I gotta tell ya: I'm really kind of digging these relatively (as yet) unknown works I've been reading lately. I've probably gotten extremely lucky with the ones that I've chosen, but hey -- someone needs to be reading and reviewing them... and it's not like Rothfuss's Wise Man's Fear really needs any more ass-kissing at the moment, right? Please note that while I call what I do 'reviewing', it's a rather loose interpretation of the term and it's probably closer to musing or rambling -- lets call it re-museling.

Anyway, What Time Forgets... the blurb:

Seers and cutthroat politicians, technocrats and a warrior class, jockey for power in a world where memories imperil the future. A soldier and a determined young woman, adversaries with their own secrets, ally to find the key that will avert a terrible reckoning on their world. A prophecy takes them from a mercenary’s stronghold to an oracle’s decaying temple, on to a monastery’s long-buried secrets and, finally, to a violent confrontation in a long-ruined fortress at sea’s edge. A final justice may well sacrifice everything they know.

Alright, first off... I'm not going to tell you that this was the greatest book I've ever read in my entire life. What I am going to tell you is that I enjoyed it quite a bit. It has some very strong (likeable characters) in Zoë and Tiernan and the plot is very dialogue-driven. Which means that rather than employing the tried and worn out "World-building by largely unnecessary (and boring) infodumps from an omniscient narrator" technique, the author chose my personal favorite "World-revealing by natural conversation taking place between characters who are going about their various plot-ty duties" technique. In other words... you get little peeps and glimpses of the larger world that the city of Ard Creggan is a part of (from the people who actually live in that world), but most of it is left to the reader's imagination.That scores big, big points with me! Nothing worse than a micro-managing author who doesn't trust a speculative fiction reader to have a vivid imagination of their own.

Speaking of worlds... Redmond's world is unique. Kind of a hybrid of surreal/normal/(not quite) weird that's really rather hard to nail down. But the world is vivid -- and has history -- and the various plot-lines in What Time Forgets are about digging into that history to unravel some ancient mysteries about certain artifacts, blood-lines and prophecies (please don't interpret that as Dan Brown-esqe!). The mystery was more than enough to keep me turning pages (not to mention making a few editing glitches seem immaterial) all the way to the end. While there were a few unpolished bits of prose that I caught my "toes" on along the way, the vast majority of the writing was quite strong.

Which brings me to the end. And the good news is... THERE IS ONE! And if that weren't enough, it's a pretty satisfying one to boot. It seems obvious to me that there will probably be sequels to this particular book, but this one can definitely stand on its own two feet. Which scores high marks on the Bushleague Critic's Stand Alonish-ness scale.

I'm also going to go out on a limb and say that there may have been some political and social subtext pointing out the dangers of "us or them" bipartisanship and  the silliness of xenophobic, intolerant immigration stances. Either that, or I'm completely full of shit and reading too much into the words -- which is quite possible. Subtext is pretty "hit or miss" with me.

If my arm were twisted to give a ranking or a grade of some type, I'd probably go with a B. But I believe the author is certainly capable of an A.

Finally, after a week's worth of rampant speculation that George had Kong wobbling -- and his demise was imminent -- Kong breaks his long-standing silence to set the record straight.

From Kong's What the heck's a blog?:

3/13/2011 -- The white, mostly-hairless gorilla had me on the ropes for a bit--I'm not ashamed to admit it. But I battled back and bloodied his lip. I have once again asserted my dominance. My resolve will not slip like that again. Yes, I'm a little embarrassed that I had to resort to actually defecating on his Commodore 64 to gain his full attention, but hey... drastic measures were called for!

(Now where'd I put Fay Wray?)

Mood: Chest pounding.

Thanks for sharing Kong! I always appreciate your no-nonsense style.

Amazon's product description:

The year is 2085, two decades after the great economic collapse that destroyed Western civilization. With its power broken and its cities ruined, life in the West continues in scattered communities. In rural Dorset Jake Reed lives with his 14-year-old son and memories of the great collapse. Back in '43, Jake was a rich, young futures broker, immersed in the datascape of the world's financial markets. He saw what was coming - and who was behind it. Forewarned, he was one of the few to escape the fall. For 22 years he has lived in fear of the future, and finally it is coming - quite literally - across the plain towards him. Chinese airships are in the skies and a strange, glacial structure has begun to dominate the horizon. Jake finds himself forcibly incorporated into the ever-expanding 'World of Levels' a global city of some 34 billion souls, where social status is reflected by how far above the ground you live. Here, under the rule of the mighty Tsao Ch'un, a resurgent China is seeking to abolish the past and bring about world peace through rigidly enforced order. But a civil war looms, and Jake will find himself at the heart of the struggle for the future.

