Review: A Betrayal In Winter by Daniel Abraham

A Betrayal In Winter Daniel Abraham Tor, 2008 (mmpb) A Betrayal In Winter is the second book in Daniel Abraham’s Long Price Quartet and is set fifteen years after the events of A Shadow In Summer.  A Betrayal In Winter is, if anything, a text book example of how to write a politic heavy novel [...]

Review: Offworld by Robin Parish

Offworld Robin Parish Bethany House, 2009 I had never heard of Robin Parish prior to reading the review blurb for Offworld in Publisher’s Weekly.  The idea behind the novel, the first astronauts to visit Mars return home only to find Earth abandoned, all people and animals having suddenly disappeared, sounded intriguing.   Bethany House, for [...]

Incoming Fall

As August is nearing its end I find myself, as per usual, gripped by my late summer video game malaise.  Despite being in the midst of several unfinished games I find myself frquently unwilling to attempt anything beyond some mindless Guitar Hero or some forrays into the pacific front in Battlefield: 1943.  The latter, while [...]

Review: A Shadow In Summer by Daniel Abraham

A Shadow In Summer Daniel Abraham Tor, 2007 (mmpb) I’ll confess that A Shadow In Summer is a book I started once before and just couldn’t get into.  While the series has been well received by readers it has largely remained below the radar despite its solid reviews.  While I certainly had my own difficulties [...]

Review: Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding

Retribution Falls Chris Wooding Orion UK, 2009 (Surprise, no US date that I’ve seen) Take one part Firefly, one part steampunk, one part magic and shake it all up.  The results are something like Chris Wooding’s Retribution Falls.  Darrian Frey is the “captain” of the Ketty Jay, an airship whose crew of malcontents and rejects [...]

Review: By Heresies Distressed by David Weber

By Heresies Distressed David Weber, read by Jason Culp Tor/Macmillan Audio, 2009 By Heresies Distressed is the third novel in Weber’s Safehold series.  For the uninitiated the plot revolves around the planet Safehold where, centuries prior, a group of colonists and scientists fled the merciless G’baba (sp?).  In order to avoid detection by the G’baba [...]

Review: The Island by Tim Lebbon

The Island Tim Lebbon Spectra, 2009 Tim Lebbon’s Noreela books, starting with 2006′s Dusk, are books that have always caught my eye but I somehow never managed to find the time to read.  The same can also be said for Lebbon collaborations with Christopher Golden.  Now, however, it seems I’ll need to pay a little [...]

A Post in Which I Discuss “Brick”

On our rainiest day on vacation we spent a considerable amount of time watching the series Kitchen Confidential (pretty funny, too bad it was cancelled after airing only 4 episodes) on Hulu.  Unfortunatley for us every episode had the same commercial for upcoming indie film 500 Days of Summer starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zoey Deschanel. [...]

Review: The Red Tree by Caitlin R. Kiernan

The Red Tree Caitlin R. Kiernan Roc, 2009 H. P. Lovecraft was a writer who managed to overcome his faults (frequently racist overtones and often stiff language) and evoke an atmosphere of dread and despair that turns even the hottest summer day into something dark and chilling.  Many writers have written works based on the [...]