British Invasion edited by Christopher Golden, Tim Lebbon and James A. Moore
reviewed by Mario Guslandi
British writers currently dominate the horror fiction scene, so much so that the American publisher Cemetery
Dance acknowledges the fact by releasing an anthology of twenty-one stories by UK-based contributors.
Supposedly, the volume collects work by the best british horror writers, but several distinguished
authors (L.H. Maynard and M.P.N. Sims, Graham Masterton, Mark Samuels, to mention a few) are unfortunately
absent. At any rate, the book does include a number of top-notch tales.
The Shadow Eater by Adam Lee
reviewed by Robert Francis
On Irth, only a privileged few live a life which could be called
comfortable. Elsewhere, dwarves, giants, squid monkeys, giant spiders, tiny
spiders, wraiths, faeries (not the nice ones), and ether-devils are waiting
around each corner just to make your day a short one.
The Dark Shore by Adam Lee
reviewed by Robert Francis
Despite being the first volume of a series, The Dark Shore tells a
straight-forward, self-contained story. Anyone picking up this book will be
treated to a well developed plot, with a definite close, set in a very
interesting cosmology.
Of Pigs and Spiders by Edward Lee, John Pelan, David Niall Wilson and Brett Savory, A Lap Dance With the Lobster Lady by S.P. Somtow and Two From Zothique: A Chapbook by David B. Silva and Geoff Cooper
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Readers under the age of 17 caught reading these 3 chapbooks will be forced to take a three-week family
vacation in a hatchback. With a car-sick dog sharing the back seat. And adults, please,
don't get talked into buying these for kids loitering around the convenience store.
Son of the Sword by J. Ardian Lee
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
In 1713, the British are trying to quash the Jacobite rebellion, even as Queen Anne is trying to create a peace between the warring lands. The
British soldiers think nothing of burning out and murdering families. Sinann, a fairy of the Sidhe, is sick and tired of it. She takes a
sword that has just fallen from the hands of one of her beloved Mathesons, who she strives to protect, and pours her power into it, bidding
it to bring her a hero. The first Matheson who touches it will come to her people and lead them to victory over their oppressors.
Infernal Angel by Edward Lee
reviewed by Nathan Brazil
He is an author whose work is a sub-genre all on its own. Uber horror, might be an appropriate term. He doesn't so
much nail readers attention to the page, as crucify it. But what separates him from so many other writers of gratuitous blood
and guts fiction, is the intelligence with which he presents his stories. This book is a chip off the bloody chopping
block, which begins in a suburb of Mephistopolis, where a starving Edward Teller is chowing down on the legs of a recently
deceased prostitute.
The Tranquility Wars by Gentry Lee
reviewed by Donna McMahon
Donna got quite a kick out of reading this moderately dreadful novel.
"Offers surprise after surprise" says The New York Times, and
they're sure not kidding. If Commander Data from Star Trek
wrote a novel, he would probably produce something like this bizarre mix of
perceptive detail and ridiculously stilted writing. Nevertheless, Donna is
willing to recommend it.
Winter Shadows and Other Tales by Mary Soon Lee
reviewed by Trent Walters
Each story isn't a swashbuckling adventure or a pyrotechnic fountain of ideas. The author doesn't mince mint images
but hits her stride with characterization, detailing the backdrop of lives and relationships, gathering her huddled
masses of the discarded: the divorced and the destitute, the desperate and the longing, the lost and the
lonely. These are quiet stories -- even in death -- awash with sentiment, unburdened by complex plots. The reader
looking for the pace of a literary story in traditional and contemporary speculative garb has found his place here.
Carousel Tides by Sharon Lee
reviewed by Alma A. Hromic
Kate is not at all what she seems to be. She could be an exile from
a weird old place with its shuttered carnival attractions out on the Maine coast next to a great grey
sea. And Kate has more problems than she knows what to do with, and they seem to multiply like gnats every
time she turns around. But there is a gallery of allies she collects along the way.
Stan Lee's How to Draw Comics by Stan Lee
reviewed by D. Douglas Fratz
This is an updated version of the ground-breaking 1978
book How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way by comics writer Stan Lee and artist John Buscema, although much of
the material is new. It includes work by 60s/70s artists such as Jack Kirby, John Romita, Sr., Neal Adams and
Gil Kane, along with much more recent work by artists apparently associated with "contributing writer" Dave
Campiti. Both volumes seek to demonstrate how to draw comic books in the super-hero and related genres.
Death's Master by Tanith Lee
reviewed by Sandra Scholes
Death's Master is about ancient times when the Earth was believed to be flat,
and Gods reigned over all, and the world was separated into three different levels much like in the
Norse pantheon. The Gods lived on the Upper Earth realm, while the Lords of Darkness and demons lived
far below in the bowels of the Earth. Normal mortals resided in the middle world between the order and
chaos and had a much harder life as a result.
Night's Master by Tanith Lee
reviewed by Mario Guslandi
Originally published in 1978 and nominated for the World Fantasy Award, Night's Master
constitutes the first book in a series of five volumes which appeared in print over a ten-year period and subsequently
labelled under the title, Tales from the Flat Earth.
Structured as a series of interconnected short stories merging in atypical novels, it
takes place on a world in which the Earth, where humans live, is flat and lies between two different
layers: the Upperearth, the realm of indifferent gods, and the Underearth, a fantastic place where demons
rule and the sun never shines.
