Urban fantasy has long-reaching roots, but it is only in the last twenty years or so that writers and readers have begun using the term in an effort to describe and define a subgenre of fantasy. A subgenre in which the city defines the setting as well as itself as a character. The theme of Paper Cities, an Anthology of Urban Fantasy is to illustrate how cities are like living entities in themselves, and how they affect and influence the lives of those that dwell within them.

Some of the stories emphasized the physical aspects of the city creating distinctive images and atmospheres like Jay Lake's Promises: A Tale of the City Imperishable,

On the roof---a roof, rather, for the Sudgate was ramified and ramparted like some palace of dream---the moonlight was almost violet. The heavy grease-and-shit scent of the Sudgate Districts moiled below them somewhere, miscegenating with night humors off the Saltus and whatever flowed down from Heliograph Hill and the Limerock Palace. Sister Nurse set Girl down so that they stood on a narrow ledge, looking back across the City Imperishable to the north and east as a curious, abrasive wind plucked at them both.

and The Funeral, Ruined by Ben Peek,

Lately, the twin ovens had a tendency to blur around the edges for Linette, but even with the beginning of her deteriorating eyesight due to her thirty-eighth year, the immense girth and height of the creations meant that they were unable to be passed over when she looked at Issuer’s skyline. In contrast, the hundreds of long, bronze windmills that rose out of the city could---and did--- fade from her awareness. The Ovens, however, lurked on the horizon like a pair of dark, hunched watchers outside the city, covered in a layer of soot as a disguise. If you managed to forget them (and Linette doubted she ever could), then you would be reminded each Friday when they belched tart smelling ash, and plumes rose out of each to signal the burning of the weekly dead.

Others showed how peoples lives were re-shaped, adapted to, or otherwise forced to conform to their environment like in the absurdly strange Godivy by Vylar Kaftan where office managers mate with copiers to produce...copies of themselves, and in the sobering story Taser by Jenn Reese in which a gang of human boys is led by a ruthless husky-mixed dog with telepathic abilities. In Catherynne M. Valente’s Palimpsest, the city makes its mark on the inhabitants literally,

I caught a glimpse in my mirror as I turned to catch a loose thread in my skirt---behind my knee, a dark network of lines and angles, and, I thought I could see, tiny words scrawled above them, names and numbers, snaking over the grid.

After that, I began to look for them.

There were the fantastically adventurous stories like Alex and the Toyceivers by Paul Meloy. This short story is actually the first chapter of a novel in which demented toy-like beasts are after Alex. A sudden, violent confrontation and narrow escape left me wanting to know more about the Toyceivers and why they were after Alex. The Somnambulist by David J. Schwartz tells of a woman who awakens most mornings exhausted and aching because …

She dreamed that she carried a fire-tipped lance astride an eight-legged horse, that she excavated bones from the floors of ancient cathedrals, that she climbed the inner walls of ruined fortresses long since given over to tourists and pulled amulets from behind loose bricks. Sometimes she killed faceless things that crawled through wind or flew upon currents of sand. She developed calluses on her hands, woke up sore after sleeping on silk sheets. Her nails never needed to be clipped.

The Tower of Morning’s Bones by Hal Duncan is an exaltation of language that spans time and space to revel in the most ancient of myths and more modern technologies in a single bound. Its tone and prose are reminiscent of his duology, The Book of All Hours,

Over the grey memory of his dream and over the grey reality of the world outside, he sings out loud and long the lines that weave the world around him, music and mosaic, a shape of songlines. This modern muezzin sings from his minaret to wake the mourning city up, and as he sings, a tower of hours arises out of swamp, vines climbing shaft to glassy dome. The songliner laughs---the city’s morning glory. Somewhere a weathervane cockcrows.

Although they all share a common theme, the diversity of the stories and imaginations of the authors make this collection an interesting and compelling read. In Paper Cities, the city is not a mere background against which authors prop their characters to tell a story. The city is a character: an incredibly viable, evolving, and influential one at that.

In March of this year one of the greatest writers of science fiction, Arthur C. Clarke passed away at the age of ninety. I had of course heard of his work, but I never actually read anything by him so I decided to dig up some of his work. My reading pile is several feet high at the moment so it took me a while to get to it but this week I finally finished the work for which he is probably best known, 2001: A Space Odyssey.The film by Stanley Kubrick and this novel, written and produced simultaneously are a landmark in the genre. In preparation to this review I watched the film as well. I've seen parts of it before by I watched it in it's entirety for the first time. Although I feel you can't really separate the two I decided I liked the book better even though the film is visually stunning keeping in mind it is forty years old by now.

A summary of the plot is a bit difficult, the book consists of several loosely connected parts, I'll cover the first two, you'll have to make your own way from there. The story begins some three million years ago when a group of ape-men, as Clarke describes them, discover an strange monolith. Given the timing and the knowledge of human evolution at the time he most likely based them on some species of Australopithecus. Human ancestry is still poorly understood so it makes sense to be vague on that particular detail. The ape-men are living a marginal life in an environment that had gradually become dryer and less forested. Survival and food occupy all their attention and they are slowly loosing the battle. Then the monolith shows them the use of tools and the ape-men become hunters.

Three million years later the ancestors of our ape-men come across another monolith. This time it buried on the moon and it was clearly left there to be found. Scientists quickly discover that the artefact has been buried there three million years ago. The conclusion is inescapable, they have found the first signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life. And the monolith surprises them in another way too. When sunlight hits is for the first time in three million years it sends out a clear radio signal in the direction of Saturn. What have they found here? An intergalactic bugler alarm? There is only one way to find out. An expedition is mounted to Saturn. An expedition so secret not even the astronauts know it's true goal. Only the ships computer, a powerful artificial intelligence by the name of HAL9000 has been fully briefed.

