Civilian Reader

Civilian Reader has… Moved!

2014-10-18T23:27:00.001+01:00

Due to my recent shift from PC to Mac, and after seven years of using Blogger, I have decided to switch over to WordPress. I’m sad to be doing so, in some ways, because I’ve become so familiar and comfortable using Windows Live Writer for my reviews, etc. Sadly, that programme is not available for Macs, and no comparable software exists (yet).

The first post I wrote for CR was on April 6th, 2006 – a rather short (hyperbolic) review for David Twining’s The Black Sun. Makes me cringe just a little bit, how badly I wrote back then. But, everything’s a journey, we learn and improve as we go along. It’s going to be really strange, not posting here anymore.

Everything that has featured here will remain – I’m not deleting this blog! (If nothing else, just in case I get fed up with WP and decide to come back – I’m fickle, like that). The first few years’ content will only be found here (everything pre-2013), because for some reason it didn’t transfer everything. However, all new content will only appear on the WordPress version of the site:

civilianreader.wordpress.com

Things are starting to take proper shape over there – there have been some formatting issues in the transfer, so some of the blog posts, reviews, and so forth look a little untidy. Many of the links (for example, on the Reviews and Interviews pages) are still to the reviews on this site – over time, I’ll switch out the links to the finished/reformatted versions on WP.

Hope to see you all over on the all-new Civilian Reader!

Review: CITY OF STAIRS by Robert Jackson Bennett (Jo Fletcher Books/Crown Publishing)

2014-10-15T21:16:00.001+01:00

Another superb novel from RJB

The city of Bulikov once wielded the powers of the gods to conquer the world, enslaving and brutalizing millions — until its divine protectors were killed. Now Bulikov has become just another colonial outpost of the world’s new geopolitical power, but the surreal landscape of the city itself — first shaped, now shattered, by the thousands of miracles its guardians once worked upon it — stands as a constant, haunting reminder of its former supremacy.

Into this broken city steps Shara Thivani. Officially, the unassuming young woman is just another junior diplomat sent by Bulikov’s oppressors. Unofficially, she is one of her country's most accomplished spies, dispatched to catch a murderer. But as Shara pursues the killer, she starts to suspect that the beings who ruled this terrible place may not be as dead as they seem — and that Bulikov’s cruel reign may not yet be over.

City of Stairs is a superb novel, offering imaginative new takes on classic fantasy ideas and themes, populated by diverse and well-realised characters, and presented in excellent prose. This was one of my most-anticipated novels of 2014, and it exceeded by expectations.

I’m going to keep this review concise, as every way I think about writing it doesn’t do the novel justice.

The novel follows the investigation of a murder. Sort of: Shara gets a little distracted and diverted by other goings-on in the city. We slowly get to know the various characters, although the majority of the novel is from Shara’s perspective. Her companion/enforcer Sigrud is one of the most badass characters in a series I’ve read in a long time. Just wait until his scene with Urav…

The mythology Bennett has created for the now-deceased deities feels complete and very cool. I particularly liked the idea that, if a God is killed, its creations disappear with it – a really nice twist on mythologies that claim that “The God built X, Y, and Z…”, and how their existence is inseparable from that of their creations. As the epigraph for chapter four states,

However Taalhavras presented himself, the Kaj directed his machinery at him and immediately struck him down, just as he had Voortya.

But since Taalhavras was the builder god, all of what he built vanished the moment he vanished; and, judging by the enormous devastation of the Blink, he had built much more than anyone knew. Taalhavras had, in fact, made significant alterations to the very fundaments of the Continent’s reality. The nature of these alterations probably cannot be understood by mortal minds. However, once these alterations vanished – one imagines supports, struts, bolts and nuts and so on falling out of place – the very reality of the Holy Lands abruptly changed.

With the death of the gods, it wasn’t just their physical creations that disappeared. It would seem that the protection or favour of the gods also protected the people from certain other hazards of the world. For example, the oft-mentioned “Plague Years” that followed in the death of Jukov’s wake:

“So Jukov was the last god killed.”

“Yes. The Plague Years came just after, the last bit of Divine protection falling away…”

The investigation itself progresses relatively slowly. I liked this fact, because it meant Bennett could introduce us properly to the characters and give us a decent picture of the city and various cultures. There is a tension in Bulikov, something just under the surface. In the meantime, the colonial rulers are trying to balance their desire to keep the locals downtrodden in return for centuries of oppression, while also trying to maintain peace. Shara is reunited with an old school friend, who is trying to make the most of a bad situation, and hopes to bring more business and prosperity to Bulikov through trade. All of the forces come together in a huge denouement. It’s an extremely satisfying read. The magic system is great, but not used as a crutch (although, towards the end there are some superb pyrotechnics).

Bennett’s writing is impeccable throughout. The flow of the narrative is excellent. Both feel confident and natural – no part of the novel felt forced or contrived (incredible, really, given what happens…). The characters are diverse and well-rounded, engaging and realistic. There’s also some very good social commentary woven into the story (“I have never met a person who possessed a privilege who did not exercise that privilege to the fullest extent that they possibly could…”). There are a few moments of levity. The novel really hits all the right notes and is perfectly balanced.

With City of Stairs, Bennett has probably written the perfect blend of fantasy and crime fiction. Everything works. Probably one of the best books of the year. A must read.

***

Robert Jackson Bennett’s City of Stairs is published in the UK by Jo Fletcher Books and in the US by Crown Publishing. It is out now.

Also on CR: Interview with Robert Jackson Bennett; Guest Post (“Super Tropey Fantasy Checklist”); Review of The Company Man

Cover: THOSE ABOVE by Daniel Polansky (Hodder)

2014-10-15T15:30:00.001+01:00

Wow. This is a beautiful cover for Daniel Polansky’s next novel. Colour me very excited and incredibly impatient.

THOSE ABOVE is the first novel in Polansky’s next two-part series, The Empty Throne. It is due to be published on February 26th, 2015. Can. Not. Wait.

Polansky is the extremely talented fellow who wrote The Straight Razor Cure (or Low Town in the US), Tomorrow the Killing and She Who Wakes. The first two are amongst the best novels I’ve read. I have shamefully not yet read the third novel in the series (only partly because Daniel signed my book at WFC in Brighton, which automatically made me want to protect the book more than usual…). Hm. Maybe I will read it next…

Also on CR: Interview with Daniel Polansky

Audio Review: TRAVELLING TO WORK – DIARIES 1988-98 by Michael Palin (Audible/Orion)

2014-10-13T04:40:00.001+01:00

The third volume in Michael Palin’s bestselling diaries

After the Python years and a decade of filming, writing, and acting, Palin’s career takes an unexpected direction into travel, which will shape his working life for the next 25 years. Yet, as the diaries reveal, he remained ferociously busy on a host of other projects throughout this whirlwind period.

Travelling to Work opens in September 1988 with Michael travelling down the Adriatic on the first leg of a modern-day Around the World in 80 Days. He was not the BBC’s first choice for the series, but after its success and that of the accompanying book, the public naturally wanted more. Palin, though, has other plans.

Following the tumultuous success of A Fish Called Wanda, he is in demand as an actor. His next film, American Friends, is based on his great-grandfather’s diaries. Next he takes on his most demanding role as the head teacher in Alan Bleasdale’s award-winning drama series GBH. There is also his West End play, The Weekend; a first novel, Hemingway’s Chair; and a lead role in Fierce Creatures, the much-delayed follow-up to Wanda.

Michael describes himself as “drawn to risk like a moth to a flame. Someone grounded and safe who can be tempted into almost anything.” He duly finds time for two more travel series – Pole to Pole, in 1991, and Full Circle, in 1996 – and two more best-selling books to accompany them.

These latest Diaries show a man grasping every opportunity that came his way, and they deal candidly with the doubts and setbacks that accompany this prodigious word-rate. As ever, his family life, with three children growing up fast, is there to anchor him.

Travelling to Work is a roller-coaster ride driven by the Palin hallmarks of curiosity and sense of adventure. These 10 years in different directions offer riches on every page to his ever-growing army of fans.

This is yet another excellent instalment in Michael Palin’s series of diaries. Unlike the first two audio editions, this one is unabridged. This series is a real must for fans of any of Palin’s work: Palin is genial in his delivery, and there is plenty of gentle comedy. It was a welcome ‘more of the same’.

Much of what I said about the previous two books is true again here: Palin’s performance is excellent – clear and welcoming; the humour is light; and Palin is unfailingly polite and loyal towards his colleagues. In this third volume we get learn about his travel programs, and a bit more about his family life and other non-Python projects. As before, it’s nice how often the other Pythons appear in the diaries in social situations.

Strangely, the one thing I really wanted with the first two volumes ended up being a bit of a weakness here: the fact that this is unabridged makes it much longer (roughly four times as long, actually). While this did allow for a lot more exploration of Palin’s thoughts on the various projects he was working during the years covered, as well as his impressions on news and people who entered his orbits… It also felt just a little over-long. That being said, it was still an enjoyable listen. I’m not as familiar with the work he discusses in this collection – my experiences with his work have been predominantly Python-related and A Fish Called Wanda. There were times when I zoned out just a little bit, and it wasn’t too difficult to pick up Palin’s thread again upon my return.

Overall, this whole series has been great. You’ll learn a lot about Palin’s character and his work, and it has made me really interested in revisiting Monty Python’s movies and A Fish Called Wanda, and also check out his other work that I haven’t yet seen. Or read – I’d like to read his novels, too.

Certainly recommended, although if you love the brevity of the first two audiobook, you may find this a little bit long-winded. If, on the other hand, you’re up for a long, gentle listen, Travelling to Work will suit your needs perfectly.

It’ll be really interesting, now, to read/listen to John Cleese’s new biography and compare the two actors’ recollections on the Python projects. I see much more Python reading and listening in my future…

Guest Post: “Influences & Inspirations” by Jamie Schultz

2014-10-08T15:47:00.001+01:00

My taste in books, of whatever genre, can be summed up as follows: I like to turn literary rocks over and see if something nasty crawls out. I can’t help it. For this, I thank my mother, who got me hooked on that stuff at a young age. I remember being about eleven or twelve when she came home with a box of used books, one of which was a battered copy of Stephen King’s Christine, old even then. The cover was black with a white or silver striped design with a skull on it, best I can recall, and I thought it looked pretty cool. Plus, I had read some of IT over her shoulder at some point, and, with a twelve-year-old’s typical fascination with the morbid, this seemed like a pretty good author to tackle. My parents’ attitude toward my reading material was, “Whatever you think you can handle, kid,” so I dug in.

I read the book in record time, mostly in the car while we were on the way to meet somebody and consummate one of Mom’s not-very-good dog-buying transactions. (We ended up with a gigantic Malamute. That was, thankfully, some years before I read Cujo and began looking at enormous dogs in a new, unpleasant light.)

