This was great, thrilling cheese (albeit with an incredibly high body count), and I listened to it within the space of a week (usually an audiobook this long takes me about two). Gurner is amazing – he immerses himself into the story and the characters so totally I almost forgot he was there. I also appreciated the echo effect used when AIs were speaking and for remote communication.
I have three outstanding quibbles with the production: 1. The occasional technobabble about physics or neurology, mainly in the first part of the book, is terribly unsuited to audio; it’s hard to focus on it but impossible to skim over (simply tuning out is a risky proposition, obviously, because you can’t anticipate when to tune in again). 2. Attempting to understand the mind of a genius by trying to break that genius makes absolutely no sense. 3. There’s really no good reason why a Russian AI, brilliant and able to perfectly assimilate all kinds of data, would speak English with a Russian accent.
Despite those holes, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
•
Dreams of Gods & Monsters, Laini Taylor; Khristine Hvam, narrator (Hachette Audio 978-1478952633, 14 CDs, $26.00, 18.25 hr., unabridged [also available as a digital download]) April 2014.
As an army of seraphs enters our world, former chimera Karou and the seraph Akiva struggle to reconcile their two races and overcome their personal differences so that they can re-embark upon the epic love affair we all know they’re meant to have. Meanwhile, a threat beyond anything they’ve ever known looms ever closer.
Although there weren’t too many surprises (even new twists were telegraphed fairly early on), Taylor writes with drama, sumptuousness, and poetry, and is beautifully underscored by Hvam’s sweetly serious, musical voice. I still smile at the adorable banter between Karou’s friends Zuzana and Mik, and Hvam’s insane squeal as the fallen seraph Razgut will always give me the chills. I just purely love these books. Right now, I feel that pleasurable sense of letdown that one does at finishing a trilogy; the ending’s in the right place, and you know it’s time to go, but you’ll still miss these people, these places.
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Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer; Carolyn McCormack, narrator (Blackstone Audio 978-1482956757, 5 CDs, $24.95, 6 hr., unabridged [also available as a digital download]) February 2014.
In the first of a trilogy, a team of scientists sponsored by a totalitarian government head into the mysterious Area X, the latest in a series of expeditions which have all met with bizarre and frequently fatal fates. (And, of course, since this is Jeff VanderMeer, peculiar fungi and oddly behaving marine life play a significant role.) The sad, detached tones of Carolyn McCormack perfectly suit the novel’s first-person protagonist, a lonely, socially awkward biologist. Her voice is rich and mournful, like the tolling of a church bell. Taken together, this is a lovely, unsettling think piece and aural portrait.
–Amy Goldschlager
Return to In This Issue listing.
MAGAZINES RECEIVED: MAY
Asimov’s Science Fiction–Sheila Williams, ed. Vol. 38 No.8, Whole Number 463, August 2014, $4.99, 10 times a year, 112pp, 15 x 22 cm. Novella by Jay O’Connell; novelettes by Nick Wolven, Nancy Kress, and Doug C. Souza; short stories by Jeremiah Tolbert and Sarah Pinsker; columns from Robert Silverberg and James Patrick Kelly; poetry, reviews, etc. Cover by Kinuko Craft.
Black Static–Andy Cox, ed. Issue No. 40, May/June 2014, £4.99, bimonthly, 96pp, 17 x 24 cm. Dark British SF/F magazine with stories by Tim Casson, Chris Barnham, Sarah Read, Stephen Hargadon, Steve Rasnic Tem, and Paul Meloy; columns and reviews. Cover by Ben Baldwin. Subscription: UK £27.00/Europe £30.00/elsewhere £33.00 for six issues to TTA Press, 5 Martins Lane, Witcham, Ely, Cambs CB6 2LB, UK; website:
Cemetery Dance–Richard T. Chizmar, ed. Issue No. 71, 2014, $9.95, irregular, 106pp, 21 x 26½ cm. Small press horror fiction magazine. This is an all fiction issue with works by Bentley Little, Simon Clark, Darrell Schweitzer, Christopher Reynaga, Jack Ketchum, Sean Manseau, and Daniel Braum, Colleen Anderson, Eric Red, Deborah Kalin, Joel Lane, Taylor Grant, Blake Crouch; plus reviews. Cover by Alan M. Clark. Subscription: $27.00 for six issues, to Cemetery Dance Publications, PO Box 623, Forest Hill MD 21050; e-mail:
Dark Discoveries–Aaron J. French, ed. Issue No. 27, Spring 2014, $11.95, quarterly, 110pp, 21.5 x 28 cm. Dark fantasy magazine with stories by Brian Evenson, Bentley Little, Maurice Broaddus, Tom Piccirilli, John R. Little, and Douglas Clegg; interviews with Brian Evenson, Jeffrey Sackett, and Tom Piccirilli; features and columns by Yvonne Navarro, James R. Beach, Michael R. Collings, Frank M. Robinson, etc.; and reviews. Subscription: $19.95 for four digital issues; $37.95 US/$46.95 Canada/$69.95 overseas for four print issues to Christopher C. Payne, JournalStone Publications, 1261 Peachwood Court, San Bruno CA 94066; website:
Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction–Paul March-Russell, ed. Vol. 43, Issue No. 117, Spring 2014, £7.00/$15.00, three times yearly, 132pp, 14½ x 21 cm. Published by the Science Fiction Foundation, this scholarly, literary journal includes essays, review-essays, and book reviews. This issue’s essays honor some of the luminaries we lost in 2013 with Christopher McKitterick’s appreciation for Frederik Pohl, Brian Baker’s analysis of Pohl’s writings and how they changed over the length of his career; Dean Conrad’s consideration of how Richard Matheson blurred lines between genres as a screenwriter; and Jude Roberts’s discussion of vulnerable masculinities in Iain M. Banks’s culture novels; in addition, this issue includes Susan Gray and Christos Callow Jr. look at the past and future of Science Fiction theatre; and Andrew Milner’s examination of when the history of SF started. Subscription: UK and Ireland £20.00/Rest of Europe £22.00/ Elsewhere £25.00/USD$42.00/Students £14.00/USD$23.00 (proof required) for three issues to The Science Fiction Foundation, c/o 75 Rosslyn Avenue, Harold Wood, Essex RM3 0RG, UK; e-mail: Roger Robinson (‘‘SFF’’ in subject line)
Interzone–Andy Cox, ed. Issue No. 252, May/June 2014, £4.99, bimonthly, 96pp, 17 x 24 cm. British SF/F magazine. Stories by Neil Williamson, Katharine E.K. Duckett, Val Nolan, Oliver Buckram, Claire Humphrey, and Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam; and reviews. Cover by Wayne Haag. Subscription: UK £27.00/Europe £30.00/elsewhere £33.00 for six issues to TTA Press, 5 Martins Lane, Witcham, Ely, Cambs CB6 2LB, UK; website:
Lore–Rod Heather & Sean O’Leary, eds. Vol. 2, No. 5, April 2014, $9.95 biannually, 134pp, 14 x 21.5 cm. Perfect-bound fantasy magazine with stories by Brad Ellison, Garrett Ashley, Patricia Russo, Nathan Wyckoff, Jacob A. Boyd, Brad C. Hodson, Sonia Orin Lyris, Schuyler Hernstrom, and Jayce K. Wagner. Cover by Christopher Allen. Subscription: Unavailable. Issues may be purchased from the website or from The Lore Film LLC, PO Box 314, Haddonfield NJ 08033; website:
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction–Gordon Van Gelder, ed. Vol. 127, No. 1 & 2, Whole No. 714, July/August 2014, $7.99, bimonthly, 260pp, 13 x 19½ cm. Guest edited by C.C. Finlay. Novelettes by Charlie Jane Anders, Paul M. Berger, David Erik Nelson, Sarina Dorie, Dinesh Rao, Alaya Dawn Johnson; short stories by Annalee Flower Horne, Sandra McDonald, Cat Hellisen, Ian Tregillis, Spencer Ellsworth, Haddayr Copley-Woods, and William Alexander. Cover by Maurizio Manzieri.
Neoopsis–Karl Johanson, ed. No. 24, 2014, CAD$9.00, three times a year, 80pp, 14 x 20½ cm. Canadian small-press SF magazine with short fiction by Guy Immega, Alison Pentecost, and others; essays, etc. Also included is NeoOpsis (6th edition CD-Rom) with NeoOpsis #s 21, 22, 23, and 24. Cover by Karl Johanson. Subscription: C$24.00 Canada/C$30.00 US/C$39.00 Overseas to Neoopsis Science Fiction Magazine, 4129 Carey Road, Victoria BC Canada V8Z 4G5; e-mail:
Smith’s Monthly–Dean Wesley Smith, Issue #8, May 2014, $6.99 digital/$12.99 print/$30.00 print sent internationally, mo
nthly, 154pp, 17½ x 25½ cm. A monthly magazine written entirely by Dean Wesley Smith with four short stories; a complete novel, Life of a Dream (an Earth Protection League Novel); chapters 22-24 of The Life and Times of Buffalo Jimmy and chapters 22-24 of The Adventures of Hawk; nonfiction and poetry. Subscription: Digital-only $29.99 (six issues)/$49.99 (12 issues); Print plus digital $59.99 (six issues)/$99.99 for (12 issues)/$30.00 per issue internationally, on his website
Star*Line–F.J. Bergmann, ed. Vol. 37 No. 2, Spring 2014, $5.00 print/$2.50 pdf, irregular, 48pp, 14 x 21½ cm. Speculative poetry magazine from the Science Fiction Poetry Association with work by Robert Borski, Mary Soon Lee, and others. Cover by Kelli Hoppman. Subscription: $24 for four print issues & Dwarf Stars Anthology, $10 for pdf to SFPA, SFPA Treasurer, PO Box 907, Winchester CA 92596; paypal to
Tales of the Talisman–David Lee Summers, ed. Vol 9, Issue 4, Spring 2014, $8.00, quarterly, 101pp, 21 x 25.5 cm. Fantasy and speculative fiction magazine with short fiction, poetry, and reviews. Cover by Laura Givens. Subscription: $24.00 per year to Hadrosaur Productions, PO Box 2194, Mesilla Park NM 88047-2194; website:
Magazines Received continues after ad.
ONLINE MAGAZINES
Apex Magazine
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Clarkesworld
Daily Science Fiction
Electric Spec
Fireside
Lightspeed Magazine
The New York Review of Science Fiction
Nightmare Magazine
Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show
Strange Horizons
Tor.com
Locus, July 2014 Page 17