http://www.sfsite.com/ The new issue of the SF Site is now online. Copyright 1996-2007 SF Site en-us http://www.sfsite.com/images/sfspot1.gif http://www.sfsite.com/ http://www.sfsite.com/7a/pb299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT Over the past eleven years, K.J. Parker (a pseudonym; the writer's true identity has never been revealed) has built a reputation for her own particular style of genre fantasy: a style characterized by down-to-earth, rather brutal portrayals of warfare and politics; earthily humorous, but with an ultimately serious tone -- a sense that this is the real messy business of how such affairs would be conducted in a pre-industrial world. http://www.sfsite.com/7a/oc299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT Once again, the galaxy is threatened by instability and strife. Once again, the Jedi Order is in the spotlight, and not in a good way. The Jedi are too powerful, too enigmatic, too independent, too likely to go against authority. The distrust is high, especially after the rise and fall of Darth Caedus, formerly Jacen Solo, son of Han Solo and Princess Leia. And when another Jedi, Valin Horn, apparently goes mad and runs amuck, it's all the evidence powerful people need. http://www.sfsite.com/7a/ds299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT The idea of what lies beyond this earthy existence, be it the after-life or a big nothing, has fascinated humanity since before people developed written language. So it comes as no surprise that the subject continues to inspire both those who embrace spirituality, and those who are miners of the imagination. This work comes across as something in-between theosophical speculation and light science fantasy. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/audio299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT Recent audiobook releases received by SF Site include works by Richard Matheson, Robert Heinlein, Margo Lanagan, Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan At times it's more convenient (and enjoyable) to hear the latest in science fiction and fantasy. http://www.sfsite.com/7a/bw299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT This is science fiction only in the sense that it is a work of fiction whose principal characters are scientists. As the work of 2009 Science Fiction Hall of Fame inductee, however, it is inevitably classified in the genre. It tells the story of Sandra Foster, a researcher laboring in the corporate catacombs of a company called HiTek. Her work focuses on fads and their sources, and for her current project she is trying to track down the mysterious catalyst for the 1920s craze for hair-bobbing. http://www.sfsite.com/7a/ww299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT The latest installment of the misadventures of Rachel Morgan kicks off at the beginning of the end -- the end of Kisten's life (or unlife). Kisten's murder at the hands of an unknown assailant has haunted Rachel since she woke up with no knowledge of what happened. Working with a psychiatrist, Rachel begins to put things together but is still hampered by Jenks' "forget" spell. Meanwhile, a close friend is hospitalized after what appears to be a banshee attack. http://www.sfsite.com/7a/cr299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT The story opens with the death of Barry Allen as witnessed by Allen himself. What killed him, we soon learn, is a wall of anti-matter that is slowly making its way across, not only Keystone City, not only the Earth, but the entire multiverse. On world after world, the skies bleed to red. Then the shadows come -- creatures that shift between solid and wrath-like and who seek only destruction. Finally, the anti-matter wall sweeps the planet, destroying everything alive. http://www.sfsite.com/7a/es299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT In 1976, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle released Inferno, a reworking of the epic poem by Dante Alighieri. Now, they have returned to that world and to the hero, Alan Carpenter, teamed with Sylvia Plath, who has been condemned to the wood of the suicides in the middle ring of the seventh circle, to get out of Hell. Hell is going through a shakeup of its own because of Vatican II. The rules have changed. The condemned are all scheduled to be tried anew. http://www.sfsite.com/7a/gm299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT Harry Turtledove explores the circumstances surrounding one of ancient Rome's greatest military disasters, The Battle of the Teutoberg Forest. This is the battle in which the German, Arminius, defeated Augustus Caesar's appointed governor of Germany, Publius Quinctilius Varus, keeping Rome out of Germany. Although well-known for his alternate histories, Turtledove chooses historical fiction as the best format to tell about this history-changing battle. http://www.sfsite.com/7a/da299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT The beginning of a new era continues in part two of the high fantasy saga, The Demon Wars. The demon Dactyl has awakened and has put together an army to destroy the land of Corona. R.A. Salvatore has created a story that runs through seven books and is the basis of the role-playing game, Demon Wars. Now teamed up with Graphic Audio, these books come to life as an audio adaptation. http://www.sfsite.com/7a/mo299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT Judy never expected to find a yeti in the freezer section of the Food Plus Mart while she was working the night shift, much less a yeti intent on eating all of the ice cream (save the vanilla.) But there it is, so what does she do? She calls Animal Control Services, which, surprisingly enough, actually has a remedy for her infestation issues. Enter Monster, of Monster's Cryptobiological Rescue, a large blue-skinned man with a talent for transmogrifying and containing supernatural pests, and his paper gnome companion Chester. http://www.sfsite.com/7a/cw299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT As the novel opens, the major story-lines left over from A World Too Near are front and center. Titus Quinn still searches for a way to save our universe, the Rose, without destroying the Entire. Meanwhile, his daughter grows in power even as she renounces their relationship, and Helice continues her plan to bring humans to the Entire, no matter the cost to Earth. http://www.sfsite.com/7a/br299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT Largely forgotten today, L.A.G. Strong was one of the most popular and eclectic writers of the mid-twentieth century, author of biographies, detective stores, children books and, last but not least, of supernatural novels and stories. The present volume collects, for the first time, the author's supernatural or "strange" short stories, most of which were probably unknown, thus far, to today's readers. http://www.sfsite.com/7a/ju299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT Rich thought this was one of the better issues. To begin at the end, with the shortest story, Gareth D. Jones offers an enjoyable snippet, a little character sketch, in his Roadbuilder sequence, "Dog's Best Friend." Continuing from the end, James McCormick's "If You Can't Beat Them ..." speculates on an accommodation reached by two crime lords, one of whom has chosen biological enhancement, the other mechanical enhancement, to the point they've reached a stalemate in their rivalry. http://www.sfsite.com/7a/tp299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT I still remember when I was reading Dinner at Deviant's Palace (1984) by Tim Powers for the first time. After some 27 years of reading SF, I thought it would be hard to startle me with ideas and amaze me with plot. Sure, I could become engrossed with a sense of wonder and be charmed by a delightful turn of phrase. But I had read a lot of books and it didn't seem like there could be more. Boy, I was young and stupid. I found a number of treasures and surprises in Dinner at Deviant's Palace and Tim Powers became one of my favourite writers on the spot. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/booknews299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT There's lots of good stuff out for the Summer so here's a round up of Guillermo del Toro's vampires in The Strain; Jonathan L Howard's necromancer Johannes Cabal; and both Mike Carey's dysfunctional Tom Taylor in The Unwritten and news about the ultra-cool Felix Castor. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT Rick Klaw recently attended the Writers League of Texas Agents Conference. Unlike genre conventions, this event focused completely on authors getting agents rather than established writers promoting their wares. Nearly twenty agents presented and offered critiques for the some 600 attendees. As with all these type of functions, the Conference afforded panels with industry experts. For the panel Beyond the Strip: Inside the World of Comics & Graphic Novels, Rick shared his stories from the trenches along with fellow writers Alan J. Porter and Tony Salvaggio. Overseen by crime novelist Kit Frazier, the three of them bantered about the inner workings of comics for a dozen or so graphic novel neophytes. http://www.sfsite.com/books/new299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT It's been a few issues of the SF Site since we listed the new arrivals, so there are quite a few new books this time. Highlights include the latest from Jacqueline Carey, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Catherine Asaro, John Scalzi, Charles de Lint, and many others. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT Last month Rick said there was no SF on television this summer. But there is always some, if you look hard enough. He found Doctor Who, Merlin and Primeval, all UK series. Then there is Warehouse 13 plus Virtuality by Ronald D. Moore. He also found out where where each genre series fell in the official rankings of the 2008-2009 network TV season. http://www.sfsite.com/7a/rw299.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT The Imperial Merchant Ship Chathrand is an immense six hundred year old vessel that is the last of her kind. Because of his knowledge of certain treacherous waters, a discredited captain has been reinstated to lead a subterfuge in which the ship's sinking will be faked in order to complete a secret mission to uncage an ancient evil to provoke war between the arch-enemy nations of Arqual and the Mzithrin Empire. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/ng298.htm Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT This new novella is a steampunk romp -- one doesn't think of the clanking machinery of steampunk as light but this story certainly is. The title refers to a certain establishment of a particular nature -- exactly what you would think. The kicker is that the ladies involved have another job -- spies. They use their rather privileged access to men of power to gather information, under the direction of their blind proprietress, Mrs. Corvey. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/hi298.htm Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT After the Second World War, the people of Japan had a national trauma to deal with the like of which none of the rest of us have ever had to experience. It wasn't the fact of defeat, or even the emphatic scale of it, that was at issue, it was the unprecedented nature and violence of the destruction wrought at Hiroshima and again at Nagasaki. One of the ways they found to deal with this trauma was to personalize the destruction in the monstrous character of Gojira or Godzilla. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/xe298.htm Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT The story takes place one year after Necropath. Vaughan and his wife are happily married and expecting their first child. He is enjoying a life free of telepathy, even if it is also free of the surplus cash he used to earn. An old acquaintance contacts him with a proposal to join a telepathic detective agency. There is a bit of angst but, in the end, Vaughan does it for the future of his family. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/ls298.htm Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT The second Death Star has been destroyed. Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine are dead. Luke Skywalker, the last of the Jedi Knights, stands victorious and the galaxy celebrates him as a hero. But a new, dark menace named Shadowspawn has reared its head. With his army of black suited StormTroopers, can this new enemy spell the end of the fledgling New Republic? Or is there a darker game being played behind the scenes? http://www.sfsite.com/06b/bi298.htm Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT Michael Wilde is a man caught in the moment between hope and grief. His lover, Kristin, has been in a coma since an accident when they were climbing. Kristin too is trapped, in a body that doesn't work and a mind that won't wake, by her parent's desperate, delusional hope she'll someday, somehow recover. Neither of them able to go back to how it was before or move forwards to how it was going to be. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/bg298.htm Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT One of the strengths of Black Gate is how issues exhibit a character distinct from one another. Issue 12 contained many sequels in ongoing series, but some readers wondered if the magazine was beginning to close in to a favored few authors. No danger. This issue does contain a true sequel and two stories that take place in settings familiar from other stories, but which are not true sequels. The rest are all new stories, and many of these from new authors. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica298.htm Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT The first time Mark became truly aware that one could make art directly out of one's life -- unfiltered by fictionalization -- was during his college days, in that long-ago era when the hapless Carter years were giving way to the malignant Reagan ones. He had a Work-Study job in television production and one of his co-workers used the equipment, during off-hours, for various video projects such as sitting in a chair in his backyard recording monologues about life, intercutting narratives with objects like school film strips and interviews with former girlfriends. Mark London Williams is reading two graphic memoirs, Stitches, written and drawn by illustrator David Small and You'll Never Know by C. Tyler. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/cy298.htm Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT In the mid-21st Century, India is a land of tradition, mixed cultures and advanced technologies. The country has balkanized, splitting up in to twelve different countries. The stories in this collection are snapshots of the people and places that make up this new India, glimpses of a life where ancient philosophies mix with soap operas whose entire cast is made up artificial intelligences, and where a shortage of women and water is causing upheavals on every level of the society that makes up the political, social, and economic structure of India. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/pc298.htm Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT It has been ten days since the events of The Queen's Bastard; since Belinda Primrose was exposed to the Gallin court, escaped a Gallin prison and laid a trap to kill a Gallin queen. She is home now, back in Aulun, in her mother's kingdom. That is no surety of safety. Her father, the Queen's beloved Robert, is still missing, Belinda has been undone -- frayed if not entirely unravelled -- by her time as Beatrice Irvine and Sandalia's death has riled Echonia to war. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/ff298.htm Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT The introduction starts out strong citing what he sees as science fiction's four purposes: its predictive capability, its preventative possibility, its ability to inspire the future, and being "the literature of the open mind," which "acknowledges change and encourages thinking outside the box." And then presents fourteen tales which promise to do just that. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/ca298.htm Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT Set in 2060, after the world has collapsed, more or less, both ecologically and politically, there are three major players in this new world: the one remaining influential nation state, China; and a couple of extra-national organizations: the Dispensation, a fairly Capitalist grouping; and Acquis, a sort of techno-Socialist entity. The latter two groups are explicitly (in their minds) engaged in "saving the world," while China is being China. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/en298.htm Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT The Star Wars Universe has spawned not only characters, but races, planets, ships, customs, religious beliefs and, well let's face it, an entire working universe. What better way to catalog it all than with this three-book hardcover boxed set designed to encompass all of George Lucas' incredible vision. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/booknews297.htm Mon, 1 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT The Terra Incognita project has exercised Kevin J. Anderson's talents more than anything he's done before. Along with his usual role of book author, he's also turned his hand to writing a connecting narrative text for his CD booklet, lyric writing with his wife Rebecca Moesta and he's been involved with the musical evolution of the Terra Incognita progressive rock CD that ties into the main storyline of his latest trilogy. It could have been a daunting project but it was transformed into something hugely enjoyable by the enthusiastic approach of Anderson, Shawn Gordon (of ProgRock Records), and composer and producer Erik Norlander. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/ro297.htm Mon, 1 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT The author has successfully subverted the sexiness of the supernatural, by plugging into the profane and earthy viewpoint of zombie party girl, Amanda Feral. Once again, our flesh-eating socialite is up to her undead ears in trouble, but this time, she's hitting the road in search of a little adventure and some new scenery. Her motivations are multiple. 1) Go see her mother, currently dying in a hospice... and help speed up the process. 2) Keep one step ahead of the angry porn king-turned-vampire and his werewolf minions. 3) See a few sights, have a few laughs, devour a few K-Mart shoppers. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/nc297.htm Mon, 1 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT Let's be honest upfront. Rich is not a fan of A.E. Van Vogt. He can intellectually appreciate the influence he had on SF. He can, at some level, perceive what his fans see in his best work. He hopes he may be forgiven if he suggests that encountering that work at one's personal Golden Age might help one ignore its faults. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/tw297.htm Mon, 1 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT A tough, black, female cop, Soledad O'Roark, is attached to MTacs, a special unit which hunts down super-powered individuals. Not just those gone rogue, but anyone who happens to have metanormal abilities. Because in this world, the US government has outlawed super-people, regardless of their actions or intentions. An Executive Order has been enacted following the wholesale destruction of San Francisco, by a super-villain called Bludlust, who was not stopped in the nick of time. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/ti297.htm Mon, 1 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT Alex d'Meiter lost her daughter in an alcoholic stupor on the beach when Cora Rose was five. Two years later, she has begun the long and slow process of recovery from both alcohol abuse and the loss of her child, but she realizes it will never go away: mothers never let go. Alex loses herself in her work as a nurse anesthetist until a strange experience with two patients in the hospital one night changes her life, thrusting her into a quest of spirituality, mystery, faith and the paranormal. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/audio297.htm Mon, 1 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT Recent audiobook releases received by SF Site include works by Alex Bledsoe, Brandon Sanderson, Dan Simmons and L.E. Modesitt, Jr. At times it's more convenient (and enjoyable) to hear the latest in science fiction and fantasy. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/se297.htm Mon, 1 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT Eddie LaCrosse is a no-nonsense Private Investigator who, for the right amount of gold coin, will use his considerable skill at sword-wielding and sleuthing to find out what you need to know in any kingdom of the realm. With an office located over Angelina's Tavern in the backwater town of Neceda, Eddie waits for new business. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/is297.htm Mon, 1 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT The year is 1942. Three months have passed since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and things are not going well for the Allies in the Pacific. Lieutenant Commander Matthew Reddy has recently assumed command of the destroyer USS Walker, a venerable relic of World War I. With Japanese vessels in hot pursuit, Matt Reddy steers his ship into a squall, hoping to throw the enemy off the trail. When they come out on the other side, the destroyermen soon realize that they have traveled much farther than they expected. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/os297.htm Mon, 1 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT Are you prepared for a natural disaster? What about a natural disaster that wipes out the fundamental way of life for the entire United States of America? We all like to say that we have learned something from the disasters created by hurricane Katrina or even the attacks of 9/11. But those disasters had something in common in that we could turn on the television or radio and find out information about the situation. We also knew that eventually help would arrive on the scene. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/df297.htm Mon, 1 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT Konowa Swift Dragon had good reason to kill the Calahrian Viceroy he was meant to protect. The man was a brute, a traitor and most likely even worse than that. He still ended up banished to the Elfkyna forest and the Iron Elves regiment he led was demanded. Alone among the unresponsive trees with only his bengar Jir for company Konowa thinks that things can't get much worse. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/uf297.htm Mon, 1 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT This novella is a story of aftermath. The event that kick-starts the story happened some days before the book opens, we never see it, we never know for sure if it really happened. All we know are the consequences that build inexorably upon it. And even these have clearly been waiting for an appropriate occasion. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/ii297.htm Mon, 1 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT The story is your basic hard boiled detective story with some SF trappings. The main character is the detective, a tough broad who's being bullied into taking on job she's not interested in. The manipulating party pushes her too far in framing her for murder. She decides to fight back using everything at her disposal. She's assisted in this by her mafioso boyfriend, the cop who wants to jail her and her boyfriend and her AI secretary, who has gone rogue. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/el297.htm Mon, 1 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT There are science fiction stories that are in essence about the ideas of science fiction. That's a tradition that stretches from Jules Verne and on into the magazines of the Golden Age and survives in its most pure form in what we often refer to as hard SF. An alternative method is to instead use the concepts of SF, whether they be space travel, alien encounters, visions of a future world, etc., as the building blocks for setting up stories that aren't about technology or science as such. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica297.htm Mon, 1 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT Like many people, Rick Klaw's earliest memories of nonfiction comics start with Ripley's Believe It or Not. First appearing in 1918 as Champs and Chumps, Robert Ripley's one-panel strip about sports evolved by 1919 into the more general Ripley's. During his childhood in the seventies, most bookstores sold Ripley's paperback collections. The one on UFOs helped to foster his lifelong interest in science fiction and scared the bejeezus out of him. That, along with the numerous Bigfoot "documentaries" of the era, kept him awake many a night. Now that he is older, Rick explores the evolution on nonfiction comics without a flashlight. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/ts297.htm Mon, 1 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT According to Rick, this is a stupid movie. Beginning with the previews giving away the "surprise," Rick goes on to detail why he thinks it is stupid in scene by scene. Rarely do five minutes go by without something stupid happening on screen. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick297.htm Mon, 1 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT Rick offers some advice for the summer. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/hl297.htm Mon, 1 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT Could we live on other planets? Is it possible? Human ingenuity has always thrived to grow and expand our boundaries. But which worlds could support us? And how? All this and more is answered in this remarkable well explained guidebook that gives you the do's and don'ts of living on Mars. http://www.sfsite.com/05b/wk296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Blind since birth, teenage mathematical genius Caitlin Dector has compensated quite well for her lack of sight, embracing life online as her way to communicate and keep up with the world. Blessed with a supportive family, she's doing quite well for herself, even though she's currently adjusting to a recent move from Texas to Toronto. But now a unique opportunity has presented itself, in the form of a revolutionary new technology developed in Japan. If successful, a surgically-implanted device would help to process the signals received by her eyes, granting her sight at last. http://www.sfsite.com/05b/to296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Imagine if Mahjong were not just a game, but also cleverly disguised mystic system which could be used to bind mystic forces to do your bidding. How did this happen? Well several generations ago, a group of power magicians fled to our world from a mystic China to protect their emperor. They used their powers to develop the enhanced Mahjong game to protect themselves. http://www.sfsite.com/05b/or296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT The Clone Wars nears its conclusion. Kal Skirata and the members of the Null ARC squad are making their choices on whether to stand with the ever changing GAR or set off on their own as Mandalorians. Will Darman find out about the son he didn't know he had? Will Fi recover from his grenade injury? Will Scorch lose it? And what of Niner, Jusik, Ordo and the rest? Have no idea what any of this means? http://www.sfsite.com/05b/cu296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Cassandra Palmer has accepted the mantle of Pythia, making her the world's most powerful psychic, able to see the future and travel through space and time. Unfortunately, there are those who would rather see the power go to someone more easy to manipulate, and so the mages of the Silver Circle are out to kill her. Worse still, the previous Pythia died before teaching Cassie the ins and outs of the job, leaving her to figure it out by trial and error. http://www.sfsite.com/05b/tr296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Emotionally, Rick was caught up in the whole experience. It hit all the right notes, from the action filled beginning to the closing credits. Captain Kirk looked like Captain Kirk. Rick loved Scotty. Rick didn't even mind the Romulan who was thoughtful enough to bring along a bladed weapon, just to give Sulu somebody to fence with. http://www.sfsite.com/05b/ba296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Rick really wanted to enjoy this 3-D animated science fiction movie. It is a real sf film, not in that increasingly common genre of animated movie he thinks of as "guinea pigs in space." It has a good heart, and some cute characters. http://www.sfsite.com/05b/xm296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT There was a time when most science fiction movies and all superhero movies were badly written. There were fewer writers in those days, so even bad writers could get a job writing B-movies. There may be more great writers now than there were then, but there are a lot more good writers. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a well-crafted entertainment. http://www.sfsite.com/05b/du296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT In Charles de Lint's world, the skin between the mundane business of everyday life and the realm of magical mischief is always thin. Passing from one to the other is effortless and can take but a moment. Often, his characters are deep into the doings of the world beyond before they begin to notice or admit that anything unearthly is going on. Some of de Lint's characters acknowledge and embrace the other realm that lies just on the other side of that thin and permeable barrier, while others clasp their skepticism close, denying the evidence of their senses for as long as they can. http://www.sfsite.com/05b/mb296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT In an alternate Atlanta, Kate Daniels is on a mission. Kate, a magically adept mercenary, is hunting for the person or persons who brutally murdered her guardian, Greg. As an investigator for the Guild, an organization meant to police the supernatural beings of Atlanta, he was working a case involving missing shape shifters. Into the picture arrives the "Masters of the Dead," a group of necromancers that "drive" vampires much like puppets. http://www.sfsite.com/05b/da296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT The story begins as the demon Dactyl awakens after spending an eon encased in stone. The sound effects used to reflect his coming back to life are extremely well done and the audio engineers at Graphic Audio deserve lots of credit for creating an attention-grabbing opening scene. http://www.sfsite.com/05b/pg296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Things just never get easy for Harry Dresden. The White Council, who always had it out for him, has recently made Harry a Warden for the White Council (basically the police force for the wizarding community). You'd think with this promotion, the intrepid wizard/private investigator would be more accepted. But at the beginning of this book, a trial is being held for a young man that has used magic to influence the mind of a human. http://www.sfsite.com/05b/cc296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Payseur & Schmidt publishes more than just books; they publish high-quality multi-media art events. Cosmocopia is a fine example. It's not only a short novel by Paul Di Filippo, it's also a 513-piece jigsaw puzzle and colour poster with artwork by Jim Woodring -- the whole delightfully packaged. Let's begin with The Origin of the World, dating back to 1866... http://www.sfsite.com/05b/ec296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT The early years of the twenty-first century are a time of resurgence for non-themed anthologies, pointing to a resurgence in short fiction, from which science fiction has traditionally garnered its biggest names. Jonathan Strahan has now published Eclipse Two, the second of his non-themed anthologies. The joy of this sort of anthology is in the discovery of authors or stories otherwise unknown to the reader. http://www.sfsite.com/05b/so296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Faina is a young girl sent to the rich and privileged land of Vestiga Gaesi ostensibly as part of her education, but actually as a hostage against the debts of her unfortunate parents. Faina lives -- or rather, is tolerated -- at the decadent court of Viscount Palus and his Mercurial wife, the Viscountess Chrysanth. However, this previously peaceful land is under threat from the depredations of a master assassin known only as Sorrow. http://www.sfsite.com/05b/sg296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Spell Games, the fourth novel in the ongoing saga of Marla Mason, like all its precursors is a self-contained adventure. Having said that, it definitely helps to know what has gone before. Marla, for the uninitiated, is the chief sorcerer of Felport, who operates like a benevolent crime boss among the magical elite, cracking heads together when necessary and protecting the city from all eldritch dangers. It's a job for life, with plenty of perks and an equal amount of danger, both for Marla and those in her immediate circle. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/booknews296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Two exciting new series begin for science fiction and fantasy fans alike: Tony Ballantyne introduces us to the robot infested planet of Penrose as it descends into war in Twisted Metal; and Juliet McKenna takes us behind the scenes of Irons in the Fire as rebellion causes chaos in the dukedoms of Lescar. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Remember those funky Star Trek comics from the late 1960s/early 1970s published by Gold Key that never seemed to get things right? The ones with flames coming out of the Enterprise's nacelles. Well they weren't alone. At the same time that Gold Key was publishing its infamous series, other, equally bizarre, Star Trek stories were being published on the other side of the Atlantic. Mark London Williams has engaged the talents of guest columnist Alan J. Porter to give us a glimpse of how Star Trek fared as a comic in the UK. http://www.sfsite.com/books/new296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Some of the hottest new titles to arrive on our doorstep include the latest from Kage Baker, China Mieville, Karl Schroeder, Jacqueline Carey, David Gunn, Alan Dean Foster, and many more! http://www.sfsite.com/05b/fh296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT The most striking aspect of this volume is the author's ability to write serious criticism that is accessible, personal in nature, and that speaks directly to its audience. At the same time, Darrell Schweitzer shows respect for his subject matter and for the reader without condescending to either. http://www.sfsite.com/05b/et296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Call it the anti-apocalypse book. Here, the author cuts across the grain of popular future disaster and end-of-the-world scenarios and argues that what the universe will be like and what might be going on billions of years from now is worth thinking about. Because we could very well be there. http://www.sfsite.com/05b/hb296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT A non-fiction anthology assembling a number of critical essays and commentaries on horror and supernatural literature published between 1750 and 1917, the present volume provides an interesting overview of how that genre's body of work was critically received at the time of its first appearance in print. http://www.sfsite.com/05b/7b296.htm Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT What makes this book significant is that it marks a necessary, if belated, corrective to the orthodox Marxist view of science fiction that has been the more or less default academic response to the genre since at least the work of Darko Suvin. As such, The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction is likely to become the central point of sf criticism for some time to come. http://www.sfsite.com/05a/ff295.htm Fri, 1 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT No one has managed to kill Zachary Nixon Johnson, the last freelance P.I. on Earth yet. That's the good news. Thebad news is that it's still early. That's about how you can sum up any day for our hero. And when a mysterious woman appears in his dreams and asks him politely not to try and find her, he's surprised... but only a little. And when the military summons him to try and find their missing secret weapon, an impossibly-dangerous psychic named Natasha, who just happens to look like his earlier visitor, Zach has no choice but to take the case. http://www.sfsite.com/05a/ju295.htm Fri, 1 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Let's go story by story. Lee Moan's "The Weight of Shadows" tells of a young woman from Earth who has gone to another planet to care for children orphaned by an ongoing war between the "watusi" and the "rifiri", rival races of aliens. In Huw Langridge's "The Darken Loop" a group of freelance scientists is urged by an AI to make use of an unexpected means of a sort of time travel to save the girlfriend of one of them. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica295.htm Fri, 1 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Following the success of their EC-inspired horror anthology Creepy, publisher James Warren and editor Archie Goodwin began Blazing Combat in 1965. The new magazine employed a similar format, using many of the same artists of the previous Warren publication -- Joe Orlando, Reed Crandall, John Severin, Al Williamson, Gray Morrow, Russ Heath, Alex Toth, and Wally Wood. Like Creepy, Blazing Combat also featured Frank Frazetta covers, and Goodwin scripts in a magazine format. But unlike its predecessor, Blazing Combat died a ignoble death after just four issues. Rick Klaw follows the trail of Blazing Combat along with that of Jack Kirby's The Losers. http://www.sfsite.com/05a/gr295.htm Fri, 1 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT In the back alley behind a smoke-filled bar, young art student and ne'er-do-well Kyle Rayner encounters a strange blue gentleman in a red nightshirt. The gentleman gives him an odd green ring, then disappears. Soon Kyle finds himself possessed of powers he doesn't understand. He is invited to join the Justice League, only the League, and the Watchtower, suddenly vanish. http://www.sfsite.com/05a/lt295.htm Fri, 1 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT In this sequel to Shadowbridge, we return to his world of giant bridges spanning endless swaths of ocean. We return to the story of Leodora, a young orphan following in her father's footsteps and earning her fame as greatest living shadow puppeteer and storyteller since her father, Bardsham. We even return to the exact moment where the previous novel ends, with Leodora taken to Edgeworld, the realm of the gods. http://www.sfsite.com/05a/cd295.htm Fri, 1 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Chapterhouse Dune takes place ten years after the events in Heretics of Dune, which left the planet Dune completely destroyed by the mysterious enemy from the scattering, the Honored Matres. Threatened with their own destruction at the hands of the Honored Matres, the Bene Gesserit must defend themselves. http://www.sfsite.com/05a/tc295.htm Fri, 1 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Harry Dresden has recently been appointed a warden of the White Council. Now, the strange part about Harry being made a warden is that he was once on probation for the possibility that he was starting to lean to the dark side. While Harry was on probation, Warden Donald Morgan was assigned to watch over Harry's every move. Morgan did his job well, to the point of accusing almost every move of Dresden's to be black Magic. So when Morgan is accused of murdering a member of the White Council and escaping their prison, no one would ever expect Harry Dresden to hide him from the others. http://www.sfsite.com/05a/ba295.htm Fri, 1 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Even with the demise of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, there are many Best of the Year anthologies out there. But Paul notes, and applauds, about this selection of stories is that the wide range of sources challenges our notions of fantasy. This collection takes us far away from the standard tropes of wily magicians and mighty-thewed heroes and young boys destined to become king and the like. http://www.sfsite.com/05a/si295.htm Fri, 1 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT First there is the story of Meni Mendel, an astrophysicist who discovers and decodes a message from another planet that has been encoded into a pulsar. Fearing that no one will take his discovery seriously, he has a breakdown and ends up in an institution for rich and/or well connected crazy people. His doctor attempts to get his manuscript published as part of his therapy. It leads to the story of the aliens, who are apparently just like us except for the fact that they are blue and sweat instead of crying. http://www.sfsite.com/05a/wn295.htm Fri, 1 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT This collection is a great way to introduce yourself to the fabulous work this wonderful writer has been doing these recent years. He made his reputation with the magnificent 60s novels, A Fine and Private Place and The Last Unicorn, and cemented it work outside the field like I See By My Outfit and with later novels like The Innkeeper's Song. http://www.sfsite.com/05a/ig295.htm Fri, 1 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT The novel opens with its protagonist, Whistle, coming to realise his runtish position in his underwater tribe. He is small and weak and his tail is curiously bifurcated. Before long he is abandoned by his mother and forced up, out of the sea and into a new, terrifying world. It is an alien place; saltless and baffling, characterised by blinding colours, meat stink and impossibly thin air. http://www.sfsite.com/05a/dr295.htm Fri, 1 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT In her years as chief sorcerer of Felport, Marla Mason has dealt with any number of magical threats and occult menaces, slapping down unimaginable horrors and upstart magical practitioners on a weekly basis. Whether she's playing cat herder with the prominent sorcerers of the city, or preventing necromancers from creating servants out of the recently deceased, she's got it all under control. Well, mostly. http://www.sfsite.com/05a/ca295.htm Fri, 1 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Diamond Star the CD might well have been given the subtitle: "Musical Energy Erupting from a Fusion of Two Creative Minds." Energy, creativity, imagination, and drive are the obvious keynotes when interviewing award-winning author Catherine Asaro (who also happens to be a physicist and dancer) and Hayim Ani (whose promise at age 17 had already resulted in the production of a prior CD with the band Point Valid). Their differences in background and experiences emerge not as a collision of styles, but as a harmony of complimentary visions that allowed them to bring a unique blend of diversity and common-mindedness to their project. http://www.sfsite.com/05a/rc295.htm Fri, 1 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT The book tells the story of an FBI agent who is responsible for inter-dimensional copyright. When the wrap-up a fairly standard bust results in a dead munchkin, Agent Matt Anders is pulled into a conspiracy that affects his whole department and takes him through Oz all the way to Dorothy's Kansas. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/booknews295.htm Fri, 1 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Liam Sharp talks about new book God Killers, wish-fulfilment heroic sagas, and being under the influence of Moorcock and Silverberg; Alex Irvine does the double with controversial new novel Buyout and brand new comic adventure with Daredevil Noir; and John Higgins on the Watchmen movie and his new twisted story in the collected Razorjack graphic novel. http://www.sfsite.com/books/new295.htm Fri, 1 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Some of the highlights this month include new editions of old favourites from the likes of Robert E. Howard, L. Ron Hubbard, Ben Bova, Charles de Lint, plus a wide array of sparkly new books too. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick295.htm Fri, 1 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT And another TV season winds to a close. Rick offers his thoughts on what he was looking forward to watching and what caught his attention. He also gives us a list of what SF is on TV in May. http://www.sfsite.com/05a/gl295.htm Fri, 1 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT This is a debut novel, and what a debut it has been so far. This has been one of those books that has been gathering buzz as it rolls along until it has reached the point that it somehow inevitably pops up in any discussion on the topic of YA literature. It managed to make it into New York Times Review of Books, and received starred reviews in Publisher's Weekly, School Library Journal, Booklist, not to speak of the notoriously hard-to-please Kirkus Reviews; it won, was a finalist in, or was nominated for a slew of industry, critical, readers' and bloggers' "best of" lists and awards. But... http://www.sfsite.com/05a/da295.htm Fri, 1 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT Originally self-published in 2006 using a POD service under the name Leinad Zeraus, Daemon is a top quality techno-thriller about the potential power of the internet. More precisely, it is about what that power could do, if harnessed and exploited by someone who truly understands how virtual and actual reality intermesh. In this case, by computer gaming legend Matthew Sobol, an individual who cannot be stopped in any conventional way, because he is already dead. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/pp294.htm Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Palimpsest is a "sexually transmitted city." Those who have been there carry portions of it on their skin, the city's brands, a spidery tattoo which, on closer inspection, reveals itself to be a section of the city map, its streets and squares and intersections and train stations. The brand is passed on through the act of sexual congress, and at first you are limited in which parts of the city you can visit determined by which actual part of the map your lover has tattooed on their skin. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/ip294.htm Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT When a convicted murderer survives the hangman's noose, it is inconvenient, but when the same murderer claims to be the Immortal Prince Cayal -- one of the god-like Tide Lords -- it has wider repercussions. Not that anyone believes he is who he says he is. The Tide-Lords are legends, stories for children and the credulous. But something does not have to be the truth to be politically inconvenient. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/po294.htm Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT The 200th birthday of Edgar Allan Poe is the occasion for the renowned editor Ellen Datlow, to assemble another anthology of nineteen original stories somehow inspired to Poe's life or work. Under such a broad label, the tales display an enormous variety of styles and genres, where anyone can find something to like or to dislike. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/kl294.htm Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT The infamous Princess Kristine Longknife of Wardhaven is, surprisingly enough, bored. Sure, she has her very own warship, disguised as a merchant vessel, laden with scientists and researchers intent on exploring beyond the rim of human space, but she's a creature of action, and the action just isn't happening. To most people, this would be relief. To her, it's the sheer knowledge that something will happen, and she's tired of waiting. And so Kris Longknife goes hunting for pirates and trouble anyway. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/mt294.htm Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Blurbed as "an update of the world's oldest novel -- Petronius's Satyricon," John had some trouble seeing the similarity between the two stories. This may be due to his lack of a a classical education though. Or the reason may be because this book is about a tenth the size and the author pared down the original to the bare essentials: erections and giant bugs. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/rs294.htm Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Set in the 25th and 26th centuries, it follows the adventures of three disparate, more-or-less human characters in different circumstances and different parts of the galaxy as their goals and objectives gradually converge. Dan Sylveste, an archaeologist with a few techno-physiological modifications who stays in fairly regular contact with his dead father; Ilia Volyova, one of a triumvirate of cybernetically enhanced humans piloting a light-hugger interstellar vessel; and Ana Khouri, an ex-soldier whom we first encounter working as an assassin for a firm that serves the recreational needs of the very rich. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/pf294.htm Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Tavi has been accepted as the Princep (heir to the crown of First Lord). However, a recent civil war in Alera has left many citizens disgruntled and wanting something more than what the First Lord seems able to offer. Alera has many enemies surrounding them, including the Marat to the south, the Ice Men to the north and, across the sea to the west, the Canim. Fortunately, diplomacy and kindness have created an ally with the Marat, and the Canim have agreed to cease hostilities for now. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/di294.htm Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Remember the old science fiction and fantasy magazines? You know, the ones that featured short stories written by great sci-fi authors. Listening to this audiobook was like going back to those old pulps and reliving the golden age of sci-fi. This collection contains three short stories written by L. Ron Hubbard that are as diverse in subject matter as they are enjoyable to hear. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/dd294.htm Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Calliope Reaper-Jones' goals are simple: get promoted out of her boring job so she can lead the glamorous New York life she has always dreamed about, have a decent blind date, and find the good sales every now and again. Unfortunately, she's dragged kicking and screaming back into the family business when she gets the urgent and disturbing news they're all missing, presumed kidnapped. Worse yet, she is the only one even remotely qualified to take over daily operations, something which doesn't fit in with her 5-five year plan. For if she accepts this heady responsibility, she'll be stepping into the role of Death. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/jd294.htm Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT It is, first and foremost, an entertaining Science Fiction novel of the old sort -- nearly a Space Opera, with mysterious aliens (including legendary "prehumans"), desperate planets, people searching for a way back to Old Earth, an enigmatic object, travel through warp space that makes sense and the nature of which matters, and plenty of color. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/om294.htm Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Editor Christopher Paul Carey has collected here three of Philip Jose Farmer's lesser known novels. The first, Fire and the Night, is a non-science fiction novel that looks at racism and religion in the United States. The second, Jesus on Mars, is probably the best known of the three, and the final one, Night of Light looks at religion and sociopathic behavior on an alien world. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/la294.htm Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Book two of the Monster Blood Tattoo series, it details Rossamund's training and his first posting. On the way, he befriends the first female lamplighter and a shell-shocked former lamplighter named Numps. We are also reintroduced to characters from the first book including Europe, the monster hunter and Sebastipol the Leer and falseman. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/hc294.htm Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT In The Soul Thief, the author introduced Corban Loosestrife, an Irishman whose witchy twin sister, Mav, was raped and carried off by Viking raiders, prompting him to go looking for her. The series has grown into a multi-generational saga and now, in the fifth and latest volume, The High City, we're following Raef, Mav's fey and fated son. He has worked his way downriver from Kiev and across the Black Sea just in time to be shipwrecked off Byzantium. Raef is a perpetual outsider, marked not only by being conceived in rape but by the not-always-helpful magic powers he has inherited from his mother. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/bb294.htm Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Readers often approach second books in series with a bit of trepidation: they're excited to find out what happens next but wary that the second book might not live up to the excellence of the first. Well, have no fear. The author has created an even more riveting novel in her follow-up to Matters of the Blood. Keira Kelly can never go long without finding herself in the midst of a mystery. She and her shapeshifter brother, Tucker, find themselves helping Ignacio, who came over the border to search for his missing brother, Alex. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica294.htm Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT It's hard out here for a comic book pubublisher. Especially if you're not Marvel, DC, or Dark Horse -- someone with an established pipeline to film production, for all that good syntax that comes with titles appearing both on theater marquees and comics shelves. Of course, whether the "single issue comics shop" model can continue to thrive in the era of the graphic novel is an open question. Again, name brand comics will sell single issues for awhile, but for indies, the future may be in bookstores. Mark London Williams gives us an inside view of how an adaptation he was working on for a proposed Danger Boy comic, a kind of sequel to the print series, is developed. http://www.sfsite.com/books/new294.htm Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT This time we're looking at the newest books from Laurie R. King, Kelley Armstrong, Mike Carey, Catherine Jinks, Alan Campbell, Ricardo Pinto, plus classic collections of Ray Bradbury, Michael Moorcock, and plenty more. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick294.htm Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Like many, Rick is having some concerns over the use of "imaginary stories" where the past gets changed. Many series, like Witchblade and Dallas, have used the plot device. So don't get Rock started on Heroes, where it seems everything that happens is either a dream, a hoax, or an imaginary story -- or all three at once. Some say that Heroes, like Smallville, has blown up the refrigerator. Rick still has hope. Is there a script doctor in the house? http://www.sfsite.com/04b/fd294.htm Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT The story concerns two 11 year-old children, on intertwined quests to find magical orbs that can help thwart a rising evil. Victoria Deveny is from 1890's Britain, where she discovers a magical ring and steps through an equally magical door, into small town America of 1966. There, she meets Elliot Good, who also has a magic ring. Following an almost fatal encounter with a renegade Shadow Knight, the pair escape though yet another magical portal, into Faerieland. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/tw293.htm Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Leitchfield is a hard, unforgiving place and those who live there are hard and unforgiving too: the Manders and the Coys. Both families are descended from sour-natured patriarch Heastor Wharton, whose brutality and venom have poisoned generations from womb to grave. Years ago John Coy escaped, heading east to New York and a community that valued his intellect instead of deriding it. When he was eighteen John's nephew, Meshack Coy, fled west to find family that wasn't dedicated to eating their own. Neither man ever planned to return to Leitchfield. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/ac293.htm Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Noah Barakh is "the man who built heaven," the architect of the Accord -- a vast virtual realm, as good as the real thing, based on and sustained by a consensus (or accord) of realities. People can now have copies of themselves archived, to be uploaded to the Accord when they die. And if someone dies in the Accord, they'll be reborn there, again and again. It's as good an "afterlife" as humans could build. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/zs293.htm Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT The first section details the nature of the undead. In this world, it's caused by a viral infection. The book talks about the effects of the virus and what this means for the zombies it creates. From there, it transitions into how to kill zombies and what are the best tools to use. Next up are the various survival scenarios such as how to defend your home or where to go if your home is indefensible. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/booknews1293.htm Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT So you think writing a TV Companion is about watching the episodes, chatting to your favourite TV stars and having fun do you? Well, yeah, okay, it is, but... If you think that's all there is to it, think again. