Waking the Dreamer

A Short Story by Melanie Lamaga I have a story you won’t believe. No one does. And I planned it this way. I know what I look like now, after so many years alone in the woods. But once I was part of the hustle and flow, a regular man like you. True, I had […] Read more »

Review of What I Didn’t See and Other Stories, by Karen Joy Fowler

Exploring the Historical Fantastic Karen Joy Fowler is one of the writers who, to me, exemplify the literary fantastic. Her stories crack the shell of history, looking for strange and beautiful pearls. The fantastical elements always seem entirely probable, if mysterious, and serve to deepen our understanding of the human condition. Her writing style is […] Read more »

Briar Rose by Robert Coover, a Review

A Postmodern Fairy Tale with a Wicked Sense of Humor “He is surprised to discover how easy it is. The branches part like thighs, the silky petals caress his cheeks. His drawn sword is stained, not with blood, but with dew and pollen. Yet another inflated legend. He has undertaken this great adventure, not for […] Read more »

Among Others by Jo Walton, a Review

This very readable book (which won the Nebula Award for Best Novel this year) is part coming of age, part fantasy and part uber-geek love-letter to the classics of science fiction. Much of the drama has already happened before the novel starts. We learn that Morwenna and her twin sister Morganna spent their childhoods playing […] Read more »

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie, a Review

An epic magical realist saga of family and country, connecting far-flung dots into a revealing portrait of the first thirty years of India’s independence from Britain. The narrator is Saleem Sinai, the first of 1000 “Midnight’s Children,” born the first hour of August 15, 1947, when India officially became independent of Britain. Saleem is the […] Read more »

Review of Little, Big by John Crowley

Little, Big is a modern classic of fantastic literature, a book that is praised far and wide, and with good reason. It’s a beautifully written, deep meditation on complex and arcane philosophies of magic and metaphysics (from Plato to Rosicrucian and Theosophist) and the challenges of living an ethical life in light of such considerations. […] Read more »

Women Writers Take Top Honors at 2011 Nebula Awards

Congratulations to Jo Walton (novel) and Kij Johnson (novella), Delia Sherman (young adult science fiction and fantasy), Connie Willis (Damon Knight Grand Master Award), and all the other winners of this year’s Nebulas! The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. has announced the recipients of the 2011 Nebula Awards®. Novel Winner: Among Others, Jo Walton […] Read more »

Medusa

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a short story by Melanie Lamaga This story appeared previously in Zahir magazine and anthology. After you left I turned to stone: white marble woman at kitchen table.  The cup of tea I’d been drinking when you looked at me for the last time cooled and began the slow process of evaporation. This is it, I […] Read more »