Share on Twitter In Blackbirds, Chuck Wendig tells the story of a modern day Cassandra. Miriam has had the visions for years. All it takes is the touch of another person’s skin on her own, and she sees their death. When she meets a trucker named Louis, she sees him call her name before [...]
Share on Twitter When I picked up American Gods by Neil Gaiman, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew only two things: 1.) It was cited as a genre classic and 2.) the podcast, Writing Excuses, mentioned a scene from the book where a god burned his fingers on a hot apple pie. And [...]
Share on Twitter Thomas Marcinko’s new anthology, Astronauts and Heretics, treats the reader to seven highly entertaining and imaginative stories. The first story, Faith in a Higher Power, tells of a world where super powers are strictly regulated and many treat their ‘gifts’ as an addiction. Despite this, the tale is playful and upbeat. Next [...]
Share on Twitter Orson Scott Card‘s second book in the Ender series, Speaker for the Dead, takes place years after humanity’s war against the alien ‘buggers.’ Ender Wiggins, the former child hero of the Bugger Wars, has spent twenty years traveling from world to world, speaking for the dead – telling the truth about the [...]
Share on Twitter The Snow Queen’s Shadow, by Jim C. Hines, turns the fairy tale protagonists of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White into kick-ass heroines. Each princess draws her strength from a classic element of her original tale. Talia – Sleeping Beauty – is a deadly warrior who uses her fairy blessed reflexes and [...]
Share on Twitter The Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith series by John Jackson Miller will be releasing its eighth and final free eBook, Secrets, in all eFormats on March 5, 2012. The entire collected series will be published in paperback July 31st. As with all the previous stories, it will also [...]
Share on Twitter Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card may possibly be the best novel I’ve ever read. That’s not a statement I make lightly. While my other favorites – Stranger in a Strange Land, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Death World – have all effected me in different ways, none has moved me as [...]
Share on Twitter “The book does prominently feature three of the foundational touchstones of all things steampunk: giant airships, brass computers, and kinky feminine underwear.” ~ Bruce Sterling, Afterword, The Difference Engine When I first delved into The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, I had no previous experience reading [...]
Share on Twitter The Worker Prince by Bryan Thomas Schmidt takes the Biblical story of Moses to the stars and beyond. When Prince Xander Rhii – Davi to his friends – graduates from the Borali Military Academy at the top of his class, his horizon looks clear and bright. Privileged enough to grow up [...]
Share on Twitter Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest, grabs the reader from page one and refuses to let go. The characters stand out, the setting is fantastic, and the situation dire. What better way to start a horror story? Set in the late 1800′s during the Civil War, the scientist Leviticus Blue invents an incredible [...]
Share on TwitterIn War, the fifth and final installment of the Afterlife series by Mur Lafferty, the author manages to merge steampunk, mythology, and pirates in an altogether fascinating and entertaining way. While the Dark gains a firmer hold, Kate and Daniel fight to free the imprisoned gods of the newest world. But will they [...]
Share on Twitter Wasteland by Mur Lafferty starts immediately after the climactic conclusion of Earth, the previous book in the Afterlife series. If you have yet to read the series up to this point, be forewarned. There be spoilers ahead. Daniel is left alone, one eyed (still- or is it again?), and wandering the [...]
Share on Twitter Dealing with the running of Heaven, the creation of a new Earth, and a literal administrative Hell has the newly deified Kate and Daniel both frazzled and emotionally drained in Earth, the third book of Mur Lafferty‘s Afterlife series. Despite their godly powers and knowledge, they lack the experience to handle [...]
Share on Twitter “The journey is as important as the destination.” – God In Hell, Book II of the Afterlife series by Mur Lafferty, Kate and Daniel learn this important principle as they once again journey through the afterlife. God sends them on a divine mission, literally going through Hell – from Hades of [...]
Share on Twitter“So you’re saying that the journey is key, not the destination.” – Kate This sentiment – expressed in the very beginning of Mur Lafferty‘s Heaven – echos heavily throughout the novella. After dying in a car crash, best friends Kate and Daniel find out death isn’t what they expected. While they’re both [...]
Share on Twitter Galileo’s Dream, by author Kim Stanley Robinson, takes the reader on a time traveling adventure between the moons of Jupiter and the most famous cities of the Renaissance, between the political turmoil of the distant future to the inner turmoil of Galileo’s own mind. Our guides throughout the journey are a [...]
Share on Twitter Do I dare disturb the universe? – (TS Elliot) quoted by The Mastermind Timecaster by Joe Kimball, a self described Eco-punk novel set in a green utopean future, promises all the thrills, violence, sex, and groin punches that you probably wouldn’t expect in that setting. It’s not short on [...]
Share on Twitter In Starbound, Joe Haldeman tells the breathtaking tale of a select few who journey to save humanity from the Others – an enigmatic and possibly immortal race of beings. Humanity’s newly acquired space travel is seen as a possible threat by them – a threat they are unwilling to accept. Given the [...]
Share on TwitterXombies: Apocalypso by Walter Greatshell begins after the world has already been infected by Agent X – killing and resurrecting almost the entire human race. The scientist Uri Miska created the formula in a desperate effort to save mankind from an impending world-wide disaster. Former humans, resurrected as xombies, can survive virtually anything. [...]
Share on TwitterNew York Times Bestselling author, Alan Dean Foster, has written a science fiction mystery – The Human Blend. Two stories intertwine, the first about a thug and a doctor who team up to find out the contents of a high-tech silver thread, the second a story about two complete opposites that meet and [...]
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