Friday Round Up! Bear, Bara, Moon @ SFFWorld and an Apocalyptic Mind Meld!

Been a while since I’ve done one of these Friday updates…oddly, I seem to begin these posts this way. I’ve had less time to do any blogging since my day job has been busier and the increased firewalls preventing me from doing any non-work related internetting.

So, on with it with the last few reviews I’ve posted to SFFWorld…

The first book review I posted in 2015 was for Elizabeth Bear’s fun and enchanting Karen Memory, a terrific steampunk / weird western / murder mystery:

That’s a great voice readers encounter immediately and throughout the novel, Bear remains powerfully consistent with that voice, not skipping a beat. As such, the copyeditor for this one should get special mention for ensuring the voice remained consistent over the course of the novel. Karen is a “seamstress,” which is code for sex worker and as such, Hôtels such as Madame Damnable’s were required to pay a sewing machine tax. Some may find it surprising that this was a real thing of Seattle’s past.
The other standout element is the wonderful cast of characters who, for the most part, are unapologetic, empathetic, and genuine. I thought Bear’s depiction of the budding relationship between Priya and Karen against the dark and fantastic backdrop proved a great optimistic balance. As for the cast of characters as a whole, they are diverse in a way that feels natural for the story. Karen Memory is a relatively short novel by today’s standards (352 pages), but Bear packs so much passion, energy, and uniqueness in the novel.

Earlier this week, my February Mind Meld was posted to SF Signal, in which I ask Bob Reiss, David Annadale, E.E. Knight, James Knapp, Jason Hough, Jaym Gates, Kristin Centorcelli, and Paul Weimer

Name Your Favorite Apocalypse or Dystopia!

Apocalyptic and Dystopic scenarios are immensely popular, ranging from stories of the Zombie Apocalypse, Alien Invasion, Superflu, Environmental Disaster, or the quite popular “Unexplained.”

Last week, my review of Dave Bara’s debut novel a rollicking Space Opera / Military Science fiction novel, Impulse:

The story is set far enough into the future that “Old Earth” is not the focal planet for humanity in the story, rather, Quantar is at the center of events. Like many Military Science Fiction novels,Impulse is told in the first person, in the case from the viewpoint of Peter Cochrane, a Lieutenant in the Quantar Royal Navy, who is assigned to investigate a disaster in space which claimed the lives of fellow military personnel, including his girlfriend. The Impulse; however, a Unified Space Navy ship is under foreign command and ends up on a moon/planet about which little is currently known. Peter initially received this news from his father (Grand Admiral of the Quantar Navy, and part of the ruling family of Quantar), though the assignment comes from his superior, Supreme Commander of the Unified Space Navy.…There’s a deep history to this universe, with a long-vanished civilization leaving relics behind for humanity to discover. These Relics each have a code of sorts associated with them that if we are advanced enough, we can decipher it. While this is a fairly tried and true trope of the genre, I was reminded of Mark Van Name’s Jon and Lobo novels. Other elements reminded me of David Weber/John Ringo’s Empire of Man novels. The bulk of the knowledge of these Relics is protected by the Historians, advanced humans from Earth who don’t often take too active a role in humanity’s development and exploration. These characters reminded me a great deal of the Observers from the TV show Fringe.

My most recent review is the final novel in Elizabeth Moon’s Paladin’s Legacy series, Crown of Renewal:

The main thread of the novel deals with Dorrin Verrakai and how, as Duke, she adjust to the political and military power she possesses coming into conflict and with the magical power growing within her and in the land. She is quite symbolic of the various changes occurring in the world of the novel. When she was appointed Duke, she was the first female to be appointed such a role. Her family line provided conflict and trust issues over those whom she presided. Change is thrust upon her again when she is given the task of transporting a magical crown that speaks to her as if she is queen. Dorrin must make some difficult choices about her status as Duke and Heir, two roles that she cannot hold. Unfortunately, the choice she makes affects more than just herself.…Crown of Renewal (and the five books which comprise The Paladin’s Legacy) proved once again that Elizabeth Moon provides me with novels I enjoy and find satisfying from character and (mostly) plot perspective. In other words, throughout, I found this to be a dependable Fantasy series that delivered an immersive and enjoyable reading experience. While some of the plot points and character movements went to places I may not have expected, my high expectations for a novel I could dive into and trust to tell me a good story were well met.

New Reviews at the SFFWorld Blog - Abraham, Miéville, and Knight

New reviews over on the SFFWorld blog this week:

Mark's review of The Tyrant's Law by Daniel Abraham. I read this one, too and loved it. My review should be popping up on Tor.com next week.  Here's a bit from Mark's review:

What we get more of here is a sense of the Epic, in that the eleven races of human, previously mentioned but not given too much detail, are fleshed out more. We see more of their nature and actions, as the consequences of what has happened before ripple out wider and begin to both affect them and draw them into the conflict.

...

All these narratives are in separate chapters as before, but as the plot thickens they connect and divide throughout. Much of the fun of the book is seeing how these characters separate and follow their own narrative paths, developing as they do before affecting each other again. As before in the series, not everything goes the way we as readers might suspect. Loyalties are rekindled, new characters divide up the fellowship, and further division. And throughout there is still the insidious influence of deities and revelations of dragons.

Mark pulls his review of Looking for Jake by China Miéville from the SFFWorld Archives

There are thirteen stories and one novella in this collection; three of these are new, one story dates from 1998. The novella, The Tain, was originally published by PS Publications in 2002, and is the last of the fourteen stories in the book.

I have enjoyed what I have read of China’s work, even when it is not an easy nor comfortable read. One of the key characteristics of New Weird, as I see it, is its ability to unsettle – to jolt the reader from the cosy environment of their reading environment. This collection clearly does this.

The general theme of the collection is a common one in most of China’s work - one which looks at horrors, both physical and mental, real and imagined. What this collection does, unlike Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council, is use real places and real events, which emphasises the unreality – when what we know and understand becomes something twisted and surreal

I go through the Way-Back machine to highlight E.E. Knight's debut novel and the novel that launched his very entertaining Vampire Earth saga, Way of the Wolf:

E.E. Knight postulates a grim future in his debut novel, The Way of the Wolf. The reader is introduced to a world over-run by creatures out of our most ancient nightmares and darkest legends, with humanity fighting for survival, not only against these monsters, but some of his or her fellow men and women. How did Earth become so desolate and nightmarish? Learning this is part of the fun in reading any opening novel in a multi-volume saga, and most importantly, part of the fun of this book.

...

The novel works very cinematically, or rather episodically, as if the this book will hit screens one day, as each chapter begins with a paragraph or two of background introduction. This gives an epic feel to the novel and allows the reader to more than simply read the novel, it allows the reader to experience the novel and this dark future Earth. Each chapter is paced very well, with the proper amount of action and characterization to keep the story moving, and more importantly, to keep the pages turning. Perhaps the only fault is a recurring sense of predictability.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2010-01-22)

Four books this week from three publishers.

Sword in the Stars (Dark Sea Annals #1) by Wayne Batson (AMG Publishers, Trade Paperback 10/15/2010) – First in a new high fantasy series, Wayne’s first work in the adult market. I reviewed some of his previous Young Adult novels: The Door Within (#1), Rise of the Wyrm Lord (#2), The Final Storm (#3), and Isle of Swords,


Haunted by memories of a violent past, Alastair Coldhollow wagers his life on the hope that a sword will appear in the stars and the foretold Halfainin, the Pathwalker, would come. Meanwhile, tensions simmer between Anglinore and the murderous Gorrack Nation, threatening war on a cataclysmic scale. The fate of all could rest on an abandoned child and the decisions of those who desperately seek to identify him. Sword in the Stars is the first release in The Dark Sea Annals series.

About the The Dark Sea Annals series: A noble king discovers what happens when he leaves a door open for evil. The disastrous consequences impact generations, leaving the throne of Anglinore to a wicked despot, the kingdom in ruins, and Aravel’s son Loch in exile. To throw down the vile new authority, Loch will need to find the fabled Halfainin and raise a new army from a world of reluctant citizens. Together with his archer friend Ariana, Loch will face adventures that span the world of Myriad, creatures that defy imagination, and choices great and terrible—all these recorded in The Dark Sea Annals.

Farlander (Heart of the World Book 1) by Col Buchanan (Tor Hardcover 01/25/2011) – The trend of books appearing first in the UK then showing up a year later continues with Buchanan’s debut. Mark reviewed this one last year. Here’s the copy:

The Heart of the World is a land in strife. For fifty years the Holy Empire of Mann, an empire and religion born from a nihilistic urban cult, has been conquering nation after nation. Their leader, Holy Matriarch Sasheen, ruthlessly maintains control through her Diplomats, priests trained as subtle predators.

Ash is a member of an elite group of assassins, the Roshun, who offer protection through the threat of vendetta. Forced by his ailing health to take on an apprentice, he chooses Nico, a young man living in the besieged city of Bar-Khos. At the time, Nico is hungry, desperate, and alone in a city that finds itself teetering on the brink.

When the Holy Matriarch’s son deliberately murders a woman under the protection of the Roshun; he forces the sect to seek his life in retribution. As Ash and his young apprentice set out to fulfill the Roshun orders, their journey takes them into the heart of the conflict between the Empire and the Free Ports…into bloodshed and death.

March in Country (Vampire Earth #8) by E.E.Knight (Roc Hardcover 01/04/2011) – I’ve been following this series from the beginning and I caught up with it completely a couple of years ago, so I’m pleased to have another volume to read. I like the post-apocalyptic milieu quite a bit and Knight is a solid and entertaining writer. I reviewed The Way of the Wolf (#1), Choice of the Cat (#2), Tale of the Thunderbolt (#3), Valentine's Rising (#4), Winter Duty (#8), Valentine's Rising (#4)and interviewed Mr. Knight in the past for SFFWorld. Here’s the synopsis for this volume:

The national bestselling "master of deception and tension" (Black Gate) returns to the Vampire Earth...

The race is on to claim the area between the Ohio River and Tennessee. What's left of the resistance is hiding out in the tangle of central Kentucky hills- leaving the powerful, well-organized Kurian vampires the opportunity to fill the void.

Major David Valentine knows there's only one way for them to find help before the Kurians settle in: a desperate dash by hijacked rail, followed by a harrowing river journey.

Valentine unites friends old and new in the effort- but the Kurian Order won't easily yield the blood-soaked Kentucky soil.


Among Others by Jo Walton (Tor Hardcover 01/21/2011) – Walton is one of the more prolific and interesting contributors at Tor.com, she’s won the World Fantasy Award and most of her novels have received a fair share of praise, including this latest.

Startling, unusual, and yet irresistably readable, Among Others is at once the compelling story of a young woman struggling to escape a troubled childhood, a brilliant diary of first encounters with the great novels of modern fantasy and SF, and a spellbinding tale of escape from ancient enchantment.

Raised by a half-mad mother who dabbled in magic, Morwenna Phelps found refuge in two worlds. As a child growing up in Wales, she played among the spirits who made their homes in industrial ruins. But her mind found freedom and promise in the science fiction novels that were her closest companions. Then her mother tried to bend the spirits to dark ends, and Mori was forced to confront her in a magical battle that left her crippled--and her twin sister dead.

Fleeing to her father whom she barely knew, Mori was sent to boarding school in England–a place all but devoid of true magic. There, outcast and alone, she tempted fate by doing magic herself, in an attempt to find a circle of like-minded friends. But her magic also drew the attention of her mother, bringing about a reckoning that could no longer be put off…

Combining elements of autobiography with flights of imagination in the manner of novels like Jonathan Lethem’s The Fortress of Solitude, this is potentially a breakout book for an author whose genius has already been hailed by peers like Kelly Link, Sarah Weinman, and Ursula K. Le Guin.

Books in the Mail (W/E 10/24/2010)

Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch; Firedrake by Nick Kyme; Warrior Priest by Darius Hinks; Wulfrik by C.L. Werner; The Dark Griffin by K.J. Taylor; The Remembering by Steve Cash; The Human Blend by Alan Dean Forster; The King of the Crags by Stephen Deas; March in Country (a Vampire Earth) by E.E. Knight; The Emperor’s Finest by Sandy Mitchell; Shadowheart by Tad Williams (concluding of what seems to be an overlooked fantasy series by a brand name); and Vietnamerica by GB Tran.

Two New Reviews at SFFWorld - Vampire Earth and Themed Anthology

Another week, and two more reviews at SFFWorld. As usual, one of the reviews is mine. The other review is from long-time forum member and a forum leader in our writing forum, Dan Bieger.

I reviewed the latest volume of one of the more consistent long-standing SF series, E.E. Knight’s Vampire Earth - Winter Duty.

One element that has made the series so much fun to follow is the characters Valentine encounters throughout his travels. With each novel, Knight further fleshes out this future apocalyptic world and lends more plausibility and depth to it – everything is connected and comes together organically. As a fan of the series since the first book, Way of the Wolf I was pleased to see the return of Duvalier who was sort of an enigma since her first appearance. The history between her and Valentine is hinted at in such away to keep longtime readers wanting to see them become closer. On the other hand, Knight hints at enough for readers picking up Winter Duty as their first Vampire Earth novel to encourage them to seek the earlier books in the series.

The main plot is relatively linear throughout the story, but it holds up very well as Knight further explores this blasted future. Valentine deals with a reputation that precedes him and the author’s strength, in addition to the memorable characters, is providing great action scenes of battle as well as the encounters Valentine has with Reapers, the Kurian’s vampire army, and other nasties the Kurians have conjured to keep humanity under their heel.

Dan reviewed the Denise Little-edited anthology Intelligent Design. DAW publishes a themed anthology about once per month. Here’s a snapshot of what Dan thought of the book:

Start with the cover design consisting of various color exposures of linked Hasbro monkeys. Stir in Little’s intention to explore “that fascinating border that requires using our senses, and the evidence, and everything science can teach us, to explore the nature, or lack thereof, of the divine.” The result is eleven stories dealing with aspects of creation versus evolution, most with tongue in cheek.

Books in the Mail (W/E 06/06/09)

The first week of June brings three books...

Eyes Like Leaves by Charles de Lint (Subterranean Press Hardcover 10/15/2009) – Subterranean is continuing it’s impressive series of de Lint reprints and long-lost stories with this big fantasy novel.

Magic is already fading in the Green Isles, but it's still a time when myths walk the world and the children of the ancient gods are engaged in one final confrontation. But when legendary creatures wage war, it s the ordinary people who suffer the consequences--unless they, themselves, can find a way to bring an end to the hostilities. The trouble is, not all of them are able to pick a side.

Eyes Like Leaves was written in the days of Moonheart and Charles de Lint's other high fantasy novels. The tale slept like a long-forgotten lover until he recently chose to revisit (and polish) this never-before-published gem.

First Rider's Call (Green Rider #2) by Kristen Britain (DAW Trade Paperback 06/09/2009) – I read the first book, Green Rider, in this series years ago, and I think I read this one two in hardcover release. For whatever reason, DAW is reissuing the book in Trade Paperback after having made it available in Hardcover and Mass Market Paperback. .

Once a simple student, Karigan G'ladheon finds herself in a world of deadly danger and complex magic, compelled by forces she cannot understand, when she becomes a Green Rider—one of the magical messengers of the king. Forced to accept a fate she never would have chosen, she attempts to return to her life as the daughter of a wealthy merchant, but the magic in her blood is too strong. Pursued by the ghost of the legendary First Rider, she rejoins the Green Riders to confront an ancient evil.

Winter Duty (Vampire Earth #8) by E.E.Knight (Roc Hardcover 07/07/2009) – I’ve been following this series from the beginning but I’m just short of being caught needing only the previous book Fall With Honor to be completely caught up before jumping into this one. I like the post-apocalyptic milieu quite a bit and Knight is a solid and entertaining writer. I reviewed The Way of the Wolf (#1), Choice of the Cat (#2), Tale of the Thunderbolt (#3), Valentine's Rising (#4), and interviewed Mr. Knight in the past for SFFWorld. Here’s the synopsis for this volume:

Major David Valentine and his fugitive battalion are the remnants of an expeditionary force shattered in its long retreat from disaster in the Appalachians. Between a raging blizzard, bands of headhunters, and the need to recover wounded soldiers lost during the retreat, Valentine is in for the toughest winter of his life.

And Valentine is losing allies fast. Some of the clans in the region have declared themselves in favor of the Kurians, throwing Kentucky into civil war. But the Kurian overlords have determined that the region isn't worth the effort of another conquest. Their order: extermination.

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson (Tor Hardcover 06/09/2009) – This is the final version of the ARC I received back in March. Here's part of my review

Consistent, engaging and well crafted – these are just three ways one can describe Brandon Sanderson and his second stand-alone fantasy novel, Warbreaker. Sanderson tells the story of a land ruled by a faceless God King and focuses on the woman (Siri) who is sent to be his wife. That core of the plot feeds several subplots – Vivenna, the sister of the God King’s wife (Siri) trying to save her; a brewing war between nations; the machinations of the Gods who live amongst men and just who and what the God King really is.
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Warbreaker is another top-notch novel from Brandon Sanderson – a novel that will likely be one of the top fantasy novels of the year.

Cracked Review, Hines Interview, SFFWorld Review, & Reading Resolutions

Following on from last week, I posted my review of Joshua Palmatier’s The Cracked Throne, which more than straddles the line as a simple middle book in a trilogy. The book started a bit slow for me, but the ending really cranked up and more than balanced that beginning. Here’s a snippet:

The throne itself comes more into play and Palmatier expands on its strange history. Varis soon learns the souls of the former rulers of Amekor are housed within Throne, and more importantly, so are the souls of the seven who poured their essences into the creation of the throne. The visions of destruction are both a reminder of the past and a harbinger of the future, the throne was created to keep an invading force of blue-skinned nomads, the Chorl, from destroying Amenkor.

What makes this novel is very much what made its predecessor work – Varis’s engaging narrative voice. There are no pretentions and the strength of any first person narrative is one of Varis’s strengths – the reader (for lack of a better term) learns about things alongside the protagonist. Another strength of Palmatier’s story is the throne itself and the slow reveal of its nature. It might be odd to make another comic book comparison to Palmatier’s work, but the Throne reminded me a great deal of an element of the Superman/Doomsday storyline where by rulers of a world pool their magical abilities together to create a super-being to battle the threat of the monster Doomsday. Palmatier’s theme of sacrifice for the greater good and its ultimate consequences echo more powerfully and subtly.

I’m also conducting an e-mail interview with Joshua which should probably go up when my review of The Vacant Throne is posted.

Also in SFFWorld updates, an interview with Jim C. Hines went up over the weekend. His Jig the Goblin books have been fairly well-received and I have his latest, The Stepsister Scheme on the review pile.

Hobbit also posted the third and final part of SFFWorld’s 2008 Year in Review.

Some reading resolutions I’d like to make for 2009:

Read more short fiction
Last year I read only 6 collections/anthologies, one of which was new fiction (Eclipse One), two were the John Joseph Adams-edited reprints; two were reprint anthologies/retrospectives (David Weber, Kull). I’ve got a backlog of some anthologies and will hopefully pick up some more with different authors/editors. Short fiction never comprised a majority of my genre reading and every year I tell myself to read more of it.

Read more fiction from different voices
This is somewhat encompassing. I read only three women writers last year in novel length form (Liz Williams, Kay Kenyon, and Karen Miller) and most of what I read was written by white guys. While I can’t control what books publishers publish and send to me, I can choose from that pool which books to read. In past years when I keep tallies of what I read, I read more women and more than just white guys.

Read outside of what I typically read
Most of the fantasy I read is secondary world/epic/high fantasy. While I’ve been dipping my toes into Urban Fantasy for a while, I would like to read more of it and from across the board. As for the Science Fiction I read, it often leans to Space Opera/Military Science Fiction. Point being, both genres have enough variation for me to try the many different flavors of Speculative Fiction. I’d also like to read some more mystery and more non-genre work, Mrs. Blog o’ Stuff has plenty of non-fiction stuff for me to tackle like a recent Ben Franklin biography and some history books.

Catch up with series fiction
The Dresden Files; Vampire Earth by E.E. Knight; Wess'Har by Karen Traviss; Vlad Taltos by Steven Brust (I'm only one book behind); Shadowmarch (I'm only one book behind); Marla Mason by T.A. Pratt; Malazan; Black Company, Dread Empire, and Garrett, P.I. (OK, I didn't even start the Garrett, P.I. books yet) by Glen Cook; Dune (a re-visit and catch-up really), Takeshi Kovacs by Richard K. Morgan; Alex Benedict by Jack McDevitt; and the list could probably continue. Shit, I just added another dozen plus books and may be counter-intuitive to some of the above reading resolutions

All of the above are things I’ve been thinking about as constantly reshuffle my Pile o' Shame /"To read"pile, and with the amount of books I receive for review and still have unread, it isn’t practical to justify spending hard earned cash on more books. But what is practical, anyway? There are just too many books to read at this rate.

Books in the Mail (W/E 11/15/2008)

Here’s the latest batch of arrivals…

1942 by Robert Conroy (Ballantine Trade Paperback 3/24/2009)– What if Japan had taken over Hawai’i? That is the general premise of this Alternate History novel. All three of Conroy’s previous novels were alternate history, so he’s had some practice at it. This is the first of two Alternate History novels that arrived on my porch this week.






Catopolis edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Janet Deaver-Pack (Daw Mass Market Paperback 12/2/2008) – Another month, another themed anthology from Daw and Martin H. Greenberg. This time, the stories are all the hidden city of cats. I’m not big on cats, they don’t like me and I don’t like them, although this anthology is noteworthy for one reason – it contains a story by Matthew Woodring Stover, plus many of the same writers I've seen in other recent Greenberg-edited anthologies.





Shadowrealm Book 3 of The Twilight War by Paul S. Kemp (Wizards of the Coast, Mass Market Paperback 12/15/2008) – I read Kemp’s excellent Erevis Cale Trilogy last year and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the novels and thought they were good examples of not just tie-in fiction, but sword-and-sorcery with a very heavy dose of magic. I’ve had the first two books for a while and have been waiting for the third to come out before I jumped into them, so I’m ready now. Tie-in fiction gets a looked down upon too often, but like everything there is good and bad. Kemp’s an example of the better stuff.




Dragon Strike (Age of Fire book #4) by E.E. Knight (Roc Trade Paperback 12/2/2008) – I read the first in this series, Dragon Champion three years ago and I’m impressed (and surprised) how fast this series has been coming out, especially considering Knight’s been churning out Vampire Earth novels (which I thoroughly enjoy) as well. All of this reminds me that I really need to catch up with what Mr. Knight’s been publishing.






Moving Targets and Other Tales of Valdemar edited by Mercedes Lackey (Ace Mass Market Paperback 12/2/2008) – Lackey has written a lot of books set in the Valdemar world, just take a look at what I received in September.









Dead Reign (Marla Mason Book #3) by T.A. Pratt (Bantam Spectra Mass Market Paperback 10/28/2008) – I bought this one because I enjoyed the first two books in the series so much, Blood Engines and Poison Sleep. These Urban Fantasy novels concern Chief Sorrceress of Felport, Marla Mason, and her efforts to protect her town. My high concept take on this is Dresden meets Sopranos meets Lovecraft meets Buffy.





Peacekeeper (An Ariane Kedros novel) by Laura A. Reeve (Roc Mass Market Paperback 12/2/2008) –This debut could be promising, even though the cover does continue the trend of hot-chick-with-a-gun-wearing-a-tanktop.

Fifteen years ago, Ariane Kedros piloted a ship on a mission that obliterated an entire solar system. Branded a war criminal, she was given a new identity and a new life in order to protect her from retribution. But now, twelve of Ariane's wartime colleagues are dead- assassinated by someone who has uncovered their true identities. And her superiors in the Autonomist army have placed her directly in the assassin's line of fire on a peacekeeping mission that will decide the fate of all humanity.


The United States of Atlantis by Harry Turtledove (Roc Hardcover 12/2/2008) – The second Alternative History novel I received this week is also the second in a series, the sequel to Turtledove’s Opening Atlantis. I actually read a story set in this milieu, Audobon in Atlantis in the Jonathan Strahan edited Best Short Novels 2006. As long as I've been reading in the genre and as much as Turtledove has published (seemingly 10 books a year), I've never read one of his novels.

The Flaxen Femme Fatale (A Zachary Nixon Johnson “Hair Color” seriesby John Zakour (DAW Mass Market Paperback 12/2/2008) - This is the sixth of a pulp-SF-Private Eye novel that originally was a trilogy. Regardless, the book and series looks like a fun read.

The last freelance P.I. on earth, Zach Johnson has been hired to track down a young beauty who happens to be a deadly secret weapon for the World Council. Figuring girls just want to have fun, he follows Natasha to various vacation destinations, but she eludes him, leaving a trail of destruction in her wake.

Zach, however, isn't surprised to discover that things aren't what they seem, and to save the world, he's going to have to find a way to team up with the woman he's supposed to destroy...

Colonies and Vampires, oh my!

As my sidebar indicates, I posted my review of John Scalzi's The Last Colony. I've read all four of the books Scalzi has published through Tor and I've enjoyed each one of them. His SF has a great balance of tension, humor, sf-nal trappings and just damned entertaining storytelling. You could do much worse than pick up any of his books.

The same can be said of E.E. Knight's Vampire Earth sequence. I just finished the most recent, Valentine's Exile, yesterday and enjoyed it just as much as the other books in the series. He threw a nice little curveball at the end giving a not-quite-cliffhanger feel to the story. This was Knight's first hardcover release and I think it is pretty well deserved. I'm a big fan of the apocalyptic setting and these books have that feel in spades. I interviewed him a couple of years ago and reviewed the first, second, third, and fourth books in the series.

Last and certainly not least, this Friday I will be seeing one of my favorite bands for the fourth time: Godsmack.

Confession of an FSF Biblioholic

One of my major problems as a reader is how many interesting books are on the shelves right now. Very often, the sentiment arises in FSF that the quality of the genre is not what it once was. I suppose I’m a lucky reader then, much of what I’ve read in the past few years has really pushed the right buttons. From the Epic Fantasies of Greg Keyes, to the near future SF of new authors like Marc Giller to the genre-bending thrill of Chris Roberson’s Paragaea to the Epic scale of Peter F. Hamilton’s space opera to the pulpy goodness of E.E. Knight’s Vampire Earth to the pure imagination of Jeffrey Ford’s fantasies to the heroic fantasy of Matt Stover to… I could go on, really. Most of the books I’ve read in the past few years have been very good, or at the leas enjoyable on some level. Of course, there are going to be clunkers, but those books help you appreciate the good books even more.

This does present a problem though. For as many books as I’ve read and enjoyed, there are as many, maybe more that I want to read. Just from this past year or so alone, I wanted to get to Abraham’s A Shadow in Summer, Hartwell’s Space Opera Renaissance, Keck’s In the Eye of Heaven, Robert Charles Wilson’s Spin, Sean Williams/Shane Dix’s Geodesica duology, John C. Wright’s Orphans of Chaos, Cory Doctrow’s Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves to Town, etc.

