Greener Pastures, by Michael Wehunt
Georgia native Michael Wehunt has quietly, almost unobtrusively made a name for himself as a major figure in modern dark and weird fiction, and this first collection of eleven of his stories sets the seal on that endeavor.
Experimental Film, by Gemma Files
Creep Canadian Cinerama Gemma Files has been accumulating awards for years, and Experimental Film is one of her latest, best and most personal demonstrations why. The story is constructed as a first-person scenario for an experimental film by failing Toronto film school teacher and sometime critic Lois Cairns – or at least, that’s what she […]
Wylding Hall, by Elizabeth Hand
A Folk Rock Frightener in England Elizabeth Hand, a prize-winning New York-born author who lives in Maine, has produced one of the best English mystery tales for many a day. “It began as a riff on Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca,” she has said elsewhere, and the riff developed into a mesmerizing original composition with, as it […]
The Madonna and the Starship, by James Morrow
Science Fiction vs. Fundamentalism In 1953, Kurt Jastrow writes science fiction stories for love but not much money. He scripts and hosts a children’s TV show called Brock Barton and his Rocket Rangers to pay the rent. In his spare time he hangs out with other TV writers and moons after Connie, the highly educated […]
Authority, by Jeff VanderMeer
The Eerie Foreboding Continues… Jeff Vandermeer continues to spin a spooky, thought-provoking story with Authority, book 2 in The Southern Reach Trilogy. The first book, Annihilation, followed the character of the unnamed biologist and the rest of the twelfth expedition into Area X, an uninhabited area of Florida which has reverted to a wilderness that […]
Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer
A Suspenseful, Eerie Page-Turner Jeff VanderMeer’s star has been rising for some years now, and if Annihilation, the first book of The Southern Reach Trilogy is any indication, this series will satisfy long-time readers and earn him many new ones. The story unfolds as a group of four women scientists travel into “Area X” a […]
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman
Delightful, Enchanting and Scary Do you remember what it feels like to be a child, able to believe in the possibility of magic? This book transported me back to, once again, believing in the delightful world of make believe … or is it? The story starts off with a death and a funeral, in which […]
The Afterlife of Emerson Tang, by Paula Champa
Metaphysical, Elegant Treatment of Family and the Afterlife Although the plot revolves around the wealthy collector Emerson Tang and a car, this is really the story of Beth, Emerson’s archivist. Beth has had trouble connecting with other people, ever since a painful near-death experience as a child. She has felt a lack of direction and […]
Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow
If You’re Not Doing Anything Wrong… Marcus Yallow is a 17-year old geek genius living in a near-future San Francisco where kids are monitored constantly by cyber-security on their school-issued laptops, radio frequency ID chips in their library books, and gait recognition software in the halls. Marcus delights in getting around the system with harmless […]
Brown Girl in the Ring, by Nalo Hopkinson
Serving the Spirits In this near future, post-apocalyptic Toronto, the wealthy live in the suburbs. In the inner city, government and social structures have disintegrated after a series of riots. “The ones who couldn’t or wouldn’t get out,” use a system of barter, and live under the shadow of crime-lord Rudy and his posse. Ti-Jeanne, […]