Ok, first of all, Amazon's product description is incorrect. Unless Jake Reed was 10-12 years old when he was a rich, young futures broker, the year -- during which most of the book takes place -- is most definitely not 2085. it's 2065.

I'm a latecomer to David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series -- having just recently read the entire series pretty much straight through. So as I muse and ramble about this newly released prequel (Son of Heaven), keep in mind that the details of the original series are still quite fresh in my mind.

Also keep in mind that I had a love/hate relationship with the original series. What I loved, I loved unreservedly. But that which I didn't love... I loathed. Mainly I was pissed at Wingrove's penchant for "off camera" action. His plotlines would build and build and build towards obviously massive confrontations, but when things finally came to head, he would immediately skip the actual crisis and move directly to the aftermath. It was maddening. But at the same time, such rich characters and subtle political and social machinations made abandoning the books quite  impossible.

Son of Heaven represented quite a change in writing style, I thought. Not surprising really, since the last Chung Kuo book was published twelve years ago, or so. The story starts in 2065, twenty-odd years after the collapse of civilization. Jake Reed and a small community in rural England are living a bucolic, yet dangerous apocalyptic life. I like it. Other than that little thing where authors think it's a good idea to actually phonetically spell out a character's accent (or speech impediment) in normal dialog. That annoys the shit out of me if it goes on for any length of time. Just give me a taste of it, then stop it. I'm perfectly capable of hearing an accent in my head while reading.

Anyway... we meet Jake and get a good idea of what the current state of civilization is like. Then we flash back to just before the collapse (2043), and I hate it. I want to put the book down. But I suffer through the silly technological slang and the mind-numbing infodumps (that offer no insight that wasn't already given in the original series) clear up until nearly the half-way point of the book.

Then we come back to the "present" and things start to get good. Really good, in fact. We start flashing back and forth between different POV's (the first half was one POV for the most part) and shit finally starts happening. To be perfectly honest, the second half of the book is a bit of alright. I just wish I hadn't had to suffer through the first half to get there.

So in summary, if you've never read Chung Kuo (or don't remember anything about it), Son of Heaven may be a pleasant intro/refresher for you. Otherwise, I'm not really sure that it contributes much of anything to the series other than word count.

A suitably grandiose blurb:

The glittering tradition of sword-and-sorcery sweeps into the sands of ancient Arabia with the heart-stopping speed of a whirling dervish in this thrilling debut novel from new talent Howard Andrew Jones.

I'm not going to waste a whole bunch of time here. I've always been in love with all the different incarnations of the Arabian Nights tales. Something about the period, the culture and the mythology fascinates me. So when I saw The Desert of Souls with its fantasic cover art (and I rarely pay attention to cover art), I bought it... planning to shelve it for a rainy day.

The problem is, I couldn't wait. So I read it. And enjoyed it. In fact, I had a bit of a problem putting it down for any length of time. Now, I'm not going to try to convince anyone that this book reinvents the genre or anything like that, but as far as adventure and entertainment goes... Howard Andrew Jones impressed me in this debut novel. Quite a bit.

There's not a lot I can say about it that you can't read in the blurbs, but I will tell you that it's a first-person narrative -- all the way through. I like to get that out of the way quickly, because I've learned (and no one was more surprised than me) that a lot of people seem to break out in hives when their novels stray from the traditional third-person omniscient/limited. It makes no sense to me that someone would dismiss a book for this reason, but there you have it. Don't say no one ever told you.

The story mainly involves Captain Asim el Abbas and the scholar Dabir ibn Khalil - who are both in the employ of Jaffar (the caliph's vizier). Together they must ferret out the meaning of an odd artifact that a dying man leaves at their feet in an 8th century Baghdad marketplace.

There's also an evil Zarathustran Magi, some djinn, a kidnapped beautiful princess, swordfights, zombie monkeys, betrayal and a little bit of unrequited love thown in for good measure. Quite the Arabian ride if you ask me.

Althought it's obvious that Asim and Dabir will be teaming up in some further adventures (hopefully anyway), this novel contains one complete story -- which scores Jones some major points in my eyes.

Buy it. Read it. That's my official recommendation.

The response?  "This. Must. Be. Addressed. At once."

