SF SiteThe new issue of the SF Site is now online.Tolkien and Shakespeare: Essays on Shared Themes and Language edited by Janet Brennan Croft- August 16, 2007 If you hated something like The Silmarillion, this is not the book for you. This is essentially an academic book on the Faerie, however incongruous that might sound, and it discusses enchantment in terms that many might find dry, and boring, and superfluous to requirements -- if your interest in the Faerie is merely entertainment, then steer clear of this book. But if you loved The Silmarillion...http://www.sfsite.com/08b/ts254.htm Masters of Science Fiction 4: The Discarded- August 16, 2007 The final episode of Masters of Science Fiction, airing on Saturday evenings in August on ABC, is "The Discarded," based on Harlan Ellison's short story "The Abnormals." Perhaps because the adaptation of the story for the screen was performed by Ellison (along with Josh Olson), "The Discarded" is clearly the strongest of the quartet of episodes aired during the show's run.http://www.sfsite.com/08b/m4254.htm Star Trek, The Animated Series: Logs Nine and Ten by Alan Dean Foster- August 16, 2007 This, the last volume of the series, contains two stories. The first offering, "BEM," deals with an not very nice BEM (bug-eyed monster for those of you who didn't attend SF school or were born in the 90s). This particular BEM is a Pandronian, a condescending, arrogant, annoying creature, who will remind you of someone you don't like, or perhaps several people. Thus, it makes the plight of the Enterprise officers who have to deal diplomatically with the creature far more interesting.http://www.sfsite.com/08b/s9254.htm The Sharing Knife: Beguilement and The Sharing Knife: Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold- August 16, 2007 The story is set on a pastoral world near water, where we are introduced to two cultures living in uneasy coexistence: the Farmers and the Lakewalkers, who patrol everywhere looking for malices (bogles to the Farm people) that suck all the life and energy out of people, animals, land. The resultant blight can last a century or more, and affected are not just the living, but the environment such as rocks and soil. The Lakewalkers aren't particularly trusted by the Farm folk, who own and farm...http://www.sfsite.com/08b/sk254.htm Babylon 5.1: TV reviews by Rick Norwood- August 16, 2007 Rick offers his thoughts on the first episode of the new Flash Gordon series as well as the new direct to DVD of two new Babylon 5 episodes.http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick254.htm Masters of Science Fiction 3: Jerry Was a Man- August 16, 2007 When the Van Vogels (Anne Heche and Russell Porter) visit Controlled Genetics, they are met by Tibor Cargrew (Malcolm McDowell). After being one-upped at their exclusive club by a member with a six-legged dachshund, the Van Vogels have decided they need a pegasus. While on a tour of the laboratory, Cargrew convinces them to instead take a miniature elephant who can write.http://www.sfsite.com/08b/m3254.htm The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate by Ted Chiang- August 16, 2007 This is an Arabian Nights style story with the merchant, Fuwaad ibn Abbas, relating four interconnected tales to the Caliph in Baghdad. The framing mechanism is that Fuwaad was approached by an alchemist, Bashaarat, who claimed to have a magic door which would permit Fuwaad to visit Baghdad twenty years in the future. Before Bashaarat would allow Fuwaad to make use of the gate, he told the merchant three stories, which Fuwaad also relates to the Caliph.http://www.sfsite.com/08b/ma254.htm In A Town Called Mundomuerto by Randall Silvis- August 16, 2007 The author tells two intertwining stories -- one about the grandfather and the boy, set in a present; and the other, more substantial story, about the tragic events in the grandfather's youth, when a beautiful maiden was seduced by the mysterious dolphin-man.http://www.sfsite.com/08b/mm254.htm Mistral's Kiss by Laurel K. Hamilton- August 16, 2007 When you've got a cash cow, milk it. That would seem to be the ethos behind this series. The books are getting significantly shorter with each iteration, and the plot more ephemeral. Mistral's Kiss once again sees Meredith Gentry -- Princess of the Unseelie Court -- attempting to screw her way to the top. For only by becoming pregnant with one of her many Sidhe lovers, can she be named heir to the Unseelie throne, presently occupied by her aunt Andais, Queen of Air and Darkness. This time...http://www.sfsite.com/08b/mk254.htm Titans of Chaos by John C. Wright- August 16, 2007 This book concludes (sort of) a trilogy about five teenaged orphans attending a secluded British boarding school who discover that they are not human, but are in fact the offspring of Greek gods. We rejoin our heroes following their break out and their adventures of the Queen Elizabeth II cruise ship en route across the Atlantic to the land of freedom and consumer excess, the good old USA. The compatriots do eventually arrive in the city of sin, Los Angeles, but it is only a short stay over, as.http://www.sfsite.com/08b/tc254.htm |