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/booknews2293.htm Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT One of the most intriguing and obsessed characters in the Supernatural TV series (and played to perfection by actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan), John Winchester's back history is being revealed in a new book. Author Alex Irvine talks about delving into the character's dark and difficult past in John Winchester's Journal. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/booknews3293.htm Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT The Supernatural fan community is passionate and discerning and it's no surprise that the show has inspired a whole range of people, including professional writers and professors, to share their thoughts on the Supernatural universe. Some of these thoughts have now been crafted into essays and published in In The Hunt. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/ww293.htm Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Wonder Woman decides to visit her island home after hearing that a man has disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle, which is in the vicinity of Themiscyra. A man's appearance on Themiscyra could escalate into a dangerous situation for both himself and the Amazons on the island. After arriving home, Diana is taken to the Oracle, who warns Diana of the Island of Opposites and that Themiscyra will be attacked. Knowing that this prediction may be linked to the missing man, Wonder Woman begins looking for him. What she finds is the man's new bride searching where her husband was last seen scuba diving. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/bh293.htm Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Military SF has never been as popular in the UK as it is in the US. Perhaps it is the fact that the British aren't very good with guns, as evidenced by scores of implausible Mockney gangster films. Perhaps it is a question of politics since British science fiction is often seen as monolithically liberal. That isn't the whole story though. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/ls293.htm Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT After decades of buildup and innumerable skirmishes, the Borg have declared all-out war upon the Federation and her allies. As thousands of Borg cubes launch a relentless, genocidal assault upon civilized space, leaving nothing but destruction in their wake, only a few Federation starships are left free to seek out a solution. But what, if anything, can stop the Borg once and for all? http://www.sfsite.com/04a/ne293.htm Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT When we first meet Northwest Smith, he is leaning in a doorway in a dusty frontier town. He is tall and lean and sunburned and dressed in old leather. A pistol is strapped low on his hip. He is, in other words, a cowboy. The fact that the brawling frontier town is on Mars and the pistol in his holster fires a heat ray does not alter the fact that he is a classic drifter, a man without ties who will ride into any lawless town looking for adventure and ride out again afterwards without a backward glance. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/lb293.htm Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT This is not a fluffy bunny fairy story. It's a tale of real people with real problems which are just a little bit bigger than ours, and ours don't seem to need that much more of a push to get themselves elevated to that orange alert status at all. And the voice in which the story is told is the voice of a cranky, precocious, hormonal, swaggering, vulnerable, struggling-to-understand adolescent is spot on. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/mm293.htm Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Ten weeks after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Max Corbett, a history professor who left the city never to return, is drawn back nonetheless, for the funeral of the girl he once loved. It doesn't take him long at all to realize that he hadn't truly known her. A chance encounter with a mysterious old man following the sparsely-attended funeral is Max's first step along what will prove to be the strangest, deadliest journey of his life. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/mr293.htm Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Several hundred years in the future, there has been an historical disconnect between our time and theirs. An assumption of power by artificial intelligences and subsequent revolt led to a major catastrophe, the recovery from which has resulted in a new set of political and social institutions. Gone are the nation-states and the structures that supported them, in their place are contracts for services with local governments, and a governing body known as the Defense and Wellness Council. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica293.htm Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT For a comic book-centric town, Austin, Texas has historically lacked significant events for fans of comics. The city's long running and influential speculative fiction literary convention Armadillocon only recently opened its doors to comic book creators, but remains primarily a prose affair. Throughout the 80s and 90s, several small one-day comic book conventions popped up and failed -- the most famous an affair in an abandoned McDonalds in the basement of a University of Texas dorm. All that has changed with the arrival of STAPLE! Rick Klaw tells us what he found there. http://www.sfsite.com/books/new293.htm Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT This time featuring the latest from Charles de Lint, Juliet E. McKenna, Peter F. Hamilton, S.C. Butler, Eric Brown, Steven Erikson, plus the Nebula Awards Showcase, Stories in Honour of Jack Vance, and plenty more. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick293.htm Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Rick offers his thoughts on what he enjoys in the way of SF on TV. Given a choice, he prefers quality over quantity. He also gives us a list of what SF is on TV in April. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/kn293.htm Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Knowing is a dumb movie. The special effects are good, but you can catch most of those in the preview. Rick flunked out of M.I.T., and he can testify that the character Nicolas Cage plays couldn't pass for an M.I.T. professor at a senior prom, much less in a classroom. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/bs293.htm Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Rick has learned a number of thingswatching the conclusion of Battlestar Galactica. Here are five: Life in a state of nature is beautiful, bountiful, peaceful, and clean; God's is in his heaven, and if you have faith in him, he will send angels to save you. Except when he doesn't... http://www.sfsite.com/04a/th293.htm Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Some books telegraph their secrets from the first pages, while others husband them like water rationed for a long desert journey. This book manages to do both. It opens with the operatic spectacle of an entire city chasing after a giant white bird, a god of flight, that is like a Broadway musical number choreographed in breathless prose. Artists, prisoners, politicians, and one scientist dreaming of a flying warship, are all depicted in pursuit of this dream of freedom. http://www.sfsite.com/03b/hi292.htm Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT Remember those at-the-time underappreciated halcyon days between the fading of childhood and the onset of adulthood, when the only consequence of not rising before noon was to have missed a lecture on the poetry of Sir Phillip Sydney? We could stay up all night rapping with friends or roommates, altering our minds with wine or tequila or wacky-backy, and riffing on cool thought-nuggets like, "Whoa, dude, if God's dead, who's gonna dispose of the body?" http://www.sfsite.com/03b/sg292.htm Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT An insane necromancer has been released from the Blackwing Institute, Felport's asylum for sorcerers -- it seems he has been (mostly) cured of believing he's dead. As he was an ally of Marla's predecessor, she's not too excited about this, especially as he seems bent on returning to his old habits of raising the dead -- in this book in fact reanimating a corpse that may be that of John Wilkes Booth. At the same time Marla is distracted by being forced to help plan the Founders' Ball, a five-yearly event for the ghosts of the original Felport leaders. http://www.sfsite.com/03b/la292.htm Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT Arthur C. Clarke, one of the most important figures in mid-century science fiction, was not exactly an exponent of experimental prose. His view, reflected in a string of classic novels from the 50s to the 70s, seems to have been one where prose should be, as near as possible, an invisible window through which one watches the action. Frederik Pohl, on the other hand, has always been a little more ready to take risks with the form and structure of his writing. http://www.sfsite.com/03b/yb292.htm Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT Most of you should already know, by now, that the twenty-first volume of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror represents the swan song of this fortunate, long lasting series that the publisher has decided to discontinue. No doubt a great loss for fantasy and horror lovers who will miss a yearly volume providing an exhaustive overview of what happened in the two genres during the previous year, in terms of fiction, poetry, movies, comics, etc. http://www.sfsite.com/03b/gw292.htm Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT After dying from a brutal beating and then "miraculously" returning to life, Harper Blaine starts seeing things. The likeable Seattle P.I. discovers that she is a Greywalker, a person who can see and crossover into the next realm, known as the "Grey." The Grey is a layer of reality that coincides with ours and is inhabited by the dead, undead and some pretty scary creepy crawlies. http://www.sfsite.com/03b/in292.htm Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT After his sudden death, science fiction writer Allen Carpentier finds himself along the shores of Hell with a strange guide who wishes only to be known as Benito. Not surprisingly, it is a Hell visited once before by Dante Alighieri. This work takes some artistic license with Dante's original Inferno. http://www.sfsite.com/03b/hd292.htm Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT What makes the original Dune series a science fiction classic is the way that Frank Herbert creates not only a story, but a framework to explore the power of religion, culture and conflict in civilization. Every book in the series works around the political intrigue and cultural influences within the Dune universe, yet still has something to say about today's society, no matter when that "today" happens to be. http://www.sfsite.com/03b/tf292.htm Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT The Sith Rule of two is widely known. Darth Bane set it down millennia ago, a master and an apprentice, one to embody the power, the other to crave it. But the greatest treachery and deceit are also part of the Dark Side's path. Even the Greatest Sith Lord in history, Darth Vader, follows this code as he plots to seize Emperor Palpatine's throne by training his own, secret apprentice. http://www.sfsite.com/03b/is292.htm Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT The book tells the story of two rogues who are framed for a crime they didn't commit and blackmailed into hunting down the real perpetrators. In doing so, they discover a plot to take over the world which they temporarily set back. They encounter and thwart and old nemesis. In a surprising twist, the men they are working for were using them as pawns and actually wished to take over the world themselves. http://www.sfsite.com/03b/lt292.htm Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT Lord Tophet, the second and final Shadowbridge novel follows Leodora, diguised as the secretive, talented shadow-puppeteer Jax along with her manager Soter and her gifted, other-worldly musician Diverus. But enemies draw ever closer as the wandering troupe finds itself on Colemaigne, where the cruel Lord Tophet blighted the Span. Only Soter knows the true story of all that happened but, even as he struggles to protect his ward, he cannot bring himself to tell the truth about what happened all those years ago. http://www.sfsite.com/03b/ek292.htm Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT Juno Mozambe is a bad man on a bad planet. Formerly the leg-breaker and chief enforcer for Paul Chang, the ruthless chief of the Koba Office of Police, he was forced into retirement after things went sour in a big way a short time ago. Now he acts as a private investigator, taking nasty cases involving even nastier people, all of his money going towards hospital bills to help heal his grievously-hurt wife. http://www.sfsite.com/03b/ww292.htm Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT The setting is March 14, 2003, where US armed forces are poised to invade Iraq. In an instant, there is a major and catastrophic change. A mysterious wave of energy appears with no warning, standing miles high and encompassing much of Canada, Mexico, half of Cuba and almost the entire United States. All life caught within the standing wave vanishes, leaving vast areas unattended, and instantly impenetrable except by unmanned drones. The only Americans left alive are those overseas when the wave struck, the military outposts in Pearl Harbour and Guantanamo Bay, plus the city of Seattle which stands just outside of the wave. http://www.sfsite.com/03b/se292.htm Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT Set some 35 years after the close of New Amsterdam, about 1938, Sebastien and his companions, chief among them Abby Irene and her not quite friend Phoebe Smith, have taken up residence in London. But it is a changed London, occupied by Germans -- or, really, Prussians. For in this changed history, there is no Hitler, but there is a Hitler analogue -- and sort of a Bismarck successor -- and England is under his sway. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica292.htm Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT In this column, Mark London Williams is annotating a brief "guide" to graphic novels that he wrote for the parents at his youngest son's school. It was the time of their annual spring fundraiser, which came with a handbook to the evening's festivities. This year, they wanted some handy "how to," and "where to" type guides within the booklet, so it would have some "evergreen" value -- as they say in both the journalism and ad businesses. http://www.sfsite.com/books/new292.htm Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT New and forthcoming books this month at SF Site feature the latest from Kage Baker, Gordon Dahlquist, Jacqueline Carey, L.E. Modesitt Jr., James P. Blaylock, Alan Dean Foster, Raymond E. Feist, and much more. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/best09b.htm Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT For more than a decade now, SF Site has been annually soliciting you, our readers, to vote for your favourite books of the past year. Over the past couple of months, we've been receiving your input on the best of 2008 with interest, and now we're ready to present the results. What follows is the best books of 2008 as chosen by the SF Site readers. It's an interesting list this year and one that Neil feels good about, since there's so much overlap with the Editors' Choice Top 10. http://www.sfsite.com/03b/wa292.htm Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT Often when a film adapts a book, it tells the story of the book, instead of translating the book into a series of dramatic scenes that draw you into the story. Watchmen draws you in. The writer and director know what we want from a super-hero movie. We want to see the hero beat the shit out of a bunch of bad guys. http://www.sfsite.com/03b/gr292.htm Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT In the Seven Kingdoms, the Graced are viewed with fear and suspicion. Marked out from their fellow citizens by their mismatched eyes they are gifted, or Graced, with supernatural skills. Some can read minds or predict the future, others are fighters that no Ungraced warrior could touch. Katsa is Graced with killing. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/best09b.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT For more than a decade now, SF Site has been annually soliciting you, our readers, to vote for your favourite books of the past year. Over the past couple of months, we've been receiving your input on the best of 2008 with interest, and now we're ready to present the results. What follows is the best books of 2008 as chosen by the SF Site readers. It's an interesting list this year and one that Neil feels good about, since there's so much overlap with the Editors' Choice Top 10. http://www.sfsite.com/03a/ja291.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT The Walking Man, the unstoppable instrument of God's wrath, has come to the Nightside, for the sole purpose of killing the Authorities and razing the Nightside to the ground. Guess who gets tapped to try to resolve this situation? John Taylor, that's who. He's a private detective who's handled the weirdest, nastiest, most suicidal, most insane cases the Nightside has to offer, and they think he's just right for the job. http://www.sfsite.com/03a/tm291.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT Time travel has fascinated humans for eons. To skip across years, see historical events that have passed and try to change your world for the better... or worse. But imagine a world where time machines are as common as a toaster oven. How would it affect choices, consequences and human nature? http://www.sfsite.com/03a/em291.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT Mars is being colonized and terra-formed under the auspices of the British Aerean Company, an off-shoot of the British company that had successfully built a colony on the moon. Colonizing Mars hasn't gone quite as well, there turns out to be a lot less immediate profit involved. As the story begins, many of the Martian colonists have found their jobs with British Aerean terminated, and they are being left to fend for themselves. Prominent among them is Mary Griffith, proprietor and brew-master of the only bar on the planet. http://www.sfsite.com/03a/rh291.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian, Solomon Kane and other memorable characters, has such a reputation as a master of heroic fantasy that it's easy to forget that his huge production includes a number of strong, colourful horror pieces. Never a refined stylist, he displayed an energetic and vivid type of storytelling also in his horror fiction which tends to feature brave, strong-willed men fearlessly facing alien forces and evil creatures. http://www.sfsite.com/03a/dr291.