Category: Reviews

ANY FOOL CAN BE A PIG FARMER by James Robertson.

 Hardcover published 1975. Farming Press Ltd. (UK) A friend very kindly bought this book as a gift for me since she had an amazon account and I didn’t. I wanted it because a) it was the first in the series, and b) I already owned two of the author’s later books and they made me …

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THE CASSANDRA PROJECT by Jack McDevitt and Mike Resnick

hardcover, Ace, November 2012, I love Jack McDevitt’s books, so I grabbed the chance of reading this one although I wasn’t initially certain I’d like it. It is a departure from his ‘SF, well into the future” novels, and seemed to be along the lines of a conspiracy theory-type plot. However the mail arrived in …

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STRANGE CHRISTMAS anthology, Edited Jean Goldstrom,

guest review by Steve Johnson. Another very solid anthology from Whortleberry Press in the USA. As usual since Lyn has a story in this I’m reviewing and can say what I like without anyone blaming her. In this case there isn’t much blame likely. There was only one story that I really didn’t like, and …

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SPACE INC. Theme anthology edited by Julie Czerneda. Published paperback, DAW, 2003.

Anthologies can be very useful as samplers. I read a number for this reason and in the past stories from theme anthologies have put me onto writers I might otherwise have missed. But editing an anthology is an art. I read an anthology and mark the stories three ways as Category One, for this story …

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Demon Weather by Chico Kidd.

published softcover, Booktrope, 2011. Cover art by author. This came flapping into my mailbox unexpectedly and I fell on it with cries of delight.  It seems incredible that I’ve known the author for more than 20 years, (and liked her work for just as long) but when I checked, yes, that’s so. Chico’s main character …

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A TURN OF LIGHT by Julie Czerneda.

published DAW, march 2013. Review is of uncorrected proof copy. I first ‘met’ Julie when her book, A Thousand Words for Stranger  came out in 1997. I read that in one mighty gulp, and LOVED it. She was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and I voted for her. …

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A COMFORT OF CATS by Doreen Tovey

hardcover, published 1979 St Martin’s Press. The cover and internal illustrations are done by Maurice Wilson and are, as usual, beautiful, and beautifully done. In fact this particular copy has huge value to me for a number of reasons. I corresponded with the author for some years, and my friend Andre Norton also loved her …

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LET THE TIGER DIE

by Manning Coles. Hardcover, H&S published January 1948.  8th in series. I have almost all of the Manning Coles’ “Tommy Hambleton” books. I love them, read my way through them all every few years, and would really like to acquire the couple  that I don’t yet own. They’re witty, clever, often very funny, and I …

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Strange Halloween

an anthology from Whortleberry Press edited by Jean Goldstrom. softcover. Reviewed by Steve Johnson. Fine  job here, excellent cover that picks up the anthology theme very nicely, and a good selection of 22 stories with only one I really didn’t like. Favourites were Black and Silver (very nice use of history) The Guy With the …

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THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins

reviwed by Glenda Johnson. Lyn loaned me a copy of the first of this trilogy at the start of the year and I found it quite good. Ihis week I borrowed the set now that she has the others, reread book one, followed immediately by the other two, and sad to say, while I still …

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