Some time not long after, Mom conjured up a copy of Peter Benchley’s Jaws, and if stories of terrifying things hadn’t gotten their teeth fully into me after Christine, Jaws adjusted their grip and made sure they’d never let go. The fallout was dramatic. Thanks to my friends, my reading habits eventually spread out into science fiction and fantasy, but I was always partial to the ones with a darker edge to them. The line between horror and some types of fantasy is a big blurry smear, at best, and science fiction is no stranger to the field, either (witness the movie Alien, for starters), so it was never that hard to find.

Probably most relevant to my current writing, though, is some reading material my buddy Jeremy dumped off on me in college. He was into Brian Lumley and Clive Barker, so we shared some interests there, but he also had a huge collection of graphic novels and comic books. I don’t remember what his thinking was, but one day he dropped a fat collection in my lap and said, “Read this. You’ll like it.”

It was the “Dangerous Habits” arc of John Constantine: Hellblazer. Part of Garth Ennis’s run. (Five or six years later, this would be adopted into a not-very-good movie redeemed only by Tilda Swinton playing an awesome Archangel Gabriel. I think Keanu Reeves might have been in the movie, too.) I didn’t grow up with comics (there was nowhere to get them within about thirty miles of my house), so I had assumed comic books were all spandex and superheroes, which (to further erode my geek cred) didn’t really do it for me. This, though, was an entirely different animal. For starters, it was far, far nastier than I would have guessed comic books could get away with—but it was also smart about it, with great characters, a clever script, and the brass to weave in some pretty scathing cultural commentary in a way I hadn’t expected.

I went through the rest of Jeremy’s Hellblazer comics and bought a bunch more of my own. I now have seemingly zillions of the damned things. I know that the urban fantasy genre these days probably looks more to Harry Dresden and Anita Blake as founding parents, and god knows they’ve spawned plenty, but when I think urban fantasy, I think of John Constantine, the tormented fuckup who just can’t leave bad enough alone.

When I started writing Premonitions, I knew I wanted to do something that drew from the seamier side of urban fantasy, that darker piece within spitting distance of the horror novels of my youth, and I think it won’t be hard to spot the influences. The protagonists are thieves, led by Karyn Ames, a woman who has a gift for seeing the future in visions and hallucinations. If she doesn’t regularly take an expensive black market concoction, her visions drown out reality, sometimes gruesomely so, leaving her stranded in a world of possible futures both literal and nightmarishly metaphorical. (Already, you can probably see The Dead Zone and The Shining gleaming through the cracks.) As a result, she’s gotten hooked into a bizarre and bloody magical underworld, where magic comes directly from demons and the people that deal with them are untrustworthy, dangerous, or both. She and her crew live like parasites on the occult world’s underbelly, stealing items of dubious magical significance for cash which Karyn uses to keep her head in the present tense.

The crew is hired, at the price of two million dollars, for a dangerous heist (crime fiction and the nasty things that crawl out from under those rocks being the other side of my literary influences—alas, too much to go into here) on behalf of a notorious crime lord and magician. Since the story is fundamentally structured as a heist novel, I don’t think I’ll be giving away any spoilers if I say that the job doesn’t go exactly as planned. The crew finds itself pitted against otherwordly forces they never intended to mess with, and I get to let my horror freak flag fly a little bit.

The result is a fairly dark sort of urban fantasy novel that draws heavily from horror and crime fiction and isn’t afraid to show its roots. It’s an odd combination, but it seemed natural at the time, and if anybody asks me where the hell it came from, I can always just point them at Mom.

* * *

Jamie Schultz’s Premonitions is published by Roc Books, and is out now. Be sure to follow Schultz on Twitter and Goodreads. Here’s the synopsis:

TWO MILLION DOLLARS…

It’s the kind of score Karyn Ames has always dreamed of—enough to set her crew up pretty well and, more important, enough to keep her safely stocked on a very rare, very expensive black market drug. Without it, Karyn hallucinates slices of the future until they totally overwhelm her, leaving her unable to distinguish the present from the mess of certainties and possibilities yet to come.

The client behind the heist is Enoch Sobell, a notorious crime lord with a reputation for being ruthless and exacting—and a purported practitioner of dark magic. Sobell is almost certainly condemned to Hell for a magically extended lifetime full of shady dealings. Once you’re in business with him, there’s no backing out.

Karyn and her associates are used to the supernatural and the occult, but their target is more than just the usual family heirloom or cursed necklace. It’s a piece of something larger. Something sinister.

Karyn’s crew and even Sobell himself are about to find out just how powerful it is… and how powerful it may yet become.

Short Story: SARCOPHAGUS by David Annandale (Black Library)

2014-10-07T20:18:00.001+01:00

Another excellent Yarrick tale

Trapped in an overturned tank after being caught in a bombing run on Armageddon, Commissar Sebastian Yarrick fights to escape and return to his forces, but as he emerges, he finds himself surrounded by greenskin foes. Can the Old Man of Armageddon survive the onslaught with power claw and Evil Eye, or will he finally fall to the servants of the Great Beast Ghazghkull Thraka?

I’m really enjoying Annandale’s stories about Commissar Yarrick. The author is doing a great job of fleshing out the character’s backstory (and his “present”). This short story manages to give us a look at Yarrick’s tenacity for survival, his faith in the Emperor and Imperium, while also giving us just a hint of the character’s ongoing battle (physical and psychological) with Thraka. Given it’s length, it’s tricky to go into much more detail than that. But, if you’re looking for a quick WH40k read, then this will absolutely suit your needs: it’s very well written, interesting, and adds to the character’s growing mythology. Very highly recommended.

New Books (September/October)

2014-10-07T09:00:00.000+01:00

Featuring: Mitch Albom, Gillian Anderson, Kelly Armstrong, Lauren Beukes, Adam Brookes, Christopher Buehlman, Blake Butler, W. Bruce Cameron, Michael Carroll, Al Ewing, Tana French, Peter F. Hamilton, Michael Harvey, Lee Henderson, Steffen Jacobsen, Rajan Khanna, James Luceno, Todd Moss, Claire North, Pierre Pevel, John Sandford, Graeme Simsion, Matthew Smith, Peter Watts, Alec Worley

Mitch Albom, The First Phone Call From Heaven (Harper)

The First Phone Call from Heaven tells the story of a small town on Lake Michigan that gets worldwide attention when its citizens start receiving phone calls from the afterlife. Is it the greatest miracle ever or a massive hoax? Sully Harding, a grief-stricken single father, is determined to find out. An allegory about the power of belief — and a page-turner that will touch your soul — Albom’s masterful storytelling has never been so moving and unexpected.

This will be the first book by Albom I’ll read, and I’m quite looking forward to it. Sounds rather strange, potentially, but also very interesting.

Review copy from Publisher

Gillian Anderson & Jeff Rovin, A Vision of Fire (Simon & Schuster)

Renowned child psychologist Caitlin O'Hara is a single mum trying to juggle her job, her son, and a lacklustre love life. Her world is suddenly upturned when Maanik, the daughter of India’s ambassador to the United Nations, starts having violent visions. Maanik’s parents are sure that her fits have something to do with the recent assassination attempt on her father – a shooting that has escalated nuclear tensions between India and Pakistan to dangerous levels – but when children start having similar outbursts around the world, Caitlin begins to think that there’s a stranger force at work.

With Asia on the cusp of nuclear war, Caitlin must race across the globe and uncover the supernatural links between these seemingly unrelated cases in order to save her patient – and perhaps the world.

It’s a sci-fi novel written by Scully! Yeah, I know that’s not the best reason to want to read a novel, but I’ll admit Anderson’s involvement (not to mention the fact she wants to bring it to screen as well) caught my interest. It sounds really good, too. It’s high on my TBR mountain.

Review copy from Publisher

Kelly Armstrong, Dime Store Magic (Vintage/Orbit)

Paige Winterbourne was always either too young or too rebellious to succeed her mother as leader of one of the world's most powerful elite organizations – the American Coven of Witches. Now that she is twenty-three and her mother is dead, the Elders can no longer deny her. But even Paige’s wildest antics can’t hold a candle to those of her new charge – an orphan who is all too willing to use her budding powers for evil… and evil is all too willing to claim her. For this girl is being pursued by a dark faction of the supernatural underworld. They are a vicious group who will do anything to woo the young, malleable, and extremely powerful neophyte, including commit murder – and frame Paige for the crime. It’s an initiation into adulthood, womanhood, and the brutal side of magic that Paige will have to do everything within her power to make sure they both survive.

I’ve wanted to read it for years, but kept forgetting to buy it. Now I have, so I have no excuse not to read it soon. I have the North American edition, though I really do prefer the UK cover (right)… This is the third book in Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld series, following the first two werewolf novels (Bitten), but the first featuring Paige Winterbourne.

Lauren Beukes, Moxyland (Angry Robot)

You think you know what’s going on?

You think you know who’s really in power?

You have No. Fucking. Idea.

Moxyland is an ultra-smart thriller about technological progress, and the freedoms it removes.

In the near future, four hip young things live in a world where your online identity is at least as important as your physical one. Getting disconnected is a punishment worse than imprisonment, but someone’s got to stand up to government inc., whatever the cost.

Lauren Beukes, Zoo City (Angry Robot)

Zinzi has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit and a talent for finding lost things. But when a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, she’s forced to take on her least favourite kind of job – missing persons.

Being hired by reclusive music producer Odi Huron to find a teenybop pop star should be her ticket out of Zoo City, the festering slum where the criminal underclass and their animal companions live in the shadow of hell’s undertow.

Instead, it catapults Zinzi deeper into the maw of a city twisted by crime and magic, where she’ll be forced to confront the dark secrets of former lives – including her own.

I’ve read and loved The Shining Girls and Broken Monsters (review later this week), so decided it was high time that I went back to Beukes’s first two novels, so I bought them.

Not sure exactly when I’ll get around to reading them, but I hope to do so soon.

Adam Brookes, Night Heron (Sphere)

Set in China, and ripped from today’s headlines, comes a pulse-pounding debut that reinvents the spy thriller for the 21st century.

A lone man, Peanut, escapes a labor camp in the dead of night, fleeing across the winter desert of north-west China.

Two decades earlier, he was a spy for the British; now Peanut must disappear on Beijing’s surveillance-blanketed streets. Desperate and ruthless, he reaches out to his one-time MI6 paymasters via crusading journalist Philip Mangan, offering military secrets in return for extraction.

But the secrets prove more valuable than Peanut or Mangan could ever have known… and not only to the British.

I spotted this in Goldsboro Books when I was still in London. For some reason, it’s taken me this long to go out and pick up my own copy – it sounds interesting, mixing both East Asia and espionage (two of my favourite topics).

