May 19, 2011 – Even big time SF authors can't resist doing fanfic. And why not? Our favorite writers are fans just like us. John Scalzi, author of Old Man's War and internet darling, probably read Little Fuzzy by H. More »
"Equations of Life" is a horrorshow cyberpunk nostalgia trip to London
April 5, 2011 – Yearning for the sort of cutting-edge dystopian future we were promised way back in the 1980s? Simon Morden's Equations of Life may be just the cyberpunk thriller for you. More »
In Greg Bear’s Hull Zero Three, The Cosmic Terror Of A Generation Ship
November 12, 2010 – These days in Speculative Fiction it's all about the Fantasy; Urban, Epic, or Weird. What happened to all the spaceships? Take heart space cadets, Greg Bear delivers cosmic wonder — More »
It’s the Monster Manual with Manischewitz
March 11, 2010 – Just in time for Passover, Tachyon Publications presents The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals. This slim and silly volume is the ideal gift for anyone who has tried to make a saving throw vs. More »
Missing Kage Baker 1952-2010
February 2, 2010 – This past Sunday, Kage Baker lost her year-long battle with cancer. We science-fiction readers have lost a brilliant author and a dear friend. Ms. Baker will be long remembered for her Company series: More »
Magical Dogs and Detectives Explore Supernatural San Francisco in “Unleashed”
November 20, 2009 – Forthcoming urban fantasy Unleashed (Ace) by John Levitt is the sequel to Dog Days and New Tricks. It follows the exploits of a spell-casting jazz guitarist and his magic doggie. More »
The Secret History of Science Fiction
October 29, 2009 – Tachyon Publications has a new anthology out called The Secret History of Science Fiction. It centers around a subject that has sparked countless debates and rants among Science Fiction fans. More »
Madness of Flowers: The City Is…Alive
October 8, 2009 – The brilliant and prolific Jay Lake returns to the City Imperishable, with a Madness of Flowers. This is a decadent, surreal urban fantasy in the New Weird vein. More »
Bad Boys of the Multiverse: An Alternate Universe Reading Guide
October 2, 2009 – Have we gone multiverse crazy? Iain Banks' latest novel, Transition, is just the latest of a long line of sideways-traveling books, and this theme is more prevalent than ever. More »
60 Years Of Strange Parables And Unsettling Discoveries, In One Volume
September 9, 2009 – The Magazine Of Fantasy & Science Fiction has been at the forefront of genre short fiction for sixty years. And current editor Gordon Van Gelder had the unenviable task of choosing just 23 stories to represent those six decades.The result is The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: More »
Sherlock Holmes Ventures Into A Fog Of Monsters And Weird Science
September 1, 2009 – In anticipation of that upcoming movie with that guy who was in Weird Science, Night Shade Books presents The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The game is afoot! More »
In Which Some Steampunk Novels are Discussed
August 12, 2009 – Goggles, gaslights and gears, oh my! Steampunk is a steadily growing subgenre of speculative fiction. We review four current and forthcoming books that have been affixed with that label... More »
“Son of Retro Pulp Tales” Delights In Cheap Thrills
July 30, 2009 – Joe R. and Keith Lansdale present another collection of stories recalling those hard-boiled cheap thrills from the first half of the last century. Hearken back with us now to yesteryear in Son of Retro Pulp Tales! (Subterranean Press). Way before the advent of comic books or paperback novels, our... More »
Japanese Scifi Smackdown! Power-Armor Warriors Vs. Alien Dirt-Eaters
July 23, 2009 – The last 25 years has seen a huge swell of interest by English-speaking audiences in manga, partly thanks to Viz Media. Now Viz is publishing translations of two prose novels, about alien invasion, time travel and power-armor smackdowns. "Haikasoru" translates as "High Castle" and is meant as a... More »
“Bar None” Cracks Open A Beer At The End Of The World
July 2, 2009 – Bar None by Tim Lebbon (Night Shade Press, 2009) is a dark post-apocalyptic fantasy with a creepy numinous beauty and really good beer. End of the world, everybody, last orders if you please. As if Nature was finally fed up with those meddlesome bald apes, a plague of plagues sweeps across the... More »
A Courtesan-Turned-Warrior’s Head-Kicking Journey
June 9, 2009 – Jay Lake's sixth novel, Green , is an inventive fantasy of exotic cities, weird gods, conspiracies, stabbings, and kicks to the head. And here come the spoilers... It begins as a girl, born into poverty and ignorance, is sold into slavery by her own father. More »
Guillermo Del Toro’s The Strain Is An Antidote To Fey Vampires
June 2, 2009 – Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo Del Toro and novelist Chuck Hogan have written The Strain, the first book in a vampire trilogy. And the good news is, their spin on vampires comes with a noticeable creep factor, despite silliness. More »
Get Lost In China Miéville’s Weirdest Cityscape Yet
May 28, 2009 – Nine years ago, China Miéville dazzled readers with his ferociously inventive second novel, Perdido Street Station. Now he's turning the ideas of fantasy literature and the New Weird on their ear again, with the very original tale of The City & The City. More »
From The Terrifying Wastes Of The Cosmos Come Scary Old People
May 22, 2009 – Writer Laird Barron plunges his razor-sharp rostrum deep into a Lovecraftian vein, with nine stories of brain-melting cosmic horror in The Imago Sequence. I don't read much horror, but I enjoy it when I do; More »
A Lethal Cash Injection, In A Prison-Industry-Dominated World
May 20, 2009 – Alexander Irvine's recently-published Buyout takes a chilling look at the justice system and high finance, in a future right around the corner. It turns out crime does pay... More »
