Read My Review of Charles Yu’s Sorry Please Thank You

David Abrams has been kind enough to let me review Charles Yu’s Sorry Please Thank You for his blog, The Quivering Pen. So go check out my review, check out all the rest David has to offer (like book giveaways and guest posts from assorted talented writers), then support all this cray-cray talent by buying some books! Might I suggest Sorry Please Thank You and Fobbit as worthy candidates for your fiduciary and temporal investment?

Read My Review of Matt Bell’s Cataclysm Baby in Quarterly West

 

I just had the opportunity to read and review Matt Bell’s Cataclysm Baby. Check it out in the current issue of Quarterly West, and while you’re there be sure to enjoy all the rest of the wonderful work on offer.

Surprise of the Week: Pandorum

With free Starz for the month and the GF out of town last weekend, I went on a bit of a movie binge.  I was majorly disappointed by The Book of Eli, got exactly what I expected from Ninja Assassin and Predators, and was pleasantly surprised by Pandorum.

I avoided Pandorum when it came out because the advertising made it look like just another schlocky survival horror film dressed up with science fiction bits.  In actuality, Pandorum is a potentially great science fiction movie dragged down by some tacked-on survival horror bits.

District 9 and the Documentary Style

I finally got around to watching District 9, and for the most part I enjoyed it.  So often movies with premises that center around social issues have problems maintaining profluence (see A Day Without A Mexican), but District 9 managed to shoehorn in an extensive criticism of humanity while keeping the story moving.

My biggest problem with D-9 was the point of view.  The movie starts off as a faux documentary and then transitions into a more traditional omniscient camera POV, an unusual choice.  Most faux-docs maintain the documentary POV for the sake of realism, and leaving it behind felt jarring.

I Done Been Reviewed Again!

Last time, well, whatever.  But this time!  Oh, Lordy!

“Eris Sinks Pluto” by Will Kaufman is a story of youth, friendship, frivolity, and choices, set on a moon awaiting its own destruction. Kaufman’s framing of an interpersonal conflict set amidst an interplanetary one is endlessly clever, and he follows through on the idea with compelling characters, realistic dialogue, and a fluid writing style that has all the ease of stream of consciousness prose without any of the confusion. Doubtlessly, this is the issue’s strongest story, and Kaufman its most promising new voice in speculative fiction.

I’m having this printed on a t-shirt!

I Done Been Reviewed

“‘Eris Sinks Pluto’ by Will Kaufman is a rambling story about three people on a doomed world and what they do to pass the time. This one was just okay.” – from SFRevu.

In my defense, I think the reviewer completely missed the point.  Not that that necessarily makes the story any better than “just okay.”