Blake Butler, 300,000,000 (Harper Perennial)

Blake Butler’s fiction has dazzled readers with its dystopian dreamscapes and swaggering command of language. Now, in his most topical and visceral novel yet, he ushers us into the consciousness of two men in the shadow of a bloodbath: Gretch Gravey, a cryptic psychopath with a small army of burnout followers, and E. N. Flood, the troubled police detective tasked with unpacking and understanding his mind.

A mingled simulacrum of Charles Manson, David Koresh, and Thomas Harris’s Buffalo Bill, Gravey is a sinister yet alluring God figure who enlists young metal head followers to kidnap neighboring women and bring them to his house — where he murders them and buries their bodies in a basement crypt. Through parallel narratives, Three Hundred Million lures readers into the cloven mind of Gravey — and Darrel, his sinister alter ego — even as Flood’s secret journal chronicles his own descent into his own, eerily similar psychosis.

This sounds really interesting. I think I’ll be reading this very soon, too.

Review copy from Publisher

W. Bruce Cameron, The Midnight Dog of the Repo Man (Forge)

This short story introduces former college football star turned repo man Ruddy McCann, star of W. Bruce Cameron’s new novel The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man, and tells how Ruddy met his best friend Jake, a lazy but lovable basset hound, during a repo gone wrong.

It sounded kind of interesting, so I picked it up. I’ll hopefully pick up the full-length novel, too. They sound kind of goofy, but that could be a good thing.

Christopher Buehlman, The Lesser Dead (Berkley)

“The secret is, vampires are real and I am one. The secret is, I’m stealing from you what is most truly yours and I’m not sorry…”

New York City in 1978 is a dirty, dangerous place to live. And die. Joey Peacock knows this as well as anybody—he has spent the last forty years as an adolescent vampire, perfecting the routine he now enjoys: womanizing in punk clubs and discotheques, feeding by night, and sleeping by day with others of his kind in the macabre labyrinth under the city’s sidewalks.

The subways are his playground and his highway, shuttling him throughout Manhattan to bleed the unsuspecting in the Sheep Meadow of Central Park or in the backseats of Checker cabs, or even those in their own apartments who are too hypnotized by sitcoms to notice him opening their windows. It’s almost too easy.

Until one night he sees them hunting on his beloved subway. The children with the merry eyes. Vampires, like him…or not like him. Whatever they are, whatever their appearance means, the undead in the tunnels of Manhattan are not as safe as they once were.

And neither are the rest of us.

I’ve heard a lot of great things about Buehlman’s writing, so I decided to pick this up. Haven’t read any vampire fiction in a while, and with Anne Rice’s Prince Lestat out later this month (I have it on pre-order), this could end up being a very vampire October… This may end up being my next read. Not sure yet, but it looks like it will be…

Tana French, The Secret Place (Viking)

The photo on the card shows a boy who was found murdered, a year ago, on the grounds of a girls’ boarding school in the leafy suburbs of Dublin. The caption says, I KNOW WHO KILLED HIM.

Detective Stephen Moran has been waiting for his chance to get a foot in the door of Dublin’s Murder Squad — and one morning, sixteen-year-old Holly Mackey brings him this photo. The Secret Place, a board where the girls at St. Kilda’s School can pin up their secrets anonymously, is normally a mishmash of gossip and covert cruelty, but today someone has used it to reignite the stalled investigation into the murder of handsome, popular Chris Harper. Stephen joins forces with the abrasive Detective Antoinette Conway to find out who and why.

But everything they discover leads them back to Holly’s close-knit group of friends and their fierce enemies, a rival clique — and to the tangled web of relationships that bound all the girls to Chris Harper. Every step in their direction turns up the pressure. Antoinette Conway is already suspicious of Stephen’s links to the Mackey family. St. Kilda’s will go a long way to keep murder outside their walls. Holly’s father, Detective Frank Mackey, is circling, ready to pounce if any of the new evidence points toward his daughter. And the private underworld of teenage girls can be more mysterious and more dangerous than either of the detectives imagined.

It’s getting a lot of attention, the premise sounds good, and my partner loves French’s novels (as does her family), so I picked this up.

Peter F. Hamilton, The Abyss Beyond Dreams (Del Rey/Tor UK)

The year is 3326. Nigel Sheldon, one of the founders of the Commonwealth, receives a visit from the Raiel — self-appointed guardians of the Void, the enigmatic construct at the core of the galaxy that threatens the existence of all that lives. The Raiel convince Nigel to participate in a desperate scheme to infiltrate the Void.

Once inside, Nigel discovers that humans are not the only life-forms to have been sucked into the Void, where the laws of physics are subtly different and mental powers indistinguishable from magic are commonplace. The humans trapped there are afflicted by an alien species of biological mimics — the Fallers — that are intelligent but merciless killers.

Yet these same aliens may hold the key to destroying the threat of the Void forever — if Nigel can uncover their secrets. As the Fallers’ relentless attacks continue, and the fragile human society splinters into civil war, Nigel must uncover the secrets of the Fallers — before he is killed by the very people he has come to save

Uh… I thought both the UK and US covers were very nice. And then I spotted it on NetGalley, read the synopsis, and thought it sounded really interesting. I also haven’t read a great deal of SF, recently, so I thought this might be a good option.

Review copy from Del Rey, via NetGalley

Michael Harvey, The Governor’s Wife (Knopf)

In the latest installment in Michael Harvey’s beloved Michael Kelly series, Chicago's favorite Ovid-reading, gun-toting private investigator takes on Illinois’s first family in a blistering thriller that charts the border where ambition ends and evil begins.

It’s been two years since disgraced Illinois governor Ray Perry disappeared from a federal courthouse in Chicago moments after being sentenced to thirty-eight years in prison on corruption charges. P.I. Michael Kelly is sitting in his office when he gets an anonymous email offering to pay him nearly a quarter million dollars if he will find Perry, no questions asked. Kelly’s investigation begins with the woman Ray Perry left behind – his wife, Marie. Ostracized by her former friends and hounded by the feds, Marie tells Kelly she has no idea where her husband is. Like everyone else, Kelly doesn’t believe her. As he hunts for her husband, Kelly begins to unwind Marie Perry’s past. What he finds is a woman who turns out to be even more intriguing than her husband, with her own deeply complicated reasons for standing by him. Everyone in Chicago has secrets, including the governor’s wife. Some of them she shared with her husband. Some of them she kept to herself. And some of them could get Michael Kelly killed.

The Governor’s Wife is a gimlet-eyed look at the intersection of the political and the personal, at the perils of trusting even those closest to us and the collateral damage of our highest aspirations. Stylish, knock-out suspense from a modern master.

I recently visited Chicago for the first time. And I’ve been enjoying The Boss TV series… So, Chicago politics was on my mind when I spotted this available for review. It’s the fifth in a series, but I think it looks like it can be read independently of the others.

Review copy from Edelweiss

Lee Henderson, The Road Narrows As You Go (Hamish Hamilton)

All Wendy Ashbubble has ever wanted is to draw comics as well as Charles Schultz’s Peanuts — and to one day see her creations grace the pages of a major daily newspaper. Growing up in Victoria in the 1970s, Wendy dreams of getting out, getting away… and getting recognition for her talent. And there’s another, never-whispered motivation that prompts her to seek her fortune: a deeply buried memory and unshakeable belief that her unknown father is Ronald Reagan, the fortieth president of the United States.

A chance meeting in Victoria with an attractive-but-mysterious travelling artist inspires Wendy to take the plunge, and she runs away to live in a dilapidated artists’ commune in San Francisco. There, amid the haze of top-quality weed, unbridled creativity, and unfettered sex, her dream begins to take tangible shape. With the aid of Frank Fleecen, an up-and-coming bonds trader and agent, Wendy’s Strays are soon competing for newsprint space against the likes of Berkeley Breathed, Jim Davis, and Bill Watterston… even against Wendy’s beloved Charles Schultz himself.

But there are darker shades on the pencilled horizon: the spectre of AIDS, unexplained disappearances, bad therapy, junk bonds, demonology, and SEC agents investigating Frank’s business protocols.

The Road Narrows As You Go is simultaneously the portrait of a young woman struggling to find her place and a bright, rollicking, unflinching depiction of the 1980s. It embodies all the brash optimism and ruthless amoralism of the decade, as well as its preoccupation with repressed memories, and fully captures the flavour of an uncertain but deeply vibrant era.

Saw it got a good review in… either the Toronto Star or Globe & Mail, and the reviewer drew favourable comparisons with Chabon’s Kavalier & Clay, so that clinched it for me. Let’s hope it lives up to expectations.

Steffen Jacobsen, Trophy (Quercus)

The sun released its grip on the mountains in the east as they started running. Hunted for their lives, Ingrid and Kasper Hansen can think of only one thing: if they can get through the next 24 hours, they’ll see their children again.

The question they should be asking is: why?

Security consultant and private investigator Michael Sander is tasked with the investigation of a video that seems to show two people being hunted to their deaths. His job is to find out who they are, and why they were murdered. But this isn’t just another case, and these deaths are only one piece of the puzzle.

This time Michael is investigating the darkest reaches of humanity, uncovering crimes that reach further than he ever imagined.

It looked interesting, and Quercus has a great track record for thriller releases. Jacobsen’s previous novel looks interesting, too – When The Dead Awaken.

Review copy from NetGalley

Rajan Khanna, Falling Sky (Pyr)

Ben Gold lives in dangerous times. Two generations ago, a virulent disease turned the population of most of North America into little more than beasts called Ferals. Some of those who survived took to the air, scratching out a living on airships and dirigibles soaring over the dangerous ground.

Ben has his own airship, a family heirloom, and has signed up to help a group of scientists looking for a cure. But that’s not as easy as it sounds, especially with a power-hungry air city looking to raid any nearby settlements. To make matters worse, his airship, the only home he’s ever known, is stolen. Ben must try to survive on the ground while trying to get his ship back.

This brings him to Gastown, a city in the air recently conquered by belligerent and expansionist pirates. When events turn deadly, Ben must decide what really matters-whether to risk it all on a desperate chance for a better future or to truly remain on his own.

Saw a lot of buzz about this one, recently. Hopefully it’ll live up to my expectations (and I’ve been very negligent about reading Pyr titles, recently – not sure why, they’re usually pretty good).

James Luceno, Tarkin (Del Rey)

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. . .

He’s the scion of an honorable and revered family. A dedicated soldier and distinguished legislator. Loyal proponent of the Republic and trusted ally of the Jedi Order. Groomed by the ruthless politician and Sith Lord who would be Emperor, Governor Wilhuff Tarkin rises through the Imperial ranks, enforcing his authority ever more mercilessly . . . and zealously pursuing his destiny as the architect of absolute dominion.