Clarke is not know for his highly literary approach of the genre but rather for his realistic descriptions of space travel, his optimistic vision of the future and of course the accuracy his predictions (a debatable matter in my opinion). I very much enjoyed the descriptions of space travel without he artificial gravity nonsense you'll find in most science fiction. His eye for detail, the small things that can cause problems in a zero-gravity environment, is brilliant. Especially if you consider it was written in an age when space flight was in it's infancy. Come to think of it, the time of the release of this book and film, just before the landing on the moon by Neill Armstong c.s. probably contributed to it's status. The moon landing took some of the fiction out of science fiction. His ideas on artificial intelligence are quite interesting too. I thought the HAL in the book a lot more creepy than the one in the film, even if that single red light is a great way of visualizing HAL.

The year 2001 has come and passed and looking at the future Clarke describes in his book he seems to have been a bit too optimistic. He also failed to foresee the fall of the USSR for instance. It seems he was also too optimistic about the possibilities of manned space travel. In recent years unmanned spacecraft have proven to be more a versatile and more cost effective way of exploring space. On the other hand one has to wonder what might have been possible if all the funds and effort would have gone into manned space travel. Clarke thought it pretty likely we would find life or traces thereof in other places in the solar system. The moon has not been explored as thoroughly as it has been in the book but the chance of finding any sort of (past) life seems quite remote. Clarke also seems to favour a theory on the formation of the moon that is not currently the one thought of as most likely. The list of inaccuracies is quite long if you bother to pay attention to them. None of them really distracted me form the story though.

2001: A Space Odyssey is probably not the greatest work of science fiction from a literary point of view but the sheer power of Clarke's vision make it live up to it's reputation as a classic in my opinion. The book also explains a lot of things the film leaves (deliberately) vague. In fact I don't think there is a single person who understood the film after seeing it the first time. Especially the end, which can only be described as Kubrick's interpretation of a particularly heavy LSD trip, leaves the viewer with a lot of questions. The novel explains a lot of these things. I don't think Kubrick and Clarke meant it that way but I don't think you can really separate the two. The way the film and the book came to be is unique, neither can claim seniority really and they are somehow intertwined. The best thing to do is probably watch the film, read the book and then watch the film again. Which is precisely what I am going to do.

With A Brief History of the Dead, Kevin Brockmeier achieved a measure of mainstream literary success. In spite of this, he stalwartly considers himself a genre author. In fact, he has been announced as the guest editor of the 2009 edition Best American Fantasy. It’s a refreshing change of pace from authors who freely take tropes from genre fiction and thumb their noses at genre (I’m looking at you, Margaret Atwood and Jeanette Winterson). Brockmeier’s fiction definitely straddles the line; his fabulations are openly metaphors and allegories; but at the same time, they cannot be ignored and dismissed as dream sequences and alternate states of mind of the characters. The two Brockmeier fictions I read occur in contemporary ‘real’ world; when the fantastic element intrudes, the focus still tends to be on the characters. In short, Brockmeier creates a kind of ‘mundane’ fantasy fiction (to borrow a phrase from Geoff Ryman, the leader of ‘mundane’ science fiction movement). Think of the work of Haruki Murakami, or perhaps, Jonathan Carroll.

His 2003 novel, The Truth About Celia, has a metafictional frame device. The text is authored by Christopher Brooks, a fantasy novelist. One day, while showing his historical landmark house to a tourist couple, his seven year old daughter Celia vanishes. The resulting mosaic novel is Brooks’ way of dealing with the grief and horror. As he isolates himself and his marriage dissolves, he creates alternative realities in which Celia exists, as a teenager or a single mother with a missing past or as a child who has disappeared into another world. These stories alternate with real life events, such as his wife Janet’s psychotic breakdown in a movie theater, or an overview of the small town when a memorial service is held for Celia. Poignant moments abound in Brockmeier’s direct, crystalline prose.

The opening section, simply entitled, ‘March 15, 1997’ tells the story of Celia’s supposed abduction from her point of view, in childlike, glimmering prose. It’s ominous and magical at once. It ends on an unsettlingly enigmatic note. ‘The Green Children’ tells the story of the sudden appearance of two strange, green-skinned children in a fantasy world. The narrator—a stand-in for Brooks—is a giant man who ferries people back and forth over a treacherous river. The green-skinned girl piques his curiosity; the resonances of the text come from the over-arching frame story. ‘The Ghost of Travis Whorley’ follows 14-year old Celia and her relationship with a mysterious boy. It’s a strange hybrid story, part John Cheever suburbia, part gothic ghost story. In the real world, ‘The Telephone’ has Brooks speaking his missing daughter through a toy phone, as his wife Janet strays into an affair. Each of these stories could be in either The New Yorker or in a fantasy anthology. Brockmeier plays a dangerous fictional game; one misstep, and the stories are too precious or clever for their own good. But his sure hand for character and buoyant, evanescent prose never falters.

Brockmeier’s fiction is ‘post-genre.’ Genre fiction informs the novel, in non overt ways. There’s a reference to J.G. Ballard, and the book has a tricky structure that gives a hint of Gene Wolfe’s elaborately layered work. He has create an elegiac meditation on grief out of scraps of fiction. In a way, it reminds me of Michael Cunningham’s similar experiment of thematically linked novellas, Specimen Days. Brockmeier has a new collection of short stories out, The View From the Seventh Layer. I look forward to exploring his unique voice.

Cartomancy is a collection of short fiction by Mary Gentle. I am appreciating this kind of writing a lot more than I used to for some reason. I got a short story collection by Frank Herbert on the to read pile as well as the Wastelands anthology of post-apocalyptic short stories. Martin's Dreamsongs must have converted me. But let's stick to the book at hand. This collection is a mixture of fantasy, historical fiction, alternative history and science fiction and covers themes such as gender issues, sexual identity, Hermetism and a fascination with key events in history as well as the question what would have happened if such an event had run another course.

Let me first of all state that I am completely in love with the Gollancz cover design for Gentle's books. I used two other covers in the same style for my reviews of 1610: A Sundial in a Grave and Illario: the Lion's Eye. Cartomancy is graced by a similar cover. I sincerely hope no one at Gollancz will feel the need to redesign the covers any time soon. Too many crappy fantasy book covers around as it is. They can't possibly not screw up a redesign.

