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BLOG
NAME, LINK & AUTHORS DESCRIPTION |
C.O.F.
REVIEW |
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A compendium of five blogger’s reviews - none of
whom have seen fit to really fill out their bios. Lisa
seems to be the most active, offering up (mostly) reviews
of fantasy novels, which may be good, or bad, but hold
absolutely no interest for me. A relatively recent review
of Doctorow’s Little Brother relieves the all fantasy,
all the time feel just a little. Good ritin, comprehensive
reviews. |
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a
creature of two bloggers - James Cormier and CJ Stutz
- and, despite its (almost) all fantasy focus, it does
what a good blog does - it gets personal, and it covers
topics other than just books (games, for example) that
are related to the core subjects. Both writers seem to
be equally represented, the writing is above average and
- another plus - they address issues and take actual positions
on them. |
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equal
parts fantasy and science fiction reviews, done professionally,
seriously and academically (but without the boring part
that goes with academic - I think it’s the third
and fourth syllables that are responsible for that). Absolutely
can’t fault a review site that pans both Twilight
AND Ender in Exile. |
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Five
wildly diverse individuals covering a range of topics
in interesting ways. It does include some genre coverage
and reviews and appears pretty professional. |
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a
magazine actually rather than a blog - ‘Australia’s
pulpiest SF magazine’. Australia + science fiction
- who wouldn't want to visit? |
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Nice
site and some good publishing industry info. |
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the
blog from the kt literary agency. (It is always nice to
be nice to agents.). Daphne is “shoe-obsessed”
and I like women who are shoe obsessed - especially those
long, spiky heel obsessions. |
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The
on-line version of a monthly ebulletin prepared for subscribers
to Aurealis - which of course we all know is a bastion,
nay a ROCK of Australian speculative fiction. Excellent
reviews, covers the typical and the surprising.
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More
Australia! - but there’s a lot of US-originated
content replicated on there. |
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A
“grog” (group blog) of five YA/MG writers
sharing their writing experiences. It’s lively -
but it’s pink.
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Dark
fantasy, horses and history. And some really fine photos.
The only downside being her insistence on using the metric
system for measurement. So what you’re a Canadian!
I’m an amerikun and we use real measures like feets
and yahds an bushels an pecks! (The pecks ought to be
over in the romance review section.) (Yeah, I know we’re
the hold outs, but I just love pushing american-centrism
on people - it endears us to them so much…) |
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Beekeeping
and book reviews and e-reading tech coverage. The book
reviews are being moved to their own blog (Books on the
Knob). Unfortunately, the site kept on blowing up on me;
I’ve had similar issues with Amazon ads occassionally.
THIS will be a “re-do” and, since I like social
insects (ants more than bees but ya can’t be picky),
I'll be going back. |
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Nice
collection of other blog entries, book reviews (SFF) RPG
gaming (gaming being the operative for me), interviews
and to the point style. |
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Whoa!
Confessions of a book whore! (Just checked, the wife is
not looking over my shoulder…) and she’s a
Celt! And she just looooooves those movies. And she writes
very professional reviews - with blurbs from the covers
right at the beginning. I wish more people did that. I
should lead by example, but I won’t. Bibliosnark
can do that. Heavy on the horror though.
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Infrequent
but informative; covering several series right now, both
SF and fantasy; appears to know the field well and offers
personal insite.
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Already
a fan. Oh. And btw: if I’m already on you’re
blogroll, I should have or will add you to mine. If you
say nice things about me, I’ll do the same for you.
And Bill Ward rocks. (And if you have added me and find
that I haven’t added you - which is not the case
with Bill - it is merely an oversite. I do appreciate
friendly reminders.) |
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Hmmm.
Not sure on this one. The page layout needs a little work
as I had to scroll past a lot of stuff to get to the first
entry. This is another grog - with some twenty+ reviewers
- and a lot of ‘win free book contests’ for
the Holidays. Seems pretty horror oriented also. I think
I’ll be going back a few times...
