SF SiteThe new issue of the SF Site is now online.Spook Country by William Gibson- September 16, 2007 At a time when so-called literary writers are employing science fiction tropes, one of the granddads of cyberpunk seemingly becomes mainstream, setting his last two novels in the present tense of post-911 America. Not exactly a sequel, but rather a companion piece to the widely regarded Pattern Recognition, this novel explores moral behavior within an impersonal society of global corporate and government interests saturated by advanced technology and mass media.http://www.sfsite.com/09b/sc256.htm In War Times by Kathleen Ann Goonan- September 16, 2007 Physics, jazz, and a world gone bad. The author's latest novel is sub-titled "An Alternate-Universe Novel of A Different Present." It's a story of people caught up in war, and their growing feeling that the world they live in is not what it should and could be. But if changing history means losing the people you love, can you afford the price to be paid for setting things righthttp://www.sfsite.com/09b/iw256.htm Powers by Ursula K. Le Guin- September 16, 2007 Gavir is a boy who was kidnapped from his home in the Marshes as a tiny baby, and taken to the City State called Etra to be a slave in the House Arcamand. The Father of the House of Arca is a relatively benign slaveowner, and Gavir, along with his sister Sallo, grows up fairly comfortably. Gavir does have a magical talent, apparently unique to people of the Marshes -- he occasionally "remembers" future events. But his sister urges him to conceal these visions.http://www.sfsite.com/09b/pw256.htm The Year's Best Science Fiction: by Title -- compiled by Rodger Turner- September 16, 2007 In 1984, Gardner Dozois gathered together what he thought was the best short science fiction of the previous year. He scrutinized as many of the magazines, collections and anthologies published in 1983 that he could get his hands on and chose those which he felt best represented the science fiction field. Jim Frenkel published it as part of his Bluejay Books line (for three years) and it has been produced every year since then (by St. Martins's Press).http://www.sfsite.com/lists/yb-sf-title01.htm The Mammoth Book of Monsters edited by Stephen Jones- September 16, 2007 Monsters represent a standard, time-honored theme in horror fiction. They haunt our dreams, lurk in dark corners, stalk us in dark alleys. It was high time, therefore, that one of the various Mammoth anthologies would be devoted to monsters and who more suitable than Stephen Jones to deal with the taskhttp://www.sfsite.com/09b/bm256.htm Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick- September 1, 2007 Jason Taverner is a successful pop singer (more in the Frank Sinatra mode than in any plausible 70s mode), and also the host of a very successful TV variety show. He lives in the US in 1988, in a future where almost all black people have either been killed or sterilized. There are flying cars, but otherwise the milieu is somewhat seedy and not too different from our real 1974. He believes himself to be a "six," one of a group of genetically enhanced individuals. Then one day Jason Taverner is...http://www.sfsite.com/09a/fm255.htm Fairy Tales for Writers by Lawrence Schimel- September 1, 2007 This is a clever book, and a cute book, and one can chuckle a lot while reading it. It's nothing less or more than what it purports to be: fairy tales for writers, mixed up into verse. The author takes fairy tales like Cinderella and Snow White and uses them as templates for various experiences modern-day writers live: the workshops, the rejections, the rewrites, the sales (and, ahem, the reviews).http://www.sfsite.com/09a/ft255.htm The Year's Best Science Fiction: by Author compiled by Rodger Turner- September 1, 2007 In 1984, Gardner Dozois gathered together what he thought was the best short science fiction of the previous year. He scrutinized as many of the magazines, collections and anthologies published in 1983 that he could get his hands on and chose those which he felt best represented the science fiction field. Jim Frenkel published it as part of his Bluejay Books line (for three years) and it has been produced every year since then (by St. Martins's Press).http://www.sfsite.com/lists/yb-sf-author01.htm Space Boy by Orson Scott Card- September 1, 2007 Todd is a thirteen-year-old boy who yearns to slip the surly bonds of Earth and explore the vastness of space. Unfortunately, Todd is intelligent enough to understand that he doesn't have enough aptitude in math or the physical requirements to become an astronaut. Instead he spends his days as a typical teenager. Life doesn't begin to get strange for him until the day that he sees a dwarf appear from thin air in his backyard.http://www.sfsite.com/09a/sb255.htm Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Eight: 1-4 by Joss Whedon and George Jeanty- September 1, 2007 Dark Horse published several dozen Buffy comics beginning in 1998, not too many of them very good. The quality of the art varied wildly, and the writing was often flat and uninspired. Though it had enthusiasm to spare, it was missing the guiding hands of Whedon and the talented men and women who wrote and produced the television show through seven mostly excellent seasons on two different networks. No such problem exists for this new series.http://www.sfsite.com/09a/bv255.htm |