SF Diplomat

REVIEW - The Country You Have Never Seen By Joanna Russ (2007)

My review of Joanna Russ' The Country You Have Never Seen has also been included in the launch issue of Fruitless Recursion.

I didn't enjoy this as much as I enjoyed the Kincaid (or am enjoying Farah Mendlesohn's new book) and I think that that is mostly down to the format, which I think attracts the attention more towards the critic than the stuff the critic is writing about.  There are some lovely moments in the book, and some great writing but I must admit that I found it a lot easier to dip in and out of the book than I did to sit down and read through it in a linear manner.

I've also been struggling with the book's title all day as I've been fiddling with Fruitless Recursions and what have you.  Today, the book has been known as "The Country You Have Never Been", "The  Country You Haven't  Seen" and  "The County You Have Never  Been", but that's hardly Russ' fault.

REVIEW - What It Is We Do When We Read Science Fiction by Paul Kincaid (2008)

My review of Paul Kincaid's What It Is We Do When We Read Science Fiction has gone out as part of the launch issue of Fruitless Recursion.

It was a book I undeniably enjoyed and was inspired by, even if it did remind me that I tend to be very short-termist in my reading tastes and as a result my knowledge of SF prior to about 2000 is really not what it should be.  The book brought this home to me by lavishing attention on Christopher Priest and Gene Wolfe.  I've never read any Priest and what Gene Wolfe I have read bored me.

Call for Papers : Fruitless Recursion Launches!

Fruitless Recursion has just gone live!

Fruitless Recursion is an online journal devoted to the review and discussion of works of criticism and non-fiction relating to the SF, Fantasy and Horror genres.

It is a paying market and it is currently looking for writers as well as subject matter. Go and have a look, I have kicked things off with a review of Paul Kincaid's What it is We Do When We Read Science Fiction and Joanna Russ' The Country You Have Never Seen.

I did consider calling it RubberGlueZine but I thought there were less heavy-handed ways of making the same joke :-)

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