Altered Carbon Holds Up as a Compelling Cyberpunk Mystery
I first read Richard K. Morgan’s Takeshi Kovacs trilogy years ago, and really enjoyed it. When word arrived that Netflix…
Throwback Thursday
Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and Gray Mouser Deserve Their Own Sword & Sorcery Buddy Movie
By most reckonings, the three biggest names in the sword and sorcery sub-genre are Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, and…
Throwback Thursday: Theodore Sturgeon’s More than Human Points a Way for Us to “Live Long and Prosper”
I recently read and enjoyed Ramez Naam’s Nexus, a book with a central premise that has preoccupied science fiction since H.G. Wells…
Throwback Thursday: The Stars My Destination Serves Up Revenge as Cold as the Vacuum of Space
Alfred Bester was a pioneer of the science fiction field, and he’s got the legacy to show for it: he was the…
Throwback Thursday: Raymond E. Feist, Dungeonmaster of the 1980s
In the world of fantasy, the shadow of Tolkien’s influence looms large, and readers often fall into one of two camps…
Throwback Thursday: Michael Swanwick’s Stations of the Tide Is a Magical Tour of a Drowning World
“The bureaucrat fell from the sky.” This simple opening sentence introduces the protagonist of Michael Swanwick’s Nebula Award-winning Stations of the…
Throwback Thursday: The Rook Is a Delightfully Weird Twist on Urban Fantasy
Daniel O’Malley’s 2012 debut The Rook is a sharp, exciting urban fantasy that ditches the over-used tropes of the genre, retains its…
Throwback Thursday: The Kin of Ata are Waiting for You Is Both of Its Time and Startlingly Relevant
I first encountered Dorothy Bryant’s incredible, incredibly strange novel The Kin of Ata Are Waiting for You in college, where…
Throwback Thursday: The DragonCrown Cycle Is Old School Fantasy That Delivers
This past winter, in a nostalgic mood, I’ve went browsing my bookshelves looking for something for an old favorite to dig into,…
Throwback Thursday: Childhood’s End Is the Definitive First Contact Story
When I first encountered it, Childhood’s End completely blew my mind. I was in college, taking what I’d assumed would be…
Throwback Thursday: The World Ends with a Whimper in Soft Apocalypse
Imagining the apocalypse is a fun thought experiment. How would you react when the world crashes down? What could bring…
Throwback Thursday: Another Trip Around Larry Niven’s Ringworld
In 2015 the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America made Larry Niven their latest Grand Master, and the impression…
Throwback Thursday: Voyaging to Allen M. Steele’s Coyote
Some of my favorite science fiction stories are those focused almost entirely on exploration: traveling beyond our system, discovering new worlds,…
Throwback Thursday: Bored of the Rings Offers a Skillful Skewering of High Fantasy Tropes
Anything that takes itself seriously is ripe for parody, and the list of things that take themselves more seriously than…
Throwback Thursday: Bridge of Birds Unbalances You in the Best Way
The first time I read Barry Hughart’s Bridge of Birds, I cried. I cried because the ending was that beautiful, because…
Throwback Thursday: The Probability Trilogy Ranks with the Best of Hard Sci-Fi
When it comes to hard science fiction, few authors come to my mind more readily than Nancy Kress. Within her extensive body…