Second review of Where Are We Going?

Ros Jackson has given a splended 4-out-of-5 review to the Eibonvale anthology “Where Are We Going?” over at her Warpcore SF website.

Please do follow the link to check out Ros’s insightful comments in full, but here is an extract:

“Where are we going? It’s a question all science fiction asks in one way or another, but with a couple of notable exceptions this anthology of odd journeys doesn’t take us to the far reaches of outer space or the distant future. Rather it’s about finding the unexplored and the eerie right here on Earth, often in places we thought we knew.

…As far as this anthology is concerned, where we’re going is all over the place. There are stories about hungry islands, aliens, the supernatural, and even the odd zombie, and the action is set all around the world in imaginary pasts or futures. It’s not unified by one mood. Ralph Robert Moore’s post-apocalyptic Our Island is quite sad, whilst Terry Grimwood’s Journey To The Engine Of The Earth is overwhelmingly strange. Douglas Thompson’s Entanglement is highbrow and puzzling, in contrast with the light tone of Xana-La or Ian Shoebridge’s A Guide To Surviving Malabar. In short this is a bit of a miscellany, where the only thing guaranteed is that the destination will be new territory for all but the most jaded of readers.”

David Rix’s Feather

David Rix’s story collection “Feather” has received an enthusiastic review from Stewart Horn over at the British Fantasy Society website.
Stewart writes:

“…The stories vary widely in subject matter and mood, some gothic, others more dreamlike. However, they share several recurring themes – Rix is preoccupied with the nature of creative art, especially music, the meaning and nature of what we create and whether it’s alive, and what responsibility we have for it. And the sea features strongly again and again. Most of his characters lack control over their lives, and Feather herself drifts like flotsam, washing up in each tale and playing her part until the sea reclaims her.

This book is complex, multi-layered and thought-provoking, with some beautiful and evocative language. He has sacrificed some clarity and coherence, but this is a unique reading experience. Highly recommended.”

First review of Where Are We Going?

Sami Airola has posted a review of Eibonvale’s new anthology “Where Are We Going” over at his Rising Shadow website. Sami writes:

“These intelligent stories will easily capture the heart and mind of an intelligent reader…

…The happenings take place in different locations from tunnels and islands to urban streets and unknown lands. For example, Dead Countries is a story about an uknown country called Quassia, Our Island is a postapocalyptical story, The Way the World Works shows the reader what happens at the bottom of the Pacific and Entanglement is a story about a man whose body is on Earth, but his mind is elsewhere…

…The editor mentions in the introduction that themed anthologies play “an increasingly important role in preserving, continuing and extending the function of the short story as an essential part of our literary culture”. I agree with him, because themed anthologies can be used to publish new and exciting stories, which would probably otherwise never be published…

…I can recommend Where Are We Going? to readers who are interested in a bit different kind of speculative fiction. This anthology can also be recommended to readers who want to read intelligent and thought-provoking stories. Some of the stories are emotionally compelling stories and they will definitely appeal to readers who enjoy reading literary prose.

Where Are We Going? is without a doubt one of the best anthologies of 2012. There should be more anthologies like this, because it’s a pleasure to read intelligent and beautifully written speculative fiction, which gives readers a chance to think about different kind of things.

Highly recommended!”

Nina Allan’s Silver Wind

Over at the prestigious “SF Site” Nina Allan’s Silver Wind has been named as No.7 in the Editor’s top ten best books of 2011:
http://www.sfsite.com/columns/best12.htm

It’s up there with the likes of China Mieville, Christopher Priest and Charles Stross. Here is the plot summary the site carries:

“Five interconnected tales are drawn together here to create an overarching story. It is, however, a somewhat complicated story as it is based in several parallel realities. Martin Newland is a rather bland estate agent who is fascinated by timepieces. In each of the five stories, a timepiece is key. In the title story, and the key to the overall work, Newland discovers the inventor of the Silver Wind, which has the function of “stabilizing” reality — and allowing him to slip from one timestream to another. Martin makes use of this device to escape the dystopian Britain he has been inhabiting into a more palatable parallel world. Short-listed for the BSFA Awards. “

Meanwhile the title story of the book has come joint-first in the Interzone Magazine’s reader’s poll for 2011, sharing the top spot with Suzanne Palmer’s story ‘The Ceiling is Sky’. http://ttapress.com/1259/readers-poll-results/0/4/