From rec.arts.sf-reviews Wed Aug 7 11:02:00 1991 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!know!mtgzy.att.com!ecl From: ecl@mtgzy.att.com Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-reviews Subject: AUTHOR'S CHOICE MONTHLY 14: Nina Kiriki Hoffman Message-ID: <31408@know.pws.bull.com> Date: 2 Aug 91 19:24:00 GMT Sender: wex@pws.bulL.com Reply-To: ecl@mtgzy.att.com Followup-To: rec.arts.sf-lovers Lines: 79 Approved: wex@pws.bull.com Original-From: mtgzy!ecl (Evelyn C Leeper +1 908 957 2070) AUTHOR'S CHOICE MONTHLY 14: Nina Kiriki Hoffman Pulphouse, 1990, $4.95. A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright (c) 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper A while ago I reviewed James Morrow's AUTHOR'S CHOICE MONTHLY from Pulphouse; now it's Nina Kiriki Hoffman's. This is number fourteen in the series, titled LEGACY OF FIRE (though since this appears only on the title page, not on the cover, you're better off looking by number). As with all the "Author's Choice" books, the physical book itself is wonderful to hold: parchment-like covers, cream-colored pages that are easy on the eyes, and a cover by George Barr. Hoffman writes in a literary style, with a lot of use of first-person narratives. This gives the reader a feeling of being right in the story, and the introductory comments on how the stories came to be written underscore a very personal involvement on Hoffman's part as well. The title story is about wishes, and dreams, and being an outsider, and choices. There is only minimal fantasy content (if any--whether it derives >from the TWILIGHT ZONE episode "What You Need" is left for you to decide). "Drawing on the Kitchen Table" has no fantasy aspect, but is about art and using art to communicate. "Savage Breasts," on the other hand, *is* fantasy, and wickedly funny fantasy at that. Ever on the quest for thematic pairings, I suggest this and Suzy McKee Charnas' "Boobs" as well-matched. (This topic provides enormous opportunity for jokes and puns. I will forbear.) After the light-heartedness of "Savage Breasts," the depression of "Tremors" is almost too jarring. I also found "Tremors" too similar in theme and execution to many other stories to stand out in this collection. And while the following story, "Universal Donor," is original, it didn't do anything for me. "The Black Knitting Needle" had power; however, it derives more from the underlying (true) story much more than from the telling. "Measuring Up to Shadows" is similar to "Legacy of Fire" in its look at how we are affected by other people's perceptions and expectations of us, but has a much higher fantasy content. Is that the shade of Robert Burns chanting, "Oh wad some power the giftie gie us / To see oursels as others see us!" "Coming Home" is a classic horror story, with an ending you won't see coming. You think you will, but trust me, you won't. The final story, "Work of Art," is related to "Drawing on the Kitchen Table" in that it examines art and its place in our lives. However, it tries to elevate art to a higher level than the average person perceives it. If you don't agree with this view, you will probably find the story annoying rather than moving, but you will find yourself thinking about it either way. These two stories emphasize what all her stories demonstrate: that Hoffman considers writing art rather than just a way to make a living. Nina Kiriki Hoffman's work is hard to find. I discovered her in WEIRD TALES, and the stories in this book appeared in such magazines as SNAPDRAGON, PULPHOUSE, and ARGONAUT. I find her choice of stories--for this is "Author's Choice"--interesting in that I enjoyed other stories of hers more (e.g., "Rumors of Greatness," "Courting Disasters," "Little Once," and "Exact Change"), but I would still recommend this volume as the easiest way to get acquainted with a promising author. (Your local bookstore almost definitely won't carry this, and there is no ISBN, so you can order direct from Pulphouse Publishing, P. O. Box 1227, Eugene OR 97440.) %T Legacy of Fire %A Nina Kiriki Hoffman %C Eugene, Oregon, USA %D 1990 %I Pulphouse %O trade paperback, US$4.95 %G no ISBN %P 116pp %B Legacy of Fire %S Author's Choice Monthly %V 14 Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com From /tmp/sf.4258 Tue Feb 1 04:13:07 1994 Xref: liuida rec.arts.sf.reviews:336 rec.arts.books:63154 alt.books.reviews:999 Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!uunet!psinntp!dg-rtp!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: Evelyn.Chimelis.Leeper@att.com Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.books,alt.books.