Smorgasbord Fantasia

Ready for a wild ride into a bug filled wilderness of Kameron Hurley's fertile brain ? ( Sorry couldn't resist that after having marveled at the sheer awesomeness of her first book!) Kameron Hurley’s debut effort God's War - Part One of a Trilogy called Bel Dame Apocrypha has won hearts and brains all over the speculative fiction world. I got the copies free courtesy of a free giveaway by Night Shade Books - just before the release of the Third Book, Rapture. God’s War shatters boundaries setting new horizons for writers of science fiction or fantasy of any kind. Whoever said SF cannot be married with Fantasy should probably talk to Ms. Hurley. She’ll give you an earful.   This book is a second world fantasy novel but with advanced technological settings that scream “science fiction” – though I really think that Ms.Hurley probably would be the queen of “Bug Fiction” or “BugPunk” as she terms it.    Bug Punk. Ugh! Does it bring on visions of creepy crawly ...

This one’s been on my wishlist ever since it released. Touted to be an intense high-action caper and dubbed “The Matrix” of this decade, Looper is one hell of a mind-bending ride with suspense, action and drama all folded in neat little surprise packages throughout the movie. This definitely is one my top favorites for 2012.  Rian Johnson, the writer/director for Looper proves yet again that Science Fiction can be super entertaining. In the leagues of Avatar and yet, a lot more brainier and thought-provoking venture that forces you to rethink the ethics of time travel. This movie is built on the premise of time-travel but as Bruce Willis puts it, “I don’t want to talk about the time-travel shit. If we start, we will be sitting here all day making diagrams with straws.” If we do dwell on the “what-ifs” and “how-abouts” that comes pre-loaded with the concept of time travel, we will definitely be dragging ourselves into a quicksand with no escape. So as the director p...

I’m diverting from my single minded focus on reading and reviewing SFF Books just this once. It’s after all a Shah Rukh Movie release – that people all over India have been waiting for close to a year now. It’s a ritual and we pay our respects to the King Khan of Bollywood once again bright and shining on the big screen. Bringing together the trio of Masterclass genius Rehman, Gulzar and Yash Chopra, Jab Tak Hain Jaan was touted to be the biggest release of this year; Diwali release, assured block buster, 100 Crore club ( it’s ridiculous, the ease with which so many movies these days make it to the 100-crore elite club, huh?)  I probably saw the first look trailer a few months back – Gulzar’s sublime poetry voice-overed by the intense voice of SRK as he himself, looking super bad-ass in military fatigues complete with dark goggles and unshaven mean and smoky looks riding a bullet set against the beautiful landscape of ladakh and complimented by the eclectically mesmeri...

Second book in the Memory and Flames series. Stephen Deas still plays to his strengths, that is a jet setting story burning on rocket fuel with multiple POVs, bloody battles fought in the air, some bits of magic thrown in for good measure, not a lot of world building but enough hints to visualize a fantastic one, and giant fire breathing mad dragons hurtling through the air and slamming into each other, searing up everything around them. A good book that is again a breathless frenetic read. Deas has obviously sacrificed some quality for the sake of scorching pace that he sets up again. Book Two is even faster than Book One. Frankly in terms of plot, not too much really happens. Book One had all the set pieces being arrayed in place and now all of it comes to play. An all-out dragon-war in the realms of the dragon lords. What made Stephen Deas call this book, the King of the Crags, is still a mystery to me. Book One builds an aura around this strange king who has never st...

Everybody who has read Guy Guvriel Kay has been gushing unequivocally great things about him. I as usual, am late to the party but having started off with one of his BEST Ever works, Under Heaven (published in 2010), I think I know pretty much how you guys feel about GGK. He’s an exquisitely talented writer. Under Heaven is easily one of the best pieces of literary fiction or historical fantasy (it sits easy on any shelf I would wager) that I’ve ever read.  “Among the ten-thousand noises and the jade-and-gold and the whirling dust of Xinan, he had often stayed awake all night among friends, drinking spiced wine in the North District with the courtesans.” So starts this literary epic that waltzes and dances to the words as woven by Guy Gavriel Kay – you get to “feel” the tone in that very first sentence that belies the depth of this multi-layered novel. It is deep, haunting and beautiful in ways that defies description.   Making a historical fantasy based on th...