fantasy

  • Book Review: Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk

    Magic to the Bone introduces readers to an intriguing new world of dangerous urban fantasy. In a new society of legalized, scientific magic usage, there is a physical price to suffer through everyone time someone casts a spell-sometimes it’s a mild cold, sometimes it’s a severe headache, and for Allie Beckstrom, the price is occasionally… Continue reading

  • Book review: The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M. Liu

    By day, Maxine Kiss is a super-powered demon hunter with inhuman strength and intricately tattooed, armor-plated skin. By night, the tattoos peel away and become a pack of deadly demons standing between Maxine and the creatures from across the Veil. When the veil drops, it’s up to Maxine and her demon “boys” to round up… Continue reading

  • Combining noir and urban fantasy

    In A Kiss Before the Apocalypse by Thomas E. Sniegoski, Death goes missing and the angels turn to the one person with the unique skill set they need to find him. Remy Chandler is a private investigator living in Boston and he isn’t all that surprised when some of God’s worker bees show up asking… Continue reading

  • Tom’s Midnight Garden

    I have just read again one of my very favorite children’s books, Tom’s Midnight Garden, by Philippa Pearce, a book that like all the best children’s books can be read with a great deal of pleasure by adults. I know that I find new depths every time I read it. It is a fantasy about… Continue reading

  • Book review: Night Shift by Lilith Saintcrow

    Night Shift introduces readers to a super-powered hunter called Jill Kismet. Jill is one of the few people brave enough to stand between humanity and all the demons of the nightside. When something from the dark tears through five cops and continues on with a killing spree that spreads death across the city, Jill must sift… Continue reading

  • Book review: Madhouse by Rob Thurman

    The boys are back in Rob Thurman’s Madhouse, a story that combines action, sharp humor, and a seriously creepy bad guy. When Niko and Cal Leandros take a job tracking down a few lost artifacts for a museum, they have no idea how dangerous things are going to get. Rob Thurman has a real gift… Continue reading

  • Daddy’s Little Girl: Extreme Edition

    Being a daddy’s girl myself, I find the dynamics between fathers and daughters very fascinating. We rely so heavily on them to help mold us into the women we will become, and when they are not there or depend on us too much it can affect us for the rest of our lives. These are… Continue reading

  • Summer Reads: Beacon Hill and Rainier Beach reader suggestions.

    Beach Reads? Rainy Day Reads? Its anyone’s guess! Welcome to August in Seattle! Beacon Hill and Rainier Beach participants in our popular Adult Summer Reading Program tell us a bit about what good reads they’ve found at the end of the rainbow. Beacon Hill readers suggest: The Devil’s Whisper, by Miyuki Miyabe Layers of mystery: a missing… Continue reading

  • Fantastic librarians, or librarian fantasies?

    In a recent post, I enthused about a few of my favorite fictional librarians, and invited others to share their favorites. The suggestions that followed were many and varied, ranging from Public Librarian Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, to Henry DeTamble from Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife, to Garth Nix’s Lirael, who is given a job… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reading: Matt Ruff reads the gamut, from War to Pie.

    Editor’s Note: Matt Ruff will be reading from his 2008 PNBA Book Award-winning book Bad Monkeys, freshly released in paperback, at the Ballard Branch Library this Thursday, August 21at 6:30 p.m, in conjunction with Secret Garden Books.  (Matt will also be reading at Queen Anne books on Tuesday, and coming up in October he will be reading from a new work at the Richard Hugo House). If… Continue reading

  • Reality with a twist

    Back in May, Shelf Talk presented readers with a series of lists I wrote featuring authors who focus their work on vampire fiction. The goal of these lists was to provide readers with new opportunities to delve into the world of vampires and hopefully get a few suggestions for ourselves (and we did, so thanks!). It… Continue reading

  • Book review: Dead to Me by Anton Strout

    When Simon Canderous accidentally drops his drink through the ghost of a beautiful woman, he knows things are going to get weird. Luckily, as the newest member of New York Cities’ Department of Extraordinary Affairs, “weird” is his profession. Armed with the ability to see the past of anything he touches (psychometry), Simon stumbles his… Continue reading

  • In space, no one can hear you read…

    So, there you are bobbing along weightlessly — another dull evening orbiting Earth. How do you pass the time? Well, if you’re on the International Space Station, you do have some entertainment options! Thanks to a Freedom of Information request, NASA recently released a list of all the books, movies, and music currently on the… Continue reading

  • The Vampire List, Part 3: From traditional to modern

    When people hear the words “vampire story” two authors come to mind — Bram Stoker and Anne Rice. These writers pioneered the world of vampire fiction, with Bram Stoker basically creating it and Anne Rice redefining it into what most readers know today. But as we’ve proven in previous lists, Stoker and Rice are not… Continue reading

  • The Vampire List, Part 2: Urban vamps

    If you’re looking for vampires, the best place to find them is in the library. I’m serious. Even the undead like to read. You can also check the bank, the grocery store, the gas station, and, considering current gas prices, probably even catching a ride on a Metro bus. The point is, in the parallel… Continue reading

  • The Vampire List, Part 1: Love Bites

    So you want to read a vampire story. Your interest is understandable — they are compelling. But before you begin this journey, I warn you, once you start on this path, there’s no turning back. There are legends of a cure of course, but really, once a vampire groupie, always a vampire groupie. What’s worse… Continue reading

  • A Chicago-based wizard turns hard-boiled detective in The Dresden Files

    The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher chronicles the adventures of Harry Dresden, the world’s only wizard-for-hire, as he investigates crimes with a magical twist and saves the city of Chicago from assorted minions of evil, including vampires, demons and fiendish goats. While some of the basics mechanics of this series aren’t new — magical… Continue reading

  • Fairy tales for grown ups

    Some stories we love hearing over and over again. Folktales told worldwide over the centuries have amazing similarities of theme, style and even in presentation. Some of the most dramatic fairy tales capture our hearts and imaginations even today. Sometimes authors re-imagine than old story from another perspective. At times authors prefer to write new… Continue reading