Twilight of the Past: A Rift in Time by Michael Parziale

Our protagonist is one Newl Rift, who is (as far as I can tell) the leader of Guntra De, a nation at war with neighbouring Spero. Although, physically, he appears to be in his thirties, he is actually a hundred years old; and he can't remember his life before Guntra De. He also wonders what this war is really all about. Whilst travelling to the country's capital, Templis, he is set upon by a mysterious individual calling himself Lone Hybrick, who suggests that Newl might want to visit distant Melis. Newl follows this advice, accompanied by the rulers of Saetraz, Amate and Mishell Luminata (whom he doesn't entirely trust). Unfortunately for Newl, though, he is being expected...


Read more at SF Site.

Further links:
Twilight of the Past
Michael Parziale
Nightengale Press

Genetopia by Keith Brooke

In the distant future, the world is saturated in "changing vectors," bio- and nano-technological agents that alter those who come into contact with them in unpredictable ways. The clans of "True" humanity guard the purity of their genes jealously: babies showing signs of being affected are left out to die from exposure, and the purebreds want nothing to do with "Lost" humans. But there's a thriving slave trade in "mutts," individuals so drastically transformed that they are regarded as animals; though, having said that, any hint of difference can lead to someone being branded a mutt, as our protagonist discovers...


Continue reading at SF Site.

Further links:
Keith Brooke
Pyr

Midnight Street issue 6

The strap-line of Midnight Street magazine is 'Journeys into Darkness', and the stories Trevor Denyer has assembled in this issue each live up to that description, but each in satisfyingly different ways...

Continue reading at The Zone.

Further links:
Tony Richards
Jerry Oltion
Michael Lohr
Midnight Street

The Cunning Blood by Jeff Duntemann

Peter Novilio is in trouble. Having fallen foul of 1Earth's anti-violence laws, his sentence is transportation to the prison planet Hell -- unless, that is, he accepts a mission from the Governor General of America, Sophia Gorganis. Hell's technological development was supposedly stalled two hundred years earlier, when Earth placed a nano-mechanism in the planet's atmosphere that would destroy all electrical conductors -- but now it seems that something strange is occurring on Hell...

Continue reading at SF Site.

Further links:
Jeff Duntemann
ISFiC Press

New reviews in the New Review...

Three reviews in the latest update to Laura Hird's website:

Moondust by Cleveland W. Gibson

Before I began properly to read Cleve Gibson’s story collection, Moondust, I glanced at the book’s first sentences: ‘“Incurably insane, me? Never, Doctor Leo Harper! I was clever enough to kill my best friend and get away with it.”’ A fine example of an arresting opening, I thought; if the rest of the book lived up to that standard, I was in for a treat.

Alas – and it’s no fun having to write this – I was sorely disappointed..

Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon

When I was younger, I enjoyed dipping into books of ‘strange but true’ stories. It never crossed my mind at the time to question whether the stories actually were true, but it didn’t really matter; what was important was a reminder that remarkable things do happen – those moments when life takes an unexpected twist that makes you laugh, or cry, or rage, or wonder. J. Robert Lennon’s Pieces for the Left Hand is almost a literary version of one of those books: a collection of one hundred very short stories (three pages long at most) that read as though they are told by a friend of a friend...

Mean Mode Median by Aliya Whiteley

This is the story of Edward and Anna St Clare, two siblings who have the ability to influence others with their words (whether through preternatural charisma or psychic powers is unclear). Edward works for his father James’s insurance firm; but not for long, because he keeps persuading customers they don’t really need insurance. John Dart also works for James, and lusts after Anna, a researcher for a TV quiz show. Anna learns from Edward that her father has been using her to secure John’s loyalty, so James can pass on the business to him. Angry, she decides to take revenge on them all – but, meticulous planner though she is, even Anna can’t predict the consequences…

Further links:
J. Robert Lennon
Aliya Whiteley
LBF Books
Hadrosaur
Granta
bluechrome

Wicked or What? by Sean Wright

Our protagonist is Jamey O'Rooke, the fat kid at school, who was forever being bullied until a couple of strangers mistakenly handed him a mysterious object (whose nature is never revealed) that was intended for one of his tormentors. Jamey's best friend is Layla, who seems to be on his side but may have her own agenda. And, somewhere else entirely, an individual known as the Third travels across a strange landscape to join them, before it's too late...

Read more at SF Site.

Further links:
Sean Wright
Crowswing

Bisson and Yolen

I have two reviews in the mid-February issue of SF Site.

Numbers Don't Lie by Terry Bisson:

In Numbers Don't Lie, Terry Bisson offers three tall tales underpinned by some suitably weird physics (which I assume is genuine, though it hardly matters). Irving, our narrator, has no head for science, so he can't understand how the Moon could be inside a mechanic's shed when it's clearly still in the sky; or why a previously deteriorating car seat cover is now improving by the day; or what's making planes and trains arrive on time all of a sudden. Luckily, his friend Wilson Wu is (amongst many other things) a mathematical genius, and he knows what's going on -- and he has the equations to back his ideas up...

