http://www.sfsite.com/ The new issue of the SF Site is now online. Copyright 1996-2010 SF Site en-us http://www.sfsite.com/images/sfspot1.gif http://www.sfsite.com/ http://www.sfsite.com/01b/gh216.htm Mon, 16 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT Six of the tales in this collection feature Henghis Hapthorn, foremost freelance discriminator in the city of Olkney in the penultimate age of Old Earth. Hapthorn, the most brilliant citizen in the city (and he does not hesitate to say so) solves problems that nobody else can solve by "uncovering facts and relationships so ingeniously hidden or disguised as to baffle the best agents of the Archonate's Bureau of Scrutiny." http://www.sfsite.com/columns/steven216.htm Mon, 16 Jan 2006 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. The science-fictional year 2005 could have been much worse for the science fiction community in sheer numbers. While there were a few tragic surprises, the mortality rate for 2005 was no higher than would normally be expected. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/ws216.htm Mon, 16 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT On this world, everyone is born with one of four Inclinations: Air, Earth, Water, or Fire. Each Inclination confers on its owner a particular set of abilities, which derive their nature from the element for which the Inclination is named. The Worldstorm is an enormous, permanent storm that roves the earth, wreaking havoc wherever it passes. Many people believe that there's a relationship between human beings and the giant storm -- though just what that relationship is, and how it came about, neither logic nor philosophy nor legend can properly explain. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/fn216.htm Mon, 16 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT This book claims to be the first book of Darkwar, a brand new series, but directly continues the adventures begun in the three books that comprise the Conclave of Shadows sequence. As series readers know, there are two problems troubling the Conclave, one of which threatens the entire world of Midkemia. The greater threat is posed by the Talnoy, alien killing machines powered by trapped souls, or so it is thought. Thousands of them have been found in a cave on the continent of Novindus. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/bg216.htm Mon, 16 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT It seems with every issue this magazine pushes the boundary of the fantasy genre just a bit more. With the range of stories in this issue, that practices continues. From the sword-and-sorcery of "Payment Deferred" to the hillbilly magic realism of "The Whited Child" it runs the gamut, bouncing from one extreme to another, and providing something for every reader. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/neil214.htm Mon, 16 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT You've waited patiently for a whole year, but at last your favourite season has rolled around again. Yes, that's right, it's time to finish reading those new books that have been stacking up on your bookshelves, your floor or bedside table, because very soon you'll need to determine which ones you feel are the best of the best. Or at least, you will if you want to have a say in the annual SF Site Readers' Choice Awards! The deadline for voting is February 11, 2006. If you've forgotten what you chose in previous years, you can find them all linked at Best Read of the Year including Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke which was the top choice last year. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/lo216.htm Mon, 16 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT This anthology represents the forth instalment in the fortunate Darkside series, one so far consistently good, which has probably reached its peak with the previous volume A Walk on the Dark Side. In spite of the editor's ability to recruit first-class writers as contributors for his annual horror anthology, keeping up the quality level of such a literary project is not easy. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/schrodinger216.htm Mon, 16 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT Michael is reading short fiction and young adult titles and he has some thoughts. This time, he looks at Rebel Angels by Libba Bray, Drift House: The First Voyage by Dale Peck and Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide To The Fantastical World Around You by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/he216.htm Mon, 16 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT Payne is a Grotesque, a member of an offshoot of the human race distinguished by cranial deformities and an extra orifice in their chests. In most, this orifice is inert, but in a small number of them it's functional, enabling them to perform wondrous healings. Tesques with healing gifts are trained, then dispatched far and wide to serve humanity (and only humanity, for tesques cannot heal other tesques; nor are tesques considered worth healing, for humans regard them as a lesser race). http://www.sfsite.com/01b/sp216.htm Mon, 16 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT "I don't live by the clock. I work late hours at night and get up when I wake without much regard for what time it is. On those occasions when I have to get up early and set the alarm at bedtime, I invariably