Path of Fate by Diana Pharaoh Francis
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
Reisil spent her life being passed from one family to another, an orphan and burden being shared by all the village. Now a
grown woman, she is a skilled Tark, or healer, living in a tiny house in the very town she grew up in. As part of the agreement,
she's working for them for six months, a sort of trial period, after which if they decide they want her, she can stay. And it
looks like she's staying. In short, she finally has everything she has ever wanted, something many of us have and take for
granted -- a home and a dependable career. So it is no wonder that, when an ahalad-kaaslane goshawk flies towards her,
Path of Fate by Diana Pharaoh Francis
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
In the land of Kodu Riik, Reisil is a tark, a healer. Her training newly completed, she has returned to the town where she grew
up, hoping she'll be accepted as its official tark. Orphaned in babyhood, passed from foster family to foster family, she has
never really known what it's like to have a true home. Being a tark offers her the thing for which she has always longed: a place
in the world, a chance to belong.
Bad Memory by Duane Franklet
reviewed by Leon Olszewski
It reads like a network administrator's nightmare. Someone is on the network,
seemingly unstoppable. All the control tactics are ineffective
and each retaliation grows in severity.
Leon found the author captured the sense of paranoia that someone, somewhere,
is out to get you, your network, and your computers.
Daughter of Troy by Sarah B. Franklin
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Lisa's view is that Franklin's version of this era is an entertaining one. The writing flows smoothly and
maintains the reader's interest. Colourful, legendary figures, seen in the daily details
of the lives, make for high adventure and down-to-earth survival fare.
The Magister's Mask by Deby Fredericks
reviewed by Donna McMahon
In the city of Chalsett, it is traditional that an apprentice who has finished her training shall be assigned
the very next case that requires a magister. But Shenza Waik, humble daughter of an illiterate fisherman, feels
far from ready when that case turns out to be the horrifying murder of the First Lord of Chalsett by magical fire.
Imposter by Valerie Freireich
reviewed by Mark Shainblum
This novel has many things going for it: sympathetic characters, a rich and
credible future civilization, and a genuine sense of wonder absent from much current
SF. More, the background and settings of this intriguing novel are almost as interesting as the
foreground characters.
Bonds of Blood, Bonds of Steel by Rebecca L. Frencl
reviewed by Steven H Silver
As a first novel, the book is good, although it
does suffer from the author's seeming inability to plot. The
story is told as a series of vignettes, which are without an
end goal. Although this is the way real life works, it tends
to work less well within the confines of literature.
Frequency #2
reviewed by Rich Horton
This a CD audio anthology presenting
"The Apple Golem" by Bruce Holland Rogers, read by William Foss; "Housecalls" by Jerry Oltion,
read by Alistair Logan; "Christmas at the Cushingura Cafe" by Stephen Dedman, read by Tadao Tomomatsu; "Abbat01r" by Cory
Doctorow, read by Alyxx Ian; "Chance in Hell" by John Rosenman, read by Martin Dunn; and "Rate of Change" by Bud Sparhawk,
read by David LaFontaine.
Frequency #1
reviewed by Steven H Silver
This is a new short fiction-on-CD publication. Highlights include oral versions of
Ray Vukcevich's humorous story, "Problem Solved," Kurt Roth's epistolary story, "Rift,"
John Serna's "User Error," Stan Schmidt's alien-on-conquest story, "Panic" and
Stephen Dedman's "Honest Ghosts" which is set at a New Orleans science fiction convention.
This Alien Shore by C.S. Friedman
reviewed by Charlene Brusso
Centuries ago, when Earth first sent humans to the stars, something about
the Hausman stardrive caused bizarre mutations to those aboard the ships.
Just as Earth's colonies were getting started, Earth panicked, abandoning
their own people -- mutants known as "Hausman Variants" -- on foreign
worlds. Today the only safe way to cross deep space is by outpilot, for
only they have the peculiar mutation allowing them to navigate the dangerous
folds in spacetime. But now a fierce brainware computer virus is wreaking
havoc throughout known space, killing the starship outpilots.
Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Captain's Table: Dujonian's Horde by Michael Jan Friedman
reviewed by Alexander von Thorn
Rumours of an ancient treasure of powerful technology, a crew of
brigands sailing the infinite dark, a missing Starfleet officer, a lost
civilization in a pocket universe with a complex political conflict...
