Category Archives: Commentary

Commentary

A Shambling Guide to Tao: How Plot Structure and Character Arc are Overrated

Posted on May 3 2013 by Justin | 3 Comments

the lives of tao wesley chuSince the moment I finished Wesley Chu’s debut novel, The Lives of Tao, I called reading it ‘the most fun I’ve had this year.’ I wouldn’t call it the best novel, and maybe not even the best debut, but it’s one of those reads that puts a smile on my face that won’t go away. In reading Mur Lafferty’s ‘debut’ (I put that in quotes since it’s only a debut in that it’s her first novel published by a SFWA approved house) A Shambling Guide to New York City, I found myself less joyful despite nearly identical character arcs and plot structures. My responses to myself ranged from ‘well everyone’s mileage varies’ to ‘oh my God these two books are incredibly similar why do I love one and not the other?’ Considering that question is what this review is about.

Lives of Tao tells the story of out-of-shape IT technician Roen who hears a voice in his head that turns out to be an ancient alien life-form named Tao who’s hitching a ride.… Read the rest

Speculative Fiction 2012: Out now!

Posted on April 25 2013 by Justin | 3 Comments

We have news(!) – Speculative Fiction 2012 is now available on Amazon.

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This collection contains over fifty of the year’s best online essays and reviews, from Tansy Rayner Roberts on Supergirl to Lavie Tidhar on China Miéville to Aishwarya Subramanian on My Little Pony to Joe Abercrombie on, er, himself. It is a diverse collection of some of last year’s best and most interesting writing. We fully expect – and hope – it will cause discussion, debate and a bit of a ruckus.

The book also contains a foreword from Orbit author Mur Lafferty, an introduction from this year’s editors (Jared Shurin and myself) and an afterword from the 2013 editors, Ana Grilo and Thea James of The Booksmugglers. Not to mention the beautiful cover from the talented Sarah Anne Langton.

All proceeds from sales of this book are donated to Room to Read, supporting literacy and gender equality in education around the world.… Read the rest

Duck and Covers: Can you believe I’m not going to rip one of these?

Posted on April 24 2013 by Justin | 2 Comments

For once I’m only going to say nice things. . . mostly. I didn’t really love Adam Christopher’s Empire State. It was a novel that didn’t seem entirely sure about what it wanted to be. However, I can do nothing but bow down to this Forbidden Planet limited edition exclusive cover:

empire state adam christopher

Holy crap. Am I right? I mean it’s beautiful on its own, but having read the book it’s also perfectly appropriate.

While I didn’t like Empire State so much, there’s one book series this blog has had nothing but good things to say about — Howard Andrew Jones’ The Chronicles of Swords and Sand. I consider both novels something of a revelation. So was the cover for the Desert of Souls hardback by Charles Keegan. The covers that followed in trade paperback and the sequel Bones of the Old Ones, were less spectacular.

Thankfully, Jones’ UK publisher has redeemed the series visually by commissioning Keegan to revisit his style for Bones of the Old Ones across the pond.… Read the rest

The Riftwar Saga: Fifteen Years Later

Posted on April 8 2013 by Justin | 13 Comments

http://www.staffersbookreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Feist-Magician-Apprentice.jpgI’ve read approximately thirteen novels by one Mr. Raymond E. Feist, making him, along with Piers Anthony, the most read author of my life. This is somewhat of a disturbing realization on my part. I would note here that while I’ve read thirteen novels set in Midkemia and Xanth respectively, I’ve read even more set in Krynn. . . well over thirty. For the uninformed, Krynn is Dragonlance, the role playing game novelizations that I (and Jared Shurin) would argue as the face that launched a thousand ships in the hearts and minds of budding fantasists. I’m not really selling myself as a connoisseur of literature am I?

While my memories of the Xanth and Dragonlance novels feel accurate, namely that they are by and large unreadable to an older audience, I have continued to feel adequately warm and fuzzy about Raymond Feist’s work. So much so that I’ve actively waited for the day that his older novels would cross the electronic divide so that I might re-avail myself of them.… Read the rest

Night Shade Books: What went wrong?

Posted on April 4 2013 by Justin | 51 Comments

Last August I got an email from Jason Williams, publisher and majority owner of Night Shade Books. He said he’d been paying attention to Staffer’s Book Review and he wanted to pick my brain about the direction Night Shade was heading. My thoughts ranged from:

  1. Wow — someone in publishing cares what I think (to. . .)
  2. Why the hell does anyone in publishing care what I think?

