Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
reviewed by Rich Horton
Locke Lamora and his friend Jean Tannen have apparently suffered a disastrous setback
leading to the deaths of all their compatriots, and a serious injury for Locke. On the bright side, they did defeat an evil
Karthain Bondsmage. Eventually they land in the city of Tal Verrar, and they hatch a plot to steal from the Sinspire, an
exclusive gambling den.
Un Lun Dun by China Miéville
reviewed by Jayme Lynn Blaschke
A second, unseen world exists in parallel with our own. Cities in our
reality are mirrored in skewed fashion across the trans-dimensional barrier known as the Odd, sporting names such as
Parisn't and Sans Fransico. These ab-cities are populated by all manner of strange beings, from tailors with
pin-cushion heads to kung fu-fighting garbage cans to sentient schools of fish that navigate on land by donning
deep-sea diving suits.
Overlooked or Over-hyped?
a column by Neil Walsh
Usually Neil chooses two books to compare. This time out he's stretching his muscles and looking at two trilogies.
One is Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials made up of The Golden Compass (aka Northern Lights in the original UK edition),
The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. The other is Martha Wells' series, The Fall of Ile-Rien which
.is composed of The Wizard Hunters, The Ship of Air and The Gate of Gods.
The Wild Girls by Pat Murphy
reviewed by Paul Kincaid
In 1972, Joan is 12, her family has just moved to California from Connecticut and the strains
are showing. The first person she meets is Sarah, who prefers to be called Fox and who is still mourning the loss of her mother
who walked out some years before. Sarah has mythologised this event as her mother transforming into a fox, hence her chosen
name. Since the separation, Fox's father has become a successful science fiction writer, and he pretty well leaves Fox to get
on with her life the way she wants.
The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror: by Author
compiled by Rodger Turner
In 1988, Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling collected together what they thought was the best short fantasy and horror
from the previous year. They went through as many of the magazines, collections and anthologies published in 1987 that
they could find and chose those stories which they decided best represented the fantasy and horror field. Jim Frenkel
arranged for its publication by St. Martins's Press and it has been produced every year since then. In 2003, Kelly Link
and Gavin J. Grant took over from Terri Windling as the fantasy editor.
Fantastic Companions edited Julie E. Czerneda
reviewed by Steven H Silver
This is a collection of stories which deal with the oftentimes symbiotic
relationships between heroes in fantasy fiction and their non-human compatriots. The anthology of nineteen stories run the
gamut from the familiar companions, like dogs and cats, to the more exotic like salmon and griffins, to the downright strange of
constellations and kites.
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Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik
reviewed by Sherwood Smith
Laurence and his dragon team are returning to England after a spot of hot fighting. They have been away a long time, and expect (and deserve)
a hero's welcome, but instead they hardly are noticed. People are inexplicably tense, and the dragon fields seem empty and untended. The
truth soon comes out, despite efforts to hide it for obvious military reasons: a devastating illness is killing off the dragons one by one.
The Dog Said Bow-Wow by Michael Swanwick
reviewed by Dave Truesdale
This wonderful collection gives us many of the author's most recent stories, dating from 2001-2007. It includes 3 Hugo
winners: "The Dog Said Bow-Wow" (short story, 2002, also a Nebula nominee), "Slow Life" (novelette, 2003), "Legions in Time"
(novelette, 2004); 2 Hugo nominees, " 'Hello,' Said the Stick" (short story, 2003), "The Little Cat Laughed to See Such
Sport" (short story, 2003); and one original story "The Skysailor's Tale."
New Arrivals
compiled by Neil Walsh
New Arrivals at the SF Site include the latest from Stephen Baxter, Mary Gentle, David Farland, Whitley Streiber, and L.E. Modesitt, Jr., as well as forthcoming titles from Charlie Huston, Kevin J. Anderson, David & Stella Gemmell, Anne & Todd McCaffrey, Arthur C. Clarke & Stephen Baxter, plus much more.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
From time to time, a science fiction classic is given the direct to video treatment. The results are usually
pitiful. But the only good direct to video adaptation of a SF classic for Rick is the 1992
movie Grand Tour: Disaster in Time, written by David Twohy, based on the story "Vintage Season," by
Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore.
The God of the Razor by Joe R. Lansdale
reviewed by John Berlyne
To some horror fans, this early collection is a genre classic, and it certainly displays many of the admirable qualities and definitive
traits we now associate with this most original of authors. Certainly no other writer comes to mind so capable of fusing revulsion
and comedy together so effectively, often in the space of a single sentence, although The Nightrunners contains a good
deal less amusement than many later Lansdale works. At the same time, the story radiates a nastiness that curiously seems to
date it -- what may have been shocking for readers back in the early 80s has become, if not exactly the norm, certainly
less taboo than it was back then.
Swans Over the Moon by Forrest Aguirre
reviewed by Paul Kincaid
The author employs two main tools: an exotic vocabulary and exuberant imagery, and both require incredible discipline
to work properly. A reader needs to be absolutely confident that the unfamiliar word which sends her searching the dictionary
is precisely chosen to do a job that no other word would do. Similarly the reader must recognise that the strange images built
upon layer after layer of adjectives actually make sense, they must describe something that works visually outside the words.
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