The nitty-gritty: An outstanding epic fantasy debut, Hall of Smoke surprised me at every turn. Wow, that was a debut? I couldn’t be more impressed. Hall of Smoke was such a nice surprise, an epic fantasy with Norse mythology and Viking influences that captured my attention and never let go. Even better, Long’s writing is […]
The nitty-gritty: Andrew Shaffer skewers publishing and 80s horror in this homage to the genre, complete with a Christmas setting. Lussi parked Agnes’s Yugo around the corner from the Blackwood Building underneath a burned-out streetlight. It was nearly three in the morning. She had never stolen a car before and never planned to again. Tonight […]
The nitty-gritty: Escape Pod the podcast celebrates fifteen years with this very strong collection of fifteen short stories that illustrate the vast imagination and high quality of science fiction today. Anthologies are usually a mixed bag for me, but wow, I’m happy to say that Escape Pod is one of the strongest anthologies I’ve ever […]
The nitty-gritty: Another fabulous installment of R.S. Belcher’s weird western Golgotha series, The Ghost Dance Judgement reunites beloved characters and enemies alike, with plenty of action, magic, emotion and humor. Her eyes were huge in the darkness; her hair had tumbled down around her shoulders. She carried as many scars along her flesh as he […]
The nitty-gritty: I enjoyed the well thought out futuristic world and exciting action sequences, but overall the story suffered from a few rookie mistakes. The Rush’s Edge is a fast-paced space opera debut that had plenty of thrilling moments and lots of action, and I enjoyed parts of it very much. However, I did have […]
The nitty-gritty: Malerich brings some interesting ideas to the table, but the novella format was just too short in this case, and didn’t allow for much story or character development. The Factory Witches of Lowell takes place in nineteenth century Lowell, Massachusetts (the exact date is never mentioned) during the boom in the production of […]
The nitty-gritty: Stylish and creepy, The Remaking takes inspiration from a real life ghost story and twists it into a macabre homage to horror movies. I’m so glad I received a surprise copy of the new paperback release of The Remaking from the publisher, because otherwise I might have missed it altogether. And Halloween was […]
The nitty-gritty: Shocking, brutal, funny, and heartbreaking, Mongrels is my new favorite werewolf story. This is the way werewolf stories go. Never any proof. Just a story that keeps changing, like it’s twisting back on itself, biting its own stomach to chew the poison out. I’m making an attempt to catch up with some of […]
The nitty-gritty: This short, bloody revenge story had some interesting moments, but overall it was just OK for me. The Easton Falls Massacre grabbed my attention when I saw the cover and read the blurb, which promises a Bigfoot-centric horror story. Plus, how can you ignore the word “massacre” right there in the title? It […]
The nitty-gritty: Weird, unsettling and laugh-out-loud funny. How can you resist that combination? My breath came in great choking sobs while I tried to beat the dead thing to death a second time. It really was a joy to read a new T. Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon) novel, which turned out to be much in […]