Category Archives: Books

Michael Chabon’s Summerland

It’s already been established that baseball exists primarily to serve as a metaphor for the meaning of life. If you didn’t get that from Malamud’s The Natural or Kinsella’s Shoeless Joe, then surely you got it from Mays’ Say Hey … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Comments Off on Michael Chabon’s Summerland

Poul Anderson’s Ensign Flandry

Poul Anderson, who died in 2001, was one of the grand old voices of science fiction right up until his death, winning the Hugo Award seven times, the Nebula Award three times, and being named in 1997 as a Grand … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Comments Off on Poul Anderson’s Ensign Flandry

David Peterson’s The Art of The Mouse Guard: 2005 – 2015

Without doubt, the Mouse Guard series is one of the best illustrated graphic novel series I’ve ever had the pleasure to experience. It certainly ranks up with Bill Willingham’s Fables, Mike Mignola’s Hellboy and G. Willow Wilson’s Air for creating … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged , , | Comments Off on David Peterson’s The Art of The Mouse Guard: 2005 – 2015

Audrey Isabel Taylor‘s Patricia A. McKillip and the Art of Fantasy World-Building

We’ve reviewed damn near every book that Patricia A. Mckillip has published over the many decades she’s been writing. Indeed the editing team is updating the special edition we did on her so that it can be republished this Autumn, as … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged , | Comments Off on Audrey Isabel Taylor‘s Patricia A. McKillip and the Art of Fantasy World-Building

Toby Barlow’s Sharp Teeth

I’ve had one previous experience with fantasy in verse (well, unless one counts the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the like), and it wasn’t a happy one. Nevertheless, when Toby Barlow’s Sharp Teeth crossed my desk, I screwed my courage to … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Toby Barlow’s Sharp Teeth

Alastair Reynolds’ The Prefect audiobook

A great audiobook consists of two needed ingredients, one obviously being the story itself, the second being (also obviously) the narrator. As to the story, Reynolds is among the best writers of sf I’ve had the pleasure to encounter. The … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Comments Off on Alastair Reynolds’ The Prefect audiobook

Recent Reading: Wolves, Wives, Knives, Curses, A Hospital, and a Henchgirl

The works read but yet to be reviewed are piling up, so here’s a new roundup to clear away part of the deluge. The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley is a retelling of Beowulf from the monster’s point of … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Recent Reading: Wolves, Wives, Knives, Curses, A Hospital, and a Henchgirl

Jane Lindskold’s Legends Walking

Jane Lindskold has followed up Changer with Legends Walking, which opens a few weeks after Changer closes. The same characters appear, many in expanded roles, new athanor characters participate, and the story takes on added complexity as several plot lines … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Jane Lindskold’s Legends Walking

Jane Lindskold’s Changer

Urban fanstasy is a subgenre with as many sets of criteria as there are practitioners. Ranging from the Celto-Amerindian universe of Charles de Lint’s urban Canada and Neil Gaiman’s eclectic universe of the Dreaming, with even hybrids such as Mark … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Jane Lindskold’s Changer

Jason Goodwin’s The Janissary Tree

I knew when I saw this on the new arrivals table at our local big box bookstore that I wanted to read and review it. Another murder mystery set in nineteenth-century Istanbul! Awesome! Indeed, The Janissary Tree is an impressive … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Comments Off on Jason Goodwin’s The Janissary Tree