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La Danza de la Muerta free until November 3rd

I reviewed Donald Uitvlugt’s La Danza de Muerta in August of 2020. Here’s my assessment: The theme of this collection is memento mori. Some of these stories are tragic, some terrifying, and some hopeful. Each story is incredibly dense, a feat achieved in part through allusive references, which

Vampire Hunter D Humble Bundle

Humble Bundle has a screaming deal on the Vampire Hunter D light novels by Kikuchi Hideyuki. You can pick up 29 volumes for as little as $25. I passed Vampire Hunter D over when I was younger, but I picked this up and read the first one and I’m

Light Unto Another World by Yakov Merkin

Light Unto Another World by Yakov Merkin [Amazon link] is the first of a planned 10 volume isekai series, with volumes 1 through 5 already published, and 6 through 10 recently crowdfunded on Kickstarter. Uriel Makkis is on his way to a deployment with the Israeli army when he finds

Planet of the Wage Slaves by J. Manfred Weichsel

J. Manfred Weichsel has written another brutally funny satire, Planet of the Wage Slaves. It has a totally awesome 1970s style cover, which is a bit of a departure from Weichel’s typical lurid naked women cover. This brief 13,800 word book would serve as an excellent introductory piece

The state of the short genre fiction market

Via friends of the blog Cirsova and SFFaudio, a historical point of reference for the short fiction market, another piece of the puzzle of why the book market is what it is right now. Weird Tales was usually a monthly, and if we adjust for population growth, 50k a month

Kipling's Influence on Futuristic Fiction

Via Castalia House’s Sensor Sweep, here is a great blog post at Tentaclii listing some well-known authors who credit Rudyard Kipling as being an inspiration to the science fiction in general and them in particular. Despite being a very low stakes story, Kipling’s With the Night Mail is

Graustark by George Barr McCutcheon

Graustark by George Barr McCutcheon is a now largely forgotten example of the Ruritanian romance. After the literary success of Anthony Hope’s Prisoner of Zenda, many imitators followed. Graustark was once widely known and read, and I suspect that conditions may be right for a rediscovery of this classic