In Purgatory, by Tim Dodge, Charles Cunningham joins forces with Edgar Allan Poe and a mysterious character named Billy to win his salvation and gain admittance to heaven. To accomplish this, they journey to Earth to watch over Charles’s daughter, who is now an old woman. Through this act of kindness toward the daughter […]
In Suited by Jo Anderton, Tanyana is a debris collector – one of the people of Movac-under-Keeper given the job of collecting the dark byproduct of the city’s powerful pion systems. Unable to see the bright pion particles herself, she instead has the unpleasant and sometimes dangerous task of collecting the dark debris that […]
“-Falling just means you’re someone else when you stand up.” – Debris In the world of Debris by Jo Anderton, pions – the sentient energy that composes reality – can be coerced into shaping matter and performing whatever task is required. The veche who rule the city of Movac-under-Keeper employ powerful pion “binders” to […]
The Long Earth, by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, tells the story of the expansion of humanity into a seemingly endless collection of Earths. When plans for the “stepper” – a box of simple electronic components powered by a potato – appears on the internet, it seems little more than a harmless project for children. […]
In vN, Madeline Ashby tells the story of Amy Peterson – an android little girl from a mixed synthetic/organic home. Her mother and herself are Von Neuman androids – self-replicating robots, while her father is human. Despite the differences between her and other children, Amy grows up loved and well cared for – until the […]
Redshirts by John Scalzi takes one of the most beloved science fiction series of all time and mercilessly tears it apart. But in a good way. Andrew Dahl has just been stationed aboard the Intrepid, but as soon as he arrives he notices things are amiss. Crew members mysteriously disappear before certain officers appear in […]
If Bryan Thomas Schmidt‘s ‘The Worker Prince’ was Moses in space, than ‘The Returning’ contains the seeds of a new Exodus – blending the background of the original story seamlessly into the sequel. Readers may pick up the thread of the story quickly – whether or not they have read the first book. For decades, […]
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 he dies. Can […]
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 while I admit […]
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 comes Whiter Teeth, […]
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 lives of those […]
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 strength to combat […]
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 include an […]
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 much as this […]
“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 the work […]
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 in the […]
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 drilling machine called […]
In 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 find them […]
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 wasteland with the […]
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 their new […]
“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 Ancient Greece […]
“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 superficially happy […]
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