There have been a lot of historical mystery’s lately, several of them include historical figures as the detective. In Rory Clements novel Martyr, he uses a historical figure’s brother as the main character. John Shakespeare, older brother of William (yes William doesn’t have an older brother in real life, this is a out of wedlock brother by another mother, but that isn’t touched on too much). The book is a well done mystery in an interesting time period. So let’s see what it’s about.
2012 Crawford Award Announced
Locus announced the winner of the 2012 William L. Crawford Fantasy Award which “is designated for an exceptionally promising writer whose first fantasy book was published the preceding year”. The winner is Genevieve Valentine for her novel Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti. I haven’t read the book, it does sound interesting.
Moxyland by Lauren Beukes
After reading Lauren Beukes debut novel Zoo City(my review), I decided to move onto her second novel Moxyland. The book is very different and it threw me a bit. Where Zoo City had a mystery plot as the main thread connecting the book together, Moxyland is more of a mish-mash of scenes containing the four main characters. I’m not sure I liked the book as much, so let’s delve in and figure out why.
Patton Oswalt Interviews Harlan Ellison
At Cinefamily, Patton Oswalt crashes in and interviews Harlan Ellison.
H/T: SFSignal.com
Harvey Pekar’s new book
The Flashmob Fridays blog takes a look at the upcoming Harvey Pekar book: Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland.
What I believe is the final completed work by the late author Harvey Pekar is now available, an expansive memoir that also performs about half of the time as a history of Cleveland, Ohio. The so-called navel-gazing, emo, whiny autobiographical comics of the ‘80s and ‘90s were never as large in number as detractors claimed, but what there were always found an antidote in Pekar’s comics, which addressed disease, relationship and work problems with either a crusty humor or resolve, a get-it-out-and-over-with quality that Pekar brings to this finale project.
Habibi by Craig Thompson
Craig Thompson is one of the more celebrated graphic novelists around. Each of his books is lavishly praised and awarded. But, for some reason, I just never like them as much as everyone else seems to. I thought Good-bye Chunky Rice was forgettable and Blankets was merely decent. So it was some trepidation that I picked up Thompson’s latest award winning novel Habibi. And, while I enjoyed it, I was still not thinking that it was as great as everyone makes it out to be. So, let’s go over Habibi and see why.
Continue reading
Everything You Need To Know About Babylon 5
IO9 has a great article for those of you who are interested in getting into Babylon 5. The article goes over the main characters, storylines and essential episodes. I loved seasons 2-4 (1 had some issues and the 5 was hurt due to questions about whether or not it was coming back). Hopefully I’ll be able to review the series at some point, but if you’re interested, go check out the article.
Batman/Hamlet
In the 90s, the Elseworlds superhero stories were all the rage. Steve Englehart had an idea for Hamlet as Batman that was never published, but he shares a synopsis with IO9.
Alone in a deserted turret of the castle, Hamlet calls himself a coward and berates himself. The Jester comes and talks with him, advising him to take his adoption of a false persona a step farther. If he, Hamlet, can’t make himself act, why not “become” a man dedicated to action? “They’ll still know who I am,” complains Hamlet. Then why not wear a mask? Something designed to show those who encounter you that you’re no one to be trifled with? Something to strike fear in their hearts! At that moment, a bat flies through the turret window. And so is born…the idea for the Bat-man.
BBC’s Sherlock renewed for season 3
Steven Moffat’s other little series Sherlock has already concluded season 2 on BBC and is scheduled to arrive on US shores in May. I’m assuming season 2 must have been really good since the BBC has already confirmed a third season. NOTE: Do NOT click on the link if you are worried about spoilers and it also has a NSFW picture on the site.
2011 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award winner
Congratulations to Connie Willis:
The author of fifteen novels and over fifty short stories and novellas, Ms. Willis’s first novel, Water Witch, co-written with Cynthia Felice, was released in 1982. In 1992, Bantam Spectra released Willis’s Doomsday Book, which went on to win the Hugo, the Nebula and the Locus Awards for Best Novel. As of 2012, Ms. Willis has seven Nebula Awards, eleven Hugo Awards and four Locus Awards, among many others.
Ms. Willis is known to fans and colleagues for her generosity and humor, and her stories and anecdotes are frequently quoted long after their debut. She exemplifies the best this genre has to offer, and we are proud to welcome her to the rank of Grand Master.