Review of POW!erful Tales

My review of editor Michael Lea's collection of super human fiction, POW!erful Tales, is up at TangentOnline.com. Here's my opening take:

I have to admit at the outset that I’m not a super huge fan of superhuman stories, but I do like well told speculative adventures, which is what this anthology boils down to. And for the most part, the stories contained in POW!erful Tales, edited by Michael C. Lea, are fairly well told fictions featuring superheroes and super villains battling it out in and over Beta City, “the hero capital of the world.”

The setting of Beta City (on the shores of a post-cataclysmic Lake Erie) is important as it serves as a unifying thread for a collection of (for the most part) disparate stories written by thirteen different authors. Lea did a fairly good job tying them together with a running narrative that grouped thematically similar adventures into four sections. He even referred back to some of the characters and situations in his climactic story, “Uncreation Myth.” The overall project was maybe a bit ambitious as the groupings were somewhat forced, but I have to admit it was fresh and creative and did serve to set this anthology apart from the various other hero fiction collections out there.

After a fictional introduction by Lea that seeks to offer the reader some rationale for the increased hero activity in and around Beta City, the dossier is opened and we are invited to judge for ourselves the origins of the sensational happenings as well as the “menaces catalogued” there.

Read my reviews on all 15 stories included in this collection. And if this is your type of lit, then I'd give it a recommended thumbs up, a 6.5 out of 10.

New Mash Up - Zombies Meet War of the Worlds

Catching the latest "mash-up" trend (you've heard of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, right?), author Eric S. Brown takes fans of horror on another literary thrill ride, mashing together zombies and H.G. Wells' classic into The War of the Worlds Plus Blood, Guts, and Zombies (from Coscom Entertainment).

Although I haven't read it myself (and I'm not that into the subgenre, my only zombie stories are benign humor pieces at Bewildering Stories, lol - read "The Hunt Hunt" and "Scary Moments"), it's actually gotten quite a bit of buzz. Here are some links:

+ Ian Randal Strock's review at SFScope
+ Interview at Horror Fiction Review
+ Interview at Fear and Trembling
+ Interview at Associated Content

Eric is also the author of a number of other zombie-related works including, Season of Rot and World War of the Dead. If this is your thing, check him out! Just make sure you haven't eaten recently.

Spec Fic Graphic Novels

I admit up front - I am not too conversant with the genre of epic comics and/or the world of graphic novels. It's a fascinating and visually interesting medium, I am just not familiar enough with what makes a particular product a success. So I've enjoyed reading a few reviews lately, having discovered that January is, in fact, comic book appreciation month!

Now, I have read Gareth Hinds' Beowulf and was quite impressed with its faithfulness to the original epic, even though it is necessarily a minimalist rendering. Of course, most of us should be familiar with Maus: A Survivors Tale, the seminal work (and holocaust autobiography) of Art Spiegelman. But other than a handful of other stories (like Batman: The Dark Knight and The Watchmen from the 1980s), I'd be hard-pressed to name many more.

That's why I try to keep abreast of the projects by the group of writers I've come to know via the forums I frequent. I discover new gems all the time, including an S&S comic called The Marsh God by Bruce Durham and illustrated by Michael "Mikos" Mikolajczyk (and published by Cyberwizard Productions). You can purchase a copy for only $10 at comiXpress. At one of my favorite haunts, SFReader.com, I've had the opportunity to meet and interact with some great folks like Bruce. In fact, The Marsh God is actually an adaptation of Durham's short story by the same name and published in 2005 at Flashing Swords magazine.

So while I 'don't know much 'bout graph-ology' (sing along if you know the words), I'm learning, thanks to some new friends on the web. Thanks, people, and keep up the great work. I look forward to discovering more gems out there.

Give-Away Contest for Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue

Free Book! Free Book!

In conjunction with author Hugh Howey and our sister-like zine, Abandoned Towers, we are giving away TWO COPIES of Hugh's popular first novel (signed!), MOLLY FYDE AND THE PARSONA RESCUE.

How do you win your copy? Follow the clues!
1) Read the interview (see link below).
2) Download the various portions of the book.
3) Answer the questions!
See how easy that is? So let's get started...

In a featured interview at Abandoned Towers, Hugh writes:

My first novel, Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue, was published in 2009 by NorLightsPress.com. It begins the saga of a young woman as she sets out to recover her father’s old spaceship. During her adventures, she’s joined by a band of alien misfits and runaways that find in each other what none of them truly had before: a family. The novel is packed with adventure, romance, fantastical settings, mystery, and some light philosophy/social satire. Reviewers (including Lyn Perry's review at SFReader.com) have been effusive with their praise: PARSONA RESCUE has already made at least three “Best Of” lists for 2009. The other book I have out is just now being released. It’s the highly anticipated sequel, Molly Fyde and the Land of Light. It should be available by the end of January, 2010.

So what do you do now?
FIRST, DOWNLOAD PART 1 of Hugh's science fiction novel to get started.
THEN, GO HERE to finish the interview and look for a link to PART 2.
FINALLY, Hugh has posted PART 3 of this contest on his website. Look for the questions that you'll need to answer, then send your responses to Hugh to enter the drawing.

A random drawing will determine the 2 winners. So what's in it for you if you lose? Get this! All entries will receive a 50% off coupon code for the digital version of Howey's sequel, Molly Fyde and the Land of Light. Best wishes on your quest. Let the contest begin!

What are you doing here still reading? Get going!

Just Reviewed Old Man Scratch by Rio Youers

Canadian author Rio Youers has written a short novella (I'd call it a novelet at just over 15k words) that touches on themes of love, loss, grief, and revenge. It's a frank and humorously realistic tale (with a speculative element) titled Old Man Scratch and recently released by PS Publishing in the UK.

Look for my review at Tangent Online. Also, read some of these reviews from:
+ Amy Dodge at Mass Movement Magazine
+ Andrew Monge at Horror Drive-In
+ Dan Reilly at Horror World Book Reviews
+ SFRevu
+ And this interview at Monster Librarian

UPDATE Jan 16, 2010: My review is now up at Tangent Online. Check it out. Here's my one sentence summary:

"Old Man Scratch" is not a complex tale, but it is a nicely developed one. It is a slightly speculative but immanently human story of love, hate, relationships, frustration, and revenge.

In other words, I recommend you discover Rio if you haven't already.

Preditors And Editors Readers Poll

Your Attention Please.

Now through Jan 14 the annual "Preditors & Editors Readers Poll" is open and Residential Aliens has been nominated in the fiction ezine category. Also, your host (that's me, Lyn Perry) is listed in ezine editors category.

And finally, two short stories we've published at RA have been nominated in the SF short story category. You can vote for either:
+ "Redemption" by T. M. Hunter (Nov 2009)
+ "The Pilgrimage" by T. W. Ambrose (Aug 2009)

Please take a moment to show your support. Scroll down in each category and click on us to vote. You'll need to enter your name and email, then you'll get a confirmation email to respond to in order to validate your vote (to avoid ballot stuffing). But the effort is worth it! :) Thank you!