Tales from the Secret City: A Cryptopolis Anthology
reviewed by David Hebblethwaite
Cryptopolis -- a writers' group based in Austin, Texas -- offers us an anthology of ten stories by its members, each introduced by
another contributor. The book is elevated above the status of back-slapping exercise by actually being pretty good,
yet at the same time, it's frustratingly not good enough to be much
more than pretty good. It seems that three of the stories go the extra distance to become
something quite special; the other seven are interesting, but stop a little short.
Killing Time / Sensing Others by Frank Tallis
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
Here are 2 novels of the urban underbelly set in modern day London. Both are very marginally science
fiction... scientist-fiction might be a better term, given the author's other career. Both are certainly not juvenile material,
with graphic though not gratuitous sex and violence. Having read them, Georges ponders what genre they belong to:
science fiction, psychological thriller, noir, or realistic novels of the urban underbelly?
Spotted Lily by Anna Tambour
reviewed by Rich Horton
Angela Pendergast is a 30ish Australian woman who has moved from her family's ranch in the bush to the big city. She wants
to be a Writer, specifically a Bestselling Writer, but she finds it hard to actually get down to writing her Novel. Put
simply, she wants to Have Written, not to write. She has a part-time job at a New Age bookstore, and she lives in a house
with a few roommates. Then the Devil shows up. He wants to be the new roomer -- but more than that, he offers
her a deal.
Sex in the System by Cecilia Tan
reviewed by Donna McMahon
Science fiction arose from a prudish tradition and, though sex scenes are now common, that sex often seems contemporary and far
less considered than other aspects of science fictional worldbuilding. Meanwhile, the mainstream of erotic
literature is sadly deficient in imagination and technological savvy.
This is a sophisticated collection of erotic stories that explore the strange intersections
between sex, culture and technology, both straight and gay.
Household Gods by Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove
reviewed by Rich Horton
Nicole Gunther-Perrin is a recently divorced lawyer in present-day Los
Angeles. Her life seems to be falling apart. Her husband left her for a
blond bimbo. Her daycare provider just quit. And she has been passed over
for a partnership at her law firm, while the man she has just collaborated
with got his partnership. Everything in our world seems slanted against
women. So she makes a half-hearted prayer to a plaque featuring the Roman gods Liber and
Libera to send her back to Ancient Rome, where, she imagines, women had
equal status with men. And they comply...
The Safety of Unknown Cities by Lucy Taylor
reviewed by Alisa McCune
Our heroine, Val, is most definitely damaged, but we certainly can relate to her. Her mother, Lettie starts the novel off by
gouging out her eyes with a spoon. This act sets the tone of the book and foreshadows what is to come.
Val leads a very nomadic life. She travels from one city to another, from one bed to another, in search of a 'new'
thrill -- something that will fill the void inside of herself. From whispers and gossip, Val learns of a place called
the 'City,' a place that makes Sodom and Gomorrah look like Little House of the Prairie.
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Confessions of a Thug by Philip Meadows Taylor
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
You might think a 160-year-old novel isn't really topical in today's world
of gang crime, serial killers and dangerous religious cults. Well, meet
Ameer Ali, Thug, confessed though non-penitent murderer of close to 750
people, adventurer, free-booter, leader amongst many in a close-knit secret
religious community practising ritual mass murder under the auspices of the
goddess Kali. It may remind you a bit of movies like Gunga Din or
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, or you may see a hint of
Rudyard Kipling or Talbot Mundy.
The Boy Who Could Fly Without A Motor by Theodore Taylor
reviewed by Nathan Brazil
Splendidly titled, this is a story in the life of Jonathan Jeffers. He's fifty-two pounds,
four-feet-two-inches tall and only nine-years-old. Jon lives with his parents, in a small cottage on Clementine Rock, some nineteen
miles off the coast of California. Jon's father is the lighthouse keeper. It's a lonely life on the rock, with no other children and
only his faithful dog, Smacks, to keep him company. Until, that is, Jon meets a strange figure on the beach. This turns out to be
the Great Ling Wu, a Chinese magician who is long dead.
The Man on the Ceiling by Melanie Tem & Steve Rasnic Tem
reviewed by Mario Guslandi
Originally published as a chapbook in 2000, it won the Bram Stoker Award, the International Horror
Award and the World Fantasy Award. The present volume is an expanded version, incorrectly defined "a novel." Truth be
told, this book defies any label in terms of both literary form and genre definition.
A cross between fiction and autobiography, more mainstream than horror, this collaborative work represents a fascinating
puzzle, a unique example in the recent dark literature.
Naming of Parts by Tim Lebbon, The Man On The Ceiling by Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem and Dead Cat Bounce by Gerard Houarner
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Naming of Parts is a tale that strikes at the heart in a way no other
zombie stories can ever approach. The Man On The Ceiling is for those
who have never experienced the heart-stopping panic of night terrors.
Dead Cat Bounce is the kind of book you lend to friends, just to see
if you can appall them.
Immodest Proposals by William Tenn
reviewed by Nick Gevers
One of NESFA's worthiest projects yet is a two-volume Complete SF of William Tenn, of
which this is the first installment. To discover, or
rediscover, these remarkable stories from the 40s and 50s is to realize
all over again just how fresh and powerful the SF published in the pulp
magazines could be: how open its world-view was, how flexible its
conventions and "sense of wonder" were in the hands of laconic witty
philosophers like William Tenn.
Faerie Gold edited by Marcie Lynn Tentchoff and Raechel Henderson
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
It collects a number of high quality new short works of "classical" modern fantasy. "Classical" in
the sense that they are more in tune with the mood and style of authors like Cabell, Dunsany, Eddison,
or Morris than with that of much of current fantasy. With a mix of poetry, short stories and a
multi-media narrative, the reader is offered a pleasant alternative to the current spate of multi-volume fat-novels,
making an excellent venue for the oft-neglected shorter forms of fantasy.
The Goblin Market edited by Marcie Lynn Tentchoff and Raechel Henderson
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
Its content does tend to hearken back to the lush prose-poems and imagery of writers
like James Branch Cabell, E.R. Eddison, William Morris, Clark Ashton Smith. While most
of today's fantasy writers minimize their atmosphere and pseudo-mediaeval imagery,
it is nice that there are still writers emulating the prose-poetry of the past masters.
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