Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About sabian30

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Sixty something retired banking software analyst in Little Rock, Arkansas who writes science fiction and fantasy short stories. Has four great kids (one the editor of Cannonball Fodder) and one awesome grandson.

sabian30's Reviews:

Problems of a Family of Psychics

Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory

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I discovered this book in a roundabout way. When I was reviewing a short story collection, I ran across a story I really liked and wondered what else the writer had done. I was pleasantly surprised to find Mr. Gregory had several novels, so I ordered Spoonbenders (recommended by several readers). It’s strange, wonderful, gritty, and a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. The Telemachus family is highly unusual. They’re psychics but not very good ones. Teddy, the dad, isn’t psychic, but he is the greatest card-playing shyster […]

Science Fantasy at Its Best

The Moonday Letters by Emmi Itaranta

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I was in a weeklong writing class recently where they interviewed various authors. One of the more interesting  was Emmi Itaranta, a Finnish author, and I ordered her latest book, The Moonday Letters, after hearing her discuss her process. She writes in Finnish and English simultaneously as she had beta readers in both languages. I can’t imagine writing in two languages at the same time. Writing in one is difficult enough. The Letters are an interesting format: epistolary. The protagonist writes unsent letters to her […]

Too Close to Home

Darwin's Children by Greg Bear

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I don’t generally read Mr. Bear’s science fiction novels, but I was at a recent library book sale and picked up this futuristic tale of a generation of mutated children. I was at a disadvantage because I hadn’t read the first novel, Darwin’s Radio, but I plowed ahead anyway. A terrible virus called SHRV has infected many pregnant mothers. Their offspring are smart, tall, and use their freckles to communicate with one another. They also have acute hearing and identify each other by smell. Several […]

Never a Dull Moment

Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis

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I was reading this novel in the Apple Store (while waiting for them to check out my MacBook Air), when one of the techs came up to me and said how much he enjoyed Axiom’s End. I love it when a fellow reader sees your book and makes a comment. I agreed with him and was surprised when he told me there was a second book! I’ll have to look for it. I found Axiom’s End while using the RSS feed on Cannonball to find […]

Little Bits of Awesomeness

Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 by Carmen Maria Machado, Editor

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I love short story collections. They’re perfect for reading with a meal or while waiting for an appointment. You won’t get so involved that hours go by, but you get a little slice of great writing. I almost always have a short story collection stashed in the car or my backpack for emergency reading. All I can say about this collection is Wow! Ms. Machado has done an amazing job of selecting some of the best SF and Fantasy published in other anthologies in 2019. […]

Holding Out for a Hero

The Forgotten by David Baldacci

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I don’t read many thrillers, but I had a couple reasons for selecting this book. First of all, last year I took the Master Class and Mr. Baldacci gave great classes on writing and marketing. He’s a lawyer who doesn’t sell worldwide rights. He works with each country independently and probably increases his profits a great deal. The second reason is because my local library was having a $1 a book sale, and I added it to my stack. The Forgotten is an exciting book. […]



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