Book Review: Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente
Catherynne Valente’s Space Opera combines a love of popular music, Eurovision and a space science fiction sensibility in the grand tradition set by novels like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes were once THE punk band in music. But a death, a breakup, a failed career as a soloist, and Decibel Jones’ post Absolute Zero career is in the toilet. Pity that now that the aliens have arrived, Decibel Jones is the last hope for humanity. The aliens have a test, you see, to determine if a species is worthy of joining the galactic family, or should be blasted into oblivion—whether they can perform decently at the Metagalactic Grand Prix, a song and performance contest that the galactic civilizations put on every year as a way to channel energies that once caused the galaxy to erupt in interstellar war.
Book Review: Gift of Griffins by V.M. Escalada
Kerida Nast, bound to the Griffin Weimerk, and desperately trying to save her kingdom from invasion, returns in Gift of Griffins, sequel to Halls of Law. Gift of Griffins introduces a new major character even as the plight of Kerida and her allies and friends deepens under the boot of overseas invasion. When last we left Kerida Nast, unwilling magic user, Talent, she had gained some semblance of a fragile alliance with a new Luqs, ruler of her country, with the exiled inhabitants of the tunnels beneath the mountain range that keeps the invading forces from overrunning the rest of the land, and forged a connection to the griffin Weimerk. In Gift of Griffins, V. M. Escalada continues that story as Kerida seeks to fulfill the entirety of the Prophecy and unite her country behind Jerek to try and drive the invaders out.
Guest Post: Finding the Dark by Rachel Caine
Today on Skiffy and Fanty, Rachel Caine, part of the Dead Air team, a podcast/serial story collaboration she is doing with Gwenda Bond and Carrie Ryan, tells us about finding the darknes in thrillers and what her new project has to offer. I started reading my dad’s books when I was, well, old enough to figure out where he kept them, which was way too young. Some of them were what would be euphemistically called “men’s adventure” today; James Bond-type books, only with more sex and violence. Some were horror. But I most remember the opening of one of Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct novels … a book about a murderer backing a woman into a corner in her apartment, and relentlessly slashing back and forth at her like a sideways pendulum. It haunted me. I couldn’t get it out of my head, no matter how much fun space exploration science fiction I read, or high fantasy, or historical novels (all of which I loved).
Book Review: A Demon in Silver by R. S. Ford
A Demon in Silver by R. S. Ford starts off the War of Archon series. The novel chronicles the return of magic to a medieval world where, a century ago, both the Gods and their magic disappeared, suddenly, without warning. Locking away the Gods, and Magic, for a century has not done the world that many favors. Things have progressed on, petty nobles squabble, raiders raid, violent sects in the desert fight against each other. The world has not truly changed in their absence, not at the fundamental level.
Book Review: Red Waters Rising by Laura Anne Gilman
The Devil’s West trilogy comes to its concluding volume in Laura Anne Gilman’s Red Waters Rising, sequel to Silver on the Road and The Cold Eye. The novel finishes, at least in this trilogy the stories of Izzy and Gabriel, bringing their adventures to the furthermost southeastern portion of the Devil’s Territory, and a glimpse at the limits of the future of the entirety of the Territory, as well. The plotting of the novel follows a similar pattern to the first two volumes in this concluding volume, in the broadest of senses. Izzy and Gabriel head toward the town of Red Branch (in our world’s position and location of Baton Rouge), along the way getting intimations that this region of the boundary of the the Territory is under some sort of unknown, vague threat. Izzy and Gabriel have been on the Road for a while now, Izzy growing into her role as the Devil’s Hand. They come to the Red Branch area to find that the local Native residents and the town’s residents alike are uneasy, tensions are high, and the Americans on the other side of the river loom as a threat. The Americans have threatened the Territory before, and perhaps they are game for another try. The Red Waters may indeed, rise, whether Izzy and Gabriel will or no.
Guest Post: Tom Toner’s “Microcosm”
Today on Skiffy and Fanty, we have something a little bit different for you. Tom Toner is the author of the Amarathine Spectrum trilogy, The Promise of the Child, The Weight of the World, and the forthcoming The Tropic of Eternity. Instead of an ordinary guest post, today, Tom has an original short story to share. I give you “Microcosm”
