Browsed by
Author: John ONeill

Colony Ships, Cowboy Ghosts, and Jeeves and Wooster in Space: January-February Print SF Magazines

Colony Ships, Cowboy Ghosts, and Jeeves and Wooster in Space: January-February Print SF Magazines

Comments 2 comments


January/February 2023 issues of Asimov’s Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction & Fact, and
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Cover art by Shutterstock, Tomislav Tikulin, and Kent Bash

The big news for print SF mags over the past few months has been price increases. Asimov’s SF and Analog, both published by Dell Magazines, increased prices by a buck in July of last year, from $7.99 to $8.99 per issue. Subscriptions increased from $35.97 to $47.94 for six issues/one year. The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction increased from $9.99 per issue to $10.99 with the January/February issue, and subs jumped to $65.94 for one-year. Considering how much fiction and overall content you get per issue, all of the magazines remain a bargain.

Consider the January/February issues, for example. They contain brand new fiction from some of the biggest names in the biz, including Norman Spinrad, Alec Nevala-Lee, Robert Reed, James Van Pelt, David D. Levine, Maurice Broaddus, Mary Soon Lee, Bruce McAllister, Shane Tourtellotte, Dominica Phetteplace, Rudy Rucker, Tochi Onyebuchi, Genevieve Williams, Karen Heuler, and many others.

…

Read More Read More

Street Thieves and Queen’s Guards: Dance of Thieves by Mary E. Pearson

Street Thieves and Queen’s Guards: Dance of Thieves by Mary E. Pearson

Comments 0 Comment


Dance of Thieves and Vow of Thieves (Square Fish, 2019 and 2022). Covers by Rich Deas and Mike Burroughs

I don’t pay as much attention to Young Adult fantasy as I should. It’s not experiencing the explosion of bestsellers and media attention it was just a few years ago, but it’s still one of the bright spots in genre publishing, and where a lot of talented writers are doing some excellent work.

Fortunately Barnes & Noble makes it easy for me to stumble on some of the most exciting titles, and that’s exactly what happened on Sunday when I stopped in front of their YA display tables. There in the center was Dance of Thieves, the first of a two-volume series featuring an outlaw family, a legendary street thief, a dark secret, the young women of the Queen’s guard, a son thrust suddenly into power, and a life-and-death cat and mouse game between them all. It shares a setting with the author’s bestselling Remnant Chronicles, which helped pique my interest, and that (and the enticing description) was enough to convince me to take it home.

…

Read More Read More

Vintage Treasures: Isaac Asimov’s Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction: Invasions, edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, Charles G. Waugh

Vintage Treasures: Isaac Asimov’s Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction: Invasions, edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, Charles G. Waugh

Comments 0 Comment

Isaac Asimov’s Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction #10: Invasions (Roc, August 1990). Cover by J.K. Potter

This week we’re looking at Invasions, the tenth and final volume in Isaac Asimov’s Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction, a paperback original anthology series edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh between 1983 and 1990.

Asimov, Greenberg, and Waugh were an industry unto themselves in the 80s and early 90s. Together they produced some 80 SF anthologies, over half a dozen every year, until Asimov’s death in 1992. In general Waugh made the story selections, Greenberg handled the rights and the contracts, and Asimov wrote the introductions (and lent his name to the series, which ensured robust sales).

The Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction, a companion series to the 13-volume Magical Worlds of Fantasy by the same editors, was a fun set, with themes like Intergalactic Empires, Tin Stars (robot detectives), Monsters, and Robots. Invasions, which wrapped up the series, containing a Berserker novelette by Fred Saberhagen, novellas by A. E. van Vogt and Lester del Rey, and stories by Philip K. Dick, Eric Frank Russell, Bob Shaw, Walter M. Miller, Jr., Henry Kuttner, Avram Davidson, William Tenn, and many others. It’s a great volume to start with if you’re interested in dipping your toe in 80s anthology collecting.

…

Read More Read More

A Classic Returns: In A Lonely Place by Karl Edward Wagner

A Classic Returns: In A Lonely Place by Karl Edward Wagner

Comments 12 comments

In A Lonely Place (Valancourt Books, January 17, 2023)

Ah, Valancourt Books. You’re always full of delightful surprises. How well I remember that fateful day in 2014 when I first laid eyes on your table at the World Fantasy Convention in Washington, D.C. Groaning it was (the table, not the convention), under the weight of uncountable literary treasures. Since that day I’ve kept a keen eye on your catalog, and you’ve never disappointed.

I’ve been extra-special not disappointed this week, since you saw fit to rectify one of the great publishing injustices of the last four decades: returning Karl Edward Wagner’s legendary first collection, In a Lonely Place, back to print, where it can delight and horrify a whole new generation of readers.

…

Read More Read More

Skybound Moves Forward With Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber

Skybound Moves Forward With Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber

Comments 5 comments


The Great Book of Amber, containing Roger Zelazny’s 10-volume
Amber Chronicles (Avon EOS, December 1999). Cover by Tim White

Molly Templeton at Tor.com is reporting that Stephen Colbert has joined forces with Skybound Entertainment to develop an adaptation of Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber, bringing much-needed hope that the long delayed-series will finally be brought to the screen.

In 2016, Skybound Entertainment announced that the series was in the works, with The Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman also on board. Though it’s been nearly seven years, this team is still in place, alongside Vincent Newman Entertainment and now Colbert’s production company, Spartina. Variety reports that Colbert said, “I’ve carried the story of Corwin in my head for over 40 years, and I’m thrilled to partner with Skybound and Vincent Newman to bring these worlds to life. All roads lead to Amber, and I’m happy to be walking them.”