This collection is a cross-section of Gentle's writing in a way. It contains 15 short stories, most of which tie in to one of her novels somehow or are stories in which she develops ideas and concepts that will appear in her books. The stories are accompanied by short afterword by Gentle with a little additional information. After the introduction Cartomancy opens with The Logistics of Cartage, a story that is set in the First History universe and is set some 20 years before the events in Ash: a Secret History. Ash is by far Gentle's best know work, I consider it one of the best novels I ever read. The publisher makes a point of singling it out on the cover of course. Perhaps I am gullible like that but I did consider it one of the highlights of the collection. In 80 pages she takes us through the hardship, humour and tragedies of a 15th century mercenary company and reveals a tiny bit of Ash's past (although that is not the point of the story).

While The Logistics of Cartage of no doubt draw most readers in, there are a number of other jewels in this collection. I particularly enjoyed The Road to Jerusalem, an alternative history where Knights Templar have survived as a military organisation. What God Abandoned, a story featuring René Descartes, is an other favourite of mine. It is set in Prague right after the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 and uses the interest Descartes seems to have had in the Rosicrucians as a theme. Not to focus entirely on (alternative) history I will also mention The Pits Beneath the World. A science fiction story that features a young girl brought along on a scientific expedition to a planet inhabited by what appear to be sentient insectoids. She has formed a bond with one of them but they turn out to be more alien than she thought.

I must admit I haven't read Gentle's entire catalogue yet, especially some of her older works are pretty hard to find, and that my influence my view on this collection. I still recognize things in a lot of stories that later turn up in her novels (and most likely missed even more). While this makes Cartomancy very enjoyable for those who are familiar with Gentle's novels, I wouldn't consider this a good place to start if you consider reading Gentle. As with a lot of these collections, Cartomancy is more accessible to the real fan. Still, for someone who considers herself a natural at long fiction, she does a pretty good job at the short stuff.

Tick, an introverted and intelligent young man suddenly receives a mysterious letter. By opening it, Tick launches himself on an adventure of a lifetime. Each subsequent letter holds a quirky and sometimes humorous clue, promising Tick danger if he continues and harm to others if he quits. Intrigued and compelled, he pursues each clue vigorously in spite of the risk involved. The mysterious clues drag him across the country and introduce him to a spitfire Italian girl and an all-American jock from California. Banding together, the trio commits to seeing the mystery through.

At the root of it all are concepts of time and reality, the forces that bind and drive creation. In The Thirteenth Reality, Tick discovers more than one reality exists. Life as he knows it continues in Reality Prime while as many as thirteen other Earths continue on different planes of existence. If this seems overwhelming, don’t worry. Dashner lays out his concept of parallel realities in a manner young readers can understand. Even the basis of quantum physics, aka kyoopy, becomes approachable!

I enjoy how Dashner portrays Tick’s relationship with his family. Too many times, parents are viewed as either the idiot contingency or the evil overseers. Not here. Tick’s sisters drive him nuts but he still obviously loves them. Tick’s dad is a wonderful character that supports and trusts him even though this means letting go of his little boy. In a world where Tick is often a target, at home he is safe and loved. Maybe that isn’t realistic, but who said fantasy had to be reality? Perhaps a little wishful thinking would do us all some good.

I liked this story. There are a few classic aspects that walk on stage, but these are presented in a fresh and believable manner. The evil witch (dressed in lemon), a giant with a quasi-Cockney accent, a dwarf as round as he is tall, mechanistic magic that blurs the line between technology and fantasy; all delivered in wrapping paper designed by Dashner himself. He writes in bold colors, splashing strong characters across the pages who demand your attention (and sometimes your fear).

This isn’t a sweet little fairy tale, bad things happen and our hero is faced with tough decisions. Dashner quietly leads his readers from an odd mystery into a hair-raising quest complete with flesh-eating monsters. As odd as some of the scenes are, though, the entire thing holds together. This is definitely a book young readers should sample.

Chase was just a child when his pregnant mother was murdered, and his father committed suicide. Orphaned, he’s eventually claimed by his paternal grandfather, Jonah, a career criminal with a reputation for being hard as nails and ready to do whatever it takes to stay in the game. He can kill a man in cold blood without batting an eye, or needing a good reason.

By the time Chase is a teenager he’s already an accomplished wheelman, working robberies with Jonah, but unlike his grandfather, Chase has heart. When he sees Jonah kill a man, he quickly realizes that even their blood tie wouldn’t be enough to stop Jonah from turning his gun on him if he thinks he needs to. Chase decides to walk away from the only family he has left.

Unfortunately, his skill as a mechanic and driver – as well as a criminal – amount to the only education he has to fall back on. He doesn’t get on the straight and narrow. Instead, he steers clear of his grandfather and heads out of state.

Life changes for Chase when a female police officer sees the robbery in progress and goes to investigate. Chase barely manages to gain control of the situation, but is captivated by the tough woman who controls her fear, while staring down the barrel of a gun. The choices Chase makes that night alter the course of his life, and ultimately he does turn his life around, eventually marrying Lila, the cop. He works hard to keep his demons at bay, but when the unthinkable happens Chase has to avenge the woman he loves… and reaches out to Jonah for help.

As I read THE COLD SPOT, I was intrigued by the layers of the story. On the surface, the book has a lot of action, the kind of adrenaline-charged scenes that lend themselves to the big screen: car chases, murders, heists, and even some physical combat. However, there’s a deeper story that’s simmering beneath the plot twists. The question THE COLD SPOT poses is whether a tiger can change its stripes. How much of Chase was programmed from an early age, and can he ever truly break free from his roots, or will it take only one tragedy to take him back to his criminal ways?

It also toys with other interesting themes, about the ties that bind us to our families, forgiveness, and the fine line between love and hate. The relationship between Chase and his grandfather is an uneasy one at best, and with a hardened criminal like Jonah as one part of the equation the reader has the sense that anything can happen.