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: THE THREAD THAT BINDS THE BONES by Nina Kiriki Hoffman Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <9308241447.AA11982@mtgpfs1.mt.att.com> Date: 25 Aug 93 01:21:33 GMT Lines: 35 THE THREAD THAT BINDS THE BONES by Nina Kiriki Hoffman A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1993 Evelyn C. Leeper I rarely read fantasy, but I have liked Nina Kiriki Hoffman's short fiction in PULPHOUSE, WEIRD TALES, and elsewhere, so I picked up this book. the cover makes it look like a drawing room comedy with ghosts cavorting about. It isn't. It's a rather dark tale of enchantment and slavery and power and twisted emotions and mis-used talents. Tom Renfield has always had special powers but tried to deny them. Laura Bolte comes from a family that revels in their powers, but she has rejected them until a return to her home triggers events that will force both her and Tom to use their powers to take sides in the coming fight. THE THREAD THAT BINDS THE BONES is reminiscent of those witchcraft movies that some studios such as Hammer Films used to make (THE DEVIL'S BRIDE comes to mind). It's not about witchcraft or devil worship, but there is some of the same feel of strange powers and hidden secrets and dangers. The beginning also brought to mind THE TWILIGHT ZONE, with its outwardly normal town that a bit at a time starts seeming strange. Hoffman has always seemed to specialize in the dark side of the human soul, and she puts this talent to good use here. Unless you have a complete aversion to fantasy, you may want to give THE THREAD THAT BINDS THE BONES a try. %T The Thread That Binds the Bones %A Nina Kiriki Hoffman %C New York %D May 1993 %I AvoNova %O paperback, US$4.99. %G ISBN 0-380-77253-1 %P 311pp Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | ecl@mtgpfs1.att.com / Evelyn.Leeper@att.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Nov 18 10:24:11 1994 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.com!postmodern.com!not-for-mail From: dani@telerama.lm.com (Dani Zweig) Subject: Williams and Hoffman: Child of an Ancient City Message-ID: <3a8p8a$lpj@asia.lm.com> Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Sender: mcb@postmodern.com (Michael C. Berch) Organization: Telerama Public Access Internet, Pittsburgh, PA USA Date: Mon, 14 Nov 1994 22:44:26 GMT Approved: mcb@postmodern.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Lines: 40 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.written:81340 rec.arts.sf.reviews:675 "Child of an Ancient City" is an exercise in good story-telling, fashioned after the traditional Arabian model of people telling stories within stories. It opens with a successful, no-longer-young man, surrounded by friends at a dinner party, telling the tale of an expedition to Armenia, of which he was a member. When the expedition is attacked, the survivors try to make their way home, but wander into the domain of a vampire -- and find themselves telling stories for their lives. Thus the book gives us the framing story of the dinner party, the story of the expedition, and the stories told be the expedition members. It works. The prose is clean, the reader's interest never flags, and if not all the stories the expedition members tell are successful, well, they're not necessarily meant to be. The book is worth reading. A word of warning about format is in place. The book is nominally a 280-page trade paperback, but it's in *very* large print, further eked out by some illustrations. If the story were part of a regular paperback anthology, it would occupy some eighty pages. Aside from the fact that this means that there's less to this book than meets the eye (in terms of minutes of reading enjoyment), having that few words per line of print is actively distracting and annoying. %A Williams, Tad and Hoffman, Nina Kiriki %T Child of an Ancient City %I Tor %C New York %D September 1994 %G ISBN 0-812-53391-7 %P 280pp (very large print) %O trade pb, $6.99 ----- Dani Zweig dani@telerama.lm.com 'T is with our judgements as our watches, none Go alike, yet each believes his own --Alexander Pope From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Oct 20 12:38:25 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!uio.no!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!howland.erols.net!