Tales from the Raven

Power of Illusion, by Christopher Anvil
Short Review:
As a fitting final story to the Sci Fi portion of the zine and a bridge introduction to the fantasy portion, this story draws strongly on the heritage of both genres.  With realistic characterization, a good sub-plot, and impressive use of all the senses to create a vivid world, this [...]

Little Sips, by Barbara J. Ferrenz
Short Review:
One of those unusual stories which manages to mix fantasy, horror, and humor.  Like a carefully made cake, each ingredient must go into the mix at the right time and be the right portion.  Barbara has baked this story into a tasty morsel.
Long Review:
The story begins with a charcter thread [...]

A Time to Kill, by S. Andrew Swann
Short Review:
A chilling story that definitely got me thinking.  Not a story I’d read or share so much for enjoyment as for discussion, both of the story and its flaws.
Long Review:
An excellent sample of the complexity of human existence and the difficulty in predicting the consequences of any [...]

The Old Woman in the Young Woman, by Gene Wolfe.  Illustrated by Emily Tolson (scroll link to bottom of page).
Short Review:
The kind of story that sticks in your brain, and maybe you find yourself mentioning to a friend or coworker.  Has a few small kinks in the plot which I go into below, but it’s [...]

All the Things You Are, by Mike Resnick.  Illustrated by Pamelina H. 
Short Review:
I’d recomend this story to someone interested in a light, easy read, that will still take the brain out for a thought exploration.  Each step of the story is fairly predictable, but is written in an entertaining style.
Long Reveiw: (no really blatant spoilers, but read at [...]

I’ve been interested in Baen’s Universe for awhile, so I jumped at the chance to get a free copy of V1 #3 in exchange for a reveiw and a link.  Once I downloaded the pdf, I realized that the 163 pages of content was more than I could read in a sitting or two.  So I’ve decided to [...]

An arthurian urban fantasy by Peter David, Knight Life is about the return of King Arthur to modern day New York, and his subsequent political campaign for the mayorship.
I wouldn’t say it was a can’t-put-it-down read, but once I set it down I was sure to look around and find I’d picked it up again.  The politcal [...]

I owe this book my sanity.
Not only in the here and now, for giving me something real and funny to keep me going through my math class, but also for saving me from the wonderful world of worm pee, hand-pollination, and all-out war with the local flora and fuana.
Which is to say, I have seen [...]

I’ve discovered a new love.
No, not that kind! 
The mystery genre caught my attention for a few years in my tweens but I have’t visited it since.  Then over the holidays I was desperate for a book and feeling like something different, so when I dug through my book stack and found Dead Cert, a novel by [...]

This is the first novel in C.S. Lewis’s science fiction space trilogy.  The book takes place mostly on Malacandra (Mars), and tells the story of kidnapped earthman Elwin Ransom as he mingles with the natives and deals with the antagonists, Dr. Weston and his associate Devine.
The series explains through myth the Christian doctrine of temptation and the fall [...]