Billy's Book by Terry Bisson
reviewed by Matthew Hughes
In case you've forgotten, childhood is hard, mean and nasty. Although sometimes it's also a lot of fun. And,
sometimes, it's all of those things put together.
Billy is a little boy who lives in a world of imagination. It might be his imagination. It might be Terry
Bisson's. But it's certainly a place where lots of interesting things happen.
The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V.S. Redick
reviewed by Tammy Moore
Sometimes fate has an dark way of fulfilling wishes. The young scholar Pazel Pathkendle wanted nothing more
than to follow his lost father onto the waves as a sailor; he never knew fulfillment of that desire would cost
him what was left of his family, his city and his freedom. Saved from the slaver's block at the last instant by
the intervention of his Arquali "uncle," the doctor Ignus Chadfellow, Pazel was sent to sea as a tarry instead,
a bond servant to be traded on his master's whim like a loaf of bread.
Centuries Ago and Very Fast by Rebecca Ore
reviewed by Paul Kincaid
Slash (named for the "/" in such archetypal pairings as "Kirk/Spock") is one of the more curious of contemporary
literary phenomena. It consists of writers taking pairs of characters from popular series (Kirk and Spock
from Star Trek, Aubrey and Maturin from the Patrick O'Brian novels) and producing further non-canonical
stories around the pair. These stories generally involve, or often centre upon, sexual encounters involving the pair.
Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
reviewed by Dominic Cilli
His fantasy is very much "blood and guts" fantasy, some may call it dark fantasy or Noir fantasy,
but one thing is for sure, it's certainly not for the squeamish. If you're looking for the tale of a knight
in shining armor who saves a princess, this isn't a story for you. If you like
tales of betrayal and vengeance, laced with violence, sex and dastardly deeds, you're going to love Best Served Cold.
Skinwalker by Faith Hunter
reviewed by Katherine Petersen
Jane is a skinwalker, an ancient Cherokee supernatural being that has the ability to take the
shape of any animal she chooses. A vampire hunter by trade, Jane nearly lost her life killing the blood family
of a rogue vampire in the Appalachian Mountains, now she has accepted
a new assignment in New Orleans. A rogue vampire has attacked numerous tourists and cops, and Katherine (Katie)
Fonteneau has hired Jane on behalf of the Vampire Council, to hunt it down. There's more to the assignment than
tracking a rogue though.
Star Wars: Millennium Falcon by James Luceno
reviewed by David Maddox
Han Solo's YT-1300 Freighter is more than just a space ship, it's a full-blown character that the Star Wars
Universe couldn't exist without. Over the original trilogy and through countless Expanded Universe stories, it
has surpassed itself in travel and saving its owners time and time again. But what of the ship's personal
history? Is there a story behind its many voyages?
Norse Code by Greg van Eekhout
reviewed by Nathan Brazil
Ragnarok is almost upon us, and an army is being forcibly recruited to
fight for Asgard. Selection is limited to those who carry a trace of Odin's blood. The main problem for the
recruits is that in order to join the army they have to die first.
This is where Mist, and her supernatural Einherjar minder, Grimnir, come in. Mist used to be Kathy Castillo,
until she was murdered and returned to life as a Valkyrie.
Black Static #10, May 2009
reviewed by Jonathan McCalmont
It is possible to buy Black Static purely "for the articles." By which Jonathan means the non-fiction elements. The magazine
features interesting and engaging columns from Christopher Fowler, Stephen Volk and Mike O'Driscoll as well
as fascinating interviews with Ellen Datlow and Thomas Ligotti. However, the real stars are Tony Lee's
enthusiastic DVD round-up and Contributing Editor Peter Tennant's magnificent book reviews.
The Year's Top Ten Tales of Science Fiction edited by Allan Kaster
an audiobook review by Susan Dunman
Annual "best of" short story anthologies are a long-standing tradition within the science fiction publishing
community. Audio fans are encouraged to see this same tradition being embraced by science fiction audio
publishers such as Infinivox. This year, Infinivox editor Allan Kaster has made his selections from science
fiction prose originally written in 2008 including two Hugo
Award winners. No doubt about it, there's something here for any science fiction fan to appreciate and enjoy.