Rule through the fear of force rather than force itself, he advises his Emperor. Under Tarkin’s guidance, an ultimate weapon of unparalleled destruction moves ever closer to becoming a terrifying reality. When the so-called Death Star is completed, Tarkin is confident that the galaxy’s lingering pockets of Separatist rebellion will be brought to heel — by intimidation… or annihilation.

Until then, however, insurgency remains a genuine threat. Escalating guerrilla attacks by resistance forces and newfound evidence of a growing Separatist conspiracy are an immediate danger the Empire must meet with swift and brutal action. And to bring down a band of elusive freedom fighters, the Emperor turns to his most formidable agents: Darth Vader, the fearsome new Sith enforcer as remorseless as he is mysterious; and Tarkin — whose tactical cunning and cold-blooded efficiency will pave the way for the Empire’s supremacy… and its enemies’ extinction

Grand Moff Tarkin’s story. Enough said.

Review copy from NetGalley

Todd Moss, The Golden Hour (Putnam)

The Golden Hour: In international politics, the hundred hours following a coup, when there is still a chance that diplomacy, a secret back channel, military action — something — might reverse the chain of events.

As the top American diplomat for West Africa, Todd Moss saw a great deal about how diplomacy and politics actually work. But as he shows us, the results aren’t always pretty.

When Judd Ryker is appointed director of the new State Department Crisis Reaction Unit, he figures he has a mandate to help the United States respond more quickly to foreign crises, but he hasn’t reckoned with the intense State, Defense, Pentagon, White House, and CIA infighting and turf battles he would face. Then comes the coup in Mali. It is his chance to prove that his theory of the Golden Hour actually works — but in the real world, those hours move very, very quickly indeed, and include things he’d never even imagined.

As Ryker races from Washington across Europe to the Sahara Desert, he finds that personalities, loyalties, everything he thought he knew, begin to shift and change beneath his feet — and that friends and enemies come in many forms.

I saw this advertised in, I think, Foreign Affairs a little while back. I was surprised to see a thriller novel in there, but it had blurbs from a number of non-fiction writers, academics and journalists whose work I like and whose opinions I respect, so I sought it out. Hopefully get around to it soon (I really need to mix up the genres I’m reading more – feels like I’m getting genre fatigue much quicker than usual, now that I’m reading slower).

Claire North, Touch (Orbit)

Your violent death usually triggers the first switch.

Just before your life ebbs away, your skin happens to touch another human being – and in an instant, your consciousness transfers completely to the person you touched.

From that moment on, you can leap from body to body with a touch of the skin. You can remain for a minute, an hour, a lifetime, and after you leave, the host has no memory of the time you were there.

My name is Kepler. I could be you.

For me, the carefree life of jumping between bodies has become a terrifying nightmare. I am being hunted. I don’t know who. I don’t know why. If you’ve read this far, our lives have already touched. Now you are part of the conspiracy too.

Get ready to run.

I still haven’t read The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August (not sure why), but this popped up on NetGalley and I thought I’d pick it up to see what’s what. The ARC was available pretty early – as far as I could tell, there’s no artwork yet. The novel’s not out until February 2015, too. So, I have some time to catch up with North’s first novel as well…

Review copy from NetGalley

Pierre Pevel, The Knight (Gollancz)

Traitor… or hero?

This is the tale of Lorn Askarian.

Some say he brought the kingdom to the brink of destruction, taking advantage of a dying king and an unpopular queen to strike against his enemies, heedless of the danger posed by a growing rebellion.

Others claim he saved the kingdom, following the orders of a king who had him falsely imprisoned, heedless of the personal cost, and loyal to the last – fighting against desperate odds on the political and physical battlefields alike.

Whatever the truth, whatever you choose to believe, this is his story.

I’ve not read Pevel’s previous trilogy (also published by Gollancz), but this sounds like a good place to start with his work, too. I’m looking forward to starting it soon.

Review copy from Publisher

John Sandford, Deadline (Putnam)

In Southeast Minnesota, down on the Mississippi, a school board meeting is coming to an end. The board chairman announces that the rest of the meeting will be closed, due to personnel issues. “Issues” is correct. The proposal up for a vote before them is whether to authorize the killing of a local reporter. The vote is four to one in favor.

Meanwhile, not far away, Virgil Flowers is helping out a friend by looking into a dognapping, which seems to be turning into something much bigger and uglier — a team of dognappers supplying medical labs — when he gets a call from Lucas Davenport. A murdered body has been found — and the victim is a local reporter…

Latest Virgil Flowers novel, a series I am woefully behind. But I make a point of getting all of Sandford’s novels, because he’s probably my favourite crime novelist. (His Prey and Kidd novels are must-reads, in my opinion.)

Graeme Simsion, The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect (Simon & Schuster)

An oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love.

Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical — most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.

Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent — and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don’s Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie — and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.

The first in this series became a runaway success on both sides of the Atlantic. The second popped up on Edelweiss, so I requested it, and bought the first book so I could binge-read them both (assuming I like them, of course…).

Review copy from Edelweiss

Matthew Smith, Al Ewing & Matthew Carroll, Judge Dredd: Year One (Abaddon)

Mega-City One, 2080. Judge Joe Dredd’s first year on the streets as a full-eagle Judge. Bred for justice, trained in law, Dredd’s no helpless rookie, but he’s not the seasoned veteran we know either. Three tales follow the first adventures of the future city’s greatest lawman. With an introduction by the Mighty Tharg!

CITY FATHERS – The brutal murder of a Justice Department-sanctioned spy uncovers something new and dangerous in the sector’s murky black market. Unless Dredd can stop it, chaos will be unleashed.

COLD LIGHT OF DAY – A savage killing spree results in the deaths of two highly-regarded Judges, and many consider Dredd to be responsible: a decision he made five years earlier – while he was still a cadet – has come back to haunt him.

WEAR IRON – “Wear iron, that’s the rule.” Paul Strader is a stick-up man, and a stone cold professional. But when he gets in over his head, he has to risk everything on the word of a corrupt lawman and break every rule he has. Every rule but one…

I’ve already read the first novella in this collection – Matthew Smith’s City Fathers. I’ve been seeing a lot around the internet about Judge Dredd, recently – not only because it was recently Day of Dredd. The character just seems to be popping up a lot. As a result, I’ve been wanting to read more. Luckily, this arrived around the same time, so expect reviews to come along shortly. If anyone can recommend some of the collected editions of the comic series, I’m all ears. (Haven’t read any Dredd/2000AD since I was a teenager… It’s been a long time…)

Review copy from Publisher

Peter Watts, Blindsight (Tor)

It’s been two months since a myriad of alien objects clenched about the Earth, screaming as they burned. The heavens have been silent since – until a derelict space probe hears whispers from a distant comet. Something talks out there: but not to us. Who to send to meet the alien, when the alien doesn’t want to meet? Send a linguist with multiple-personality disorder, and a biologist so spliced to machinery he can’t feel his own flesh. Send a pacifist warrior, and a vampire recalled from the grave by the voodoo of paleogenetics. Send a man with half his mind gone since childhood. Send them to the edge of the solar system, praying you can trust such freaks and monsters with the fate of a world. You fear they may be more alien than the thing they've been sent to find – but you’d give anything for that to be true, if you knew what was waiting for them.

A novel that’s been getting some good reviews around the SFF blogosphere, recently. So I picked it up. The premise sounds delightfully batty, too. (It also got a thumbs-up from one of the chaps in Bakka Phoenix in Toronto – who I had a great, long chat with last week).

Alec Worley, Judge Anderson: Rookie – Heartbreaker (Abaddon)

Mega-City One, 2100 AD: Psi-Judge Anderson’s first year on the beat, and lovebirds at the newly-inaugurated MEET MARKET are doing their damnedest to kill each other.

There’s a psi-killer at work, and Cassie’s got days to stop him…

See above for my comments on my current desire to read more Dredd-related fiction (and comics, actually).

Review copy from Publisher

BROKEN MONSTERS by Lauren Beukes (Mulholland)

2014-10-06T23:42:00.001+01:00

A superb, surreal crime novel

Detective Gabriella Versado has seen a lot of bodies. But this one is unique even by Detroit’s standards: half boy, half deer, somehow fused together. As stranger and more disturbing bodies are discovered, how can the city hold on to a reality that is already tearing at its seams?

If you’re Detective Versado’s geeky teenage daughter, Layla, you commence a dangerous flirtation with a potential predator online. If you’re desperate freelance journalist Jonno, you do whatever it takes to get the exclusive on a horrific story. If you’re Thomas Keen, known on the street as TK, you’ll do what you can to keep your homeless family safe — and find the monster who is possessed by the dream of violently remaking the world.

Broken Monsters is in many ways a novel of decline: of society, the city, sanity… But not, thankfully, of the author’s talent. Beukes is on top-form here once again, delivering a superb, surreal follow-up to The Shining Girls. It’s really very good.

Beukes’s prose throughout is excellent, and mixes classic elements of the police procedural with psychological thriller and suspense, a sociologist’s eye for a city in decline’s shifting character and troubles; then, she garnishes it with a dollop of supernatural strangeness.

The story unfolds at a good pace, the case moving forwards (and, at times, backwards) as the killer’s motives and spree escalates. It’s a really strange and bizarre MO, and the supernatural elements are understated and never definitively explained or realised (although, things do get very weird at the end).

One character who stood out for me is Layla, Detective Versado’s daughter: she’s hungry for knowledge, and feels unchallenged by her classes – therefore, she picks the most difficult and obscure of projects for homework. That she is so curious and well-read puts her in a strange place with her peers, as she struggles to sometimes connect with them. Alongside her relationship with her mother, Layla’s friendship with Cas, her attractive school friend, forms her part of the story. Cas is not quite a Mean Girl, but fits a few of the stereotypes, and has a secret past. Their friendship is fun to read about, and many of their exchanges are amusing. It reminded me of Megan Abbott’s novels, but with the crime thriller as a backdrop.

“Can I ask you something serious?” Layla picks around the shrimp.

“Serious like Dorian [crush]? Or serious like climate change? Because I’m sad for the polar bears and shit, but I don’t see how we’re supposed to make a difference on an individual level. Although I think using public transport helps.”

I found The Shining Girls to be a quicker read, but not necessarily a better read. Broken Monsters digs deeper into the psychologies of more characters, offering a smorgasbord of internal struggle and, as the title suggests, broken psyches (especially the killer’s). Beukes has populated the novel with a diverse range of characters, each with their own issues and hang-ups, not to mention agendas. There’s the attention-seeking journalist, for example, whose passion for “press freedom” keeps getting in Gabi’s way, as he sensationalises certain steps of the case. Everyone’s place is well-thought out, expertly plotted, and wonderfully realised. Not a single character felt unrealistic, and Beukes weaves their stories together very well.

