Digital Sextant

by Clive Barker Mister B. Gone purports to be a 600 year old manuscript imprisoning the eponymous minor demon forever.  Periodically throughout the book, the demon begs you to burn the novel, freeing him from the endless cold torment of his dungeon.  When you refuse, he tries to pursuade you by telling the story of [… Read More]

by Cory Doctorow; narrated by the author GoodReads says I’ve been reading Someone Comes to Town since 3 April. That’s when I discovered and downloaded the back-episodes of Cory Doctorow’s ongoing reading of his novel. It finished last week and I’m pleased. The book tells the story of a man in a magical family of [… Read More]

We enjoyed The Spiderwick Chronicles moderately. The film tells the story of a bummed-out teenage boy who stumbles upon a magical book that gives insight into the world of magical creatures. It is, of course, a very valuable book being sought by a malevolent Nick Nolte ogre monster demon. (He’s almost as scary as his [… Read More]

The Stranger (The Labyrinths of Echo, book 1) by Max Frei We read this book for my speculative fiction book club last month, but I’ve only now just finished it. The Stranger tells the story of “Sir Max,” a layabout unable to sleep at night who finds himself recruited to a fantasy world where he [… Read More]

by Ekaterina Sedia The tone and feel of this book reminds me a lot of China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station or The Scar, both of which take place in a steampunk world of strange creatures, mixing fantasy and science-fiction and excellent character development.  Sedia brings those same ingredients to The Alchemy of Stone. The novel [… Read More]

is excellent. I’ve heard comparisons with The Princess Bride and I can say they’re apt, though I wouldn’t say it’s as good as the Cary Elwes vehicle. Jenny and I agree that the story and world are amusing and inventive, and the story itself works nearly as well. The two places I would say The [… Read More]