The Bursar shrugged. “This pot,” he said, peering closely, “is actually quite an old Ming vase.” He waited expectantly. “Why’s it called Ming?” said the Archchancellor, on cue. The Bursar tapped the pot. It went ming. (p. 145) It’s a throwaway joke, of course, but it’s a perfect one. Not only can readers hear the …
Tag: Fantasy
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/07/07/moving-pictures-by-terry-pratchett/
Jul 04 2015
The Mistborn Trilogy Boxed Set by Brandon Sanderson
Ugh, Brandon Sanderson, why are you so good at writing?!?! Stayed up the other night just to finish this, and cried my way through the ending. Not as badly as I cried through 40 entire pages near the end of Way of Kings (which was also partly due, I feel, to the Mistborn trilogy being …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/07/04/the-mistborn-trilogy-boxed-set-by-brandon-sanderson/
Jul 02 2015
Od Magic by Patricia A. McKillip
How do you pronounce the first word of the title? I asked a couple of friends who had read Od Magic before me, and their first response was a pause, and then, “Hm.” Online Scrabble has since taught me that “od” is an actual English word, somewhat archaic, meaning “a hypothetical power once thought to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/07/02/od-magic-by-patricia-a-mckillip/
Jul 01 2015
Yendi by Steven Brust
Yendi is the second book published in Steven Brust’s long-running Vlad Taltos series. It takes place after the prologue of the first book, Jhereg, and a fair amount of time before that one’s main story begins. As I noted previously, “Vlad’s world is a high-magic setting, with death often no more than an inconvenience (though …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/07/01/yendi-by-steven-brust/
Jun 07 2015
Nebula Award winners 2015
The Science Fiction Writers of America announced the winners of this year’s Nebula Awards. Novel Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer [Laura reviewed Annihilation as part of its trilogy, and didn’t like it as much as the SFWA did.] Novella Yesterday’s Kin, Nancy Kress Novelette “A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i,” Alaya Dawn Johnson (F&SF 7-8/14) Short …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/06/07/nebula-award-winners-2015/
Jun 02 2015
Eric by Terry Pratchett
Eric plays on the Faust legend, and it read to me as a slighter work than the Discworld novels that immediately preceded it in publication. Wikipedia tells me that Eric was originally published in a larger format, fully illustrated by Josh Kirby, who did most of the covers of the UK editions of the Discworld …
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May 31 2015
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
Guards! Guards! , the eighth Discworld novel, introduces Captain Sam Vimes of Ankh-Morpork’s Night Watch, to which the book’s back cover assigns the apt adjective “ramshackle.” Pratchett is perfectly clear about what he’s up to in the novel. He dedicates it as follows: They may be called the Palace Guard, the City Guard, or the …
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May 16 2015
Jhereg by Steven Brust
A thirty-year-old fantasy adventure novel has aged less badly than a seventy-year-old Hollywood novel. That’s the first thing that struck me thinking back on Steven Brust’s Jhereg, and comparing it to the other book that I just recently finished. Though to be fair, I suppose I should check back in another forty years. I’ll mark …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/05/16/jhereg-by-steven-brust/
Apr 29 2015
Pyramids by Terry Pratchett
One of the possibly apocryphal stories told about Terry Pratchett being knighted for services to literature is that he said his service was “presumably not trying to write any.” He knew better, of course, and kept right on writing literature as long as he could. Pyramids is the seventh Discworld book, and at this point …
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Apr 27 2015
The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate by Ted Chiang
This novelette won the Hugo in 2007. I picked it up as a standalone e-book that was part of the Humble Bundle mentioned here, and it’s the first work I’ve read by Ted Chiang. It won’t be the last! The story as a whole is broken into several parts, which nest and braid together in …
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