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Book Review: A Study in Honor by Claire O’Dell

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An Americanized retelling of the classic Sherlock Holmes story, set in a future with advanced tech, disastrous civil war, and a diverse main cast, A Study in Honor creates a unique drama that twists the original overdone story into something new.  With the leading characters transformed by sex and skin color, O’Dell puts a spin on your typical Sherlock and Watson partnership, and pulls you into a world of intrigue.   Dr. Janet Watson is fresh off the front lines of war, with a clumsy mechanical prosthesis that is too big for the delicate surgeon work she does best.  With few prospects, and only one friend in D.C., Watson must make the best of a difficult situation. She gets a job, starts therapy, finds a flat and an accompanying flatmate—Sara Holmes, who is secretive, attractive, and, most of all, maddening.  Just when everything has seemingly settled, one of Watson’s patients dies suddenly, and then her friend, another doctor on the front lines, dies as well. This sends Watson and Holmes on the path of a secret investigation, a military mission gone horribly wrong, and several more mysterious deaths.  But what awaits them on the other end of their investigation could get them both killed if they’re not careful.

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Book Review: Applied Ballardianism: Memoir from a Parallel Universe, by Simon Sellars

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“In another life, I might have joined a radical church, a star cult. In this one, I attempted a PhD.” To engage thoughtfully with the work and life of science fiction*-and-literary-and-postmodernist author J.G. Ballard is, perhaps, to risk transforming oneself into a J.G. Ballard protagonist who must struggle through a J.G. Ballard world without the benefit of J.G. Ballard constructing the plot of his or her trajectory. Such is the lesson of Applied Ballardism: Memoir from a Parallel Universe, Simon Sellars’ much-anticipated exploration of how a greatly admired author can colonize a person’s imagination to an extent that borders on the dangerous.

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Guest Post: Finding the Dark by Rachel Caine

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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).

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Short Fiction Review: July 2018 – Dinosaurs!

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Rejoice! It is a summer for dinosaurs! In July, Uncanny Magazine published Issue 23, a special shared-universe dinosaur issue! The stories revolve around abandoned islands, portals, dinosaurs, and the mysterious Owen Corporation. Yes, there’s a certain Jurassic Park-like flair to this prompt, and that’s totally fine by me. I especially enjoyed “Red Lizard Brigade” by Sam J. Miller, an enjoyable yet heart-breaking tale of betrayal, loyalty, love, and (of course) dinosaurs. And I’m absolutely enamored with K.M. Szpara’s “You Can Make a Dinosaur, but You Can’t Help Me,” a challenging but rewarding story about family and found family. And if that’s not enough dinosaurs for you, A. Merc Rustad is currently editing an anthology of original flash fiction stories about robot dinosaurs. I’d also be remiss not to mention that the folks behind Uncanny are currently Kickstarting Uncanny Magazine Year Five, so be sure to check that out as well.

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Book Review: A Demon in Silver by R. S. Ford

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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.

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Book Review: Red Waters Rising by Laura Anne Gilman

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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.

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