Category Archives: Fantasy

Lye Street ~Alan Campbell

Lye Street ~Alan Campbell
–published 2008
–135 pages, Subterranean Press
–3.75/5 stars

The Greene family is cursed. Every fifty years Deepgate’s scarred angel, Carnival, returns to murder another descendant. Now, five hundred years after the first victim’s death, Sal Greene is facing his own doom. His time has almost run out. In a desperate attempt to break the chain of violence and save his family, he summons a demon to the chained city: a warrior he hopes is powerful enough to stand against the angel.

Yet the creature which arrives in Deepgate is not quite the legendary mercenary Sal Greene was expecting.

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Eclipse One ~edited by Jonathan Strahan

Eclipse One ~edited by Jonathan Strahan

–Published: 2007
–263 pages
–5/5 stars

There is something special about being present at the beginning of a project, especially when one is a reader and that project is a literary one. I am currently reading several ‘classic’ science fiction authors, some who began their work in my lifetime, and one of the things I think about as I read their work is that I don’t have that special connection of having jumped on the bandwagon right at the beginning. Although it doesn’t change my reading experience and may sound a bit pretentious, I cannot help imagine what it must have been like to read the first Asimov, the first Bradbury, the first Clark or Heinlein, etc. at the time their stories were published. It is a unique experience to be a part of the collective conscious of a group of readers who all discovered something together.

Jonathan Strahan, editor of several notable science fiction and fantasy anthologies has given me that opportunity, the chance to witness the beginning of something special. His goal was to create/edit his own anthology with stories that did not revolve around a central theme–an anthology that harkened back to classic science fiction anthologies, particularly Terry Carr’s Universe, which began in 1971 and continued through 17 volumes. It was out of that desire that Eclipse was born. A fantastic Michael Whelan cover promises speculative fiction worth reading, and much to my great pleasure, Eclipse One makes good on that promise.

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Lankhmar Book 2: Swords Against Death by Fritz Leiber

Hearken back to April of this year, in the heart of the inaugural Once Upon a Time Challenge. Are you there? If so, you may recall that I read and reviewed a graphic novel by Howard Chaykin and Mike Mignola entitled simply, Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. This was a reprint of their earlier work, paying homage to Fritz Leiber, a prolific author who coined the phrase ‘sword and sorcery’. Although he wrote many other stories unrelated to these characters, it is for the many stories written over a 50 year span featuring Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser that he is most well known. Immediately after reading the graphic novel I picked up the first book in Dark Horse’s collected stories of their adventures: Lankmar Book 1: Swords and Deviltry.

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The Demon and The City by Liz Williams

(Book 3 from my list for the Once Upon a Time Challenge)

In August of last year I reviewed the first book in a new series by author Liz Williams, Snake Agent. My introduction to that review read:

“Take a healthy dose of mythology and eastern religion, mix in the humor of Big Trouble in Little China and the buddy-cop banter of Lethal Weapon and adorn with a fantastic Jon Foster cover and what do you get? Well, you get the beginnings of an entertaining new mystery series by author Liz Williams.”

Described as “John Constatine meets Chow Yun-Fat”, the series follows the exploits of Detective Inspector Wei Chen and his demonic law enforcement counterpart, Seneschal Zhu Irzh, as they solve occultic crimes set in a near-future city called Singapore 3.

The Demon and The City is the second in this series of buddy-cop/mythological/supernatural thrillers.

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The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien

I have to admit that I was initially skeptical when I first heard that a ‘new’ work was being published by J.R.R. Tolkien. I envisioned a book written containing a minimal influence of the master, cobbled together in order to make a buck. Thankfully my cynicism was short lived. It only took a bit of thought to dismiss that as ludicrous. Christopher Tolkien has been nothing but a devoted son to his father in the years since his death, working tirelessly to bring forth the massive works of his father that would otherwise not have seen the light of day. I merely had to think back to how easily I lost myself in The Silmarillion to recall just how much Christopher Tolkien has influenced my love of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

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