Other Book Reviews

The book reviews are alphabetical by author and subdivided via genre. In cases where more than one of an author's works are reviewed, they are listed in order of publication. Some of these reviews were written by other people back when the Sci-Fi Fan Letter was an in store newsletter at the World's Biggest Bookstore. With one exception, they were all WBB bookstore employees (and the exception was an Indigo bookseller from another Toronto store). Their pseudonyms in no particular order are: Mel, Cat, Sheila, DG-88, Leeman, Chud, James Duncan, Sandra, Rose, Gord, Kat and James Bernard. They helped me make the newsletter a success for the 19 monthly issues it ran before I switched over to more regular and varied blog posts. Their reviews are all credited to them, and shown on this page in brackets as guest reviewers. As to my own reviews, it took some time before I'd devised my current format (with pros/cons) so go easy on my beginner work.

Audiobooks
Out of Tune - Jonathan Maberry, Ed.
The Alloy of Law - Brandon Sanderson, narrated by Michael Kramer
The Thirteen Hallows - Michael Scott and Colette Freedman, narrated by Kate Reading

Books on Writing
Medieval Underpants and Other Blunders - Suzanne Alleyn
New Worlds, Year One: A Writer's Guide to the Art of Worldbuilding - Marie Brennan
New World, Year Two: More Essays on the Art of Worldbuilding - Marie Brennan
Sometimes the Magic Works - Terry Brooks
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers - Renni Browne and Dave King
How to be Your Own Literary Agent - Richard Curtis
The Writer Behind the Words - Dara Girard
Stein on Writing - Sol Stein

Horror
Another - Yukito Ayatsuji
Mr. Shivers - Robert Jackson Bennett
Psycho - Robert Bloch
This House is Haunted - John Boyne
The Girl With All the Gifts - M. R. Carey
Dead Moon - Peter Clines
The Bone Mother - David Demchuk
Into the Drowning Deep - Mira Grant
172 Hours on the Moon - Johan Harstad
The Year of the Witching - Alexis Henderson
The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black - E. B. Hudspeth
Psychomania: Killer Stories - Stephen Jones, Ed.
The Only Good Indians - Stephen Graham Jones
Carrie - Stephen King The Crimson Labyrinth - Yusuke Kishi
At the Mountains of Madness - H.P. Lovecraft (Guest Reviewer)
The New Hunger - Isaac Marion
I Am Legend - Richard Matheson (Guest Reviewer)
Beyond - Graham McNamee (teen)
The Thirteen - Susan Moloney
Certain Dark Things - Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Monstrous Affections - David Nickle
Eutopia: A Novel of Terrible Optimism - David Nickle
Volk: A Novel of Radiant Abomination - David Nickle
The 'Geisters - David Nickle
Wild Fell - Michael Rowe
The Murders of Molly Southbourne - Tade Thompson
The Survival of Molly Southbourne - Tade Thompson
Dead Inside: Do Not Enter, Notes from the Zombie Apocalypse - Various
Slights - Kaaron Warren
The World More Full of Weeping - Robert Wiersema (novella)
The Tomb - F. Paul Wilson

