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A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

By John Folk-Williams

Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark

P. Djèlí Clark’s A Master of Djinn returns to the alternate Cairo of 1912 featured in A Dead Djinn in Cairo and The Haunting of Tram Car 015. This time Clark has given us a full-length novel that offers much deeper insight into the richness of this remarkable world. Special Investigator Fatma el-Sha’arawi of the […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: Cairo, djinn, Egypt, historical fantasy, magic, P. Djèlí Clark, steampunk

New Atlantis by Lavie Tidhar: Dystopian Journey to Hope

By John Folk-Williams

New Atlantis by Lavie Tidhar

New Atlantis is a beautiful novella by Lavie Tidhar that makes visual poetry out of the detritus of our own lost civilization in a future earth reshaped by vast climatic changes and disasters. It is the story of a journey by a young Mai, as told to us by her aged self. Like Tidhar’s Central […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: cataclysm, climate change, dystopia, hopeful future, journey, Lavie Tidhar

Parallel Worlds of Blackthorn Winter by Liz Williams

By John Folk-Williams

Blackthorn Winter by Liz Williams

In Liz Williams’ wonderful fantasy, Blackthorn Winter, sequel to Comet Weather, a lot can happen in the blink of an eye. A winter landscape can turn to summer, an ancient ruin can become a mansion full of dinner party guests, an empty auditorium a maze with a charging minotaur. For the four Fallow sisters, as […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: Bkackthorn Winter, Comet Weather, ghosts, Liz Williams, magic, multiple worlds, spirits, star beings

H.G. Wells’ Things to Come – the 1936 Film

By John Folk-Williams

H. G. Wells Things to Come

H. G. Wells wrote the screen adaptation of his future history, The Shape of Things to Come, to give a dramatic setting to his sweeping vision of a world first devastated by war then resurrected by a corps of brilliant engineers. The result was Things to Come, a 1936 film produced by Alexander Korda and […]

Filed Under: Reviews, Scifi Movies, Vintage Science Fiction Tagged With: city, civilization, dystopia, future history, H.G. Wells, space travel, technology, Things to Come

The Wall by Gautam Bhatia, Book One of The Chronicles of Sumer

By John Folk-Williams

The Wall, Chronicles of Sumer by Gautam Bhatia

Gautam Bhatia’s The Wall is an intricate and compelling cross between fantasy and fable that strikes at something deep within human nature, a yearning to break through the barriers that hem us in. In the world of The Wall, the barrier is a literal one, vast, black, blocking out every sign of a world beyond. […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: city, class structure, fable, fantasy, Gautam Bhatia, poetry, politics, religion, song, The Wall

Northwest Smith Stories by C. L. Moore

By John Folk-Williams

Northwest Smith by C. L. Moore

Getting to the end of Vintage SciFi Month, I’m back to the 1930s again with the amazing Northwest Smith Stories by C. L. Moore. Lurid and pulpy though they are, well matching the Weird Tales cover art of Margaret Brundage, each story is a tour de force of riveting intensity. But be prepared. Lurid they […]

Filed Under: Reviews, Vintage Science Fiction Tagged With: C.L. Moore, consciousness, Mars, mind, Northwest Smith, pulp fiction, Siren, supernatural, trance, transhuman, vampire, Venus

Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey – Vintage Science Fiction Month

By John Folk-Williams

Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey

Every now and then a book surprises me, especially when searching through the often dated fiction for Vintage SciFi Month. Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonflight, first in a mighty line of 23 novels set in the Pern universe, is one of those. It’s a surprise because I’m not a big fan of fantasy, yet I keep finding […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Fiction, Reviews, Vintage Science Fiction Tagged With: adventure, Anne McCaffrey, dragons, Pern, power, psychic powers, relationships, revenge

The Shape of Things to Come by H.G. Wells

By John Folk-Williams

The Shape of Things to Come by H.G. Wells

On with Vintage Science Fiction Month! H.G. Wells’ The Shape of Things to Come (1933) purports to be the “dreamed” history of the next hundred and fifty years of human experience. Be warned: it’s serious future fictional history without a character or action-driven plot, though there are a few strong personalities who take the spotlight […]

Filed Under: Reviews, Vintage Science Fiction Tagged With: dictatorship, economy, future history, H.G. Wells, hopeful future, individuality, information, nationalism, plague, religion, world collapse

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Something is struggling to be born in this damaged and inspiring world, and I believe science fiction and its speculative cousins are helping us figure out what it is. It’s pushing the imaginations of fiction writers to bend and twist familiar forms to try to capture the forces that are hurling us into a barely conceivable future. This blog is my small way of exploring the half-perceived … Read More about About

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  • Master of Djinn by P. Djeli ClarkA Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
  • New Atlantis by Lavie TidharNew Atlantis by Lavie Tidhar: Dystopian Journey to Hope
  • Blackthorn Winter by Liz WilliamsParallel Worlds of Blackthorn Winter by Liz Williams
  • H. G. Wells Things to ComeH.G. Wells’ Things to Come – the 1936 Film

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Reading "The idea that ECT causes brain damage was so obvious to the early proponents that they incorporated it into an explanation for how ECT worked." Why is electroshock therapy still a mainstay of psychiatry? – https://aeon.co/essays/why-is-electroshock-therapy-still-a-mainstay-of-psychiatry via @aeonmag

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Thanks to Rachel Cordasco: Out This Month: March – Speculative Fiction in Translation https://www.sfintranslation.com/?p=10280

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Welcome to the first edition of New Small Press Fantasy Books. This post will highlight new books that are releasing in March 2021. https://jedherne.com/new-small-press-fantasy-books-march-2021/

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YEZO Retreat Looks Like Something Out of a Fantasy Movie https://mossandfog.com/yezo-retreat-looks-like-something-out-of-a-fantasy-movie/ via @mossandfog1

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Reading "We have to nurture our backlist and make sure that our books are available in as many different formats and markets as possible. Then we let them grow, and let the sales accumulate." Business Musings: Uncertain Times https://shar.es/aoiurq via @KristineRusch

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About the Author

A late-comer to the worlds of science fiction, John Folk-Williams circled around it, first by blogging (primarily through Storied Mind) about inner struggles and the mind’s way of distorting reality. Then he turned directly to SFF as an amazing medium for re-envisioning the mind and the worlds it creates. He started this blog as a way to experiment with writing science fiction and to learn from its many masterful practitioners.

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