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Month: December 2018

The Omnibus Volumes of Daniel Abraham: The Long Price Quartet

The Omnibus Volumes of Daniel Abraham: The Long Price Quartet

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The Long Price Quartet-small The Long Price Quartet-back-small

Daniel Abraham is the author of The Dagger and the Coin five-volume fantasy series, five books in the Black Sun’s Daughter horror series (as M. L. N. Hanover), and a pair of Star Wars novels. With Ty Franck he is the author of the breakout hit The Expanse, under the name James S. A. Corey. But before all that he created a four-volume fantasy series called The Long Price Quartet that helped cement his rep as a rising young star. The first book, A Shadow in Summer, appeared in 2006 from Tor, and the three sequels arrived almost exactly a year apart.

When I was in Barnes & Noble last week I saw a handsome omnibus volume, and I was very happy to pick it up. It contains all four novels:

A Shadow in Summer (331 pages, $24.95 hardcover, $7.99 paperback, March 7, 2006)
A Betrayal in Winter (317 pages, $24.95 hardcover, $7.99 paperback, August 2007)
An Autumn War (366 pages, $25.95 hardcover, $7.99 paperback, July 2008)
The Price of Spring (348 pages, $27.99 hardcover, $7.99 paperback, July 2009)

The Long Price Quartet was published by Tor Books on November 13, 2018. It is 975 pages, priced at $19.99. There is no digital edition. The cover is by Getty Images.

Believe it or not, we’ve covered dozens of omnibus paperbacks just like this one, from authors like C.J. Cherryh, Jack Vance, H. Beam Piper, P.N. Elrod, Steven Brust, James H. Schmitz, Murray Leinster, Andre Norton, Robert Silverberg, and many others. Check them out here.

The Complete Carpenter: My 5 Favorite John Carpenter Movies

The Complete Carpenter: My 5 Favorite John Carpenter Movies

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John-Carpenter-with-axe

Two years ago this week, I posted a review of Dark Star, the first movie from director John Carpenter. Last month, I closed off my chronological amble through his theatrical feature films with a review of The Ward. To celebrate completing this 40,000-word-plus enterprise, I’ve put together a few closing thoughts on my five favorite John Carpenter flicks. Trying to do a complete list of the films from best to worst isn’t an easy task: I’d end up with too many ties, too much second-guessing, too many regrets. Nor do I want to dwell on the negative at the end of this series — dealing with The Ward was negativity enough! So this here is nothing but praise coming from some guy who’s only credential is “posts on a website.”

Since I’ve been asked, I didn’t include Carpenter’s episodes of Masters of Horror on this series, or the anthology movie Body Bags. I won’t rule out writing about these smaller projects in the future, but for the sake of this series, I’ve stuck to theatrical movies. If I did Body Bags, I’d also have to do Elvis and Somebody’s Watching Me, and I just don’t feel like it.

How tough is competition for the top slots in John Carpenter’s career? Halloween didn’t make my list! The director’s most famous and influential movie, an unquestionable masterpiece — and I still couldn’t make room for it among my five favorites.

Anyway, hop aboard the Porkchop Express … here are my Five Favorite John Carpenter films. Have you paid your dues, Ryan?

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Birthday Reviews: Jo Walton’s “Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction”

Birthday Reviews: Jo Walton’s “Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction”

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Cover by Gary Kelley
Cover by Gary Kelley

Jo Walton was born on December 1, 1964.

Walton’s novel Tooth and Claw won the World Fantasy Award in 2004. In 2008 she won the Prometheus Award for Ha’Penny. She won the Mythopoeic Award in 2010 for Lifelode. In 2012 her novel Among Others won the Hugo, Nebula British Fantasy Award, the Copper Cylinder Award, and the 2014 Kurd Lasswitz Preis. Her novel My Real Children won the James Tiptree Jr Memorial Award in 2015. She was presented with the Skylark Award from NESFA in 2017.

Originally published on Tor.com, “Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction” was selected by Gardner Dozois for his The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Seventh Annual Collection. It was reprinted in the collection The Stories: Five Years of Original Fiction on Tor.com and was included in Patrick Nielsen Hayden and David G. Hartwell’s Twenty-First Century Science Fiction. Walton included it in her 2018 collection Starlings.

Set in the same world as Walton’s Small Change alternate history trilogy, “Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction” takes a look at the worldwide Depression that followed her World War II. Linda and Joan Evans live in relative squalor, barely making ends meet with Joan working as a secretary and having an affair with her married boss and Linda working a waitress at Bundt’s Germany Bakery in New York. While Joan tries to enjoy herself without worrying about the ramifications, Linda is constantly afraid that the Bundts will eventually replace her when their daughter is old enough to work in the bakery.

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Birthday Reviews: November Index

Birthday Reviews: November Index

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Cover by Michael Whelan
Cover by Michael Whelan

Cover by Frank R. Paul
Cover by Frank R. Paul

Cover by Jack Gaughan
Cover by Jack Gaughan

January index
February index
March index
April index
May index
June index
July index
August index
September index
October index

November 1, Zenna Henderson: “Troubling of the Water”
November 2, Lois McMaster Bujold: “The Hole Truth”
November 3, Neal Barrett, Jr.: “A Day at the Fair”
November 4, Kara Dalkey: “Bouncing Babies”
November 5, Janet Pack: “A Coin for Charon”
November 6, Catherine Asaro: “Echoes of Pride”

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