Flesh Wounds by Brian A. Hopkins
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
If you've already read some of the author's work, you know the title bodes ill for everyone in these stories. If you
aren't familiar with his fiction -- first of all, shame on you -- then a peek at the contents should dispel any
of those happy thoughts. It goes for the deep cut, the indescribable pain. Oddly, the
wounds in this collection are often to the heart, and always fatal.
Tesseracts 9 edited by Nalo Hopkinson and Geoff Ryman
reviewed by Donna McMahon
This is the first in the Tesseracts anthology series that Donna has read in its
entirety. The previous ones she looked at felt overburdened
with ponderous, somber work that seemed to have been picked for literary 'respectability' rather than story-telling.
Here, the vast majority of stories are strongly emotional
narratives, rather than aloof exercises of the intellect.
So Long Been Dreaming edited by Nalo Hopkinson and Uppinder Mehan
reviewed by Donna McMahon
For all that SF claims to deal with new and challenging ideas, the field is still dominated by white male writers in the
tradition of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne who -- like all of us -- have trouble thinking outside of their own cultural
boxes. And that's the point of "postcolonial" SF written by people of colour.
So Long Been Dreaming edited by Nalo Hopkinson and Uppinder Mehan
reviewed by Matthew Cheney
Colonization has been a common topic of science fiction for ages, generally in one of two ways: either well-intentioned adventurers
wander to other planets to learn about the natives and convert them to their own point of view, or aliens venture from their own
domain to enslave or destroy the innocent society of which the protagonist is a member. These two types of stories have spawned
hundreds and thousands of variations, some more nuanced and complex than others.
Whispers From the Cotton Tree Root: Caribbean Fabulist Fiction edited by Nalo Hopkinson
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
The mere fact that this anthology is edited by the extremely talented Nalo Hopkinson should be enough enticement to lure
many readers in. Add to that a truly bone-chilling story by the editor herself -- a unique and sinister twist on
a familiar plot. Then, take into account the creative magic of the 20 authors featured in this book,
and you have a sampler tailor-made introduction to the realm of Caribbean fabulist fiction. It's an
introduction not soon forgotten.
I Love You And There Is Nothing You Can Do About It by Gerard Daniel Houarner
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
The author's work can be among the most grisly in the horror genre. But,
just because he doesn't shy away from the rough stuff, doesn't mean that's
the only note he can play. This collection shows you a touch of that side
and the incredible range of one of horror's most beguiling new voices.
Naming of Parts by Tim Lebbon, The Man On The Ceiling by Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem and Dead Cat Bounce by Gerard Houarner
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Naming of Parts is a tale that strikes at the heart in a way no other
zombie stories can ever approach. The Man On The Ceiling is for those
who have never experienced the heart-stopping panic of night terrors.
Dead Cat Bounce is the kind of book you lend to friends, just to see
if you can appall them.
Going Postal edited by Gerard Daniel Houarner
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
SF, fantasy, and horror -- it's all there in
this anthology. The editor has gathered together the new names
you will be seeing on book spines in all these genre for years to
come. Pay attention to the messages and the messengers; they're
going to be part of our lives for some time.
I Was Probed By Aliens And Lived To Tell The Tale by Barry J. House
reviewed by Nathan Brazil
Depth, insight, clever characterization, fascinating answers to the alien abduction mythos, are all completely absent from this
book. What is does have is an abundance of silly, light-hearted, typically British humour, detailing the abduction and subsequent
adventures of Will Brown. Unlike the legions of unfortunate Americans whose abduction experience leads to all manner of
unpleasantness, Will Brown finds himself an odd looking alien friend.
Mirrorman by Trevor Hoyle
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
A powerful cult, the Messengers, offers Frank Kersh, an amoral death-row inmate about to be executed,
escape from death and the fulfillment of all his desires. In return, while ensconced in a penthouse paradise
in a parallel universe, he must defuse or destroy any threats to the cult's plans of world domination.
Crawling Between Heaven and Earth by Sarah A. Hoyt
reviewed by Matthew Peckham
Cribbing it's title from one of Hamlet's well-remembered rants, this debut collection is a collage of speculations and fables
that invokes the brooding relationship between passion and reason, the beastly and the divine. It
collects eleven brief stories -- seven previously published and four new exclusives -- that document the early progress of a writer
still working out some stylistic kinks and wrinkles.
