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Category: Book Reviews

Every Last Drop by Charlie Huston Review

On December 12 By Brian Lindenmuth In Book Reviews

As much as I really enjoyed Every Last Drop, and there is a lot to like, I can’t help but being just a little disappointed. You can check out an interview with Charlie Huston as …

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Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse + Vampire A Go-Go by Victor Gischler Review

On November 10 By Brian Lindenmuth In Book Reviews

Accompanied by his cowboy sidekick Buffalo Bill, the gorgeous stripper Sheila, and the mountain man Ted, Mortimer journeys to the lost city of Atlanta — and a showdown that might determine the fate of humanity.

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Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier Review

On November 6 By Trine Paulsen In Book Reviews

Daughter of the Forest is the debut of the New Zealand author Juliet Marillier and the first book in the widely acclaimed Sevenwaters Trilogy. It offers a deep-felt re-telling of “Six Swans”, an old folk …

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Patrick O’Leary Interview + Door Number Three Review

On November 1 By Brian Lindenmuth In Book Reviews, Interviews

Behind Door Number Three is The Gift of The Impossible Bird… When I decided to re-read Patrick O’Leary’s novels to see if they were as good as I remembered them to be I also set …

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Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski Review

On September 11 By Brian Lindenmuth In Book Reviews

At a time when workers feel increasingly insecure about their positions with The Company Severance Package acts as a pretty savage critique of corporate culture.

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The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia Review

On September 1 By Trine Paulsen In Book Reviews

History as it is written is full of holes, of secrets and of omissions. The so-called “secret histories”, fictional or otherwise, are the stories of the forgotten and the suppressed, the stories of those who …

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Sly Mongoose by Tobias Buckell Review

On August 24 By John Markley In Book Reviews

Sly Mongoose is the third novel of Tobias Buckell. It is part of the same future history as its predecessors Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin, but it is a self-contained story that can be read on …

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James P. Blaylock Interview – Where in the World is William Ashbless?

On August 9 By Jay In (special) Guest Blogs, Book Reviews, Comics, Game of Thrones, Interviews

James P. Blaylock was one of the writers, along with Jonathan Carroll, that was at the forefront of reeducation of what Fantasy was or rather could entail, and it was work like The Paper Grail …

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Jhegaala by Steven Brust Review

On July 29 By Damon Cap In Book Reviews

Steven Brust brings us another tale of our hero Vlad Talos as he goes to the East to learn about his family in the town of Burz. Being the outgoing chap that he is, Vlad starts asking about the family Merss (his mother’s side of …

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Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle Review

On July 27 By Trine Paulsen In Book Reviews

ASH – A Secret History can in many respects be regarded as Mary Gentle’s magnum opus, both in terms of volume (a whopping 1100 pages) and in terms of its ambition and scope. It is …

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NAOMI NOVIK and CHARLES ARDAI at THE EXPLORERS CLUB

On July 14 By Clare In Book Reviews

Recently, I received a splashy invitation to the kind of event that a genre-bender like me can’t refuse.  The location of the festivities was the Explorers Club on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.  I couldn’t wait …

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Con Report – Readercon 18

On July 8 By Matt Denault In Book Reviews

Readercon 18 was held July 5th through the 8th, 2007, in Burlington, MA, USA. Readercon is known as a very focused convention: there are none of the art shows, music, gaming, costumes, etc. that one …

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A Mystery/Crime Fiction Primer

On June 25 By Brian Lindenmuth In Book Reviews

Awhile ago here at BSC we had a contest to win a copy of The Blonde. And when the person who won the contest finished reading it he placed his thoughts in the review comments …

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Ekaterina Sedia Interview and The Alchemy of Stone Review

On June 22 By Craig_Gidney In Book Reviews, Interviews

Ekaterina Sedia’s second novel, The Secret History of Moscow, has made her a new author to watch. It has garnered critical praise, from no less than Neil Gaiman and is selling quite well. The novel …

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Un Lun Dun by China Mieville Review

On June 18 By Craig_Gidney In Book Reviews

China Mieville is the premiere iconoclast of the fantasy genre. Before (or at the same time) that “punk” (as in cyberpunk, splatterpunk and mythpunk) became a common subgenre suffix, Mieville laid out the manifesto of …

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The Man on the Ceiling by Steve Rasnic & Melanie Tem Review

On June 11 By Matt Denault In Book Reviews

Tem’s fantastical memoir The Man on the Ceiling, about his wife Melanie. And Melanie’s character, in one of her narrative turns, tells us how a strange and lost man did one night climb through her …

