Graeme's Fantasy Book Review

‘The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy’ – Ellen Datlow (Editor)

2008-07-18T15:01:00.002+01:00

This is one that I’ve been dipping in and out of over the last few weeks. Short story collections are great for that aren’t they? You can just pick and choose what you read, none of this ‘start at the beginning and work through to the end’ nonsense… :o) Because of their very nature, I always find anthologies to be a bit hit and miss in terms of what I get out of them. ‘The Del Rey Book of

‘Deadstock’ – Jeffrey Thomas (Solaris Books)

2008-07-17T12:44:00.001+01:00

When I’m not reading sci-fi, fantasy etc (which, to be fair, isn’t all that often) I like to read detective novels, in particular the works of Raymond Chandler. I love that slightly hard-boiled, pulp noir thing he has going on and I enjoy reading about Philip Marlowe and the cases he takes on that always end up being more than they seemed… Bearing this in mind I love it when sci-fi adopts the

‘The Goon, Rough Stuff’ – Eric Powell (Dark Horse Comics)

2008-07-16T12:20:00.001+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I picked the latest issue of ‘The Goon’ (number twenty five, I think) just to give it a go and see what it’s all about. Talk about a great read! There was plenty enough there to make me want to give the series a go in graphic novel format, and seeing as the best place to start is always at the beginning, I picked up a copy of ‘Rough Stuff’ (Volume 0 ) and started reading.

‘In Silent Graves’ – Gary Braunbeck (Leisure Fiction)

2008-07-15T04:05:00.001+01:00

It’s just gone three in the morning and I cannot get to sleep. I don’t know what’s up with that so figured I’d have a little read of whatever was close to hand. ‘Whatever was close to hand’ ended up being my last stop (until I find more books) on my little trip through Gary Braunbeck’s Cedar Hill locale. Without even realising, it turns out that I’d saved the best until last… Robert Londrigan

‘The Age of the Conglomerates’ – Thomas Nevins (Del Rey)

2008-07-14T15:42:00.001+01:00

The themes of Utopia and Dystopia are staples in speculative fiction and appear under many guises, perhaps the two most famous examples are Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’. The line between the two states is a blurry one at best, depending on where you fit in. One man’s Utopia is another man’s… you get the idea. I sometimes wonder just how much control we have over our

'Gypsy Morph' Competition - The Winner!

2008-07-14T09:07:00.001+01:00

Thanks to everyone who entered but I'm afraid there could only be one winner. That lucky person is... Steve Mason, Peterlee, UK Well done Steve, your book will be on it's way to you once I can get to the post office... Better luck next time everyone else!

‘The Walking Dead’, Issues 48-50

2008-07-13T10:41:00.004+01:00

The bottom line is this, if you like comics and zombies then ‘The Walking Dead’ should be on your list of ‘comics to get from the store’ if it isn’t already. There seems to be more and more zombie stuff out there but ‘The Walking Dead’ is the clear leader in the pack, it’s like watching a George Romero zombie film when they used to be good! I’ve got the first four graphic novel collections so

What the ??!!?”& just happened there?

2008-07-12T00:30:00.001+01:00

You know what I’m talking about, those moments in film or literature where you think you know exactly what’s going to happen right up until the moment when the director/author throws you a wicked curveball and all of a sudden you see everything in a brand new light. The first time this happened to me was when my Dad took me to see a ‘Star Wars’/’Empire Strikes Back’ double bill at the cinema. I

‘Midnight Never Come’ – Marie Brennan (Orbit Books)

2008-07-11T15:50:00.001+01:00

I’m not sure whether to call this book ‘historical fantasy’ or ‘urban fantasy’. The story takes place in an urban setting but it’s historical context sets it apart from the contemporary theme normally found in Urban Fantasy. Hmmm… *Tosses Coin* Ok, I’m calling this one ‘historical fantasy’ but if anyone has a convincing argument otherwise just leave a comment ;o) England flourishes under the

‘The Gypsy Morph’ – Terry Brooks (Del Rey/Orbit)

2008-07-10T00:19:00.002+01:00

Terry Brooks’ ‘Genesis of Shannara’ series has been one of my surprise finds since starting up the blog. As I’ve mentioned before, I could never get into the ‘Sword of Shannara’ series but enjoyed ‘The Word and the Void’ books. For me the ‘Genesis of Shannara’ books combined the best bits of the other two series, wrapping it all up in a story that I couldn’t help but follow and want more of. For

Giveaway! 'The Gypsy Morph' (Terry Brooks)

2008-07-09T17:23:00.003+01:00

So I've just finished reading 'The Gypsy Morph', the finale to Terry Brooks' 'Genesis of Shannara' series. I want to get my thoughts in order before posting my review (look for it tomorrow) but I'm veering towards 'good but not great' territory at the moment... This means I have an Advance Copy of 'The Gypsy Morph' that I probably won't pick up again (loads of other books to read) and I know

'Briar King' Competition - The Winners!