Add to that all the classics I want to revisit (or read for the first time, embarrassingly), like Dune, Starship Troopers, A Canticle for Leibowitz, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ringworld, Stand on Zanzibar, 1984, Clark Ashton Smith, The Land of Laughs, Snow Crash, The Dying Earth, etc.

This doesn’t even include all the short fiction I want to read in the anthologies and magazines. I can barely trim down my own to read pile before wanting to add to it.

That was the long of it. The short of it is – there is just too much out there I want to read.

Review Rising and Naming

Posted my review of E.E. Knight's Valentine's Rising yesterday. Another good book in his Vampire Earth saga, this books entertaining pulpy goodness.

On the writing front, I started something today. I had a pretty vivid dream that felt like a story, so as soon as I woke up, I wrote what I remembered. I've got a lot of thoughts floating around on it right now, but I like them. However, I want to name these folks right. I don't want them to have hokey sounding names, but I also don't want to have a sorcerer with a bland name like Fred. Then again, Fred the Sorcerer could be a nice little comedic fantasy.

Long December

With December upon us, I can officially state I wasn't NaNoWriMo "winner.” However, I can say I started a novel that I am enjoying writing and I’m 25K closer to seeing this story idea through to the end than I was before I started in November. The basic plot device/elements of this novel started gestating in my head a number of years ago, it was something I felt I could write about and I hope it will appeal to other people as well. I’m thinking of re-working a short story I wrote a couple of years ago into the novel and perhaps submitting the reworked story for publication. There are many writers who start their publishing careers with novels and just as many with short stories to get their name out there. I’m not certain which of these two camps I will fall into right now, all I care about at the moment is telling the story through to the end. Both have their merits, and writers who published both ways will espouse the benefits.

December also marks the time of year when Year in Review and Best of … lists start to appear in various places. SFFWorld will be no different, though it may come more towards the end of the month. I am working on a piece, or rather will start in earnest to work on such a piece with the ever-intrepid Hobbit of SFFWorld shortly.

December is also a great time to plan out reading habits for the next year, as publishers make available more information for books they hope people like me and the readers who visit forums such as SFFWorld and Frameshift will buy and read. I thought 2005 was a great year, but 2006 looks to be pretty impressive, as well. Most of the books are set to publish, with the manuscript at their respective editors. Without further ado:

The Lies of Lock Lamora by Scott Lynch, BantamSpectra June 2006 (Gollancz UK July)
Scott's name is probably very familiar to a lot of people. Most people (i.e. bloggers and Live Journal users) know his story and now we are all looking forward to what will likely be the debut novel of 2006. Early indications are that this book is incredible. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who has read Scott's Live Journal, his writing voice is unique and very assured. For a sampling of how well he writes, check out his superlative review of Matt Stover’s Heroes Die.

The Empire of Ice Cream by Jeffrey Ford, Golden Gryphon April 2006
I have yet to be disappointed by anything my fellow New Jersey native has written. His Well-Built City trilogy is one of my favorite series, three books more full of inspired imagination than single volume novels twice the length of this entire trilogy. His award winning short-story collection The Fantasy Writer’s Assistant was probably one of the two or three best books I read this year. Yes I know it came out in 2002, I’m just getting on the short story bandwagon.

Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell, Tor, February 2006
I’ve read and enjoyed a couple of short stories from this very active blogger. Tobias is doing an incredible job of self-promoting his book and recently launched the official Web site for the book. The Earth is in the distant past to inhabitants of a world humans discovered through a worm-hole, it seems like an interesting blending of Fantasy and Science Fiction. And besides, with an incredible cover by Todd Lockwood depicting what look to be pirates on floating vessels, how can you go wrong?

Her Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik, Del Rey March 2006
I’ve only recently seen things about Novik’s debut novel, but what I’ve seen impresses me. From what Rick Kleffel says, Del Rey is putting forth a very impressive marketing effort on this one, not the least of which is a blurb from Stephen King! Perhaps the most impressive thing about this book is that the two subsequent books in the trilogy will follow in each subsequent month. This is a blending of Fantasy and Alternate History, as Novik inserts dragons into the Napoleonic Wars. Novik has a cool background too, having worked on the popular Neverwinter Nights game. Like many authors, Novik keeps a LiveJournal giving a peek into her process.

Dusk by Tim Lebbon, BantamSpectra January 2006
This looks like a epic fantasy with a very dark horrific element. Hobbit reviewed for SFFWorld and had many good things to say. Lebbon has been very well-received in Horror circles and his foray into Epic Fantasy should be very interesting. Tim has a Web site specifically for Noreela, the world of Dusk.