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT The first story, Jason Stoddard's "The Elephant Ironclads" features an alternate version of Navajo civilisation, where scientists are searching for uranium, and two native boys are fascinated by armoured elephants of legend. Elizabeth Bear, who is undoubtedly a top quality writer, delivers "Sonny Liston Takes the Fall," which offers an new slant on the famous clashes between Liston and the then Cassius Clay. http://www.sfsite.com/03a/cp291.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT Billed as "Tales of Beauty and Strangeness," this anthology is the editor's latest effort to inject a little more weirdness and artistic fantasy into the market, working from his own particular tastes of what he personally enjoys reading. His introduction to the anthology yields little concrete wisdom into the method and madness he used to construct this particular collection of stories, for all its poetic imagery and vivid, dreamlike narrative, but consulting the Clockwork Phoenix web site turns up more solid requirements. http://www.sfsite.com/03a/an291.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT "Do your neighbors burn one another alive? ... Do your shamans walk around on stilts? ... When a child gets sick, do you pray? Sacrifice to a painted stick? Or blame it on an old lady?" Thus begins this monumental new novel of ideas and adventure. Fraa Orolo is posing these questions to an artisan from the Saecular world who -- against orthodoxy -- has been summoned inside the walls of a monastic-style community (the "concent") to perform a hasty, unscheduled repair. Immersed in this encounter between denizens of separate societies, the listener begins to know a world that is, by turns, strangely familiar and suddenly unexpected. http://www.sfsite.com/03a/ex291.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT Based on a novelization of DC Comics' series, this audio adaptation begins when a surprisingly large number of people begin popping up with super-powers. These "meta-humans" come under close scrutiny by the Justice League because the newcomers can use their powers for either good or bad. While some mutants want to help the world's renowned superheroes, others seek to use their powers for ill will, creating new problems for the heroes to overcome. http://www.sfsite.com/lists/ps-author01.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT In the spring of 2004, PS Publishing launched a new magazine called Postscripts. Originally, the magazine was to feature fiction, a guest editorial, book reviews, and the occasional non-fiction article in each issue. Fiction includes SF, fantasy, horror, and crime/suspense. The book was produced in two formats: numbered, limited edition in hard cover signed by all contributors and a perfect bound paper cover version. With the publication of #18 (Spring 2009), Postscripts magazine has morphed into a quarterly anthology with the paper version transforming into a hard cover title. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/best09.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT Welcome to the SF Site's 12th annual Editors' Choice Top 10 Best Books of the Year -- our official Best Reading recommendations from 2008! As the votes came in for our official best read of the year, it seemed that our reviewers and other contributors were not reading very much of the same thing -- our tastes and preferences vary widely. In consequence, the results were very close. Nevertheless, I think you'll find that what we've come up with is a set of recommendations that will be sure to please. http://www.sfsite.com/03a/pjf291.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT The following interview took place at Minicon 10, Minneapolis, MN, April 19, 1975 -- in the hotel bar. Its first and only publication appeared in Tangent #2, May, 1975. Interviewers were Dave Truesdale, Jerry Rauth, and Paul McGuire. Some few months before this interview, Phil Farmer had written Venus on the Half-Shell as by one of Kurt Vonnegut's characters, Kilgore Trout. It was all the rage in the fan and semi-pro magazine press back then as fans and authors alike spilled a lot of ink trying to guess who Kilgore Trout really was. http://www.sfsite.com/03a/cy291.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT Told in three sections with a different clone sister as viewpoint character in each, the book opens in the 2060s, thirty years after idealistic revolutionary Yelisaveta Mihajlovic has cloned seven daughters and one son -- the caryatids of the title -- to save the world from ecological collapse. Dispersed by political turmoil which results in the death of three, the surviving siblings are scattered throughout the globe, while their mother escapes to Earth orbit. http://www.sfsite.com/03a/in291.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT Why do we read hard science fiction? It could be that in a hard SF story the characters are bound by the laws of the universe, the threat they face is shaped by the immutable rule of nature. In other words, science is king, physics or chemistry or, just occasionally, biology provides the threat faced and the solution, if any. It is science fiction at its most intellectually austere, leaving little room for romance or colourful adventure. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica291.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT Alan Moore injected relevancy into mainstream comics in the 80s. Previously, comic books lagged some five to six years behind current trends. Moore's skills moved mainstream superhero comics ahead of popular culture and established new trends, the punk to the old guard's rock 'n' roll. His success paved the way for artists such as Moore protege Neil Gaiman and Mike Mignola, as well as the re-tooling of superheroes that lead to this century's spate of successful films such as the Spider-Man franchise, the X-Men series, Iron Man, and even The Incredibles. Rick Klaw has some thoughts on how Alan Moore's vision translates onto movie screens. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/booknews291.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT Carol E Barrowman talks about writing a new Captain Jack story with her brother John for Torchwood magazine, plus a free Torchwood story to read online; Ricardo Pinto reaches a significant milestone with The Stone Dance of the Chameleon; and we look into the future to see what's up and coming as Robert Holdstock returns to Mythago Wood and Serbian writer Zoran Zivkovic goes loopy for PS Publishing. http://www.sfsite.com/03a/co291.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT See it, and by all means see it in 3D. But it could have been so much better if it had just stuck to the book. A book is not a sacred text. The changes Peter Jackson made in The Lord of the Rings were, for the most part, improvements. But the changes Henry Selick made in Coraline weaken the story and are hard to account for. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick291.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT Rick offers his thoughts on the conclusion of Battlestar Galactica this month. He looks at viewership and renewal of SF series and whether there will be a Babylon 5 movie. He also gives us a list of what SF is on TV in March. http://www.sfsite.com/03a/bs291.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT As seen through the eyes of Gull, a seer or Pythia of the Lady of Death, the story of Prince Aeneas of Troy unfolds in accessible prose that is a model of clarity and swift pacing. Whereas the Aeneid takes the perspective of a single individual, Black Ships zooms out to encompass the wider Mediterranean world at the end of the Bronze Age when some cataclysm shook the Ancient Classical world to its roots, inaugurating a mini-Dark Age of piracy, dislocation, and the eclipse of trade and learning. This is not the age of Sophocles, Euripides, and Aeschylus... http://www.sfsite.com/03a/cw291.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT In 16th century Bohemia, Mikal Kronos made a magnificent clock for the young Prince Rodolfo; in return, the prince had the craftsman's eyes gouged out. Mikal's twelve-year-old daughter Petra resolves to travel to Prague to recover her father's eyes. She gets a job in the royal palace and, with the aid of her pet mechanical spider Astrophil and a Roma boy named Neel, sets about trying to find the eyes. http://www.sfsite.com/03a/mb291.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT Keira Kelly, a descendant of a paranormal family, doesn't know much more than that as she hasn't come into her full powers yet, but the process has started. She could be a mind reader, healer or shape shifter, but until the change has run its course, she may have bits and pieces of each talent. The beginning of "the change" could explain some of her extraordinarily vivid nightmares including two dead animals on a nearby resort and the murder of her not-so-intelligent human cousin, Marty. http://www.sfsite.com/03a/wt291.htm Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:00:00 GMT It starts in Vaagenfjord Maw, the final battle in an epic war between good and evil. Scathur, servant of the Rawgr and General of his armies, fulfils one last request for his dark master, a request that taints the victory of the Pel-Adan forces for centuries to come. Five hundred years later, there are still those who fear that the Rawgr will return and they have the ear of powerful men. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/best09.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Welcome to the SF Site's 12th annual Editors' Choice Top 10 Best Books of the Year -- our official Best Reading recommendations from 2008! As the votes came in for our official best read of the year, it seemed that our reviewers and other contributors were not reading very much of the same thing -- our tastes and preferences vary widely. In consequence, the results were very close. Nevertheless, I think you'll find that what we've come up with is a set of recommendations that will be sure to please. http://www.sfsite.com/02b/ss290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT This first book of a projected three, it is centered around Cinderella. The story opens not long after the happy ending, when new Princess Danielle is trying to adjust to castle life, after a long stretch being a slave to her wicked stepmonster and her two horrible daughters. In short order, one of the stepsisters, Charlotte, turns up to try to kill Danielle. That's not as surprising as the fact that the formerly lazy, slovenly Charlotte has suddenly got access to some heavy-duty magic. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/dave290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Reading and reviewing primarily short fiction for many years, it was a welcome change of pace in 2008 for Dave to find time to once again read more than the odd handful of novels. He read them for pure pleasure, hanging his critical hat on the peg by the door. Realizing that no short story or novel is perfect and has faults, Dave also remembered that to the average genre reader (newcomer or sophisticate), that what may be important to the critical machinery and its practitioners doesn't really matter to the average book buyer. They're in for a good read, and a good read can be experienced in many ways. http://www.sfsite.com/02b/sv290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT It's All Hallow's Eve in the bizarre alternate Manhattan where private detective John Justin Mallory has established himself over the past few years. He and his partner, the renowned hunter Winnifred Carruthers, are looking forward to the festivities. That is, until Mallory discovers that someone of a vampiric persuasion has been snacking on Winnifred, and said someone turns out to be her recently-arrived nephew. Well, that sort of thing just won't do. http://www.sfsite.com/02b/fd290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT The book, the first of the Monster Blood Tattoo series, tells the tale of Rossamund as he is selected for service with the Lamplighters (those who ensure that the lights of the empires roads never grow dim) and his journey to a distant city where he will be trained for his new job. The world he travels through could be described as Steampunk, but its technology owes more to Frankenstein than The Difference Engine. Perhaps Fleshpunk might be a better term. http://www.sfsite.com/02b/gg290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Very few fictional characters have seen their lives indefinitely prolonged by countless tales and books by various devoted followers as the mythical Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. Watson. This anthology assembles eleven new stories -- penned by a bunch of contemporary authors eager to revisit the classical characters and atmospheres created by Conan Doyle and graced by a number of black and white illustrations by Phil Cornell -- where the famous detective has to deal with the supernatural. http://www.sfsite.com/02b/jk290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Journey to Kailash is a handsomely designed book that brings together the very best of Mike Allen's poetry, collecting almost fifty speculative poems published over the last ten years in a variety of venues, several of which have been nominated for or have won the Rhysling Award. http://www.sfsite.com/02b/ro290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT No event in conspiracy history has ever topped Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. Whether you believe an alien space ship crashed, it was just a weather balloon, if the government covered it up or if it was just theories that have grown over the decades, the Roswell crash is part of our cultural consciousness. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/steven289.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Science fiction fans have always had a respect and understanding for the history of the genre. Unfortunately, science fiction has achieved such an age that each year sees our ranks diminished. Deaths in 2008 included Janet Kagan, Algis Budrys, Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Lynn Asprin, Tom Disch, Brian Thomsen, Barrington J. Bayley, Forrest J Ackerman, Leo Frankowski and Edd Cartier. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/booknews290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Specially dedicated to an exceptional book, we go behind the scenes with Coraline: A Visual Companion and talk exclusively to author Stephen Jones about why he wanted to follow a different path with this particular book... http://www.sfsite.com/02b/dy290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT The publisher describes the goings on here as; "The beautiful. The bad. The possessed." What that translates to is a somewhat camp, demons and damp knickers pot boiler, featuring possessed exorcist Morgan Kingsley. A woman who is one of the few humans with an aura stronger than her possessor. In this world, possession is rather common, it seems. As the story opens, Morgan has recently become aware that her entire past, including her identity, might be a lie. http://www.sfsite.com/02b/nu290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Nurk is a very small shrew with a very long name and a famous grandmother with a penchant for severed heads and adventure. Although he could do without the severed heads, Nurk has no objection in principle to the idea of adventure. It's just that he IS a very small shrew and there has never really been any opportunity to go adventuring. Not until the mysterious letter arrived. http://www.sfsite.com/02b/fs290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Following the untimely deaths of the rest of the royal family, only Prince Lucius remained to be crowned emperor of Ikaria. Now Lucius reigns supreme over a land that could crack apart at any moment, thanks to the high-level rivalries and scheming of the court, and the just-ended war with the seafaring Seddon Federation. What only a small handful of people know is that Lucius, at one time exiled for a treacherous attempt to usurp the crown in his youth, is not the man he used to be. Dark magics were used to place the soul of a dying monk, Brother Josan, into Lucius' body. http://www.sfsite.com/02b/sb290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT The world of Shadowbridge is a world unlike any other. It's a world built on an ocean, where vast bridges connect far-flung spiraling towers, and tiny islands underneath the spans are the only land most people ever see. But more than that, Shadowbridge is a world of dreams, of sea dragons and fox-faced tricksters, of capricious gods visiting their gifts upon unsuspecting mortals. And most of all, Shadowbridge is a world of stories. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Mark London Williams is in New York, brought east by a production of a play of his, running in an off-off Broadway venue. While in the city, he's taking long walks around Manhattan, signing the odd Danger Boy, and stopping in at the legendary Forbidden Planet comics store near Union Square. He has been musing about the effect of the city on the development of the comic book itself. A distinctly American artifact, the comic book was born in NY, even if its antecedents -- the comic strip -- can be traced originally to early 19th century Europe. http://www.sfsite.com/books/new290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Plenty of intriguing new titles have arrived at the SF Site lately, including the latest from Bruce Sterling, Alexander Irvine, John Meaney, Stephen Hunt, Kit Whitfield, Tom Piccirilli, and many others. http://www.sfsite.com/ac290.htm Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT The US economy has collapsed, and political power seized by the Conglomerates, and now control the President, the currency, and pretty much everything else. The baby boomers are seen as an undesirable nuisance and symbol of what went wrong, and are now promptly shipped off to "retirement communities" in the south-western USA when they reach their eighties. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/qw289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT It's worth taking a moment to consider the title. Is a quiet war meant to make us think that in space no-one can hear you scream? But this is no space war, and the pitched battle, when it comes, is fought under a dome on a moon of Jupiter away from the silence of vacuum. No, I think we are meant to see this as war on the quiet, a stealth war, formented away from the public eye. Certain political factions and extremists on either side are eager for war, but while they are doing their best to stymie the peace movement and bring on the conflict, most people see no need for war and are actively promoting peace. Sound familiar? http://www.sfsite.com/02a/an289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Let's take a trip through time, space, and the history of human thought. The journey starts with the observations and suppositions of ancient philosophers, gains both credence and clarity through the development of the rules of logic, and eventually leads all the way to modern theories of everything, including the possible existence of not one but multiple universes and realities. That's the goal here and it succeeds better than any work of fiction with such ambitions has a right to. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/kj289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT When many authors want to explore how different decisions would have played out, they turn their attention to alternate history. The author has taken a different tack with Kilimanjaro, the follow-up to Kirinyaga. Set in the same universe a century later, Kilimanjaro has studied the errors of Kirinyaga so they can avoid the pitfalls Koriba led his society through. Despite their close study, the Kilimanjarans find themselves facing many of the same issues without a plan of action. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/pm289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT By day mankind tends to their fields, loves their families and gathers to drink beer and cheer the jongleurs performances. Come nightfall, however, and they must deed the earth over to the corelings, the elemental demons that crawl out of the earth and shadows. Wood, fire, air and water -- they are invulnerable, unstoppable and viciously, poisonously hungry. Wards carved onto doors and windows and walls can provide protection against the demons but they are complex, fragile things and the smallest disruption of precise lines can weaken them fatally. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/kk289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Rory Koestler is a member of the L.A.P.D's Protean Set, undercover cops with the ability to change their appearance recruited from L.A's actors. The Protean Set's reason for existence is a hallucinogen called Chuckle being dealt by a man named Bob Thermopylae. Then the Supercomputer named Eidolon Rex disappears from its lab at Eidolon Technology before reappearing 10 hours later. The stories start to mingle when the scientists discover an anomalous number of Rex's programs containing the name Rory Koestler. Then things get complicated. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/my289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Ariel Manto, seemingly by chance, discovers an extremely rare book, in a store she would never have found if her car wasn't stuck in the car park of the university where she works. Is it serendipity, or just coincidence, that the book is a fabled tome, which she had read about but never expected to see in person? The work, which is a supposedly true account, disguised as a novel, is by an obscure Victorian novelist named Thomas Lumas, whose body of work Ariel is familiar with due to the fact that he is one of her main dissertation subjects. The book, it is rumoured, comes with a curse: "Those who read this are doomed to die." http://www.sfsite.com/02a/bi289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT 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. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/co289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Kira has been eking out a passable existence as a thief and pickpocket ever since the brutal murder of her family when she was in her teens. Occasionally using her psychic ability to "read" people, she picks her targets carefully. Unfortunately, she's finally crossed the wrong person. She wakes up in a dark room, chained, with an infamous mass murderer likewise secured. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/neil287.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Traditionally, the arrival of the new year is a time to look ahead, and make plans for the future. But it's also a time to look back and reflect on the year we've just completed. And at the SF Site, it's traditional to review the past year's worth of reading and to vote on what you considered to be the best of it. This is your chance to have your say. The same rules apply as in previous SF Site Readers' Choice Awards: if you read it, you liked it, and you want to vote for it, go nuts. If you've forgotten what you chose in previous years, you can find them all linked at Best Read of the Year including The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss which was the top choice last year. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/steven289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Science fiction fans have always had a respect and understanding for the history of the genre. Unfortunately, science fiction has achieved such an age that each year sees our ranks diminished. Deaths in 2008 included Janet Kagan, Algis Budrys, Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Lynn Asprin, Tom Disch, Brian Thomsen, Barrington J. Bayley, Forrest J Ackerman, Leo Frankowski and Edd Cartier. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/pr289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT This is a collection of Kelly Link stories which can be deemed "Young Adult." For the most part, this simply means they feature teenaged protagonists. Otherwise they are as challenging in many ways as much of Link's work -- they do not necessarily end happily, they feature twisted self-referential narrative structures, they... they entrance. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/bd289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Once again, secret agent extraordinaire Jaz Parks has been sent on a dangerous mission. Along with her mentor/sort-of lover Vayl, she's been dispatched to Greece, to infiltrate a Vampere Trust, a secretive community of vampires that once played home to Jaz's number one target, the terrorist Edward "The Raptor" Ramos. Unfortunately, the mission's pretty much screwed before Jaz and Vayl even arrive. http://www.sfsite.com/books/new289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Among the latest new arrivals at the SF Site mail drop are new and forthcoming works from Brian Lumley, Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, Keith Brooke, John Birmingham, David B. Coe, Ed Greenwood, plus much more. http://www.sfsite.com/lists/greg2008.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT 2008 may not have been the greatest year ever for science fiction and fantasy, but even in a down year there are plenty of good books to read, and when narrowed down to the choices of a top ten list, the quality and state of SF and fantasy look as good as ever. There are also a couple of trends that appear http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT From the time Rick could read, his mother took him to the library. As a child, he lived in Old Bridge, NJ, which had this minuscule two-story house for a public library. He could hear his mother from literally anywhere in the building. In the 70s, the prevailing wisdom in education circles argued that comic books impaired a child's reading development. Thankfully for Rick, neither his mother nor (apparently) the Old Bridge librarian ascribed to that view. Rick Klaw tells us of the joy of discovery of comics in bound book form and his geek future was all but guaranteed. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/booknews289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT A quick round up of internet snippets -- listen to an interview with Neil Gaiman and Stephen Jones about the upcoming Coraline movie and The Visual Companion book; the David Gemmell Award has been launched; Author Andy Remic is giving away free electronic copies of his books Spiral and War Machine; win a Sony e-Reader with Orion books but be quick; Watchmen movie tie-in publications are on the way from Titan Books; Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son graphic novel launches a new website; and Indy publisher AccentUK are previewing free pages of their World's Fastest Man comic on their website. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Rick has some thoughts on the second part of the 2008-2009 TV season beginning with the fate of Smallville, how Friday night is a sinkhole and will it kill Terminator and Dollhouse. He also gives us a list of what SF is on TV in February. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/ih289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT Inkheart is a moderately good children's fantasy, much like last year's City of Ember. For the first few minutes, Rick had high hopes that this would be one of those memorable children's films, like the The Thief of Bagdad or Monty Python's Time Bandits. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/pa289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT The action takes place in Khesh City, an enormous disc-like construct, which orbits above the uninhabitable planet of Vellern. There, Angels are state-sponsored assassins, who bump off failed politicians according to public vote. As the name implies, the Angels have the ability to fly via anti-gravity technology, and fight using built-in weapons, in an almost peerless fashion. An Angel named Nual, who has never failed in her duties, does. http://www.sfsite.com/02a/ga289.htm Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT At the beginning of the novel, most of the world has done exactly that, gone away. The reasons for that happening, and how some of the world was saved by the Jorgmund Pipe seem to have something to do with a band of adventurers calling themselves the Haulage & Hazmat Emergency Civil Freebooting Company of Exmore County, who, as the story opens, are being called upon to save the world. Again. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/an288.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT Arbre, is an Earth-like world with a few thousand more years of written history under its belly. It seems to have spent most of this time in a prolonged condition of post-modern now: there's no significant social or technological progress, but instead an ongoing profusion of technological gimmicks. Early on, we see little of this world, since its narrator, Fraa Erasmas, is a so-called avout, living in one of many large convents of ascetic scientists and philosophers who isolate themselves from the outside world. Erasmas is a young scholar with a passion for knowledge, who hasn't seen the outside world for ten years and doesn't miss it, since he has found many good friends among the avout. However, on the eve of Apert, the opening of the gates to the outside world that occurs only once every ten, hundred or even thousand years, things start to change. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/tt288.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT The Macht, legendary for their military prowess, have little to do with the Kufr in the Asurian Empire to the South East. Ever since the brutal, long-ago war -- that the Macht narrowly lost -- all contact has been carefully filtered through the ancient Port of Sinon. Both races prefer to maintain the separation. Even without the lingering enmity of once-upon-a-time atrocities the two races find each other repellent in form and culture. Intrinsically alien. So it has been for generations. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/sb288.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT Genevieve (Genny) Taylor works at SpellCrackers.com, a company designed to diffuse magic before it can do damage. Genny, the only sidhe fae in London, can crack spells and absorb magic, but she can't cast even the simplest spell. In this magical world that is London but not London, humans and the supernatural mingle together, so you can buy charms at Witch Central, a downtown market; ride the underground with goblins; or have a troll as the police detective on a case. And then there are the vampires who have improved their reputation among humans to celebrity status. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/rg288.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT In 2030, as the world was descending into chaos thanks to a flu-like plague that killed many and mutated others into ravening monsters, Molly Anderson and her mother hid away in a specially-prepared bunker, courtesy of her father, a brilliant scientist and conspiracy theorist who always knew this day would come. Six years later, the bunker's locks release, and Molly is released into a world devastated and transformed, a post-Apocalyptic society where decaying corpses litter empty houses, and vicious zombies prowl the streets. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/lw288.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT This is the author's fifth short story collection, released after a long hiatus of collections, but also after a period in which he wrote five books in his Coyote universe. However, just because he wasn't publishing a collection, doesn't mean he wasn't publishing short fiction, as this volume, which collects that fiction, clearly shows. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/fl288.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT A series of grisly murders takes place in Keystone City and all evidence points to a metahuman (that is, someone with super-human powers) being responsible, most likely a speedster. All the murders took place at the same time. All involve the victim's head being blown open at the top, and the wound instantly cauterized. None of the victims realized they were in danger before they died. At the same time, strange objects appear in our solar system. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/va288.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT Valis, which is an acronym for Vast Active Living Intelligence System, seems to reveal PKD's search for the meaning of life within religion during the later part of his life. Not easily categorized, the work could be classified as science fiction, philosophy, religion, or even an autobiography. For all of these topics come into play as the main character examines the origin of God and the purpose of life, while suffering through mental illness. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/cf288.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT Cursor's Fury continues the adventures of Gaius Octavius, or Tavi, the only Aleran who cannot perform magic through controlling a part of nature. But Tavi is the grandson and only heir to the First Lord, Gaius Sextus. His true identity is kept secret to avoid assassination by those seeking to overthrow the First Lord. Tavi's mother uses her water-fury crafting skills to prevent Tavi from developing what would no doubt be extremely powerful fury crafting. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/ju288.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT Here's the fourth issue of Jupiter for 2008. It maintains a regular quarterly schedule, very impressive for a small press 'zine. This issue is subtitled Harpalyke, as usual after one of Jupiter's many moons. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/pd288.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT John should have known what to expect once he read Zoran Zivkovic's introduction in which he praises the small press for protecting the fundamental artistic nature of literature by publishing authors such as Robert Freeman Wexler instead of the large publishing houses that dominate the industry and are not willing to take risks for fear of lost profits from not catering to the masses. However, he failed to pay heed to this, not pausing to wonder why Wexler might not be of interest to one of the big publishers. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/ce288.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT With this novel, the author returns to the kind of big idea science fiction that first marked his appearance in the field. The theme is nothing less than the nature of reality and the possible fate of the entire universe. That's an awfully big topic to take on in the course of a work of fiction, and one that possibly no one could successfully address in the telling of a story. It doesn't completely succeed in its task of melding its vision of the incredibly far future with the need of keeping it all within the framework of a science fiction story, but it does provide ample moments of wonder, awe, and a sense of humanity in the face of an implacable universe. Whether the book is eventually ranked with the best of Greg Bear's novels only time will tell, but it's certainly his most ambitious work, well worth the attention of any serious reader of modern science fiction. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/lo288.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT Christopher Barzak could be one of the best new writers that America has produced in recent years. Not one of the best science fiction writers or fantasists; one of the best writers, period. There seems to be only one character that appears consistently throughout the novel, and that is Japan itself. It comes across as both haunting and haunted, caught between an abiding sense of tradition and its own hyper-modernity, until you get the feeling that the country itself is disoriented, dislocated, perhaps even schizophrenic. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/sp288.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT This concludes the Annals of the Chosen trilogy, in a generally satisfying fashion. That is, not only is the conflict at the heart of the trilogy resolved, but the implications of various things we learn during the books are also dealt with. The trilogy as a whole is enjoyable work, though not brilliant, and not as good as those of Watt-Evans's books Rich most likes. But it is a true trilogy, and it is definitely best to read all three books in order. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/ps288.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT This may be Disch's last known work, although further unpublished material may yet be found. A very short book, stretched to 128 pages by the use of large type and plenty of white space, it is a sequel to The Voyage of the Proteus (2007). In the earlier book, Disch is summoned through time by Cassandra, meets Homer and Socrates, and fights off a flock of attacking Harpies. In the second book, Disch is back in his apartment in New York. The time is a tantalizingly described near future. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica288.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT Mark London Williams says we are the cusp of, if not hopefully some great, or at least good, then at least sane things in the U.S. (and by extension, whether we like the idea of empire or not, the world). Much has been made of the new White House occupant's part-time geekiness -- or nerdiness. Which, in Bush era terms, could've simply meant "anyone who reads a book," or perhaps "knows six words in a different language." But with a certain Barack Obama, it means -- as the media has famously let us know -- that it also means he reads comic books. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/mb288.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT "I could write a whole article about Isaac Asimov. Come to think of it, I have, for the fanzine Mimosa, and it's available on my website. It would be far too long to reproduce here. But the short version is that Asimov, being as prolific and open about his life as he was, gave the rest of us a blueprint to follow if we wanted to do so." http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick288.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT Again this year, Rick offers his movie predictions for what is coming and is worth seeing in 2009 (based entirely on the reputation of the writers). http://www.sfsite.com/books/new288.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT This time we're looking at new and forthcoming works from Harry Turtledove, Kelley Armstrong, Gordon Dahlquist, Paul Di Filippo, Charlie Huston, Peter S. Beagle, and many more. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/neil287.