Book Review: Even Though I Knew the End, by C.L. Polk
I adored C.L. Polk’s Even Though I Knew the End, a sapphic noir novella set in an urban fantasy version of 1941 Chicago. It opens strongly, unwraps the mystery as a relationship drama unfolds, and includes some breathtaking prose along the way.
Book Review: Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron
As the daughter of two powerful magic users, big things are expected of Arrah. However, while she is able to see magic, she has never manifested signs of having any herself other than a natural resistance to mind-influencing spells. When a friend of hers disappears as part of a spate of child kidnappings, Arrah takes desperate measures…
BOOK REVIEW: THE UNBALANCING BY R.B. LEMBERG
I felt drawn to the mythology of Lemberg’s Birdverse and was intrigued by the structure of the island society, but most of all, I enjoyed the well-developed characters, their contrasts, and where their interactions led — to a relationship, to magical discoveries, and to a struggle for survival amid upheavals.
Interview: Author David Mack
Today on Skiffy and Fanty, I interview the author of Midnight Front and The Iron Codex (among very many other things), David Mack. PW: You’ve penned sequels and follow-on novels in the various fictional universes you’ve written in before. What was different about your process in tackling The Iron Codex? DM: Adding stories to the ongoing literary continuity of Star Trek, as I’ve been doing since 2001, is very different from writing a sequel to my own original novel. When I write a Star Trek novel, I’m able to take advantage of the fact that many ideas and concepts don’t need to be explained in great detail, because readers of Star Trek novels are already familiar with the series’ setting and characters.
Book Review: Bookburners Season 3
With the publication of an omnibus edition, the Bookburners, one of the serial stories from Serial Box, comes to officially cap its third season and prepare the ground for the fourth. Bookburners is hardly the only serial from Serial Box, as the release of this third omnibus joyfully coincides with the release of omnibus editions of Tremontaine Season 3, and ReMade Season 2.
Book Review: All Good Things by Emma Newman
I was introduced to the writing and the work of Emma Newman by means of Between Two Thorns, an urban fantasy novel. I don’t normally read much urban fantasy as a general rule, but I was taken by the small stories Newman wrote in support of the novel and that world, and by the writer herself when she came all the way from the U.K. to attend a local convention here in Minneapolis. I was enchanted by her writing and her personality, and resolved to read all of her work henceforth. That decision led me to read more of the Split Worlds, as the series has come to be called, so I read Any Other Name and All is Fair, the second and third books in the series. When Newman, in conjunction with her husband, started Tea and Jeopardy, what is now a Hugo award-winning podcast, I started consuming that as well. Other writing efforts took the author’s time, and I started to read those wonderful SF efforts as well.
