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This is also called ‘Tiger! Tiger!’, and is a classic work of Science Fiction. Gulliver Foyle one of the great SF characters of all time, completely unsympathetic bent on simple revenge against those that left him for dead after attacking his ship and leaving his as it’s sole survivor. |
Big thanks to Sean Wallace at Prime books for hooking me up with ARC of this collection. Along with Tamar Yellin’s ‘Genizah at the House of Shepher’ this is the best book I have read this year. This is a collection of 9 different stories that offers a mix of stories with horror elements with some with fantastic elements. Phillips instantly has become a must buy author for me, and I am eagerly awaiting her full-length novel that she is currently working on. Incredible talent, who definitely warrants keeping an eye on. |
Marketed for young adults but by no means lacking for adult readers. Coraline is the title character, whose adventures begin when she opens the 14th door in her flat that sometimes opens up to reveal a brick wall and other times a new world. Gaiman always impresses, as he has reached a level of success that many seem to be waiting for him to fail, however Gaiman continues to put a stamp of quality on all of his works ever since his landmark comic book run, no matter what vein or theme the story is. Great art by Dave Mckean as well. |
Author of one of the great relatively recent series ‘The Hyperion cantos’ and one of my other most anticipated books, ‘Olympos’, the sequel to the incredible ‘Ilium’, Simmons is one of my current favorite writers, as he continually refuses to be categorized by any one genre. Carrion Comfort is no different offering a mix of vampire, fantastic events where Simmons actually describes figuratively and literally what it feels like to be mind-fucked. |
I hardly ever see this book mentioned, and it’s a shame! 5 teenagers die, and end up in the afterlife where Demons have taken over the Angel City. Great Pov’s of both sides, great character development, and a wonderful history given to the storyline which can be seen by the incredibly useful appendix of Angels and Demons. Even though this is about Angels and Demons, Dinniman does not sale us a mundane good vs. evil plot or in his characterizations, but provides great depth. |
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Just like I said in my entries of Wolfe’s ‘Short Sun’ and ‘Long Sun’ if you read ‘The Book of the New Sun’ I don’t even have to try to explain why reading Wolf should be a requirement. ‘The Urth of the New Sun is the direct sequel to “The Book of the New Sun’ continuing Severian’s (one of the truly great SF characters ever) travels. Wolfe is simply a god. |
First of two entries for a author I have just been introduced too, and both his books simply must be represented. ‘Punktown’ is simply perhaps the best of the collections I have recently read (along with Holly Phillip’s ‘Palace of Repose’). 10 stories about a colony on Oasis inhabited by people of varying cultures and worlds, a mixture of Sci-fi/Horror/Cyber-punk as Thomas weaves 10 separate stories of what has become one of my favorite settings in the entire genre up there with Viriconium (M. John Harrison), Ambergis (Jeff VanderMeer), Bas-Lag (China Mieville), among others. ‘Punktown’ is simply an amazing new work, by an author has done nothing but amaze me with the first 2 of his books I have read. |
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Second Silverberg novel, ‘Dying Inside’ is a story about a telepath who is losing his special ability. As noted before Silverberg is known now for his editing of anthologies, however Silverberg’s portrayal of David Selig, both in depicting the use of his power, and the personal ramifications he is going through with the realization that his power is fading is done by someone who truly is a master of SF as an author. |
I simply cannot understand some of the negative response this series got, especially from fans of Hobb’s ‘Tawnyman’ series (which his not on this list or my original 101) and the ‘Farseer Trilogy’ (which is). Although I think Farseer is her best work still, I think many elements within ‘Liveship’ are stronger than in’ Farseer’. You add the element of a boat in a fantasy and people seemingly go mad as if a completely different writer wrote this series. If you can’t get over boats playing a large role in the story and setting, just say so, no need to negatively criticize a damn good epic fantasy series because of limited thinking. There simply isn’t enough quality epic fantasy series around to cast down the good examples for such ridiculous reasons. Great, well-rounded characters (Kennit), sentient ships, great plot, and Hobb’s pacing is flawless, what else do you need? |
Admittedly the titles are kind of lame, and the second books was slightly disappointing, and it’s taking forever for ‘Sword from Red Ice’ to come out, but I have to include this series because I simply think the first installment ‘Cavern of Black Ice’ is a better first installment than Greg Keyes’ much more lauded (I like it too) ‘The Briar King’. Full of great characters, Raif, Valyo (The Dog Lord is IMHO the most interesting in ‘Caverns’), Angus, Malafice Eye, Penthero Iss, I like the restraints on magic even on the greatest of adepts, I like the Clan Wars, I like history Jones give Spire Vanis, this is simply a great read for fans looking for quality epic fantasy. I’m not even going to hold it against Julie that she can’t respond to an FBS interview request. No one is perfect. |
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