Cabinet of Wonders, 4.4.15
Today, take comfort in stories your grandmother might tell. Fables, folklore and fairy tales that dance tantalizingly beyond the real fill the cabinet. A little classic, a lot creepy and certainly worth sharing, check these out for short spurts of nostalgia. A Review of The Good Son, by Naomi Kritzer at Lightspeed Magazine One […]
Cabinet of Wonders, 3.21.15
This week it’s all about manipulating emotions. Let these authors in when they knock; your reward will be an immersive experience that wrenches from you feelings you didn’t expect. Be ready for disgust, horror, delight, peace and disruption. All this and more awaits in these guaranteed mood-changers. A Review of Featherweight, by Robert […]
Cabinet of Wonders, 3.7.15
This week, the cabinet is full of fantasy. I’m dreaming of better weather by slipping into the dreamworlds of others. Dolphins, dragons and doves in the depths of conflict: take a trip with these three tales to take a break from your reality. A Review of Surfacing, by Marissa Lingen, at Lightspeed Magazine […]
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 […]
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, […]
The short stories of Kelly Link
Nobody writes cooler stories than Kelly Link. Link’s stories draw from fairy tales, myth, pop culture, experimental, horror, gothic, and detective fiction, the tabloids, dreams, nightmares, and half a dozen other things. But this is not merely pulp fiction—wham, bam, thrill and chill. Link uses the tools of pulp fiction to deal with literary concerns: […]
Waking the Moon, by Elizabeth Hand
The Moon with a Knife-Sharp Edge Three unwitting college students stand between the reawakening of a dark goddess and the Benandanti, a secret society of magicians who have been running the world for thousands of years. Waking the Moon, which won a Mythopoeic Award and a James Tiptree, Jr. Award, is part horror, part coming […]
Silently and Very Fast, by Catherynne M. Valente
A Beautiful View of The Singularity Imagine if you could go anywhere, do anything, and never be alone. Would it bother you if your closest companion and co-creator was a machine? You might think so, but then again you might change your mind after reading this gorgeous, evocative novel, narrated by Elefsis, the machine in […]