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Post Mortem: Uncovering the Real Ending of The 50/50 Killer by Steve Mosby

On June 4 By Brian Lindenmuth In Book Reviews

I almost feel like this doesn’t need to be said but I’ll say it anyway. This isn’t a review; it’s a critical piece that deals with text specific examples. In other words there WILL be …

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Maledicte by Lane Robins Review

On May 27 By Trine Paulsen In Book Reviews

Maledicte marks Lane Robins’ first effort as a novelist, and a glance at the cover – which depicts and androgynous face in profile, eyes covered with an ornate Venetian-style domino, the title written with gothic …

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Deepsix by Jack McDevitt Review

On May 25 By John Markley In Book Reviews

Deepsix is the second novel in Jack McDevitt’s “Academy” series, which can be described as mostly-hard science fiction with a few exceptions like faster-than-light travel included out of narrative necessity. However, while it has the …

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The Magician and the Fool by Barth Anderson Review

On May 4 By Craig_Gidney In Book Reviews

Barth Anderson’s second novel, The Magician and The Fool, is marketed as a thriller in the DaVinci Code mode, with the hidden history behind the Tarot being the focus. Indeed, the novel is fast-paced and …

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The Demon and the City by Liz Williams Review

On March 2 By Craig_Gidney In Book Reviews

Seneschal Zhu Irzh, demonic scion and star of the first Detective Inspector Chen Novel, is now officially, if grudgingly, a member of the Singapore 3 police force while Chen is on his honeymoon. An investigation …

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The Last Dragon by J.M. McDermott Review

On February 21 By Matt Denault In Book Reviews

In Last Dragon, J.M. McDermott strips the fat from the bones of epic quest-driven fantasy, then dresses up the resulting skeleton of story in layer upon layer of fragmented and elliptical narrative. The fit of …

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The Lost District by Joel Lane Review

On January 16 By Craig_Gidney In Book Reviews

“One night, I dreamt that trapped cries of ecstasy were turning to water between the floors, staining my ceiling with the shape of a naked woman. I woke and turned on the light, but couldn’t …

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God’s Demon by Wayne Barlowe Review

On December 2 By Matt Denault In Book Reviews

Hell is a setting but never quite a theme in Wayne Barlowe’s debut novel God’s Demon; this explains both the book’s successes and its disappointments. At its best Barlowe’s novel provides a fairly typical, quasi-medieval …

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Your Prescription for Reading?

On October 26 By Jay In (special) Guest Blogs, Book Reviews, Comics, Game of Thrones, Interviews

This is the first of a new monthly feature we are calling Synergy. Basically, one of our contributors offers a single question for our other contributors to give answer to. Beyond that, we go out …

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Interfictions: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing Review

On October 23 By Matt Denault In Book Reviews

What makes certain writings “interstitial” is largely a matter of expectations, say Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss, editors of Interfictions: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing. How, then, to set expectations for the anthology itself? For …

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The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall Review

On October 7 By Brian Lindenmuth In Book Reviews

Some reviewers have been comparing The Raw Shark Texts to the movie Memento. It’s a largely uninspired comparison based solely on the fact that both protagonists share some form of memory loss. But it’s a …

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The Shotgun Rule by Charlie Huston Review

On August 28 By Brian Lindenmuth In Book Reviews

Over the course of his brief career Huston has very quickly become one of the top crime fiction writers. One of the things that is the most impressive about Huston’s career so far is that …

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Best Books of 2007 – Summer Edition

On July 28 By Brian Lindenmuth In Book Reviews

With the first half of 2007 behind us we wanted to gather the BSC think-tank and stop to smell the pages. To look in the rear-view mirror and take stock of the books that we …

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The Best Books of 2006

On July 25 By Brian Lindenmuth In Book Reviews

This article was supposed to have been posted a couple of weeks ago and I take full responsibility. As has been said before one of the great things about Bookspotcentral is the diversity of the …

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Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis Review

On July 23 By Brian Lindenmuth In Book Reviews

Michael McGill is a burned-out private detective and self-described “shit magnet” who is enlisted by the White House Chief of Staff to retrieve the Constitution of the United States, not the one taught about in …

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Neal Asher Interview and The Skinner Review

On April 30 By John Markley In Book Reviews, Interviews

Combining large-scale space opera, intense, visceral action, and occasional elements of horror, Neal Asher is one of the most exciting authors to come out of the United Kingdom in recent years. Born in England in …

