Book Review: A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Book Review: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers Sibling Dex is a monk who yearns for the sound of crickets. So they leave the comfortable city monastery to go on the road as a “tea monk” who offers tea and a sympathetic ear to folks that need them. Dex, after some initial hiccups,… Continue reading Book Review: A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Book Review: Mary Shelley: Gothic Tales

Book Review: Mary Shelley: Gothic Tales by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley The author of the classic horror novel Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus also wrote other things. This chapbook from Union Square & Co. reprints one of her short stories and an essay she wrote. “The Mortal Immortal” is a memoir by a fictional student of… Continue reading Book Review: Mary Shelley: Gothic Tales

Book Review: Swords Against Wizardry

Cover art by Jeff Jones

Book Review: Swords Against Wizardry by Fritz Leiber We return, gentle readers, to the fabled world of Nehwon, home of those bold rogues, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. But they are not in their favorite city, Lankhmar, but in Fafhrd’s home territory of the Cold Wastes to the north. For they have learned of fabled… Continue reading Book Review: Swords Against Wizardry

Book Review: Branded West

Book Review: Branded West edited by Don Ward The Western Writers of America were founded in 1953 to promote literature related to the American West. It started with primarily traditional Western fiction, but also promotes historical and non-fiction works and even songs. It has an annual prize called the Spur Awards. But this collection published… Continue reading Book Review: Branded West

Book Review: The Hills of Homicide

Book Review: The Hills of Homicide by Louis L’Amour Before he landed the contracts that were to make him America’s most beloved Western writer, Louis L’Amour tried his hand at various other genres of pulp fiction. But the pulp magazine market was drying up, so it was generally a good thing he found other work.… Continue reading Book Review: The Hills of Homicide

Book Review: Binary Star #4: Legacy | The Janus Equation

Book Review: Binary Star #4: Legacy | The Janus Equation by Joan D. Vinge | Steven G. Spruil “Binary Star” was a short-lived series of paperbacks from Dell SF in the late 1970s/early 1980s. Their gimmick was pairs of novellas with a loose theme, something like the classic Ace Doubles. #4 was the first with… Continue reading Book Review: Binary Star #4: Legacy | The Janus Equation

Book Review: Sweep of Stars

Book Review: Sweep of Stars by Maurice Broaddus Muungano isn’t an empire, at least not yet. It’s a strongly connected group of communities including the Dreaming City on the Moon, Bronzeville on Mars, Titan, and the far flung Oyigiyigi mining outpost. They’re tired together by a shared weusi culture dominated by peoples from the African… Continue reading Book Review: Sweep of Stars

Book Review: Time Gladiator

Book Review: Time Gladiator by Mack Reynolds (aka “Sweet Dreams, Sweet Princes”) In the early 21st Century, the United American State has become a caste society. The Upper 1% have most of the wealth and power, while the Lower 90% have been automated out of jobs and must subsist on the People’s Capitalism, a welfare… Continue reading Book Review: Time Gladiator

Book Review: Son of Robin Hood in Nottingham

Book Review: Son of Robin Hood in Nottingham by Paul A. Castleton Young Merion is the eponymous son of Robin Hood by Lady Marian (in this version, Robin is actually Robert of Locksley, a knight unjustly convicted and stripped of his lands.) He has come to live with his father in Sherwood Forest in the… Continue reading Book Review: Son of Robin Hood in Nottingham

Book Review: Frank Merriwell’s School Days

Book Review: Frank Merriwell’s School Days by Burt L. Standish This is the first of the long-running and once-famous Frank Merriwell series of exciting books for teenaged boys. These were written by Gilbert Patten under the pen name of Standish, and the first few volumes are actually compilations of stories originally published in Tip-Top Weekly,… Continue reading Book Review: Frank Merriwell’s School Days