Weird Scenes Inside the Godmind by Douglas A. Mackey
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
The book has Ronan doing a Edgar Cayce exercise in channeling a presumably Dick-like author's posthumous masterpiece, Mark getting
involved in a play with a woman who is actually a good old fashioned BEM (Bug-eyed Monster), Mary Anna, an unstable
therapist who becomes a homicidal whore while possessed by the evil entity Da, and Cora a nouveau-vampire who is reaching new spiritual
levels through her Tibetan guru. These four misfits are supposed to unify in some transcendent state when the apocalypse comes...
Breathmoss and Other Exhalations by Ian R. MacLeod
reviewed by Chris Przybyszewski
In the novella, "Breathmoss," the author sets the story on a fantasy world that implants spores called Breathmoss into the lungs of its
young so that they can breath in the environment. The world of is terribly original, a living, breathing space of reality that lacks
ornamentation and that holds an internal truth. It teaches the reader a new language, one that draws
the reader into the story and as we understand the language more regularly, we perceive the characters in a new way.
The House of Storms by Ian R. MacLeod
reviewed by David Soyka
The discovery of the alchemical substance aether has ushered in an alternate Industrial Revolution based on magic
rather than steam power; the "Age" that follows the events of The Light Ages,
the author's previous novel, is a sort of late Victorian period
in which Victrola phonographs exist not at all incongruously side-by-side with telephone systems capable of video transmission.
The Light Ages by Ian R. MacLeod
reviewed by Gabe Mesa
Robert Borrows is born into one of the lowlier guilds in the village of Bracebridge, a town that lives off the mining of
aether. He leads a normal existence, living with his parents and older sister, going to school... barring any disaster
he will one day be expected to follow his father into the toolmakers' guild and into the same life of grinding, borderline
poverty. One day, however, Robert accompanies his mother on a mysterious trip to a rundown house in a nearby town
Shortly after the visit, Robert's mother takes ill and the family's worst fears are realized when it is clear that she
is becoming a changeling, for reasons Robert can't fathom.
The Human Front by Ken Macleod
reviewed by Nathan Brazil
It is a feather-weight book, which packs a heavyweight punch. In terms of size, it's a novella, but it includes more
entertainment than many books that are four times its length. The theme is alternate history, with specific reference to AHABs, an
acronym meaning Advanced High Altitude Bomber. AHABs are better known as flying saucers, and in this timeline, they are the ultimate
weapon.
Newton's Wake by Ken MacLeod
reviewed by Adam Volk
We follow the misadventures of Lucinda Carlyle, a hard-bitten combat archeologist and member of the infamous
"bloody Carlyle's"; a group of renegade explorers who have managed to gain control of a network of wormholes known only as the
Skein. On her first tactical command, Lucinda leads her motley crew to the uncharted -- and supposedly uninhabited -- planet of
Eurydice, only to discover the descendants of long forgotten group of human colonists who fled the Earth centuries ago during the
chaotic period known as the Hard Rapture.
The Human Front by Ken MacLeod and A Writer's Life by Eric Brown
reviewed by Greg L. Johnson
There are basically two ways to approach the publishing of these two-in-one paperbacks, you can pick stories that are similar in style
and content, hoping they will each appeal to the same readers, or you can present a contrast, pair up two stories that are quite dissimilar
in content, written by two writers with different styles, and give readers familiar with one the opportunity to discover someone new.
Cosmonaut Keep by Ken MacLeod
reviewed by Peter D. Tillman
Like most of his books, this novel is told in two alternating timelines. By
far the most interesting story-strand is set on the planet Mingulay, in a
complex society of humans, saurs, krakens and other sentients. This first
volume in a new series comes to an adequate resolution, with plenty of hooks
to prime you for the next installment. MacLeod's writing just keeps getting
better, with intelligent politics, amazing inventions and a spectacular new
universe-playground. Highly recommended.