Congratulations Mr. Grin, you've got your attention. My take on the whole thing?? Who gives a shit? Authors, please write what interests you... readers, you keep reading what you find interesting. Does anyone know what they call that lovely, rare intersection where those two interests meet and mesh completely?

Magic.

Ok, here's the gist of my relationship with Joe Abercrombie's stuff so far: I love, love, love - fucking - love the Bloody Nine! I really like Glokta and a few of the Named Men from the North. Everybody else? Big, fat sack of not bad.

Since the end of the original trilogy, I've been waiting for the triumphant return of Logen Ninefingers. Joe has been counting on that fact for two books now. It's going to happen eventually, readers know it, Joe knows it, but apparently he's going to write a few stand-alone (thanks for that!) novels that will sell very, very well because like me... EVERY-FUCKING-BODY wants to read about the Bloody Nine and aren't willing to take the chance on skipping the book that he shows up in - doing his best Snake Plissken impression.

"Say one thing for Joe Abercrombie, say he's an unabashed Logen tease."

My guess is we'll have to suffer through one more "pretty darn OK, but not quite stellar" novel and then he'll start a new series in which Logen Ninefingers casually slides into a scene, looks around and waits for the obligatory; "Logen Ninefingers?? I thought you returned to the mud!"

I know I won't miss that moment. How about you?

Thank you Peyton Hillis, for bringing something that has been missing from the Browns' running game for years... heart!

Intriguing. That's really all I've got after everything I'm about to say gets boiled down to its nitty-gritty.

A fantastical reimagining of the American West which draws its influence from steampunk, the American western tradition, and magical realism.

I admit it: I saw the words "steampunk" and "western" and my hopes immediately soared! But there was a disappointing lack of either of those two sub-genres (as I perceive them) to be found. I expected a little more grit and had to settle instead for "jaunty". Which for me, is not a fair trade at all.

Much Allegory Ensues

The Line: representing industry, ruthless capitalism and greed. The Gun: representing anarchy, chaos and lawlessness. These two factions are led by powerful deities who seduce and enslave men to wage their own private war against each other. The Red Republic: represents a godless, socialistic organization of men who oppose both of the other factions in an attempt to bring New World Order to fruition. The Hill Folk: represent the indigenous natives who watch their sacred lands become defiled by these other entities, yet are ultimately ground under the wheels of Expansion.

I'm all for allegory and subtext, but not when it comes at the expense of what could have been a really cool "Shootout at the OK Dirigible Corral" type scenario. How can you have an entity known as The Gun, and not have more shootouts?! I find myself - once again - in the strange position of liking how Gilman writes, but not really digging what Gilman writes about. I will admit that I liked The Half-Made World more than I did The Thunderer (his debut)... and as such, will probably read its companion volume whenever it's published. But at that point... I'm probably going to have to accept the fact that this author is just not my cup of tea.

Damn. I really wanted to love this book, too... but the author wouldn't let me.

Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey.

**This offer has since expired**

Book Description

Kadrey (Butcher Bird) provides biting humor, an over-the-top antihero and a rich stew of metaphoric language in this testosterone- and adrenaline-charged noir thriller. James Stark spent 11 years killing monsters in Lucifer's arena for the entertainment of fallen angels, but now he's back in seedy, magic-riddled L.A., trying to avenge his girlfriend's murder and hunt down Mason Faim, the black magician responsible for getting him sent downtown. He meets with some initial success, beheading second-rate magician Kasabian (whose head becomes Stark's smart-mouthed sidekick), but he can't find Faim. Instead he encounters Homeland Security agents, a near-psychotic angel and some odd nonhuman, nonangelic beings called the kissi. Darkly atmospheric settings, such as a posh gentlemen's club where angels are tortured in an attempt to bring about Armageddon, bring this violent fantasy into sharp, compelling focus.

My review of Sandman Slim

P.S. I'd post a link to the iBook store, but apparently, you can't even browse their content without an iPad... strange.

Iron Council by China Miéville. Miéville challenges me as reader. That can result in one of two things: 1) I love the book because I was equal to the challenge and kicked its ass, or... 2) The book pisses me off because I somehow failed to meet the challenge and my easily irritated vanity tries to convince me that it's the author's fault. Luckily, the outcome of this particular challenge resulted in option number one.