2008-07-09T00:38:00.004+01:00

Thanks to everyone who entered, thanks also to Tor UK for supplying the books! It wouldn't have been much of a competition otherwise... There could only be three winners though and these lucky people are, Stefan Ancuta, Austria Ben Doran, County Down, Northern Ireland Jennifer Kingsbury, Calgary, Canada Well done! Your books will be heading towards you in the next couple of days :o) Everyone

Movie! ‘Diary of the Dead’

2008-07-08T15:10:00.002+01:00

As far as I’m concerned if there’s anything better than a ‘zombie film’ then it’s a ‘George Romero zombie film’. It’s fairly safe to say that if it wasn’t for this guy then zombie films would not be around in the shape that they are…. Having said that though, George’s foray back into the genre with ‘Land of the Dead’ didn’t do as well as expected. The blame was placed on poor distribution of

‘Victory of Eagles’ – Naomi Novik (Del Rey)

2008-07-07T14:15:00.003+01:00

Ever since I picked up a copy of ‘His Majesty’s Dragon’ (pretty much on a whim, the best way to pick up books sometimes) I’ve been a big fan of Naomi Novik’s ‘Temeraire’ series and get all excited whenever it starts to get close to a new book being published. However, upon finishing ‘Empire of Ivory’ I was a little concerned that there was the danger of things getting a little stale. I felt the

‘FutureWorld’ – Professor Mark L. Brake & Reverend Neil Hook (Boxtree)

2008-07-06T11:14:00.001+01:00

These days most (if not all) of my reading is purely for entertainment and escapism. There’s still a lot to be learned from such books but I’ll quite happily admit to steering well clear of anything that’s more factual and likely to make me ‘learn’ something, nothing wrong with these books but that’s just not what I’m about at the moment. I felt a little strange then to see a copy of ‘

The 'I met Steven Erikson today' link-up spectacular!

2008-07-05T21:48:00.002+01:00

The title gives it all away doesn't it (there will be a photo once I can get it off my phone)? Ever since I first read 'Gardens of the Moon', I've always wanted to meet Steven Erikson and ask him loads of questions about his books. Well, I got to meet him today (and got several of my books signed)but the cool demeanour I was aiming for was mysteriously replaced by my 'slack-jawed fanboy' face, oh

‘Blood Ties’ – Pamela Freeman (Orbit Books)

2008-07-04T01:46:00.001+01:00

When I went out for lunch with the publicity lady from Orbit, a few months ago, ‘Blood Ties’ came up as one of the books that Orbit were most excited about and really wanted to push. A few reviews have already gone up around and about the place so I figured that I’d hold off for a bit (or until I needed another fairly slim read for the daily commute, whichever came first…) My inability to get

‘Slaine: Timekiller’ – Pat Mills (Rebellion)

2008-07-03T15:31:00.001+01:00

Comic books, graphic novels, whatever you want to call them I think they’re just great! For me, a good graphic novel is the very best kind of cross between books and film. You get to have a good read and see what’s going on at the same time ;o) I had a great time with the first Slaine collection for just this very reason and was looking forward to getting into the next instalment. Things didn’t

‘The Tower of Fear’ – Glen Cook (Tor)

2008-07-02T15:52:00.002+01:00

It took me a long time to build up/finish off my ‘Black Company’ collection (only to find that Gollancz will be releasing omnibus editions in the UK…) and a consequence of this is that if I ever see one of Glen Cook’s books on the shelf I will more likely than not pick it up. After all, if I don’t buy it now then I might never see it again… ;o) This scattergun approach has had mixed results for

Free Reading! 'Implied Spaces' excerpt and 'The Green Leopard Plague'

2008-07-02T10:03:00.003+01:00

Nightshade Books have just published Walter Jon Williams' 'Implied Spaces'; a sci-fi novel of... well, here's the blurb! :o) Aristide, a semi-retired computer scientist turned swordsman, is a scholar of the implied spaces, seeking meaning amid the accidents of architecture in a universe where reality itself has been sculpted and designed by superhuman machine intelligence. While exploring the

Giveaway! 'The Briar King' (Greg Keyes)

2008-07-01T13:50:00.003+01:00

This month sees the UK release of Greg Keyes' 'The Born Queen', the concluding installment of his 'Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone' series. I'll be honest and say that 'The Born Queen' wasn't everything that I thought it could have been but the series, as a whole, is right up there in my list of 'Cool Fantasy Series that I think everyone should try out'. Have you read these books? If you have then

Author Interview! Jaine Fenn

2008-06-30T10:43:00.003+01:00

Having read and reviewed Jaine Fenn's debut sci-fi novel, 'Principles of Angels, I thought it would be really cool to put some questions to Jaine and see what her answers were. Jaine very kindly agreed to answer my questions and these were her answers... Hi Jaine, thanks for agreeing to take part in this interview! Your debut novel, ‘Principles of Angels’, is now on the bookshelves. Have you

Graeme goes to the Comic Shop, Part One...

2008-06-29T21:13:00.006+01:00

Ok... it turns out I didn't post that much after all, sorry! I've just been away for another great weekend with my mates from the SFX Forum where we got drunk, had lightsaber fights in the street and invaded comic shops across Sheffield. Check out what I came back with... I've heard a lot about this, on various forums, (and really enjoyed 'Inside Straight') so when I saw it on the shelves I

'Keepers' - Gary Braunbeck (Leisure Fiction)

2008-06-27T06:50:00.005+01:00

I was after something short and sweet to read before I went off for the weekend, Gary Braunbeck's 'Keepers' was short and, for a piece of horror fiction, surprisingly sweet as well... Gil Stewart is an ordinary man until one day his normal life is shattered after witnessing a bizarre death on the highway. All of a sudden animals are behaving weirdly around him and strange bowler hatted men

‘Books of the South’ – The Winner!

2008-06-27T06:49:00.002+01:00

Thanks to everyone who took part in this competition. However, I’m afraid there can be only one winner and that winner was… Steven Tornow, Ohio, USA Nice one Steven! Your book will be on it’s way very soon… Better luck next time everyone else! (There’s always a next time…) I'm off to Sheffield, for the weekend, so posting may be a little thin on the ground for the next couple of days. Stick