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A
review site from Games Workshop. Nice fantasy/pseudo-Frazetta
artwork there. Short and sweet ’support the business’
type blog |
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“Proudly
Supporting Anti-Mundane SF”. Justin has just discovered
the golden ticket. Well, more like the silver one (I’d
prefer to see ‘Proudly Supporting Classic SF’),
but it still gets him in the door. Journeyman’s
blog, equal parts games, SF and NFL football. |
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Comics,
SF, Fantasy and good, comprehensive reviews. Also, a collector
of autographs (so if you ever want to forge Stephen R
Donaldson’s sig - here ya go). |
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a
Blog from “Keppler’s Teens” - people
passionate about books and helping you find the right
one. Not frequently updated and a blank myspace and website
result. Mostly YA stuff - which I can avoid, since I don’t
think kids should get special treatment. Damn whippersnappers
are taking up all the shelf space at the bookstore. I
thought they're supposed to be seen and not heard. If
I want ankle-biters hangin around, I’ll get a small
dog. Oh, right - already got one. |
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Three
blokes from London read on the train and write it all
up here. Good mix of just about everything, and thoughtful
reviews. |
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A
freelance editor’s tales of roaming New York City
and occassionally writing about comics and SF/F. (Which
is not a bad thing.) Tough row to hoe on the work side
- pretty good blog on the blogging side. |
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Wow
- got a whore and a slut this episode! Unfortunately -
no shoes here. The blog is a portion of a larger website,
seemingly devoted to ‘mainstream’ and liturairy
literature (the latter based on coverage of the New Yorker
Magazine and NPR). |
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Just
about equal parts romance and spec fic reviews. A happy
image of Princess Leia smooching with Han Solo greets
you upon arrival. Bleh. (Two strikes there: books based
on 'the movies of' plus romance.) If someone really wanted
to push the envelope, it’d be a cover featuring
Chewbacca getting it on with Jabba the Hut. |
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Ecclectic
and funny - and some interesting layout and graphics.
Manga, science fiction - and even Sesame Street are covered
here. |
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Another
pom. Tied in and happening. Stross, Morgan, etc., all
the right publishers mentioned and a nice link library
of advice for would-be SF writers. |
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more
of an e-zine (apparently) than anything else - and it’s
Australian. And open to submissions for articles and even
potentially for guest blogging. A bit of news, some blog
entries, cataloged reviews, advice for writers and a nifty
little piece on the Authonomy website, where fledgling
writers have a chance to worm their way out of the slushpile
- the realization of something I blogged about a few months
ago (a ‘community read and vote’ used to advance
manuscripts to an editor’s desk at HarperCollins
UK). Nice site, good info, reviews of ‘all of speculative
fiction’ |
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Seems
to be a creature of ‘pumpupyourbooks.com’
and enamoured of POD books. Does have a link to Preditors
and Editors going in its favor, as well as a very extensive
link list to other review sites not listed in the meme.
No SF/F/H reviews after going several levels deep - and
not really interested in self-published stuff anyway (not
after breaking my back on the traditional submission to
traditional publishers route) - but it might be right
up your alley if you’re looking to support the new
‘everyone can be anything’ internet economy. |
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Wow.
Now I know why the SF Chronicle covers SF on a regular
basis (Science Fiction, not San Francisco). This is a
professional reviewers professional blog. This is someone
I can identify with, especiually consider that he lists
Dr. Strangelove as one of his favorite films and lists
Warren Zevon, Randy Newman AND Joe Jackson among his favorite
listens.
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Cherly
Morgan’s personal blog. Hugo Nominee. Co-Curator
of SF Awards Watch with Kevin Standlee. General musings
and good info. |
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Don
D’Amassa’s site. Wow. The Cs are full of uber
Fen. Don has been a fixture of fandom and reviews for
YEARS. The guy knows his stuff - the genre, the writers,
the publishers, the fans. It doesn’t get better
than this.
|
The
Crotchety Old Fan
COF
revels in being old enough to play the dirty old man to
nubile young teenagers, and young enough to still out-run
his wife when she catches him at it. Long-time SF fan
(a 'purist') and champion of Classic Science Fiction.
More commentary than reviews and more silliness than commentary.
If you only read one blog about science fiction...let
him know which one it is. |
COF
revels in being old enough to play the dirty old man to
nubile young teenagers, and young enough to still out-run
his wife when she catches him at it. Long-time SF fan
(a 'purist') and champion of Classic Science Fiction.
More commentary than reviews and more silliness than commentary.
If you only read one blog about science fiction...let
him know which one it is. |
| CThreepio |
Keith
Graham’s wanderings. I’ve been reading Keith
for a while now - and he’s always good for a nifty
picture, comics and also manages to pull some books off
the shelf - usually ones I’ve not yet read myself.
Astronomy/SF oriented, some e-book coverage and fantasy
has a way of creeping in there. |
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The
world of specfic/weird writer and Clarion graduate Damien.
Not much there at the moment, but this is a guy who made
it through Clarion, so - networking - yah, that’s
the ticket.
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Webdesigner
and occassional writer, Lisa ‘Spindler’ (she’s
related to ‘Fold’ and ‘Mutilate’)
covers space, exo-planets, design and reading. Can’t
turn Danger Gal down - not after the mention of spiked
heels that are “used as weapons”. |
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Fan
of fantasy and horror - and occassionally science fiction.
Decent enough, but mostly concentrated on fantasy and
horror.
