This post originally appeared on Tor.com. The Chicago skyline may as well be threaded into the double helix of my DNA. I’ve got the city’s iconic flag tattooed on my forearm. I still call its tallest skyscraper “the Sears Tower” because it feels right. On the first days of summer-esque weather, I bike along the Lake Shore Path…
Continue reading ➞ The Joy and Despair of Seeing Your City in an SFF Novel
Bite-sized gothic tales are appropriate for light summer reading lists, as long as you like things dark and twisty all year round as I do. Before you jump into warmer water, dip your toe in the cold lake and mystery surrounding Lacrimore by S.J. Costello. A medium named Sivre travels across the lake to a…
In the back of my ARC of Untethered Sky, there was a short section from Fonda Lee about how she went to a con and got encouraged by authors there to try her hand at writing a novella. She said she had an idea for a short story about a girl who rode cool giant…
Folks, I bamboozled myself. A book sauntered its way into my smoke filled office, almost spilling out of its dress. There was a look in its eyes, one of deep need, tinted with a mysterious vengeance. I poured the book and myself a drink. We both needed one. Theirs was for the hard days of…
Welcome…to the FUTURE. Hold up a minute, though, because we need to take a brief journey to the past. Namely, way back in 2022, when I reviewed Writers of the Future Volume 38. Back then, I reviewed the anthology by selecting three of my favorite stories within it. If you liked that format, great news:…
Continue reading ➞ Writers Of The Future Volume 39 – On The Up & Up
N.E. Davenport meshes a technologically advanced world with the magical powers of the gods in her novel, The Blood Trials. Despite the protagonist being 19 years old, the book skewed more toward adult with its darker content and horror elements stemming from both humans and monsters. The book is action-packed and loves to shock the…
As I was reading The Warden by Daniel Ford, I couldn’t put my finger on what it reminded me of. The back of the book bills it as Twin Peaks but with wizards, but that wasn’t quite right. Eventually, after hours of immersing myself in its mixture of cute slice-of-life drama and horrifying war veteran…
Africa Risen is a sizable collection of stories from Africa and the African Diaspora edited by Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, and Zelda Knight. The featured stories are a mixture of science fiction, fantasy and even some horror. Though a few fell flat for me, the majority of the pieces grabbed my attention and…
I recently took a break from SFF, sojourning into the world of crime-fiction master Elmore Leonard. The occasional crime novel tickles my fancy; in 2021 I reviewed both The Silence of the Lambs and The Silent Patient, and my reviews were anything but quiet. Leonard’s Out of Sight marks my latest crime novel, but does…
If you have been hanging around The Quill to Live for a while you might know that we love Sebastian de Castell. Author of The Greatcoats and Spellslinger series, de Castell is a permanent fixture in our hidden gem recommendations. He has a swashbuckler charm that pervades all his stories with humor, drama, and emotion…
Continue reading ➞ The Malevolent Seven – Angels, Demons, And What Lies Between
