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/09b//hf208.htm Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT Science fiction writers are renowned for their ability to juggle several ideas at once, keeping their readers' heads spinning right to the end of the story. There are few writers, however, who can keep those ideas flying in two very different books at once, one an homage to classic fantasy and the other poised on the edge of where science fiction is heading right now. Charles Stross is one of those few. http://www.sfsite.com/09b/tr208.htm Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT The Time Rangers are a band of people orphaned from the Timestream, plucked from the loneliness of their particular circumstances by the Fagins of an almost-eternity ruled by the Titans of the Greek pantheon. The job of the Time Rangers is to maintain the multiverse, to prevent events and eruptions that could lead to, among other things, a future death of the gods. http://www.sfsite.com/09b/gc208.htm Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT Theme anthologies are a challenge for fiction editors. If they seek original material they have to rely upon the authors' ability to properly cope with the subject, whereas if it's a reprint anthology they need a good memory and an extensive knowledge of the literature addressing that particular issue. No problems there for an experienced editor/writer, even when the topic (science vs. superstition), although quite intriguing, is far from being a simple one. http://www.sfsite.com/09b/bm208.htm Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT It begins with a salvage vessel, whose pilot is seeking fortune out beyond the limits of Polity-controlled space. He finds an asteroid, rich in rare metals, and containing the wreck of a dreadnought, which proves too tempting to resist. Meanwhile, on a world named Cull, outside of Polity space, an old timer named Anderson and his young protege, Tergal, are on a mission to kill a dragon. http://www.sfsite.com/09b/ft208.htm Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT Ninety percent of everything, according to Theodore Sturgeon, is garbage. The golden age of science fiction, according to Peter Graham, is at thirteen. In a long overdue attempt to help those thirteen-year-olds separate the creamy ten percent, the editors have compiled this first volume. With the editors' tastes, this should prove to be the first of a long series of anthologies. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick208.htm Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT In the next two weeks, most of the new Fall season debuts. For the first time in... in... well, actually for the first time ever -- all of the new network shows are about young contemporary Americans. It is as if our entire society was closing in on itself, focused obsessively on the young, the here, and the now. http://www.sfsite.com/09b/qs208.htm Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT This is the second collection of early de Lint stories to be released by Subterranean Press. This volume brings together seventeen of his lesser-known works, covering dark and contemporary fantasy, horror, science fiction, and his Bordertown novellas. Along the way, we're treated to his thoughts on these early works, and we get a very real look at both his beginning successes, and his occasional missteps. http://www.sfsite.com/09b/sm208.htm Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT The fourth book in the Meredith Gentry series is a curious mixture. No doubt many of the readers who have made Laurell K. Hamilton a New York Times bestselling author will lap this one up, but for those who are interested primarily in a good read, the reception might not be so warm. http://www.sfsite.com/09b/sabb208.htm Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT "The Asteroid Wars start when the Earth faces an ecological collapse. Greenhouse warming has struck, suddenly and disastrously. Most of the world's major cities are either inundated by global flooding or bursting at the seams with refugees. Faced with this, some people look out to the natural resources to be found in space, particularly the metals and minerals of the asteroids." http://www.sfsite.com/09b/ip208.htm Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT This collection contains nine finely crafted, atmospheric stories with settings ranging from the Russian steppes in the 20s to contemporary Vancouver. Although very realistic, the settings are just slightly sideways of reality, and the author gives us a dark, complex glimpse of what might happen if dreams really did come true. http://www.sfsite.com/books/new208.htm Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT We're bursting at the seams with good books to read, including the latest from Jack Williamson, Terry Brooks, Jacqueline Carey, Jennifer Fallon, Cory Doctorow, Ed Greenwood & Elain Cunningham, Kim Stanley Robinson, China Mieville, and many others. http://www.sfsite.com/09b/saar208.htm Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT "It's often taken for granted that you can't have well rounded characters in hard, nuts-and-bolts SF stories because by the time you've put all the science in, there's no room for characters. I just don't see that as the case. And there's been plenty of good books over the years that have bucked that trend." http://www.sfsite.com/09b/nt208.htm Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT Earth is the twelfth of the Twelve Empires: twelve alien races linked by an explicitly train-like interstellar travel system. The system is run by the Spiders, inscrutable aliens who do not allow details of their FTL method to be understood by anyone. But they do allow races access to this transportation network -- for a price. http://www.sfsite.com/09b/rb208.htm Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT Along with historical tales of the East, American Western tall tales were the other form that Robert E. Howard was increasingly exploring. In particular his humourous adventures of Breckenridge Elkins the big, two-fisted, gun-slinging, good-hearted but naive galoot from Bear Creek and similar tales of Pike Bearfield and Buckner J. Grimes were the complete antithesis of his dark tales. http://www.sfsite.com/09b/cm208.htm Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT The novel opens on a subsistence-culture desert planet where the most respected industry is the construction of intricate carpets woven of human hair. So detailed, so fine is the weaving, that each maker can only produce one carpet in his lifetime. The hairs themselves come from the bodies of his wives, chosen for the silkiness and shade of their tresses. http://www.sfsite.com/09b/wa208.htm Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT Few English-speaking authors on anime or manga could have the credentials of Fred Patten, purely by virtue of having been one of fandom's earliest members in the United States, not to mention a founding member of the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization, America's first anime fan club. http://www.sfsite.com/09a/ Thu, 1 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT "Laughin' Boy" (aka Danny Clayton) is a sad, unlucky weirdo who typically finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong moment. Set in USA in the year 2000, the story starts with a shooting