Kamvision

Strange Chemistry announces launch titles - News

2012-01-24T22:59:00.001Z

ANGRY ROBOT ANNOUNCES STRANGE CHEMISTRY LAUNCH TITLES

Strange Chemistry - the YA imprint of award-winning indie genre fiction publisher Angry Robot - has announced two deals that will help launch the list into publishing super-stardom.

In a post on Strange Chemistry's website - http://strangechemistrybooks.com - imprint editor Amanda Rutter has revealed that Strange Chemistry's first two titles will be...

SHIFT by KIM CURRAN

About The Book: When your average, 16-year old loser, Scott Tyler, meets the beautiful and mysterious Aubrey Jones, e learns he's not quite so average after all. He's a 'Shifter'. And that means he has the power to undo any decision he's ever made. At first, he thinks the power to shift is pretty cool. But as his world quickly starts to unravel around him he realises that each time he uses his power, it has consequences; terrible unforeseen consequences. Shifting is going to get him killed. In a world where everything can change with a thought, Scott has to decide where he stands.

About the Author: Kim Curran was born in Dublin and moved to London when she was seven. After studying Philosophy and Literature at Sussex University her plan of being paid big bucks to think deep thoughts never quite paid off. She became an advertising copywriter instead, specialising in writing for video games. She lives in SW London with her husband, if they're not both off travelling. When she's not writing she fences and plays guitar, both very badly.

Visit Kim online at http://www.kimcurran.co.uk/

POLTERGEEKS by SEAN CUMMINGS

About the Book: Julie is an apprentice witch - or so she believes. When a dark power comes stalking out of the past to haunt her and her mother, Julie learns that she is far more than just a witch. With the help of her best friend Marcus and a rather unusual Great Dane, Julie has to race against time to ensure she can defeat the bad guy, save her mother and avoid being grounded - again!

About the Author: Sean Cummings lives in Saskatoon, Canada. He's a comic book geek, superhero junkie, zombie fan and a total nerd. His interests include science fiction, the borg, cats with extra toes, east Indian cuisine and quality sci-fi movies/television. Sean has been writing since 1978 (as a means of liberating his "inner nerd") and his published works for adults include Shade Fright, Funeral Pallor and Unseen World, all published by Snowbooks. Poltergeeks is his first book for Young Adults.

Visit Sean online at www.sean-cummings.ca and www.darkcentralstation.com.

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Check out the full news announcement on http://strangechemistrybooks.com for more details, folks. And say hello to Kim (@KimECurran) and Sean (@saskatoonauthor) on Twitter!

Rebellion opens new publishing store - News

2011-11-09T19:09:00.001Z

‘My god, it’s full of books’: new Rebellion publishing store opens

Rebellion Publishing is proud to announce the opening of its brand new digital store – giving you the pick of the freshest genre writing available at the click of a button.

Everything from SF to horror and fantasy to urban fantasy will be available direct from our Solaris and Abaddon Books imprints for the first time, and in both ePub and mobi formats – perfect for anyone with a Kindle or eReader.

You can visit the new store at Rebellionstore.com

The ideal one-stop shop for the 21st century reader, the Rebellion Publishing store offers digital downloads for all our titles with competitive prices, special sales and promotional offers – it’s the perfect place to stock up with winter warmers for the festive season.

Offering Steampunk, SF, fantasy, urban fantasy and horror, the site is easily navigable and each book is categorised in multiple ways. Alternatively, in search of a new read with a strong female lead? Or maybe a good anti-hero? Find what you want quickly with our ‘popular themes’ sections.

And to kick off, not only is there 10% off of all ebooks but, inspired by the lingering chill of Hallowe’en, for this week only all the novels in our Tomes of the Dead zombie series and the Infernal Game series are just £2 each!

“The Rebellion Store is your one-stop digital shop for all that very best in genre,” said Jonathan Oliver, editor-in-chief of Solaris and Abaddon Books, “and a great place to find bargains.”

For all press enquiries, please contact Michael Molcher

Phone + 44 (0)1865 792 201 or e-mail press@rebellion.co.uk

Little Star by John Ajvide Lindqvist - Review

2011-11-07T19:56:00.006Z

One autumn day in 1992, former pop singer Lennart Cederstrom finds something unexpected in the forest: a baby girl in a plastic bag, partially buried. He gives her the kiss of life, and her first cry astounds him; it is a clear, pure musical note. He takes her to his wife and persuades her that they should keep this remarkable child. But the baby becomes a strange girl, made more unusual by their decision to hide her in their basement to keep her from the prying eyes of government departments. When she reaches puberty, a terrifying scene sees her kill both her parents.

When her scheming adopted brother returns to find her over their bodies, he seizes the opportunity and enters her into an X Factor-style talent competition. She quickly becomes famous. In spite of this, she remains very lonely, until she befriends another damaged girl on the internet. They form a powerful bond and soon create a growing gang of other disgruntled girls and, calling themselves the Wolves, they set out to take revenge for all they've ever suffered.

Little Star is my first novel by Swedish horror sensation, John Ajvide Lindqvist. I have copies of all his books, except unbelievably, Let The Right One In. But so far this is the first of them I've actually read. Following his famous debut, Lindqvist has garnered a lot of praise, and achieved a strong reputation in a relatively short time frame. With Little Star, finally, I can see why. I've read no recent horror novel quite like it.

This story is about two outcast girls with very similar names. The first of these is Theres. Theres was abandoned in a wood as a baby, discarded like trash. By chance, she is discovered by Lennart Calderstrom, a former Swedish pop star. Lennart takes the baby back to his wife, and together they decide to keep the "Little One" and raise her as their own. But they do not adopt her, or raise her in any normal lifestyle, instead they keep her hidden in a cellar. The other girl, Teresa, appears to have had a more normal upbringing, but she too is a misfit, a person who feels quite alienated from her peers and society at large.

The first section of the book focuses exclusively on the bizarre, Theres. Here, we witness the early years of her strange life and the nature of her new dysfunctional family. Theres, with her weird note perfect signing, is so strange in fact, that during this section I found myself wondering if she might later be revealed to be something other than human. I'll not give away any spoilers, but will say that Lindqvist actually doesn't answer too many questions himself, even at the end.

A little further into the book and we move on from Theres for a time, and are introduced to the other girl, Teresa. Her social isolation seems much more conventional. We see how she struggles to relate to her parents as well as others of her own age, with the notable exception of a neighbouring boy, Johannes. We learn that she has always felt different and apart from other people, and of her fixation on death and the darker aspects of life. We also see how she is bullied at school by the popular kids. With Teresa, unlike Theres, you feel you know the sort of kid she is. Later, Teresa develops something of a fixation for Theres when she sees her bizarre performances on reality pop show, Idol. Of course, the two girls inevitably meet, having connected over an Internet forum, and when they do, they form a strong bond which eventually evolves into the nexus of a larger group of outcast girls.

Little Star is a very unusual novel. In places reminiscent of We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver, touching as it does upon some of the same issues as that work. There is something remarkably uncomfortable about this book, a kind of pervasive wrongness that permeates the text, and clearly survived the translation from Swedish to English very well. I find it difficult to say precisely why this book has that effect. Some elements are obvious: it's graphically brutal in places, and that brutality is performed by children who might otherwise be considered angelic, such as Theres with her golden hair and melodic voice. This certainly is a factor. Less obviously, I think it's the way the novel skilfully highlights the superficial nature of many societal values, and the way in which the violent disaffection of the young girls takes on an almost spiritual dimension in response.

Some people may be put off by the lack of overt supernatural elements or by the fact that the book never really answers your questions. But in my view, Lindqvist has created one of the best horror novels of recent times. A deeply unsettling, finely tuned, twisted hymn to social alienation. All that, and Abba too... Highly recommended.

Little Star
By John Ajvide Lindqvist
Published in the UK by Quercus

House of Fear Giveaway - Winners.

2011-10-31T16:00:00.006Z

It's Halloween and what better way to celebrate than with a collection of great haunted house stories. The House of Fear anthology from Solaris is just such a thing. A few weeks back, I announced I had one signed copy and two regular copies of this spooky little number to give away. All you folks had to do to be in with a chance of winning a copy, was to answer this question:

Shirley Jackson wrote a massively influential horror novel, widely considered to be one of the best haunted house stories ever written. What is the name of this book?

The answer as so many of you knew, The Haunting of Hill House.

The winners chosen at random from the correctly received entries are:

Firstly, Marc Anthony-Taylor who wins the copy that has been lovingly scribbled on by many of the contributors. Well done, Marc!

And Andrew O' Hara and Craig Smith who each win an unsigned (but still fabulous) copy of the book.

