Book review

Sleeping Beauties: An Almost Evil Vintage King

As a metaphor for what’s wrong with present-day American society and culture, this book is a success. But not the way Steve and Owen intended, I think. On the surface, Sleeping Beauties is another trademark Stephen King novel. So much so, in fact, that one is left wondering what, if anything, Junior contributed. There’s the […]

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Dear Miss Bus Motormouth,

Do you ever shut up? I’ve had the misfortune of traveling on the same bus with you on numerous occasions now, and am still not sure whether I’m infuriated by the sheer volume of your voice, or jealous of your cheerful disregard for the people around you. In your defense, I must admit that you […]

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Iain M. Banks – Surface Detail

Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks My rating: 4 of 5 stars Having recently read The Hydrogen Sonata (the latest Iain M. Banks Culture novel), I was pleasantly surprised to discover another Culture novel I had missed. Surface Detail is further proof that Banks is back in top form after the mediocre offerings of The […]

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Goodkind’s First Rule

Readers are stupid. This must have been the rule behind the rule, the one Terry Goodkind lived and wrote by when he conceived of Wizard’s First Rule. Wizard’s First Rule is the first volume in his Jordanesque Sword of Truth series, and the book annoyed me in more ways than I thought possible.

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Good Fantasy Is Closer Than You Think

Note to self: write rave reviews of Paul Evanby’s De Vloedvormer* (“The Floodformer”) and Aliette de Bodard’s Servant of the Underworld and Harbinger of the Storm. And in case you’re so in need of new reading material that you can’t wait for my reviews, just take my word for it and buy the books. If […]

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Free Books for Good Ears

Oh goodie! A year after Paul Evanby’s debut novel De Scrypturist, Mynx finally published the sequel, Evanby’s new novel De Vloedvormer (which roughly translates at The Floodformer, I suppose). If you have read my rave review of his debut, it will come as no surprise that I’m chomping at the bit to dive into this […]

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Paul Evanby – De Scrypturist

Out for a month now, the debut novel “De Scrypturist” by Paul Evanby should be required reading for all Dutch-language fantasy lovers. I have a single extra copy, signed by the author, which I will give away for free to the first reader who sends me the correct answer to the question I post at […]

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The Future Of Horror

It is rumored that after music critic and producer Jon Landau saw Bruce Springsteen play for the first time, he stated that he’d “seen rock and roll future and his name is Bruce Springsteen”. Had I anything like Landau’s authority, I would use my platform to paraphrase him and say the same about horror, and […]

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Big No-Nos

In a discussion on the private forum of my online writers group Codex, a thread grew that discussed all the things a writer should not do in his fiction. The thread was fed mainly by editors venting their frustrations about all the ways in which hopeful would-be writers contaminate the slush pile with bad writing. […]

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I.M.: Intensely Moving

Not only does true love exist, it has been incarnated in a Dutch female author, who has mastered the art of capturing it in words. Connie Palmen, a highly successful Dutch novelist and essayist, wrote ‘I.M.’ after the love of her life, Ischa Meijer, the hugely talented columnist, radio and TV personality, and above all […]

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