476 posts tagged with fantasy.
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Book: Unnatural Magic

Onna can write the parameters of a spell faster than any of the young men in her village school. But despite her incredible abilities, she’s denied a place at the nation’s premier arcane academy. Tsira is a troll who never quite fit into her clan, despite being the leader’s daughter. She decides to strike out on her own and look for work in a human city, but on her way she stumbles upon the body of a half-dead human soldier in the snow. As she slowly nurses him back to health, an unlikely bond forms between them, one that is tested when an unknown mage makes an attempt on Tsira’s life. Soon, unbeknownst to each other, Onna and Tsira both begin devoting their considerable talents to finding out who is targeting trolls before their homeland is torn apart.
posted by dinty_moore on May 25, 2020 - 3 comments

Book: The City We Became

Every great city has a soul. Some are ancient as myths, and others as new and destructive as children. New York City? She's got six. [more inside]
posted by bassooner on May 1, 2020 - 9 comments

Book: Four Roads Cross

The great city of Alt Coulumb is in crisis. The moon goddess Seril, long thought dead, is back--and the people of Alt Coulumb aren't happy. Protests rock the city, and Kos Everburning's creditors attempt a hostile takeover of the fire god's church. Tara Abernathy, the god's in-house Craftswoman, must defend the church against the world's fiercest necromantic firm--and against her old classmate, a rising star in the Craftwork world. [more inside]
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit on Mar 9, 2020 - 2 comments

Movie: Deathstalker II

Deathstalker II is a fun and tongue-in-cheek 80's style fantasy movie, although it does have much more nude female flesh than people may appreciate. It's borderline porn. Lots of ridiculous stuff in this one: the movie doesn't take itself seriously at all. It's "MST Club Approved!" [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Feb 5, 2020 - 5 comments

Book: Three Parts Dead (Craft Sequence, Book 1)

A god has died, and it’s up to Tara, first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring Him back to life before His city falls apart. Her client is Kos, recently deceased fire god of the city of Alt Coulumb. Without Him, the metropolis’s steam generators will shut down, its trains will cease running, and its four million citizens will riot. [more inside]
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit on Jan 28, 2020 - 11 comments

Book: The Bear and the Nightingale

Winter lasts most of the year at the edge of the Russian wilderness, and in the long nights, Vasilisa and her siblings love to gather by the fire to listen to their nurse’s fairy tales. [more inside]
posted by miss-lapin on Jan 12, 2020 - 5 comments

1110 WIZARDS OF THE LOST KINGDOM I Rewatch

Welcome back to crappy fantasy land, where our apes are bats, and our conquerors have Dad Bod. Previously - Also Previously
posted by JHarris on Jan 9, 2020 - 1 comment

Book: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

A man returns to the site of his childhood home where, years before, he knew a girl named Lettie Hempstock who showed him the most marvelous, dangerous, and outrageous things...
posted by kalimac on Dec 3, 2019 - 7 comments

Book: The Ten Thousand Doors of January

In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place. Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.
posted by dinty_moore on Nov 15, 2019 - 8 comments

Book: A Crown for Cold Silver

Five villains. One legendary general. A final quest for vengeance. In this grimdark fantasy epic, a former general queen has to get the gang back together for one last job. [more inside]
posted by WidgetAlley on Nov 10, 2019 - 6 comments

Book: The Library of the Unwritten

In the first book in a brilliant new fantasy series, books that aren't finished by their authors reside in the Library of the Unwritten in Hell, and it is up to the Librarian to track down any restless characters who emerge from those unfinished stories. [more inside]
posted by WidgetAlley on Nov 5, 2019 - 2 comments

Book: The Divine Cities Trilogy

In a world where terrifying, capricious gods once walked the earth, enslaving and brutalizing millions, three unforgettable protagonists struggle to come to terms with the mysteries these divinities left behind— and to make sure these cruel masters do not rise again.  
posted by Cozybee on Oct 23, 2019 - 15 comments

Book: The Bird King

From G. Willow Wilson (Ms. Marvel). Set in 1491 during the reign of the last sultanate in the Iberian peninsula, The Bird King is the story of Fatima, the only remaining Circassian concubine to the sultan, and her dearest friend Hassan, the palace mapmaker. Hassan has a secret--he can draw maps of places he's never seen and bend the shape of reality. When representatives of the newly formed Spanish monarchy arrive to negotiate the sultan's surrender, Fatima befriends one of the women, not realizing that she will see Hassan's gift as sorcery and a threat to Christian Spanish rule. With their freedoms at stake, what will Fatima risk to save Hassan and escape the palace walls?
posted by dinty_moore on Oct 22, 2019 - 3 comments