The other relationship dynamic that was particularly interesting to me was the one that existed between Chase and his father. I don’t think there’s much in this review that isn’t clear from, or alluded to, on the jacket of the book, and I don’t want to give any unnecessary spoilers. However, considering Chase’s father is dead from the start of the book, I found it intriguing to see how much influence Chase’s father had over him, and how that influenced his choices. Chase is determined not to be like his dad, but in some ways ends up mirroring him.

With the confidence of a master storyteller, Piccirilli resists handing us all the answers to the questions raised throughout the book, and while we’re given the impression that we may know what happened to Chase’s mother all those years ago, the possible explanation isn’t fully explored. THE COLD SPOT is being followed by THE COLDEST MILE, and one can hope that means further revelations and another confrontation between Chase and Jonah, one that might shed more light on their complex relationship.

I’m also intrigued by the idea of a second book with Chase, because in book one we’ve seen him mend his ways, only to fall from grace. Because we know that he’s capable of turning his life around, and essentially has a good heart, there’s a sense that his future may not be written in stone, and there’s hope that he may ultimately be redeemed.

It’s hard to review a writer like Piccirilli. His writing is so fluid and his storytelling has a natural rhythm that makes it nearly impossible to critique. I admire the way that he tells energetic, action-packed stories that cut deeper and probe questions about what it is to be human, to love, to change, and how the things that happen to us in our lives shape the person we ultimately become.

My latest review is for Counting Heads by David Marusek. This is a catchy read. The story pulls up sort of like a shiny new car to whisk you off to an exotic location. It is March 30, 2092. That is announced immediately like a road sign. The technology is exotic and plentiful from the get go, so that serves as an invitation to put the imagination on cruise control, kick the seat back and enjoy the scenery that Marusek supplies along the way. Along the way he throws descriptive zingers out there that are good for a laugh. On the first page we get the line:

“Her eyes peered out at you like eels in coral.”

The use of such similes and metaphors could quickly become annoying or look like the author was stretching too far to attempt to impart wit or charm into the tale, but in the context that they arrived it seemed to me that they came with a cheerful, good natured wink.

In 2092 and 2132 technology can do almost anything. Longevity to the point of virtual immortality is prevalent. Death for the most part is an inconvenience to be managed. The affluent in society can totally manage their lives compliments of extremely complex artificial intelligence called valets or later, mentars. There is virtually nothing that technology cannot provide those who have the access to it. But as our main characters, led by Samson Harger, learn technology can also take away as it gives. There are also some personal voids that no amount of technology can fill.

Such is the nature of life in this world that our story unfolds over a span of 40 years, not over days and months. A high tech “misunderstanding” changes Samson Harger’s life forever just when it seems like he truly does have everything. In a matter of seconds, literally, he has all of that taken away and is irrevocably turned into an outcast and fringe member of society.

That is but the beginning of a conspiracy against his family that takes 40 years to unfold and draws in all of the other characters, who cut a cross section across all social classes in the world. We see the affluents, the chartists, and the cloned workforce, as well as the ghosts and uncertainties that haunt them all even as it seems like they have everything that life could have to offer. We see that there always seems to be some longing that technology cannot fix. So not everything is idyllic in that utopian Star Trek way.

Our plot furthers itself as we follow the events of our characters, and they are varied. We have perhaps the only old man in the world who is near death but desires one final social statement before he dies, and a clone security expert who wonders if there’s more to life than the likes and dislikes, traits, and characteristics of his genetic line, and fears that even thinking about that may be a sign genetic clone fatigue. There is his wife, another clone who fears that the skillset of her genetic line is rapidly becoming obsolete in the current world. There is a retro-boy, who desires all the advantages of willingly remaining in a pre-puberty state even as he sees the disadvantages and missed opportunities. His housemeets in the Kodiak Charter also go about their daily lives as they watch their charter continue to decay from its previous heights. We have a social planner who is caught in the middle of a suspiciously improbable accident and finds himself further drawn into events by an AI entity.

Loose connections begin to be made in the plot as all these elements converge, and all road signs pointed to an exciting climax where everything finally came together, all those cherries on the slot machine lined up, and we got our big payout. I was reading eagerly, as the story was original and innovative enough that I didn’t find myself beating the novel to its conclusion. It built up and built up as our character drama reached critical mass. A number of chapters along the way were written with a different style or perspective. They must be there to draw attention to something important or significant, like a flashing hotel sign on the side of an interstate. Things seemed juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust on the verge of all coming together into what I was already anticipating as a big ‘Wow!’ moment. Then just like that the story reached a quick ending. Like the author ran out of words and the story had to stop there. The road ended pretty much exactly where the map for our journey said it would, but the map never said our shiny new car ride would stop at a bridge that was still under construction, with no road ahead left to travel. All those pieces along the way never assembled into a complete explanation. What was the point behind everything that happened? What was the big conspiracy hinted at through the story? You find that you don’t know anymore than what you speculated along the way. Or, like me, perhaps you feel like something of a dense reader, wondering if artfully planted clues and deep interpretations were left out there in plain sight so that all the answers should be self apparent, and that in the end after reading this fine book you managed to entirely miss the point and let it fly over your head.

Perhaps David Marusek wanted to foster conjecture and debate. Maybe somewhere in here he has encoded his secret answer to the meaning of life. Perhaps if I had a Bachelor or Master’s Degree in Literature the message he was conveying would not have slipped beneath my conscious threshold. But maybe he’s already planning for a sequel and wanted to leave them wanting more.

I do want more. I want some concrete answers. So for that I have to drop Counting Heads down a couple notches and give it an 8. I was counting heads but in the end I wasn’t able to report any sort of definitive number..

