Previous SFF Author: Michael A. Stackpole
These are stand alone novels (not part of a series).
Subterranean Press is reissuing Connie Willis’s moody and bleak novella Jack (1991), which was a finalist for the Nebula and Hugo awards and has appeared in several anthologies over the years. It’s set during the London Blitz in WWII, one of Willis’ favorite settings for her works, including the time-travel novels Blackout and All Clear and the Nebula and Hugo award-winning novelette Fire Watch.
May 22nd, 2020. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4.5 | Connie Willis | Horror, Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
Becky Chambers’s novella To Be Taught, If Fortunate (2019) takes the form of a letter from a space traveler, Ariadne O’Neill, to the people of Earth. Why Ariadne is writing it, we will learn later.
Ariadne is part of a small but diverse crew that has been sent to explore a moon and three planets that it is believed might harbor life. They will sleep in hibernation during the journey to this star system,
May 22nd, 2020. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Becky Chambers | Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Clockwork Man by E.V. Odle
Just recently, I had some words to say about an English dystopian novel from 1920, The People of the Ruins by Edward Shanks. This book had been brought back into print in 2012 by HiLo Books as part of its wonderful Radium Age Science Fiction Series, the goal of which was to unearth neglected works from the period 1904 – 1933 for the modern generation. Now, I am here to tell you of another novel from this same series that I have just enjoyed.
May 21st, 2020. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | E.V. Odle | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker
Luce Cannon was a rising rock star, traveling with a new band and doing live shows all over the country, until a rash of deadly terrorist attacks, and the threat of more to come, caused the American government to criminalize large public gatherings.
Now, instead of live concerts, musicians and their fans meet virtually, with the fans wearing hoodies equipped with technology that allows them to safely experience the perception of being with others at a show. But Luce and like-minded artists never bought into this concept and aren’t willing to sell their souls to StageHoloLive,
May 18th, 2020. Kat Hooper and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Sarah Pinsker | Nebula Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker
Anything written by K.J. Parker is a must-read for me. I love his work and recommend it to anyone looking for exciting stories with unique, intelligent, and often unreliable, heroes. Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City (2019) is no exception.
Orhan is a master bridge builder who’s slightly corrupt (you have to be if you want to get anything done on time and within budget in this city). He arrived in the city when he was a child after his parents were killed and the enemy enslaved him.
May 14th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | K.J. Parker | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Cog (2019), a nominee for the Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction, is the story of a robot who was built to learn. Mentally and, by all appearances, the titular character (Cog) is a 12-year-old boy whose function is to be a learning artificial intelligence. When he discovers that the best way to learn is to make mistakes, he resolves to make lots of mistakes — a decision which kicks off the narrative arc of the story.
Cog has an underdog main character,
May 14th, 2020. Skye Walker´s rating: 1 | Greg Van-Eekhout | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The People of the Ruins by Edward Shanks
The publisher known as HiLo Books had a wonderful thing going back in 2012 with its Radium Age Science Fiction Series, the mission of which was to bring back into print the neglected works from the period 1904 – 1933. This reader had previously enjoyed several of the titles in this series via volumes from other publishers – novels such as Jack London’s The Scarlet Plague (1912), William Hope Hodgson’s The Night Land (1912),
May 12th, 2020. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 5 | Edward Shanks | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Nevertell (2020), by Katharine Orton, is an engaging if somewhat limited Middle Grade book set in the wild north of Stalinist Russia and focused on a young girl trying to escape a brutal work camp and make her way south to Moscow and the grandmother she’s been told would be able to take her in.
Twelve-year-old Lina was born in the camp (her father is rumored to be the cruel commandant Zima) that her grandfather, mother, and uncle had been brought to years earlier.
May 11th, 2020. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Katharine Orton | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Seven years ago, previously unknown aliens attacked and destroyed the crew of a human spaceship. The brutal event was recorded, so all of humanity has seen it. Ever since, Earth has been at war with these “Salamanders.”
The latest war ship to be developed and deployed against the salamanders is the Providence. It’s equipped with artificial intelligence that takes care of most of the shipboard tasks but is crewed by four humans who’ve been appointed after an arduous selection process. To keep the public support,
May 8th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Max Barry | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Oliver is a minor mage in two senses: he’s only twelve years old, and he only has three magical spells, and the one to control his allergy against armadillo dander doesn’t count for much. The aged and increasingly absent-minded village mage wasn’t able to teach Oliver much before he died. But he’s all the magic his village has, so when a severe drought strikes, Oliver is ordered by the frightened villagers to go to the distant Rainblade Mountains to somehow “bring back rain.” No one, including Oliver,
May 8th, 2020. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | T. Kingfisher | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Previous SFF Author: Michael A. Stackpole
Just saw you like Jack Vance. Me too. Surely he offends you somewhere though?
Words fail. I can't imagine what else might offend you. Great series, bizarre and ridiculous review. Especially the 'Nazi sympathizer'…
"Nor Iron Bars a Cage by Kage Harper" Freudian slip there. ;)
[…] (Fantasy Literature): In 1957, Hammer Studios in England came out with the first of their full-color horror creations, […]
I'm going to have to find these and read them.