Book: Flight from Neveryon

(From the generic umbrella copy that autopopulates here for these books): The eleven stories, novellas, and novels in Return to Nevèrÿon's four volumes chronicle a long-ago land on civilization's brink, perhaps in Asia or Africa, or... Flight from Neverÿon was largely written in 1983 and 1984 and first published in 1985. The book consists of two shorter stories and one novel, “The Tale of Plagues and Carnivals”, Delany’s response to the AIDS crisis, and is notable as possibly the first published fictional work taking AIDS as its catalyst and subject. [more inside]
posted by mwhybark on Oct 8, 2019 - 5 comments

Book: Tales of Neveryon (book 1, Neveryon series)

(This is for the first book, see below) In his four-volume series Return to Nevèrÿon, Hugo and Nebula award-winner Samuel R. Delany appropriated the conceits of sword-and-sorcery fantasy to explore his characteristic themes of language, power, gender, and the nature of civilization. Wesleyan University Press has reissued the long-unavailable Nevèrÿon volumes in trade paperback. The eleven stories, novellas, and novels in Return to Nevèrÿon's four volumes chronicle a long-ago land on civilization's brink, perhaps in Asia or Africa, or... [more inside]
posted by mwhybark on Sep 25, 2019 - 1 comment

Book: The Water Dancer

From Ta-Nehisi Coates, the National Book Award–winning author of Between the World and Me, a boldly conjured debut novel about a magical gift, a devastating loss, and an underground war for freedom.
posted by Etrigan on Sep 24, 2019 - 4 comments

Book: Neveryona, or the Tale of Signs and Cities (book 2)

In his four-volume series Return to Nevèrÿon, Hugo and Nebula award-winner Samuel R. Delany appropriated the conceits of sword-and-sorcery fantasy to explore his characteristic themes of language, power, gender, and the nature of civilization. Wesleyan University Press has reissued the long-unavailable Nevèrÿon volumes in trade paperback. The eleven stories, novellas, and novels in Return to Nevèrÿon's four volumes chronicle a long-ago land on civilization's brink, perhaps in Asia or Africa... [more inside]
posted by mwhybark on Sep 22, 2019 - 15 comments

Disenchantment: The Second Half of the First Season  Season 1, Ep 0

Disenchantment returns to Netflix after a 13-month "midseason hiatus" in its 20-episode first season. [more inside]
posted by Etrigan on Sep 20, 2019 - 6 comments

Book: Gideon the Ninth

The Emperor needs necromancers. The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman. Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit. [more inside]
posted by WidgetAlley on Sep 11, 2019 - 42 comments

Carnival Row: Carnival Row (Full Season 1)  Season 1, Ep 0

A dark, neo-noir fantasy series exploring an alternate Victorian world in which magical creatures are real, living in tension with humans. [more inside]
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul on Sep 7, 2019 - 32 comments

Hugo Award Winners 2019

The Hugo award winners have been announced! Talk about the awards ceremony, speculate on how rankings shook out, talk about the Hugos in a meta way, or just cheer/whinge as necessary. Winners inside in case you don't want to be spoilered. [more inside]
posted by j.r on Aug 19, 2019 - 4 comments

Book: Shades of Grey

From the author of the Thursday Next series and Early Riser: Welcome to Chromatacia, where the societal hierarchy is strictly regulated by one's limited color perception. And Eddie Russet wants to move up. But his plans to leverage his better-than-average red perception and marry into a powerful family are quickly upended. Juggling inviolable rules, sneaky Yellows, and a risky friendship with an intriguing Grey named Jane who shows Eddie that the apparent peace of his world is as much an illusion as color itself, Eddie finds he must reckon with the cruel regime behind this gaily painted façade.
posted by soelo on Jul 22, 2019 - 19 comments

Book: Saga Volume 9

The multiple Eisner Award-winning series returns with a spacefaring adventure about fake news and genuine terror. Warning: Feelings. Collects SAGA #49-54 [more inside]
posted by dinty_moore on Jul 11, 2019 - 4 comments

Book: Daughter of Mystery

Margerit Sovitre did not expect to inherit the Baron Saveze’s fortunes—and even less his bodyguard. The formidable Barbara, of unknown parentage and tied to the barony for secretive reasons, is a feared duelist, capable of defending her charges with efficient, deadly force. Equally perplexing is that while she is now a highly eligible heiress, Margerit did not also inherit the Saveze title, and the new baron eyes the fortunes he lost with open envy. Barbara, bitter that her servitude is to... [more inside]
posted by happyroach on Jun 30, 2019 - 9 comments

Book: The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion

Danielle Cain is a queer punk rock traveller, jaded from a decade on the road. Searching for clues about her best friend’s mysterious and sudden suicide, she ventures to the squatter, utopian town of Freedom, Iowa. All is not well in Freedom, however: things went awry after the town’s residents summoned a protector spirit to serve as their judge and executioner. Danielle shows up in time to witness the spirit—a blood-red, three-antlered deer—begin to turn on its summoners. Danielle and her new friends have to act fast if they’re going to save the town—or get out alive.
posted by dinty_moore on Jun 30, 2019 - 7 comments