Unicorn Races, which is written by Stephen J. Brooks and illustrated by award-winning artist Linda Crokett takes us on an adventure with Abigail into her imagination. We watch as she finds herself in a magical forest with all sorts of magical creatures and treats as six very colorful unicorns race into the night sky

Stephen Brooks' story is one that will bring to life the wonderful magical creatures of the forest and is appropriate for children. Sometimes children's books either have a story too advanced, or have something that some parents might not approve of. This is not the case in Unicorn Races, it is a story for all ages.


"There in the deep of the woods, by a slow moving stream, was a royal feast prepared by elves and fairies of cookies and cakes..."


"The unicorns rose up, neighing and huffing, read for the race to begin."

Brooks paints a picture with words that Crokett does the exact opposite with by bringing to life with description her artwork.

The quality of the book is top notch from the nice puffy front hardcover, to the ultra glossy thick pages. This makes a nice canvas for Linda Crockett's artwork to be displayed. Each page is its own little piece of artwork that should be framed in a children's room, or printed out and sold on posters for people decorating young girls' rooms. Each page is sprinkled with a bit of stardust that truly makes the pages jump to life. The only issue I had with the artwork was that Abigail's face seemed to stand out a bit from the rest of the artwork, I do not know if this was something that was a conscious decision by the artist or not. Everything else was very colorful and dreamlike.

My two boys (2 and 4) sat through a reading of the book, they got really interested once the racing of the unicorns started as they both love racing. I have yet to try its wiles on a girl, but I believe it will be met with enthusiasm and enjoyment. This will be one of those books that your young girl will ask for night in and night out.

Chris Keating hated his life. He hated living on a planet covered mostly with water. He hated the smell of rotting seaweed. He hated his job and the fact he was an orphan. However, he despised the Selkies more than all of these hates put together. Modified genetically from human DNA, the Selkies were beings who could live underwater and on land. They had gills, modified hearing, vision and speech, all of which enabled them to be at home in the sea while still looking human. Because they were so at home in the water, Selkies ruled Marseguro, the planet Chris had the unfortunate reality of calling home.

Settled when a starship escaped Earth to flee religious and political persecution, Marseguro has remained hidden from Earth for seventy years. Not anymore. Selkies and humans alike will face their greatest fears when Earth seeks that which was lost to them seventy years ago, causing all involved to come to terms with the realities of prejudice and hate.

Portraying people at their worst and their best, this book challenges readers to revisit their first impressions. The unexpected dives in the storyline only add interest and depth to what could have been a shallow and simple sci-fi tale. Characters face issues of nature vs. nurture, the effects of bullying and the deep seated threads of prejudice, yet readers do not need to acknowledge any of this to enjoy Marseguro. Added to the mix is delightful display of tech that more resembles Star Trek (possible) as opposed to Star Wars (never gonna happen).

I liked this book more than I thought I would when I first picked it up. The author was constantly surprising me, which doesn’t happen often, twisting the usual sci-fi conventions into more than just a shoot ‘em up space opera. Edward Willett has created people, personalities with belief systems and misguided judgments who make mistakes in trying to do what they believe is right. Still what I would consider light reading, Marseguro is a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon on another planet. I look forward to the release of the sequel to Marseguro, Terra Insegura, later on next year.

Dune, for those unaware of its existence, is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert and published in 1965. Winning both the the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award in the year 1966, the novel claimed its place among the science fiction greatest. According to some sources, it was the first bestselling hardcover science fiction novel ever and with a total of 12 million copies sold, the single bestselling science fiction novel of our time. Dune has been widely influential, inspiring other novels (written by his son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson), music, films (most notably the Star Wars films), television series, video games and even comic books. I could go on with my list of popular media that have been influenced by this novel, but what it comes down to is this:

Dune is a masterwork and can rightfully considered to be among the classics in the genre.

The novel is set far in the future amidst a sprawling feudal galactic empire where planetary kingdoms are controlled by noble Houses that owe allegiance to the Imperial House of the Padisha Emperor, Shaddam Corrino IV. While the Padisha Emperor rules the Empire supreme from his Imperial Court on the planet Kaitain, power is shared among three factions. There is the Emperor who enforces his power by controlling the Sardaukar soldier-fanatics. Then there is the Spacing Guild, a powerful organization with their monopoly on interstellar space travel. The Guild also controls the banking aspect of the Empire, regularly employing it to advantage in its dealings with the Empire, the Noble Houses, and other factions. The third faction is an assembly known as the "Landsraad", which collectively represents the great houses. The Landsraad is often divided, as each of the great Houses is in constant competition for planetary kingdoms, political power and Imperial favor.

The narrative in Dune is concerned with the coming of age of young Paul Atreides (heir to Duke Leto of House Atreides), as he and his royal family relocate to the desert planet known as Arrakis. The planet Arrakis is the only source of the spice melange, one of the most valuable substances in the Empire. Arrakis is home to wandering tribes, the Fremen, the only race capable of living in the harsh desert conditions. Water is extremely rare and gigantic sandworms are among the few fauna to be found on the planet. Problems arise when the Harkonnen noble House, the former stewards of Arrakis, don’t want to give up their privilege. Through subtle sabotage and treachery they try to undermine the rule of the House Atreides. Anticipating problems, the Atreides duly arm themselves – but then tragedy strikes from a shockingly unexpected place.

The online dictionary defines a ‘classic’ as “an artist, author, or work generally considered to be of the highest rank or excellence, especially one of enduring significance”. The astonishing number of popular media influenced by Dune clearly shows its ‘enduring significance’, both in the genre and outside the genre, but Dune can be considered classic for other reasons. The novel was the first major ‘ecological science fiction’, as Herbert extensively focuses on the ecological aspect of the planet Arrakis. Also, not unlike Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land it represented a move towards a slightly more literary approach to the science fiction novel. Before this move towards the literary approach, good science fiction was said to only need an interesting speculative concept. Characterization of the protagonist(s) and world building were secondary to the speculative nature. Dune reversed these roles with its vivid portrayal of Paul Atreides and with its well thought-out eco-system of planet Arrakis.
Frank Herbert also deliberately understated the speculative technology in the Dune universe (and hardly explains its role and function in society) so he was able to address the future of human kind, instead of the future of the technology. The narrative also explores multilayered political intrigue of the Empire and often strange and mystical religious beliefs thoroughly. It was one of the first science fictions efforts to do so and marked a breakthrough.

