Book Review: The Year’s Best S-F: 5th Annual Edition

Book Review: The Year’s Best S-F: 5th Annual Edition edited by Judith Merrill This 1960 book features a selection of speculative fiction short stories published during the 1958-60 time period.  Editor Judith Merrill provides an introduction about the concept of wonder, chatty introductions to each story (she doesn’t think much of Kingsley Amis as a… Continue reading Book Review: The Year’s Best S-F: 5th Annual Edition

Book Review: The Deaths of Tao

Book Review: The Deaths of Tao by Wesley Chu Note: This is the sequel to The Lives of Tao and this review may contain SPOILERS for the previous volume. Millions of years ago, the Quasing crashed on Earth.  They could not survive in Earth’s atmosphere, and were forced to piggyback inside the native lifeforms.  They managed… Continue reading Book Review: The Deaths of Tao

Book Review: Soldiers Out of Time

Book Review: Soldiers Out of Time by Steve White Spoiler Warning: This is the fifth book in the Jason Thanou series, and as such, this review will contain SPOILERS for earlier volumes in the story.  Starting with the very next paragraph, so you are on your own from here. The Special Operations Section of the… Continue reading Book Review: Soldiers Out of Time

Comic Book Review: Bodies

Comic Book Review: Bodies written by Si Spencer; art by Dean Ormstom, Phil Winslade, Meghan Hetrick, & Tula Lotay. Disclaimer:  I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it.  No other compensation was involved. A string of seemingly-identical murders baffles London detectives in four time periods.  It can’t… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Bodies

Book Review: Boy Scouts of the Air on the French Front

Book Review: Boy Scouts of the Air on the French Front by Gordon Stuart Tod Fulton’s father is an inventor who has developed a new airplane that can hover in place and has true VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) capabilities.  Up to now, he wasn’t able to sell it as there were no peacetime applications.… Continue reading Book Review: Boy Scouts of the Air on the French Front

Comic Book Review: Parallel Man: Invasion America

Comic Book Review: Parallel Man: Invasion America Written by Jeffrey Morris & Fredrick Haugen, Art by Christopher Jones During World War Two on an alternate Earth, the United States did not develop the atomic bomb.  Instead, they developed the ability to travel to parallel timestreams, which they first used to win the war.   Fair… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Parallel Man: Invasion America

Manga Review: UQ Holder! Vol. 1

Manga Review: UQ Holder! Vol. 1 by Ken Akamatsu It is a couple of generations into the future, and both reasonably-priced space travel and  techno-magic have come into existence.   Large swaths of Earth’s population has gone to space, with the remaining people either enjoying life in small country villages or struggling in the remaining big… Continue reading Manga Review: UQ Holder! Vol. 1

Magazine Review: Analog Science Fiction and Fact June 2015

Magazine Review: Analog Science Fiction and Fact June 2015 edited by Trevor Quachri Since its debut issue as Astounding Stories of Super-Science in January 1930, what would become Analog was one of the most influential, and often the most influential, science fiction magazines on the racks.  After I reviewed Analog  1 (a collection of stories from when the… Continue reading Magazine Review: Analog Science Fiction and Fact June 2015

Magazine Review: Cosmic Crime Stories July 2012

Magazine Review: Cosmic Crime Stories July 2012 edited by Tyree Campbell If you want to stand out in the crowded field of speculative fiction, one of the ways is “genre-blending,” taking two different popular genres and splicing them together.  For example, horror and romance to create the vampire love stories so immensely popular in recent times.… Continue reading Magazine Review: Cosmic Crime Stories July 2012

Book Review: Analog 1.

Book Review: Analog 1 edited by John W. Campbell Astounding Science Fiction was one of the most influential science fiction magazines from the 1930s to the 1950s.   But long-time editor John W. Campbell had felt for years that the title did not reflect the more mature, “hard” science fiction he preferred to run.  So… Continue reading Book Review: Analog 1.