Books tagged with: whimsical
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![Alternate Reality Ain't what it used to beIra Nayman]()
Science FictionAlternate Reality Ain't what it used to be by Ira Nayman is a collection of news stories from alternate realities, as told by the intrepid reporters from the Alternate Reality News Service. The book is split into different sections for technology, relationships, games, politics etc. and each section...
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![Luna for the LuniesIra Nayman]()
Science FictionReview by Luis Villazon. Ira Nayman bills himself as the proprietor of the “Alternate Reality News Service”, a sort of Reuters for the multiverse. This collection of short stories is structured like a newspaper, with technology stories, crime reports, obituaries and advice columns supplied by ARNS c...
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![USUJayde Ver Elst]()
Science FictionUSU is a clever, clever book. Set after some cataclysmic event has rendered the Earth free of it's human infestation, the novel follows the stuffed and robotically animated rabbit known as Usu. He searches the broken, twisted wasteland for something, something he will only know when he finds it. The...
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![Anansi BoysNeil Gaiman]()
FantasyIllustration ©2019 Francis Vallejo from The Folio Society edition of Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys. The asymmetrical sequel to Gaiman’s American Gods , Anansi Boys makes use of the same dramatic conceit, that Gods exist and walk amongst us. However, this story from Gaiman is more of an urban folk tale,...
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![Picus the ThiefRobin Bennett]()
FantasyPicus is one of those people who act as a magnet for trouble, disowned by his parents (or at least his quite scary mother) for not being blood-thirsty enough, hunted by the violent vampire Raben for the theft of an item that wasn't really his and wanted by the leader of the faie Queen Mab (the tooth...
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![The Forgotten Beasts of EldPatricia A McKillip]()
FantasyThe Forgotten Beasts of Eld is fantasy at it's finest, it exemplifies and defines the genre in a way few others have. It won the first ever World Fantasy Award for best novel back in 1975, an achievement more remarkable when considering that it was only the authors third novel. For many who have rea...
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![The Hobbit: Illustrated EditionJRR Tolkien]()
FantasyLike many people who read fantasy my journey into this wonderful genre was largely propelled at a young age by JRR Tolkiens classic "The Hobbit". For me it came from a completely unlikely source too - from my Gran who didn't seem to read much (at least that I noticed), didn't have many books and yet...
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![The Office of Lost and FoundVincent Holland-Keen]()
FantasyThomas Locke is known as the man who can find anything, rumor has it he even found the butterfly that started the last hurricane. It therefore makes perfect sense that a very desperate Veronica Drysdale would engage his services to find her missing husband - except the world of Thomas Locke doesn't...
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![The Woman Who Died A LotJasper Fforde]()
FantasyI've been collecting Jasper Fforde novels for a while now however until I got this one through the door I hadn't actually read any of them; after reviewing this book I kinda wish I had paid more attention to the author earlier. The Woman Who Died A Lot is the seventh novel in the Thursday Next serie...
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![Strange WeatherJoe Hill]()
HorrorStrange Weather contains four stories that are subtly linked; each different in theme and style. They are tied together, as you might expect from the title, by some pretty unusual weather. The book begins in 1988 with "Snapshot" which describes 13 year old Michael Figlione living in the Silicon Vall...
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![Terry Pratchett's Discworld ImaginariumPaul Kidby]()
Paul Kidby was Pratchett's artist of choice and once described his lively, colourful illustrations as: The closest anyone's got to how I see the characters He's been drawing Discworld for over fifteen years, including the superbly illustrated Last Hero, not to mention The Art of Discworld and Terry...
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![The thief of timeJohn Boyne]()
FantasyI picked this book up some time ago as I like tales of immortality and time and what not, and it seemed intriguing that the same author who wrote The boy in the striped pajamas would write an historical fantasy. Of course it's one of those books that people who don't like fantasy will tell you it i...
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![The Gurkha and the Lord of TuesdaySaad Hossain]()
Science FictionMelek Ahmar, the Lord of Mars, the Red King, the Lord of Tuesday, Most August Rajah of Djinn, wakes up three millennia after being knocked out cold in a bar fight. Though his magic is weak at first from disuse, he struggles out of his stone sarcophagus, which is sealed with aging spells cast by far...
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![The CabinetUn-Su Kim]()
Science FictionI love genre fiction that deals with people who have developed superpowers; X-Men , The 4400 , The Boys . All of them have ordinary people gaining extraordinary powers. Some become superheroes, other supervillains. However, what about those mutations that are a little naff? Do you deserve to be s...
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![The Stones of BloodDavid Fisher]()
Science FictionThe Target imprint of Doctor Who novels is like nectar to any fan as they offer a punchy adaptation of almost every episode of the series up to the mid-90s, but there were a few missing. Fear not, as BBC Books are not only releasing adaptations of newer episodes but are also looking to fill in the g...
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![A Stroke of the PenTerry Pratchett]()
FantasyThey say that you should never meet your heroes, lest they disappoint, but I have met several of my favourite authors over the years and have always had a pleasant experience. I never had the chance to meet Sir Terry Pratchett which was a shame as he was, like for many readers of genre fiction, one...
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![Loki: Journey Into MysteryKatherine Locke]()
FantasyAfter more than a decade of box office hits and TV shows even the more casual Marvel fan is starting to realise that there is a vast and rich world of lore that the comics have built up over the decades. The comics of Thor and Loki bring with them their own history, not only that written for the com...
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![Shoestring TheoryMariana Costa]()
HorrorThe creation of a new subgenre comes fraught with danger, there may be a good reason it did not arise before. I am seeing an increase in what can be called Cosy Fantasy, novels that have many of the tropes of the genre but concentrate on character interaction over the action. The threat is that Fant...
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