So what we are dealing here with is a landmark of soft science fiction and a classic in the every sense of the word. But does Dune live up to today’s standards?

Yes, very much so. I would argue it is still holds up to today’s standards in terms of quality of writing, world building and characterization. Many of the technological concepts in older science fiction novels are outdated and don’t have “edge” of speculation on where technology will take us anymore, because it has either happened already or the idea was too far-fetched in the first place. Dune however, with its suppressed technology, is still relevant and enjoyable to today’s science fiction readers.

The characterization of many characters is impressive. The young Paul Atreides is a round, fully realized character and I suspect many readers will find his struggles to come to terms with the legacy immersing. It certainly was to me. His mother Jessica, Duke Leto Atreides and Gurney Halleck are worthy of note as well. A strong female character like Jessica Atreides; the novel should be accoladed for having such a character in 1965. Moreover Frank Herbert doesn’t just focus on a single character, but each one is given its fair share of attention. I think the eye for the small details is what makes these characters really come alive.
The world building is equally impressive. Dune is truly epic world building, world building as it meant to be. It doesn’t rival the epic sweeps of JRR Tolkien’s Middle-Earth, but certainly comes close and that itself is quite the achievement. Once again, it is the eye for detail that defines the hand of a master. This is not a patchwork of alien-sounding languages, strange customs and non-relevant histories thrown together in the Galactic mixer, no, the cultural elements present are in balance and plausible. Herbert imagined almost every facet of his creation and his dedication to this project shows. The novel comes with a host of glossaries, quotes, documents, and histories -- all meant to convey a real sense of history. It is a rich universe, almost begging the reader to take the plunge in these imaginary worlds. I didn’t refuse this invitation.

Dune is well-paced throughout but stumbles near its conclusion. Paul’s ascension is a steady and thus believable one – right until the ending, which is a little bit rushed. A bit of a shame really and a minor flaw of an otherwise crystal-clear quality science fiction effort. As interesting and sympathetic Paul is when he faces his problems and comes to terms with them, he loses some appeal as character in the end. I won’t go in details because I don’t want to spoil the novel for those who haven’t read it yet, but the ending bows before spectacle. As a result, it is not that emotionally shattering as it could have been. Yet, as I said, it is a minor criticism and its significance pales when you weigh it against the merits of the novels.

It is hard to fault this novel, this classic. So I am not going to do that and instead recommend it to everyone who’s willing to listen to my bantering. Dune’s status as landmark of science fiction is wholly deserved. Gripping and vividly, it tells us the ascension of a hero and at the same time marked the ascension of a star in the field. A star that still shines as bright as it did when it was first published in 1965.

-- Lawrence

Enchanted starts off with that old school classic Disney feel showing the opening book and music introduction. It is unmistakably Disney. From there we are treated to the cartoon aspect of the film, which is a subtle exaggeration and fun parody of pretty much all Disney cartoons that have been produced. When animated Giselle calls the animals to come help her with her singing voice and the forest empties out like the end of a concert the fine ride is just starting.

Once out of the animated world and flung head (or dress) first into the bustling world of New York do we really get to see Amy Adams play the perfect princess. The character of Giselle works so well because she maintains the naïve attitude as well as the special powers of song, of a princess living in a fairy tale world when she comes to New York. “It’s like you escaped from a Hallmark Card…”, the character of Robert says to Giselle, which pretty well sums it up. The rest of the characters that come over from the cartoon fairy tale world have their same characteristics and powers that were available to them in their own world of Andalasia. Where Giselle can call the animals of the forest (rabbits, chipmunks, foxes) to help her clean and sew in Andalasia, in New York they come in the form of pigeons, rats, and roaches which do the same. Total parody, and really funny.

For the astute Disney fan many of the scenes pay homage to older Disney movies and cartoons, which include Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Cinderella, etc… I thought this was a very nice touch to a wonderful movie. I understand the Blu Ray version points them out via a bonus feature for those of us who don’t put the hidden aspect of the two mouse ears together.

When a Disney live action movie can be enjoyed by a 30 something year old father and his son, you know you have something worth picking up on DVD. I found Amy Adams really stole the show with what I would call the perfect portrayal of an animated princess that comes from a world where there is only the day of happily ever after. James Marsden plays a nice compliment with his depiction of Prince Edward, the prince of Andalasia, and Patrick Dempsey as Robert the single father New Yorker rounds out the male love interests. Susan Sarandon plays Queen Narissa the evil wicked step mother witch who wants to keep the throne to herself and keeps the action coming from every which angle. Another personal note while watching Enchanted was that I really enjoyed all of the musical numbers in the movie. This is a rare occurance these days, but I felt that the music from Alan Menken was superb and the pacing of them through out the movie worked extremely well. Each number was at least as interesting as the last and they did not seem to interrupt the story, but rather add to it.

Bonus Features – We have what we would consider “the norm” in bonus features these days on the Enchanted DVD, with deleted scenes, bloopers, some behind the scenes, and then the Pop Up Adventure.

Pip’s Predicament is a well done special effects pop-up adventure of how Pip goes to rescue Prince Edward in Andalasia so he can then come to New York to save Giselle. The deleted scenes were nice and we also get a nice description of why they were deleted.

Note: DVD Version watched on a Playstation 3 with a hdmi connection to a Panasonic 43 inch rear projection.

Update: (13) scenes depicted from ENCHANTED along with the Classic Disney scene that was referenced in the film, right click and save as for the higher res version

There are four young dragon riders and four dragons whose destiny is to seek out the Dragon Oracle.