Roger Zelazny was one of the greatest fantasy and science fiction writers of the 20th Century, and The Chronicles of Amber was his magnum opus. If you want to dip your toe into the original novels, Rajan Khanna has a splendid book-by-book reread at Tor.com.

New Treasures: Silver Queendom by Dan Koboldt

New Treasures: Silver Queendom by Dan Koboldt

Comments 11 comments


Silver Queendom (Angry Robot, August 23, 2022). Cover design by Alice Claire Coleman

Have you ever made a purchase decision less than halfway through the book description?

That’s exactly what happened to me on Sunday at Barnes & Noble, about ten seconds after I picked up Dan Koboldt’s Silver Queendom and read:

Service at the Red Rooster Inn leaves much to be desired. The innkeeper, Darin, has a scowl for every new face. The homebrewed ale seems to grow less palatable with each new batch. The barmaid, Evie, only seems to work when wealthy young men are around, and the old witch Seraphina ensures that’s not too often. As for Big Tom, well, everyone learns quickly to stay on the bouncer’s good side. There’s a reason everyone in the Red Rooster crew is bad at their job… by night, they’re the best team of con artists in the Old Queendom.

That’s all I needed to decide to take the book home with me.

…

Read More Read More

Vintage Treasures: Moonheart by Charles de Lint

Vintage Treasures: Moonheart by Charles de Lint

Comments 11 comments


Moonheart (Ace Books, 1984). Cover by David Mattingly

I started reading science fiction and fantasy in the late 1970s, with authors like Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg, Stephen R. Donaldson, and of course J.R.R. Tolkien. I learned an enormous amount from those early books, about astronomy, and space travel, and speculative physics and chemistry. And about adult relationships, and the US. military, and the kind of alien life that might exist on Venus (the kind that resembled dinosaurs, obviously).

But one of the most important things I learned was that fantasy adventures occurred elsewhere. In big cities in the United States, and small, magical towns in England. In underground government labs, and secret rebel bases on the ice planet Hoth. They certainly didn’t happen in my home town of Ottawa, Ontario, and the surrounding valley. At least, they didn’t until Chares de Lint burst on the scene with his own brand of fantasy in 1984, with books like the groundbreaking Moonheart, which helped launch the urban fantasy explosion of the 80s and 90s.

…

Read More Read More

The Modern Horrors of Ronald Malfi

The Modern Horrors of Ronald Malfi

Comments 1 comment


Black Mouth and Ghostwritten (Titan Books, July 2022, October 2022). Cover designs by Julia Lloyd

There’s nothing quite like a thoroughly unexpected discovery in a good bookstore.

I couldn’t find the last Dell Magazines at my local Barnes & Noble in nearby Geneva, Illinois. So before Christmas I made a snowy road trip to the B&N superstore in Naperville. I didn’t find the magazines I wanted (what the heck, B&N magazine clerks??), but the 20 minutes I spent browsing their Science Fiction & Fantasy section turned out to be enormously rewarding anyway.

Possibly the most consequential discovery I made was a small section of shelving real estate devoted to a horror writer I’d never heard of, Ronald Malfi. I ended up taking two of his books home with me, Black Mouth and Ghostwritten, and spending time this week tracking down the rest online.

…

Read More Read More

A Valentine’s Gift for Lovers of Fantasy Intrigue: The Tyranny of Faith by Richard Swan

A Valentine’s Gift for Lovers of Fantasy Intrigue: The Tyranny of Faith by Richard Swan

Comments 1 comment


The Justice of Kings and The Tyranny of Faith (Orbit, 2022 and 2023). Covers by Martina Fackova

When I wrote about Richard Swan’s debut fantasy novel The Justice of Kings back in October, I got an enthusiastic response. Wayne Ligon called it “My favorite fantasy this year, so far!” and BG blogger Sarah Avery said,

I’m a sucker for fantasy novels that care about the rule of law. I loved Sebastian de Castell’s Greatcoats series, about badass itinerant magistrates in a recently failed state, to no end. This one looks likely to scratch the same itch.

Hot on the heels of The Justice of Kings comes The Tyranny of Faith, due from Orbit on Valentine’s Day. Kirkus Reviews tells us, “While The Justice of Kings was pretty dark, this volume gets even grittier.” I know that’s just what you bloodthirsty lot were dying to hear.

…

Read More Read More

Future Treasures: Meru by S.B. Divya

Future Treasures: Meru by S.B. Divya

Comments 0 Comment

Meru by S.B. Divya (47North, February 1, 2023)

S.B. Divya has made a heckuva splash in just a few years. She was the co-editor (with Mur Lafferty) of the Hugo-nominated Escape Pod, and her debut novella Runtime (Tor.com, 2016) was nominated for a Nebula. Her first novel Machinehood (Saga Press, 2021) was also nominated for a Nebula last year.

Needless to say, her upcoming novel Meru is highly anticipated. A far-future thriller of a woman who attempts the impossible to prove that mankind is ready to live among the stars, it’s already been called “a thrilling combination of traditional SF space travel and forward-thinking examinations of what ‘humanity’ will mean in the future” by Library Journal, and “rich and complicated [with] plenty of jaw-dropping space scenes” (Kirkus Reviews).

Meru will be released in trade paperback by 47North early next month.

…

Read More Read More