Little did I know that the mere existence of this email was a sign that Night Shade Books was seriously dysfunctional. Williams and I went on to have a lengthy email exchange and several phone calls over the following week. These talks resulted in me doing a very slight amount of consulting for him. I’m not going to reveal too many details from these exchanges, but a few might dribble out here and there as some of them aid in the telling of a good story.… Read the rest

Can we stop talking about the Hugos now?

Posted on April 1 2013 by Justin | 206 Comments

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This polemic will begin with something of a hyperbole.

The Hugos are utter twaddle.

Although the Hugos present the image of something more cosmopolitan or representative than the standard convention award, it’s becoming increasingly apparent every year that, despite being the most recognizable award in science fiction and fantasy cultural awareness, the Hugos are nothing more than an amalgamation of like minded WorldCon members, or agendized voting blocs, bent on vociferous back patting. I apply that statement broadly, although it is most obviously associated with the down ballot. Before I get too far into that rabbit hole, let me first place ‘best novel’ squarely in my sites where the only explanation is that the average Hugo voter reads somewhere been four and six novels a year.

Often when critics rail against the Hugo’s best novel category it’s to attack lack of sophistication. The Clarke Award, British Science Fiction Award, the Kitschies, Tiptree Award, Philip K.… Read the rest

If Sam Sykes ran a Convention — SamCon 2013: Dare to attend!

Posted on March 25 2013 by Sam Sykes | 14 Comments

Thoughts experiments are dangerous things. You know what’s even more dangerous? Thoughts of any kind from the mind of fantasy author Sam Sykes. Thought experiments. . . well, those are just frightening. Nevertheless, Sykes tweeted this gem:

sky bound sea sam sykes

I had to know more. What follows is Sykes’s proposed program of SamCon ’12. May God help us all.… Read the rest

Excessive Essay on Excessiveness by Robert Jackson Bennett

Posted on March 21 2013 by Robert Jackson Bennett | 7 Comments

thickun american elsewhereOne of the things I like about novels is that they’re excessive by nature. My creative writing teacher in college made the point that short stories are snapshots – perfect little bubbles in time – and novels are more like films, much larger, with much larger scope, and not necessarily as clean; but I still don’t think this really captures the expansive nature of novels, which are capable of going down rabbitholes and exploring avenues of thought film just doesn’t have the resources or time or even the ability to do.

This is not to say that all novels, by nature of their medium, contain excess: Dashiell Hammett’s work is as efficient and engineered as a scalpel, without a trace of fat on it, neither needing more nor wanting it. Nor does it mean that excess is a virtue in novels: tepid navel-gazing will always be an offense, without question.… Read the rest

Announcing SpecFic ’12 Contributors

Posted on March 20 2013 by Justin | 10 Comments

Spec Fic 12 CoverSpeculative Fiction 2012: The Best Online Reviews, Essays and Commentary announced its lineup of contributors, Wednesday. Edited by bloggers Justin Landon (Staffer’s Book Review- US) and Jared Shurin (Pornokitsch – UK), SpecFic ’12 collects over fifty pieces from science fiction and fantasy’s top authors, bloggers and critics.

Author and podcasting sensation Mur Lafferty, whose newest novel The Shambling Guide to New York City is due out from Orbit Books this Spring, has agreed to write the foreword. “Lafferty’s writing career germinated online. She’s been a pioneer in the space and understands why the work in this book is so important. She’s the perfect person to put it into context,” said Landon.

Landon and Shurin also announced that they will pass the torch in 2013, establishing a precedent of rotating editors every year. The 2013 volume will be edited by Thea James and Ana Grilo of The Book Smugglers. Shurin commented, “We’re excited to see this move forward with Thea and Ana.… Read the rest

2012: A Year in Review

Posted on March 8 2013 by Justin | 2 Comments

Every year, stealing a page from Neth Space, I like to review the statistics behind my reading. I thought I’d share it with my readers.

In 2012, I read:

  • 100 books
  • 37,290 pages (interesting that I read 10 fewer books a year ago, but 5,000 pages more!)
  • 75 were published in 2012
  • 11 were published in a prior year
  • 3 will be published in 2013
  • 1 will be published in 2014
  • 10 are written, but are not currently under contract, or have yet to receive a publish date.
  • 59 are part of a series
  • 82 were provided by the publisher or author
  • I read more books published by Hachette (17) and its various imprints than any other – in this case all 15 were from Orbit, and 1 was from Little, Brown.
  • The next closest were Penguin (15), Night Shade (14), Macmillan (12),  Random House (11),  Angry Robot (5), and Pyr (3).

    • … Read the rest