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OMG
- if there is anything worse than fantasy, it has got
to be SERIES of paranormal-urban fantasy-vampire-romance
novels. I speak here not of a single novel exploring these
‘themes’, but of authors who write multiple
stories with recurring characters and the reviewers who
review them. Saying ‘this is not my cup of tea’
is a pale summary of my feelings - until you realize that
I am saying "this is not my cup of tea" to Morticia
Addams as she tries to hand me a china cup that has green
steam coming out of it. Nothing against the reviewer here,
nor against the site. If you are into the literary descendants
of Anne Rice - you should go here. |
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Self-proclaimed
newbie blogger, seemingly with some industry connections;
interviews, book news, more than acceptable writing. Covers
just what the title says. Gotta keep your eye on those
young upstarts…
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Reviews
(sometimes) written as letters to the author. Seems to
be focused on - everything - and on romance, or romance
and then everything else. |
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This
blog is ending after a year - the author states that personal
issues are making it difficult for him to keep up. Archives
are mostly contemporary SF titles/authors. Actually, this
blog ended in August of this year. |
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(only
fans with genuine peacock feathers dammit!) I’d
quibble with the ‘discriminating’ part - but
she does have pictures of cats, an interesting site layout,
isn’t afraid to pan something and covers a broad
swath of territory (tv, movies, books). |
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Can’t
fault this blog for false advertising. Reviews SPECIFICALLY
fantasy SERIES. But does have a lot of good links, so
as a resource, this site cuts it. A 'one place to go to
get your‘fantasy series’ news'. |
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Aidan
Moher’s blog. Aidan is well tied in to the marketplace,
covers SF and also does the personal thing |
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is
the blog for the book of the same name and helmed by its
author Larry Ketchersid. Fantasy, info, martial arts,
mathematics and science fiction |
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Matt
Staggs. One of my first readers. Ought to be on your blogroll.
All kinds of interesting and wonderful things - mostly
related to books and publishing.
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Very
literary oriented - erudite, thoughtful and wide-ranging.
BUT - not science fiction (for the most part) and, of
course, we all know that there is no genre worth reading
but science fiction. If you do want to avoid being cloistered
in the SF world, you should probably check it out.
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Wow. Just wow. Decent reviews, pretty long list (both
current and older works) and divided into categories like
Science Fiction Reviews, Fantasy Reviews, Short Story
Reviews, etc. |
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Very
nicely laid out and focuses on ‘the book of the
week’. Lots of older works, as well as coverage
of the ‘zines. You could do far worse than simply
following along. |
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Lots
of fantasy - but I’ll forgive the Jersey Boy this
focus because he is a Jersey boy. Also covers manga and
SF/Fantasy art, which is always a good thing. |
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Fantasy
publishing news, television fantasy show news, almost
a thousand links to reviews around the web and numbered
in-house reviews (characterization, world-building, fun
factor). Doesn’t take itself too seriously and covers
a lot of ground. |
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Yep
- SF, Fantasy, movie reviews, book giveaways and lots-o-links.
Note that in the address drop-down, this is identified
as fantasy-sci fi-girl blogspot. |
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Despite
the name, about equal parts SF and fantasy reviews. Does
a fair number of book give-away contests, so those looking
for freebies will want to check it out. |
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Mullane
and Tia take a look at debut novels. Thank god someone
is out there reading first novels! Good categorization
(such as YA identified, etc) and seemingly a very good
grasp of the field. Once again, the focus is on fantasy.
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Surprisingly,
the title tells you exactly what the blog is about: reviews
and commentary from a ‘feminists’ point of
view. Not nearly as strident as a male chauvinist might
expect, and more often than not sticking to the explanatory
side of things rather than the preachifying side of things.
My visit started off with an entry devoted to complaining
about Majel Barrett Roddenberry’s obituary (because
the obit primarily identified the actress as the wife
of Gene Roddenberry). Hadn’t noticed that - but
then that’s the problem with minority acceptance
in society, isn’t it? We don’t notice the
slights and put-downs because they are so much a part
of the background. She handles the difficult well. |
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Fast,
short and sweet, the Fix (online) is already a part of
my repetoire. If you want to get capsule summaries of
what’s out there, go get a fix. |
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Anyone
who says this - “Reminiscing aside, it’s been
my woeful experience that most of the best Science Fiction
stories were written decades ago. Finding a truly brilliant
Science-Fiction gem, written at any time in the last ten
years has proven to be quite a rare treat for me.”
- is A Number 1 in my book. |
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Science
Fiction Romance oriented. Well, it hadda happen sometime.
Wait - didn’t it already happen with tentacle manga?
Or is that hard-core as opposed to soft-core? Nice astronomy
pics tho. Frances was unfamiliar with 'tentacle mange',
and several folks wrote in with their defense of the site,
stating that TM is most definitely NOT SF Romance. It
was a joke that came off poorly. I am mystified by this
particular cross-genre mashuip (SF Romance) - which probably
means that I simply need to look into more - and starting
with this blog will help. |
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My
first commentor. Bill the SciFi Guy has been delving in
to all kinds of classic works as we’ve been discussing
them - the discussion often broken up by heated debates
regarding the true meaning of Science Fiction vs SciFi
- all in fun. Excellent, thoughtful reviews from someone
‘rediscovering’ the classics. He also links
to the Classic Science Fiction Channel AND my blog. |
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(Is
this what happens when a navel orange contemplates itself?
