SF SiteThe new issue of the SF Site is now online.Promises to Keep by Charles de Lint- September 16, 2007 This is a story about Jilly Coppercorn set in the early 70s, during her time at Butler University. Having just recently set her life on track after struggling through abuse, drug addiction, prostitution, and life on the streets, she gets a surprise visit from an old friend who offers her a very unusual choice: to stay where she is, or to move with her to paradise.http://www.sfsite.com/09b/pk256.htm Harvest of Changelings by Warren Rochelle- September 16, 2007 Set in North Carolina in 1992, this novel features everything that makes fantasy a potentially great genre: epic struggles between good and evil; a blend of realism and magic; an enchanted view of the various fantastical species that dwell in realms other than our own, and sometimes trespass here softly or in malicious, murderous force. It starts with widower Ben Tyson meeting an enchanting woman of great beauty and charm named Valeria who proposes marriage. Marriage and parenthood bring with...http://www.sfsite.com/09b/hc256.htm Balefires by David Drake- September 16, 2007 This book collects a bunch of stories previously published in various magazines and anthologies between 1967 and 2004, displaying the many faces of a literary chameleon able to easily jump from a genre to the other. Predictably, the book includes such a variety of themes, styles and atmospheres to constitute an interesting showcase of the author's fictional work but also a tour de force for the average reader with well defined literary preferences.http://www.sfsite.com/09b/bf256.htm Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction edited by Jeff Prucher- September 16, 2007 Although some authors, such as Lester del Rey, wanted the academics to "get out of my Ghetto," many other authors, and fans, have yearned for social respectability they have felt was long denied. They wanted a chance for science fiction to prove that it had put that "Buck Rogers" stuff behind it and graduated to a serious literature, not only of ideas, but of characterization, plot, and even relevance. While this book can't bestow any of those things on the genre, it does demonstrate that...http://www.sfsite.com/09b/bn256.htm Overlooked or Over-hyped -- a column by Neil Walsh- September 16, 2007 For years, Neil has been told to read these two books. Not by the same people, mind you. They're not that much alike, except that they're both about earthlings on far distant planets who get themselves into awkward situations. Brin's earthlings are dolphins, and the aliens are far more technologically advanced than we are. Russell's earthlings are Jesuit missionaries and the aliens are less technologically advanced. So which one is the classic, and is it over-hyped And which one is the...http://www.sfsite.com/columns/over256.htm Babylon 5.1: TV reviews by Rick Norwood- September 16, 2007 Instead of reviewing a TV show this issue, Rick is reviewing a fantasy game, The Legend of Zelda, Twilight Princess. Rick has invested better than one hundred hours and he has found it to be challenging, thrilling, awe inspiring.http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick256.htm Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman- September 16, 2007 In the wake of Heroes and the re-emergence of The Bionic Woman, the author's timing is fortuitous. Pitched between familiarity and spandex-shifted reality, it is written in the first person, split between the perspectives of two characters. One, a female cyborg called Fatale, newly recruited to the newly reformed Champions, the world's greatest superteam, and the other, Doctor Impossible, who is the epitome of a science-based evil genius.http://www.sfsite.com/09b/si256.htm New Arrivals compiled by Neil Walsh- September 16, 2007 New and forthcoming works from Naomi Novki, Karl Schroeder, Robert Newcomb, Jennifer Fallon; some great new anthologies and collections; a wide variety of classics in new editions; plus a whole lot more -- that's what we've seen come to the SF Site office recently.http://www.sfsite.com/books/new256.htm Stealing Magic by Tanya Huff- September 16, 2007 This short story collection is really two collections, one telling of the wizard Magdalene, the other chronicling the adventures of the thief Terazin. The two "books" are bound back-to-back in a single volume. The telling is bright and breezy (a world away from the stilted, formal prose of so much fantasy of that ilk), the tone generally light; as the author writes in the afterword, "there should always be room for a few laughs."http://www.sfsite.com/09b/sm256.htm What is a Graphic Novel: Defining Stardust -- an article by Hank Luttrell- September 16, 2007 "A favorite book of mine was made into a movie recently. As is usually the case, the book is much better than the movie, but I liked the movie as well. The book, and the movie, are titled Stardust, and the book was written by Neil Gaiman. The movie has gotten mostly favorable notices by the reviewers that I've read, but, and here I want to make a complaint, every review I've seen has made the same mistake. The book by Neil Gaiman has universally been referred to as a graphic novel."http://www.sfsite.com/columns/hank256.htm |