There is only one man to call for this assignment: Jean-Luc Picard.
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Star Trek: The Next Generation / X-Men: Planet X by Michael Jan Friedman
reviewed by Mark Shainblum
Heroes meeting heroes across legends is a process as old as mythmaking. (The
Morte d'Arthur and the entire myth of the Round Table can be viewed
in one sense as a giant medieval team-up.) But this book demonstrates why
no one should own the basic archetypes and myths which define a culture.
Star Trek: Federation Travel Guide by Michael Jan Friedman
reviewed by Lela Olszewski
Lela plays tourist with this trip planner featuring such
exotic places as the Klingon homeworld, Cardassia Prime, and Vulcan,
Shiralea VI and Bajor.
The Essential Guide to Werewolf Literature by Brian J. Frost
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
Werewolves garner much less attention than do vampires. Partly this may be because our image of werewolves
is that they are bestial and violent, whereas vampires -- while perhaps
evil -- can be suave and sensuous. Well, now, with the publication of this book, you can assuage your lycanthropophilic obsessions,
and with its 73 page bibliography of werewolf-related materials, build quite a to-read list.
Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories by Gregory Frost
reviewed by Matthew Cheney
It is a rare writer who is well served by a large retrospective collection of their short fiction, and, unfortunately, Gregory Frost
is not one of them. He is a good writer, a skilled writer, a writer responsible for a couple of stories that are, in fact, better than
average. A collection of 150 pages or so would have shone his strengths well.
Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories by Gregory Frost
reviewed by David Hebblethwaite
If you've not heard of Gregory Frost before, the epigraph from Andrei Sinayavsky gives an idea of what
to expect: "Realism is a literary technique no longer adequate for the purpose of representing reality." Quite so. This idea
is most effectively embodied here in "Collecting Dust," the story of a family being literally ground down by modern life.
Good Faeries / Bad Faeries by Brian Froud
reviewed by Jonathan Fesmire
Filled with paintings and sketches, this book draws you into Faeryland as
effectively as a well told tale. Each creature, long and graceful or squat
and stocky, has a distinct personality. Froud's greatest talent is making
his images seem vibrant and alive.
A Midsummer Night's Faery Tale by Wendy Froud and Terri Windling
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Remember the delicate creatures of The Dark Crystal and
Labyrinth? Those almost human beings, somewhat like us, but
infinitely more fragile and winsome? Well, after too long a wait, those
faeries, pixies, trolls, sylphs, and all the other magical citizens of the
magical world, are back in a new faery tale.
Talebones #28 and Full Unit Hookup #5
reviewed by Matthew Cheney
The greatest joy of reading small press magazines is discovering odd and/or beautiful and/or enchanting and/or marvelously
uncategorizable writing, the kind of writing that makes you catch your breath, that sends shivers through your spine and
timbres. In the twenty-eighth Talebones, this joy is at its height with Sandra McDonald's fine story
"Bluebeard by the Sea"; the fifth issue of Full Unit Hookup brings shivering bits of "ah ha!" with the
breadth of the poetry presented and, especially, with "Hurricane Sandrine", a thoughtful and enigmatic tale by Daniel Braum.
Full Unit Hookup, Spring 2003
reviewed by Rich Horton
The opening story, "Waiting for Jenny Rex",
by Melissa Yuan-Innes, is very fine work. The story is told by a reporter who falls in love with the title character, a dead anorexic girl returned
from the grave with a mission to inform about her disease. Yuan-Innes deftly negotiates the creepy aspects, the affecting aspects, and the funny
aspects of her tale, as complications result when other dead return with other diseases to battle.
Full Unit Hookup, #1
reviewed by Rich Horton
Here is another in the recent near flood of small press slipstream 'zines. It offers six relatively
short stories, and a number of poems, as well as two essays. It fits very readily in the same general category as
Electric Velocipede, which Rich reviewed here recently, or the by now venerable Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet,
which he has called the "gold standard" of the SF/slipstream 'zines.
The Sci-Fi Channel Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction by Roger Fulton and John Gregory Betancourt
reviewed by Steve Lazarowitz
As a long time fan of television SF, Steve couldn't wait to get his hands on
this book. But when it finally arrived, it was somewhat different than
he had envisioned. Steve had not realized just how many SF series had
graced the screen throughout the years.
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