I have a review today of one of the nominees for this year’s Hugo Awards, with Throne of the Crescent Moon. Continue reading →
Category Archives: Books
Book Review: Joyland
Stephen King’s latest has scares, to be certain, and touches of the supernatural, but it’s no horror novel. It’s a coming-of-age story, but the main character is twenty-one during the novel’s main events, and we see little of his childhood. The marketing suggests a crime novel and, while this may be accurate, the mystery hanging over this book drives only the last third of the plot.
No, in terms of genre, this is a yarn, and a darn good yarn.
Novel Review: The Testament of Jessie Lamb
Jane Rogers’ entry into the over-harvested field of YA dystopian/apocalypse novels made the shortlist for the Booker Prize and won the 2012 Arthur C. Clarke Award. Unlike many other books in the genre, this story ignores the big picture. We’re seeing the potential end of the world from the perspective of an emotionally-charged teenager, with the emphasis on the choices she makes. The character, her world, and the issues will strike very close to home for many readers.
Novel Review: Red Planet Blues
The prolific Robert J. Sawyer’s 2013 offering puts a hardboiled detective on Mars.
Novel Review: Cloud Atlas
Some months ago, we reviewed the genre-spanning movie adaptation of Cloud Atlas. The film features some excellent moments, strong performances, and brilliant editing but, like many, I found it flawed—especially the two SF segments.
To use that oft-delivered phrase, the book is better.
Book Review: Hawkmoon – The Jewel in the Skull
This week I’m starting reviews of one of Michael Moorcock’s tales of the Eternal Champion, with part one of the Hawkmoon series – The Jewel in the Skull. Continue reading →
Book Review: Cities In Flight Part 2 – A Life For The Stars
This time I’m doing a written review of the sequel to a book that I did a video review of earlier – the second part of the Cities In Flight series, A Life For The Stars – now with actual flying cities! For those who are missing the video reviews, I’m embedding my video review at the bottom of the text review. Continue reading →
Novel Review: VN
Madeline Ashby has been kicking around SF all of her life, and she has published a number of stories. Her first novel, VN, concerns self-replicating androids in a near-future world.
Most SF fans know Asimov’s Laws of Robotics. Ashby wonders if such laws would be properly regarded as a form of slavery. Wait, what’s the origin of the term “robot?”
Novel Review: Ghost Story
Come and see the toys I left for you (448).
An exhausted man drives south. He has on board a reluctant passenger, a little girl. He ties her to himself when they sleep. He asks her questions she may or may not understand, questions about people who died, questions about the town he is fleeing.
He believes she is not what she appears to be.
We retreat into the past, into the ghost stories, where the answers to the mysteries raised by the introduction may be found.
NaNoWriMo 2012
Who wants in?
For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo is short for “National Novel Writing Month.” The goal is to get people writing. Always wanted to write a book? November is your chance to do it. Here’s the kicker: It’s 50,000 in 30 days. 1667 words per day. No mean feat.