No wait, maybe that's "Fruitfull Recursion.') Blogazine.
Reviews of science fiction criticism - you know, the serious,
literary, academic kind of criticism. Excellent site,
must read for anyone serious about the genre as a literary
genre. |
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Focused
on the concision of romance and science fiction. Lot’s
of folks linking here, and lots of links to other review
sites, writer sites and etc. Nice list of authors compiled
by decade (SF) and an apparent supporter of the ‘romance
has lots of money, SF ought to cash in’ theory.
Irregular posting as the author is doing a lot of guest
blogging. I won’t mention tentacle manga again. |
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General
news of a literary nature - particularly publishing, publishing
debates, e-publishing and etc. Good insider info. |
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RPGs
of an SF and fantasy nature. Looks pretty new. I’ve
stopped playing RPGs, Will Wheaton hasn’t. |
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Cats,
romance, SF, horror and the personal. Some commentary
and links to goings on in the publishing world as well.
Short and fast. |
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Mostly
fantasy - and lots of the goings on on other blogs as
well. |
Grasping
for the Wind
"His
philosophy was a mixture of three famous schools -- the
Cynics, the Stoics and the Epicureans -- and summed up
all three of them in his famous phrase, 'You can't trust
any bugger further than you can throw him, and there's
nothing you can do about it, so let's have a drink.'"
- Terry Pratchett
This blog is the property of John Ottinger. His reviews,
interviews and articles have appeared in The Fix, Sacramento
Book Review, Flashing Swords, Stephen Hunt's SFCrowsnest,
Thaumatrope, and Tor.com.
|
This
is the blog that started this whole meme mess. Lots-o-stuff
and well-written. |
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Blogazine?
in-depth reviews with a literary bent. A bit hard to navigate
- but nice graphics. |
| Gripping
Books |
Short
and sweet, covering SF - right now mostly in the short form,
and both new and classic material. Covers 'speculative fiction'
(whatever that is, lol). |
|
(incorporated
- thank you Laverne & Shirley) we hear from the Canadian
Contingent. This is the blog of Canadian author Edward
Willet. He is currently featuring the World War I memoirs
of his grandfather - pretty cool. Also has coverage of
the field - publishing, science etc. |
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Decent
reviews of a lot of material, currently mostly on horror
and fantasy, but some SF in evidence. |
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Welcome
back to the land down under. Australian site focused on
dark fiction (flipside here - is that horror read by candlelight?).
The official blogazine for Australian Horror authors. |
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mostly
covers romance novels. Pretty depthy, but not my cup of
tea. (I feel a little squeamish reading about readers
who need to fan themselves in order to cool their ardor
after reading a book. Not even really good erotica does
that to me. But some people do like Earl Grey and others
like chamomaile, so if getting all flushed above and below
the neckline is what you’re looking for in a read,
check it out. |
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“weekly
genre short fiction” it self-proclaims. The issues
on the front page are slight on reviews, but no doubt
they are a regular feature of this free fiction mag. |
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Obviously
a big Heinlein fan with an excellent piece analyzing Heinlein’s
style. Appears to cover daily happenstance, longer expositions
regarding the craft and analysis. Excellent site.
|
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Very
infrequently updated blog of a ‘writer, reader and
publisher.’ Other than ‘what I’m reading
now’ mentions, no reviews in sight. |
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No
love lost here. Snide, snarky commentary, mostly directed
at media SF/Fantasy and horror; IO9 comes across as if
its mission is to play the carnival barker at the sideshow
that is the genre fiction community. Look at the freaks!
Look at the freaks! Plays the game well - seems to be
selective when including or not including links to source
material based on - I guess - perception of how nicely
or not-nicely the other site refers to them. I’ve
been publicly critical of them - so you won’t be
seeing links to COF over there, even if I’m the
source. BoingBoing does this kind of thing much better
- at least they don’t seem to hate the genre they
cover. Sometimes inaccurate as well. On the other hand,
if you feel a desperate need to laugh at what you love
and get a taste for how non-genre types regard the genre,
by all means, check it out. You can always slit your wrists
later. |
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Please
Note: if you are linked to this site, they have changed
their location and you might want to update your links.