I've seen this book get bagged by many online reviews. I'm not sure why, but most points of contention seem to revolve around the section entitled 'Anamnesis'. Many found the the change of style and direction too disruptive, but I found it to be altogether enticing and necessary. That may be due to the (what I can only assume were intentional) corollaries drawn to a favorite subject of mine in America's history; namely the building of the transcontinental railroad--and all of the perceived injustices of that time. Miéville's 'Re-made' seemed to represent the Chinese (and other) immigrants who were exploited in the name of progress... not to mention the allusions to indigenous people who were uprooted from their history for that same 'Progress'. Fascinating stuff really.

I was a tad 'let down' with The Scar (the middle book in this three book series), namely because the city of New Crobuzon (which I consider a minor character in the series) played no part. But Iron Council returned to the greatness that I had come to expect from Perdido Street Station.  My only real beef with Miéville is that he tends to cross that fine line between 'quirky, interesting prose' and 'what the fuck did he just say?!' quite often... usually when he goes on one of his "big word" binges. I don't mind using a dictionary occasionally while reading, but I'd sure like the words I'm looking up to actually be in there when I do. I guess I should invest in a new dictionary, huh?

Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay. I'm a johnny-come-lately to Kay's -- and many other fantasy authors -- works. Mainly because after kicking off my fantasy reading career in the late 70's with the likes of Tolkein, Terry Brooks and Stephen R. Donaldson (whose works inspired me), I came down with a nasty case of elfaorcaphobia (don't look it up in a dictionary, just sound it out). The fantasy tropes of the time frankly bored me shitless; and so I kicked all things unicorn (or kobold) related to the curb for many years. When I eventually wandered back into the genre, I found that a lot of authors had acknowledged the fact that many readers wanted... well, more. So I dove back in, and authors like Kay made me love the genre again.

I think it's pretty much accepted that The Lions of Al-Rassan and Tigana are the center-pieces of Kay's works, to date. Song for Arbonne is still a great story, as were Under Heaven and The Fionavar Tapestry, but not quite up to Kay's personal best. Fortunately for readers, Kay's 'slightly less than stellar' works still stand head and shoulders above many fantasy authors' best output. Plus, Kay proves that epic stories -- rich with history,  memorable characters, and all the emotional baggage we've come to expect from them -- can be achieved in one book.

The Middle Kingdom by David Wingrove. I'm still digesting this one. After reading this (the first volume in Wingrove's highly touted Chung Kuo series), I can certainly see what all the fuss was about. Wingrove puts together an intricate plot in a future where Han culture dominates the world (and history is rewritten to make it seem it has always been that way). Full of political intrigue, social unrest and many kick-ass characters, this series has my full attention for the time being. My only concern is that there may not be enough kick-assness or original plot twists to justify the eight moderately large volumes that make up this series. I worry that there may be serious amounts of '(re)treading water' going on as it progresses. I'll certainly give it the shot it deserves, but I'm not going to attempt to read all eight of these books straight through.

Sneaky Twitter.

I'm referring to my previous post about Pat's Fantasy Hotlist, of course. Shortly after posting it, I began to see traffic being generated -- traffic from one location: twitter.com. Scads of it (scads of course being a very relative term considering most of my posts don't even generate a smidgen).  Yay, conversation! Yay, interaction and that sense of connection with like-minded (or dissimilar) individuals! I've posted something that somebody might be interested in!

But wait!... where is this conversation? I don't see it in the feedback section of my post. I don't see it in other blog's comment sections either. Where the hell is it? It's scattered to the four winds in 140 character (or less) snippets that can never be reassembled into any kind of coherent dialogue, that's where. Not a big deal really, just mildly dissappointing. Even if I could manage to track down one of the participants, that fragment of the conversation wouldn't do me a lot of good.

Now before I sound too much like the old fart that Jon Stewart is parodying (I realize that it may be too late), just know that I don't begrudge the kids their new-fangled technology... I just don't think it's very conducive to a quality conversation -- except maybe for those who happen to find themselves nearer to the nexus of the book-blogging Twitterati.

I realize that the conversation was more than likely centered around Pat's announcement (rather than my hastily composed attempt at humor), but the point is; I'll never know. Did people find it funny? Did  I come across as an insensitive jerk? Or was it more of a "hey, who's the new guy" kind of thing? Throw me a frickin' bone, here!

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate all the traffic that a closed-door conversation apparently sent my way, but next time... consider stepping out of your hidey-hole and saying; "Hi! Funny post, dude!" or even "Hey, you suck"... hell, anything that might connect the conversation to the topic itself.

