Mini-Review: The Unblemished by Conrad Williams

The Unblemished Conrad Williams Virgin, 2008 (trade)/ Earthling, 2006 (HC) The blurb from Conradwilliams.net: A blood-crazed lover of amputee victims. A mother determined to protect her only daughter no matter the cost. A serial killer who believes he is the rightful son and heir to a horrific, ancient dynasty. And one dying man who must [...]

Review: Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress

Steal Across the Sky Nancy Kress Tor, 2009 A true “what-if” tale Steal Across the Sky introduces a mysterious alien race that commited a great crime against humanity somewhere in the distant past.  Now the alien Atoners have set up shop on the moon and are calling for human “witnesses” to travel to distant planets.  [...]

Review: The Stormcaller by Tom Lloyd

The Stormcaller Tom Lloyd Pyr, 2008 Tom Lloyd’s Stormcaller, the first book in the Twilight Reign series first saw publication in the U.K. in March….of 2006.  If my previous rants haven’t hammered home the disparity between the U.K. and American fantasy market maybe that will.  I don’t know.  Regardless The Stormcaller is a fascinating entry into [...]

Retro-Review: Young Miles by Lois McMaster Bujold

Young Miles Lois McMaster Bujold Baen, 2003 Since certain distractions have slowed my reading I decided to brush the accumulated dust off an older title and hopefully entice some new readers. If I’m not mistaken Bujold ties Heinlein for the number of Hugo’s she has won.  She is a diverse writer dabbling in both fantasy [...]

Some thoughts on The Taint and short fiction in general

First off I should say that I am terrible at reading short fiction.  I don’t know what it is but I’ve never been good at it.  Reading short fiction feels like it exercises a whole different set of skills than long fiction and I’ve always found myself stalling, and eventually abandoning, anthologies and collections on [...]

New David Anthony Durham Cover

The cover art and description for David Anthony Durham’s sequel to Acacia, The Other Lands have been making the rounds today.  You can check both out over a Suvudu here.  Acacia was one of my favorite reads in 2007 and despite being well received in most corners never seemed to get quite as much attention [...]

Something Vaguely Resembling a Review of New Moon

New Moon picks up several months after Twilight with Bella and Edward starting their senior year of high school.  It isn’t long into the book before an incident at the Cullen’s house reminds Edward that he is a vampire so in his century-old wisdom decides the best thing to do is abandon Bella and run [...]

Review: The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks

The Way of Shadows Brent Weeks Orbit, 2008 2008 may have been a banner year for Orbit.  They released an impressive number of fantasy mass-markets (not not mention an impressive number of other quality titles in hardcover and trade) featuring new or newish (at least stateside) authors like Karen Miller, Russel Kirkpatrick, and of course Brent [...]

Review: Fathom by Cherie Priest

Fathom Cherie Priest Tor, 2008 Cherie Priest is an author better known for Southern Gothic fiction and, despite its Florida locale, Fathom is a slight deviation from that area. Fathom certainly makes use of Priest’s familiarity with that genre but places more emphasis on the fantastic elements and overarching plot than on the setting and [...]

Razer, gaming hardware to watch!

Back in August I attended a panel on PC hardware.  One of the panelists, Razer’s Robert Krakoff, had some absolutely fascinating things to say about PC hardware especially as it pertains to HIDs.  He was an absolutely fascinating speaker to listen to and, where many current peripheral developers remains ensconsed behind corporate structures, Razer’s public [...]