In-depth musings on SF and fantasy. Currently featuring
a review (one down) of Disch’s Camp Concentration. |
|
Mostly
horror, but some whimsical television show reviews as
well. Graphic novels and movies as also. |
| King
of the Nerds |
Comics,
film, SF; shorth, pithy reviews. Nice clean layout - but
one of the pics is impinging on the text of the first review.
|
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Urban
Fantasy and Paranormal Fantasy writers group blog. Totally
insane - and I love the title. |
|
Originally
known as The Eternal Golden Braid, this is Fred Kiesche’s
personal blog. Fred is a slush reader and, near as I can
tell, has read EVERYTHING (and not just genre friction
either). Equal parts astronomy, daily observations, reviews
and other stuff, Fred ought to be on everyone’s
list.
|
Literary
Escapism
I focus mainly on paranormal fiction. I do a mix of reviews
(although I’m a little slow right now), interviews,
articles, contests, and other interesting tidbits I find
on the interweb. My reviews can cover more than just paranormal
since I am also a fan of fantasy, romance, historical
fiction, and other genres, but I’m in a paranormal
fix at the moment. |
Lots
o'news - especially coverage of author interviews. Other
pieces are short, sometimes reviews of mostly fantasy.
A slow time for this blog - reviews will be picking up
in the new year. |
| Marooned:
Science Fiction Books On Mars |
Very
nicely laid out and very much directly on focus; this blog
looks specifically at genre books related to the Red planet.
In fact, he linked to me just the other day when I did my
John Carter retrospective. Even tho I've added everybody
to my RSS reader (and am in the process of adding them all
to my blogroll), I'd be adding this one anyway. Nice book
cover scans too! |
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Writer
Michele Lee’s book reviews - dark urban fantasy. |
|
Reviews
by a library’s ‘reader’s advisor’
- covers a wide range and personal too. |
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MITSFS
is an institution. Lot’s of reviews by people who
know what they’re talking about.
|
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A
guide to horror fiction FOR LIBRARIANS. Not into horror,
but a good resource if and when I want to/need to get
into than genre.
|
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given
the vocabulary - a scientists blog - short entries of
things that interest the author and might be of interest
to other SF fans who like to get things right. |
|
Just
about equal parts fantasy, SF and rambling; interesting
commentary on re-reading books read as a child. |
|
Book-a-day-giveaway
(for UKers only) and very, very short promos, more than
reviews. YA, fantasy, horror, probably some SF further
down. |
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‘just
a guy wasting time at work blogging about the books he
loves’; info links, book reviews and commentary. |
The
New Book Review
The
site is a good place for reviewers and readers to praise
their favorites!
|
A
’service’ style blog; this site links you
through to other reviews, and encourages submissions by
anyone and everyone. Authors can use it to bring attention
to reviews of their own works. Promotional in nature but
does not have a ‘commercial’ feel. Books currently
featured cover a very wide range - and it is not limited
to fiction. |
|
Tolkien,
cover art reviews and (contemporary) SF. Pretty tied in
to the other blogs as well. |
|
Intellectual
and academic, with multiple contributors. Right now featuring
new weird and the year that was 2008. Not just spec fic.
And a passion for foreign editions. |
|
Self-proclaimed
fantasy addict, who professes not to be able to really
separate sf and fantasy. (We gotta talk girl, lol.) ‘Link
love’ dominates currently - bon mots from other
sites that are of interest to SFF readers. Another blog
from Mulluane (Dragons Heros, Wizards). |
|
anyone
that opens with this quote from Groucho gets must also
know the secret word: "Outside of a dog, a book is
man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too
dark to read". —Groucho Marx . Covers what
the blogger reads and is pretty eclectic - manga, history,
fantasy, science fiction.
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Excuse
me. I had no idea that there were this many different
paranormals - chick lit, romance, romantic suspense, mystery,
vampire, vampire chick lit, vampire humor, dark fantasy,
urban fantasy…and now I do, thanks to this blog.
This one is strictly for the vampire/paranormal “reality”
fundies amongst you. Appears to cover the topic well,
but “paranormal reality” is about as far away
from science fiction as you can get while still (claiming
to be) under the general ’speculative literature’
blanket. |
|
Wide
ranging coverage of ’speculative fiction’;
and appears to like things that I don’t like. As
a reviewer, I often feel ‘out in the cold’
when I’m getting ready to pan something that receives
universal acclaim. I question my own tastes and conclusions,
but often do so in a vacuum. I need other reviewers that
I can bounce questions off of. And it is rare to find
someone who consistently likes things you don’t
like. and probably dislikes things you do. |
|
More
personal focus on hiking and investing than reviews -
but interests other than my own, along with a few reviews. |
|
A
bit of everything. Author does translations (comics seemingly)
and is well tied in. SF, fantasy, television & etc.
I’ve got a link through to a Porteguese blogger,
so might get a little help with the translation here. |
|
Very
commercial site and not really a blog - but anyone with
ties to publishing ought to be at least looking at it
occassionally. |
Reading
the Leaves
Reading
the Leaves is eccentric and eclectic, following the reading
tastes of its owner, Terry Weyna, who seems to read everything
that stands still long enough. The reviews are more in-depth
than on many sites, and are of equal parts speculative
fiction, mystery and mundane fiction, with the occasional
bit of nonfiction thrown in. Blogging has been sparse
for the last two years as Ms. Weyna has been struggling
with illness, but she seems much recovered and hopes to
pick up the pace in 2009. |
Seems
primarily concentated on “literature”. More
time will be devoted to the blog as "life" softs
itself out. |
Realms
of Speculative Fiction
we
try to review as many science fiction, fantasy (epic
before urban), some horror and even mainstream lit and
classics as the time permits us
|
Mostly
urban fantasy because the author is “young”
and “female” and needs to keep up with the
readings of girl-friends. (Because ‘urban fantasy’
is primarily marketed to young females) And because
the other reviewers cover the other stuff.