Pat, of Pat's Fantasy Hotlist fame, recently posted news that he is contemplating hanging up his blogging shoes after a six-year successful run. He apparently won't be making any decisions until the end of December.

I'm not sure how I feel about this sort of announcement. I don't know Pat--and I'm trying hard not to judge--but if I've learned anything about life, careers and whatnot, it's that you never formally announce that you are "thinking about maybe retiring in the near future"... you either announce that you ARE retiring or you simply carry on doing what it is that you do. I can't help but think about Green Bay Packer fans and  Brett Favre when this sort of thing happens:

Is he? Isn't he? Was he really ever going to? What the fuck is going on!?!?

I would think everyone learned a lesson from Favre's playbook about how NOT to announce your potential (possible) retirement, but I could be wrong. Or maybe Pat did learn a valuable lesson from Favre: that the buzz this sort of thing creates is probably more important than the decision itself.

Oh, well. Good luck with whatever you decide Pat!

1) I've really enjoyed all of Peter F. Hamilton's works. 2) I love far-future, world-hopping Space-opera. 3) I love wrapping up a series. 4) Guess how I feel about The Evolutionary Void??

Blurbage:

Exposed as the Second Dreamer, Araminta has become the target of a galaxywide search by government agent Paula Myo and the psychopath known as the Cat, along with others equally determined to prevent—or facilitate—the pilgrimage of the Living Dream cult into the heart of the Void. An indestructible microuniverse, the Void may contain paradise, as the cultists believe, but it is also a deadly threat. For the miraculous reality that exists inside its boundaries demands energy—energy drawn from everything outside those boundaries: from planets, stars, galaxies . . . from everything that lives.

Meanwhile, the parallel story of Edeard, the Waterwalker—as told through a series of addictive dreams communicated to the gaiasphere via Inigo, the First Dreamer—continues to unfold. But now the inspirational tale of this idealistic young man takes a darker and more troubling turn as he finds himself faced with powerful new enemies—and temptations more powerful still.

With time running out, a repentant Inigo must decide whether to release Edeard’s final dream: a dream whose message is scarcely less dangerous than the pilgrimage promises to be. And Araminta must choose whether to run from her unwanted responsibilities or face them down, with no guarantee of success or survival. But all these choices may be for naught if the monomaniacal Ilanthe, leader of the breakaway Accelerator Faction, is able to enter the Void. For it is not paradise she seeks there, but dominion.

While the Void Trilogy could be enjoyed as a self-contained story, I can't recommend reading these three books without having first read Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga (Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained) -- bringing the total book-commitment count to five. You could technically include Misspent Youth in the Commonwealth Universe, but it's not really necessary or even... well... good. It may give you a little technological background, but I consider it the weakest of his works. I don't think I'm alone in that regard.

While most consider Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy (Confederation Universe) to be the quintessential must-read space-opera, I personally find his Commonwealth Universe books to be far superior. That's not to say I didn't love the other series--because I did--I just found it to be unnecessarily verbose and travelogue-ey at times. Plus, I just wasn't in love with the ending of Night's Dawn. It seemed rushed and I couldn't help feeling a bit betrayed by the massive deus ex machina that was employed (deus ex machina may not be technically the correct term, but if you've read it, you'll understand what I mean). But overall, it's a fantastic series--and I highly recommend it too--I just like this one a lot more. Different strokes and all.

All in all... The Evolutionary Void wraps this series up quite nicely. It even answers a few straggling questions from the Commonwealth Saga, but Hamilton still seems to have a penchant for endings that involve deus ex machina type elements. In this case, there was precedent from the earlier novels that made it seem less blatant than the ending of Night's Dawn, but apparently, this is his style and it's not enough to spoil the overall journey of the series.

The only true complaint I have about The Evolutionary Void is the fact that the first half of the book doesn't really advance the plot much from where the previous book left off: Dreamers are still being hunted, Factions are still plotting, the Void is still looming and the Waterwalker is still seeking perfection. But once it starts rolling, it rolls to a very satisfying conclusion. There is one particular space-battle that takes place between Paula Myo and The Cat that I consider to be one of the most intense and best written sequences of is its kind--bar none. No one does space-opera like Hamilton... period.

Two thumbs-up!

I've been anxiously waiting for this dark fantasy debut since I read a few early reviews that pushed buttons I wasn't even aware I had. It spoke to me. (OK not really, but it sounded like something right up my alley)

The city of Isca is set like a dark jewel in the crown of the Duchy of Stonehold. In this sprawling landscape, the monsters one sees are nothing compared to what’s living in the city’s sewers.