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!usenet From: "David Brukman" Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review of A RED HEART OF MEMORIES by Nina Kiriki Hoffman Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 18 Oct 1999 17:54:52 -0400 Organization: none Lines: 60 Sender: wex@deepspace.media.mit.edu Approved: Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: deepspace.media.mit.edu X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.5/Emacs 20.3 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2480 A RED HEART OF MEMORIES, NINA KIRIKI HOFFMAN Book review copyright 1999 by David Brukman This delightful, if a bit on the lightweight side, tale of enchantment and painful memory in a modern Pacific Northwest benefits from a pleasant protagonist and a fresh look at magic. GENRE: Fantasy (Ghosts) SYNOPSIS: Matt has been wondering around for years, happily talking to inanimate objects, and trying to avoid people's dreams. Fortunately for her continued liberty, she has learned to keep these conversations silent. However, a man stepping out of a wall is a bit unusual even for Matt. Matt's previously life of quiet magic and lonely contentment is overturned by the flood of witchcraft and emotion that her visitor brings. Full Review: Hoffman continues to bring her special style to the stories occuring in the Northwest. Perhaps her most remarkable attribute is the delight her magic brings to the lives of her characters. Not only is her treatment of magic fresh, it is woven seamlessly into our own reality, without either creating a new world or descending into the surreal of some modern fantasies. While as perilous as a weapon and as hard to control as a child, the magic nevertheless brings pleasure, amusement and beauty to the lives of the protagonist and her friends. The protagonist herself is an unusually pleasant, decent, wry and self-reliant individual, and using her viewpoint the narrative is carried effortlessly and evenly. The plot itself is a bit thin. Perhaps the biggest flaw of this otherwise excellent book is the lack of serious conflict in the plot: while old memories bring pain, the new quest generally succeeds with little sacrifice, an attribute more appropriate to juvenile fiction, though this book uses adult themes. In addition, the two major female characters seem to be suffering from the same type of trauma: a somewhat strained coincidence. In general, despite the weaknesses in the plot, the lively and likable characters, the enjoyable style with occaional glints of humor, and most of all the fresh and delightful magic permeating the book, make reading this fantasy a remarkably pleasant experience. RATING: Overall: 7; Plot: 6; Characters: 7.5; Style: 7.5; World-building: 6; Originality: 7.5; %A% Hoffman, Nina Kiriki %D% October 1999 %G% ISBN 0-441-00651-5 %I% Berkley Publishing Group (Ace) %O% Cloth %P% 329 pp. %T% A Red Heart of Memories -- David Brukman "Long live Jame Talissen!" Email: David.Brukman@iname.com http://InOtherWorlds.cjb.net "Fantasy, SF & Mystery Reviews" From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Nov 10 23:37:49 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!newspump.monmouth.com!newspeer.monmouth.com!newshub.northeast.verio.net!news-out.cwix.com!newsfeed.cwix.com!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!usenet From: "David Brukman" Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review of A RED HEART OF MEMORIES by Nina Kiriki Hoffman Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 08 Nov 1999 14:32:49 -0500 Organization: none Lines: 59 Sender: wex@deepspace.media.mit.edu Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: deepspace.media.mit.edu X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.5/Emacs 20.3 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2494 A Red Heart of Memories by Nina Kiriki Hoffman Review Copyright 1999 by David Brukman This delightful, if a bit on the lightweight side, tale of enchantment and painful memory in a modern Pacific Northwest benefits from a pleasant protagonist and a fresh look at magic. GENRE: Fantasy (Ghosts) SYNOPSIS: Matt has been wondering around for years, happily talking to inanimate objects, and trying to avoid people's dreams. Fortunately for her continued liberty, she has learned to keep these conversations silent. However, a man stepping out of a wall is a bit unusual even for Matt. Matt's previously life of quiet magic and lonely contentment is overturned by the flood of witchcraft and emotion that her visitor brings. Full Review: Hoffman continues to bring her special style to the stories occuring in the Northwest. Perhaps her most remarkable attribute is the delight her magic brings to the lives of her characters. Not only is her treatment of magic fresh, it is woven seamlessly into our own reality, without either creating a new world or descending into the