I
received two emails and one comment from the four people
responsible for this blog. All hail from Slovenia and,
as best I can ferret out, none is a native English speaker
- but this does not affect readability. Delving deeper
into the blog reveals a much wider range of genre content
than originally meets the eye. Thoughtful, considered
reviews, with each reviewer tending to specialize within
several genres.
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|
Very
‘girly’ (and intentionally so). Right now
more personal stuff than reviews. But. I like girls. Especially
naked ones I’m married to, and ones I’m not
married to that aren’t afraid to be ‘girly’.
This girly girl gets lots of arcs, so you can get some
advance notices here. |
|
A
few reviews but, perhaps more important to bibliophiles
- coverage of book sale deals, coupon availability &
etc. I got me some gift cards and this site’s coupon
codes are going to help me stretch them to cover additional
purchases. |
|
DVDs,
movie trailers, books, comics. Husband and wife team.
Nice site. Wide-ranging and good inter-play. |
|
One
of the SFFWorld forum guys; interviews, reviews, personal
stuff. |
|
Wide
ranging (crime, history, SF, fantasy) and infrequently
updated. Appears as if this blogger is trying to make
time to blog but just can’t find it. |
|
She
has a new puppy! (Cute too - the puppy I mean. Oh, what
the heck, SciFi Chick is pretty cute too. So sue me for
the sexist remark.) Mostly television and film, news and
links, but book reviews, mostly of an SF and fantasy nature,
as well. |
|
Not
Bill. Doug. From Canada. Good grounding in classic SF,
but is concentrating on urban fantasy just now. Nice layout
and concept - features an author, a work and provides
lots of background, supplementary material. |
|
Bookseller.
Long interviews with selected authors. Currently on fantasy.
|
|
Probably
THE most unique review blog on the list. Reviews music
and ties it in to science fiction; also covers his own
singing/songwriting efforts. Interesting and fun. |
|
Has
an annoying tendency to launch videos that you can’t
turn off. A creature of SkiffyTube. Commercial and obviously
so. Sometimes has breaking news, but usually follows the
better news sources like Locus, BoingBoing, Signal, etc.
|
|
What
is it with the rat thing? Oh, after reading the “About’
over here, I have my answer. You’ll have to visit
to find out for yourselves. Graphic novels are the focus
here, right now particularly crime and horror and crime/horror. |
|
Begins
with Gene Wolfe’s contention that “all literature
is fantasy”; true to its self-description of being
eclectic, devoted to writing, other things of interest
(to the blogger) and reviews of both the fantastical and
the mundane. My counter quote for Wolfe would be: “anything
not science fiction (or fantasy) is mundane”. |
|
A
blog that “has run its course”; permanently
mothballed according to the author, who has gone off to
do more film-critiquing elsewhere. |
|
Book
review section of a lively forum that I regularly frequent.
Wide selection of reviews by numerous reviewers (many
of whom frequent the forum, where further discussion ensues). |
|
Author’s
blog (author of The Gospel According to Science Fiction).
Well, here we go with the mixing of genres once again.
Although I must say that I didn’t feel drowned in
biblical quotations, only that McKee (author) simply looks
at everything through a theological lens. His view on
Science Fiction, as quoted on Amazon is that “The
main goal of SF is to show us how we can face the future
and overcome the new challenges that our changing world
may develop.” a contention that is arguable (but
won’t be argued here). Well written and apparently
well-researched, nevertheless the focus is one that I
personally find - A: confusing and B: on a par with analyzing
everything through a Freudian lens, Campbellian lens or
any other affectation you might care to impose. But it
is a well-presented argument for this point of view. On
a slightly more picky note - the review of The Day The
Earth Stood Still contains some inaccuracies that detract
from the overall comparison of the two films (Klaatu was
never allowed to speak to the UN in the original) and,
if the director (Wise) says he was not deliberately engaging
in re-writing christian parable with that movie, we’ve
got to take him at his word. I will continue to point
out the scene in which Klaatu reads the laundry tag with
the name Carpenter on it, almost looks into the camera,
smiles wrly and then throws it away as evidence that cast
and crew were aware of the possible connection and deliberately
denied it, in the film. But then that’s me. |
|
Home
of a lot of my reviews and also the home of a massive
amount of contributory reader reviews. ‘Uncle Pete’
of Creative Guy Publishing handles the editorial duties
and only lets good (or better) reviews past the gates.