Twenty-three-year-old Caliph Howl is Stonehold’s reluctant High King. Thrust onto the throne, Caliph has inherited Stonehold’s dirtiest court secrets. He also faces a brewing civil war that he is unprepared to fight. After months alone amid a swirl of gossip and political machinations, the sudden reappearance of his old lover, Sena, is a welcome bit of relief. But Sena has her own legacy to claim: she has been trained from birth by the Shradnae witchocracy—adept in espionage and the art of magical equations writ in blood—and she has been sent to spy on the High King.

Yet there are magics that demand a higher price than blood. Sena secretly plots to unlock the Cisrym Ta, an arcane text whose pages contain the power to destroy worlds. The key to opening the book lies in Caliph’s veins, forcing Sena to decide if her obsession for power is greater than her love for Caliph.

Meanwhile, a fleet of airships creeps ever closer to Isca. As the final battle in a devastating civil war looms and the last page of the Cisrym Ta waits to be read, Caliph and Sena must face the deadly consequences of their decisions. And the blood of these conflicts will stain this and other worlds forever.

I'm not going to fool around with a long rambling review here. I'm just going to come right out and say it: I. loved. it... read the book! (Post-review note: I lied... I had a lot of "ramble" in me, apparently.)

None of the reviews I saw bothered to mention whether the The Last Page (part of a planned duology) had some sort of ending, or if it left you hanging in the lurch waiting for its companion volume, Black Bottle. Let me put your fears to rest... The Last Page contains a completely satisfying story arc. Who'd 'a thunk it?!? I was beginning to think that nobody was capable of writing a work of speculative fiction (that was part of a series) that didn't leave me screaming expletives at its complete and utter disregard for the literary concept known as "The End". Anyway... I digress. And apparently, that's my own personal beef with the current state of the genre.

Huso plops you down in the middle of his world and adamantly refuses to explain any of it. Almost annoyingly so--almost, but not quite. I found it quite a refreshing change from the tried and true "brick-by-brick-by-(excruciatingly tortuous holy-shit-did-I-really-need-to-know-all-that?)-brick" world-building technique that pervades the High Fantasy genre. I don't mind using a little bit of my own imagination, and Huso obliged me. I thank him profusely for that! So if your idea of world-building is strapping on your unicorn-bedazzled fantasy bib while the author spoon-feeds you his world on a soft, plastic-coated baby spoon... don't read this book. There's plenty of others out that require no effort on the part of the reader.

Huso's prose is delightfully twisted and he has an excellent feel for the macabre:

It moved. A pustule that could roam, sliding like a parasite just beneath the cuticle of real. A monster. Pressing. Struggling to reach her. Pushing its formless mass against the locus of an ancient embryonic sac.

Yet he still has the good sense to interject some humor. Like when the High King of Isca asks his spymaster; "How insidious are you?"

Sometimes when you’re sitting under the chain and you let one drop you get a splash that comes up and snaps you right in the hole. It’s alarming but you tend to forget about it almost immediately after it happens. I’m like that. I’m the cold water that makes your ass pucker.

The Last Page is a very dark tale told in High Fantasy style by a fresh new voice. Which means that some are going to love it and some are going to hate it. There probably won't be a lot of middle ground, here. I, for one,  can't wait for the sequel.

I know it's late notice and everything, but tomorrow (8/17/2010) at 6:30pm EDT, fantasy author Terry Brooks will be participating in a live chat on the B&N Facebook page. The event is in support of his upcoming release (8/24/2010) entitled Bearers of The Black Staff.

Del Rey and Terry Brooks are personally responsible for making me the epic-fantasy fan that I am today. If you have the time, head on over tomorrow and chat with a legend.

Every now and then, I like to take a break from the zombies, thrillers, action and epic-fantasy to read something a little more introspective and subtle. Elizabeth Moon's The Speed of Dark fit that bill quite nicely.

Corporate life in early 21st-century America is even more ruthless than it was at the turn of the millennium. Lou Arrendale, well compensated for his remarkable pattern-recognition skills, enjoys his job and expects never to lose it. But he has a new boss, a man who thinks Lou and the others in his building are a liability. Lou and his coworkers are autistic. And the new boss is going to fire Lou and all his coworkers--unless they agree to undergo an experimental new procedure to "cure" them.