All Night Awake by Sarah A. Hoyt
reviewed by David Soyka
William Shakespeare was an Elizabethan playwright who most people think wrote Hamlet and A Midsummer's Night Dream, among
others, for the entertainment of both the Crown and the masses. For a variety of reasons, not all of which relate to the genius of
the work itself, he is widely regarded as one of the major deities of English Literature and Western Civilization.
But who he actually was, well, ah, there's the rub.
Ill Met By Moonlight by Sarah Hoyt
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
Nineteen-year-old petty schoolmaster Will Shakespeare arrives home one evening to find his wife Nan and
infant daughter Susannah missing. Will tells himself that Nan has simply been called away to help her
pregnant sister-in-law; but this logical explanation doesn't quiet the strange foreboding he feels. Setting
off to look for Nan, he passes through the wilds of the Forest of Arden, where he stumbles upon a miraculous
shining palace with crystal walls, in a place where no palace has ever been before. Inside are lords and
ladies in exquisite clothing... and Nan, standing before the throne of the king.
Changer of Days by Alma A. Hromic
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
When Dynan Kir Hama, King of Roisinan, falls in battle, his illegitimate son Sif is drafted by the
army's desperate generals into leadership. Winning victory against impossible odds, Sif becomes a hero. There
would seem to be no barrier to his burning ambition to become King -- none, that is, but Dynan's
rightful daughter, 9-year-old Anghara. Her mother, determined to save her daughter's life,
sends Anghara in disguise to relatives far away. Forced into exile, Anghara (already wise beyond her years) must grow
up very fast -- too fast, perhaps, for her own gift of Sight manifests precociously, and she hasn't the ability to fully control its strength.
The City Trilogy by Chang Hsi-kuo
reviewed by William Thompson
Consisting of three novels -- Five Jade Disks¸ Defenders of the Dragon City, and Tale of a Feather,
they concern the struggle for political power
and control of Sunlon City. The symbolic and urban center for Huhui, a planet with an ancient and violent history, Sunlon has come to
represent both the hopes and identity of the Huhui people, the fate of the planet and its culture inextricably bound to its continued
fortune.
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Hub, Issue 1, Christmas 2006
reviewed by Rich Horton
Here is a brand new UK magazine. It has a slightly unusual format -- 80 all slick, rather thick, pages, with plenty of layout tricks,
in a curious squarish shape, 21 cm by 21 cm. It is heavily illustrated, mostly by photographs. Some may find it a bit difficult
to read at time -- perhaps there is a certain sacrifice of readability on the altar of coolness of appearance.
Cemetery Sonata II edited by June Hubbard
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
This anthology, this duet of life and death, is a wide-ranging exploration of the thin line between self and spirit. It
is a spellbinding journey through the dark valley, with the sun bright above us. Most important: the stories
are more a comforting arm around the shoulders than an attempt to frighten.
Dead Promises edited by June Hubbard
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
The editor has put together a roster of some of the most
talented authors in the genre. Julie Ann Parks, Owl Goingback, and Stephen Lee Climer lead a corps of dark
fantasy writers who have succeeded in hitting at the heart of this topic; the horror is not only in the
fear the wraiths inspire, but in the anguish.
Night Voices and Careful What You Wish by June Hubbard
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Certainly, there are dangers in the big city -- gang violence, seemingly random murders,
criminals everywhere making the bright lights dark and sinister. Everyone knows that, but,
if you've spent some time in the small towns of the South, you know where the true terrors lurk.
To the Stars by L. Ron Hubbard
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
Alan Corday, engineer-surveyor 10th class, is shanghied on
to the long passage ship Hound of Heaven under the orders of cantankerous Capt. Jocelyn. Angry and frustrated, he
eventually learns how the ship operates, but upon his return to Earth, his girlfriend is long dead, and the world entirely
different from the one he left, so he can never go home. He becomes part of a community of de facto outcasts who
live on the ship, traveling from planet to planet.
Cain by James Byron Huggins
reviewed by Todd Richmond
It's an action-packed novel filled with combat, big explosions, chases, and suspenseful
confrontations. One can't help but get the feeling that it is meant to be a screenplay.
