Category Archives: Books

Denis Wood and John Fels’ The Natures of Maps

You may wonder why the pages of Green Man Review, a ‘zine devoted to the roots of arts and culture, which purview most often results in insightful and intelligent studies of music, speculative fiction, and film, should play host to … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged , | Comments Off on Denis Wood and John Fels’ The Natures of Maps

Laura Shamas’ We Three: The Mythology of Shakespeare’s Weird Sisters

Forest, trees: there is a certain brand of scholarship that tends to focus on minute examinations of trees in the attempt to discover a forest. I am the last to decry the idea of analyzing parts in the hope of … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Laura Shamas’ We Three: The Mythology of Shakespeare’s Weird Sisters

Greg Bear and Gardner Dozois’ Multiverse: Exploring Poul Anderson’s Worlds

Sometimes, the intentions are better than the end result. Such is the case with Multiverse: Exploring Poul Anderson’s Worlds, a tribute to the late Grand Master edited by Gardner Dozois and Anderson’s son-in-law Greg Bear. This is not to say that … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged | Comments Off on Greg Bear and Gardner Dozois’ Multiverse: Exploring Poul Anderson’s Worlds

Farah Mendlesohn’s Diana Wynne Jones: The Fantastic Tradition and Children’s Literature

Kestrell Rath penned this review. Diana Wynne Jones (DWJ to her fans) is one of those writers who, despite the fact that she is frequently referred to as a “children’s author,” has a significant following of adult readers. Although there … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Comments Off on Farah Mendlesohn’s Diana Wynne Jones: The Fantastic Tradition and Children’s Literature

Edward James and Farah Mendelsohn’s The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction

You know that science fiction has arrived at some sort of respectability when you are confronted by something like The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction. This is not really a new phenomenon — science fiction has been the subject of … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged , | Comments Off on Edward James and Farah Mendelsohn’s The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction

James Gunn and Matthew Candelaria’s Speculations on Speculation: Theories of Science Fiction

There are at least two obvious responses to the statement that Speculations on Speculation, a group of essays on science fiction criticism, is one of the two or three most exciting books, fiction or nonfiction, that I have read recently: … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged , | Comments Off on James Gunn and Matthew Candelaria’s Speculations on Speculation: Theories of Science Fiction

Bruce Sterling’s Pirate Utopia

The point of Bruce Sterling’s Pirate Utopia is clear and simple: revolutionary fervor is inevitably co-opted by existing power structures and ultimately by the commercial impulse. That’s it, that’s the hard part, and you don’t need to read the rest … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Comments Off on Bruce Sterling’s Pirate Utopia

Piers Vitebsky’s The Reindeer People: Living with Animals and Spirits in Siberia

Siberia, that vast tract that covers the Russian North from the Urals to the Pacific, is one of the most inhospitable places that humanity has found to live, equaled only by its American counterpart (although Siberia does hold the record … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged , | Comments Off on Piers Vitebsky’s The Reindeer People: Living with Animals and Spirits in Siberia

Glen Cook’s Winter’s Dreams

Glen Cook is known for his series — Dread Empire, Black Company, Garrett, P.I., Starfishers, and the like. What we tend to forget is that he has also written short fiction, which is fully up to the standard set in … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Glen Cook’s Winter’s Dreams

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Smith of Wooten Major & Farmer Giles of Ham

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings burst on the consciousness of the United States in 1967, and occasioned an obsession that has never died. Its predecessor, The Hobbit, had been known in the U.S. for years, although not well. … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged | Comments Off on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Smith of Wooten Major & Farmer Giles of Ham