Poison Sleep by T.A. Pratt
reviewed by Rich Horton
Genevieve Kelley, an apprentice magician who retreated into a coma of sorts after she was raped,
has been kept in the Blackwing Institute, a sanatorium for mentally disturbed magicians. Genevieve is a "reweaver" -- she can
rearrange reality to match her dreams. But she has escaped, and she is more or less randomly reweaving
reality in Felport, transporting people to a world of her dreams every so often. Marla needs to track her down and eliminate her threat to her city,
hopefully without killing her.
A Conversation With Rob Schrab
An interview with David Maddox
On the creation of Scud: the Disposable Assassin:
'This is early 90's and Scud is being thrown around all over the place because of the Gulf War. And I
was like "You know that kind of sounds like a detergent." It was like
something you would buy to clean your tub. I thought, you know, what would be real neat is to have an assassin that had this
pop art detergent box-like look to it. I though what if there was a robot bought out of a vending machine, like a disposable
razor or lighter.'
Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
During the annual Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) business meeting, some discussions took place
as to what kinds of works qualify professional science fiction/fantasy writers for membership.
Rick Klaw has some thoughts on what was said, what they should do to update their definitions and
what is happening in the rest of the world when it comes to graphic novels.
Goblin War by Jim C. Hines
reviewed by Sherwood Smith
Jig, the runty, nearsighted goblin hero of the previous adventures (Goblin Quest and Goblin Hero) is taken
to war, even though no one, including Jig himself, thinks of him as much of a warrior... except that he's called Jig
Dragonslayer because in a previous conflict between Jig and a dragon, it was the goblin who survived. And he did
seem to outlive a host of other fierce enemies, from princes to pixies.
Jupiter, Issue 19
reviewed by Rich Horton
Rich's favorite story of the five plus a poem here is the longest, a novelette called
"O-Topper: The Musical", by Monte Davis. Much of what he likes is the weird presentation of what is a fairly familiar basic
story: time travel tourism, in this case rich men battling Huns. But the organizer of the tours insists on art -- he's a
cross-dressing clown and he dresses up his clients similarly. The tour itself has a shocking side
-- the tourists' mantra is "You can't kill what's already dead," but of course they are killing these people.
The Man on the Ceiling by Melanie Tem & Steve Rasnic Tem
reviewed by Mario Guslandi
Originally published as a chapbook in 2000, it won the Bram Stoker Award, the International Horror
Award and the World Fantasy Award. The present volume is an expanded version, incorrectly defined "a novel." Truth be
told, this book defies any label in terms of both literary form and genre definition.
A cross between fiction and autobiography, more mainstream than horror, this collaborative work represents a fascinating
puzzle, a unique example in the recent dark literature.
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A World Too Near by Kay Kenyon
reviewed by Greg L. Johnson
Titus Quinn is back in the world of the Entire, the neighboring universe which exists contemporaneous with our own. This time,
he has an unwelcome companion, Helice Maki, the ambitious scientist/corporate executive who has gained great influence and power.
Quinn's mission is two-fold, prevent
the Tariq, the strange, powerful beings who rule the Entire from destroying our universe in order to provide energy for their
own, and to find his daughter Sydney, who is living with aliens known as the Inyx. Helice, nominally along to help him, has
plans of her own.
Twice Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
In a age when people are never satiated with the day to day details of celebrity couples' lives, it shouldn't be surprising
that a fairy tale can't simply end with "and they lived happily ever after," but draws the inevitable question -- was it really
as happy as all that, or did Prince Charming have a mid-life crisis and run off with Rapunzel's teenage daughter? And what
about the evil step-mother/queen/dwarf/black prince that survived -- surely they didn't retire to a convent/monastery.
The Unblemished by Conrad Williams and The Grin of the Dark by Ramsey Campbell
reviewed by David Hebblethwaite
Horror fiction is still a relative rarity in the British mass market, so it's great to hear that Virgin Books are starting a monthly
series of horror titles. It's also good to hear that the first few will be reissues of small press publications. Of course, we still
want the books to be good -- but, with the first two at least, there's nothing to worry about in that regard.
Eifelheim by Michael Flynn
reviewed by Kit O'Connell
Two stories are interwoven in this novel. In one, Tom Schwoerin, a "cliologist" from
the near future, searches through history for traces of the lost German city of
the title. The other takes place in Eifelheim itself, then known as Oberhochwald, where we follow Pastor Dietrich as he struggles
to understand the town's strange alien visitors.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Rick has some thoughts on Battlestar Galactica so far and how the length of a TV series has changed over the years.
He also gives us a list of SF on TV in May.
First Contact: The Complete Guide to Writing Science Fiction: Volume One edited by Dave A. Law & Darin Park
reviewed by Steven H Silver
The book is is a collection of twenty essays dealing with science fiction as a genre, ostensibly for the purpose of helping the reader write
stories and get them published.
Although the book does offer some useful advice, it also includes several oddities which detract from the book's overall usefulness.
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