Category Archives: Books

Leona Wisoker’s Guardians of the Desert

Guardians of the Desert is the second installment in Leona Wisoker’s Children of the Desert. Happily, Wisoker has avoided most of the symptoms of “middle novel syndrome” and provided a story that builds on Secrets of the Sands while introducing … Continue reading

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Glen Cook’s A Matter of Time

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Ron J. Suresha’s The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin

The subtitle calls The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin a collection of “stories, jests, and donkey tales of the beloved Persian folk hero.” Nasruddin, though, is more than simply Persian — he’s an avatar of the Wise Fool … Continue reading

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Tommy James with Martin Fitzpatrick’s Me, The Mob, and The Music – One helluva ride with Tommy James & the Shondells

When I was in sixth grade, I had a crush on a girl in my class. We even surreptitiously held hands backstage at the school’s Christmas musical program. But although it was beginning to be OK to admit that you … Continue reading

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Ursula K. Le Guin’s Tales from Earthsea

Coyote walks through all our minds. Obviously, we need a trickster, a creator who made the world all wrong. We need the idea of a God who makes mistakes, gets into trouble, and who is identified with a scruffy little … Continue reading

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Alan Garner’s Thursbitch

Stephen Hunt wrote this review. The press release that arrived with this novel describes it as: “An exploration of this 18th century mystery; a mystery that lives on in the farms of the area…. John Turner’s death in the 18th … Continue reading

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Art Spiegelman’s Maus II, And Here My Troubles Began

And Here My Troubles Began is the second volume of Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning depiction of his father’s experiences in the Holocaust in graphic novel form. It is the culmination of the story that began in Vol. I, subtitled My … Continue reading

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Dan Simmons’s Phases of Gravity

I was puzzled when I began reading Phases of Gravity by Dan Simmons. Like a lot of Simmons fans, my entry to his fiction was the Hyperion series. I’ve since read many of his books, both newer and older, but … Continue reading

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Joan Aiken’s The Monkey’s Wedding and Other Stories

While Joan Aiken’s Wolves of Willoughby Chase series has remained popular since her death in 2004, perhaps becoming even more popular due to its vaguely steampunk and alternate Victorian timeline, Aiken’s short story collections have mostly fallen out of print, … Continue reading

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Glen Cook’s Darkwar (Doomstalker, Warlock, Ceremony)

Glen Cook has been credited with single-handedly changing the face of fantasy in the late twentieth century. I’d argue with that — there are too many antecedents for contemporary heroic fantasy noir to give credit to one writer. What Cook … Continue reading

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