Indigara by Tanith Lee
reviewed by Kit O'Connell
What's so bothersome about this book? Is it Jet, the novel's almost
totally passive protagonist, whose one self-motivated act in the entire book is to run away from home? Maybe it is Otis,
her robotic dog -- a character who could have been fascinating but instead exists solely to move the plot along by deducing
things periodically (thus keeping Jet from ever figuring something out for herself)? Perhaps it is Jet's family and the
showbiz caricatures that populate this novel, almost none ever rising to three-dimensionality?
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Black Unicorn by Tanith Lee
reviewed by Alma A. Hromic
Alma doesn't know if this is a cavil that's personal enough to be disregarded or if other people ever get around to feeling the same
way -- but the press release accompanying this slim volume trumpets "The Return Of The Classic Novel by Internationally Acclaimed
Fantasist Tanith Lee". Well, aside from the obsessive capitalization, so far, so good. But then it goes on to say, "Perfect for Fans
of Harry Potter and the Academy Award-Nominated The Lord of the Rings". Hmmm....
The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
With so much of her work out of print, it's an occasion for rejoicing
when one is re-issued. This re-publication (OP for more than a decade) is an
especially exciting event, for it's one of the author's best -- lush,
sensual, dark, and utterly enthralling.
The Official Godzilla Compendium by J.D. Lees and Marc Cerasini
reviewed by Marc Goldstein
Filling the book with trivia that will appeal to both serious scholars and neophytes
alike, the authors take particular glee in busting a few pet-peeve misconceptions about
the big guy. His skin is gray, not green, they assert with comic exasperation.
Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber
an audiobook review by John Ottinger III
This three-story volume is the first of several collections of Leiber's iconic Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
stories. Organized chronologically according to the character timeline, it contains two
origin stories for the unlikely duo and the Nebula and Hugo-winning "Ill Met in Lankhmar" that narrates the
duo's first caper together.
The First & Second Books of Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber
reviewed by William Thompson
Pairing a northern barbarian with an urbane, hedge wizard's acolyte, one could
think perhaps of a no more unlikely couple, except the marriage of Mutt and Jeff,
Stan and Oliver, proving once again "Three of a Perfect Pair." A keen mind in a berserker's body, Fafhrd became the
brawn and calm to balance the Grey Mouser's creative if at times impulsive fancy. Of a larcenous turn, the two confederates
match their differing if mutual skills to thievery and mercenary employment, usually with serio-comedic results. Written
with verve and wit, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser became one of the most original and enduring teams to grace fantasy fiction.
The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber
reviewed by Marc Goldstein
It kicks off when an artificial planet, quickly nicknamed the Wanderer, materializes from hyperspace within
earth's orbit. The Wanderer's gravitational field captures the moon and shatters it into something like one of
Saturn's rings. On earth, the Wanderer's gravity well triggers massive earthquakes, tsunamis, and tidal phenomena. The
multi-threaded plot follows the exploits of a large ensemble cast as they struggle to survive the global disaster.
The Dealings of Daniel Kesserich by Fritz Leiber
reviewed by Neil Walsh
As Lovecraftian horror goes, it's a well-constructed tale that's
neither too gruesome for the weak-stomached, nor too tame for the
warp-minded.
Speaking Stones by Stephen Leigh
reviewed by Jeri Wright
A century after Anais Koda-Levin (Dark Water's Embrace) recognizes her
destiny as the first human Sa or midmale, most of the human colony on
Mictlan have adapted to the reality of the third sex serving as an evolutionary
"stabilizer", although some still see them as a perversion. The colonists
now share the world with the native Miccail, but many humans also do not
trust the natives. An uneasy truce is endangered when one act of violence
sparks another, and both sides face a war of annihilation.
The Company of Glass by Valery Leith
reviewed by Charlene Brusso
The Land of Everien is between a rock and a hard place. The beautiful but evil Sekk, an ancient enemy,
threaten from one direction, while Pharician horsemen are invading from another. To make matters worse,
a messenger has just brought bad tidings to King Lerien...
Girl In Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
If you're not familiar with Jonathan Lethem, step up and meet the man who's going to lead
you into an esoteric world. He's got a firm grasp and a twisted genius that will keep you
crossing the line for more. And, please, pay close attention -- Lethem doesn't mumble,
and he never repeats himself.
As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem
reviewed by Glen Engel-Cox
This is not a novel for all tastes, for it is not rigorous
enough in its science, nor sweet enough in its romance,
nor cynical enough in its satire.
The Wall of the Sky, The Wall of the Eye by Jonathan Lethem
reviewed by Neil Walsh
It's straight, with a twist of weird. Lethem's
style is clear, straightforward, even simple. His subject
matter, though, ranges from the somewhat bizarre to the downright twisted.
Dog Days by John Levitt
reviewed by Katherine Petersen
Mason excels at improvisation, both in his jazz guitar playing and in his magic. He could probably play better music
and be a better magical practitioner if he wanted, but he's content with his life as it is. Well, content enough
until magical attacks start coming from nowhere to affect the status quo. He manages to deflect them by improvising
magic from the feel, emotion, scent and physicality of his environment.
Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Alien Species by Ann Margaret Lewis
reviewed by David Maddox
Ever wonder why the Ugnaughts ended up on Cloud City? Or how the Gungan language developed? Well, someone
did and now all those Star Wars questions you have (and dozens upon dozens you never knew
you did) will be answered.
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