Rhysling Award Anthology edited by David C. Kopaska-Merkel
reviewed by Trent Walters
This anthology picks its residents from nominators that belong to the Science Fiction Poetry
Association. With as few readers as they have,
poets should not snub readers. All Merwin required was for even a child to respond. All Eliot required was
for his mother to like how it sounded. Perhaps poets should tune in closer to the populist
barometer -- without sacrificing art or vision.
Three Poetry Chapbooks by David C. Kopaska-Merkel
reviewed by Trent Walters
His poetry is almost always conversational and playful in the best sense of the term, yet ranges at times
from too opaque to too shallow. But at his most capable, he stands alongside David Lunde and other SF poetry giants
in writing some of the most emotionally poweful and meaningful genre poetry.
Nanotime by Bart Kosko
reviewed by Wayne MacLaurin
Here is a startling realistic glimpse at our future and the world's
reliance on oil as a major source of energy. This world of prying government
is only a small leap from our own where computer use has made privacy a major issue.
Epic by Conor Kostick
reviewed by Sherwood Smith
Human beings are living on New Earth, governed by The Committee. Erik
and his parents, Harald and Freya, live in a small town called Osterfjord, working hard on a failing farm. But hard as farm
life is, it's far better than being forced to reallocate, leave everyone they know -- and maybe be stuck in the coal mines.
Erik's parents hint that things could even be worse than that, but they won't tell him why.
The Amphora Project by William Kotzwinkle
reviewed by Paul Kincaid
The book is set unimaginably far in the future, when mankind has spread across the stars and is contemplating immortality and Earth
is not even a distant memory; yet city scenes are described in terms of plate-glass windows, lifts, muzak, store fronts and
the like. Cars fly, but they are described and treated just like the cars on our roads. The author tricks his novel out with
all sorts of futuristic paraphernalia, aliens and robots and spaceships, but then layers them over a world that, visually
and socially, is indistinguishable from late twentieth century America. Of course, all of this could be ironic.
Teek by Stephen Krane
reviewed by Todd Richmond
Allison Boyle appears to be a completely normal teenager, living alone with
her mother. She has a boyfriend, a favourite stuffed animal, and is secretly
writing a romance novel. Unfortunately, she also has her very own stalker.
When she is finally attacked, she lashes out in self-defense with previously
dormant telekinetic abilities. She escapes, but at a cost. Her newly
revealed abilities bring her under the scrutiny of a mysterious black ops
agency, determined to capture her...
Blind Vision by Marguerite Krause
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
Set in a mediaeval ducal court, this is a well-written and detailed
historical novel of intrigue and romance. Its forté is the development of
its characters and, to a lesser extent, of the intrigue that surrounds them.
It's a novel of people, not events; of burgeoning relationships not bloody
battles; and of imperfect characters' emotional development, not of
irredeemable evil despots or angelic do-gooders.
Nebula Awards Showcase 2003 edited by Nancy Kress
reviewed by Steven H Silver
In this anthology, the editor was given Severna Park's "The Cure of Everything," Kelly
Link's "Louise's Ghost," and Jack Williamson's "The Ultimate Earth" by the
members of the SFWA. What she brought to the collection was the decision to
include runners-up Mike Resnick and James Patrick Kelly, as well as
commissioning the commentary by a variety of authors, some established and some
still making a name for themselves.
Fires of the Faithful and Turning the Storm by Naomi Kritzer
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
Sixteen-year-old Eliana is a violin student at an isolated rural conservatory. Times are hard -- a recent war has laid waste to large parts
of the Mestierese Empire, and there's famine in the south. But life at the conservatory is reasonably secure, and Eliana has hope, once her
training is complete, that she'll land a prestigious appointment to one of the ensembles at the Imperial Court.
Then a new roommate, Mira, arrives, and Eliana's life is changed forever.
Tainaron: Mail from Another City by Leena Krohn
reviewed by Matthew Cheney
The author has, with a slim volume of thirty letters written from an imaginary city of
insects, given us a lens of words through which to consider reality, a microscope to reveal yearning and wonder, a
telescope to look for what it means to be human, a window and a mirror and an eye other than our own.
Pure by Karen Krossing
reviewed by Donna McMahon
Lenni is a teenager living in Dawn, a planned settlement in the "New Canadian North" populated only by healthy people who
are genetically unaltered. The corporation "Purity" runs the town and constantly polices people's genomes to make sure
they aren't making illegal DNA alterations. They are preserving the purity of the race.
The Leopard Mask by Kaoru Kurimoto
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
Notwithstanding where the later episodes in the Guin Saga may have taken the
series, if this first volume is at all representative of what's to come, you'll either
want to learn to read Japanese real quick, or haunt your bookstore's new releases rack. This is the sort of stuff that gives one some hope that
multi-volume Heroic Fantasy isn't just an excuse to recycle old growth forests into doorstops. This has it all, a powerful but mysterious
fate-driven hero, a nasty plague-bearing villain who is actually more than
what he first appears, a forest plagued with spirits, demons and worse, a pair of twin heirs to a kingdom with undeveloped paranormal
capabilities, and action, action, action!
Deryni Tales edited by Katherine Kurtz
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
These 9 stories by several different authors originally came from the Deryni Archives, a magazine
dedicated to this landmark fantasy series. The series is set in Medieval times, concerning itself with magic
and politics as the Deryni peoples fight to fit into a non-magical society. Before each story, the editor gives an explanation of where
that story fits into the timeline of the Deryni world.