The Demon Awakens, Part 3: The Demon Wars by R.A. Salvatore
an audiobook review by Gil T. Wilson
The beginning of a new era comes to a close in part three of the first book of the high
fantasy saga, The Demon Wars. The demon, Dactyl, has awakened and puts together an
army to destroy the land of Corona. Once the villagers and townsfolk experience for themselves the
devastation brought on by armies of goblins, powries and giants, they realize the warnings about
evil returning to their land are true.
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The City & The City by China Miéville
reviewed by Martin Lewis
It is hard to think of a more appropriate title for a China Miéville novel. It has always been the
city. He started in his adopted home of London but burrowed underground to find the hidden city, cacotopically
transformed this to create New Crobuzon, struck out for the sea but found a floating city waiting for him before
trekking back through the desert to New Crobuzon and then jumping back to another London, again made strange, made un-London.
Now he has moved East.
Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
Of Robert E. Howard's many heroic creations, Solomon Kane ranks among Rick Klaw's
favorites. The fighting Puritan's single-minded purpose, conflicted spirit, and often
delusional zealotry combined with poetic violence and sundry supernatural elements
resonated to a childhood dominated by heroes, monsters, and sports. Rick
looks at the history in comics of Solomon Kane.
The Year's Best Science Fiction: by Volume
compiled by Rodger Turner
In 1984, Gardner Dozois gathered together what he thought was the best short science fiction of the previous year. He
scrutinized as many of the magazines, collections and anthologies published in 1983 that he could get his hands on and
chose those which he felt best represented the science fiction field. Jim Frenkel published it as part of his Bluejay
Books line (for three years) and it has been produced every year since then (by St. Martins's Press).
Volume 26 has been added to the lists compiled by author, by title and by volume.
New Arrivals
compiled by Neil Walsh
Recently arrived at the SF Site are the latest works from Ben Bova, Jennifer Fallon, Terry Brooks, Mike Resnick, as well as some collected classics by Ray Bradbury, J.G. Ballard, and much more besides.
The Time Traveler's Wife
a movie review by Rick Norwood
The Time Traveler's Wife is a very good example of mundane science fiction. The boundary between
genre science fiction and mundane science fiction is nebulous and getting vaguer all the time, but on one
side you have 1984, Brave New World, and, more recently, The Road, which get reviewed
in The New Yorker, and on the other side you have I, Robot, Starship Troopers,
and Rainbows End, which don't.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Space travel is back. Moon, by Duncan Jones and Nathan Parker, is about
an astronaut on a mining outpost on the far side of the
Moon. The other new space travel story in a visual medium is the television
series Defying Gravity by James D. Parriott.
San Diego Comic-Con 2009: The 40th Anniversary
an article by David Maddox
For the last forty years, fans of every genre of SF, fantasy, anime, movies, art, comic books and anything else
pop culture has managed to work into the public mindset have been able to gather once a year at the San Diego
Convention Center to revel and enjoy the experience that is the San Diego Comic-Con.
This year, the 40th anniversary of the Con's inception saw the biggest turnout of fans that have ever attended,
close to 125,000!
A Conversation With John Berlyne, Tim Powers, Peter Crowther and Dirk Berger
An interview with Sandy Auden
John Berlyne's Powers: Secret Histories is so much more than just a bibliography of Tim Powers' stories -- it's
a unique insight into the writing life of one of the most respected fantasy authors around. The project has been a
huge undertaking for Berlyne, taking nearly a decade to complete, and here he is joined by the book's artist Dirk
Berger, the publisher Pete Crowther and Tim Powers himself to discuss how the book came into being, the problems
with designing it, the artwork, the bodies buried in the garden and spilling beer.
The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips
reviewed by Richard A. Lupoff
When James Tiptree, Jr., first appeared in the March 1968 issue of Analog with the short story "Birth of a
Salesman," he might have been regarded as just one more of the hundreds of
writers who have popped up in the science fiction field, attracted a certain amount of attention, and then
disappeared back into the big world of bankers and bakers, factory workers and chemists and schoolteachers from
which we storytellers emerge. But Tiptree did not disappear.
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