Category Archives: book news

My 2012 In Review


(Image Credit)

As December rolls around every year the annual Best Of lists start cropping up all over the internet, and I for one love them. Inevitably they mean adding books and movies and television shows and video games and music to my ever-growing list of entertainment of which I would like to partake, but that is a hazard I am willing to fully embrace as I wade into these posts, be they from professional outlets, from authors, or from passionate bloggers like yourself.

I get giddy every time I see one of these lists crop up via email or other blog links.

I generally wait until I see the year’s dying embers before posting my list because experience has shown that I end up reading something late in the year that will make it on to my list. This year was no exception. In fact my favorite book of the year was read a scant few weeks ago.

This promises to be a lengthy post, per usual, so I apologize in advance. At the end of the post is a Mr. Linky for you to post links to your various Year End posts and I do so hope you’ll provide links so that we can all blog hop and see what stories grabbed hold of you this year and wouldn’t let go, regardless of what format those stories were in. Please share your opinions, not just about my choices, in the comments as well.

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The 2013 Science Fiction Experience


(image sans text property of Stephan Martiniere, used with permission)

“For my part I know nothing with any certainty,
but the sight of the stars makes me dream.”

~Vincent Van Gogh

How about you?

When you look up at the night sky do you wonder? Do you imagine what is out there, get caught up in the unfathomable immensity of creation, do you dream? When you were a child did you gaze up longingly at the night sky dreaming that your adult years would bring with them routine trips to the moon and travel to other worlds? Does the sight of a full blazing moon or bright shining planets inspire a sense of wonder? If so, then you know exactly what it is like to be in my shoes, especially as the nights turn colder and the stars seem to shine that much brighter. (If not, please humor me through the rest of this post, 🙂 )

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Dragonflight Group Read


(Art copyright Michael Whelan)

January 1st 2013 will be here before we know it and that momentous date will not only kick off a brand new year but will also signify the official start date of The Science Fiction Experience 2013 (details soon). This will be my 6th year hosting this two-month reading event that celebrates the joys of science fiction in literature and film/television. In addition January 1st marks the start of the second annual non-challenge hosted by Andrea (Little Red Reviewer), The Vintage Science Fiction Month.

I hope you will choose to participate in both. To kick things off I will be hosting a group read of Anne McCaffrey’s classic novel, Dragonflight. This is a novel I have wanted to read for a long time for one very simple reason: I am drawn to the Michael Whelan cover art! I know this series is beloved by many and as I have yet to read anything by Anne McCaffrey I thought this would be a perfect way to kick off my participation in Vintage Science Fiction Month and in the Science Fiction Experience 2013.

I wanted to get the word out early enough for you to track down a copy of the book. It would be fantastic if you would consider joining us on this adventure. Here are the details:

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A Hallow Ending

And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted – nevermore!

(from The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe)

A Happy Halloween to you all! On this All Hallow’s Eve our adventure of the past two months comes to its end. Seven years of sharing gothic goodness and reveling in mystery and fright have come, and seven years have gone, and now we part each to our own revels, destined to return nevermore….until September 2013, that is!

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How John Scalzi and Tor Books Made my Christmas! (and yours too)


(Image copyright Tor Books, image credit)

It is John Scalzi’s fault. (I bet he hears that a lot)

Six years ago, almost to the day, John Scalzi reignited what I didn’t even realize was a flagging passion for science fiction with his novel Old Man’s War. Science Fiction is my first love but I hadn’t consciously noticed that most of the time I spent with her was in revisiting novels I cherished from my youth and or classics from the past–both admirable ways to spend my reading time. I rarely took any forays into the works of contemporary authors. Old Man’s War made me feel that nervous-energy, can’t-wait-to-get-home-and-read feeling that science fiction did in my younger years. It was sense-of-wonder done 21st century style and it has influenced my reading since that day. The sequels were all equally exciting to me.

And the Tor Art Department choosing heart-stopping covers by artist John Harris was icing on the cake.

Well, they’ve done it again.

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