Congratulations to all the winners! Thanks also to everyone who entered. Hope you all have a spooktastic Halloween.

77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz - Trailer

2011-10-26T23:21:00.000+01:00

I've mentioned before that I've long been a fan of Mr Koontz. Well, here is the trailer and blurb for his upcoming supernatural thriller, 77 Shadow Street. This one is incoming for January 2012 in the UK from HarperCollins and a few weeks earlier in the US from Bantam.

Heart-stopping thriller from the master of suspense. Bad things are starting to happen at the Pendleton, an eerie building with a tragic past.

The Pendleton stands on the summit of Shadow Hill, a palace built in the late 19th century as a tycoon’s dream home. But its grandeur has been scarred by episodes of madness, suicide and mass murder. Since being converted into luxury apartments in the 70s, however, the Pendleton has been at peace. For its fortunate residents – among them ex-marine Bailey Hawk, songwriter Twyla Trahern and her young son Winny – the Pendleton is a sanctuary, its dark past all but forgotten.

But now inexplicable shadows caper across walls, security cameras relay impossible images, phantom voices mutter in strange tongues, not-quite-human figures lurk in the basement, elevators plunge into unknown depths. It seems that whatever drove past occupants to their unspeakable fates is at work again.

As nightmare visions become real, a group of extraordinary individuals hold the key to humanity’s destiny. Welcome to 77 Shadow Street.

By Light Alone by Adam Roberts - Review

2011-10-22T20:51:00.014+01:00

In a world where we have been genetically engineered so that we can photosynthesise sunlight with our hair, hunger is a thing of the past, food an indulgence. The poor grow their hair, the rich affect baldness and flaunt their wealth by still eating. But other hungers remain . . .

The young daughter of an affluent New York family is kidnapped. The ransom demands are refused. A year later a young women arrives at the family home claiming to be their long lost daughter. She has changed so much, she has lived on light, can anyone be sure that she has come home?

Some people apparently see science fiction and other forms of non-realist or speculative fiction as essentially escapist fiction. This perception of the nature of SF is clearly a barrier to those who like to read fiction that is anchored in everyday reality, even while it may attract those who genuinely do read to escape from it. Despite my taste for the imaginative and speculative in fiction, I fall very firmly into the former category and I don't see this as a contradiction. I read science fiction to enhance my understanding of our world, not to escape from it. Little wonder then that Adam Roberts is one of my favourite science fiction authors. Roberts' work, like the very best of science fiction, perfectly exemplifies how a vivid imagination, rather than leading to pure flights of fancy, can in fact elucidate the values and condition of the society in which we currently live. His latest, By Light Alone, does just such a thing, and it does it brilliantly.

The primary concept of this book is wonderfully wacky: that in the future humans have been genetically engineered to photosynthesise sunlight through their hair, thus eradicating the demand for food from an ever growing population. What has not been eradicated are the social and economic inequalities of our time nor the vain affectations of the rich and powerful. They have simply evolved, and now the rich flaunt their wealth by shaving their hair and eating food while looking for ways to further shield themselves from the hairy hordes of the desperate poor.

George and Marie are exemplars of such high society. They live a life isolated from the harsh realities of the wider world until their daughter, Leah, is kidnapped while they're holidaying in Anatolia. After these initial events, the novel outlines the attempt by Marie and George to recover their daughter and the impact of her absence on their lives, then latterly the aftermath of her eventual return, before finally offering an explanation of what actually occurred for Leah during the time she was taken. The structure of the novel is itself an integral part of the story, the final segment of the book is one long chapter which reveals Leah's physical and psychological journey, and which places the events of the other chapters into their proper context including the revelation of a well executed conceit. All the while the personal experiences of the characters are set against the backdrop of growing social unrest.

Throughout this book Roberts employs his erudite writing style to impressive effect, combining satirical insight and perceptiveness with great depth of both theme and character. Marie in particular is an utterly vile human being, but a great personality. There are also moments within its pages that By Light Alone is actually quite dark, including accounts of sexual exploitation. A difficult subject at any time and one often employed all too lazily in fiction, thankfully in this work, these never appear as anything other than entirely appropriate. The darkness within this novel is accentuated by an acute awareness of contrast. George's ruminations on the transient nature of existence following not just the loss of his daughter, but his witnessing the death of the man apparently responsible, occurs, for example, in potent polarity to the shallowness of his previous existence and the nonchalant humour of Roberts' prose. This contrast of light and dark, superficial and profound, characterise the narrative. As does a wonderful grasp of the effectiveness of understatement.

It's not often that I rave unreservedly about a novel, but I really did love this book without exception. By Light Alone is clever science fiction, and not just because of its prose or theme; It is imbued with perceptiveness and acutely observed social insight that transcends genre and that make this a fantastically relevant offering of 21st century literature. I sincerely hope this book finally brings Adam Roberts the recognition he deserves from a wider audience. For me, it has been my favourite novel of the year so far. If you want to see the best that British Science Fiction has to offer, and just how grounded in real world concerns it can be, then you need to be reading Adam Roberts. By Light Alone is a great place to start.

By Light Alone
by Adam Roberts
Published by in the UK by Gollancz

For more information on Adam Roberts visit his website.

Tor UK Captures Seth Patrick - News

2011-10-17T13:19:00.000+01:00

Tor UK captures Seth Patrick

Reviver by Seth Patrick has been acquired by Tor UK in a six-figure pre-empt from Luigi Bonomi.

It is the first of three books in the Reviver series, all of which have been acquired by Tor UK and Thomas Dunne Books in New York for World English Language rights. Comparable to Stephen King, Justin Cronin and Dean Koontz, this supernatural thriller has a fantastic lead character, Jonah Miller, who will feature in all three books.

Seth Patrick is in his late 30s and lives in West Sussex. A very successful computer games developer who works for Sega, Reviver is his first novel.

Reviver is set in the USA and introduces readers to Jonah Miller, one of the world’s most gifted revivers. Revivers are those who can make contact with the dead and bring them back for a short period of time to say goodbye to loved ones or, more importantly for the police, tell them who their killers were. But while reviving the victim of a brutal murder, Jonah discovers that a sinister presence is watching from the other side. When he starts to investigate, what he uncovers threatens everything he knows . . .

Julie Crisp, Editorial Director of Tor UK says,

“This is a hugely exciting project and everyone who read this loved it! Seth Patrick is a wonderful writer and there's a real sense of action and pace combined with an imagination and storyline in the novel that readers of Justin Cronin will love. Jonah Miller is going to be a very popular character.”

Luigi Bonomi comments,

“Seth Patrick has written one of the most captivating and original stories I’ve read in ages. I first read the material sitting on a train and had to ring the author there and then as I knew it was going to be terrific. I couldn’t be more delighted that Macmillan and Thomas Dunne Books are going to be publishing it.”

Reviver is currently scheduled for publication in the UK in 2013.

For more information, please contact Chloe Healy on 00 44 20 7014 6186 or via e-mail:
c.healy@macmillan.co.uk

The House of Fear by Jonathan Oliver (Editor) - Review

2011-10-09T20:36:00.034+01:00

The tread on the landing outside the door, when you know you are the only one in the house. The wind whistling through the eves, carrying the voices of the dead. The figure glimpsed briefly through the cracked window of a derelict house. Editor Jonathan Oliver brings horror home with a collection of haunted house stories by some of the finest writers working in the horror genre, including Joe R. Lansdale, Sarah Pinborough, Lisa Tuttle, Christopher Priest, Adam L. G. Nevill, Nicholas Royle, Chaz Brenchley, Christopher Fowler, Gary Kilworth, Weston Ochse, Eric Brown, Tim Lebbon, Nina Allan, Stephen Volk, Paul Meloy and more.

It is just under a year since I reviewed Jonathan Oliver's first collection of themed original horror shorts, The End of the Line. That was, I thought, an excellent collection overall, and therfore I've been excited for this second anthology ever since it was first announced. House of Fear has the classic haunted house as its theme. This is heavily traversed ground and so the challenge here, far more than with the previous collection, is to find original and exciting ways to tell these stories. I'm pleased to say the contributors to the House of Fear have succeeded admirably in this regard.

First up is Objects In Dreams May Be Closer Than They Appear by veteran supernatural scribe, Lisa Tuttle. This is a great opener to the collection, and one which I feel perfectly sets the tone for the anthology as a whole. Focusing as it does on the search for a rural idyll and a house that may not even exist. It is well told and shows from the outset that this is a collection happy to play creatively with its theme.

