Archive for January, 2009
Friday, January 30th, 2009
Fourth World (Missing Link, book 1), by Kate Thompson
Kate Thompson is the author of The New Policeman and Switchers, both of which I have (obviously) reviewed before. When she was a child, and even into her adult years, she spent a good deal of time with horses, first riding and then training. After deciding that she needed more human interaction, she tried law [...]
No Comments » - Posted in book reviews, children's lit, science fiction by Stephanie
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
Skeleton in the Closet and Other Stories, by Robert Bloch
Robert Bloch is probably best known for writing the novel Psycho, that would eventually become the most famous Hitchcock thriller of all time, but he also wrote a lot of other novels, stories, essays, and other forms. He was a protege of H. P. Lovecraft, probably one of the greatest horror writers of the century, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in book reviews, fantasy, horror, science fiction by Stephanie
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
Dragon Slippers, by Jessica Day George
Jessica Day George lives in Salt Lake City; she attended Brigham Young University and has a degree in humanities and comparative literature. She’s also associated with a husband, a son, and a five-pound Maltese named Pippin who appears as a character in this book. She says that her entire life has revolved around books — [...]
No Comments » - Posted in book reviews, children's lit, fantasy by Stephanie
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
The Merlin Conspiracy, by Diana Wynne Jones
Do I need to say anything to introduce Diana Wynne Jones anymore? I’ve reviewed a good deal of her books prior to this, including (but not limited to) The Pinhoe Egg, Howl’s Moving Castle and Castle in the Air, The Dark Lord of Derkholm, and its sequel, The Year of the Griffin. She’s British; I [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in book reviews, children's lit, fantasy by Stephanie
Monday, January 26th, 2009
Novelties & Souvenirs, by John Crowley
John Crowley is one of the rare f/sf authors who gets significant recognition from the mainstream press — in that way where Harold Bloom has a good opinion of him. His novel Little, Big is probably the most well-known to spec-fic audiences; it’s essentially magic realism in the non-Latin-American way, and won the World Fantasy [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in alternate history, book reviews, contemporary, fantasy by Stephanie
Friday, January 23rd, 2009
Mortal Love, by Elizabeth Hand
Elizabeth Hand was born in 1957 and grew up in New York, just outside of the city; she went to the Catholic University of America and studied drama and anthropology. Currenty she divides her time between Camden Town, London, and Maine, both of which are used as settings in this novel. Her other works include [...]
No Comments » - Posted in book reviews, fantasy by Stephanie
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
Clockwork, by Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman is the tremendously-successful, oft-controversial author of the His Dark Materials trilogy. Born in 1946, he has been writing fiction since 1970 and a full-time author since 1996, which was when The Golden Compass (or Northern Lights, depending on which side of the pond one is on) was published. The trilogy has won various [...]
No Comments » - Posted in book reviews, children's lit, fantasy by Stephanie
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
Wildwood Dancing, by Juliet Marillier
Juliet Marillier was born in New Zealand in 1948 and currently lives in Australia. She has eleven books published, mostly for adults; this and its sequel, Cybele’s Secret, are her contributions to the YA genre. Her educational history involves a bachelor’s degree in music, in (as far as I can tell) vocal performance; she has [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in book reviews, children's lit, fantasy by Stephanie
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
Gunpowder Empire, by Harry Turtledove
Harry Turtledove is a renowned historian; he’s an expert in Byzantine history, and I’ve been told that there aren’t very many of those in the U.S., total. The title of his dissertation, produced at UCLA, is (according to Wikipedia) The Immediate Successors of Justinian: A Study of the Persian Problem and of Continuity and Change [...]
No Comments » - Posted in alternate history, book reviews, children's lit, science fiction by Stephanie
Monday, January 19th, 2009
Twilight Child, by Sally Warner
Sally Warner, born in New York City but raised in Connecticut and Pasadena, California, is an artist as well as a writer. She writes and illustrates her own books for younger readers, as well as one for the middle-grades (8-12 years old) group. She has also, in addition to being a professional writer, taught art [...]