Category Archives: Books

Glen Cook’s Passage at Arms

This edition of Glen Cook’s Passage at Arms is a reissue of one of his early science-fiction novels, first published in 1985. Those who know Cook from The Black Company or Garrett P.I. may be surprised to learn that he … Continue reading

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Glen Cook’s Stars’ End

Glen Cook brings his Starfishers Trilogy to a close with Stars’ End, tying up all the loose ends involving Masato Igarashi Storm, Moyshe benRabi, the Confederation Navy, the Sangaree, and the High Seiners, the Starfishers. Well, pretty much. This being … Continue reading

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Glen Cook’s Starfishers

Starfishers continues the story of Masato Igarashi Storm and his vendetta against the Sangaree begun in Shadowline. Compared to its predecessor, it’s a very different kind of story.

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Glen Cook’s Shadowline

Glen Cook dedicated Shadowline, the first volume of his Starfishers trilogy, to Richard Wagner. Yes, that Richard Wagner. Think Götterdämmerung. It’s hard to know where to start with this one. Let me give you a setting: the “now” is the … Continue reading

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Steven Brust’s The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars

Steven Brust’s The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars is a strangely deceptive novel. It seems, at first, fairly straightforward – a narrative about a group of artists trying to make it, interspersed with sections of a folk tale – … Continue reading

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Stephen King and Richard Chizmar’s Gwendy’s Button Box

My mom had a button box. I used to paw through it, looking for shiny mother-of-pearl, and iridescent bits of abalone. When I got older, that button box became mine (though it’s more a button mason jar now), but I … Continue reading

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George Alec Effinger’s Audran Trilogy: When Gravity Fails, A Fire in the Sun, The Exile Kiss

Just to get it said, and because I think it has larger implications in discussing these works by George Alec Effinger (although maybe not, but it needs to be said anyway): I seldom comment on the design of books, mostly … Continue reading

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Elizabeth Hand’s Generation Loss

Generation Loss is a foray into, for lack of a better term, “mainstream” fiction by Elizabeth Hand, many of whose previous novels have been marked by a decidedly mordant view of humanity (an attitude this one shares) and somewhere in … Continue reading

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Elizabeth Hand’s Black Light

Elizabeth Hand’s Black Light is a foray into the world of dark gods, misty legends, and deep secrets. Lit Moylan (her real name is Charlotte) is about to finish high school. She lives with her parents in Kamensic, New York, … Continue reading

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Warren Dotz, Jack Mingo and George Moyer’s Firecrackers: The Art & History

As a British friend of mine says, “Nothing gobsmacks me as much as a great fireworks show!” Have you ever seen a Guy Fawkes celebration? Or an American Fourth of July fireworks display? If you have, you know the appeal … Continue reading

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