Friday, June 19, 2009

Friday Fiction

For those of you who like your fiction short, funny, and biting, head on over to PhyWriter's blog for a flash fiction piece that made me laugh (but, then, I'm twisted).

If the space monkey theme throws you, it's a reference to Joss Whedon's short-lived but much-loved television series, Firefly, in which one character asks another why there's a mess in the engine room: "Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?" Great stuff.

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My copy of the June book for the Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog Tour didn't arrive by mail, so I bought a copy in a local store, not sure if I'd have time to read it before this weekend. I not only read it, I devoured it: Vanish by Tom Pawlik. The same for the July book, which arrived early: The Enclave by Karen Hancock.

Vanish is weird and suspenseful, and The Enclave is tense science fiction set in the not-too-distant future. Both are darn good yarns, intelligent, well written, and solid.

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I'm still working my way through The Count of Monte Cristo. What a tale. One might call it Shakespearean, but Hamlet's revenge doesn't even come close to the twisty path trod by Edmond Dantes a/k/a the Count of Monte Cristo. But, like the work of Ol' Will, this is a classic that never fails to engage and to challenge the reader, wrapping profundity in the guise of entertainment.

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Eric over at Working My Muse is enthusiastic for Jamie Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, a novel that I have yet to read but is on my list. I need to shorten the current stack of books before adding to it. Ah, the travails of a bibliophile. So many books, so little time -- or money.

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Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, an online magazine that specializes in -- wait for it -- heroic fantasy is set to publish its first issue in July. If you have short fiction or poetry in that genre, send it on over. Check out the submissions guidelines first, though, and read all the way to the end -- for a laugh, if nothing else!

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For creepy fiction and poetry, check out Fear and Trembling magazine. For entertaining science fiction (including, ahem, my own), read Ray Gun Revival.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey, how's it going? I am reading my way through a stack, too--currently, a Howard Hughes biography--nothing to do with your blog post, but oh, well. I read four books at a time sometimes.:)

Will try to get out and visit the sites you suggest, though!

Pappy said...

Hey Keanan, I've been doing summer things. In retirement that means taking a vacation from a permanent vacation. The wife and I rode our motorcycle over 3000 miles in eleven days. We are still recovering. I like the new (to me) look. I've been sampling from my reader but thought I'd better come by and say hello.

Keanan Brand said...

Jade - Please do!

Tex - Welcome back!

M. L. Kiner said...

"The Hong Kong Connection" is a legal thriller about a gutsy female attorney who takes on high ranking International officials. It's a taut, rollercoaster of a ride from New York to Palm Beach to Washington D.C. to Hong Kong. The plot is expertly woven, the characters persuasive, and the dialogue snappy and spot on.
www.StrategicBookPublishing.com/TheHongKongConnection.html