The Magazine of Speculative Poetry, Spring 2003
reviewed by Stephen M. Davis
This edition of The Magazine of Speculative Poetry doesn't have the strength of
previous numbers I've seen, and the best poem of the
lot, "The Water Bulls" by Ray DiZazzo, doesn't appear particularly speculative.
The Magazine of Speculative Poetry, Volume 4, Number 3
reviewed by Stephen M. Davis
Stephen found the best overall poem to be Sandra Lindow's "Because We Must,"
which tries to find a new approach in talking about a sexual encounter. He
also discovered some nice moments in the poems of Charlee Jacob and Rachael
M. Lininger. Most of the poetry, however, didn't stand up to Stephen's
rigid 'Wordsworth prose paraphrase' test.
Kingdom Come by Elliot S. Maggin
reviewed by Mark Shainblum
Mark thinks the author has distinguished himself as a man who truly understood the mythological
underpinnings of the material he was writing before such understanding was fashionable. He is
one of a very small stable of writers who can convincingly write superhero adventure in prose form.
Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire
reviewed by Hank Luttrell
The retelling of Snow White in this book has it placed in a more definite historical milieu and geographical location. Instead of a land far, far away;
long, long ago, it takes place in Renaissance Italy, and the architect of the poisoned apple becomes Lucrezia Borgia, a
reasonable situation for an infamous poisoner. All the well-remembered players in the old tale are here,
but their identities are better defined and complex, their motivations more clear and definite, and their roles much larger.
Never The Bride and Something Borrowed by Paul Magrs
reviewed by Sandy Auden
Everyone living in Whitby has a secret. A small English coastal resort it may be, but it is also hides some strange and curious
people. For starters, there's Mrs Claus, the maniacal owner of the Christmas Hotel -- a place where they're perpetually
celebrating Christmas for the hordes of coach parties and local pensioners. Then there's Mr Danby, the owner of the spookily named
Deadly Boutique, where beauty and youthful looks come at a high price. And don't forget Effie, the old lady at the Junk Shop with
her dubious set of ancestors, and Effie's best friend Brenda, the Bed & Breakfast lady with some of the biggest secrets of all.
|
The Horribly Haunted School by Margaret Mahy
reviewed by Neil Walsh
This is an intelligent, playful adventure with an air of mystery about it. There are plenty of
silly-sounding names (like Scrunley Filcher and Jessica Frogcutlet), interesting characters, and spoofing
glimpses at some of the unusual obsessions and instabilities of adults.
Time Rider by Rickey R. Mallory
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
What the author has created is a rare surprise: an actual love story in a science fiction setting.
Not a slurpy romance, plunked down in the future to snare a few
more readers, but an involving, earthy love dependent on its
speculative story. And it's not a 'young miss' kind of romance: this
is emotion, and lust, and definitely not for the kiddies.
Le Morte D'Arthur by Thomas Malory
reviewed by William Thompson
This represents not only the first novel in English, but arguably the first
novel of fantasy. Its universal tale of love and betrayal, the striving for unattainable ideals amidst the
turmoil of human frailty, an earlier age at the threshold of profound change, has remain seated in the
imagination of successive generations, profoundly influencing a large and diverse number of authors,
artists and filmmakers, from the Pre-Raphaelites and Beardsley, directors as different as John Boorman,
Bresson and the crew of Monty Python, to writers as far distant in their outlook and intention as Twain,
Steinbeck, The Inklings and Michael Moorcock.
The Best Time Travel Stories of All Time edited by Barry Malzberg
reviewed by Steven H Silver
Steven looked at the name of this anthology and thought: what a great title. Opening
the book, he was quickly disappointed. Sure, the stories included are wonderful, but he noticed that all of the stories in the book were
published before 1996. Surely a book about time travel purporting to the best of all time should include stories from 2013, 2395 and 3641.