Book: Sovereign

The highly anticipated sequel to Dreadnought, featuring “the most exciting new superheroes in decades.” (Kirkus, starred review) Only nine months after her debut as the superhero Dreadnought, Danny Tozer is already a scarred veteran. Protecting a city the size of New Port is a team-sized job and she’s doing it alone. Between her newfound celebrity and her demanding cape duties, Dreadnought is stretched thin, and it’s only going to get worse. When she crosses a newly discovered billionaire... [more inside]
posted by happyroach on Jun 29, 2019 - 3 comments

Book: Dreadnought

An action-packed series-starter perfect for fans of The Heroine Complex and Not Your Sidekick. “I didn’t know how much I needed this brave, thrilling book until it rocked my world. Dreadnought is the superhero adventure we all need right now.”—Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the Sky Danny Tozer has a problem: she just inherited the powers of Dreadnought, the world’s greatest superhero. Until Dreadnought fell out of the sky and died right in front of her, Danny was trying to... [more inside]
posted by happyroach on Jun 28, 2019 - 6 comments

GLBTQ Fantasy/Science Fiction Novels?

So with only a few days left in Pride Month, would anyone want interested in some fanfare posts on fantasy/SF featuring GLBTQ protagonists? Mainly I want to do posts on Dreadnaught: Nemesis and Dreadnaught: Sovereign. Other books I've read recently include Fire Logic The Murderbot Diaries Daughter of Mystery Does anyone else have any recommendations?
posted by happyroach on Jun 27, 2019 - 11 comments

Book: The Calculating Stars

On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United States, including Washington D.C. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render the earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space, and requires a much larger share of humanity to take part in the process. Elma York’s experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition’s attempts to put man on the moon, as a calculator. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn’t take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can’t go into space, too.
posted by dinty_moore on Jun 17, 2019 - 12 comments

The Twilight Zone: Blurryman  Season 1, Ep 10

While working on the set of the new The Twilight Zone, writer Sophie Gelson (Zazie Beetz) is haunted by a mysterious Blurryman. [Season finale] [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Jun 7, 2019 - 3 comments

Book: The Rook

"The body you are wearing used to be mine." So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her. [more inside]
posted by soelo on Jun 4, 2019 - 33 comments

Book: The Black God's Drums

Creeper, a scrappy young teen, is done living on the streets of New Orleans. Instead, she wants to soar, and her sights are set on securing passage aboard the smuggler airship Midnight Robber. Her ticket: earning Captain Ann-Marie’s trust using a secret about a kidnapped Haitian scientist and a mysterious weapon he calls The Black God’s Drums.
posted by dinty_moore on Jun 3, 2019 - 2 comments

Book: Trail of Lightning

While most of the world has drowned beneath the sudden rising waters of a climate apocalypse, Dinétah (formerly the Navajo reservation) has been reborn. The gods and heroes of legend walk the land, but so do monsters. Maggie Hoskie is a Dinétah monster hunter, a supernaturally gifted killer. When a small town needs help finding a missing girl, Maggie is their last—and best—hope. But what Maggie uncovers about the monster is much larger and more terrifying than anything she could imagine.
posted by dinty_moore on May 27, 2019 - 11 comments

Book: Abbott

While investigating police brutality and corruption in 1970s Detroit, journalist Elena Abbott uncovers supernatural forces being controlled by a secret society of the city’s elite. By Saladin Ahmed, line art by Sami Kivelä, colors by Jason Wordie
posted by dinty_moore on May 20, 2019 - 1 comment

Game of Thrones: Game of Throne Episode 8.6  Show Only   Season 8, Ep 6

In the aftermath of the attack on King's Landing, the survivors deal with the future. [more inside]
posted by Brandon Blatcher on May 19, 2019 - 852 comments

Book: Black Leopard, Red Wolf

Jamaican author Marlon James’ epic fantasy novel, set in an imaginary land that draws from African placenames, languages, and mythos, is his followup to 2014’s Man Booker prizewinning “A Brief History of Seven Killings” and is intended as the first work in a trilogy. [more inside]
posted by mwhybark on May 16, 2019 - 9 comments

Book: A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World

At a time when it looks like we may be here to experience a real post-apocalyptic world, this richly realized picture of earth about a century after the fall of humanity is a compelling setting for what is ultimately a hopeful and uplifting novel. [more inside]
posted by COD on May 14, 2019 - 2 comments

Book: The Grace of Kings

Two men rebel together against tyranny—and then become rivals—in this first sweeping book of an epic fantasy series from Ken Liu, recipient of Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards. [more inside]
posted by Chrysostom on May 6, 2019 - 5 comments