Huge number of reviews covering SF, fantasy and horror.
|
|
Ooodles
of reviews, covering everything SF. Can’t fault
a reviewer who gives 5 stars to Asimov’s Foundation
trilogy - even if I think short shrift is given to Niven. |
|
Blogazine. Covers - everything. Seems to be released as
a monthly issue with archives. |
|
Oh Sf Signal. First - if they gig one of your entries,
be prepared, since you’re gonna be seeing a lot
of traffic. Next - their Mind Meld feature (asking a bunch
of folks from the field to respond to a particular issue)
is legendary, fun and informative. Reviews equally so
and their TidBits (capsules of the day’s genre news)
more often than not, scoop everyone else. If you had to
pick one (free) genre news source/blog, this is the one.
I just wish they’d pick on me every day, or at least
once a week, instead of about once every month. |
|
Home
of the folks who maintain the F&SF website/forum,
several author pages and hosts it’s own kinda-bi-monthly
‘magazine’ with reviews, interviews and articles.
Lots of good stuff. |
|
A
site hosted by the aforementioned SFSite. Hosts a book
reviewer’s webring as well (probably worth checking
out given the current subject) HUGE number of reviews
archived, along with a nice little graphical index to
such things as awards, nominations and etc. Covers other
media in addition to literature (oops, I mean, ‘written
science fiction’). |
|
Two
self-proclaimed (smart) bitches review romance novels
and give it to you straight. Pretty funny, even if you
aren’t into romance novels. |
|
Not
sure how current this blog is, as the 6th item down (as
of reporting) chronicles my debate with Ian Sales that
drew in IO9, Technorati and a bunch of others over whether
there’s any ‘classic’ science fiction
worth recommending. (They refer to it as ‘golden
age’ SF and others use the term “vintage”,
but it all translates into the same thing: good, solid
science fiction, unencumbered by angst, psychologically
conflicted characters or literary affectations. You know
- stories, rather than philosophical treatises.) If you’re
keeping track, I think I won that debate and if you aren’t
- don’t worry about it. The whole thing was just
one of those internet spasms anyways. Or proof that I
know how to stir up controversy. Anyway. The site right
now features link-o-rama. |
|
Good
reviews focused in equal parts on fantasy and SF. Also
focused on identifying the ‘true first edition’
of each work - so if you are a collector… |
|
Interviews,
reviews, giveaways. Covers everything - books, games,
multi-media. More fantasy than SF, and primarily focused
on new works. |
|
Group
blog from - Australia! Seems to be more of a front-end
and archive for their webzine, now in issue 5. Reviews
cover everything including southern hemisphere writings
- which, if you haven’t been paying attention for
the past couple of years is a hotbed of new talent and
innovative ideas. |
|
Very
interesting concept/social networking site from Penguin
Books. Targeted to ’spinebreakers’ - “any
story-surfing, web-exploring, word-loving, day-dreaming
reader/writer/artist/thinker aged 13 to 18?. If you want
to see what the targets of YA marketing are exicted about,
reviewing and reading, check out this site. |
|
Lots
of other review blogs link to and/or reference this one
- and I can see why. The author is now a slush reader
for Strange Horizons and is guest blogging for several
other blogs, and has a very nice mix of a wide range of
product - including a fair amount of esoterica (William
Atheling/James Blish’s critiques, for example). |
|
Ocassional
contributor to the TOR site. A celebration of the Kindle,
SFF on the Kindle, epubbing and ‘everything else’.
I need to keep track of epubbing, so |
|
As
advertised in the title, infrequent postings and short,
short reviews. |
|
Very
nicely designed site, but for me the gold and red and
black colors make it difficult to read. It is nice to
look at though. Mostly fantasy, YA and ‘creative
non-fiction’, but the blogger is beginning to ‘get
into’ SF, so we should all check back as that progresses
through the year. |
|
Looks
like a guy having way too much fun; more clip gathering
than anything else right now. Nice GGA graphics at the
top and - anyone who proclaims Johnny Quest's opening
credits as ‘The Best Ever’ get’s the
nod. (Is the title from the Meatloaf song?) |
|
Way
slow to load - but who knows whether that’s my fault
or the page’s? E-zine that has ceased publication,
now serving as an archive of that magazine’s contents
and as a link to MindFlights, another e-zine. |
|
Site
is being updated and therefore, currently no new material.
Primarily reviews of short fiction from small press and
e-zines. Gotta keep up with those markets. |
|
More
personal musings/life experiences than reviews. The author
is tied in to Australian small press and things spec fic. |
|
Sci-Fi,
horror and literary fiction. Mmmm. Interesting, but my
impression is that it’s kind of all over the place.
|
|
Patrick
and Theresa are amongst the best (and most repected) editors
in the biz. Often features free fiction from headliners
and almost always has interesting bits, as well as good
reviews. |
|
New
review blog, just beginning to find its voice. Covers
SF books (and despite his best efforts, other ’stuff’),
television shows and increasing coverage/musings on the
space program. The author is experimenting and learning
and I expect will go far.
|
|
Mostly
horror/urban fantasy, but starting to branch out via membership
in two book clubs. A first work is A Clockwork Orange,
Burgess’ tour-de-force (and a great movie as well). |
|
Hmmm.