In this near-future drama, medical technology has advanced to the point where autism is becoming a thing of the past. Techniques and procedures have been developed that can "cure" autism in utero or shortly after birth. Lou Arrington and his co-workers were born too late to take advantage of this new technology. They're able to live somewhat "normal" lives due to advances made in treating very young autists, but they still require special support structures to function in social environments.

This story is told primarily from the viewpoint of Lou Arrington and does a marvelous job of portraying how the world might be perceived by someone with autism. There's several outstandingly written supporting characters who interact with Lou as he deals with anger, betrayal, love, friendship and change.

He grows as a character (and a human) as he struggles with the decision to accept or decline the highly experimental treatment that has the potential to "cure" him. The company he works for owns the research program and may have ulterior motives for "encouraging" him and his co-workers to sign up as test subjects.

Ultimately, the reader is forced to examine their views on "what is normal", as well as exploring the seemingly simple concepts of: choice, free will and change.

It's not an easy read, but a very worthy one.

Some things you just like. Taylor Anderson's Destroyermen series is one of those things for me. The books entertain me... and sometimes, entertainment is all I'm after. His latest installment - Distant Thunders - didn't disappoint me in the least.

This blurb is from Into the Storm, the first book in the series:

Pressed into service when World War II breaks out in the Pacific, the US Walker—a Great War-era destroyer—finds itself retreating from pursuing Japanese battleships. Its captain, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Patrick Reddy, desperately leads the Walker into a squall, hoping it will give them cover—only to emerge into an alternate world. A world where two species have evolved: the cat-like Lemurians and the reptilian Griks—and they are at war.

With its power and weaponry, the Walker’s very existence could alter the balance of power. And for Reddy and his crew, who have the means to turn a primitive war into a genocidal Armageddon, one thing becomes clear. They must determine whose side they’re on. Because whichever species they choose is the winner.

I read the original trilogy (Into the Storm, Crusade and Maelstrom) last year and absolutely loved it.  I was worried about the "cheese" factor when I first picked them up, but I couldn't have been more wrong. It was like The Philadelphia Experiment meets Land of the Lost... while neither of those works exactly instill any feelings of "Wow!" on their own, the hybridization of the two can be quite fascinating; let me tell you.

Anderson has a Master's Degree in history and is a forensic ballistic archaeologist, so you're probably never going to read better battle sequences that combine WWII technology with Bronze Age cultures. Did I mention naval battles? No? Well, he's no slouch in that department either. Realistic and entertaining as hell. God, I'm a sucker for a well-written naval battle.

Combine all that with a boatload (heehee) of characters that are easy to give a damn about (as well as a few that are just as easy to hate) and all you would need is a compelling plot to make it completely enjoyable. Well, guess what?... it has that too! Definitely one of those - "maybe just one more chapter before I turn off the light" - type of reading experiences.

I know I didn't really review Distant Thunders, but that's only because it's not a complete story. This book was the start of a new sub-series that starts immediately following the explosive aftermath of Maelstrom - the stunning conclusion to the first sub-series. So it was a lot of setup and teasing. Entertaining and consistent with the quality of the first three books, but ultimately incomplete. I usually hate that kind of serialized shit, but I'm willing to make an exception in a few cases. If I have an ounce of willpower, I'm going to wait until the series is complete before picking it back up again.

Also, previously published original Tor.com short stories are available for purchase (99 cents each) on a variety of ereader platforms. From their blog post:

Starting tomorrow, twelve of the first thirteen original stories published on Tor.com will be available on a bunch of e-book platforms, including the Kindle store, Apple’s iBooks store, Barnes & Noble’s e-bookstore, the Kobo store, and the Sony Reader store, for 99 cents each. These are in effect little e-chapbooks, complete with the original Tor.com art on their “covers,” designed to work properly with the current generation of e-book devices and reading programs.

The stories going up are:

• “After the Coup” by John Scalzi
• “Down on the Farm” by Charles Stross
• “Shade” by Steven Gould
• “The Girl Who Sang Rose Madder” by Elizabeth Bear
• “Catch ’Em in the Act” by Terry Bisson
• “Jack and the Aktuals, Or, Physical Applications of Transfinite Set Theory” by Rudy Rucker
• “A Water Matter” by Jay Lake
• “The Film-makers of Mars” by Geoff Ryman
• “Firstborn” by Brandon Sanderson
• “Errata” by Jeff VanderMeer
• “Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction” by Jo Walton
• “A Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon” by Ken Scholes

A thirteenth story, Cory Doctorow’s “The Things That Make Me Weak And Strange Get Engineered Away,” will join these soon on several of these platforms.

