Postcards From a Dying World News, views, book reviews and commentary from the Science Fiction and Horror fiction underground. Home of the Wonderland award nominated author of Vegan Revolution...With Zombies and Boot Boys of the Wolf Reich.
We Are Always Tender With Our Dead by Eric LaRocca (Burnt Sparrow #1) 304 pages, Hardcover Published September, 2025 by Titan Books Podcast interview on the way... Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Eric first got on my radar when we both had Clash Books releases near each other. I kinda know that Eric LaRocca is like some Brundle-fly mix of Brite, Koja, and Barker, but since I…
Fist of Memory by Wole Talabi 416 pages, Hardcover Expected publication: October 27, 2026 by DAW Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE I don’t remember where I first heard of this book. As science fiction writers along the way Wole Talbi and I got connected on Facebook and Blue Sky. I have not read his first novel, Shigi and Brass Head of Obalufon, which he describes as an urban…
Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow 338 pages, Hardcover Published October, 2025 by MCD Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE This might end up being a shorter review than many I post in part because I don’t feel as compelled to express myself as long windedly over non-fiction. This is in part research for a novel I may or may…
TV 2000 Edited by Issac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, Charles G. Waugh 352 pages, Mass Market Paperback Published January, 1982 by Fawcett Crest Important commentary on the year 2000 Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE *Will be expanded into a longer Amazing Stories column* Lets head to the future. The faaaaar future of the year 2000 (Sing it in your best falsetto. This book was…
Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn 274 pages, Paperback, published July, 2017 by Harper Voyager Winner of the Philip K. Dick Award Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE As a frequent user of the library, many of my favorite Science Fiction Books I have read that were written in the 21st century were taken out from the Library. I decided I needed to have these books in my collection and…
Ballroom of the Skies by John D. Macdonald 176 pages, Mass Market Paperback Published September 1, 1968 by Fawcett Publications, Inc Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Being a genre author in the pulp era had a bit of a different meaning. While we think of Tony Boucher as a godfather of mystery and crime fiction, his impact on SF was almost as intense. In the case of Boucher, it…
The Place Frafka Nim 165 pages, paperback Published December, 2025 It is hard to really break new ground in horror at this point, but this is an interesting case. This was handed to me by a friend who was interested in my take on it. Frafka Nim, according to a quick search, is an indie author, and that is an understatement. From what I am told, this collection started as a series of…
Pliable Truths (Star Trek TNG) by Dayton Ward 352 pages, Paperback Published May, 2024 by Pocket Books/Star Trek I admit this review is not going to get the love and attention it deserves. Dayton Ward is a Star Trek author deserves my full attention. That said, I am less than a month away from PKD Festival, and my time is draining quickly. Dayton Ward is one of the best of the regular authors…
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler This edition 452 pages, Paperback Published: May 30, 2023 by Picador 456 pages, Hardcover Published October, 2022 by MCD Literary awards: Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novel (2022), Locus Award for First Novel (2023), Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Ray Bradbury Prize (2022), The Kitschies Nominee for Golden Tentacle (Debut) (2023), Brooklyn Public…
The Auto/Biographies of Philip K. Dick: Infinite Regressions by D. Harlan Wilson 296 pages, Hardcover Expected publication: September 8, 2026 by Routledge This is a book I have tracked from kernel to publication, so you can take this review with a ton of salt, if you must but I am going to go deep with the things that make it important. Yes, DHW is my podcast co-host. As brothers in this work, I…
2054 by Elliot Ackerman and James G. Stavridis 304 pages, Hardcover Published March, 2024 by Penguin Press Sometimes doing some totally different works for a sequel, but often you have to think about what it is that people are looking for in your story. The elements that made 2034 interesting were mostly related to the author's knowledge as U.S. military experts speculating about stuff they know…
Electric Forest by Tanith Lee 160 pages, Mass Market Paperback Published August, 1979 by DAW How had I never read Tanith Lee? I mean, I had read stories here and there. They were great. Her reputation was sky-high. I opened the library app and put this one on hold. Was it the best choice to start with? Somehow told me I have many better works to read in the future, so we will see. I did like this…