The novel also includes some excellent commentary on social media and our changing (for some all-consuming) relationships with the various platforms and apps we have come addicted to as a society. Facebook, for example, is described as “an anxiety engine”, which makes us jealous and nervous about the “amazing better life everyone else is having” – even though, too often, it’s all smoke and mirrors. The sentiment is one we’ve seen before, true, but the presentation and phrasing is different and excellent, and more naturally woven into the narrative. This is not David Eggers’s The Circle. There are scenes that include internet comments that are pitch perfect – the mixture of invective, misogyny, knee-jerk attacks, unconvincing “Jk! Why can’t anyone take a joke!?” comments after wishing prison rape on a thirteen-year-old girl… I really welcomed this side-bar commentary, so well presented and constructed.

Very highly recommended. Broken Monsters did not disappoint.

***

Broken Monsters is published in North America by Mulholland Books, and in the UK by Harper Collins. It is out now.

Audio Review: MORE FOOL ME by Stephen Fry (Audible)

2014-10-06T04:21:00.001+01:00

A third excellent memoir from Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry invites readers to take a glimpse at his life story in the unputdownable More Fool Me.

It is a heady tale of the late Eighties and early Nineties, in which Stephen – ever more driven to create, perform and entertain – burned bright and partied hard with a host of famous and infamous friends, regardless of the consequences.

This electric and extraordinary book reveals a new side to Mr. Fry.

Stephen Fry is an award-winning comedian, actor, presenter and director. He rose to fame alongside Hugh Laurie in A Bit of Fry and Laurie (which he co-wrote with Laurie) and Jeeves and Wooster, and was unforgettable as Captain Melchett in Blackadder. He also presented Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive, his groundbreaking documentary on bipolar disorder, to huge critical acclaim. His legions of fans tune in to watch him host the popular quiz show QI each week.

I listened to the Audible edition of this biography. And, much like The Fry Chronicles, it is both entertaining and excellently produced. Fry’s performance is, as can be expected, superb – welcoming, honest, and rather whimsical. This is another excellent memoir, and superb audiobook.

More Fool Me starts of somewhat… meandering. Fry seems to get rather easily distracted and diverted by side-topics in the first couple of hours. For example, he give us quite a long disquisition on the history of cocaine use. They are all interesting diversions, and at no point was I bored, but it did have the effect of making the memoir feel a little padded towards the beginning.

Then, however, Fry really gets into his story, and takes us through a whole host of topics and his memories of various projects that many will be familiar with. He’s honest about how there is a fair bit of overlap between More Fool Me, The Fry Chronicles and his first memoir, Moab Is My Washpot (which I haven’t read or listened to, but would rather like to, now). Each time, it seems, he’s added details to events in his life – perhaps because he felt finally comfortable talking about them? For example, More Fool Me could also quite easily be renamed Fry’s Cocaine Chronicles – I had no idea just how fond he was of the powder.

The format of the book shifts from more general memoir to reproducing his diary (for 1993, mainly). He writes about his writing process – for the novel, The Hippopotamus; about Blackadder and its reception; and a whole host of other greats. There was the potential for this to get rather tedious, but I think Fry has selected by far the most interesting and quite endearing entries. It was never boring. As with many of the other comedian memoirs I’ve listened to, I loved seeing the connections between Fry and other leading names in British comedy and acting.

I ended up binge-listening to this audiobook. It’s entertaining, self-deprecating, and very honest. Fry writes/speaks very highly of his friends and collaborators – all of whom he seems genuinely happy for when they succeed and care for them when they don’t – he speaks especially fondly and respectfully of Hugh Laurie. More Fool Me still doesn’t bring us up-to-date (not even close), so I guess this means there will be at least one more to come. I hope it’s quite soon. There are many moments that stick out, but I especially liked when Prince Charles and Princess Diana stopped by for tea…

Very highly recommended.

Guest Post: “City of Stairs and the Super Tropey Fantasy Checklist” by Robert Jackson Bennett

2014-10-03T08:30:00.000+01:00

City of Stairs is definitely a fantasy novel. It’s got dead gods, magic, monsters, political skullduggery, and a healthy serving of mayhem. (I actually think all my novels are fantasy, but that’s beside the point.)

However, despite the popular aphorism, the clothes don’t make the man: if I put on a policeman’s uniform, for example, that doesn’t make me a cop.

So despite City of Stairs having a huge amount of fantasy elements, I sometimes find myself wondering – does it act like a fantasy? Content does not dictate behavior, in other words.

This made me compile what I felt was the Super Tropey Fantasy Checklist, the sort of story components that are immediately familiar, whether you’re opening a book or sitting down to play an RPG. Such fantasy stories often feature:

1. A slowly developing world with a long history.

By “slowly developing” I mean there haven’t been any technological or fiduciary or academic game changers introduced into the story, no guns or trains or distributed banking systems or printing presses. In The Lord of the Rings, the elves have been around for, what, 3,000 years? And they’re still rocking out with bows and swords and arrows and horses?

This is quite common in fantasy, though we also always want to establish a huge amount of history for these worlds: multiple wars, fallen cities, lost races, etc. You’d think during all that history, someone would start screwing around with electricity or coal.

2. A young male protagonist of an undistinguished background, thrust into a fantastical environment.

The stable boy, who is not noble (but might be!) or powerful or cool in any kind of way, suddenly finds himself going to The Big Complicated City, or fighting in a war in the Foreign Threatening Place, or attending the Scholarly Magic Academy.

This is a nice trope because it’s cheap to use for the author: the main character doesn’t know any more about his (and it’s almost always a “he”) newfound environments than the reader does. This means a lot of characters will spend time explaining the world to him, and thus explaining it to the reader by proxy.

It also makes the main character a nice, blank piece of paper for the reader to project themselves on, able to occupy this vapid, vacuum of a character in order to transport themselves to this world. Think of RPGs – you’re basically just an avatar running around, an undistinguished perspective from which the audience can experience the secondary world.

3. The protagonist turns out to be The Chosen One, who ends the current strife and, sometimes, restores the world to its former glory.

With a few training montages, suspiciously supportive secondary characters, and a couple of healthy doses of dumb luck, this dweeby kid from the sticks either turns out to be a magic badass, or – using what’s essentially the “heart” power from Captain Planet – uses the power of his friends and loved ones to overcome the bad guy.

This usually means that the world has been put back together, or re-established. Things went wrong, but now we’ve returned them to the rightful status quo. The person who should have been ruling is now ruler again, the magic wells are full of clear water once more, and people can, I don’t know, walk on the roads unarmed again. Stuff like that.

A lot of these three tropes tap into a “mythic” feeling, this idea of a progenitor time or story, something like a Garden of Eden. There is a feeling of stasis, of a default or correct style of living or life, and much of the story is an attempt to return to it. Even if the mythical, “good” world doesn’t return, people really wish it did (like in The Lord of the Rings). It is somewhat suspicious, however, that this mythical Garden of Eden often looks quite so medieval and Caucasian.

So. How does City of Stairs stack up against the Super Tropey Fantasy Checklist?

1. A slowly developing world with a long history.

Nope. In the world of City of Stairs, technology has allowed the now-dominant country to rapidly develop – maybe a little too fast. It’s possible its morals have yet to catch up to its technological innovations. The world is experiencing change at break-neck speeds, and everyone knows it can never be changed back.

More so, City of Stairs takes place in a world that once had gods, but then the gods were all killed – and when they died, all the miracles and alterations they’d made to the world suddenly vanished.

Imagine stretching out a rubber band, then allowing it to snap back to its regular size.

Now imagine that the rubber band is reality, and stretches in infinite directions.

You can see that this was somewhat catastrophic.

Because the world has undergone this trauma, very few people completely remember how things were. Reality has literally changed overnight, and everyone’s still trying to pick up the pieces. What historical knowledge exists is instantly suppressed, because knowledge of the gods is forbidden. After all – they were killed for a reason.

2. A young male protagonist of an undistinguished background, thrust into a fantastical environment.

Definitely not. The main character, Shara, is in her mid-thirties, female, comes from an aristocratic family, and is incredibly well-educated. In addition to all this, she’s also one of her country’s greatest spymasters, and she’s one of the few people who has access to all the historical knowledge that’s been suppressed – so, rather than being the one person who doesn’t understand what’s going on in this fantasy environment, she might be the only person who understands what’s going on in this fantasy environment.

3. The protagonist turns out to be The Chosen One, who ends the current strife and, sometimes, restores the world to its former glory.

Not quite. I won’t spoil how things turn out in the world of City of Stairs, but it definitely doesn’t end on a note of reversion. The world of City of Stairs is like our own: time moves forward, things change, and you can’t go back. Standards of living might increase, but the world seems to become more and more complicated, more difficult to understand and control. Making the world better isn’t quite the same thing as making it easier.

* * *

Robert Jackson Bennett’s City of Stairs was published yesterday in the UK by Jo Fletcher Books. It is published in the US by Broadway Books (cover below). Bennett is also the author of Mr. Shivers, The Company Man, and American Elsewhere (published by Orbit Books).

Quick Reviews: Graphic Novels Catch-Up

2014-10-02T16:06:00.001+01:00

Featuring: Alex + Ada, The Last of Us, Superman/Wonder Woman

ALEX + ADA, Vol.01 (Image)

Writer: Jonathan Luna, Sarah Vaughn | Arist: Sarah Vaughn | Cover: Jonathan Luna

A sci-fi drama set in the near future. The last thing in the world Alex wanted was an X5, the latest in realistic androids. But after Ada is dropped into his life, he discovers she is more than just a robot.

Collects: Alex + Ada #1-5

I enjoyed this a lot – it’s a gentle entry point into the new series. Luna and Vaughn very easily and quickly situate the reader in this possible future, one in which robots/androids are common and technology is everywhere. It asks questions about identity, privacy and humanity.

The story moves along at a gentle pace, but never drags and is never dull. First, Alex must come to terms with the fact that he suddenly has an X5, an android that will do anything for him. His conscience wars with the knowledge that Ada is a construct, rather than a person. However, so lifelike she is, that he very quickly comes to question what he should do about her. Then he stumbles across the android freedom movement, and takes the first steps down an illegal road, but one that might bring him – and Ada – peace and more.

This is a really good collection, and I’d recommend it to anyone who likes their science fiction with robots and questions of awareness and consciousness.

THE LAST OF US: AMERICAN DREAM (Dark Horse)

Writer: Faith Erin Hicks, Neil Druckmann | Artist: Faith Erin Hicks | Colors: Rachelle Rosenberg | Cover: Julian Totino Tedesco

Nineteen years ago, a parasitic fungal outbreak killed the majority of the world’s population, forcing survivors into a handful of quarantine zones. Thirteen-year-old Ellie has grown up in this violent, postpandemic world, and her disrespect for the military authority running her boarding school earns her new enemies, a new friend in fellow rebel Riley, and her first trip into the outside world.