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT Traditionally, the arrival of the new year is a time to look ahead, and make plans for the future. But it's also a time to look back and reflect on the year we've just completed. And at the SF Site, it's traditional to review the past year's worth of reading and to vote on what you considered to be the best of it. This is your chance to have your say. The same rules apply as in previous SF Site Readers' Choice Awards: if you read it, you liked it, and you want to vote for it, go nuts. If you've forgotten what you chose in previous years, you can find them all linked at Best Read of the Year including The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss which was the top choice last year. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/mh288.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT The year is 2110, and a Second Cold War between the US and the Eurasian Bloc is thawing, until a terrorist group calling themselves Autumn Rain bring down the Phoenix space elevator. An act which, somewhat predictably, launches the world's great military powers on course toward all-out global conflict. Before the tipping point is reached, a Special Forces team are tasked with finding Autumn Rain, and putting a stop to their heinous plans. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/neil287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT Traditionally, the arrival of the new year is a time to look ahead, and make plans for the future. But it's also a time to look back and reflect on the year we've just completed. And at the SF Site, it's traditional to review the past year's worth of reading and to vote on what you considered to be the best of it. This is your chance to have your say. The same rules apply as in previous SF Site Readers' Choice Awards: if you read it, you liked it, and you want to vote for it, go nuts. If you've forgotten what you chose in previous years, you can find them all linked at Best Read of the Year including The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss which was the top choice last year. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/sk287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT "What is steampunk?" asks the jacket blurb header, and it's a reasonable question that has kept plenty of fans and pundits busy since the style's recent renaissance. Like any other genre definition, it's going to be contentious (has anyone actually settled on a satisfactory definition of science fiction itself yet?); personal taste is always going to come into play when deciding what is canon and what is not. While plainly setting out to answer the question from the informed perspective of the editors, this anthology is also a trifle schizoid in that it's not entirely clear who they're trying to answer the question for. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/bm287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT By its title, one could intepret this to be a collection of bright spots out of three decades of writing. But the worth of these stories has already been judged. Out of the twenty-one stories in the collection, there's a Theodore Sturgeon Award winner, a World Fantasy Award winner, and five, count 'em, five, Hugo Award winners. The Best of Michael Swanwick is, on its own terms, a pretty convincing argument that when it come to short fiction, the best of Michael Swanwick is synonymous with the best in the field. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/as287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT The good news: There's intelligent life out there, and they've come to Earth to meet us. They're friendly, and eager to get to know us. The bad news: They resemble gelatinous cubes, and communicate amongst themselves by means of odor. In short, they're ugly and smelly. And they've familiarized themselves with our popular culture, and let's face it, the "good" aliens never look like ambulatory Jell-O or smell like wet dog farts in summer. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/ak287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT Surrealism is a literary mode that looks like an easy option, but if it is done well, it is far from easy. The most obvious characteristic of surrealism is the absurdist leap from one moment to the next as if it forms a perfectly coherent connection. Yet this does not mean that you can simply throw in any weird idea at any time and hope to get away with it. Because at the end of the day the story has got to convince us that it really is coherent or we won't recognise it as a way of subverting our notions of the real, but simply think it is stupid. The line between using the absurd and looking silly is very fine indeed. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/mm287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT As the Borg continue their relentless, unstoppable assault upon the Alpha Quadrant, the Federation and its allies examine every possible solution in the hopes of preventing an otherwise-inevitable extinction. Entire worlds are dying, and the clock is ticking, while Starfleet's finest ships desperately pursue various avenue. The U.S.S. Enterprise, as usual, is at the forefront of the action, with Captain Picard determined to hold the line against the invading Borg. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/gl287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT Ben Gould is a young man who falls and hits his head on the ice, and is supposed to die, but doesn't. Ben's ghost -- who is supposed to help Ben transition into the afterlife, and clean up any of his unfinished business -- is therefore somewhat stranded, and the Angel of Death isn't being particularly helpful; he tells the ghost just to hang out until they can figure out the "glitch" that resulted in Ben's non-death. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/mf287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT In the Star Wars universe, there is no vessel more famous and revered than the Millennium Falcon. Yet how much do we really know about the circumstances that led to her pivotal role in the greatest conflict in the history of that long-ago, far-away galaxy? In Star Wars: Millennium Falcon, that story is finally told. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/ma287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote his first novel, A Princess of Mars, in 1911, publishing it in All-Story magazine as a serialized novel between February and July of 1912. This was 14 years before Hugo Gernsback founded the first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, and coined the term "scientificion," which was later changed to "science fiction." Science fiction, as a recognized publishing genre, was not established while Burroughs was writing his earlier novels. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/af287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT Picking up two years after the events in the book, Furies of Calderon, our hero, Tavi, lacks the ability to control the furies, making him a "freak" in Alera. Studying to become a cursor, or messenger, for the First Lord (Emperor) of Alera, Tavi learns the job also requires becoming a spy and a warrior. As his studies near their end, a new danger comes to the capitol of Alera, where the First Lord resides and where the home of the academy Tavi is attending is located. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/fl287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT The book spans 32 years in the lives of a group of people initially thrown together as hostages in a near-future Spain that has collapsed into sectarian civil war. When the group emerge from their basement, they find a world experiencing dramatic rises in ocean levels. Before long, members of the group are witnessing the flooding of London and the shattering of New York's glass skyscrapers by a hurricane that fills the air with broken glass, instantly rending apart all those unlucky enough to be caught outside. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/wl287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT Following a series of dramatic events which started with the destruction of a passenger ship and ended with the downfall of the corrupt Farwan Corporation, grimspace jumper Sirantha Jax is out of a job, broke, and infamous. When the interplanetary government known as the Conglomerate offers Jax the opportunity to lead a diplomatic mission to the planet Ithiss-Tor, she's smart enough to recognize it for the type of request that it is. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/ic287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT Greg Egan's first novel in several years is as dizzying a piece of speculation as we have come to expect from him. But, like several of his novels, it doesn't fully connect at a human level, and for that matter the speculation -- dizzying as it is, and quite fascinating -- isn't as thematically profound as in his best stories. Though that's not quite fair... http://www.sfsite.com/01a/bn287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT Enhanced by the usual list of genre books and movies from the previous season, news, obituaries and addresses of interest to horror fans, here's the annual collection of the allegedly best horror stories published during the year. For the nineteenth volume in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror series, editor Stephen Jones has assembled twenty-six stories penned by a number of distinguished genre writers. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/ch287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT There is a set of stories best described as "guy stories," a category that contains such notable tales as Easy Rider, City Slickers and Deliverance. In such a story a group of young males decide to set them selves to some inconsequential task. The journey is filled with adversity, strife, joy and tragedy as the men struggle to finish their quest. In the end the characters discover who they really are. This is one of these stories. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/ks287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT This issue features a wide selection of stories -- generally quite a few short-shorts but this issue has a larger proportion of longer stories. There was less nonfiction this time but there is the quite amusing horoscope column and the contributors' bios. Add quite a few poems, and lots of artwork, and this remains a varied and interesting publication. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT As Mark London Williams so elegantly announced last time, the Nexus Graphica brain trust have compiled our very own top ten graphic novel or comics-related publications lists of 2008. Mark began this shindig, so it falls to Rick Klaw to introduce the final five selections. Even with the economy crashing down around them, publishers produced enough excellent books for each of them to create diverse lists. Outside of their three identical selections, Mark and Rick managed to generate unique groups of astounding quality. http://www.sfsite.com/books/new287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT Happy new year, and welcome to the new and forthcoming books of 2009! Some of the highlights this time are the latest from Peter F. Hamilton, Ian McDonald, Kelley Armstrong, John Meaney, Catherynne M. Valente, James Morrow, plus revisited classics from Ray Bradbury, Michael Moorcock, and plenty more. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT Rick has some conclusions on how the first half went now that we measure out our television in half seasons. He also gives us a list of what SF is on TV in January and a hint of what February has to offer. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/sm287.htm Thu, 1 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT This is the story of Clay, a man of our time who is inexplicably thrust far, far, far into Earth's future, to an era when not only is our civilization forgotten, but our whole species is no longer even a memory. Humankind has moved on, several times, creating new species. Clay travels across a dreamlike landscape in company with a handful of the Skimmers who are one variant of the latter-day "sons of men" where he meets other iterations of the human meme, like a pink sphere inside a shining cube of a cage and the regressed and grotty Goat-men; he becomes other kinds of human: he is himself a Skimmer for a while, as a female as well as a male; he becomes a squid-like Breather and then spends a timeless period as an Awaiter, a sapient carrot stuck in the earth, and more. http://www.sfsite.com/12b/mf286.htm Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT This is an elegant, brilliantly written novel that spins the plates of three, possibly four, different threads with the elan of a seasoned circus performer. A compelling narrative and unique voice makes the book almost impossible to put down -- despite Tammy's somewhat ambiguous feelings towards the main character. http://www.sfsite.com/12b/ss286.htm Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT In the bloody, violent days following the implementation of Order 66, the Jedi have been slaughtered, their temples burned, their fellowship broken by the newly-formed Empire, with the Emperor's protege, Darth Vader, tracking down those few to survive and escape. One Jedi, Jax Pavan, has gone to ground in the slums of Coruscant, the city-planet that serves as the very heart of the Empire. Here, among with fellow ex-Jedi Laranth, hardboiled reporter Den Dhur, independent-minded droid I-5YQ and Vader's own former personal aide Haninum Tyk Rhinann, Jax Pavan has formed a small detective agency. http://www.sfsite.com/12b/mu286.htm Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT It has become a cliche: the difficult middle volume in a trilogy. But it's a real problem nonetheless. The main players have been introduced in the first volume, the dramatic situation has been set up, the action has started upon its course, and in all likelihood there has been a satisfying climax because each volume has to work in its own right. In the middle volume you cannot bring in the big action-packed climax, because that has to wait for the final volume; you can't even introduce too many important new characters, because then you've got to wonder what they were doing hanging round off-stage in the first volume. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica286.htm Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT It's that time of year again -- the existential suspense redolent in the air over whether your uncle will get blindly drunk at Christmas again, whether the country will survive until January 20th, whether you'll get lucky on New Year's Eve. The usual swirl of late December concerns. And in that swirl are the year-end "ten best" lists as well, compiled by movie, music, book and other critics. The erudite Mr. Klaw and Mark London Williams thought it might behoove them to compile a similar top-tenny sort of rundown for graphic novels and comics and split it into two parts. Here are numbers 10-6 of the list. http://www.sfsite.com/12b/go286.htm Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT The Federation is in danger once again, as the Borg have renewed their attacks with a new, vicious enthusiasm, aiming for annihilation rather than assimilation. Entire worlds have already fallen beneath their relentless fury, and the Federation's resources are rapidly being stretched to their limits. But not all hope is lost. http://www.sfsite.com/12b/ub286.htm Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT In the distant future, circa 1992, death has moved from an event, to a process. The newly deceased are placed in cryogenic "cold-pac" and taken to a moratorium where their active minds interact with each other, and, when called upon, with the outside world, in a state called "half life." Psychic powers have moved into the mainstream. http://www.sfsite.com/12b/fc286.htm Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT The narrator, Kate Reading, delivers the punch, when needed, in this epic adventure Her voice easily reveals characters' sense of loss or hope and, when the situation requires it, she can drum up plenty of excitement for all of the battle scenes. Jim Butcher may have written all the words, but it's her delivery that allows the audiobook listener to become completely immersed in the land of Alera. http://www.sfsite.com/12b/jv286.htm Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT 3 books. 3 introductions. 1 author. Jack Vance. Normally, that should be enough to make any collector happy. So perhaps that's what the editors were counting on when they collected three of Vance's shorter novels (or longer novellas) into a compact trade cover, slapped on a preface about the "planetary adventure" subgenre, and apportioned a separate introduction for each book by Robert Silverberg, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Mike Resnick -- Jack Vance admirers and masters in their own right, one and all. http://www.sfsite.com/12b/dn286.htm Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT Talk about expectation versus experience! Richard will confess that he thought this book was going to be a total snoozer. A facsimile of a hundred or so pages of dubiously legible notes by a long-dead author, for a novel that he wrote well over a century ago. The author was Abraham "Bram" Stoker (1847-1912) and the novel was Dracula (1897). http://www.sfsite.com/12b/bf286.htm Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT First published in the late 80s, the Wild Cards series is resurgent, and this title marks a welcome return to form. This time around, instead of veering madly away from what made this series such a huge success, the editor has coaxed his writers into playing to the strengths of the world. This includes a few long established characters, used in ways that are fresh enough not to alienate any new readers, yet enticing enough to captivate original fans of the series. http://www.sfsite.com/12b/gg286.htm Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT So what happened was the world went to Hell, through a combination of war, terrorism, and natural disasters... Nine years later, Mortimer Tate emerges from his well-stocked cave deep in the woods, ready to rejoin the world he left behind, and utterly unprepared for the changes made in his absence. It seems that compared to most, he's actually been living a civilized, luxurious life, and all because he wanted to get away from his soon-to-be ex-wife. http://www.sfsite.com/12b/np286.htm Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT This is the story of a telepath named Jeff Vaughan who works on the docks of the space port known as Bengal Station. His job is to scan ships for contraband and stowaways. He has become suspicious of his boss and while investigating his suspicions, he discovers a cult that is smuggling something onto Earth. http://www.sfsite.com/12b/de286.htm Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT The 50s are a Sargasso Sea of science fiction amid an ocean desert of movies with not even a hint SF. There were great SF films in the 30s and earlier. But there was no science fiction (except low-budget movie serials and monster movies) between Things to Come, by H.G. Wells, in 1936 and Destination Moon, by Robert A. Heinlein, in 1950. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick286.htm Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT Rick continues his look at TV writers. He has some thoughts on Tim Kring and Heroes and the recent decision to bring in Bryan Fuller (of Star Trek-Deep Space Nine and Voyager, Wonderfalls, Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies fame) as a consultant. http://www.sfsite.com/12b/ms286.htm Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT The Magazine of Speculative Poetry / from the Spring of 2008 / Holds poems related to rocketry / and one of a robot's dark fate. http://www.sfsite.com/12b/mq286.htm Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT Ivy Lockwell is the eldest daughter of Mr Lockwell, a magician whose sanity has been shattered in a mysterious magickal accident that has left his family impoverished and socially isolated. Dashton Rafferdy is the wastrel son of one of Altania's great magnates who views claims that he is descended from one of the great magical families as a potentially dangerous distraction from his pursuit of shallow enjoyment. http://www.sfsite.com/12a/do285.htm Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT It's the familiar, everyday things in life which, if they suddenly turn on you, can be the most frightening. The author evidently knows this very well, because in her latest novel, a taut thriller, she takes that beloved object of American affection, the family dog, and turns it into a carrier of terror, chaos, and international intrigue. http://www.sfsite.com/12a/fo285.htm Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT Some time in the far future, after the presumed collapse of human society, sentient dragons, who reproduce through a strict system of eugenics, rule the world and humans are largely slaves. But Albekizan, the evil dragon tyrant is killed during a human rebellion and his son, the heir to the dragon throne wishes to enact policies of human/dragon cooperation. However a number of forces including the heir's own brush with power, an insane and murderous uncle, and a mad human prophet bent on annihilating the dragon race are derailing this project. http://www.sfsite.com/12a/cm285.htm Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT It has been centuries since the malevolent machine intelligences known as the Cold Minds conquered Earth and sent the remnants of humanity fleeing into the depths of space, where they established a refuge in the form of the Hidden Worlds. There, humanity has built itself a new home, but it's by no means a paradise. The Pilot Masters, an elite caste who hold the secret of interworld and interstellar travel in an iron grip. And somewhere out there, the Cold Minds are still looking to finish the job of subjugating the human race. http://www.sfsite.com/12a/de285.htm Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT The story starts slowly with Sookie working a wedding where she gets hassled by an ex and she meets a couple of mysterious strangers. From there the story explodes in to a collection of threads including a hostile takeover attempt by vampires from Las Vegas, a clan war between rival werewolf packs in the next town over, fighting a smear campaign initiated by an angry shape changer, meeting her house mate's family and resolving her brother's marital discord. http://www.sfsite.com/12a/nd285.htm Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT Joe is back to his old tricks, trying to stay flush with the blood and the bling, while also keeping a low profile with the other Vyrus infected factions. One night while hanging out at his favorite bar, Joe comes into contact with another victim of the Vyrus who appears to be wigged out on some kind of new drug called Anathema. Since the Vyrus cancels out every other stimulant, this gets Joe's attention. http://www.sfsite.com/12a/lb285.htm Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT Who is Wheeler Burden and why does he suddenly find himself transported from 1988 San Francisco to 1897 Vienna? From the opening paragraphs, the reader wants to know. In the course of the next 15 hours, the story unfolds over various decades, tying together the stories of Wheeler, his mother Flora and his father Dilly, his grandmother Eleanor, the legendary prep-school teacher Arnauld Esterhazy, and many supporting characters in both centuries. http://www.sfsite.com/12a/ws285.htm Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT The premise is that a human ship has landed on the planet the passengers christen Mars II. Ostensibly the ship is there for repair, though we never learn how it was damaged, we see no attempt to effect repairs, and later the ship will take off with no apparent problem. Instead, the humans decide to settle, and immediately embark upon a war with the race of intelligent lizards who inhabit the planet. http://www.sfsite.com/12a/gt285.htm Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT Time and again, Starfleet has encountered, fought, even defeated the Borg, but always at a great cost. The most recent Borg incursion cost numerous lives, and saw the USS Einstein assimilated and transformed into a new kind of vessel for a much more aggressive, even vindictive breed of Borg. Now the Einstein seems to be on the verge of capturing a form of "quantum slipstream" technology, which would allow it near-instantaneous teleportation across vast distances. http://www.sfsite.com/12a/tp285.htm Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT I still remember when I was reading Dinner at Deviant's Palace (1984) by Tim Powers for the first time. After some 27 years of reading SF, I thought it would be hard to startle me with ideas and amaze me with plot. Sure, I could become engrossed with a sense of wonder and be charmed by a delightful turn of phrase. But I had read a lot of books and it didn't seem like there could be more. Boy, I was young and stupid. I found a number of treasures and surprises in Dinner at Deviant's Palace and Tim Powers became one of my favourite writers on the spot. http://www.sfsite.com/12a/dr285.htm Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT The story begins with a cranky old necromancer named Ayers, recently released from the Blackwing Institute for insane sorcerers, going back to his old ways. Ayers is grave robbing, against the orders of Marla Mason. When things don't work out the way that Ayers wants, he uses blackmail against one of Felport's leading sorcerers, to obtain a mummy. No former resident of Egypt, the body is purported to be the remains of Abraham Lincoln's assassin. http://www.sfsite.com/12a/ef285.htm Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT Somewhere in deep interstellar space, the enigmatic faction of machine intelligences known as the AISource have constructed a monumentally huge habitat designated One One One, which they've filled with a bizarre, near-uninhabitable ecosystem and a collection of engineered species. Of chief interest among these species are the Brachiators, a sentient, violent race inhabiting the topmost portion of the habitat, dwelling among the Undergrowth. http://www.sfsite.com/12a/st285.htm Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT The despised youngest child from a large family, Runnel decides one day to leave his mountain country village. Allowing his feet to carry him, he soon finds himself in the strange lowland city of Mitherhome. Runnel moves from being a ninth, and unwanted child in his mountainous village to being a servant in one of Mitherhome's suburbs. While there, Runnel learn more about the ways of the city and its strange form of magic. http://www.sfsite.com/12a/mk285.htm Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT Fascinated by carved masks (of which he had assembled a remarkable collection) and intrigued by the concept of masks as a symbol of the way people conceal their true nature and their deepest feelings when facing, day in day out, the cruelty of the world they are living in, Bradbury conceived and tried to write a novel in the period between 1945 and 1950. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica285.htm Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT On November 8, 2008, Rick Klaw attended his first comic book convention in almost a decade. Throughout the 90s, when he served as the managing editor for Blackbird Comics and Mojo Press, he frequented as many as seven cons per year, primarily in Dallas, Houston, Chicago, and San Diego. When Mojo Press began to dissolve in the fall of 1997, Rick whittled his convention schedule down to the local literary gathering, Armadillocon, and few random World Fantasy Cons. Since then, he has re-invented his professional persona from an editor and comic book writer to a columnist, reviewer, and pop culture critic. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/booknews285.htm Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT Virgin Books Editor (and author) Adam Nevill talks about the re-emergence of horror books in the UK; author Toby Frost reveals the inner workings of the British Space Empire and the significance of tea in God Emperor of Didcot; editor Tony Lee on the upgraded Premonitions: Causes For Alarm publication; and Sam Stone talks vampires in Killing Kiss. http://www.sfsite.com/books/new285.htm Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT The books are arriving fast and furious to the SF Site office. Some of the highlights among our newest arrivals include forthcoming titles from Bruce Sterling, Sarah Ash, Kelley Armstrong, and Ray Bradbury, plus the latest from Dean Koontz, David Drake, Jane Lindskold, and Orson Scott Card, as well as new collections of classic works from Robert E. Howard, Robert Silverberg, L. Ron Hubbard, and C.L. Moore. All this, and plenty more! http://www.sfsite.com/12a/tm285.htm Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT This book, to quote the author, is "light and fluffy literary criticism." It is a light examination of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series written by someone who lets his love for the series and his admiration for Mr. Pratchett show clearly. http://www.sfsite.com/11b/3d284.htm Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT Catherine Moore is probably best known to SF and fantasy readers for her many collaborations with partner and husband Henry Kuttner, a partnership that produced such classics as "The Vintage Season" and "Mimsy Were The Borogoves." But before that Catherine was a successful writer on her own, and the stories of C.L. Moore were mainstays of the science fiction magazines of the 30s. This was the pulp era, a time when magazine SF was in its infancy and writers were making up the rules as they went along. http://www.sfsite.com/11b/bp284.htm Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT In a genre like science fiction, where magazines and anthologies have played such a significant part in the development of the literature, it is inevitable that some writers will make their greatest impression in the short story. John Kessel is one such writer. His novels have been well received but not groundbreaking; it is as a short story writer that he has proved most impressive. So it is strange, to say the least, that so few of his stories have been brought together in collections. http://www.sfsite.com/11b/cw284.htm Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT In his introduction, the author states that, besides their obvious qualities, the conciseness and ability to span a wide time scale of Robert E. Howard's Conan tales inspired him to try his hand at some short fantasy tales. While neither Corrie nor anyone else before or since has written quite like R.E. Howard, these stories are well constructed, entertaining, have engaging characters, and use standard fantasy tropes with humour and a modicum of originality. http://www.sfsite.com/11b/mc284.htm Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT After an extended time away from M.Y.T.H. Inc. to focus on his studies, Skeeve's decided that it's time to get back in the groove of things. But rather than rejoin his friends, he's going to start his own consulting agency. Of course, even the best-intentioned plans tend to go askew, and before Skeeve can even blink, he's somehow managed to talk himself into a competition with his best friend and former mentor/partner, Aahz. http://www.sfsite.com/11b/db284.htm Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT This is the first in a series of adventures of Daisy Giordano, a Junior at Nightshade High School. Daisy is the youngest in family of psychics but has not yet manifested any powers of her own. The story follows Daisy as she attempts to help her mother, a famous psychic, who is stumped by a murder investigation. She spots a connection to the investigation when a wasting disease starts striking down the members of the school's cheerleading team. http://www.sfsite.com/11b/ce284.htm Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT City of Ember is a charming children's science fiction movie. Rick's rating is based on the appeal of the movie for young children. If your child loved last year's children's fantasy The Water Horse, they will love this film as well. Intelligent moviemaking for children is not to be scorned. Teens, on the other hand, will probably be bored. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/audio284.htm Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT At times it's more convenient (and enjoyable) to hear the latest in science fiction and fantasy. Recent audiobook releases include works by David Drake, Tanya Huff, Robert A. Heinlein, Jim Butcher, Stephen R. Donaldson, Sharon Shinn and Orson Scott Card. http://www.sfsite.com/11b/th284.htm Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT Paul Dear is a lively young English boy with apple cheeks, sparkling eyes, and dark, shining hair. He lives near Kensington Park in London, and has grown up listening to the tales his father tells of The Boy. Which Boy is that? Why, it's the one we all have heard of: the one who refuses to grow up, the one who can fly. All the names (and a few of the details) have been changed, but the many exploits of The Boy of Legend are essentially the adventures of Peter Pan. http://www.sfsite.com/11b/mi284.htm Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT This is a retelling twice over: first, and most obviously, it's a retelling of Snow White in a historical perspective. However, it's also a re-imagining of part of the life story of Lucrezia Borgia, a figure known to most people as a the leading lady of corrupt and murderous Machiavellian politics. What the author does so well is to synthesize the two, mixing historical fiction with magical realism to create a historical context and story that seem entirely plausible as the source from which the fairy tale sprung. http://www.sfsite.com/11b/hs284.htm Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT This is a novel that serves up most anything a Space Opera addict could ask for: vast time scales (the book is set several million years in the future), vast distances (the characters traverse thousands of light years, and in fact the state of the Andromeda Galaxy is an important plot point), powerful and exotic tech, from space drives (light speed limited, mind you) to robots to weapons to things like stardams (to keep a supernova from harming nearby systems), and of course space battles and exploding ships. http://www.sfsite.com/11b/dw284.htm Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT Rachel Morgan, witch and bounty hunter extraordinaire, finds the sins of her recent past catching up to her in full force when the demon she thought gone for good, Algaliarept, appears out of nowhere, thoroughly upset and out for revenge. It seems that even though he's in prison, someone has been summoning him out of his cell and siccing him on Rachel. Another demon, Minias, is in hot pursuit of the demon Rachel calls "Al," and wants her help in returning the fugitive to his proper confinement. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica284.htm Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT The Obama Presidency will be a kind of Rorschach for America, with people reading into his campaign, and eventually into his administration, what they want to see in themselves. Or, as per the routine projections of the far right, what is unbearable in themselves. Mark London Williams began to muse about what the role of call-and-response is in graphic novels, etc., as part of the overall zeitgest -- to what degree comics are indistinguishable from media as a "lump sum" -- will future anthropologists distinguish between types of pop culture, when sifting through moves, TV shows, novels, et al., to determine what it was we thought of ourselves? -- or do comics occupy a perch of their own? http://www.sfsite.com/columns/booknews284.htm Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT Producer/writer/director Stevan Mena takes us behind the scenes on horror comedy movie Brutal Massacre; Keith de Candido talks about writing Dean and Sam Winchester Supernatural novels; and Fiona McIntosh updates us on the four novels she's writing this year, including the new Royal Exile. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick284.htm Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT Rick continues his look at TV writers. This time, he mentions those currently making a major contribution to genre television shows like Doctor Who, Smallville and The Sarah Connor Chronicles. He also has a word or two about A Quantum of Solace. http://www.sfsite.com/11b/cb284.htm Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT This is the first novel in a trilogy, featuring an incarnation of the author's Eternal Champion, called Michael Kane, an all-American hero, whose life and times deliberately imitate Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars. For readers who have not encountered Burroughs Martian series, the name of the game is pure escapism. Those who prefer a high degree of scientific accuracy in their fiction will be disappointed. But, if your main priority is what used to be called a "rip-roaring adventure" then this novel may be just the one for the job. http://www.sfsite.com/11b/hm284.htm Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT Those of you who are not blog fans or who don't spend much time on the web may not be aware that John Scalzi has a blog called Whatever where he posts thoughts, opinions and rants every day and has done so for 10 years (as of Sept 13, 2008). The thing about having an archive of thousands of essays is that no matter how skilled the author is overall, the odds of finding his best stuff is pretty poor, unless you have someone to point you at the good bits. http://www.sfsite.com/11b/gn284.htm Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT In the beginning there was Order, overseen by the piping God Azathoth, his daughter Barbelzoa and the thirteen gods who danced around his throne. Thirteen, a fan of Lovecraft might query, but surely there are only twelve blind and idiot gods in attendance on the Nuclear Chaos? Not to mention, the daughter? In this mythos, the Crawling Chaos, Nyarlathotep, was originally one of the dancing gods, before they were either blind or idiot -- the conjoined twin of Galila. Driven by lust for bright Barbelzoa, Nyarlathotep used his magic to cast the other gods into slumber and raped the goddess. http://www.sfsite.com/rssfeeds01.htm Sat, 1 Jan 2005 11:00:00 GMT After constructing our first RSS feed, it soon became apparent that the size of files could grow quickly. We decided to separate them into smaller ones, breaking them up by month. On this page you will find RSS feed files for all of our content beginning with January 2005.