Up next is one of the standout stories in the collection for me, Pied-Á-Terre by Stephen Volk. Volk is one of a number of contributors to House of Fear who also contributed to The End of the Line. This tale is poignant and understated, taking as its basis a real event and using its haunting as a warning to spur the protagonist into making a key decision about her life. It is expertly done. This is followed by another great story, In the Absence Of Murdoch, by Terry Lamsley. Lamsley is one of a handful of writers in this anthology whose work is previously unknown to me, but this quirky, darkly mischievous and very enjoyable tale has placed him firmly on my radar.

Adam Nevill is a writer whose work I am familiar with, and who, in my opinion, is very skilled at crafting tales of unease. His contribution is one of several which touch upon the subject of old age. Florrie is a sad tale that is haunting in ways not limited to the supernatural. Christopher Fowler is another whose contribution has a theme related to the elderly, but in this instance, An Injustice didn't work for me as well as the others. I wasn't entirely convinced by the actions of a key character. Also, a crucial aspect of this story brought to mind a tabloid rant, in which an elderly white woman in a multi-racial inner city, the mother of a serving soldier in Afghanistan, is the victim of Asian Hoodlums. Tim Lebbon's tale, Trick Of The Light, completes the trinity of tales that have ageing as part of their theme. Like Nevill's earlier, it is melancholic and infused with sadness and regret. It is a potent evocation of the haunting nature of memory.

Sarah Pinborough is another writer whose work is well known to me. Her story, The Room Upstairs, is actually a kind of slow burn love story. I really liked it, and it stood out for me as having a character quite different from all the other contributions without trying hard to be different. That by Robert Shearman, conversely, did feel like it was trying hard to be different. The Dark Space In The House In The House In The Garden At The Centre Of The World although clever in some aspects, left me with mixed feelings overall.

Characteristically surreal, Inside/Out by Nicholas Royle may not be as captivating as his story in the End of The Line, but is still memorable for its twisting unreality. It may also leave you scratching your head, wondering what the heck you just read. Driving The Milky Way by Weston Ochse is a spirited number in more than just the obvious ways. It is a striking tale which brings to mind strong images and creates a lasting impression. More conventional (but no less effective) tales are provided by Jonathan Green and Paul Meloy, both Villanova and the Doll's House are disturbing, and each builds to a powerful conclusion.

With so many excellent tales, choosing the best from among them is a difficult task. Aside from those already mentioned, Christopher Priest is a definite contender. Willow Weeds is a mesmerising tale of misdirection with a unique take on the concept of haunting, and it's completely brilliant. Another strong contender is the closing tale from Joe R. Lansdale, What Happened To Me wraps up the collection perfectly with its weird fiction undertones and elemental haunting.

The House of Fear is a great set of stories. An anthology that deserves to be in every horror fans collection. Editor, Jonathan Oliver is rapidly shaping up to be a key name in horror anthologies, soon able, if this standard continues, to take his place alongside the likes of Stephen Jones and Ellen Datlow. I haven't mentioned all of the stories featured, and of course, I preferred some more than others, but there really are no bad stories in House of Fear. This collection contains some of the best writers of horror and supernatural fiction at work today as well as some of the field's rising stars. I'm already impatient for the next of these themed anthologies. You should be too.

House of Fear

by Jonathan Oliver (Editor)

Published by Solaris Books.

Available from the Book Depository and other leading book retailers. Also available for Kindle

The House of Fear - Giveaway

2011-10-03T21:18:00.005+01:00

Last week I (briefly) attended the launch of the hot new horror anthology, The House of Fear. This collection edited by Jonathan Oliver and published by Solaris is Oliver's second themed horror anthology following on from last year's excellent, The End of the Line. This time the theme is the classic haunted house, and the many and varied contributors each approach the subject in a variety of different and often surprising ways. This is a great collection (look out for a full review before the week is out) and 3 lucky Kamvision readers could each win a copy this Halloween. Yes folks, thanks to those generous chaps at Solaris, I have 3 copies of the book to give away. One of which is a copy signed by many of the contributors, including Sarah Pinborough, Christopher Priest and editor, Jonathan Oliver.

To be in with a chance to win a copy of The House of Fear, send an e-mail to kamvision [at] googlemail [dot] com with the correct answer to the following question:

Shirley Jackson wrote a massively influential horror novel, widely considered to be one of the best haunted house stories ever written. What is the name of this book?

The giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere. The closing date for the giveaway is 24th October 2011 and winners will be announced on the 31st October 2011. Winners will be chosen at random from among the correct entries received by this date, and notified via e-mail. The winners will also be announced on this blog. The first winner chosen will receive the signed copy of the book, the others will each receive an unsigned copy. Good luck!

NB: The book will be dispatched to the winners within two weeks of them being notified of winning.

Dead Island by Mark Morris - Review

2011-10-02T00:08:00.036+01:00

What will you do? How far will you go? What will you become?

Welcome to Banoi, a tropical island where you can leave the stresses of the world behind...

Welcome to the Royal Palms Resort – which offers its guests from around the world the ultimate in luxury and relaxation...

Welcome to the holiday paradise where your dreams should come true...but where a nightmare is about to begin....

Because a mysterious epidemic has suddenly, and without warning, broken out across the island. The local islanders, hotel guests and workers alike are struck down - only to rise again, craving the flesh and the blood of the still living. For four of the holidaymakers and a handful of others scattered around Banoi who are seemingly unaffected by the plague, they must face the awful, terrifying reality of a zombie apocalypse. Now there is only one thing left to do: survive.

Welcome to Dead Island... a paradise to die for.

I have a confession to make: although I am a long time gamer, I have never read a videogame tie-in novel nor have I ever been much inclined to. It's not that I've taken some vow of chastity and forsworn intimacy with the tie-in, it's just that the right opportunity has never really presented itself before now. A state of affairs from which I derived a certain sense of honour. After all, I feel it's important to have standards. Then along comes Dead Island.

There was, I should say, prior acquaintance; I've been happily familiar with Mark Morris' work going way back to his first novel. And so one thing led to another and before I knew it...well, you get the picture. Unfortunately, my brief encounter with Dead Island has left me feeling somewhat sullied. And now my honour is ruined, I fear there is no going back.

Having played some of the game, I can say that the book follows it closely from the outset. In the game you must choose at the beginning from one of four characters to be your player character. The choices are between an Australian Half-Aborigine former cop with a class war attitude, a washed-up one time sports star with a drink problem, a one-hit wonder rapper and a reluctant Chinese Spy. These same four characters are quickly introduced in the novel and together form a posse of survivors when the zombie apocalypse strikes the island paradise of Banoi. They also soon become aware that their being on the island is less of a chance event then they had believed, and that each of them have been seemingly chosen for their immunity to the zombie creating virus. Oh yes, it's zombie virus time again folks!

As the party seek a way to survive the island, their endeavours read like a video game narrative, which is not what I want from a novel whether game tie-in or not. The group basically move from point A to point B and fight zombies, learn a bit more about the secrets on the island and fight some more zombies; encounter dangerous natives and then fight zombies... The whole thing is very linear with no character development to speak of and no real tension. It is, I'm sad to say, zombies by numbers.

There's nothing that is in any way original or even particularly interesting about this novel. The islanders are a total cliché of 'primitive' tribal people. The action lacks dynamism, and the zombies are dull. On the positive side, there are a number of well placed film references and the Australian character at least has an unusual background, albeit one that is not exploited in any meaningful way, but really that is all. As I mentioned previously, I've read and enjoyed some of Morris' earlier work and a number of his short stories, so I feel part of the problem here must lie with the very limited framework of the game on which it is based.

Dead Island the game, is a multi-player zombie slaughter-fest with some limited RPG aspirations that has little in the way of true substance. It is not in my opinion the ideal choice for a novel tie-in. Some games, like Mass Effect or Bioshock, have a depth to them which can be fertile ground for stories in other media. I don't believe the same can be said of Dead Island. Having said that, I still think this novel could have been better.

For fans of the game this book does add an extra dimension to the experience. Although, I imagine most people playing Dead Island aren't there for the story. It may also have something to offer to the hardcore zombie fanatic, but it's extremely unlikely they'll find anything new here besides the setting. With so many better zombie novels out there, I can think of little reason to recommend Dead Island to anyone else.

Dead Island

by Mark Morris

Published by Bantam

Available from the Book Depository and all leading book retailers.

Watch the trailer below:

New Robot Joins Angry Team - News

2011-09-24T11:48:00.003+01:00

Angry Robot have a new staff member. This is what they have to say on the matter:

We have fresh flesh! We are delighted to announce that Little, Brown's Online Marketing Manager Darren Turpin will be joining SF & fantasy imprint Angry Robot from 7th November, as Marketing & Digital Manager.