The Pit Dragon Chronicles by Jane Yolen:

In this box set, Jane Yolen takes us to the desert world of Austar IV. Once a penal colony, the planet's economy is now based around its native dragons, whom the human settlers breed to battle each other in Pits. There is a two-tier social structure of masters and "bonders," the latter wearing bags which they must fill with money before they can buy freedom and become masters themselves. Our protagonist is Jakkin Stewart, a young bonder at the nursery of Master Sarkkhan (all descendants of Austar's original convict population have a double-K in their names), who plans to steal a dragon and train it himself...

Further links:
Terry Bisson
Jane Yolen
Tachyon Publications
Harcourt

The Elastic Book of Numbers, ed. Allen Ashley

Here we have the second anthology from Elastic Press, following on from 2004's The Alsiso Project. Like its predecessor, The Elastic Book of Numbers is based around a single broad theme; as its title suggests, all the stories in the volume are connected to numbers in some way. The resulting tales are highly varied, as I hope to illustrate...

Continue reading at SF Site.

Further links:
Neil Williamson
Charles Lambert
Jeff Gardiner
John Lucas
Allen Ashley
Elastic Press

Review Index

Abyss & Apex
Issue 26, Second Quarter 2008

Ashley, Allen
The Elastic Book of Numbers (ed.)
Somnambulists
Urban Fantastic

Birtolo, Dylan
The Shadow Chaser

Bisson, Terry
Numbers Don't Lie

Bott, Claire
Time Hunter: The Clockwork Woman

Brooke, Keith
Genetopia

Brust, Steven
The Gypsy (with Megan Lindholm)

Burr, James
Ugly Stories for Beautiful People

Burton, David C.
Hell Cop

Campbell, Ramsey
The Grin of the Dark

ChiZine
Issue 37: July-Sept 2008

Cobley, Michael
Iron Mosaic

Connell, Brendan
Dr Black and the Guerrillia
The Translation of Father Torturo

Copithorne, Dana
The Steam Magnate

Couzens, Gary
Deep Ten (ed. with Sara-Jayne Townsend)
Extended Play: The Elastic Book of Music (ed.)

Coward, Mat
So Far, So Near

Cryptopolis
Tales from the Secret City

Cyr, Heidi
X and Y and Other Like Stories

De Pierres, Marianne
Nylon Angel

Diet Soap
Issue 2: Sex and Gender

Duncan, Hal
Vellum

Duntemann, Jeff
The Cunning Blood

Electric Velocipede
Issue 10

Faust, Minister
The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad

Films
In Search of a Midnight Kiss

Fintushel, Eliot
Breakfast with the Ones You Love

Frost, Gregory
Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories

Gaiman, Neil
Fragile Things

Gibson, Cleveland W.
Moondust

Gibson, Gary
Angel Stations

Grant, John
New Writings in the Fantastic

Green, Jonathan
Unnatural History

Green, Mitis
The Ardly Effect

GUD Magazine
Issue 1: Autumn 2007

Gunn, James
Gift from the Stars

Gurwitch, Annabelle
Fired! Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized and Dismissed

Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts

Hemingway, Amanda
The Greenstone Grail

Hendrix, Howard V.
The Labyrinth Key

Herter, David
On the Overgrown Path

Hook, Andrew
The Alsiso Project (ed.)
Moon Beaver

Huff, Tanya
Blood Price
Stealing Magic

Interzone
Issue 217: August 2008
Issue 218: October 2008

Kaye, Marvin
The Dragon Quintet (ed.)

Jupiter
Issue XIV: Thebe

Lebbon, Tim
Dawn
Dusk

Lee, Tony
Premonitions: Causes for Alarm (ed.)

Lennon, J. Robert
Pieces for the Left Hand

Lindholm, Megan
The Gypsy (with Steven Brust)

Lone Star Stories
Issue 28, August 2008

McBean, Brett
The Last Motel

McCarthy, Tom
Remainder

MacCauley, Kay
The Man Who Was Loved

Malcolm, Claire
Magnetic North: New Work from North East Writers (ed.)

Mann, George
The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction (ed.)
Time Hunter: The Severed Man

Marley, Louise
Singer in the Snow

Midnight Street
Issue 6 (Winter 2005/6)

Moore, Christopher
A Dirty Job

Morden, Simon
Brilliant Things

Nazarian, Vera
The Clock King and the Queen of the Hourglass
The Duke in His Castle

Nemonymous
Cone Zero

Newell, Paul J.
The Turning

Nevill, Adam L.G.
Banquet for the Damned

Nicholls, Stan
Orcs: The Omnibus Edition

Page, Ra
Parenthesis (ed.)