This first book in a new young adult series starts with a meeting. Elian, a young boy, whose life changes when he encounters a Dawn Dragon – Aurora.
In a far away land a young girl, Nolita, also encounters her dragon, Firestorm.
However, they both have quite different reactions to their destinies. Elian embraces his, were Nolita flees from hers.

However, four dragons and their riders are required to carry out the Dragon Oracles quest. To find Four Orbs.
Without Nolita and Firestorm the future is uncertain for Dragon kind.

Personal Thoughts – I like dragon stories. There is something about dragons that feels fantastical to me, so it was a delight to get to read a new series based on dragons.

The story begins with Elian when he meets his dragon, Aurora – a lovely name I felt for a dragon. He soon sets aside his fears and embraces his destiny.
However a dragon hunting party tracks the pair. Another young rider, Kira, and her dragon Longfang come to Elian's rescue. And we learn that Aurora can move between worlds.

When the two dragons and their riders join up for the same journey, we get to learn a bit more about dragons and what motivates them. I enjoyed the bonding process between riders and dragons as each dealt with their situations uniquely.

Their journey to the Oracle brings them to Nolita, who is shunning Firestorm, due to a terrible fear of dragons. Nolita’s issues give this story an interest twist as she must face her fears before she can carry out part of the Oracle’s Quest.

The dragons for me are the most enjoyable characters. Their world is interesting, I liked the idea of duty and destiny which influence their actions. And there were plenty of unanswered questions about their society for the next book.

The strangest character is Kasau, the dragon hunter. He is shrouded in mystery throughout the story. We’re never told how he can sense the dragons or why he is driven to kill them. Plenty of questions left unanswered with his character too.
I couldn’t help but dislike him a little though, as I grew quite attached to the dragons.

Plenty of interesting ideas in this first book and a good start to lead us into a more volatile situation as the series continues.

I was introduced to Jonathan Carroll through the insistence of two strangers. I’m not known to listen to people, indeed I’m a scoffer, but they wanted to be called Wiz and Grub – and since those are of my two favorite things to do I thought they may have been on to something. You add that one knew the Condor Man uniform on sight and the other had reading list that peaked curiosity itself (not just my own) and you had the beginnings of a recommendation that would be followed through. Some years – and what seems like a couple lifetimes later – Jonathan Carroll is one of those authors whose books I buy. That may seem anticlimactic, but Carroll is one of, and perhaps the first writer who went on that list of “all I need to know is that the book is out” authors. I don’t need to know what it’s about, I don’t need to know where or when it takes place, I don’t need to know if it’s called fantasy, mystery, horror or science fiction – because such questions, such words, cannot contain Carroll. Instead Carroll carries Liza’s bucket of pandora paint adding a stroke with a brush here, there and where.

Frannie McCabe is the chief of police in Crane’s View, New York a town he grew up in and the town he’d happily die in if given the chance, not that death was something that was on his mind until the death of an odd dog that he took in at his office. A dog that like McCabe has the marks of a creature that lived – not just existed – and upon its death he took it upon himself to bury ‘Old Vertue”. A small town, a veteran sheriff, a dead dog – it has the makings of a western or a bad country song. At an rate, the death of the dog, the disappearance of a couple in his town, a girl found dead in the school bathroom, his step-daughter’s new tattoo disappearing - the aroma of change in the air would set McCabe on a whimsical story where he will attempt to connect dots while retracing his steps. Like time travel stories? How about a story that captures the scent of American Pie? About love, family, a coming of age story and a going of age story. When you don’t have to meet yourself to disrupt the space-time continuum, but you may have to hang out with him and perhaps more than anything it presents the idea that there would be value in asking your prior self – a unique individual – questions to see the actions of that person and learn something is not just a cog in the present cumulative. If one could point at a fault there is a point where you think McCabe is going nowhere, where Carroll couldn’t seem to bring a conclusion big enough to pay-off everything he introduced. It may even seem – in reflection – a great opportunity for a more than quaint fictional work without Science Fiction and Fantasy elements missed. What I think actually occurs is that we see a reasonable and competent man by most standards completely functioning as a man we would rationally think would in an irrational – a magical - situation. So many times in fiction we are shown protagonists who become so by acclimating themselves, to rise to the occasion. To become something they aren’t and never were – something nobody could possibly be. In many cases there may be fall to overcome as well, but routinely we are described this relying on our preconditioned acceptance of this due to exposure in rather flat fiction. Carroll does not stumble in tying up The Wooden Sea, Frannie does, and related to that the end of such experiences are not end of eras in any way a calendar would understand. The Science Fiction element – a universal awakening – is so over the top for the a Sheriff of an escapist-alcove American town that you can feel the gravity of just how beyond being simply odd or disconcerting such situation would be. You would attack this how you know how – with McCabe, the experiences of a hell raiser as a child, a Vietnam Vet, a veteran of couple of marriages, who lives a more than stable life and now respected in the town he once was once ‘that kid’ of. Frannie is a man who had gone through his ‘cycle’ only to be thrown into something bigger. It is not because he does not have the qualities to identify him as heroic; it is that rarely do we describe the day-to-day, handle shit as it happens manner as such. He is not offered a mantle, he is, when looking back on his life a man with an understanding of service and what we have is a man who doesn’t have all the answers, indeed he doesn’t even know all the questions. For the fantastic to have an effect, you have to establish a base that we recognize and Carroll nails the towns so many of us live(ed) in. Where reputations matter, where people never seem to get away from – and if they do, everybody can recite you the specifics of it. Where downtown is distinguishable only because it has been always been called that, where you’re Smith’s daughter or boy. Where I certainly have no interest in going to such a place now, perhaps the person I will be one day will. It is in such places that America really resides:

From the beginning Carroll confounds us and it’s not just a mysterious 3-legged dog – man’s best friend – that enters his life. We are introduced to McCabe spouting one-liners, a wife and step-child showing up at the job with jibes and apparent issues and instead of getting a fractured soul, another broken cop getting by on booze – he did keep his smokes – that lives only to confound the world set against him we get a happy man, a loving husband, a pillar of the community, and man who is where he wants to be. We find a man not looking for anything, but not to the extreme of a man who fears what he may find – he has found what he wants. We are shown choices we can believe. What would you make god do to prove his power? What would you learn if you observed your father when he wasn’t at the moment being your father? What would you want to tell him? In the midst of events of global, and even universal gravity, McCabe is in his hood and confronting these opportunities as if they were what really mattered. So many times, we are told the world is worth saving in fiction, even if grudgingly, and in The Wooden Sea we see why McCabe’s world is. More than that, I’m not a reader who views it as a requirement of the author to make me root for the protagonist of a story to enjoy it, indeed even in my most get-along-gang of moods it’s still a quality that I can’t completely reconcile as not being a least a little slow, but obviously that isn’t to say such stories don’t often represent the best fiction has to offer and one would find it hard not to find some part of McCabe’s journey that is not relatable, that doesn’t at least brush up against something you carry.