Turpin will report to Angry Robot publishing director Marc Gascoigne, and work on promoting the full range of Angry Robot titles, as well as developing some currently unannounced new digital initiatives. (Yay, secret stuff!) Turpin had been at Little, Brown for three and a half years, originally working for the company’s science fiction and fantasy list, Orbit. He was also previously manager of the (legendary!) SF department at Waterstone’s Deansgate, Manchester, editor of their in-house SF magazine The Alien Has Landed, and one of the compilers of The Waterstone’s Guide to SF & Fantasy.

Darren said, without any coercion: “I’m hugely excited by the prospect of working for Angry Robot; they’re a cutting-edge independent publisher with a great reputation, an enthusiastic fan-base and a fantastic author roster... what’s not to love? It will be great to get back to genre publishing as well, it’s where my roots lie and where my heart has always been. I can’t wait to get started.”

Marco added, as you do: “Darren’s made quite a name for himself in both science fiction bookselling and publishing. It’s our tremendous good fortune to find a role for him that truly plays to all of his strengths. Angry Robot is growing in leaps and bounds both in the UK and US, and Darren is just who we need to take our message further than ever before.”

Look out for him popping up on our website and Twitter feed as soon as he's gone through the implantation procedures.

Visit Angry Robot

Bedbugs by Ben H. Winters - Review

2011-09-19T16:08:00.009+01:00

Alex and Susan Wendt are the perfect couple in search of the perfect Brooklyn brownstone - and the house at 56 Cranberry Street is too good to pass up. Sure, the landlady seems a little eccentric. And the creepy handyman drops too many strange remarks about the previous tenants. But the sidewalk is lined with trees and there's a beautiful playground just down the block, where their 3-year-old daughter Emma can play.

Alex loves their new home but Susan is less enthusiastic - something about the new place just doesn't feel right, and she's having trouble sleeping. In the mornings, Susan awakens to find drops of blood on her pillowcase -and soon her wrists are speckled with bites. She immediately suspects bedbugs but she and Alex and the landlady search the apartment without uncovering a single creature.

Even stranger, Alex doesn't have any bites on his body. You're just experiencing some kind of psychosomatic reaction, he suggests. I've never seen any bugs. Exterminators search the apartment and find nothing. But Susan is convinced she's right - she's seen the bedbugs, crawling over her body, feasting on her flesh, and swarming in incredibly vivid nightmares. As her fear and paranoia build to a fever pitch, the story arrives at its horrific conclusion, in which all of the book's many mysteries are revealed. Can Susan contain the bedbugs before they destroy her family?

Well, this book is a bit of a surprise. For one thing, it's way better than I thought it was going to be from a cursory judgement. And for another, it's not really the kind of novel I was expecting at all. This is much more of a psychological horror, than a crazy mutant critters run amok horror, which in truth is what I thought it was going to be. I was expecting Night of the Crabs, what I got was Rosemary's Baby where the baby has been replaced by a lot of evil little mites.

The writing is also a lot better than I was expecting (I know, I know I shouldn't pre-judge...) The slow build up of events is well timed, the relationship between the central characters totally believable - although the husband is very forgiving - there's some good dialogue, and the appropriately used internal monologue of the central character is excellent. Susan, is not the easiest person to like, she's neurotic and selfish at best, and in fact she got on my nerves a great deal of the time, but she's very engaging (which is the only thing that matters in a novel, in my opinion) and her descent into increasing paranoia - if that's what it is - is deftly handled.

Aside from Susan, her husband Alex, and daughter Emma, the other characters in the book are used largely to keep the reader guessing about the true nature of 56 Cranberry, the apartment that becomes the source of the family's nightmare. There is the overly friendly old lady who owns the apartment, the strange elderly caretaker and the feckless nanny. There is also the mystery of what happened to the previous occupants. Finally, of course, there is a rather large amount of little bloodsuckers...

The bugs, whether real or imagined by Susan, are used in a very interesting way in this novel. They are not just an infestation to be dealt with in the ordinary sense, but are suggestive of a deeper psychological and perhaps even spiritual crisis that 56 Cranberry Street provokes in Susan. For the reader, they also work as a metaphor of the erosion of stability in Susan and Alex's relationship. Again, I thought this was really well done.

It's not the deepest book you're ever going to read, but it really isn't just the throwaway literary equivalent of a B-Movie. Somehow it manages to combine a sense of the B-Movie aesthetic with hints of 70's horror classics. On the whole this novel feels both modern and yet surprisingly retro at the same time.

Bedbugs is a very enjoyable helping of old school psychological horror. It's a quick read (250-ish pages) and so much better than you may think from casual appraisal. It's a book that is as much about relationships and trust as it is about bloodsucking bugs. But do beware when reading this, you may find yourself scratching every now and then...

Bedbugs
by Ben H. Winters
Published by Quirk Books

Available from the Book Depository and other leading book stores.

For more information on Ben H. Winters check out his website.

Check out this trailer for the book:

Southern Gods by John Hornor Jacobs - Review

2011-09-16T00:53:00.017+01:00

Recent World War II veteran Bull Ingram is working as muscle when a Memphis DJ hires him to find Ramblin' John Hastur. The mysterious blues man's dark, driving music - broadcast at ever-shifting frequencies by a phantom radio station - is said to make living men insane and dead men rise.

Disturbed and enraged by the bootleg recording the DJ plays for him, Ingram follows Hastur's trail into the strange, uncivilized backwoods of Arkansas, where he hears rumors the musician has sold his soul to the Devil. But as Ingram closes in on Hastur and those who have crossed his path, he'll learn there are forces much more malevolent than the Devil and reckonings more painful than Hell...

"I went to the crossroad, fell down on my knees."

Robert Johnson sang these words in the opening line to his classic blues song, Crossroad. Johnson is famous as being pretty much the archetype for the legend of the blues man who sold his sole to the devil at a crossroad. Crossroads being in-between places of great power in many magical traditions, and notably in the Southern States of the US in the practices of Hoodoo and American Conjure. Practices derived in-part from earlier West African folk traditions brought to the US by slaves. In Southern Gods the legend of the devilish blues man has the the name of ramblin' John Hastur, and the devil isn't of a Christian kind but of the Lovecraftian variety.

I don't read much Cthulhu Mythos stuff outside of Lovecraft's own work. I do like H.P. Lovecraft, but I'm not crazy for the whole genre of Lovecraft inspired Cthulhu fiction that has arisen, like the tentacled one himself, in more recent times. In fact despite being full of Lovecraftian references, it wasn't this aspect of Southern Gods that appealed to me the most. No, it was definitely the whole Southern Gothic and Delta Blues vibe that really lifted this novel above the average Cthulhu Mythos inspired tale for me.

Southern Gods takes many of the classic elements of Southern Gothic and American Noir and mixes them with Lovecraftian Horror and the kind of blues legend mentioned above, to great effect. I love all these things as separate ingredients, so it was a sure bet I would like the combination of them in this story, and I did - yes indeedy! John Hornor Jacobs has cooked-up some mighty fine literary gumbo in Southern Gods.

The writing here is uncomplicated, and the plot is also relatively straight-forward. This is not a book that is trying in any way to be clever. It also features characters and a setting that could be perceived as a little clichéd. For example, a lot of the action takes place at a big plantation house where the white landowner is fussed over by her stoic and resourceful black best friend, who is also her twisted mother's housekeeper. The hero, Ingram, is a solid but occasionally thugish ex-soldier, who ultimately has a good heart. You've seen all these characters before to an extent, but truthfully, none of this matters because it's such an enjoyable read.

I thought Southern Gods was thoroughly entertaining. It has a classic pulp fiction vibe about it and it would make a fantastic setting for an ongoing series of some kind, especially a comic book. John Hornor Jacobs has crafted a first novel that feels like it should have been done ages ago. It reads like the kind of story you could easily imagine appearing serialised or in short form in the original Weird Tales. What could be more fitting for a tale of Lovecraft inspired horror?

Filled with twisted family secrets, musty old tomes of arcane power, crazy preachers who know the truth of cosmic horror and shadowy men singin' the blues, Southern Gods is a treat. If you're a fan of Lovecraftian Fiction or like me you have a soft spot for the blues, then you really ought to read Southern Gods.

"I went to the crossroad, fell down on my knees..."

Southern Gods

By John Hornor Jacob
Published by Night Shade Books

Available from leading book retailers everywhere and with free delivery worldwide from the Book Depository

For more on John Hornor Jacobs visit his blog.

Final Days by Gary Gibson - Review

2011-09-12T16:39:00.021+01:00

It's 2235 and through the advent of wormhole technology more than a dozen interstellar colonies have been linked to Earth.

But this new mode of transportation comes at a price and there are risks. Saul Dumont knows this better than anyone. He's still trying to cope with the loss of the wormhole link to the Galileo system, which has stranded him on Earth far from his wife and child for the past several years.

Only weeks away from the link with Galileo finally being re-established, he stumbles across a conspiracy to suppress the discovery of a second, alien network of wormholes which lead billions of years in the future. A covert expedition is sent to what is named Site 17 to investigate, but when an accident occurs and one of the expedition, Mitchell Stone, disappears – they realise that they are dealing with something far beyond their understanding.

When a second expedition travels via the wormholes to Earth in the near future of 2245 they discover a devastated, lifeless solar system - all except for one man, Mitchell Stone, recovered from an experimental cryogenics facility in the ruins of a lunar city.

Stone may be the only surviving witness to the coming destruction of the Earth. But why is he the only survivor — and once he's brought back to the present, is there any way he and Saul can prevent the destruction that's coming?

I'm not a massive fan of books or other media that involve time travel. As a science fiction concept, it has never particularly interested me. I am not, for example, that big a fan of Doctor Who - it's OK, but I can take it or leave it. A lot of the time, the various alternate realities and multiple time-line plots start to get on my nerves. So when I started reading Final Days, which revolves around an alien technology that allows humans to pass through wormholes to different points in time and space, I wasn't sure what I'd make of it. I needn't of worried, there is nothing so convoluted in this book, the first of a new series by Gary Gibson - and the first of his I've read. This tale of time travel is really very good indeed.

The first thing I noticed about this book is that Gibson has a very clear and uncluttered style of writing. I really appreciated this, especially as some of the physics concepts could otherwise easily become a little confusing. In the beginning this book also jumps around a bit, introducing a number of different characters and plot strands, something which, again, could easily lead to confusion in less skilled hands. Later, the book settles into a more steady and linear narrative for the most part. The various strands begin to coalesce and something of the bigger picture begins to reveal itself. I found myself becoming more and more drawn as the book progressed. Put simply, the more of it I read, the more I liked.

Final Days is a grim sci-fi novel. Its mix of politics, terrorism, organised crime and human apocalypse is captivating, but far from light. It's very clearly a graduate of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica school of science fiction. This is no bad thing - I loved that show. In Final Days, Gibson has taken another leaf out of that programme's proverbial book: character. One of the biggest flaws of so much science fiction for me - including many of the classics of the genre - is that concept often reigns supreme over character. Here, while being essentially a high concept novel, the characters are not forgotten. I was also very pleased to see an African-American chief protagonist. Saul Dumont, is fairly straight forward as a lead character, a mix of repressed anger, grief, loyalty and heroism. Not outstanding, but very human. This humanity adds to the impact of the larger events happening in the novel, and there are a few key moments were Saul needs to make some very tough decisions.

This book is the first of a series and many of the plot threads remain unresolved at the end. That's not to say there's no sense of completion, there is on a minor level for at least one character, but the larger picture is very far from concluded. What is revealed of that picture is deeply captivating, and I cannot wait for the sequel. As this novel progressed, it felt like all that I'd been set-up to expect was really very far from the truth of what was actually happening. I also really wanted to know more about the origins of the wormhole technology, and the alien Founder civilisation responsible for it. Incidentally, there is some very cool tech in this novel. I especially like the description of the integrated UP (Ubiquitous Profile) system. Basically, the internet and all your personal identity records in a pair of contact lenses.

Dark, epic and character driven, Final Days is confident science fiction. In-part it reads like a hybrid of Battlestar Galactica and the computer game Mass Effect, both of which represent in their respective media, a high point in recent science fiction. Likewise, Final Days shows Gary Gibson staking a claim to the throne of British Sci-Fi. I am certainly converted, and I keenly await the next novel in this very promising series.

Final Days

by Gary Gibson

Published by Tor UK

Available from the Book Depository and other leading book retailers and for Amazon Kindle.

For more information on Gary Gibson, please visit his blog.

What the Night Knows by Dean Koontz - Review

2011-09-09T23:28:00.012+01:00

Something is waiting in the dark…

Billy Lucas confesses to a shocking crime. He's only fourteen years old but he's a sadistic killer and proud of it. He's in the secure wing of the state hospital but … he seems too wise for his age, not crazy, too knowing. About the nature of evil, and whether it lives on beyond death. Too knowing about other crimes that took place before he was born …

Other murders from twenty years ago surface in the mind of Detective John Calvino as he interviews young Billy Lucas. Calvino carries away a signed confession … and a sense of great danger. That night he feels that somehow Billy has come home with him, to his family.

Over the next weeks, this haunted feeling does not go away. It only gets worse. Then another killing spree happens, just as and when John Calvino dreaded it would. Billy is safely locked away, but not the ghost, if the ghost exists, that links these murders with past crimes, and with John Calvino.

Anything could happen, and surely will … again.

Dean Koontz, I must confess, is something of a guilty pleasure of mine. He's an immensely popular author, whose combined sales of some fifty plus novels are easily the equal of Stephen King, even if his name and influence is not as strong. And for a young fan of horror in the eighties, like myself, Koontz was a must read alongside, King, Herbert and Barker. He has also played an important part in establishing the Horror Writers of America and the Bram Stoker Award. That said, his novels, which often include thrillers as much as horror, can be very hit and miss, and the quality of much of his more recent work has not been up there with his best.

What the Night Knows is supernatural horror, which is actually something of a rarity for Koontz and a definite draw for me. It begins with the main protagonist, Cop John Calvino, interviewing a teenage killer who seemingly flipped one morning and decided to kill his family in a sadistic rampage. What disturbs John is the similarity to another series of murders several years ago that have great personal significance to him. As the plot unfurls, it becomes apparent very quickly that something other than human may be behind these latest killings, and that John and his family may be in danger themselves.

I was polarised somewhat in my opinion of this book. Judging it purely on the basis of entertainment, I found it enjoyable. The main character is functional as a protagonist, rather than somebody who inspires any great empathy or is in any way remarkable, but his family, particularly the children, worked better. When the threat travels with John back to his home, the tension and fear for their safety is well handled.

What I found most ridiculous, even knowing Koontz's religious background, was the way in which the subtext sets-up moral lapse and New Age paraphernalia to be among the culprits for allowing evil to gain a foothold, whilst having an ex-communicated paedophile priest cast in an almost heroic manner. A set-up that seemed entirely present to argue for the effectiveness of catholic liturgy and rites, and to warn of the potentially harmful spiritual effects of otherwise seemingly harmless items such as...crystals. like I said, ridiculous.

Still, in many ways this is what Koontz is about, and I know whenever I read him what to expect. Like I said at the start of this review, his work is in many ways a guilty pleasure for me, born in part from nostalgia, but also in part because his stories are easy reads. Despite being horror or thriller, his novels are comforting in their familiarity and What the Night Knows is no exception. So why my critical head might be less than impressed in many regards, my inner child really quite enjoyed it. Even if he is probably open to demonic possession for thinking in such terms...

What the Night Knows

by Dean Koontz

Published in the UK by Harper Collins and in the US by Bantam

Dean's website is here:

Solaris/Abaddon announces Read Anything - News

2011-09-09T14:05:00.000+01:00

READ ANYTHING

Ever wanted to read something different but didn’t want the world to judge you by the cover of the book?

Spaceships, wizards, hooded swordsman – we love them all. But it’s not the cover, it’s the insides that matter. So, Solaris and Abaddon books are here to tell you that you can READ ANYTHING.

The revolution in eReaders gives you, the reader, the freedom to read whatever you want – fantasy, science-fiction, horror, urban fantasy, Steampunk, historical action, ANYTHING. They’re perfect to explore genre fiction you never knew even existed!

The READ ANYTHING campaign from Solaris and Abaddon Books aims to do away with judging a book, or rather its reader, by its cover. At last, content shall be king with whole new worlds of genre publishing opening up to readers.

Solaris and Abaddon Books are two of the freshest genre publishers in the UK today, producing books that transcend lazy genre clichés. Explore the Steampunk world of Pax Britannia on your iPad, the terrifying sink estate of The Concrete Grove on your Kindle, or soaring SF epics such as The Recollection and The Kings of Eternity.

Solaris and Abaddon don’t just release eBooks – we want to provide new and exciting material for readers. Both imprints will:

· publish every new book as an eBook on multiple platforms on the same day as it sees prints

· publish the first chapter of every new book online, for free, ahead of publication

· publish selected future titles exclusively as eBooks

· introduce new ways to share eBooks with your friends and family.