Patternoster Row by Brian Hughes
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Cecilia Doyle's life is a model of misery, except for the fantasies that run through her head. She hungers for
more from life -- a better body, a decent job, and some genuine excitement for a change. That's a good thing, because
excitement such as she has never imagined is about to touch down in her neighbourhood. Excitement, she's about to find,
can be far more than she bargained for. In this case, it could be the death of her.
Hobson & Co. by Brian Hughes
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
If Charles Dickens, Kingsley Amis, and Tom Sharpe were sent through a teleportation device
and coalesced as one person, the first book they/he would turn out would be this one.
And a more gleefully malicious human you would be better off never to meet.
As a bonus, just add in the talents of a Gahan Wilson or an Edward Gorey, seeing
as Hughes does his own delightfully whacked illustrations.
The Dark Ascent by Walter H. Hunt
reviewed by Charlene Brusso
This unique military SF series has earned enthusiastic praise for its
focus on the philosophical as well as the tactical and strategic sides of conflict. That shift in focus adds an intriguing depth,
allowing the author to tell several interlocking stories simultaneously. It doesn't hurt that he's also taken the time
to create alien cultures and characters that leave the Hollywood rubber suit and latex forehead crowd fairly well far behind.
Percival and the Presence of God by Jim Hunter
reviewed by Neil Walsh
In his introduction, the book's editor calls this "Christian existential novel."
Neil agrees, it is an oddity, all right. Perhaps even more
existential than it is Christian. Not much action. Lots of introspection. And yet, very visceral.
Demon Witch by Geoffrey Huntington
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
A new caretaker has arrived, and there's something very odd about him -- quite apart from the fact that he's a
600-year-old gnome. A long-absent member of the Crandall family unexpectedly returns, with a lovely young fiancée about whom
Devon (and all the other males who encounter her) begins having disturbing, sensual dreams. Devon starts to see terrifying
visions of Ravenscliff's Hellhole, open by his hand... and of a mysterious, malevolent sorceress called Isobel the
Apostate.
Sorcerers of the Nightwing by Geoffrey Huntington
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
Devon March has always known that the monsters in his closet are real -- and that, mysteriously, he has the power to fight them. His Dad
knows it too. But he never explains why the loathsome demons are
there, or why Devon can banish them with a word, or why Devon sometimes manifests other powers, such as the ability to teleport
objects and open doors without touching them. When Devon is fourteen his father falls ill, and reveals a shocking secret: Devon isn't his real son.
Fatal Image by Jim Hurst
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
You often hear about how sitting in front of a computer is ruining your
health. The screen is chiselling away at your 20/20 vision. Repetitive motions
are making you the carpal tunnel poster child. Sitting
in place is giving you a beautiful pear shape. Well, at least the
computer isn't trying to kill you.
No Dominion by Charlie Huston
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
Joe Pitt's a Vampyre. He's been infected by a Vyrus that slows aging, imparts phenomenal strength and sensory abilities, and
survives by feeding off its host's blood -- which forces its host to go out and drink more blood so the Vyrus can survive.
And now there's a growing drug problem in the Vampyre community, some really bad stuff that makes users go crazy -- not easy to manage for those infected
with the Vyrus, which is solicitous of its hosts and cleans drugs and alcohol out of their systems almost as fast as
they go in.
Already Dead by Charlie Huston
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
Joe Pitt's a Vampyre. He's been infected by a Vyrus that slows aging, imparts phenomenal strength and sensory abilities,
enables almost instantaneous healing, and survives by feeding off its host's blood -- which forces its host to go out and
drink more blood so the Vyrus can have plenty of sustenance. There's a whole Vampyre subculture in New York City, loosely
gathered into Clans or collectives -- a hidden world of power and struggle unsuspected by ordinary human beings who live
their lives in daylight. In this secret world, Joe's something of an outsider.
The Lost Continent by C.J. Cutcliffe Hyne
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
The book takes us back to the primæval Yucatan peninsula, where Deucalion, who has honestly, justly and steadfastly governed over the
Yucatan colony, is now recalled to Atlantis. There trouble brews, grim poverty, a falling away from ancient traditions, a usurper-empress,
Phorenice, reigning with an iron fist. When she buries alive Naia, Deucalion's betrothed, he flees to the wilderness. Years later, he joins
an army of revolt, but when the religious leaders realize that Phorenice is unvanquishable by force, they must destroy the entire continent...
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