Graphic Novels (Alphabetical by title)
American Vampire - Scott Snyder and Stephen King
Averee - Stephanie Phillips with Dave Johnson, Illustrated by Marika Cresta
Batman: The Long Halloween - Jeph Loeb (Guest Reviewer)
Blood Work - Kim Harrison
Civil War - Marvel Comics (Guest Reviewer)
Code Monkey Save World - Greg Pak
Denver Moon #1: Murder on Mars (single issue) - Warren Hammond and Joshua Viola
DMZ: On the Ground - Brian Wood and Miccardo Burchielli (Guest Reviewer)
FTL, Y'all!: Tales From the Age of the $200 Warp Drive - Edited by Amanda Lafrenais
The Furnace - Prentis Rollins
The Ghost, The Owl - written by Franco, illustrated by Sara Richard
Gravity Falls Lost Legends - Alex Hirsch
Heroes Graphic Novel, Vol. 1 - Various (Guest Reviewer)
Lady Mechanika Vol 1: Mystery of the Mechanical Corpse - Joe Benitez
Lady Mechanika Vol 2: The Tablet of Destinies - M. M. Chen
Lady Mechanika Vol 3: The Lost Boys of West Abbey - M. M. Chen
Lady Mechanika: La Dama de la Muerte - Joe Benitez and M. M. Chen
Lady Mechanika Vol 4: The Clockwork Assassin - Joe Benitez and M. M. Chen
Lady Mechanika Vol 5: La Belle Dame Sans Merci - M. M. Chen and Joe Benitez
Leaving Megalopolis - Gail Simone and J. Calafiore
Meso Vol 1: Rise of the Tzalekuhl - Tyler Chin-Tanner
Orius: Sent 2 Kill, Vol. 1 - Patrick Lee Pariah Volume 1 - Created by Aron Warner, Written by Philip Gelatt and Illustrated by Brett Weldele
Phantom of the Opera - Varga Tomi
The Sea in You - Written and Illustrated by Jessi Sheron
Shame - Lovern Kindzierski (writer), John Bolton (illustrator)
Transformers: The Movie Adaptation - Kris Oprisko (Guest Reviewer)
Witchblade vol 1 - Ron Marz and Mike Choi
X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills - Chris Claremont
Zita the Spacegirl - Ben Hatke (kids SF)

Manga (Alphabetical by title)
Akira, vol 1 - Katsuhiro Otomo
Disney Manga Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas - Jun Asuka Heaven's Design Team, Vol. 1 - Hebi-Zou and Tsuta Suzuki
Neko Ramen, vol 1 - Kenji Shonichi
Vampire Knight Manga, Vol. 1 - Matsuri Hino (Guest Reviewer)

Magazines
Fantasy Short Stories, Issue 1 - Mark Lord, Ed. Lightspeed 48 (May 2014) - John Joseph Adams, Ed