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Napoleon’s Pyramids by William Dietrich Review

On March 30 By Matt Denault In Book Reviews

The initial appearance of the pulp hero in the newspapers, radio shows and cinema of 1920s America was a reassuring affirmation of rugged American individualism in a world that, in the wake of World War …

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Academ’s Fury by Jim Butcher – Review

On February 16 By Matt Denault In Book Reviews

There are a few sentences in the Prologue of Jim Butcher’s Academ’s Fury that in some ways reveal all that you need to know about the book: The steady, smoldering throb from his left knee …

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Warrior and Witch by Marie Brennan – Review

On December 4 By Matt Denault In Book Reviews

From its cover one might suspect Marie Brennan’s Warrior and Witch to be a fantasy-romance hybrid, but there is actually very little romance in this tale of magic, politics and cultural change. Also misleading about …

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To the Power of Three by Laura Lippman Review

On November 6 By Brian Lindenmuth In Book Reviews

Laura Lippman, author of the popular Tess Monaghan series, takes a break to explore a stand alone novel. In To the Power of Three she takes an old mystery novel concept, the locked room mystery …

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The Girl in the Glass by Jeffrey Ford Review

On August 11 By Clare In Book Reviews

For 2005, THE GIRL IN THE GLASS won the Edgar award for Best Paperback Original from the Mystery Writers of America. You might think a crime-writing award a strange one for Jeffrey Ford to receive …

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The Book of Ballads by Charles Vess Review

On June 10 By Clare In Book Reviews

With textual help from some well-known names, but primarily from the inspiration of classic Anglo-Saxon storysongs, Charles Vess has created a unique form of graphic novel. Recently reprinted in softcover, THE BOOK OF BALLADS is …

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Caught Stealing by Charlie Huston – Review

On May 14 By Clare In Book Reviews

I always think a good hard-boiled crime novel ought to read like I’m sliding into a warm bath with slit wrists, so smooth I’m grinning through the bleed-out. Charlie Huston’s CAUGHT STEALING reads like that. …

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Witness To Myself by Seymour Shubin Review

On May 4 By Clare In Book Reviews

Seymour Shubin’s WITNESS TO MYSELF is not the typical fare usually found beneath the lurid cover of a Hard Case Crime paperback. For one thing, the protagonist is a decent fellow, unlike the usual noir …

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The Wizard Lord by Lawrence Watt-Evans Review

On April 23 By Clare In Book Reviews

Lawrence Watt-Evans begins his latest sword and sorcery series with THE WIZARD LORD, Volume One of The Annals of the Chosen. In the land of Barokan, magic is everpresent. The ler are the spirits within …

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Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake Review

On January 1 By Clare In Book Reviews

If you haven’t yet read Titus Groan, then for all your life, the infant heir to castle Gormenghast has waited for you. Certainly for most of your life anyway, since Book One in Mervyn Peake’s …

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Temeraire, Naomi Novik’s His Majesty’s Dragon Charms – Review

On December 31 By Jay In Book Reviews

If you have become as jaded as I have become regarding fantastic fiction, even certain title choices causes you to avoid or at the very least postpone when you get to a novel, a blasé …

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Patricia McKillip’s Od Magic Review

On November 22 By Matt Denault In Book Reviews

The genre that today is labeled “fantasy” on the shelves of your local bookseller and library (or the links of your favored e-tailer) is made up of many different literary traditions. There are the mythological …

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Tolkien and the Great War Review

On September 22 By Victoria Hoyle In Book Reviews

Innumerable commentators, critics, fans and, lately, even film-makers have suggested that Tolkien’s oeuvre was deeply affected by his experiences in the Great War (1914-18) and particularly at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 (when …

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Synergy! Sharing Favorite Scary Stories with Carrie Vaughn, Charlie Huston, Jimmy Palmiotti & More!

On September 5 By Jay In (special) Guest Blogs, Book Reviews, Comics, Game of Thrones, Interviews

Synergy is back! If you haven’t seen this column before, the basic idea is that we put the same question to a variety of professionals (and sometimes amateurs) who interest us to create a plateful of …

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Susanna Clarke’s Magical Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell Review

On June 4 By Jay In (special) Guest Blogs, Book Reviews, Comics, Game of Thrones, Interviews

In my opinion, simply stated, with no reservation what so ever, the best novel published in 2004. The best Fantasy novel? Well, yes, but also, the best fictional novel, bar none. Susanna Clarke’s debut novel, …

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