Archive for February, 2009
Friday, February 27th, 2009
Skybreaker, by Kenneth Oppel
When I was searching for new books recently, on the internet, I came across the publication date for the third book in this series (Starclimber), which reminded me I’d never read book 2. The series started with Airborn, and I’d bought the second volume for my husband for his birthday in 2008. In any case, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in alternate history, book reviews, children's lit, fantasy by Stephanie
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
Hellflower (book 1), by Eluki bes Shahar
Eluki bes Shahar is the legal name of Rosemary Edghill; apparently a long-ago publisher suggested that the name was insufficiently English-sounding, so most of what she publishes is under the pseudonym. Under that name, she writes romance novels (mostly Regencies), detective fiction (a series about a Wiccan detective named Bast), and fantasy (the Twelve Treasures [...]
No Comments » - Posted in book reviews, science fiction by Stephanie
Monday, February 23rd, 2009
Blood Ties, the complete series (TV show)
Once upon a time, back in the mid-90s, a significantly-younger Stephanie was prowling the library for an author she’d heard about in the back of another book she liked very much. She found the fantasy novels by said author; the first one was called Sing the Four Quarters, which piqued Stephanie’s interest as she was [...]
3 Comments » - Posted in TV/movie reviews, fantasy, horror by Stephanie
Friday, February 20th, 2009
Flora’s Dare, by Ysabeau Wilce
Ysabeau Wilce’s website is unhelpful, to say the least, regarding the author’s actual biographic information. However, it’s rather fun if you don’t need information to, say, write a blurb for a review. However, there’s an interview with Kelly Link that gave me what I needed to know: she lives in Chicago, has a degree in [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in book reviews, children's lit, fantasy by Stephanie
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
Woods and Waters Wild, by Charles de Lint
Charles de Lint — one of my favorite authors, if you hadn’t guessed, and one I’ve reviewed quite a few books by (here’s one) — has been slowly but steadily publishing his hard-to-find back catalog of short stories in four volumes, all wonderfully done by Subterranean Press. I pre-order these months in advance, and am [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in book reviews, fantasy by Stephanie
Monday, February 16th, 2009
Dollhouse, Season 1, Episode 1, created by Joss Whedon
[So, a TV review. There will be more in the future, but not every day. Enjoy!]
I love Firefly. I haven’t watched any Buffy (or its spinoff) to date, for various reasons (mostly an irrational dislike of Sarah Michelle Gellar), but I’ve seen Firefly and I thought it was an awesome show. Joss Whedon is the [...]
3 Comments » - Posted in TV/movie reviews, horror, science fiction by Stephanie
Friday, February 13th, 2009
The Thief Lord, by Cornelia Funke
Cornelia Funke is German; her books are originally published in that language, and are translated for the English market. Her most famous novel is undoubtedly Inkheart, which has been made into a movie, starring Brendan Frasier. The third book in that trilogy, Inkdeath, was released in English last October. Apparently she actually lives in Los [...]
No Comments » - Posted in book reviews, children's lit, fantasy by Stephanie
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009
Only Human (Missing Link, book 2), by Kate Thompson
Kate Thompson: Irish. She writes a lot of books set in Ireland, and I’ve introduced her three times before. I’ve got no new information on her, but I will provide these links: The New Policeman (the first book I read of hers and reviewed); Switchers (the second, an unrelated but vaguely speculative novel as well); [...]
No Comments » - Posted in book reviews, children's lit, science fiction by Stephanie
Monday, February 9th, 2009
Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech
Sharon Creech was born in South Euclid, Ohio, in 1945, and received her B.A. from Hiram College. This actually means something to me, as I currently live fairly close to both places. However, she spent a lot of summers in Kentucky, got an M.A. from George Mason University, and then proceeded to live in England [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in book reviews, children's lit, contemporary by Stephanie
Friday, February 6th, 2009
The 9th Annual of the Year’s Best S-F, edited by Judith Merril
So I was on jury duty this week, and the way they do it in my county is to pen up 300 people in a room for seven hours a day for a week straight, just in case some of them might be needed. Needless to say, I ran out of books the first day, [...]