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King Kelson's Bride by Katherine Kurtz
reviewed by Steven H Silver
This novel is a triumphant return to the magical Medieval realm of Gwynedd
in the first Deryni novel since The Bastard Prince
(1994). It begins with the coming of age of King Liam of Torenth. Although
Torenth and Gwynedd are mortal enemies, Liam has been living as a squire at
Kelson's court. When the boy attains his majority, it is time for Kelson to
undertake an embassy to return Liam to his own land. On the eve of their
journey, Kelson's one-time fiancée, Rothana, suggests an appropriate wife
for the young king...
On Crusade: More Tales of the Templar Knights edited by Katherine Kurtz
reviewed by Todd Richmond
Secret organizations, conspiracies, vast sums of hidden wealth, government corruption, whispering of the occult.
No, it's not the introduction to a new X-Files book, it's a book of stories about the Templar
Knights.
Death of An Adept by Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris
reviewed by Todd Richmond
Kurtz and Harris offer us their vision of magic in the modern day: psychic
abilities, scrying, astral projection, and post-cognition. Add some elements
of mythology, the occult, and modern detective work, then throw in a few
secret societies, each with a different agenda, and some ancient ruins and
castles... and the result is a worthy brew.
Gideon's Wall by Greg Kurzawa
reviewed by Donna McMahon
The story takes place during the medieval era of some unnamed world very similar to Earth. The frame story is the account of an
archaeological dig conducted by an archaist from the Loraen Isles who seeks the answer to a terrible mystery. A decade ago, the thriving empire
of Shallai fell into ruins almost overnight. Now the continent is an arid wasteland, and sailors who venture into its abandoned ports say
they can find no survivors to tell the tale.
Gideon's Wall by Greg Kurzawa
reviewed by Neil Walsh
Shallai was a mighty empire that covered a vast expanse of territory, until
one day it mysteriously disappeared. Some ruins could still be found,
thrusting up out of the sands, where once stood fertile lands and vibrant
cities. But none of the people survived whatever catastrophe destroyed the
empire. No one survived to explain how such a thing could happen.
A Thief Among Statues by Donn Kushner
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Brian Newgate is a refugee of WWI, sent with scores of orphaned children
from Britain to Canada. Judging by the families he is placed with, life
alone on the streets is looking pretty good. When Brian finally goes on the
run, he hides in the warmth of a church where he finds himself talking to
two wooden statues hidden away behind boards. The statues tell him a tale of
wonder and loss, and command him to complete a seemingly impossible assignment.
Life on Mars by Donn Kushner
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
It isn't often that you can describe a book in one word, but through
every page of this one, a single thought kept surfacing: charming.
The whole package will have adults -- young and old -- under its spell.
The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner
reviewed by Sherwood Smith
Out of nowhere, sixteen-year-old Katherine Talbert is made an offer, by her uncle, the Mad Duke Tremontaine, to cancel
all debts and even to help the family out of poverty, if Katherine consents to live with him in the city (and eventually in the
underworld area called Riverside, which serves as synecdoche for the city) for six months and train with the sword. Of course
she's going to take the offer -- despite the fact that young ladies do not have anything to do with swords.
The Fall of the Kings by Ellen Kushner & Delia Sherman
reviewed by William Thompson
Basil St. Cloud, Doctor of History and candidate for the Horn Chair, is the University's most vocal advocate for the study of the
ancient kings, believing their legacy has in part become clouded by the passage of time and the absence of reliable texts
following The Fall of the Kings. In searching through old
archives, St. Cloud has come to suspect that not all the kings were tyrants, nor the wizards that supported them simply charlatans
whose reputation for sorcery was used as mere smoke screen to prop up support for the king. He has begun to conclude that there
may be more to their story than long-held tenants of current scholarship, or the probable biases and extrapolation of historians
who wrote long after events had occurred.
The Horns of Elfland edited by Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman and Donald G. Keller
reviewed by Jeff Berkwits
Jeff found most of the stories
worthwhile. But those that attempt to relate a character's reaction to music rather
than the compositions themselves tend to be more successful, as the reader can readily
insert personally powerful harmonies into the yarns.
Elak of Atlantis by Henry Kuttner
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
After Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan, died in June 1936, a number of the works he had submitted before his death continued to be
published in the pulps, particularly in Weird Tales. However, by 1938 this supply had largely run out, yet the demand
for such fare hadn't -- so a number of authors attempted to fill the void, amongst them Henry Kuttner.
The Last Mimzy Stories by Henry Kuttner
reviewed by Nathan Brazil
In contradiction to the slightly misleading title, "Mimsy Were The Borogroves," is the only story here that has any connection
to The Last Mimzy movie. Happily this is no handicap, as the book collects seventeen mostly unconnected works, all of
which are rich in entertainment value. Ray Bradbury, who writes the introduction, describes Henry Kuttner as "a man who shaped
science-fiction and fantasy in its most important years."
Kuttner, who died in 1958, was a writer's writer, whose prolific imagination anticipated the future that is our present. This
Fury by Henry Kuttner
reviewed by A.L. Sirois
Originally published in Astounding in 1947 under the pseudonym Lawrence
O'Donnell, the book is set on Venus several
centuries after an atomic Armageddon has destroyed Earth. Mankind lives in a series of domed undersea
Keeps, because the land-life is so virulent that earlier attempts to settle there have all
failed. The race is slowly stagnating inside those domes, despite the more or less benevolent wardship
of the Immortals, a group of long-lived mutants.
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