Collects: The Last Of Us #1-4

This ended up being far better than I was expecting. Set before the events of the smash-hit The Last Of Us videogame, it tells the story of Ellie, and her struggle against authority. It’s a very good, post-apocalyptic story – one that doesn’t glamorise the post-societal world. We get to learn a little bit about the different factions, and their tactics, as well as the dangers that face those who wander carelessly in this reality. I enjoyed this a lot. Recommended for all fans of the game, and also those who just like post-apocalyptic tales (I haven’t played the game, and still enjoyed this, so you don’t have to play the game to get it).

SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN, Vol.01 – “Power Couple” (DC)

Writer: Charles Soule | Artist: Tony S. Daniel

Beginning a bold new series that details the relationship between The Man of Steel and the Warrior Princess as writer Charles Soule (Swamp Thing) is joined by artist Tony S. Daniel (Batman) to tell the tale of a romance that will shake the stars themselves. These two super-beings love each other, but not everyone shares their joy. Some fear it, some test it-and some will try to kill for it. Some say love is a battlefield, but where Superman and Wonder Woman are concerned it spells Doomsday!

Collects: Superman/Wonder Woman #1-7

This was slightly disappointing. That’s not to say it was bad, just a little underwhelming. The potential to create some truly epic storylines is there, and perhaps it’s just a bit too early to worry about it not reaching its potential. But, after finishing this, I felt a little dissatisfied. I think the main issue I had with this book is that it feels all like set-up (probably for the Doomsday storyline that crossed a number of Superman-related New 52 titles – and, I think, just ended). The artwork is great, of course, and there are plenty of interesting elements to the story. I enjoyed seeing the two heroes worry about how to be in a couple – true, they’ve both been in them before, but unlike previous times, they don’t have to hide who they really are. Instead, they have to worry about what the other person wants, knowing what they do about their capabilities, backgrounds, etc. It added an interesting ‘domestic’ side to two of DC’s most powerful characters. It could be interesting, seeing this build in future collections and issues, as long as it doesn’t descend into schmaltz, and as long as the two characters maintain a partnership and neither becomes subordinate to the other – I’m sure we all know that I really mean Wonder Woman needs to not become a prop for Superman, which is something the creative team have avoided in this first seven issues.

I’m sure I’ll pick up the second volume, I just don’t know if it will be a high priority read. We’ll see. A cautious recommendation to everyone who wants to read more about Superman and Wonder Woman’s growing relationship. I remain cautiously optimistic about the series.

Review: THE LAST MAGAZINE by Michael Hastings (Blue Rider Press)

2014-10-02T08:30:00.000+01:00

A dual-personality novel from the late journalist

The year is 2002. Weekly newsmagazines dominate the political agenda in New York and Washington. A young journalist named Michael M. Hastings is a twenty-two-year-old intern at The Magazine, wet behind the ears, the only one in the office who’s actually read his coworker’s books. He will stop at nothing to turn his internship into a full-time position, and he’s figured out just whom to impress: Nishant Patel, the international editor, and Sanders Berman, managing editor, both vying for the job of editor in chief.

While Berman and Nishant try to one-up each other pontificating on cable news, A.E. Peoria — the one reporter seemingly doing any work — is having a career crisis. He’s just returned from Chad, where, instead of the genocide, he was told by his editors to focus on mobile phone outsourcing, which they think is more relevant. And then, suddenly, the United States invades Iraq — and all hell breaks loose. As Hastings loses his naïveté about the journalism game, he must choose where his loyalties lie — with the men at The Magazine who can advance his career or with his friend in the field who is reporting the truth.

Michael Hastings was one of the best young journalists in America before his death last year. Best known, perhaps, for his Rolling Stone piece that got General Stanley McChrystal fired (a media and political furore that was overblown in the extreme, in my opinion). He wrote excellent books (including The Operators, a much-expanded account of his time with McChrystal) and excellent feature articles for multiple publications. He also, as it turned out, wrote The Last Magazine, a fictional account of his time at Newsweek. Published posthumously, it took me a while to get my hands on the book, and I have very mixed feelings about what I found.

The Last Magazine is a novel of two alternating parts, really. The first, and by far the best, follows Michael Hastings (the character) as he navigates a low-on-the-totem-pole job at The Magazine – a thinly-veiled analog of Newsweek. This side of the story is peppered throughout with interesting, shrewd and intelligent observations about the print media industry in the United States, and also the media coverage of American politics and the post-9/11 invasion of Iraq. It really is superb, actually – true, Hastings was benefiting from hindsight, but he was long a critic of the media’s capture by government, and the rise of media personalities more interested in their own exposure, reputations and “genius” than reporting the damned news. Some of the characters will be recognizable for followers of US media and politics (Nishant is clearly meant to be a caricature of Fareed Zakaria, for example).

I really enjoyed the commentary on news magazines and the US media and official response to, rhetoric on and actions leading up to the invasion of Iraq and afterwards. Some of the best media criticism in any genre I’ve read.

What really spoiled things for me, though, was the second part of the novel. This thread followed the trial and tribulations of A.E. Peoria, one of The Magazine’s writers. Peoria’s escapades are heavy on literary gonzo elements – some good, some really not so much. I wondered if some of it channeled some of Hastings’s own own experiences in Iraq, or what he saw there. Certainly, it felt like parts of the story were being run through a Hunter S. Thompson/early Matt Taibbi filter. It’s a strange way to write journalism and fiction, one that is not easy to pull off (most don’t and can’t, in fact). When it works, the results can be incredible (Thompson, Taibbi), but more often is fizzles and comes across as either a mess or somewhat adolescent at best. Hastings makes a valiant attempt, but for me he didn’t manage to quite pull it off. For one thing, why do we need such long chapters about Peoria’s proclivities? An entire chapter about a masturbatory event? A chapter on his sexual adventures in Thailand? (How so very unoriginal…) It often feels unnecessary, and like an attempt to force “edginess” into the novel. Which is a pity – if he’s stuck with the fictionalised media and political commentary, this could have been a rousing success.

Ultimately (and sadly), the novel feels like a draft was rushed to publication. This does not read like a finished, properly edited novel. This is a real pity, and I wish they’d taken the time to get it polished before publishing. To me, it seems clear why Hastings hadn’t tried to get this published during his life: I have a feeling he didn’t think it was ready.

The Last Magazine is, nevertheless, worth a read if you are a fan of Hastings’s non-fiction, and if certainly if you’re interested in US media and politics.

Quick Review: THINKING ABOUT IT ONLY MAKES IT WORSE by David Mitchell (Faber)

2014-10-01T08:30:00.000+01:00

A superb collection of Mitchell’s Observer columns

Why is my jumper depreciating? What’s wrong with calling a burglar brave? Why are people so f***ing hung up about swearing? Why do the asterisks in that sentence make it okay? Why do so many people want to stop other people doing things, and how can they be stopped from stopping them? Why is every film and TV programme a sequel or a remake? Why are we so reliant on perpetual diversion that someone has created chocolate toothpaste? Is there anything to be done about the Internet?

These and many other questions trouble David Mitchell as he delights us with a tour of the absurdities of modern life – from Ryanair to Downton Abbey, sports day to smoking, nuclear weapons to phone etiquette, UKIP to hotdogs made of cats. Funny, provocative and shot through with refreshing amounts of common sense, Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse celebrates and commiserates on the state of things in our not entirely glorious nation.

David Mitchell is a comedian, actor, writer and the polysyllabic member of Mitchell and Webb. He won BAFTAs for Peep Show and That Mitchell and Webb Look, and has also starred in Jam and Jerusalem, The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff and Ambassadors. He writes for the Observer, chairs TheUnbelievable Truth, is a team captain on Would I Lie To You? and has been in two films, neither of which made a profit.

I have long been a fan of David Mitchell’s television work – That Mitchell & Webb Look, Peep Show (which I was actually didn’t love at first), the all-too-short Ambassadors mini-series, and his frequent guest spots on QI and Have I Got News For You being my favourites. After I listened to the audio edition of his superb memoir, Back Story, my respect for him grew even more (it’s among my top ten ‘reads’ of the year, easily). I didn’t know how frequently he had been writing for the Observer, however, so I was pleasantly surprised when I received a review copy of Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse. This is a great read.

It’s very difficult to review this book, however. With so many articles on such a wide-range of topics, it’s impossible to give as broad a review as one might like – the temptation to share pull-quote after pull-quote is difficult to resist, as is the wish to walk through each of the topics one-by-one. It might take away the need to actually read the book for yourself. Here are a handful of good moments, though, to whet your appetite…

On the economic crisis and fallout:

The global fiscal Wile E. Coyote had long since run off the edge of the cliff and had been scampering ineffectually in mid-air for some time. But now the period during which he has yet to start falling, because he still hasn’t noticed the absence of solid ground beneath him, was ending. We’d collectively looked down. We were caught in the beat of stillness, the panicked look to camera, that precedes the plummet.

The new societal malaise infecting the British public:

It turns out that it’s not the morality or otherwise of our foreign policy that predominantly affects the national mood, it’s money. We might not have thought we were money-obsessed, but then we probably don’t think we’re oxygen-obsessed. But you certainly get to thinking about it if someone takes it away.

The horrible shock of 2008, much more than any horrible shocks we allowed our military to impose abroad, changed our national personality. It’s as if Britain was a sprightly and twinkly pensioner who then, in the autumn of 2008, had a serious fall. It survived but has never been quite the same – it’s more timorous and judgmental, envious and angry. As a nation, we’ve lost confidence and creativity, and we’re readier to blame each other and slower to laugh at ourselves.

One of the topics that really struck a chord with me was the rise of the eternally offended society. This topic grew out of Mitchell’s coverage of the banking crisis and its fallout, describing it as an era-defining shift:

[T]his new era has been enormously and relentlessly recriminatory and angry. What started off as righteous fury at the investment banker community for their incompetence and amorality has spread to almost every aspect of public life

It is an era in which “Freedom of speech is sacrificed at the altar of manufactured rage”. Mitchell touches upon jingoism, political-correctness, the awfulness of the UK electoral options (before and after the most recent election), and a general shifting in the British mood and culture. He doesn’t use the phrase, but I’d say he paints a picture of a country moving more towards an American-style social aspect at its worst (more self-involvement, narcissism, and inexplicable emotional exaggeration).

