After Audible Frontiers published the entire collection of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories, I eagerly listened to the first volume, Swords and Deviltry. I enjoyed the stories, but not enough to rush headlong into the rest of the series. Recently, however, I’ve returned to the world of Nehwon, the fictional setting for [...]

The second season of HBO’s True Blood, based on Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse novels. The show’s first season very loosely followed the first novel in the series, Dead Until Dark, while the second season made significant departures from the second novel, Living Dead in Dallas. Hoping to garner some clues about the show’s third season, [...]

The first book I reviewed here on AzureScape was Swords and Deviltry, the first in a seven-book collection of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories. My review of that anthology was mixed, on the one hand praising the inventiveness of Leiber’s language and world-building, but on the other hand lamenting the rather flat [...]

Changeling
By Yasmine Galenorn; Read by Cassandra Campbell
9 CDs – 11 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: 2009
Themes: / urban fantasy / paranormal romance / shapeshifting / vampires / fae
I’m ashamed to admit how much time I’ve let go by between reading Witchling, which I reviewed and thoroughly enjoyed, and starting on its sequel, Changeling. Once I [...]

Harry Potter and the Half Blood PrinceBB
Directed by David Yates
Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon, et al.
Released: 2009
Due to the round robin of directors tapped for the Harry Potter film series, the quality of the movies thus far has varied wildly, from the solid first and second films to the [...]

The Name of the Wind
By Patrick Rothfuss; read by Nick Podehl
Audible Download – 28 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2009
Themes: / epic fantasy / magic school / frame narrative / biography
The Name of the Wind is one of those books I’ve just kept hearing wonderful things about, so when Brilliance Audio finally released an audiobook edition, [...]

Yes, it’s another book about vampires. But wait, don’t shrug it off just yet. Several things set The Strain apart from the glut of vampire novels flooding the market of late. First, it’s co-written by movie director Guillermo del Toro, whose past film successes include the vampire flick Blade II, the comic-book adaptation of Hellboy, and the [...]

Star Trek
Written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman; Directed by J. J. Abrams
Starring  Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana, Karl Urban
U.S. Theatrical Release: 9 May 2009
In the hype-filled ramp-up to this reboot of the beloved Star Trek franchise, the spotlight shone on director J. J. Abrams, creator of geek TV franchises Alias, Lost, and Fringe, [...]

Blood Noir
By Laurell K. Hamilton; Read by Cynthia Holloway
11 CDs – 13 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
ISBN:  1-59737-895-6
Published: 2008
Themes: / paranormal romance / vampires / shapeshifters / mystery / sex / BDSM / urban fantasy
Blood Noir is the sixteenth installment in Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series. Thats an impressive track record for any writer–and somehow [...]

I’ve recently reviewed both WWW: Wake by Robert J. Sawyer and Daemon by Daniel Suarez. While reading the latter, I couldn’t help comparing it o the former in my mind, since both deal with themes of technology and consciousness. While I succeeded in pushing these comparisons aside and reviewed Daemon solely on its own merit, [...]