Black Dogs by Ursula Vernon
ISBNs: 9781936689026 & 9781936689033 Book One: The House of Diamond – Book Two: The Mountain of Iron The world was green and grey, balanced on a serrated knife of pine and...
17 March 2011
Mad Bad Richard Dadd by Amy Sterling Casil
Mad Bad Richard Dadd has been commissioned by Sir Thomas to paint a record of their journey through Europe. But travelling from Greece he is visited one night by a strange figure calling himself Osiris. But that is just a name this figure has taken, he is insistent that he is no supernatural character.
Dadd is a real-life character, a famous Victorian painter, and infamously a murderer. This is a possible telling of how he became this murderer.
10 March 2011
Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik
ISBN: 9780007256778 book 6 in the Temeraire series There were few streets in the main port of Sydney which deserved the name, besides the one main thoroughfare, and even that bare...
6 March 2011
Brutal women by Kameron Hurley
Author Kameron Hurley has been getting a bit of coverage in the sff-world lately on account of her debut novel God’s War and to tie in with this publicity a collection...
3 March 2011
Tor’s Best SFF novels of the decade
And how scary is it to hear that we’re a decade into the 2000s? Scary Scary, that’s how Scary Old Man’s War by John Scalzi[1] – 295 votes American Gods by...
3 March 2011
Delusions of gender by Cordelia Fine
How our minds, society, and neurosexism create differences ISBN: 0393068382 ; Quotes I liked Suppose a researcher were to tap you on the shoulder and ask you to write down what,...
2 March 2011
The Stainless Steel Rat omnibus by Harry Harrison
When I spotted this in Chapters bookshop I knew I had to buy it, if only because it is the inspiration for Carl’s blog. Plus, you know, it is one of those sci-fi adventures that you really should have at least flicked through at some stage.
Slippery Jim is our narrator, and our hero, of sorts. He is also the Stainless Steel Rat, or at least that is how he describes himself. Slipping through the technological world and committing many daring acts of thievery and innumerable cons. Safe and secure in the knowledges that his wits, charm and logic will get him out of danger. Until, that is, he is caught. The Special Corps, so special that no one is really sure they exist until, of course, they catch you, succeed in arresting him. But instead of throwing him in jail, or punishing him they offer him a job. Come and work for them. So he does, after all, he was never a bad man, just one who wanted his bit of freedom.
13 February 2011
February spotlight by Emily Gravett
One of the nice things about working in a library & processing all those new books is that you come across titles you normally never would. For instance I don’t often...
13 February 2011
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
ISBN: 9780552549059 ; Annotations on L-Space Some things start before other things. Tiffany Aching lives up on The Chalk of Discworld, in a rural shepherding community. She was the youngest of...
12 February 2011
Inside of a dog by Alexandra Horowitz
What Dogs See, Smell, and Know
Like the author I am a dog person, I like cats too, don’t get me wrong. Actually I like all animals, but there is nothing quite like having a dog about the place. And any pet-owner likes to know that they are doing their best for their dog, and most love to know what is going on in their heads. So I really enjoyed reading this book. The author is a scientist; she teaches psychology and has worked with many animals, including dogs. But this is not a science-book per se. It is easy to understand, and easy to read. But it has the science behind it, as well as plenty of anecdotes. Which, I know, aren’t scientific, but it still makes for a good read.
6 February 2011
The woman in black by Susan Hill
ISBN: 9780099511649 It was nine-thirty on Christmas eve. Arthur Kipps is a mature and responsible individual. His first wife & child died many years ago, but he has since found happiness...
4 February 2011
Black Swan dir. by Darren Aronofsky
Nina Sayers is a ballerina in the New York Ballet. She lives with her mother, and her whole live revolves around dancing. There is a new production starting and Nina is...
30 January 2011