In four days, I’m going to paradise. I guess the first step is to get footloose. No, that can’t be right. Being footloose gets you almost to paradise. To get to a Viable Paradise, the first step requires homework. Lots of homework. After all, paradise without preparation likely leads to dystopia. In this case, homework means […]
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So, a general thought on the Hugos. It’s really cool to see what the powers that be grade out as the best, but I’ve long been aware that there are many factors that influence how a book, editor, artist, or magazine is chosen. That doesn’t mean that the award winner is unworthy or less worthy, […]
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What fun! I really didn’t know what to expect when I accepted the Author of the Year recognition from the Baltimore Faerie Faire, but there was belly dancing, big bands, folk music, a hoard of really cool/fun people… AND I was given a key to the Faerie Kingdom! It all started when I received a […]
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Before I get to reviewing Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver, I thought I’d share an anecdote. When I was in middle school, our chorus teacher asked me to try out for the state choir. Part of this, I’m sure, was just because my voice had changed early and I could produce a strong baritone/bass which for […]
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It’s always difficult to review a friend’s book. Do you read it with the same eye as you do other novels? Are you more critical? More forgiving? I’m struggling a little with what I want to say about McLaughlin’s novella. McLaughlin calls this book “Beauty and the Beast, but with dragons.” I think it’s a […]
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The Young Elites by Marie Lu turns out to be the story not of the Young Elites, but Adelina, a survivor of a plague which mutated her such that she gained magical/mutant powers… In her case, the power of illusion, but not only illusion of sight, but smell, touch, etc. Lu’s exploration of perception reveals […]
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It was a hot day at the Maryland Renaissance Fair and not only because it was 105 degrees plus humidity. Some of the heat emanated from the amazing acts, the cosplay, and the phenomenal pieces of craft on display like life-sized chain mail version of the Maryland state flag by Brian Galloway. But mostly it […]
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I really like Mark Lawrence’s Book of the Ancestor series so far. The world building and the blend of dystopic sf with its religious/political backdrop is well done. Possibly because Lawrence never lets ideas take dominance over the characters themselves. Grey Sister is more of a split narrative than Red Sister. The story tracks […]
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The Bear and the Nightingale is a soothing, familiar story. Katerine Arden tells her narrative with beautiful delicate phrases plucked from gossamer and fey. It leans, like the works of Charles DeLint, on folk tales and sets them into reality although Arden’s reality is a foregone Russia in the place of DeLint’s modern Ottawa. It […]
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In the weeks that pass between the conclusion of Sin of the Empire and the start of Wrath of Empire, the Dynize have been busy. They have staked holds on the continent and their forces are consolidating in search of ancient artifacts needed to birth or resurrect a god. Our heroes, in the meantime, are […]
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