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Recent Posts
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Spring Day
- What’s New for the 12th of April: Some new and recent SF; new Americana, Norwegian folk rock and jazz; and thoughts on War For The Oaks
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Unified Theory of Libraries (A Letter to Anna)
- What’s New for the 29th of March: Beer and spirits, in song and text, some new Scandinavian fiddle music and jazz flute music, and more
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Ghostly Librarian
- What’s New for the 15th of March: some DeLint stories for early spring; lots of polskas, Serbian folk rock, progressive jazz, and Nordic music from the archives
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Hedge Witches
- What’s New for the 1st of March: Emma Bull’s War for The Oaks, Rosanne Cash’s ‘Runaway Train’, Johnny Cash at San Quentin, plus new Americana and jazz music
- A Kinrorwan Estate story: Cranachanh
- What’s New for the 15th of February: Some Seanan McGuire fantasy, Alison Bechdel’s latest, Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin; Nordic sounds, old time, Americana and Tex-Mex music
- What’s New for the 1st of February: Kage Baker retrospective; new Americana, Buddhist chants and Finnish songs, new and reissued jazz, and more
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Fireplaces in Kinrowan Hall
- What’s New for the 18th of January: World music and fiction by Amal El-Mohtar
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Bridges and Paths plus a Troll
- What’s New for the 4th of January: Favorite books and music of 2025
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Mythologist John Campbell
- What’s New for 21st of December
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Pub Ghoulies
- What’s New for 7 of December: books by Alan Garner, and holiday music new and old, Celtic, Americana, jazz and more
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Several Annies, Part Two
- What’s New for 23 November
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Several Annies
- What’s New for the 9th of November: rhymers and ravens, folk songs and folk tales, jazz guitar and dark forests and constellations put to music, Hungarian tunes and knights and rakes and tinkers and fools, and more
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Kedgeree
- Whats New for the 26th of October: some Patricia McKillip books and an interview, ’70s jazz reissues, Nordic Americana and American Americana, and some Samhain seasonal albums
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Charles and Alice Pay a Visit (A Letter to Owyn)
- What’s New for the 12th of October
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Pudding Contest
- What’s New for the 28th of September: Appalachia in books, music and more
- A Kinrown Estate story: Autumn is Upon Us
Tag Archives: contemporary fantasy
Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
Both Neil Gaiman (Anansi Boys, Coraline) and Terry Pratchett (Wintersmith, The Fifth Elephant) are world class fantasists and giants of popular literature. But back in 1990, when they were, in their own description, “not yet Neil Gaiman and just barely … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged contemporary fantasy, Neil Gaiman
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Neil Gaiman’s American Gods: Author’s Preferred Text; and American Gods: Author’s Preferred Text, The Reader’s Copy
I am not here to review this novel, as Michael M Jones has already done that for us in his review of American Gods. I will only add to his comments that this is my second favorite Gaiman novel after … Continue reading
Tagged American Gods, Collectors editions, contemporary fantasy, Neil Gaiman, urban fantasy
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Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Lenora Rose wrote this review. “Yes, I tried reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell…. After three hundred pages and far too many cups of Turkish coffee to keep from nodding off while reading it, I gave up. It’s dry, it’s … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged contemporary fantasy
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Scott Mebus’s Gods of Manhattan
In this post-Potter world, more authors than ever seem attracted to writing for adolescents. And given the acclaim and success J.K. Rowling has achieved — including the great wealth now enjoyed by the previously struggling author — why wouldn’t more … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged contemporary fantasy, fantasy, YA fiction
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Stephen Weiner, Jason Hall, Victoria Blake, and Mike Mignola’s Hellboy: The Companion
Stephen Weiner, Jason Hall, Victoria Blake, and Mike Mignola (writers) and Mike Mignola (illustrator) It’s really hard to do a companion to a long running series well. Roger Zelazny’s The Amber Chronicles was well served by Theodore Krulik’s The Complete … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Graphic Literature
Tagged comics, contemporary fantasy, dark fantasy, Hellboy
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Mia Tsai’s Bitter Medicine
Mia Tsai’s Bitter Medicine is called, in at least some of the advertising, a contemporary fantasy. While this is technically true, technology like phones and computers feeling more than familiar, it is possibly better fit into another genre. Specifically, it … Continue reading
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Tagged contemporary fantasy, paranormal romance
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Esther Friesner’s Death and the Librarian and Other Stories
Guy Soffer wrote this review. This book is a collection of twelve short fantasy stories all written in the ’90s. Friesner has published this collection of stories, eleven of which have previously been published and one, “Ilion,” is a new … Continue reading
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Tagged contemporary fantasy
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Charlaine Harris’s Dead As A Doornail
Y’know, life for Sookie Stackhouse just keeps getting more and more complicated. It’s hard enough being a telepathic barmaid in a small Louisiana town, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In the past year, she’s been forced to … Continue reading
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Tagged contemporary fantasy, urban fantasy
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Francesca Lia Block’s Girl Goddess #9: 9 Stories
Rebecca Scott wrote this review for Folk Tales. When Girl Goddess #9 arrived on my doorstep, I wanted to pick it up immediately and start reading. Then I thought of some of the things I’d written in my last review … Continue reading
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Tagged contemporary fantasy
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Ben Aaronovitch‘s Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection
This is a collection of short stories, including some “moments,” short pieces that Aaronovitch doesn’t want to call stories, set in the Rivers of London world. Not all of these stories feature the major characters in the novels. Several feature side characters … Continue reading
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Tagged contemporary fantasy
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