2016 Season Begins: Expectations and Suggestions!
The new year is upon us. Oh, heck, who am I kidding? It’s been upon us for weeks, and boy is 2016 turning out to be a SF/F tornado of emotion! The good news is that we’re going to have new episodes soon. That means more interviews, more discussions, more movies, and more torturous adventures full of drinking, grumpy debate, and merriment! So, with that in mind, here are a few things to expect from us in 2016:
Book Review: COLD IRON by Stina Leicht
High, epic fantasy is perhaps my favorite genre. Yet, its books can easily turn tired and formulaic. Epic fantasy also tends to reach high page counts, both in a given novel and within a giant series, filled with a rich tapestry of characters and world building. But in so doing they can also become bogged-down with superfluous detours and asides. They can balloon into the unmanageable. What I adore about Stina Leicht’s Cold Iron, the first entry in a series entitled The Malorum Gates, is that that she effectively tinkers with many of the genre conventions, merging them with elements more typically stressed in other fiction, while keeping the joy of epic fantasy intact in a hefty read. Nels and his twin sister Suvi are Kainen royalty in the nation of Eledore, and heirs to the throne. The Kainen are an ancient line of magical humanoids capable of compelling other people and animals. But while Suvi is capably ready to lead, Nels remains unassured, hiding his secret weakness in the Kainen magic expected from his genes. At a moment of crisis, Nels’ inability in traditional strengths leads him to breaking taboo, and thereafter following a path developing other talents in the Eledorean military, shunned from royal court.
Book Review: The Ark by Patrick S. Tomlinson
Bryan Benson is one of the lucky few, one of the 50,000 or so humans left in the universe. A descendant of those who built and escaped on a generation ship fleeing a disaster for Earth undreamed up by even the imagination of Irwin Allen, Benson is an ex-sports hero, and now a detective. On the last bastion of humanity, slowly approaching their goal of Tau Ceti, there isn’t a lot of work for the detective beyond the usual sort of petty crimes one expects. The margin and tolerance for anything greater just isn’t there when all of the species is in one boat, literally. So, when Benson is handed a missing person case that may not be a missing person, or even an accidental death, but rather a murder, the ex-sports hero will have to become a different sort of hero.
2016 Awards Season (Hugos, etc.): All the Eligible Things from a Year of Skiffy and Fanty!
It’s that time of year again. The time when we all show up in a big arena and fight each other with sticks and used socks and the leftover contents of Darth Vader’s fridge for the supreme honor of winning an award. OK. So that’s not true. But it is awards season, which means we do have to release a practically mandatory big post of all the stuff we discussed or created that happens to be eligible for something in 2016. So, here it is:
