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Ziv Wities

Warrior Wisewoman 2

By Ziv Wities ⋅ August 25, 2009

This is the second volume of the Warrior Wisewoman anthologies, billed as “stories about powerful and remarkable women.” Not all the woman here are powerful, not all of them are even truly remarkable – but the anthology certainly delivers a variety of solid, clear stories revolving around women, and that’s pretty interesting on its own.
In [...]

Starfall by Stephen Baxter

By Ziv Wities ⋅ April 23, 2009

“Starfall” is Stephen Baxter’s newest addition to his Xeelee Sequence, a series of novels and stories laying out millenia of future history for mankind and for a variety of powerful alien races. “Starfall” itself sticks mostly to humans – Earth has established an empire among the stars, but Imperial rule is paranoid and tyrannical. The [...]

The Witnesses Are Gone by Joel Lane

By Ziv Wities ⋅ April 1, 2009

The Witnesses Are Gone by Joel Lane is the story of a man possessed. The man is Martin Swann, our melancholy, introspective protagonist, who has always “felt I was living backwards—the future seemed more real than the past,” and has grown to feel “as if ordinary people no longer existed.” His obsession begins when he [...]

Shrike by Quentin S. Crisp

By Ziv Wities ⋅ March 15, 2009

Shrike by Quentin S. Crisp is a rather odd book, and I think it would be best described as a work of surrealistic introspection. Brett, disheartened by a recent breakup, feeling lost in life, is spending a month in Japan, where he hopes to finally get his life in order. Here, under the comforting companionship [...]

Gunpowder by Joe Hill

By Ziv Wities ⋅ January 23, 2009

What happens when you give a pack of children a planet?
That’s where Joe Hill’s novella, Gunpowder, starts out. Not having children rule, of course, they’re not meant to lead or administer. Besides, they’re pretty much the only living things on the planet. That is, in fact, why they’re there: to create all the living things. [...]

The Next Fix by Matt Wallace

By Ziv Wities ⋅ January 15, 2009

The Next Fix is Matt Wallace’s first short story collection. Many of the offerings in it were originally published as podcasts at Variant Frequencies, while others were first published in good ol’ print, and plenty of them are worth your attention.
“Absolution, Insured” suggests an America where karmic retribution is not only an unavoidable reality, it’s [...]

Living With The Dead by Darrell Schweitzer

By Ziv Wities ⋅ November 30, 2008

Gothic, grotesque, and thoroughly absorbing, Darrell Schweitzer’s novella, Living With The Dead offers an exciting portrayal of unbearable monotony.
The story takes place in a fog-filled town which finds, every now and again, that mysterious ships have come by night and left piles of dead bodies waiting upon the dock. These corpses do not rot or [...]

Interzone, #219, November 2008

By Ziv Wities ⋅ November 13, 2008

Issue #219 of Interzone opens with “Everything That Matters” by Jeff Spock. The story kicks off with the viewpoint character being devoured by an immense, alien shark—an opening that’s right up there with exploding volcanoes on the list of “Tough Acts to Follow.” Russo escapes, alive but badly mutilated. We learn he’s scavenging for an [...]

The Luminous Depths by David Herter

By Ziv Wities ⋅ May 23, 2008

When a paper covered with incomprehensible musical staves is unfolded, some of Czechoslovakia’s finest artists find themselves flung from the thriving, creative era of 1931 to the war torn nightmare of 1942. This is the premise of David Herter’s The Luminous Depths, which stirs together historical fiction, time travel, robots, Jewish mysticism, and the power [...]

ChiZine #36, April-June 2008

By Ziv Wities ⋅ May 1, 2008

ChiZine offers us another helping of dark, intimate speculative fiction in issue #36. As with the previous issue, I’m very glad for ChiZine’s apparent preference for straightforward plot- and character-oriented fiction, but often its stories do not achieve the spark they’re reaching for.
In “The Dude Who Collected Lovecraft,” a collaboration between Nick Mamatas and Tim [...]

Ugly Stories for Beautiful People by James Burr

By Ziv Wities ⋅ April 16, 2008

The most interesting thing about James Burr’s stories, in my mind, is the use he makes of urban fantasy. Fantasy can sometimes be seen to represent ideas and concepts that are entirely relevant to real life; other times, fantasy allows the author to set up plots and situations which would be impossible in a mundane [...]

Eclipse One: New Science Fiction and Fantasy, edited by Jonathan Strahan

By Ziv Wities ⋅ March 23, 2008

Eclipse One: New Science Fiction and Fantasy is the inaugural volume in Jonathan Strahan’s new annual original speculative fiction anthology. Strahan’s introduction is enthusiastic and even inspiring; he tells us of how the SF/F short story is flourishing and describes the huge quantity of wonderful, imaginative work coming from writers new and old. Eclipse One [...]

Lone Star Stories #25, February 2008 (Fiction)

By Ziv Wities ⋅ February 22, 2008

First up in issue #25 of Lone Star Stories is Ekaterina Sedia’s “The Disemboweler,” which begins by describing a series of cruel “murders” of cars in Glenn’s neighborhood. When Glenn’s Peugeot is disemboweled, he is determined to catch the culprit—and to understand the senseless crime.
If only the story were as simple as the recap. “The [...]

Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show, January 2008

By Ziv Wities ⋅ February 13, 2008

In issue #7 of InterGalactic Medicine Show, “Silent As Dust” by James Maxey explores the curious case of a house haunted by a living man. As you might imagine, such a situation requires a unique character in a unique setting, and Steven Cooper, hiding in the cupboards and crawlspaces of Seven Chimneys, certainly provides both [...]

ChiZine #35, January-March

By Ziv Wities ⋅ January 29, 2008

After reviewing issue #34 of ChiZine, I didn’t find issue #35 nearly as impressive. Still, ChiZine certainly seems aimed in a direction I’m very fond of: intelligent, interesting substance delivered with down-to-earth storytelling and more than a hint of darkness. Whether or not each individual story lives up to that is a different [...]

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