Title says it all. Books are conveniently grouped into
Grades A through F, though nothing is to be found in the
D’s or F’s. (What, no one flunks out of urban
fantasy?) In-depth reviews. |
|
Short
reviews - mostly of free online fiction, as well as links
to free fiction finds. |
|
One
of my favorite book openings - Wells’ from War of
the Worlds. (Particularly excellent as read by Richard
Burton on the album of the same name.) And a perfect title
for a review column. Not a daily blog, but a good read
when posting and primarily SF oriented. Reminded me of
the SFSignal/Buzz Aldrin discussion over whether SF has
destroyed the space program or not. |
|
Totally
SF oriented. Wide selection of reads and some interesting
finds. |
|
Publisher’s
blog (well, personal review blog of a small press publisher
of YA F & SF). Covers just about everything YA in
those two categories. |
|
Games,
television and books, cross genre coverage. UK based,
so some of the items may be unfamiliar to US based readers/watchers.
Some news coverage as well. |
| Whatever |
John
Scalzi’s blog. The blog everyone is jealous of (ok,
maybe only I’m jealous - or maybe I’m jus tthe
only one willing to admit it…). John’s Whatever
has been a source of amusement, solid information on a host
of topic and a sterling example of how to do what Scalzi
does. He does do reviews ocassionally (actually mentions
of what his friends are up to), but more importantly, he
turns Whatever over to other authors and let’s them
do their thing. If you want a good taste of what it’s
like to be an award-winning SF author (one who’s had
‘the next Heinlein’ tacked onto his name), or
what a top-of-the-heap blog is all about - go there and
go there often. |
|
Totally
horror. Mentions rats (again) in the actual url. I think
this might actually be a companion blog to another reviewed
earlier. In-depth reviews. |
|
Comics,
books, movies. Mostly fantasy as the name suggests. The
blogger is having some internet connection issues and
promises to get them sorted out. In the meantime, posting
is sparse. |
|
SF,
right now devoted to Star Wars geekery and twitter. Working
writer, also features submissions and novel-in-progress. |
|
Two
minorities in one over here (so if you’re looking
to save on your minority interests…). The author
is not “too dumb to walk and chew gum at the same
time”; reviews and musings on genre writing by black
authors, by a female black editor. As the old joke goes,
if she had a Spanish surname, she’d have all the
bases covered… Nice writing and a very interesting
perspective. I’m tempted to make all kinds of off-color
jokes (pun-intended) but I’m not sure if black or
white america is quite ready as we haven’t really
seen what the post-Obama world is going to be like. Will
it mean more space for black authors on the shelves? Go
to this site and I’m sure you’ll find out. |
|
Infrequently
updated due to pregnancy. Right now, more links to interesting
science/space tidbits than anything else. Linked to three
other blogs. I see few actual reviews here. Hails from
Alaska: I wonder if she can see roosians out her kitchen
window? Hot on internet safety for kidz (can you really
advocate internet safety and YA SF together? My take is:
sit them down with all the RAH juvenovels and when they’re
done, you’ll have little to worry about.)
|
Foreign
Language (other than English)
Cititor SF
[Romanian, but with English Translation]
Elbakin.net [French]
Foundation of Krantas
[Chinese (traditional)]
The SF Commonwealth
Office in Taiwan [Chinese (traditional) with some
English essays]
Yenchin's Lair
[Chinese (traditional)]
Interstellar [Danish]
Ommadawn.dk
[Danish]
Scifisiden
[Danish]
Aguarras [Brazilian,
Portuguese]
Fernando Trevisan
[Brazilian, Portuguese]
Human 2.0
[Brazilian, Portuguese]
Life
and Times of a Talkative Bookworm [Brazilian, Porteguese]
Ponto
De Convergencia [Brazilian, Portuguese]
pós-estranho
[Brazilian, Portuguese]
Skavis [Brazilian,
Portuguese]
Fantasy Seiten
[German, Deustche]
Fantasy Buch
[German, Deustche]
Literaturschock
[German, Deustche]
Welt der fantasy
[German, Deustche]
Bibliotheka
Phantastika [German, Deustche]
SF Basar [German,
Deustche]
Phantastick News
[German, Deustche]
X-zine [German, Deustche]
Buchwum [German, Deustche]
Phantastick
Couch [German, Deustche]
Wetterspitze
[German, Deustche]
Fantasy News
[German, Deustche]
Fantasy
Faszination [German, Deustche]
Fantasy Guide
[German, Deustche]
Zwergen Reich
[German, Deustche]
Fiction
Fantasy [German, Deustche] |
