Yost wakes one evening, having passed out, with a ravenous appetite and no memory of what happened. Is his friend Ellen right that this is a hangover? Is it, as government agent Michael Olson suggests, the result of some contamination in the area? Or could it be something else entirely? Events suggest the last, when a mysterious and beautiful woman named Alyssa invades Darien's dreams and then turns up in reality -- and when Olson's men make an attempt on his life... The Science Fiction Poetry Handbook by Suzette Haden Elgin reviewed by Chris Przybyszewski The Handbook offers readers a ubiquitously practical guide beginning with poetry basics (surprisingly hard to find in much contemporary analysis), advanced poetics (e.g., graphic, phonological, lexical, and syntactic patterns), and then the 'rough and ready' world of the professional writer who markets and sells his/her work. Moondust by Andrew Smith reviewed by Stuart Carter It all started when the writer had a kind of minor epiphany, realising that the number of people still living who have walked on another world is now down to single figures following the death of Pete Conrad, and that within his own lifetime there might well be no one alive who has done so. He therefore decides to try and track down the remaining nine Apollo moonwalkers, to ask them how such a singular experience has changed their lives and perspectives.