History and Mythology
Daily Life During the Spanish Inquisition - James Anderson
Paris, 1200 - John Baldwin
War Against the Weak - Edwin Black
Daily Life of the Ancient Egyptians, 2E - Bob Brier and Hoyt Hobbs
A Guide to Medieval Gardens: Gardens in the Age of Chivalry - Michael Brown
Medieval Plants and Their Uses - Michael Brown
The Alchemy of Paint: Art, Science and Secrets from the Middle Ages - Steve Bucklow
The Medieval Scriptorium - Sara J. Charles
Early Medieval Spain, 2E - Roger Collins
Chronicle of the Czechs - Cosmas of Prague, translated by Lisa Wolverton
Physiologus: A Medieval Book of Nature Lore - Translated by Michael Curley
Myths and Legends: Thor, Viking God of Thunder - Graeme Davis
A History of Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult - DK BooksHandbook for William - Douda, translated by Carol Neel
The History of Tarot Art: Demystifying the Art and Arcana, Deck by Deck by Holly Adams Easley and Esther Joy Archer
Big Buttes Book - Michelle Enzinas (Elizabethan cookbook)
Ethiopia: the Living Churches of an Ancient Kingdom - Mary Anne Fitzgerald
Ancient Nubian Art: A History - Rita E. Freed
Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia - Maria-Jose and Bob Friedlander
The History of the Church in Art - Rosa Giorgi
The Good Wife's Guide - Translated by Gina Greco and Christine Rose
African Zion: the Sacred Art of Ethiopia - Marilyn Heldman
The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages - Geraldine Heng
The Medieval Cook - Bridged Ann Henisch
The Crusades: A History of Armed Pilgrimage and Holy War - Geoffrey Hindley
Treasures of the Vikings - Tom Horne
Building the Great Cathedrals - Francois Icher
Ancient Inventions - Peter James and Nick Thorpe
Magic in the Roman World: Pagans, Jews and Christians - Naomi JanowitzEloquent Bodies - Jacqueline Jung
A History of Herbalism: Cure, Cook, and Conjure - Emma Kay
Towards a Global Middle Ages - Edited by Brian Keene
The Medieval Kitchen: A Social History With Recipes - Hannele Klemettila
Ethiopian Painting in the Late Middle Ages and During the Gondor Dynasty - Jules Leroy
Dark Mirror: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Jewish Iconography - Sara Lipton
Hildegard of Bingen: The Woman of Her Age - Fiona Maddocks
The Gothic Image - Emile Male
Myths and Legends: Dragonslayers - Joseph McCullough
Myths and Legends: King Arthur - Daniel Mersey
Myths and Legends: Knights of the Round Table - Daniel Mersey
Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power - Marin Meyer and Richard Smith, Ed.
Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing - Melissa Mohr
Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World - Edited by Elizabeth Morrison with Lisa Grollemond
Picturing the Apocalypse - Natasha O'Hear and Anthony O'Hear
Going to Church in Medieval England - Nicholas Orme
Winters in the World: A Journey Through the Anglo-Saxon Year - Eleanor Parker
The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World - Virginia Postrel
The Murder of William of Norwich: The Origins of the Blood Libel in Medieval Europe - E. M. Rose
The Third Horseman - William Rosen
The Jew, The Cathedral, and the Medieval City: Synagoga and Ecclesia in the 13th C - Nina Rowe
The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity - Jeffrey Burton Russell
Satan: The Early Christian Tradition - Jeffrey Burton Russell
Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages - Jeffrey Burton Russell
Medieval Latin Liturgy in English Translation - edited by Matthew Cheung Salisbury
Illuminating Women in the Medieval World - Christine Sciacca
The Book of Sainte Foy - Translated by Pamela Sheingorn
A Hangman's Diary - Franz Schmidt
Splendor Solis: The World's Most Famous Alchemical Manuscript - Stephen Skinner, Rafel Prinke, Georgiana Hedesan, and Joscelyn Godwin
Myths and Legends: Jason and the Argonauts - Neil Smith
Myths and Legends: Robin Hood - Neil Smith
Power and Profit: The Merchant in Medieval Europe - Peter Spufford
Who Was Dracula? - Jim Steinmeyer
Journey Through The Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead - Edited by John Taylor
The History of Hell - Alice Turner
Bread, Wine, and Money: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral - Jane Welch Williams
The Turnip Princess And Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales Collected - Franz Xavier von Schönwerth; translated by Maria Tatar; edited by Erika Eichenseer

Other
Inferno - Dante Alighieri (poetry)
Mary Magdalene: A Visual History - Diane Apostolos-Cappadona (Christianity/Art)
R. U. R. - Karel Capek (SF play)
14 - Peter Clines (Apocalyptic Mystery)
The Way We Fall - Megan Crewe (modern dystopian YA)
Prague Cemetery - Umberto Eco (historical fiction)
Talus and the Frozen King - Graham Edwards (historical mystery)
Fail Harder - Fail Blog Community (humour)
Claws and Saucers - David Goldweber (movie guide)
Strange Religion - Nijay K. Gupta
Harry Harrison! Harry Harrison!: A Memoir - Harry Harrison (SF author memoir)
The Reason I Jump - Naoki Higashida (non-fiction, autism)
Cold Earth - Sarah Moss (general fiction)
Crossfire - Miyuki Miyabe (mystery)
Medieval Cats: Claws, Paws, and Kitties of Yore - Professor Catherine Nappington
The Death House - Sarah Pinborough (literature/speculative fiction)
Anxiety Workbook for Women - Bianca Rodriguez
Lavender House - Lev A. C. Rosen (historical mystery)
Put Your Anxiety Here: A Creative Guided Journal to Relieve Stress and Find Calm - Lisa M. Schab
Black Dog Summer - Miranda Sherry (literature/speculative fiction)
Culinary Travels: Memories Made at the Table - Emily Szajda (cookbook)