surreal of some modern fantasies. While as perilous as a weapon and as hard to control as a child, the magic nevertheless brings pleasure, amusement and beauty to the lives of the protagonist and her friends. The protagonist herself is an unusually pleasant, decent, wry and self-reliant individual, and using her viewpoint the narrative is carried effortlessly and evenly. The plot itself is a bit thin. Perhaps the biggest flaw of this otherwise excellent book is the lack of serious conflict in the plot: while old memories bring pain, the new quest generally succeeds with little sacrifice, an attribute more appropriate to juvenile fiction, though this book uses adult themes. In addition, the two major female characters seem to be suffering from the same type of trauma: a somewhat strained coincidence. In general, despite the weaknesses in the plot, the lively and likable characters, the enjoyable style with occaional glints of humor, and most of all the fresh and delightful magic permeating the book, make reading this fantasy a remarkably pleasant experience. RATING: Overall: 7; Plot: 6; Characters: 7.5; Style: 7.5; World-building: 6; Originality: 7.5; %A Hoffman, Nina Kiriki %D October 1999 %G ISBN 0-441-00651-5 %I Berkley Publishing Group (Ace) %O Cloth %P 329 pp. %T A Red Heart of Memories David Brukman "Long live Jame Talissen!" Email: David.Brukman@iname.com http://InOtherWorlds.cjb.net "Fantasy, SF & Mystery Reviews" From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Dec 29 13:25:52 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!newsfeed.cwix.com!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!dreaderd!not-for-mail Sender: wex@deepspace.media.mit.edu From: "David Brukman" To: Subject: Review of A RED HEART OF MEMORIES by Nina Kiriki Hoffman Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Organization: none Date: 27 Dec 1999 14:50:54 -0500 Message-ID: X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.5/Emacs 20.3 Lines: 59 NNTP-Posting-Host: deepspace.media.mit.edu X-Trace: dreaderd 946324256 22878 18.85.23.65 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2543 A Red Heart Of Memories, Nina Kiriki Hoffman Book review Copyright 1999 David Brukman This delightful, if a bit on the lightweight side, tale of enchantment and painful memory in a modern Pacific Northwest benefits from a pleasant protagonist and a fresh look at magic. GENRE: Fantasy (Ghosts) SYNOPSIS: Matt has been wondering around for years, happily talking to inanimate objects, and trying to avoid people's dreams. Fortunately for her continued liberty, she has learned to keep these conversations silent. However, a man stepping out of a wall is a bit unusual even for Matt. Matt's previously life of quiet magic and lonely contentment is overturned by the flood of witchcraft and emotion that her visitor brings. Full Review: Hoffman continues to bring her special style to the stories occuring in the Northwest. Perhaps her most remarkable attribute is the delight her magic brings to the lives of her characters. Not only is her treatment of magic fresh, it is woven seamlessly into our own reality, without either creating a new world or descending into the surreal of some modern fantasies. While as perilous as a weapon and as hard to control as a child, the magic nevertheless brings pleasure, amusement and beauty to the lives of the protagonist and her friends. The protagonist herself is an unusually pleasant, decent, wry and self-reliant individual, and using her viewpoint the narrative is carried effortlessly and evenly. The plot itself is a bit thin. Perhaps the biggest flaw of this otherwise excellent book is the lack of serious conflict in the plot: while old memories bring pain, the new quest generally succeeds with little sacrifice, an attribute more appropriate to juvenile fiction (though this book uses adult themes). In addition, the two major female characters seem to be suffering from the same type of trauma: a somewhat strained coincidence. In general, despite the weaknesses in the plot, the lively and likable characters, the enjoyable style with occaional glints of humor, and most of all the fresh and delightful magic permeating the book, make reading this fantasy a remarkably pleasant experience. RATING: Overall: 7; Plot: 6; Characters: 7.5; Style: 7.5; World-building: 6; Originality: 7.5; %A Hoffman, Nina Kiriki %D October 1999 %G ISBN 0-441-00651-5 %I Berkley Publishing Group (Ace) %O Cloth %P 329 pp. %T A Red Heart of Memories David Brukman "Long live Jame Talissen!" Email: David.Brukman@iname.com http://InOtherWorlds.cjb.net "Fantasy, SF & Mystery Reviews"