Mystery Science Theater 3000: DEATHSTALKER AND THE WARRIORS FROM HELL  Rewatch   Season 7, Ep 3

Rewatch! The least porny of the four Deathstalker movies, here he's played with what's supposed to be a roguish glint, but comes across as intolerable smugness. The girl he's supposed to help dies very early, but fortunately she had a twin sister. There's also a sad wizard with problems (sad wizard problems) a mother and daughter who survive due to the existence of that miracle vegetable, the potato, evil sorcerer Troxartes and his evil consort, and a bunch of dead guys who've been brought back to life. The villain keeps their souls in a knickknack. Previously. One of only six movies in Season 7, and thus one of the few episodes with Dr. Forrester and his mother, Pearl Forrester.
posted by JHarris on May 2, 2019 - 6 comments

Book: The Goblin Emperor

The youngest, half-goblin son of the Emperor has lived his entire life in exile, distant from the Imperial Court and the deadly intrigue that suffuses it. But when his father and three sons in line for the throne are killed in an "accident," he has no choice but to take his place as the only surviving rightful heir. [more inside]
posted by rue72 on Apr 20, 2019 - 21 comments

Game of Thrones: Winter is Here (full season)  Books Included   Season 8, Ep 0

Winter is here, and the show has outpaced GRRM's writing, but in case we want to talk about the books, here's a thread for speculating on this season.
posted by filthy light thief on Apr 15, 2019 - 96 comments

Game of Thrones: Winterfell  Show Only   Season 8, Ep 1

People gather in the North to prepare for the coming battle. [more inside]
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Apr 14, 2019 - 370 comments

Mystery Science Theater 3000: SANTA CLAUS  Rewatch   Season 5, Ep 21

Rewatch! Santa sees, hears, knows all. Up at his workshop in a castle hovering above the north pole he keeps his helpers, children from every nation. There they work on toys, singing all day long. They can do naught else, lest the forces of hell gain the upper hand. Fortunately Santa has the aid of Merlin and his magical inventions. Kind of a spin-off of the (nearly defunct) Santa's Workshop chain of theme parks, and deeply, deeply insane. Previously.
posted by JHarris on Apr 10, 2019 - 8 comments

Book: On a Sunbeam

2019 Hugo Nominee for Best Graphic Story: A webcomic where a ragtag crew travels to the deepest reaches of space, rebuilding beautiful, broken structures to piece the past together. Two girls meet in boarding school and fall deeply in love―only to learn the pain of loss. [more inside]
posted by dinty_moore on Apr 8, 2019 - 8 comments

Book: Hugo Nominated Short Stories

A discussion of the shorts stories nominated for a Hugo this year [more inside]
posted by dinty_moore on Apr 6, 2019 - 16 comments

Mystery Science Theater 3000: QUEST OF THE DELTA KNIGHTS  Rewatch   Season 9, Ep 13

Rewatch! It is not rare for stories and movies, from Howard to Tolkien, to use a generalized sort of "times of lore" setting for fantasy, which doesn't do too badly if you don't push it too hard. This movie pushes it too hard. What the hell is a "Mannerjay" supposed to be, anyway? This is the one where Pearl riffs in the theater for the first quarter of the movie. Previously.
posted by JHarris on Apr 3, 2019 - 6 comments

Love, Death & Robots: Netflix anthology of animated shorts (NSFW)  Season 0, Ep 0

Netflix drops a collection of mixed-style, animated, cross-genre (fantasy, science-fiction, horror, etc.) short films - NSFW. [more inside]
posted by jkaczor on Mar 16, 2019 - 62 comments

Book: The Raven Tower

Gods meddle in the fates of men, men play with the fates of gods, and a pretender must be cast down from the throne in this masterful first fantasy novel from Ann Leckie, New York Times bestselling author and winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Awards. [more inside]
posted by Chrysostom on Mar 15, 2019 - 29 comments

Book: The Kingdom of Copper

S. A. Chakraborty continues the sweeping adventure begun in The City of Brass, conjuring a world where djinn summon flames with the snap of a finger and waters run deep with old magic; where blood can be dangerous as any spell, and a clever con artist from Cairo will alter the fate of a kingdom. Now, with Daevabad entrenched in the dark aftermath of a devastating battle, Nahri must forge a new path for herself. But even as she embraces her heritage and the power it holds, she knows she’s been trapped in a gilded cage, watched by a king who rules from the throne that once belonged to her family—and one misstep will doom her tribe....
posted by Chrysostom on Mar 3, 2019 - 4 comments

Book: The City of Brass

The future of a magical Middle Eastern kingdom rests in the hands of a clever and defiant young con artist with miraculous healing gifts. [more inside]
posted by Chrysostom on Feb 18, 2019 - 10 comments

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