Clarkesworld Magazine #1 edited by Nick Mamatas
reviewed by Amal El-Mohtar
Livejournal is a wonderful thing. Say what you will about blogging and how it's shameless wankery on the part of the author and shameful
voyeurism on the part of the reader, it remains that blogs spread
the word about things that might be easily missed and really ought not to be. Clarkesworld Magazine is one of those things.
Terrapin Or by Tilper Manaday
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
You could describe as absurdist this tale of an unemployed engineer who discovers a machine capable
of selectively teleporting items or bits of matter all over the world and even the universe. Along with his sidekick, a reclusive
obese billionaire with a pathological fear of women, he uses it to clean up and disarm the Earth, eliminate drug addiction (at
least locally), set straight a televangelist and, of course, set off a number of amusing if odd consequences.
The Dictionary of Imaginary Places by Alberto Manguel and Gianni Guadalupi
reviewed by Steven H Silver
This book is a tribute to the collective human
imagination in more ways than one. It contains more than 1200 imaginary places ranging from
Homer's Aiaia to J.K. Rowling's Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Many of the locations included come from much more obscure sources (Tommaso
Porcacchi's Le isole piu' famose del mondo); however, the more famous
are also well represented (J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Shire").
The Solaris Book of New Fantasy edited by George Mann
reviewed by Rich Horton
All lovers of short SF and Fantasy have been missing a regular series of unthemed
original anthologies, in the mode of Frederik Pohl's pioneering Star, Damon Knight's Orbit, Terry Carr's
Universe, Robert Silverberg's New Dimensions, and most recently, Patrick Nielsen Hayden's all too
short-lived Starlight. So it is delightful to see in 2007 the beginnings of no fewer than four such
series: Jonathan Strahan's Eclipse, Lou Anders's Fast Forward, and two separate books from Solaris,
edited by George
Mann: The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, and The Solaris Book of New Fantasy.
The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction edited by George Mann
reviewed by David Hebblethwaite
Solaris Books is the new science fiction and fantasy imprint from Games Workshop's publishing arm.
This anthology is their "book-sized calling card." It's heartening to see a company with
Games Workshop's clout investing, as it were, in the field; so one wants to wish Solaris well -- provided, of course, that they
publish good fiction.
The Severed Man by George Mann
reviewed by David Hebblethwaite
The fifth entry in the Time Hunter series sees time travellers Honoré Lechasseur and Emily
Blandish on the trail of two mysterious figures -- a small boy and a tramp. Lechasseur has the ability to perceive
people's time-lines (or 'time-snakes' as he calls them here), and both these individuals have unusual ones. The boy's
time-snake has no end or beginning; in contrast, the tramp's has been cut, so he exists only in the present.
The Compleat Boucher edited by James A. Mann
reviewed by Peter D. Tillman
The wry, literate, understated and still very readable stories collected
here were mostly written between 1940 and 1952. The author's best stories
have entered the permanent science fiction and fantasy repertoire. It's a
collection to be read a story or two at a time.
Horror and Mystery Photoplay Editions and Magazine Fictionizations by Thomas Mann
reviewed by Trent Walters
This book is a curiosity. It covers a period of books made inspired from film,
which morphed into what we know today as the movie tie-in. The author writes why he began collecting: "At the time,
I usually assumed I would never get to see all the movies to which photoplay books were linked,"
noting that he could not have anticipated the invention of the DVD and cable TV.
A Change Of Destiny by Marilynn Mansfield
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Romantic science fiction. Science fiction romance. Sounds as if it ought to be the same thing,
doesn't it? This e-book falls somewhere in the middle, but Lisa'd have to give it
a nudge toward the romance department.
Dawn Song by Michael Marano
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
It's 1990, the eve of the Gulf War. As ruler of hell, the Enfolded One is
busy dealing out mass hysteria, war, bigotry and religious oppression.
Meanwhile, a Succubus arrives in Boston, sent by the Unbowed One, who is
rival to the Enfolded One. The Unbowed One once ruled in hell and wishes to
do so again...
|
