Author Archive: PaulineMorgan
Marked by S. Andrew Swann (book review).
The idea of alternative histories and parallel worlds are tropes that have been common in SF and fantasy literature for a long time. The thing that has changed over the centuries is the way the protagonists reach the alternative world. Initially, it would have been through dreams or magic. Now, more elaborate and often pseudoscientific […]
Thunderlord by Marion Zimmer Bradley & Deborah J. Ross (book review).
For anyone unfamiliar with the ‘Darkover’ series created by Marion Zimmer Bradley, it is Science Fiction with fantasy overtones. Although the earliest stories appear to be fantasy, as the series develops, it becomes clear that Darkover is a ‘lost colony’ much in the same way Anne McCaffrey’s Pern is. Over the centuries when contact with […]
The Unkindest Tide (An October Daye novel book 13) by Seanan McGuire (book review).
Selkies are the seal people of Gaelic, Scottish and Scandinavian folklore. While spending most of their time in the sea, they will come onto the land, shed their skins and take human form. The legends say that if a skin is found, the owner can coerce the Selkie into remaining human. Often Selkies are portrayed […]
Warbird by Jilly Paddock (book review).
What seems like a lifetime ago and is probably much more than that for some of the readers of this is if students wanted to watch a favourite TV programme, they had to gather in a communal area and share one small screen. That was how we watched ‘Star Trek’ when it first appeared. We […]
Shadow Captain (Revenger series book 2) by Alastair Reynolds (book review).
There are two schools of thought regarding space travel in fiction. One is to stick to the science as we know it and keep the space-going vessels below the speed of light, the other is to embrace the idea that we will eventually find ways to breech the light-speed barrier either by developing the technology […]
The Dread Wyrm (Traitor Son Cycle book 3) by Miles Cameron (book review).
Once a book has been published, it is impossible to correct flaws in the construction of a fantasy world without causing major discontinuity problems. Thus areas in the first volume of a fantasy series that are incongruous in the imagined world are set and unchangeable and attempts to rectify them will either create inconsistencies or […]
Night And Silence (October Daye book 12) by Seanan McGuire (book review).
Once, the usual format for publishing was the one-off book, the standalone. This had one set of characters which occurred only with the pages of that book, a common practice still in the world of ‘literary fiction’. The trilogy, as a continuous narrative, came into its own with the explosion of fantasy literature. While three […]
Mistletoe by Alison Littlewood (book review).
Strong emotions can leave their mark. One of the theories behind hauntings is that powerful events are recorded by the fabric of the place they happen in and are replayed when the right trigger is tripped. Other ghostly sightings are attributed to unfinished business on the part of the deceased. This might be benign or, […]
Magic Triumphs (A Kate Daniels novel book 10) by Ilona Andrews (book review).
In a more and more competitive market, writers have to do more to make themselves noticed, not only by the potential publishers but by the readers as well. Thus, the first novel in a series needs to put the protagonists into great peril, ramping up the tension and perhaps allowing them to survive by the […]
The Monster Of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht (book review).
A difficult thing to decide is exactly what a monster is? In horror, it is often as a term to describe a hideous, dangerous and probably supernatural creature that menaces from the shadows. The word ‘monster’, though, just means big. These are recognisable monsters but more scary are those that are not outwardly recognisable. They […]