The Wooden Sea shares characteristics with others Carroll books in that he rarely puts a new spin on genre conventions it just always seems like his is the right one we had yet to see, as if others were suddenly a heart beat off, a turn of phrase too early, a sentiment missed. There is also a clarity to Carroll’s work that I think is rather distinct. The Wooden Sea’s brand of wonder is one that questions what you see, feel and believe but never what you are actually reading. In fiction we are sometimes – I think – too enamored with stylistic conceit, and I while I agree with Hal Duncan in that style is substance in literature – but Carroll’s style somehow morphs into what should be fashion at the moment of reading instead of vying for next. I always marvel most at writers who are able to present several stories – many completely different thematically and even in tone –that don’t take away from one another in the absence of recognition. When I interviewed the wonderful Kelly Link she spoke of stories that could be read and reveal something new – a story that grows – and The Wooden Sea leaves more trees to climb, more secrets submerged.

The Wooden Sea is perhaps not Carroll’s most recommended work, but is still a notable chapter in the body of work of somebody who is in the argument of being the most noteworthy American Fantasist today.

So take a ride on a bicycle, grab an oar and watch yourself fly.

Jay Tomio
The Bodhisattva

Morganville is a small town, with a strange secret. Claire Danvers is a brilliant student, who starts a new college a year ahead of normal abilities to advance her studies.
But in Morganville you are either food or owned by the local Vampire's and Claire find's herself on the recieving end of town bullies and in danger of becoming someone's meal.

Morganville quickly becomes a nightmare for Claire, were the local college girls hate her so much, they threaten to beat her to death. In the hopes of escaping their bullying, she takes up lodgings at Glass House, run by an strange young musician, Michael.
The house is an haven for two other town outcasts and it's here that Claire learns that Morganville is Vampire capital of America.

With her outcast friends watching her back, she fights to get her dream education and stay clear of the ruling vampires.

Personal Thoughts
Fast paced, well written and entertaining. The author manages to create strong, interesting characters, and despite her main being only 16 years old, Claire is able to carry the reader through the strange twists and turns of Morganville vampire politics.
Her room mates are quite interesting and I enjoyed learning of Michael's secret and how the vampires have affected all their lives. It is aimed as a teen, YA read, however, I found it quite mature enough to keep me interested.

There are violent story elements in the plot, but not in-depth. The ending is left on a cliff hanger, very frustrating, but did leave me eager to read the next book.

Probably Card's most famous book and something of a science fiction classic. There are several different version of this story. Ender's Game started as a short story published in analogue in 1977. It was then expanded to novel length in 1985 and in 1991 a slightly revised edition was published which is the one I read. People say you either love of hate this book. I can confirm that. I found it absolutely revolting and very powerful at the same time. I'll probably express my self a bit more strongly that I otherwise would in a review.

The 1991 version is preceded by an introduction by Card. In the first paragraph of it he suggests you skip it and go straight to the story. I say take him up on that. The rest of the introduction won't make all that much sense until you've read the book and as he suggests, Card really doesn't have much to add to the book.

Ender's Game shows signs of being conceived in the 1970s. It is set in a future world where the Soviet Union has survived. The world is still divided into large power blocks. Under the threat of two alien invasions the world managed to form a unified defence force aptly named International Fleet (IF). Decades ago the second "bugger" invasion (I certainly hope the aliens have a better name for themselves) was brought to a halt by the hero Mazer Rackham. Now, preparing for a possible third invasion, the world is desperately looking for a new hero.

IF is not leaving the emergence of this next Rackham to chance. They are actively looking for the brightest emerging military minds and their most promising candidate is the hyper intelligent Andrew "Ender" Wiggin. At the tender age of six Ender is accepted into Battle School where his teachers go to great lengths to isolate Ender from his family and fellow students. Ender lives up to his potential and develops into the best soldier the school has ever seen. But the price is extraordinarily high.

When put like that the plot isn't really that shocking of a science fiction novel. Where Ender's Game derives it's reputation from and where my dislike starts is with the way they go about teaching Ender. Ender's game is filled with a series of profoundly unethical actions, all justified by the fear of another invasion by a species nobody has managed to communicate with. It is suggested by one of the characters that this lack of communication means the species cannot be ruled out as a threat and must therefore been destroyed. All are aware of the nature of their actions but for their personal reasons all are willing to pay the price. Not in the least Ender, who is pretty much being lied to at every turn and is smart enough to realize it. Some people think this book is a shining example of leadership in a crisis, I think that if we ever sink this low the aliens had better take us.

Does that mean it is a bad novel? Strangely enough no. It has been a while since any piece of fiction pissed me off quite so much. You can say a lot of things about Ender's Game but it definitely moved me. Even with all the lying, manipulating, abuse and plain insanity there was not a moment I seriously considered putting down this book. That is probably where the genius of Ender's Game is. Whether you love or hate it, Card will manage to move you with this particular novel. It is one of those stories that will be read and read again a century from now.

So even if it is a revolting book I am going to suggest you read it and then proceed to ritually burn it. Despite this glowing recommendation I will admit I am considering skipping the sequel.