Parker, Rosalie
Strange Tales (ed.)

Parziale, Michael
Twilight of the Past: A Rift in Time

Pettersson, Vicki
The Scent of Shadows

Postscripts
Issue 14: Spring 2008

Rabid Transit
Long Voyages, Great Lies
Menagerie

Ramsden, Chris Lee
Small Voices, Big Confessions (ed.)

Redwood, Steve
The Heisenberg Mutation and Other Transfigurations
Who Needs Cleopatra?

Rhodes, Dan
Gold

Robinson, Neil
Oliphan Oracus

St. Clair, Jennifer
The Secret of Redemption

Scifantastic
Vol. 1, Issue 3

Secombe, Andy
The Last House in the Galaxy

Shunn, William
An Alternate History of the 21st Century

Sinha, Indra
Animal's People

Snow Patrol
Final Straw considered by DH

Something Wicked
Issue 6, Summer 2008

Svendsen, Hanne Marie
Under the Sun

Swann, David
The Last Days of Johnny North

Swartz, Mark
H2O

Teague, Christopher
Triquorum One (ed.)

Tevis, Walter
Mockingbird

Townsend, Sara-Jayne
Deep Ten (ed. with Gary Couzens)

VanderMeer, Jeff
Shriek: an Afterword

Welch, Patrick
Cynnador

Welsh, Louise
The Bullet Trick

Whiteley, Aliya
Light Reading
Mean Mode Median
Three Things About Me

Williams, Conrad
The Unblemished

Williamson, Neil
The Ephemera

Wooding, Chris
The Fade

Wright, Sean
Jaarfindor Remade
The Twisted Root of Jaarfindor
Wicked or What?
Interview with Sean Wright

Wright, T.M.
I am the Bird

Yamaguchi, Jeffrey
52 Projects: Random Acts of Everyday Creativity

Yolen, Jane
The Pit Dragon Chronicles

Zebrowski, George
Macrolife

Blood Price by Tanya Huff

I’ll be honest with you: sometimes it’s hard to keep a sense of perspective. These days, I have an in-built mistrust of epic fantasy, even though I know that, when written with care and skill, it can be just as good as any other kind of fiction. Likewise, it’s essential to have strong female protagonists; but that doesn’t stop me wondering whether one will tip over the edge and become a clichéd Feisty Series Heroine. And it’s the same with vampire stories, or – and this makes me even more apprehensive – stories in which strong female protagonists get involved with vampires.

Which brings me to Blood Price. It was first published in 1991. and so actually predates most of the stuff we might instinctively compare it to. At first glance, though, it still looks like more of the same old same-old: Vicki Nelson, PI, hears a scream in the subway but is too late to stop a man being brutally slain by something. Then she’s on the case, trying to bring an end to a chain of similar murders across Toronto – and she doesn’t mind treading on the toes of her former police colleagues. Meanwhile, also investigating the killings is one Henry Fitzroy, the vampirized bastard son of Henry VIII. Needless to say, his and Vicki’s paths cross in due course…

So far, so ordinary. But it would be unfair to describe Tanya Huff’s novel that way, because there’s more to it than that. For a start, the protagonists are not the ultra-glamorous individuals you might expect. Yes, Henry has the typical mystique of a vampire, but he also pays the rent by writing trashy romance novels. And Vicki had to leave the force because of her failing eyesight (one complaint: Vicki pushes her glasses up her nose seemingly every few pages, and it is highly irritating). She is also, unusually, a good deal taller than Henry. These are minor points, but they make Blood Price stand out from its competitors.

One other refreshing thing that Huff does is to use multiple third-person viewpoints, as opposed to the single first-person narrative that we find in most tales of Feisty Series Heroines. This technique does two main things: it takes the weight of the telling off the character of Vicki, and allows Henry to become a protagonist in his own right. And the characters themselves are nicely drawn: even Vicki’s bizarre quasi-relationship with Mike Celucci, a former colleague whom she can’t stand, comes across as believable in context. Only Norman Birdwell, the nerdy summoner of the evil spirit doing the killing (and no, that’s not a spoiler), comes across as a stereotype.

Huff’s storytelling is also appropriately brisk, peppered here and there with a few striking images, and a nice line in dry humour: ‘Even in an age of science, the dead were considered bad neighbors. Henry couldn’t understand why; the dead never played Twisted Sister at 130 decibels at three in the morning.’ It’s not going to set the world alight, but it does its job very well.

In fact, that’s Blood Price in a nutshell. It’s not a radical reworking of anything; it’s not going to change anyone’s perceptions; but it is a great supernatural yarn. There are four more books in this series, and if they’re all like this, it will be a series worth reading.

This review first appeared in The Alien Online.