“The world of genre fiction is as rich and rewarding as anything produced by the publishers of ‘literature’,” says Jonathan Oliver, editor-in-chief of both Solaris and Abaddon Books. “At Solaris and Abaddon we are committed to providing great fiction in a format to suit the reader. Now with the READ ANYTHING campaign you can jump into the world of genre without worrying what your fellow commuters will think.”

Thunder Stalker - Flash Fiction

2011-09-07T21:31:00.007+01:00

The ancestors were agitated. Their restlessness tore at the rainmaker from within. She could feel them pressing at her stomach, knew that if she dared to look down, she would see their faces: an outline of gaping mouths and wide eyes pulling her skin taut, stretching and straining as though seeking release from a prison of flesh. But she was not the cause of their discomfort.

She advanced slowly, placing each naked foot on the parched earth as silently as possible. Since her banishment she'd not dared to return to the outpost, but now she had no choice. Careful to keep her distance, she settled into a crouch and watched the crowd from behind a row of large earthen containers stacked beside an empty storehouse. Beyond, the growing mass appeared nervous. Even this distant she could sense their anxiety and see the wearied look on their gaunt faces. Not so the prince. Baba Asante III, resplendent in polished gold chainmail, sat on the ceremonial high seat - an intricately carved stool of solid ebony set upon a large circular dais of wood and iron, draped at the front with leopard skins - and from his vantage point, canvassed those gathering with inscrutable calm.

Instinctively the rainmaker looked to the heavens. The vivid blue was unbroken. The lords of the sky it seemed would permit no blemish in their numinous realm and grant no respite to her stricken kin. In this simple fact lay the reason for her current predicament, and the reason she assumed, for whatever madness - it must be madness, the turmoil in her stomach surely confirmed that much? - she was now about to witness.

The sudden sound of drumming caused her to jump. Shaken, she glanced over her shoulder towards the ragged outline of forest which had provided cover earlier, and beyond which she had recently made her home in exile. The forlorn trees were silent. She returned her gaze to the crowd. The majority were now moving in slow gyration to a leaden and repetitive beat. A row of drummers stood at the front of the dais, sweat luminous on their dark torsos. Clapping encouragement, the prince vigorously nodded his approval. Some of the crowd, those farthest to the rainmaker’s right, had turned to face something out of her sight. Then it, no, he - a boy - was drawn into her view by two large armoured men tugging at a chain fastened to his neck by an iron collar. The boy's hands and feet were bound, and he lurched and stumbled, barely keeping his balance, even as he tried desperately to use his scant bodyweight to resist the onward pull.

The rainmaker couldn’t tell the identity of the boy, but she was certain she would know him. The settlement was young, and small. It was in fact little more than a proving ground for the prince, an opportunity to enhance his reputation by expanding territory at the utmost frontier. When the drought struck and then continued unabated, the rainmaker had argued for abandoning the outpost, at least temporarily. The ancestors had displayed growing irritation ever since the founding and she was keen to return to ancestral lands to seek reasons for their disquiet. But the prince had no intention of abandoning the settlement or of returning to more verdant pastures.

Exhausted, the boy collapsed. Ultimately, he had to be dragged up onto the dais; the brutish servants not satisfied until he lay gasping upon crumpled leopard hide at the feet of the prince. Baba Asante III raised himself to stand above the child, and surveyed the crowd - his crowd. Many were swaying, entranced, despite that the drumming had now stopped. From his side, he unsheathed the Royal Udamalore and waved the gleaming sword with pride.

“I know you are all tired and hungry,” his voice, a resonant bellow that had no trouble finding the rainmaker. “I too am weary, and I wish with all my heart that we did not find ourselves in this predicament."

The crowd uniformly murmured.

"But the rains, and our rainmaker, fail us still. We face starvation if we do not find a way to appeal to the lords of the sky...”

She couldn’t listen. The ancestors within were screaming a fury that threatened to explode her, and her own mind howled with them. Did the prince really believe this outrage would achieve anything? She closed her eyes, forcing back tears. Eventually, the monotony of the prince’s speech gave way once more to the rumble of drums, then, finally, to a terrible penetrating shriek which ended with resonant abruptness.

Still she couldn’t open her eyes. For a moment she just slouched, sobbing behind her earthen barrier. She remained at that spot longer than she should, lost in sadness and ancestral rage, exposing herself to great risk but not caring. Then she felt a splash on her skin. She opened her eyes and saw that the skies were dark with clouds, wilfully pissing scorn on her earlier disbelief.

Shrouded in ashen thought, her long matted locks dripping a trail, she headed for the safety of the trees. The rainmaker knew that only the ancestors could intercede on the people's behalf, and she was acutely aware of their lack of involvement. She knew also that the only other possibility was that a zangoman - a sorcerer, was somehow responsible. She turned again towards the settlement. The people were dancing - jubilant. Oblivious. And now they believed the gods responded favourably to bloodshed. Her heart dimmed at the implication.

Thunder called her attention to the broken sky. Among the clouds she spied the faint outline of indigo light, sparking brilliantly at random intervals - definitely sorcery! Yet why, even in the direst circumstance, risk a power that by its very nature destroys life? She had no answers. But as she turned into the forest once more, the ancestors painfully insisted she find them.

Jason Baki © 2011

Regicide by Nicholas Royle - Review

2011-09-04T20:46:00.017+01:00

Carl meets Annie Risk and falls for her.

Hurt by a recent relationship, she resists becoming involved. A chance find offers distraction: Carl stumbles across part of a map to an unknown town. He becomes convinced it represents the city of his dreams, where ice skaters turn quintuple loops and trumpeters hit impossibly high notes.... where Annie Risk will agree to see him again. But if he ever finds himself in the streets on his map, will they turn out to be the land of his dreams or the world of his worst nightmares?

In recent literary times a lot has been made of the concept of weird in fiction, and various writers old and new have been said to write under this banner or of its stillborn offspring, the New Weird. For a whole host of reasons, I've never much cared for this concept, even though I like and appreciate the work of a number of writers labelled weird. Nicholas Royle is not weird - in the literary sense. He may be the freakiest dude you'll ever meet in reality, I've no idea - and is not generally considered such, as far as I'm aware. So why mention it? Well, because I think in some ways his writing represents another loosely aligned stream of fiction that plays with abstraction and the otherworldy, but which has not received the same degree of attention, that of the uncanny. A style that owes much to psychoanalysis and the writings of Sigmund Freud, and which can be seen in the works of authors like Roald Dahl and Christopher Priest, and in the films of Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch among others.

In Regicide, the motifs of the uncanny are present from the outset. From the moment that Carl (the narrator) breaks into a strange empty house to answer a constantly ringing telephone - only to find the person at the end of the line seemingly knows his name - the reader's perception of normality is eroded. The ringing phone re-occurs as a theme, along with puzzles and maps, records playing silent messages and dogs - violent, dangerous dogs. All of these have symbolic associations, that reveal the inner workings of Carl's mind. As the narrative progresses it becomes increasingly difficult to tell what has actually happened in this reality, and what has occurred in another place, that may or may not just be an aspect of Carl's psyche.

The linear time frame of this novel is also difficult to pin down. From the clues: no mention of internet or mobile phones, mostly vinyl records but some CDs mentioned, smoking carriages on trains, etc, it would appear to take place somewhere between 1984 and 1990. The somewhat fractured presentation of time adds to the dream like surrealism, but means that this short novel requires concentration.

The title of this book is principally a reference to Un Régicide by French Novelist, Alain Robbe-Grillet. A book which Carl is reading in the story and from which some of the recurrent elements are drawn. This novel is clearly in dialogue with the themes of that work. Songs by New Wave Manchester band, the Passage also feature heavily, and together these two cultural references provide unifying background narrative. Despite these references, I was reminded in places of Alan Parker's film, The Wall based on the album by Pink Floyd.

There are many elements to this novel that I found worked exceptionally well. As Carl's life is revealed by the gradual peeling away of the layers of his psyche, there are moments of real sadness and tenderness, particularly with regards to his family background. There are also some very disturbing aspects. All this is spliced together with hints of obsession and subtle erotica, and a blurring of the lines between the outer and the inner world. This last aspect in particular I enjoyed very much, as it's a concept I have great personal interest in.

Regicide is exactly the kind of novel that appeals to me; sinister and surreal, it manages to be original, unsettling, and yet deeply human at the same time. It exemplifies the kind of uncanny fiction that distorts the readers perception of reality, but which never gets lost in meaningless philosophical abstractions. Nicholas Royle is a master of his craft and Regicide an excellent example of his work.

Regicide

by Nicholas Royle

Published by Solaris Books

Available from the Book Depository and all major book retailers.