wake before it goes off. I know many others who say the same thing happens to them. It is as if something in us is keeping track of the time while we sleep." http://www.sfsite.com/01b/ti216.htm Mon, 16 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT Somewhere along the line, while he was writing this novel, the question may have been asked of the author, "Why a science fiction novel?" After all, you have a courageous sea-captain, uncharted waters, and an undiscovered continent with seemingly backwards natives waiting to be exploited. Why not an historical novel, with a modern emphasis on the sins of the exploiters? http://www.sfsite.com/books/new216.htm Mon, 16 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT The latest batch of books to arrive at the SF Site office includes new works from Peter F. Hamilton, Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Damien Broderick, and John Marco. Also featured are new editions of some classic works from Frank Herbert, Philip K. Dick, Dan Simmons, and Charles de Lint. All this and much more. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick216.htm Mon, 16 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT Over the year-end dearth of SF on TV, Rick has been watching DVDs. He has some thoughts on the Lois & Clark: Season One and Battlestar Galactica: Season Two. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/ds216.htm Mon, 16 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT The author continues to ignore the common wisdom of writing: debut novels are supposed to be rough and uncertain, fledgling steps into the genre, sophomore efforts stumble coming out of the gate. Right? Wrong. Starting with a spectacular debut that was one of the best novels of 2005, she follows up with a second volume in the Laura Cardinal series that may, in fact, be even better than the first. With a record like that, she is a force to be reckoned with and an author to keep an eye on. http://www.sfsite.com/01b/od216.htm Mon, 16 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT Harry Radcliffe is a celebrated architect, divorced but still on good terms personally and professionally with his former spouse, currently seemingly equally in love with two different women. The Sultan of Saru is pestering Harry to build an edifice, the titular dog museum, that doesn't much interest Harry. Unfolding events persuade Harry to accept the job, that in turn not only becomes a life transformational event for Harry, but also portends drastic cosmic implications as humans understand, or rather misunderstand, them. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/ka215.htm Sun, 1 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT "My work on the Seven Suns series is like my own love letter to science fiction. I've always loved SF and I threw in everything, from the giant nasty robots that are Gort in The Day The Earth Stood Still, to alien ruins on empty planets, to the dying and decadent aliens from a different race to the space gypsies and weird planets to the strange religions and star-crossed lovers and good guys and bad guys and really nasty aliens who live in gas giant planets. Everything that I love about SF is in some form in these books." http://www.sfsite.com/01a/sj215.htm Sun, 1 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT With so many Fantasy novels using European-derived settings and mythology, ancient China makes a refreshing change. The landscape is tantalizingly exotic and yet familiar enough to feel very real, and the auhtor uses magic sparingly, in ways appropriate to her society. This and the intricate detail put into the backdrop makes the novel feel very much like historical fiction. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/rk215.htm Sun, 1 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT The third novel in the High Druid of Shannara series jumps straight back into the story where it left off. It continues the quest of unlikely hero Penderrin Ohmsford. Now equipped with the means to break in -- and back out -- of the Forbidding, where his aunt, the deposed Ard Rhys of Druids, is stranded, Pen must first get back to Paranor. His rescue attempt can only begin from within chamber where Grianne Ohmsford disappeared. Unfortunately, this will deliver him straight into the hands of those responsible for his aunt's disappearance. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/cb215.htm Sun, 1 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT Brian Aldiss is a fabulous and frustrating writer. When he is on song, his prose is dynamic, disturbing and delectable. But he is a restless writer. He came into his own in the fervid and experimental atmosphere of the New Wave, and he has been driven to try the new and the different ever since. That he is still experimenting now, 50 years after his debut, is a measure of a man who has never been prepared to settle back on his laurels and rehash the same old, same old. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/be215.htm Sun, 1 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT Urban legends of being buried alive have always had the power to send a chill down a listener's spine. Imagine awakening to find yourself trapped under a crushing weight of earth. The air rapidly running out. Your panic escalating into madness. No one to hear your cries for deliverance. Buried somewhere on a bleak plain that the British military closed down a decade ago is a gruesome secret. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/kk215.htm Sun, 1 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT When he first saw the original King Kong, Rick was just a kid. He remembers being bored for the first twenty minutes or so, but once the ship reached Kong Island, he was thrilled. Every scene is indelibly etched on his memory, and he thinks that he could recreate every stop-motion lash of the Tyrannosaur's tail. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick215.htm Sun, 1 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT What's on TV in January? Rick offers a list of what to watch. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/hh215.htm Sun, 1 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT The story opens with a wonderful premise: a young man is admitted to a psychiatric hospital literally out of his mind. Dr. McDevitt is determined to discover what could have happened to an otherwise healthy twenty-year-old that could have driven him insane. Expecting a slowly unravelling plot concluding in a climactic revelation about the horror that caused such devastating trauma is a mistake. About a quarter the way through the novel it's revealed: Jamie was driven insane by a vampire. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/th215.htm Sun, 1 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT Drawing from several stories of Norse mythology, the basic tale is taken from the legend of the giant Thrym, who, despite his reputation as a dullard, manages to figure out a way to steal Thor's hammer, Mjollner. To fill out the novel, the auhtor also brought in the legend of Mjollner's creation and the story of Thialfi, the goat boy. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/neil214.htm Sun, 1 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT You've waited patiently for a whole year, but at last your favourite season has rolled around again. Yes, that's right, it's time to finish reading those new books that have been stacking up on your bookshelves, your floor or bedside table, because very soon you'll need to determine which ones you feel are the best of the best. Or at least, you will if you want to have a say in the annual SF Site Readers' Choice Awards! The deadline for voting is February 11, 2006. If you've forgotten what you chose in previous years, you can find them all linked at Best Read of the Year including Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke which was the top choice last year. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/tw215.htm Sun, 1 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT Girl moves to a small, boring, almost constantly overcast town, where she attends high school and falls hard for a gorgeous young boy, who has the added bonus of being an outsider, seemingly very rich, and is initially trying to drive her away. This story has probably been done a thousand times in the annals of young adult literature and television; except, it turns out he has a pretty good reason for avoiding her, he's a vampire. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/no215.htm Sun, 1 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT Nocturne is a tidally locked, synchronously rotating planet in close tow to its companion sun. It was colonized in two waves -- an initial expedition of scientists and a subsequent one of pioneers -- who settled on Nocturne's terminator, the narrow rim between perpetual sunlight and freezing darkness. Largely forgotten by Earth, Nocturne has created a highly centralized society whose structure resembles the bureaucracy of a vast corporation and a pronounced status differential. But that's about to change, with the suddenness of a natural disaster. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/pu215.htm Sun, 1 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT Lenni is a teenager living in Dawn, a planned settlement in the "New Canadian North" populated only by healthy people who are genetically unaltered. The corporation "Purity" runs the town and constantly polices people's genomes to make sure they aren't making illegal DNA alterations. They are preserving the purity of the race. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/ms215.htm Sun, 1 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT The story is a reworking of the three wishes myth, in modern whiz-bang technology. Dr. Joe Fletcher and his friend, Harry Gerber, build a blunzer, a device that gives them three wishes. This is not any ordinary techno-genie, though. It operates by injecting gluons, red, blue or yellow, right through the skull into the brain. But these are no ordinary gluons; they're fried in a microwave first. Wish fulfillment through flash-fried gluons. http://www.sfsite.com/01a/cr215.htm Sun, 1 Jan 2006 11:00:00 GMT The book tells the story of an English gentleman who undertakes a private exploration with a friend below a deep mineshaft, and accidentally falls into a subterranean world. This is a place inhabited by communities of an advanced race named the Vril-ya, various monsters, and sub-races of savages. How the Vril-ya react to their visitor from the surface, and what he learns from them is presented using language, forms of expression and perspectives which, from a modern day viewpoint can seem rather quaint. However, it's always worth persevering. 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.