Reviewing the Reviewers

Now that the SF/F review blog meme has gotten a thorough distribution (and grown by about seven times during the process) I have begun to take a look at each and every blog on the (current) list. My purpose is two-fold:

first – do I want to/should I add the blog to my own blogroll?

second – just what are those other guys saying and writing about?

I’m doing this alphabetically and the number of blogs covered each day will vary – mostly by how interested I am in someone else’s blog.

Rejection here does not mean the blog in question is a bad blog – it might only mean that the writer is blabbering and pontificating on subjects that just don’t interest me.

On the other hand, the blog might for-real suck, so I’ll attempt to separate the personal feeling from the loftier ‘quality’ issues.

First up – 7 Foot Shelves. 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. In the interest of hyping science fiction over its technologically challenged little cousin, I will most likely not be adding this blog to my roll.

The Accidental Bard is 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. A probable add to the blog roll.

A Boy Goes On A Journey is 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’ and more than a probable add to the roll.

A Dribble of Ink is Aidan Moher’s blog. Aidan is well tied in to the marketplace, covers SF and also does the person thing. A definite add.

A Hoyden’s Look At Literature seems to mostly cover 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.

Adventures in Reading – is 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. This one is an add.

More tomorrow. At about half-a-dozen a day, it will only take me about a month to catch up. And that’s just for the English language blogs. And assuming that no one else will be added in the meantime.

Stick around – I’m gonna be doing this for a while…