As someone employed in a number of media, Mitchell’s opinion as an insider and shrewd observer (some might say bluntly, refreshingly honest observer) are more than welcome, too. On the fiction/entertainment side, Mitchell laments that “In television, for all that people talk of creativity, the percentage game is in being deftly derivative”. As for the news media:

The media’s obsession with conflict means that we’re confronted with it so relentlessly that we’ve stopped questioning why it’s there in the first place. We ask: “Which side is right? Who do I support?” but not: “Do they really need to be arguing about this? Why is so much of our time taken up by listening to small minorities who are incensed by other small minorities, rather than to the vast majority who just want to rub along OK?”

And, finally, I’d like to share this great moment, in which Mitchell discusses the Cookie Monster (it makes perfect sense in the larger context of the piece in which it appears, but is also superb on its own):

The Cookie Monster is anarchic, dynamic and madly driven by a very specific, but also totally random, aim: he wants cookies. He wants to charge around crazily smashing cookies into his mouth. He will never get enough cookies. It’s unclear whether he understands this. Maybe he imagines some future stage of sated calm which he might achieve if, miraculously, he were to obtain all the cookies he desires. Or maybe he is wiser than that and knows it’s all about the journey, his endless quest for biscuits.

Needless to say, I really enjoyed this book. And could keep quoting passages until I blew right past the fair usage policy for reviews. I read the book pretty quickly, and would have happily read even more. I didn’t love every article included, but I’d say 90% of them made me at the very least smile at the humour, and I agreed with the vast majority of them, too. It is, of course, to see the humorous side of the book, but it must be said that the jokes do not bury the serious points Mitchell is making and the topics he is writing about. This book is proof positive that a great comedian is, quite often, also highly intelligent. (He is a Cambridge man, after all.)

Very highly recommended, this is a great, must-read collection.

***

Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse is published in the UK by Faber & Faber, on November 4th, 2014.

Short Story Reviews: A SPELL OF VENGEANCE and THE PRICE OF DOING BUSINESS by D.B. Jackson (Tor)

2014-09-30T18:52:00.001+01:00

Two THIEFTAKER prequel short stories

A SPELL OF VENGEANCE

Ethan Kaille is a thieftaker in Colonial Boston, scratching out a living by restoring stolen property to its rightful owners. But unlike others in his profession, Ethan relies on magical spells as well as his wits to track down thieves. Being a conjurer doesn’t make him popular with the law in Boston, so Ethan is taken aback when the sheriff seeks his help in settling a dispute between a pair of wealthy merchants and a ship’s captain who has threatened their lives. Ethan knows the captain can back up his threats with magic of his own. But there is more to this matter than the merchants have let on, and Ethan soon discovers that what he doesn’t know might actually kill him.

THE PRICE OF DOING BUSINESS

Ethan Kaille is a Thieftaker in Boston in the years leading up to the American Revolution. Having suffered losses and reversals in his life, he is neither naive nor without considerable personal resources. He isn’t just a detective; he’s also a conjurer, which makes him someone who lives on the margins of polite society. Some people fear his powers; others merely find him a distasteful rogue who should simply go away… but still, he is useful to the powers-that-be when problems arise requiring his unusual skill-set.

This story is one from Kaille’s early days as a thieftaker in Boston. In it, he must face a formidable foe, one of a most unexpected sort, whose own powers, very different from his own, prove the equal of Ethan’s.

Both of these stories are decent introductions to Ethan Kaille and Jackson’s urban fantasy take on early-America Boston. My interest in the novels in the series (now up to three), has grown considerably since reading A Spell of Vengeance and The Price of Doing Business.

A Spell of Vengeance is a very straight-forward introduction, focusing on a single case and also introduces us to two of Ethan’s main antagonists, Sheriff Stephen Greenleaf. In this story, rather than wanting to lock him up or figure out if Ethan is, actually, a “speller”, Greenleaf brings along a pair of merchants who want help against the son of a now-deceased ship’s captain who has been threatening them. Unbeknownst to Ethan, however, the son is quite the capable speller himself, and gives our hero a run for his money, and just a few scrapes…

The Price Of Doing Business introduces us to another of Ethan’s frequent antagonists: rival thieftaker Sephira and her worse-than-the-criminals crew. The actually missing-items case is merely a vehicle to allow Jackson to bring these two characters together, in order to establish their dynamics (Ethan is not one to roll over for a more-established, brutal rival). It was certainly an interesting introduction to this contentious… professional relationship.

The two stories are over rather fast – this does mean we don’t really have enough time to get a proper sense of Ethan’s place in this Boston. I’m also not entirely sure if we needed the full incantations translated every time he speaks one – every spell includes “ex cruore evocatus”, which the author translates for us each and every time. Felt redundant. Beyond that, Jackson’s prose is well-constructed, and flows quite nicely. He keeps the historical details to a minimum, allowing the reader to fill in gaps. I liked this approach – too often, the story in historical fiction can be swamped by an author’s desire to prove they’ve done their research and include All The Details. Which is maddening, frankly.

Overall, then, I enjoyed both of these stories. I think full-length novels will offer the extended narrative and plot that I usually like. I’m looking forward to reading Thieftaker, now. If you’re interested in historical fantasy and urban fantasy, then this series could very well be for you.

Yet Another Fantastic CONSTANTINE Cover (DC Comics)

2014-09-30T18:13:00.001+01:00

It’s a series I’ve barely read, but damn does it get some great covers… The image above, by Juan Ferreyra, will be the cover for Constantine #20. The issue, due out on December 10th, is written by Ray Fawkes and art by Jeremy Haun. Here’s the mini-synopsis:

It’s hate at first sight when John Constantine meets his Earth 2 counterpart!

(Got to love a to-the-point synopsis…)

Benjamin Percy Writes Two-Part DETECTIVE COMICS Story (DC Comics)

2014-09-30T18:05:00.001+01:00

I am a huge fan of Benjamin Percy’s novel RED MOON – published in the UK by Hodder and North America by Grand Central. It’s the only book of his that I’ve read, but it will by no means be the last.

I also shared a few days ago information about THE DEAD LANDS, his next novel, which is one of my most anticipated novels. Today, though, I discovered that Percy has also written a two-part story for Detective Comics, one of DC Comics’ various Batman series! This is great news, in my opinion – some of my favourite comic story-arcs have been written by some of my favourite writers (Lauren Beukes’s run on Fairest, Gregg Hurwitz’s run on The Dark Knight, to name but two).

Percy has written the story “Terminus”, which will run over Detective Comics #35-36, to be published October 1st and 8th, respectively. Art for the issues is by John Paul Leon (The Massive, DMZ, American Vampire, Scalped), colours by Dave Stewart (Fray, Lex Luthor, Hellboy), letters by Jared K. Fletcher.

Here’s the synopsis for #35:

In the first chapter of a two-part tale by the guest team of writer Ben Percy and artist John Paul Leon, a civilian appearance at Gotham Airport turns into a horror show for Batman when a plane full of dead passengers arrives on the runway! What happened – and what can Bruce Wayne do about it?

There are also two variant covers, by Cliff Chiang (left) and Becky Cloonan:

If ever there was an excuse for me to catch up on this series, this was it. I’m very eager to read this. Finally, here’s the artwork that will grace the cover of #36:

Also on CR: Interview with Benjamin Percy

CITY OF STAIRS Competition from Jo Fletcher Books!

2014-09-30T09:00:00.000+01:00

Robert Jackson Bennett’s CITY OF STAIRS is absolutely one of my Most Anticipated novels of 2014. I have a copy of the book, now, so it will mostly likely be my next or next-but-one read. To celebrate the upcoming release in the UK, Jo Fletcher Books have five copies of the book to give away, plus one lucky winner will receive a £100 Red Letter Day experience. Here are the instructions:

All people have to do for a chance to win is let us know on our blog, Facebook page or Twitter – with #CityOfStairs – what tangible miraculous object they would create if you were a god of Bulikov. A door which takes you to the past and a knotted cord that brings rain when untied are just some of the miracles the gods brought to Bulikov, but we want to know what other people would add to them. The competition is open until October 30th for your chance to win.

CITY OF STAIRS is published in the UK on Thursday (October 2nd). It is published in the US by Crown Publishing. Here’s the synopsis:

You’ve got to be careful when you’re chasing a murderer through Bulikov, for the world is not as it should be in that city. When the gods were destroyed and all worship of them banned by the Polis, reality folded; now stairs lead to nowhere, alleyways have become portals to the past, and criminals disappear into thin air.

The murder of Dr. Efrem Pangyui, the Polis diplomat researching the Continent’s past, has begun something and now whispers of an uprising flutter out from invisible corners. Only one woman may be willing to pursue the truth - but it is likely to cost her everything.

Mini-Review: BLACK SCIENCE, Vol.1 – “How To Fall” (Image)

2014-09-29T19:47:00.001+01:00

A fascinating, strange, and engaging science fiction series

Writer: Rick Remender | Artists: Matteo Scalera & Dean White

Grant McKay has done the impossible! Using the Pillar, he has punched a hole through the barriers between dimensions, allowing travel to all possible universes. But now Grant and his team are trapped in the folds of infinity, the Pillar sending them careening through a million universes of unimaginable adventure, sanity-flaying danger and no way home…

Collects: Black Science #1-6

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Black Science. It received a healthy amount of pre-publication buzz – not surprising, given that it’s written by Remender (Deadly Class, Low, Captain America, Uncanny Avengers). Things move pretty quickly in this book, as readers are thrown straight into the action, which never lets up. The series includes everything you might want from a multi-dimensional action/adventure: strange and dangerous situations, back-stabbing, a larger conspiracy, weird and wonderful fauna, interesting technology. It also has everything we have come to expect from Remender: excellent story-telling and well-rounded, diverse characters. The story builds quite excellently over the course of the book, and I felt myself sink in as it took hold completely.

I want to avoid going into too much detail, as things move very fast. Grant is an interesting character, and readers will become invested in his quest and fate, just as they will for the fates of his companions. (Spoiler: not everyone’s going to get out of this one alive…)

Scalera’s artwork is a little strange, quite angular, but by no means unattractive. He does a great job of giving Remender’s story life, merging the weird and scientific excellently. It’s an eye-catching book, certainly.

Overall, then, a highly recommended new series for every fan of science fiction, sci-fi comics, and interdimensional story-telling. This was a lot of fun. I really can’t wait for volume two!

EXTINCTION GAME by Gary Gibson (Tor)

2014-09-29T19:17:00.001+01:00

Solid parallel-universe disaster science fiction

Jerry Beche should be dead. But instead of dying alone, he’s been rescued from a desolated earth where he was the last man alive. He’s then trained for the toughest conditions imaginable and placed with a crack team of specialists. Each one also a survivor, as each one survived the violent ending of their own versions of earth. And their specialism – to retrieve weapons and data in missions to other dying worlds. But who is the shadowy organization that rescued them? How do they access other timelines and why do they need these instruments of death?