2034: A Novel of the Next World War by Elliot Ackerman and James G. Stavridis 320 pages, Hardcover Published: March, 2021 by Penguin Press This was an impulse checkout from the library. I stopped when I saw the title, and decided I was curious what these two authors, who were not speculative writers before these two books (including the sequel 2054) would do with the topic. It is one thing to get…
The World Jones Made by PKD (second read) 199 pages, Paperback First published March 1, 1956, Ace Books. My 2018 review: So in 1956, in his second novel, PKD felt the need to make the point that Hitler was bad. There is also a story about eugenics and bred for Venus test-tube babies, a society based on relativism, a circus with sex-changing performers, and lots more. Crazy considering it was…
Psychedelic Modernism: Literature and Film by Raj Chandarlapaty 268 pages, Hardcover Published: February 7, 2024 by Vernon Press This will be a short review because I admit I read only the first one hundred pages about Audlus Huxley and the two chapters on Philip K. Dick. The other is presenting one of the chapters on Phil at the PKD Fest. (I am very much looking forward to that) This is a topic I…
The Donut Legion by Joe R. Lansdale Audiobook, 9 hours. Narrated by Joe R. Lansdale Kasey Lansdale Finlay Stevenson January LaVoy Marc Vietor Greg Littlefield Brad Sanders I accidentally happened upon the audiobook of this. I was searching the Libby app for an audiobook, and found this. I didn’t know Joe R. Lansdale had written a book loosely influenced by the COVID era. In this mystery, an…
Dan O'Bannon's Guide to Screenplay Structure: Inside Tips from the Writer of Alien, Total Recall and Return of the Living Dead by Dan O'Bannon and Matt Lohr 272 pages, Paperback Published: 2013 by Michael Wiese Productions There are a multitude of reasons I wanted to read this book about Screenwriting. I personally love the craft of screenwriting, and movies like most people. I respect the films…
When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy 304 pages, Paperback Published April 22, 2025 by Tor Nightfire I admit this is my first time reading Nat Cassidy, and certainly it won't be the last. I realized something dangerous. I feel like I know the guy; we have plenty of mutual friends. I have been listening to Nat on Talking Scared with their Dark Tower series for a while now. I feel like I have…
The Franchise by Thomas Elrod 368 pages, Hardcover Published: May 12, 2026 by Tor Books Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE “It’s not reality TV. It is storytelling, at the grandest and most immersive scale. Imagine going to see a Malicarn movie and knowing it really happened.” I was curious about this book long before I was able to sit down and read it. While I am not a big…
AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future by Kai-Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan 480 pages, Hardcover Published, 2021 by Crown Currency Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Since I interviewed Stanley Chen Qifan during Global Time Slip, I intended to read this first, but my library hold didn’t come in time. That interview was very cool, by the way. The set-up for this book is incredibly smart,…
Acquired Taste by Clay McLeod Chapman 304 pages, Hardcover Published September, 2025 by Titan Books Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE I have an interesting relationship with this author as a reader. My personal experience with Chapman is limited; we met briefly when Stokercon was here in San Diego. I was familiar with his work and enjoyed interviews with him on various podcasts.…
Monsters in the Archives by Caoline Bicks 304 pages, Hardcover Published April, 2026 by Hogarth I am interviewing Caroline on the Live PKD hangout Tuesday, June 23. JOIN US! Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE I somehow missed the initial roll-out of this book until a member of PKD weekly hangouts, Nick McCracken, mentioned that it was a book he had been reading. I ordered before…
Of Cattle and Men by Ana Paula Maia (Zoe Perry Translator) 99 pages, Paperback Published April, 2023 by Charco Press (First published in Brazil in 2013) I don't remember how I found this book. It showed up in my library holds, and I vaguely remembered that the author was compared to a Brazilian Cormac McCarthy. The comparison to an excellent and yet deeply masculine writer was interesting, but…
Philip K. Dick and the World We Live in by Evan Lampe 396 pages, Paperback Published: 2015 by Wide Books Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE In the early days of the Dickheads podcast I found Evan Lampe’s solo podcast covering PKD. Many of the episodes shared the same research DNA as this book, and I suspect if I were to go back and listen, you could hear Evan forming his ideas.…
Trad Wife by Sarah Langan 320 pages, Hardcover Expected publication: September 29, 2026 by Atria Books OUT NOW in the UK! One of the benefits of getting to interview our favorite authors, is towards the end of the interviews, you get to ask the question “What are you working on?” For the moment, Sarah said I am working on a novel called Trad Wife I was almost sweating, wanting to pick that up.…