For more on Nicholas Royle check out his website

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor - Teaser Trailer 2

2011-09-01T15:49:00.005+01:00

You may recall me mentioning that I will soon be reading The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor? Well, it's less than four weeks now until the release and Hodder have produced this second teaser trailer for the book:

Daughter of Smoke and Bone tells the story of 17-year-old orphan Karou who lives between two worlds; here and a place called Elsewhere. She also works for a demonic shopkeeper, the Wishmonger. She runs errands for him around the world, buying teeth pilfered from the dead – and sometimes the living – to fill his mysterious jars and coffers. Karou is neither purely good nor wholly evil, but you’ll be rooting for her every step of the way.

Fans are invited to join the official Daughter of Smoke Facebook and Twitter page for story extracts, exclusives and latest news:

Facebook http://on.fb.me/oLp5M9

Twitter https://twitter.com/SmokeAndBone

Low Town: The Straight Razor Cure by Daniel Polansky - Review

2011-08-26T18:09:00.009+01:00

Welcome to Low Town.

Here, the criminal is king. The streets are filled with the screeching of fish hags, the cries of swindled merchants, the inviting murmurs of working girls. Here, people can disappear, and the lacklustre efforts of the guard ensure they are never found.

Warden is an ex-soldier who has seen the worst men have to offer; now a narcotics dealer with a rich, bloody past and a way of inviting danger. You'd struggle to find someone with a soul as dark and troubled as his.

But then a missing child, murdered and horribly mutilated, is discovered in an alley.

And then another.

With a mind as sharp as a blade and an old but powerful friend in the city, he's the only man with a hope of finding the killer.

If the killer doesn't find him first.

My first response when reading The Straight Razor Cure or Low Town as it's known in the US, is that it was like reading a non-fantasy book converted into a fantasy setting. Now, I've been a long standing fan of fantasy fiction, ever since I first discovered Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks while still at primary school. But over the years, and particularly recently, I've come to realise that some of my love for the fantasy genre is nostalgia. That a lot of the time, when I'm faced with another volume in a never ending series that comes in at 700 plus pages, frankly, I just groan. Groan, and read something else. My next thought on this book, that it's written in a very different style from your usual fantasy fayre, may not be entirely true, because there's a whole lot of fantasy that's been published in the last few years, that I've never read. Either way, both these thoughts were, to me at least, a damn fine thing.

Saying that, I didn't immediately warm to the main character, the rather unsavoury Warden. And it wasn't until a few chapters in that I felt the book really found its feet. But once it got going, I totally clicked with it, and from then on I had a blast. Like I say, it doesn't read like too many other fantasy books, and it's being marketed as almost a hybrid of fantasy and noir. I can see why, the main story is essentially an effort to uncover the source of a series of child murders. A crime mystery investigated by a drug dealing ex-soldier. The first person narrative is also full of very modern language, and it took me a while to get used to characters in a fantasy novel bumping fists, smoking roll-ups and talking about how things jibed.

Aside from the noirish elements, there is a backdrop to the story of a great war that happened in the past, and it's written in a way that clearly references the First World War, with its trenches and industrial scale slaughter. I found myself intrigued by this aspect of the novel, and even though it's really only back-story, it added an engaging additional dimension to the setting. Placing the isolated environs of Low Town into a larger cultural and temporal framework, again quite different from much of what I've read previously. I almost wished that it had been explored further.

This novel is very much in the school of dark, grim and dirty fantasy. The main character is not very nice, the child murders are, well they're child murders, and suitably unpleasant. It's violent and bloody, and the language is very adult too. Despite this, I didn't find it a depressing read. Something about the pacing and the fact that some of the key characters have great loyalty, meant that I found it wasn't unremittingly bleak.

Up to now, everything I've said has been about how unlike fantasy this fantasy actually is, but it does have what many consider to be the quintessential fantasy ingredient: magic. The magic isn't overly used, and it's not really explained in any detail, but its very clearly present. The combination of magic - and some otherworldly creatures too - together with all the other aspects, make for a thrilling and unique reading experience.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Straight Razor Cure. It's the first fantasy I've read in a while, and it has reignited in me a sense of excitement for what can be done with fantasy. Overall, it is a book that has a striking vision for a different type of fantasy. This is certainly an impressive début from Daniel Polansky. I also like the fact that it's only 350 or so pages, and it ends with a solid conclusion. Unlike so much of the fantasy I've encountered, I actually wished this would go on longer, and go that bit further; I would happily return to Low Town in the future. A very modern, very engaging novel for fans of fantasy and non-fantasy alike.

Low Town: The Straight Razor Cure
by Daniel Polansky

Published in the UK by Hodder & Stoughton and in the US by Doubleday

Available with free delivery worldwide from The Book Depository and other leading book retailers.

You can learn more about Daniel Polansky and The Straight Razor Cure aka: Low Town (US) via his website.

For those interested there is also a short trailer for the book you can watch below:

A Serpent Uncoiled by Simon Spurrier - Review

2011-08-22T18:57:00.023+01:00

A missing mobster. A bizarre spiritualist society. And three deaths, linked by a chilling forensic detail.

Working as an enforcer in London's criminal underworld brought Dan Shaper to the edge of a breakdown. Now he's a private investigator, kept perilously afloat by a growing cocktail of drugs. He needs to straighten-up and rebuild his life, but instead gets the attention of his old gangland masters and a job-offer from Mr George Glass. The elderly eccentric claims to be a New Age Messiah, but now needs a saviour of his own. He's been marked for murder.

Adrift amidst liars and thugs, Shaper must push his capsizing mind to its limits: stalked not only by a unique and terrifying killer, but by the ghosts of his own brutal past.

I don't read as much crime as I do, say, horror or sci-fi, but even so, I can't imagine there are too many crime novels quite like A Serpent Uncoiled. For one thing the writing is brash and funny, full of urban wit and cynical humour, but most especially because, well, because of its theme - death by chakras!

Chakra is a Sanskrit term that means 'wheel', and the chakras referred to here, are the seven centres of the subtle energy body as described in the practice of yoga and other Eastern Traditions. The chakras, along with various New Age ideas and spiritualist practices are all an integral part of A Serpent Uncoiled. The titular serpent being a reference to the raising of Kundalini energy, which is described in yoga and Vedanta as being a serpent coiled at the base of the spine. All of this gives the book a very unique flavour. Spurrier has done an excellent job of crafting a plot in which these themes are totally crucial. They are not just tacked on to the story to give it a bit of colour, they are completely fundamental.

Main man, Dan Shaper is an excellent lead, and I love that he has experiences the nature of which you're not always clear about - this is a man who's had a near mental breakdown previously, and who takes any kind of chemical hit he can get his hands on - so that for the most part, all the New Age nonsense is presented as exactly that, but there are also hints that perhaps something more substantive could be occurring. A fact which keeps you guessing as far as the plot is concerned, but which also adds a cool element of nuance and mystery by itself. I also totally enjoyed the writing of Shaper, his inner dialogue had me chuckling away to myself on numerous occasions.

All of the supporting characters are interesting and stand out on their own. There are none that seem in any way superfluous, except perhaps one, but this one is actually my favourite. Now, I have a 'thing' for small critters in films and books, especially ones that provide humour with their nonchalance towards the actions of the main protagonist. You know the kind? The various bug-eyed, exasperated animal side kicks, that populate Disney films for example. Anyway, little things like this amuse me, and so it is with Ziggy in A Serpent Uncoiled. Ziggy is a lizard that roams around Shaper's apartment, and does nothing other than be a Lizard and wear a look of contempt for everything that Shaper feels or does - and I loved him for it.

Aside from the characters, the depiction of London and its nefarious haunts is thoroughly convincing. I'm a native born Londoner who knows the areas of the city shown in this book exceptionally well and at no point did I call bullshit. The elements of the underworld, the various spiritual traditions, all of it feels authentic despite being a deliberate caricature a lot of the time. Spurrier has clearly done his research, and it shows. A Serpent Uncoiled is original and written with great verve. The plot twists and turns and keeps you guessing just as a classic private eye novel should. The murders are gruesome too, so those that enjoy the darker side of crime fiction should be more than happy. Imagine an early Guy Ritchie film fell into a vat of evil hippy shenanigans and you're close to picturing the kind of tale told here. Smart, funny, and highly recommended - go read it!

A Serpent Uncoiled

by Simon Spurrier

Published in the UK by Headline Books.

Available from The Book Depository and other major book retailers

For more information on Simon Spurrier check out his website.

Abaddon announces major new SF series - News

2011-08-17T14:29:00.002+01:00

Acclaimed SF author Eric Brown creates new epic world for imprint

Best-selling author Eric Brown has created a brand new shared world for Abaddon Books: Weird Space.