As Jerry struggles to obey his new masters, he starts distrusting his new companions. A strange bunch, their motivations are less than clear, and accidents start plaguing their missions. Jerry suspects that organisation is lying to them, and team members are spying on him. As a dangerous situation spirals into fatal, who is an enemy and who can he really trust?

This is the first novel of Gary Gibson’s that I’ve read. I’d been meaning to try out his work for years, but for some reason always got distracted. Luckily, Extinction Game arrived in the mail, and I happily dove right in. I was not disappointed. This is a good novel.

The story focuses on a survivor from a ravaged earth, one in which the whole population (as far as he knows) has been wiped out by the evil machinations of a particular group. He’s picked up by a team of fellow survivors, “Pathfinders”, all from alternate universes and Earths – each of which has also been devastated by one of a great number of possible global catastrophes. Together, working for The Authority, they are sent to various other Earths to uncover technology, information, and anything else that might come in handy. In some ways, Extinction Game has given Gibson the opportunity to experiment and dabble with a wide variety of catastrophes and disasters. This means a pretty varied story and deadly/exciting altercations for his protagonists.

And they’re a varied bunch of protagonists, too. We get to know them slowly, as they keep plenty of secrets from Jerry, whose presence and rescue may not be as random as he is originally led to believe. I think I would have liked to get to know them a bit better – sometimes, I felt like they didn’t really jump off the page for me. Stuck together on a small base on Easter Island, we get to see their relationships, as well as their strained dynamics with the military contractors who are there to “keep them safe”. Not to mention the toll of being faced with multiple extinction-level events (before, during and after) on multiple Earths. That has got to take an emotional toll… It was interesting to read about the Authority, the Pathfinders and the dimension-hopping deployments from Jerry’s perspective, and to seem him start to questions what was actually going on.

Overall, this was an enjoyable novel, a quick read, and a good introduction to Gibson’s writing. While his writing is good throughout – clipped, sparse prose, never florid or over-done – there were times when it felt like he was veering a little too far into tell-not-show. These moments didn’t derail the story’s flow too much, though. Sometimes things moved a little too fast, too. I couldn’t help wondering if Extinction Game shouldn’t have been either longer, or part of a series (this is a stand-alone). It would make a really good movie, I think, if they were able to rustle up the funding… It’s a bit like Sliders, but far more apocalyptic.

Recommended for anyone who likes alternate-reality and disaster science fiction. The novel has also made me interested in checking out more of Gibson’s novels.

Mini-Review: THE MESSENGER by Mark Charan Newton (Tor)

2014-09-26T19:30:00.001+01:00

Great introduction to a new character

As an Officer of the Sun Chamber, Lucan Drakenfeld must uphold the two-hundred-year-old laws of the Vispasian Royal Union, whatever the cost.

While stationed in the ancient city of Venyn, a metropolis notorious for its lawless nature, Drakenfeld receives a series of mysterious letters, written in blood, that warn of an imminent assassination attempt on the life of the city’s young Prince Bassim.

Supported by his fiery colleague Leana, Drakenfeld’s investigation leads him down the city’s corridors of power. But nothing is as it seems. Who is behind the conspiracy that threatens the young prince, and will the duo be able to unearth the perpetrator before the prince’s time is up?

Long-time readers of the blog will know that I’m a big fan of Newton’s first series, Legends of the Red Sun. This 9,000~ word novella features the main character of the author’s new series, Lucan Drakenfeld, and is set before the first novel Drakenfeld. It’s a very good short story, and certainly served to whet my appetite for the full-length novels (which I’ve been inexplicable slow about getting around to). There’s a mystery, a rebel group, the possibility of an inside agent, some brutal killing, and the potential for a spot of regicide. Everything that makes a great fantasy crime story. We get to know the main two characters, too, who are two of the more interesting protagonists I’ve read in a while.

A great prequel, and a great way to quickly and cheaply try out Newton’s writing and his new series. Absolutely recommended.

Review: THE WAKE (Vertigo)

2014-09-26T19:13:00.001+01:00

Writer: Scott Snyder | Artist: Sean Murphy | Colors: Matt Hollingsworth

When Marine Biologist Lee Archer is approached by the Department of Homeland Security for help with a new threat, she declines, but quickly realizes they won’t take no for an answer. Soon she is plunging to the depths of the Arctic Circle to a secret, underwater oilrig filled with roughnecks and scientists on the brink of an incredible discovery. But when things go horribly wrong, this scientific safe haven will turn into a house of horrors at the bottom of the ocean!

Collects: The Wake #1-10

This is a tricky one to review. This is the whole ten-issue run of the series, which means a lot happens. The multiple timelines, the expansive scope of the story… There’s a lot crammed into this book. It’s the most ambitious of Snyder’s stories that I’ve read, and while I found it excellent on a number of levels, the second half really let the book down.

The first half of the book is a great, atmospheric, horror-infused tale of under-the-sea beasties and mystery. The artwork is particularly awesome, too, with great use of negative space and deep, deep shadows to really create an air of suspense and intensity. Part 1 takes us up to the catastrophe hinted at in the prologue, as a group of marine scientists (and a high-tech poacher) are brought together to investigate a creepy-looking mermaid:

Naturally, everything goes wrong. Otherwise, the second part of this global catastrophe tale would be rather tricky to explain…

Unfortunately, Part 2 was nowhere near as strong as the first. True, I really liked the modern-take on a Waterworld-esque post-apocalypse. The main character in this timeline is interesting, too. However, the story starts to unravel in its expansiveness. There’s so much going on, as Snyder weaves this massive global-history-spanning mystery. Events lurch forward at times, with a fair number of surprise reveals that seem to come out of nowhere (and not always in a good way). I ended up feeling a bit frustrated, as new elements were thrown at me seemingly out of nowhere. I was sadly disappointed. This had so much potential, and I think Snyder et al have done a competent job of executing it for the most part. But ultimately the ending felt a bit flat.

An ambitious global catastrophe story, but sadly one that doesn’t quite live up to expectations. It’s still well-worth reading, but I think Snyder has done better. Maybe it’s a case of the ten issues not being enough to contain just how much story the team has come up with.

I get the feeling that The Massive (published by Dark Horse Comics and written by Brian Wood) might be a better post-environmental collapse comics series.

Slipknot Continue to Release Great Songs with Messed Up Videos…

2014-09-25T17:55:00.001+01:00

I’ve liked Slipknot’s music since the beginning, really. I was going through my angry teen phase when their eponymous album was released (although, without the “angry” side – I was always more curmudgeonly than angry). Their musical aggression and interesting interviews always kept them on my playlists. As new albums were released, and the band evolved, they remained there. Side-projects emerged – Stone Sour the best by miles. But always Slipknot remained waiting in the wings to drop a new album just when fans were starting to get impatient.

Their fifth album, The Gray Chapter will be released on October 21st by Roadrunner Records. Two singles have already been released: “The Devil In I” and “The Negative One”. Both, naturally, have really messed-up, horror-influenced music videos. And may even one-up Marilyn Manson, this time around. Here they are:

THE DEVIL IN I (the better of the two, in my opinion)

THE NEGATIVE ONE

I must confess, also, to still not really understanding the value that Clown adds to the songs. Every so often, he hits a bit drum. In previous songs, it was with a baseball bat. He never seems to add much to the groove or overall quality of the song. It seems he is just an angry dude in a clown mask, who sometimes helps out with the artwork and “artistic direction”.

New Asking Alexandria Music Video…

2014-09-25T17:48:00.001+01:00

… shows the band’s ‘softer’ side. Unlike “The Death of Me”, which is one of the best hard rock/metal songs ever written, “Moving On” has a bit more of an ’80s ballad vibe, with an added modern sheen. The song is also from From Death to Destiny, and is one of my favourites from the album. Here’s the video:

Upcoming: THE ABYSS BEYOND DREAMS by Peter F. Hamilton (Del Rey/Tor)

2014-09-24T22:29:00.001+01:00

I haven’t read anything by Peter F. Hamilton, but I know a lot of people who love his work. This novel, as the start of a new series (the Commonwealth) looks really interesting, so I hope it will be the first of Hamilton’s books that I read. Here’s the synopsis:

When images of a lost civilisation are “dreamed” by a self-proclaimed prophet of the age, Nigel Sheldon, inventor of wormhole technology and creator of the Commonwealth society is suspicious. Especially as the dreams seem to be coming from the Void – an area of living space monitored and controlled because of its hugely destructive capabilities. With it being the greatest threat to the known universe, Nigel is determined to find out if human life really does exist beyond its boundaries and if so, what the hell they're doing there.

But when he crash lands on a planet beyond the Void he didn't even know existed he finds so much more than he imagined. Bienvenido, a world populated from the survivors of Commonwealth colony ships which disappeared over three thousand years ago. Since then they’ve been fighting an ever-increasingly desperate battle against a space-born predator invading their landscape. The Fallers looks innocuous to begin with and their lure is enticing to any that stray within their path – but they are by far the greatest threat to the continuance of humanity on this planet.

But Nigel soon realises that the Fallers also hold the key to something he’d never hoped to find – the destruction of the Void itself. If only he can survive long enough to work out how to use it…

Above are the US and UK covers. Not sure which I prefer, but the UK cover (left) certainly has a space operatic movie-poster feel to it. Which do you prefer?

Peter F. Hamilton’s The Abyss Beyond Dreams is published by Del Rey in the US and Tor/Macmillan in the UK. If you’re a reviewer with a NetGalley account, both publishers have it posted (US/UK). The novel is due to be published in October 2014.

Upcoming: THE DEAD LANDS by Benjamin Percy (Grand Central)

2014-09-24T21:06:00.001+01:00

I thoroughly enjoyed Benjamin Percy’s previous novel, Red Moon, and have been eagerly awaiting his next book ever since. Now (via SF Signal), here are the details of that novel, a re-imagining of the Lewis & Clark saga in a post-apocalyptic setting:

A super flu and nuclear fallout have made a husk of the world we know. A few humans carry on, living in outposts such as the Sanctuary – the remains of St. Louis – a shielded community that owes its survival to its militant defense and fear-mongering leaders.

Then a rider comes from the wasteland beyond its walls. She reports on the outside world: west of the Cascades, rain falls, crops grow, civilization thrives. But there is danger too: the rising power of an army that pillages and enslaves every community they happen upon.

Against the wishes of the Sanctuary, a small group sets out in secrecy. Led by Lewis Meriwether and Mina Clark, they hope to expand their infant nation, and to reunite the States. But the Sanctuary will not allow them to escape without a fight.

Benjamin Percy’s The Dead Lands is due to be published in the US by Grand Central Publishing, in April 2015. Red Moon was published in the UK by Hodder, and they will be publishing The Deadlands as well, in May 2015.

Also on CR: Interview with Benjamin Percy