SF/F: The Uncertain Places by Lisa Goldstein

September 7, 2011 admin 0

Since winning an American Book Award (for The Red Magician) in 1983, Lisa Goldstein has been a rising star. She has won the Nebula Award several times and has been nominated more than once for both an Arthur C. Clarke Award and a Hugo. In the world of SF/F, then, Goldstein’s is not a new name. In The Uncertain Places (Tachyon), Goldstein is in fine form with a darkly compelling modern fairytale. It’s Berkeley in […]

Art & Culture: The Great Folk Discography: Pioneers & Early Legends by Martin C. Strong

August 4, 2011 admin 1

If the name Martin C. Strong is familiar to you, it’s likely you are a serious music fan of some kind. It’s possible you’re even some sort of music geek. Strong is developing into the guy when it comes to encyclopedic books about various branches of music. Thus far he has authored or been part of The Great Rock Discography, The Essential Rock Discography, The Great Metal Discography, The Great Psychedelic, The Great Alternative and […]

New This Month: Naked City edited by Ellen Datlow

July 19, 2011 admin 1

The fact that Ellen Datlow is the editor of Naked City (St. Martin’s Press) is almost all you need to know about this compilation to go forward. After all, if you know this type of fiction, you know Datlows’s name. Datlow has edited more than 50 anthologies over the past three decades. Her eye for fantasy, science fiction and horror fiction is legendary and her name on an anthology provides its own seal of approval. […]

New in Paperback: Anno Dracula by Kim Newman

July 4, 2011 admin 0

It’s terrific to see the amazing Kim Newman’s Anno Dracula back in print at this most vampire-appropriate time. After all, since the book’s original publication back in 1992, we’ve come a very long way both as a culture and as consumers of all things vampiric. Upon first publication, Anno Dracula met with critical acclaim. As the New York Times said back in 1992, “Anno Dracula is the definitive account of that post-modern species, the self-obsessed […]

Fiction: The Meowmorphosis by Franz Kafka and Coleridge Cook

June 3, 2011 admin 0

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka was first published in 1915. It is arguably one of the most important and seminal works of short fiction of the 20th century. The Meowmorphosis (Quirk) is, clearly, not that book. Like all trendy things, the current literary mash-up rage started with a deliciously sublime idea — in this case 2009’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies — and has since been becoming increasingly stretched and ridiculous in the time between. […]

SF/F: Mind Storm by K.M. Ruiz

May 24, 2011 admin 0

Truth be told, I liked Mind Storm (Thomas Dunne) a lot better than I thought I would. Even in a market that seems heavily saturated with post-Apocalyptic tales (is it just where we are as a culture that we’re flocking there?) Mind Storm stands out and even above. Two Hundred and Fifty years from now, Threnody Corwin is a soldier-slave to the human government. Threnody is of the human class known as psion, the result […]

SF/F: Sleight of Hand by Peter S. Beagle

May 5, 2011 admin 0

Though the work of Peter S. Beagle has been widely awarded and celebrated, it’s possible you don’t know his name. Even if that is the case, however, you probably do know his work. Beagle was both the author and the writer of the screenplay for The Last Unicorn, made into a much-loved animated film in 1982, starring Jeff Bridges, Mia Farrow and Angela Lansbury. The book, first published in 1968, remains the author’s best known […]

SF/F: Crucified Dreams: Tales of Urban Horror edited by Joe R. Lansdale

March 8, 2011 admin 0

Though Crucified Dreams (Tachyon) reaches beyond SF/F, the roots in that genre are strong enough for this book that this will be its necessary identification. Edited by Joe R. Lansdale (Mucho Mojo, Bubba Ho-Tep), contributors to the anthology include Neal Barrett, Jr. (The Karma Corps, The Hereafter Gang); Octavia Butler (Kindred); Harlan Ellison; Charlie Huston (Caught Stealing); Stephen King; David Morrell (First Blood) and several others. Some of these authors are, like King, strongly associated […]

Fiction: Autumn: The City by David Moody

February 11, 2011 admin 0

By now, David Moody can be considered a poster boy for the new century publishing success story. On the tail of a handful of traditionally published books that sold poorly, Moody opted to electronically self-published Autumn in 2001. A decade later, that original book has been downloaded over half a million times and has been joined by other novels of horror and apocalypse like Dog Blood and Hater, the later of which is currently being […]

Holiday Gift Guide: Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney by Howard Sounes

December 17, 2010 admin 0

You only have to look at Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney (Da Capo) to know that it is going to at least try to be exhaustive: it’s a very thick book. But let’s face it: McCartney deserves a big biography. Considering the magnitude of his star, there haven’t been many books on the ex-Beatle’s life. And there’s probably some massive fan out there who can tell me why two in-depth looks at this […]