So feel free to gobble up some free - and some very cheap - reading from some quality authors.

Debut author Patrick Lee makes a bold entrance with this conspiracy-type thriller featuring ex-cop, ex-con Travis Chase.

The blurb:

Travis Chase, a man putting his life back together after fifteen years in prison, takes a solo hike into the Alaskan Rockies. He's just looking for a quiet place to think about his future, but what he finds is trouble: a 747, downed in remote wilderness, the wreck impossibly undiscovered by authorities. Those aboard are dead, though not because of the crash. They've been shot.

This aircraft, along with the terrifying object it was transporting, is only the beginning for Travis. Within hours he finds himself at the center of a violent conflict that spans the globe, and a secret war that dates back three decades. A war for possession of radically advanced technology—that wasn't created by human hands.

This is one of those novels that is very tightly written: every detail means something - every event, conversation, or action has a purpose that ties in to the overall plot. For this alone, I give Lee an A+... tightly written conspiracy thrillers are some of my favorite reading.

The characters are solid, there are no "lulls" in the narrative, and the dialog is very natural, but... (and it's a big "but")... I just didn't "buy" the ending. For reasons that would spoil elements of the plot for other readers, I can't really go into the details of why I didn't buy it... so there you have it.

Another reason that this novel didn't make it into my "Love it!" category is probably no fault of the author. I just "knew" where everything was headed. Perhaps Patrick Lee and I are wired with the same logic and reasoning chips, because  every clue that he dropped felt like a perfect saucer-pass that always landed right in my wheelhouse. All that was left for me to do was to one-time it into the back of an empty net. Which I did time and time again. It was really rather freaky at times!

It's a great debut novel that I'm sure many will (and should)  love... unless like me, you happen to share the same brain as Patrick Lee. I'll definitely be reading his next novel, if only to verify that the freaky-deaky, vulcan mind-meld thing was just a fluke.

Zombies!! What can say? They do get my attention.

Joe Ledger is a Baltimore police detective who gets recruited by an enigmatic character (Mr. Church) to join a hush-hush, super-secret-squirrel government agency known as the Department of Military Sciences. The DMS is an all-star, "the best of the best of the best... SIR!", fast-response team recruited from other agencies (both government and civilian) that answers only to the President and is not restricted by annoying little regulations like the Constitution. You get the idea.

Enter the bad guys: Islamic extremists team up with a greedy, billionaire bastard to weaponize a plague (related to mad cow disease) that turns people into rage-filled, murderous zombies bent on chewing the thoat out of the Great Western Satan.

Enter the plot: Joe Ledger has to stop the terrorists, kill the zombies (walkers) and get the girl.

It's a fun read. I like action and I like zombies, so Maberry didn't have to do much else to get me to "like" this book. But he definitely needed to dig a little deeper to get me to "love" it. He didn't get there.

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't need a lot scientific mumbo-jumbo about prion diseases and folded proteins to make my zombies sound more plausible. I don't mind a little explanation for why there are zombies, just don't dwell on it. Plausibility isn't really the attraction for me... a head-munching, undead human is. So go ahead and tell me whether your zombies are the disease, the radiation mutation, or the demonic variety and let's move on, shall we?

Joe Ledger is a likeable enough badass and he has a lot of great zombie-killing scenes, but I couldn't get past the notion that his recruitment and the relationship between himself and the mysterious Mr. Church was modeled after the similar arrangement between Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in Men in Black. That coupled with his decision to go with the pre-mixed, Islamic Terrorist bad-guys-in-a-can  made Maberry's whole effort seem more than a little "cookie cutter-ish".

The action sequences are legion and they're damn exciting, but a little heavy on the detail. Breaking down Ledger's reaction time in milliseconds and describing every minutiae of his fighting technique starts to sound more like a lesson in physics and kinesthesiology instead of the - "he grabbed the zombie's head and broke its neck" - kind of moment that I have to assume he was striving for. I think he must have been trying to help out the fight choreographer that Sony Pictures must choose for the ABC TV show I hear is in development.

The only other thing I have to mention is the blatant patriotic propaganda that is used in lieu of an actual denouement. The only thing that would have made it cheesier is if the book came with its own soundtrack that cued up Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA while the characters made their exits.

So if you're looking for your typical "save the world and get the girl" type of action thriller - complete with bad guys who seem to be an afterthought to the hero's Kick Ass-ness, and a few too many unnecessary/transparent plot twists, then Patient Zero might be right up your alley.