24 Aug, 2019
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Volume one of REDISCOVERY represents a historic first: fourteen selections of the best science fiction of the Silver Age, written by the unsung women authors of yesteryear and introduced by today’s rising stars. Join us and rediscover these lost treasures.
19 Aug, 2019
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(Not every piece I do for tor fits their needs. Here’s an example.)
Per Theodore Sturgeon, ninety percent of everything is crud (that is, everything published). Most of this crud is of the unmemorable variety, it occupies the brain for a few moments before being forgotten. Some is educationally bad; you might not like the story, but at least understanding why it did not work is illuminating. A very very small fraction is so egregiously wretched that it inspires mockery and disparagement decades after publication, even if out of print. One memorable example: Randall Garrett’s 1958 short story “The The Queen Bee.”
Many of you are mercifully unaware of this story. Let me fix that for you:
some stories are not just worse than you imagine, they are worse than you can imagine
12 Aug, 2019
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University of Waterloo Associate Professor Sarah Tolmie, author of SF works The Little Animals, The Stone Boatmen, Two Travellers, and NoFood, as well as the poetry collection Trio, and chapbook Sonnet in a Blue Dress and Other Poems, is my designated representative.
Tolmie’s “Ursula Le Guin in the Underworld” won a 2019 Rhysling Award, and has been nominated for an Aurora. The Art of Dying was shortlisted for the 2019 Griffin Poetry Prize.
10 Aug, 2019
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From New York Times bestselling author Joe Abercrombie comes the first book in a new blockbuster fantasy trilogy where the age of the machine dawns, but the age of magic refuses to die.
The chimneys of industry rise over Adua and the world seethes with new opportunities. But old scores run deep as ever.
On the blood-soaked borders of Angland, Leo dan Brock struggles to win fame on the battlefield, and defeat the marauding armies of Stour Nightfall. He hopes for help from the crown. But King Jezal’s son, the feckless Prince Orso, is a man who specializes in disappointments.
Savine dan Glokta — socialite, investor, and daughter of the most feared man in the Union — plans to claw her way to the top of the slag-heap of society by any means necessary. But the slums boil over with a rage that all the money in the world cannot control.
The age of the machine dawns, but the age of magic refuses to die. With the help of the mad hillwoman Isern-i-Phail, Rikke struggles to control the blessing, or the curse, of the Long Eye. Glimpsing the future is one thing, but with the guiding hand of the First of the Magi still pulling the strings, changing it will be quite another…
3 Aug, 2019
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For generations, the Hundred Isles have built their ships from the bones of ancient dragons to fight an endless war.
The dragons disappeared, but the battles for supremacy persisted.
Now the first dragon in centuries has been spotted in far-off waters, and both sides see a chance to shift the balance of power in their favour. Because whoever catches it will win not only glory, but the war.
26 Jul, 2019
Some people are born boring. Some live boring. Some even die boring. Fred managed to do all three, and when he woke up as a vampire, he did so as a boring one. Timid, socially awkward, and plagued by self-esteem issues, Fred has never been the adventurous sort.
One fateful night – different from the night he died, which was more inconvenient than fateful – Fred reconnects with an old friend at his high school reunion. This rekindled relationship sets off a chain of events thrusting him right into the chaos that is the parahuman world, a world with chipper zombies, truck driver wereponies, maniacal necromancers, ancient dragons, and now one undead accountant trying his best to “survive.” Because even after it’s over, life can still be a downright bloody mess.
20 Jul, 2019
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Marie Brennan’s Turning Darkness Into Light is a delightful fantasy of manners, the heir to the award-winning Natural History of Dragons series, a perfect stepping stone into an alternate Victorian-esque fantasy landscape. “Overwhelmingly fun.”― io9 on The Tropic of Serpents
**
As the renowned granddaughter of Isabella Camherst (Lady Trent, of the riveting and daring Draconic adventure memoirs) Audrey Camherst has always known she, too, would want to make her scholarly mark upon a chosen field of study. When Lord Gleinheigh recruits Audrey to decipher a series of ancient tablets holding the secrets of the ancient Draconean civilization, she has no idea that her research will plunge her into an intricate conspiracy, one meant to incite rebellion and invoke war. Alongside dearest childhood friend and fellow archeologist Kudshayn, must find proof of the conspiracy before it’s too late.
6 Jul, 2019
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What would happen if the Federation in Star Trek was broke?
That’s the basis for two new M‑SPACE titles written by Mike Larrimore (author of last years excellent Agony & Ecstasy for Mythras). Instead of a prosperous mega-government, as in Star Trek, the focus in Elevation is a tiny NGO — aptly named Elevation — running solely on the devotion of its members. Its goal is to find new life and new civilisations.
The problem is, it only succeeded once and now funds are running out. They are in desperate need of new heroic recruits.
But competition from greedy corporations, pirates, aggressive aliens and convoluted bureacracy is literally deadly. The race for new discoveries is on.
1 Jul, 2019
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June
21 books read. 12 by women (57%), 9 by men (43%)
Works by POC: 8 (38%)
Year to Date
124 books read. 69.75 by women (56%). 52.25 by men (42%). 2 by an author whose gender is unknown (2%).
Works by POC: 50.75 (41%)
And now for the meaningless, outdated chart.
29 Jun, 2019
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Magic is the only weapon against the gods in the powerful final novel of this epic fantasy trilogy about battlemages and sorcerers in a world that fears their powers.
A plague rages in the streets of Perizzi. City guards rally to deal with riots while the young magicians of the Tower pool their healing powers to find a cure.
Elsewhere, new alliances are formed to stem the rising darkness strengthening a deity who feeds on pestilence and decay. Gods, Sorcerers and Battlemages must set aside the past and their vendettas to work together or risk unleashing greater suffering than they can possibly imagine…