This thrilling space-opera series will begin in June 2012 with the release of The Devil's Nebula by the best-selling author of Helix, Engineman and The Kings of Eternity.

In the first book in this epic new series, Brown will introduce readers to the human smugglers, veterans and ne’erdowells who are part of the Expansion – and their uneasy neighbours, the Vetch Empire.

When an evil race threatens not only the Expansion, but the Vetch too - an evil from another dimension which infests humans and Vetch alike and bends individuals to do their hideous bidding, only cooperation between them means the difference between a chance of survival and no chance at all.

Brown has meticulously created a massive shared world of interstellar potential, which other writers will explore with each new book.

With the launch of this new SF epic, Abaddon is adding to its series of shared worlds which already include the post-apocalyptic The Afterblight Chronicles, the new take on Arthurian legend Malory’s Knights of Albion, the World War One soldiers marooned on an alien world in No Man’s World, steampunk adventure in Pax Britannia, the zombie-infested Tomes of the Dead and the fantasy quests of the Twilight of Kerberos.

Eric Brown said:

"It's great to be part of the team working for Abaddon on the Weird Space project, and it's a fantastic imaginative opportunity to be developing the background and working on the first novel, The Devil's Nebula. The Weird is vast in scope - borrowing on an age-old tradition of everything that's best is space-opera - and will allow the writers to tell exciting, human stories set against an eerie, thrilling, futuristic back-drop. I'm more than a little excited at being part of the team!"

Jonathan Oliver, editor-in-chief of Abaddon, said:

“Eric is such a terrific writer that it's a great honour to be welcoming him to the Abaddon fold. The vast scope of this series and the richness of Eric's writing will mean that this will be a space-opera like no other.”

For more information on all things Abaddon, visit their website.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor - Preview

2011-08-05T19:05:00.008+01:00

I was recently sent a copy of this book for review and I intend to read it next month before its UK launch. It's completely different from the kind of stuff I usually enjoy, but I've read some positive things about it around the web. I've also been looking for a YA title to try for some time now. Look out for a review soon. Meanwhile here's some blurb:

Daughter of Smoke and Bone will launch on September 29th and is the first in a trilogy. The book tells the story of an angel who fell in love with a devil. It did not end well.

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low. And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.

Meet Kaoru. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters and demons that delight and enthral those around her; she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious “errands”; she speaks many languages – not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that colour.

Her life straddles two worlds: the human and a place that is Elsewhere. She has never really known which one is her true home, but now the doors to Elsewhere closing . . .Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out..

You can find out more about this book by following at the the links below:

Facebook http://on.fb.me/oLp5M9
Twitter https://twitter.com/SmokeAndBone

Bella Pagan joins Tor UK - News

2011-08-04T13:12:00.004+01:00

Bella Pagan will be joining Tor, the science fiction and fantasy imprint of Pan Macmillan, as a senior commissioning editor on November 1st. She will report to Jeremy Trevathan, Pan Macmillan Fiction Publisher, and will join Julie Crisp, Tor Editorial Director, to work on the strategy to grow the science fiction and fantasy publishing at Pan Macmillan.

Pagan has been at Orbit, Little Brown's science fiction and fantasy list, for nine years, the last five years as a commissioning editor. Her authors have included Jim Butcher, whose GHOST STORY is currently at No. 6 in the hardcover bestseller list, and other bestsellers and prize winners such as Brent Weeks, Charles Stross, Elizabeth Moon and Patricia Briggs.

The Tor imprint was launched in the UK in 2003 as part of a shared worldwide venture with the market-leading Tor imprint in the USA. The aim was to provide a dedicated platform for the exceptional prize-winning talent Pan Macmillan had been nurturing in this field for some years with authors such as China Miéville and Peter F. Hamilton, and to expand what has become one of the most prestigious and highly regarded lists in the UK.

Bella Pagan says,

'I have long admired Tor's outstanding list and am absolutely delighted to be part of Pan Macmillan's plans for serious expansion in this area. They already publish many exciting authors and I can't wait to work with them and bring new talent to the list'.

Jeremy Trevathan comments,

'This important appointment is a testament to the plans we have to match the critical acclaim that our science fiction and fantasy publishing has garnered in recent years with real sales growth, both physically and digitally, and to build upon the very solid foundations that have been laid down and developed since 2003'.

Julie Crisp says,

‘We’re thrilled to have Bella join us at Team Tor. With her wealth of experience and enthusiasm for the genre she’s a wonderful addition to the imprint at a stage where we’re looking to grow and develop the list further. It’s going to be a very exciting time at Tor over the next few years.’

For further information, contact Chloe Healy, Senior Press Officer: c.healy@macmillan.co.uk 00 44 20 7014 6186

Twitter @panmacpublicity

The Thing on the Shore by Tom Fletcher - Review

2011-08-03T00:47:00.058+01:00

Arthur was twelve when he watched his mother jump from the cliff into the sea.

Wasted by grief, he and his father stayed at the family home in Whitehaven, as life became dull and meaningless. Years later, Arthur works in a call centre and dreams of something extraordinary to change it all.

Arthur's right. Something is coming, and nothing will ever be the same again...

Tom Fletcher writes in a very unusual and distinctive way. It can appear a little haphazard, and for those who like more prosaic styles, maybe a little off-putting. But for me, Fletcher creates a deliberately disjointed and dream like quality with his writing which works very well. It was noticeable in The Leaping, but perhaps because of the theme and setting of this novel, it is even more visible here. This style particularly suits the indeterminable nature of much of the horror in Thing on the Shore.

This novel, like its predecessor, concerns itself with a cast of young characters who work in a call centre. This time in the West Cumbrian coastal town of Whitehaven, rather than the Manchester/Lake District settings of The Leaping. Foremost among these protagonists is Arthur, whose mother drowned in the sea in a possible act of suicide when he was a child. His father, Harry, works at the same call centre, where he is the butt of jokes for his odd behaviour and failing eyesight.

Arthur hates his job and is burdened both by his father, who frequently believes he is talking to his dead wife on the telephone, and by his own unanswered questions about his mother's death. He consoles himself with frequent nights spent by the sea, and the company of his friends and colleagues - mostly an odd assortment of misfits, each introduced to the reader by short, usually unflattering, summations of their character and appearance.

Thing also features one of the characters from The Leaping: Artemis Black, a call centre manager and the villain of this story. He is transferred from his Manchester office to run the operation in Whitehaven and to oversee the installation of a new form of customer service A.I. When he arrives, he quickly sets about making Arthur's and everybody else's lives difficult. Artemis Black, as the name suggests, is presented as an archetype, a parody almost, of the workplace petty tyrant. This archetypal quality underlies the whole approach to the narrative. In places it reads like the exaggerated nightmare of somebody who has spent many years going steadily insane from the boredom of working in a call centre. The presentation of characters almost as caricature is clearly deliberate, but in what is probably the novel's biggest weakness, it's an approach that allows little room for shades of grey.

The events that unfold, aside from the more obvious machinations of Mr Black, are essentially about the boundaries of reality and as such, difficult to describe. The threat in this novel comes from a place of liminality, called the Interstice. It finds its way into our world through the connection to in-between places such as telephone exchanges and perhaps, the sea. There are very clear Lovecraftian elements to this novel and fans of Grand Mythos, will surely be pleased with the references to events in the The Leaping which suggest the development of a shared mythology.

I found this book humorous a lot of the time. There are plenty of funny little aspects of The Thing on the Shore that deserve a mention. There are the numerous pop culture references, the echoes of classic B movie horror; and Fletcher's unabated love affair with Nintendo. Then there are incidental descriptions of the kind of things we've all experienced, such as a man walking into an office and pushing the door open too heavily, causing it to make a loud bang against the wall or the advent of a seagull flying into a window, nonchalantly inserted into a passage of dialogue. There are also quirks of behaviour in the characters, such as the one who wears his gloves when eating crisps because he hates the feel of them on his skin. I have to say, I loved all this stuff. It really appealed to my surreal sense of humour. I know it will not work for everyone, but it did for me. There were also a few minor moments of incredulity, the most noticeable involving a bizarre act of copulation on the beach.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Leaping, and with Thing I find I am developing a real empathy for Fletcher's writing, particularly the stuff going on in the background and the overall presentation of his ideas. The Thing on the Shore is funny, inventive and surreal. A quirky horror story that overlaps the psychological and the supernatural and is difficult to define. Not only is The Thing on the Shore a fine second novel, but one that I think shows the development of a very talented and unconventional writer.

The Thing on the Shore.

by Tom Fletcher.

Published in the UK by Quercus.

Available from The Book Depository and all major book retailers.

For more on Tom Fletcher visit his website.