The Hugo Triple Play
There are only three nominations for short stories on the Hugo ballot this year, Sure a larger selection would be better, but any one of these on the list is worthy of winning.
Foxes, Cultural Appropriation, and Japonisme
Here’s how to do cultural appropriation right. Look at the man and his fox bride; you can tell he loves her.
Book Review: Skull Island, by Will Murray
This is going to be a first for me- I’m going to review a book BEFORE I finish it. Hold on! You might be thinking. How can I pass judgement on a book without finishing […]
Book Review: Bowl of Heaven by Gregory Benford and Larry Niven
Bowl of Heaven – Gregory Benford and Larry Niven Tor – 2012 978-0765328410 (Hardbound) This is the first collaboration between two of our major writers, Gregory Benford and Larry Niven. Bowl of Heaven is about […]
A Beautiful Plummet: A Review of Upside Down
“And our love changed the course of history forever” is a fine concept to base a story off of. However, it’s a disingenuous and careless line of dialogue that should have been excised from the […]
Retrospective – La Puta y la Ballena
Almost entirely unknown in the English-speaking world, the Argentine-Spanish co-production, La Puta y la Ballena (2004) is one of the most hauntingly-beautiful, intelligent, and imaginative films of the last decade. From the trailer one might […]
Punk Rock Queen: A Nana Review
[Image from animedepot.net. Nana belongs to Ai Yazawa and Shueisha.] I would like to come forward with a confession: throughout most of college, I largely had to put my anime love on hiatus – not […]
Is Ender’s Game Really Any Fun to Read?
Troll the internet for “the greatest science fiction novels of all time” and Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game will be at the top of every list you’ll find. (Or it was last time I checked.) […]
The Howl of Family: A Review of Wolf Children
To smile through any hardship is a commendable virtue for anyone to have. Continuing to do so while having to raise two half-human, half-wolf children is something on a different world of resilience altogether. The […]
Review: Men Into Space by John C. Frederiksen
MEN INTO SPACE John C. Frederiksen Bear Manor Media 2013 314 Pages $21.95 (Kindle $9.95) Men Into Space was a television show that (unfortunately) aired for a single season between September 1959 and September, 1960. […]
Cyberstorm: Pack Up Your Water Bottles
Matthew Mather’s new book, Cyberstorm, is a must read for people who understand the world of cyber technology and its vulnerability but unlike many other books on the topic it is the equally enthralling for […]
ASM Blog Horde Interview with Diane Severson
Welcome to the Amazing Stories BLOG HORDE INTERVIEWS! The ASM Blog Horde is a diverse and wonderful species. I have the privilege of talking with all of them, and I get to share those chats with […]
Interview with Bruce Boston – Part 1
Bruce Boston. Among speculative poets and those who read it, he’s a well-known name. But just in case YOU are not familiar with him, here’s a brief biography of the Man (gleaned from his own […]
MONSTER EARTH- A Book Review
I grew up watching kaiju. Well, back then I didn’t know that’s what it was called. I just thought it was cool watching giant monsters duke it out at the peril of many a balsawood […]
Sequential Wednesdays #4 – The Off Week
Sorry folks, looks like this week got the better of me! I was travelling for work during the I would normally put together a post, so this Wednesday is just a pretty picture and my […]
We’ve Gone to See the Wizard and Tra La Tra La Tra La: A review of Oz The Great and Powerful
About five minutes after leaving the theater I ended the title take of the Wizard of Oz’s signature song with “…and we’re not happy at all.” (‘We’ve gone to see the Wizard and we’re not […]
Reviews of Unknown or Underappreciated Books Post #4 Her Majesty’s Wizard by Christopher Stasheff
Hello again, and welcome back! So – what, exactly, do I mean by ‘unknown or underappreciated’? To put it simply – not everyone is a Kevin J. Anderson or David Weber or Eric Flint or […]
Book Review: The Wind Whales of Ishmael – Philip José Farmer
I have two purposes for this review. One is to call your attention to a novel that older readers have probably already read, The Wind Whales of Ishmael by Philip José Farmer (originally published by […]
Mars Babylon: A Review of John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood by Michael D. Sellers
Reading Michael D. Sellers’ fascinating book, John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood, we learn all the reasons why John Carter, Disney’s film version of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars, failed at the box office. […]
Scide Splitters: Doughnut by Tom Holt
Known more for his works of comic fantasy, Tom Holt serves up humorous science fiction in his latest novel, Doughnut. This move toward SF seems to be a growing trend for Holt, although, since the […]
Mini-Review of Felicity Savage’s “Black Wedding”
It’s been so long since I’ve heard a “new voice” in horror writing that I’d forgotten what it feels like. Felicity Savage’s “Black Wedding” in her collection Black Wedding and Five More Funerals gave the […]
War and Dreams – Two Novels by Kathleen Ann Goonan
Kathleen Ann Goonan’s In War Times, originally published in 2007, won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel and the ALA’s Best Science Fiction Novel of the Year. A complex exploration of the […]
Amazing Stories from Mexico – Book Review: Three Messages and a Warning – edited by Eduardo Jimenez Mayo and Chris N. Brown
Three Messages and a Warning – Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic – edited by Eduardo Jimenez Mayo and Chris N. Brown Small Beer Press 2011 Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-193152031-7 I was drawn to […]
Writing Reviews – in My Opinion
Readers tend to gain most from reviews while writers tend to live more by opinion. That ugly thin line between the two is where fan compassion blurs with confusion.
Various and Sundry Science Fiction Poetry
Welcome back! I have a bit of a hodge-podge for you today. The interview with Bruce Boston has been postponed for two weeks – life got in the way for both me and Bruce. But […]
Jazz and Drama: A Kids on the Slope Review
Even casual fans of anime have heard of Cowboy Bebop, the jazziest, classiest, most sophisticated space opera anime to ever be created (whoops, my bias is showing). Bebop’s director, Shinichiro Watanabe, and musical composter, Yoko […]
Scide Splitters: Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Dark comedy is one of the more perverse pleasures in reading. For starters, you are invariably laughing at great misfortune, very often at events that, if they were not in a comedy, would register a […]
Supernatural Horror In Literature
The appeal of the spectrally macabre is generally narrow because it demands from the reader a certain degree of imagination and a capacity for detachment from every-day life. Relatively few are free enough from the […]
Swashbuckling with Morticai
Morticai’s Luck Darlene Bolesny Dark Star Books Trade ppb, 245 p., $15.95 Ebook, $5.95 Ever gone to a con and come home with more books than it’s humanly possible to read in a reasonable period […]
Apollo’s Outcasts Brings Back the Space Adventure
Finally, we have an author not afraid to approach fresh innovative science fiction with an old-school style. Apollo’s Outcasts by Allen Steele is an inspiring throwback to the youthful excitement of space travel carved out […]
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