among a crowd attending an outdoor music festival in Wichita, Kansas. While the terrorists responsible for the massacre remain initially undetected, the public attention is drawn to a young man who, unharmed, is accidentally videotaped in the midst of the carnage, appears to be "laughing his ass off." http://www.sfsite.com/09a/ Thu, 1 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT Our ghost doesn't remember his name, where he is, where he was, how he got there. All he remembers is the pain. He can feel his own body -- there's no evidence of a bullet wound on his head -- but no one sees him or hears him. He's got his clothes on, but no ID, no money -- no cell phone. All he knows is that he was murdered, and he feels a driving sense of urgency. http://www.sfsite.com/09a/ Thu, 1 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT Recently, Golden Gryphon published a chapbook of a new Howard Waldrop story, A Better World's in Birth!. It is about time we had some new Waldrop fiction. While you are waiting for more, have a look at what else he has done. It'll help you scout up some more of this remarkable author's novels and his short fiction. http://www.sfsite.com/09a/ Thu, 1 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT "In 1814, we took a little trip..." This old Johnny Horton tune may be about all you remember about the War of 1812. Oh, and the British burned the White House.... You may be certain that you'll know a good deal more about this chapter of American history after you've read this novel and be very well-entertained en route. http://www.sfsite.com/09a/ Thu, 1 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT It is a delightful movie, with much more originality both in plot and visual effects than most fantasies. It gets off to a rather rocky start; initially the brothers are not very likable. They make their living by swindling the gullible and they don't get along with each other all that well. http://www.sfsite.com/09a/ Thu, 1 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT Black Gate looks for the best in fantasy adventure, delivering surprises in some stories, and familiar structures in others -- stories that entertain the reader along the way so that one can look forward to where it's going. Some issues range from comedy to horror, the settings from contemporary Earth to its history to strange magical worlds that never were. This issue happens to center mostly around magic worlds. http://www.sfsite.com/09a/ Thu, 1 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT This story is a difficult one to tell. After all, fans of the series already know how the adventure turns out, the ending will be dark and the Jedi will fall. So how does a writer keep the element of suspense in a predestined tale? Matthew Stover succeeds by assuming the reader already knows "what," so he spends his time on the details of "how." http://www.sfsite.com/09a/ Thu, 1 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT For thousands of years, an elite caste of warriors known as Harlequins have defended beings called Travelers, whose unique genetic makeup allows them to journey between the six realms of existence. From these realms, Travelers return transformed, ready to pass on the wisdom they have gained to others. However, the Travelers have a deadly foe: a powerful secret society called the Brethren who have been trying to exterminate them, along with their Harlequin protectors. http://www.sfsite.com/09a/ Thu, 1 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT "I was already interested in history as a result of my SF and fantasy reading but Lest Darkness Fall was what really got me going. I started trying to find out how much L. Sprague de Camp was making up and how much was real, and I got hooked. I was a science person by original intention, but flunked out of Caltech at the end of my freshman year, not least because of a serious inability to do calculus." http://www.sfsite.com/09a/ Thu, 1 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT "For me it always boils down to giving them a strong emotional base. All of my tales are totally character-driven and unless these characters leap very directly and swiftly off the page and into readers' hearts, then my story's lost. I need the reader to despise my villains from the outset and then I can just keep turning the screws on them, making them darker and darker until the reader is howling for vengeance. That stirring of reader passion gives stories great impetus." http://www.sfsite.com/09a/ Thu, 1 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT The story begins with an episode from the childhood of Alfie Flowers, one that left him with a mild form of epilepsy. Years later, as a professional photographer, he sees a design by a graffiti artist that brings back his childhood trauma. Alfie enlists the help of a friend to search for Morph, the graffiti artist. Meanwhile, Harriet Crowley, a securities expert with ties to British Intelligence agencies is also hunting for Morph and the glyph, not because of epilepsy but because the glyph can be used in a form of mind-control. http://www.sfsite.com/09a/ Thu, 1 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT Richard Grey, a television cameraman for news programs, wakes up to find himself in a hospital after having been injured by a car bomb explosion. He does not remember anything about the previous few weeks of his life before the explosion, and is surprised when a visitor tells him she is his girlfriend, Susan. With hopes that she can restore his memories for him, though, Grey lets her into (or back into) his life, and soon discovers that she has (or thinks she has) the ability to be invisible. http://www.sfsite.com/09a/ Thu, 1 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT Rick offers his thoughts on the DVD release of the TV shows, Fraggle Rock and The Muppet Show, along with what to watch on TV in September. http://www.sfsite.com/09a/ Thu, 1 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT Set in a Kansas small town just after the end of World War II, the story has the feel of one of those Heinlein-Asimov adventures from the Golden Age. Vernon Dunham is a sensitive young man, the son of the town drunk, who was kept out of the war by the damage done during a childhood bout with polio. But his lifelong best (and only) friend -- that girl-chasing good ol' boy, flamboyant Floyd Bellamy -- has not only been to see the elephant but has come back from the Battle of the Bulge with a Nazi half-track full of radar tracking gear and what he thinks is an experimental airplane that is centuries ahead of the times. http://www.sfsite.com/09a/ Thu, 1 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT In The Lord of Samarcand we are presented with all of Robert E. Howard's historical tales of the Orient. Howard was drawn to this form by his interest in history, but also through his admiration for the historical and adventure works of Harold Lamb (1892-1962), an author who, unlike Howard, had been widely published in the prestigious pulp magazine Adventure. http://www.sfsite.com/09a/ Thu, 1 Sep 2005 11:00:00 GMT This book is more than just a quick overview of the better films of the genre -- it makes you want to go out and rent a personal movie marathon of some of the greatest, most entertaining, and memorable movies of the 20th century. 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.