Elemental: The Tsunami Relief Anthology edited by Steve Saville and Alethea Kontis, Tor, June 2006
Steve's official author forums are hosted by SFFWorld and is very knowledgeable about the genre. All proceeds from this book go to Save The Children's Tsunami Relief, contributors include: Arthur C. Clarke, Lynn Flewelling, Martha Wells, Jacqueline Carey, Sean Williams, Brian Aldiss, Tim Lebbon, and Michael Marshall Smith. There are more authors, but these are the writers with whom I am most familiar.

Vellum by Hal Duncan, Del Rey April 2006
Yeah, yeah, I know this has officially been published, but I live in America so I’m sticking with the American publishers. The first of a duology, this mixes heavens, hells, the multiverse, angels and technology. My only fear is that all of the very high positive response (or hype, if you will) is setting me up for a let down. Hal keeps a very cool blog at http://notesfromthegeekshow.blogspot.com/

Continuing Series
Of course, some series I’ve been reading will see installments publishing next year. One I’m very eager to get my hands on is The Blood Knight by Greg Keyes , the penultimate installment of his thus far fantastic Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone saga. If things go as planned, George R.R. Martin will publish A Dance with Dragons next year. E.E. Knight jumps to Hardcover with his next Vampire Earth novel, Valentine’s Exile. Locus is listing a date for the UK version of Lynn Flewelling’s The Oracle’s Queen, the concluding volume in her Tamir Trilogy. I read the first two in fairly quick succession a couple of years ago and really liked them. Peter F. Hamilton’s Judas Unchained comes out in January, the sequel to Pandora’s Star. I thought his Fallen Dragon one of the best SF books I’ve read in the past 5 years or so, but didn’t pick up Pandora’s Star, I was waiting for both books of the duology to be released.

However, the one I am most looking forward to reading is Matt Stover’s Caine Black Knife. Of course Matt is still writing it so there isn’t even a publication date. As I said with GRRM, let Matt take the time he needs to make CBK the book he wants it to be.

I know there are probably more books I am forgetting, but I think this is a good enough base of 2006 releases to whet my appetite.

Give in...to the Dark Side

Thinking up titles for these blog entries is often the most annoying thing about blogging. More often than not, they are pretty cheesy, and I fully admit this fact.

Life has been more than hectic, just when you think you can get a breather, you get pulled under for just a little bit more. Such was last week’s case, a very busy work week with two strong deadline oriented projects flavoring the whole week. Thankfully, things were completed on time and I enjoyed the beautiful weather here in New Jersey over the past weekend.

My wife and I are in the process of house hunting, a very frustrating thing indeed. Anybody who has been in the market knows what it is like. My wife and I bought/opened up a mortgage on our townhouse just before getting married and we both shudder at the thought of what it would have been like five years ago if the prices were as outrageous as they are now. Suffice it to say, we probably would have been living in cardboard boxes.

Over the weekend picked up the novelization of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover and I’m 1/3 into it already. If the novelization is any indication, Revenge of the Sith will be an action-packed film and will be at least as good as Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, my personal favorite Star Wars movie. I also picked up the third Vampire Earth novel by E.E. Knight – Tale of the Thunderbolt. Knight's books are highly entertaining.

After one week, my fantasy baseball team is of course, going through some ups and downs, I’m in the middle of the pack right now, and that’s with two starters on the DL. I may not continue in this league next year, but we shall see.

Not much else to blog about right now.

Sith!

Pretty, ain't it? Hits the stands in May. Here is the reluanched web page of the author:
http://mattstover.blogspot.com/

I’ve had this goddamned cold for almost two-and-a-half weeks, and to quote Indiana from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, “I’ve got the sniffles!” Started taking some Cold-Eeze, which is helping, but not as much as I’d like.

I knew, as is almost always the case when I compile any kind of list, there would be something I was bound to forget. Two additional books I’m looking forward to this year by E.E. Knight are two more books in his Tales of the Vampire Earth: Tale of the Thunderbolt (03/05) and Valentine Rising (12/05). I mentioned Mr. Knight and how I enjoyed his work in a post back in December.

Things are always evolving over at SFFWorld, we are hosting official author forums for the following FSF writers:
Alison Croggon a well respected writer already published to a good deal of acclaim in the UK and Australia, she makes her US debut with Naming: The First Book of Pellinor in May
Gary Wassner, author of the GemQuest trilogy, out next month from Windstorm
Kevin Radthorne author of the Road to Kotaishi
Richard Tuttle
Samit Basu, a respected author published by Penguin India
R. Scott Bakker, author of The Darkness that Comes Before and The Warrior-Prophet
Steve Savile, runner-up for the British Fantasy Award and was included in the 2003 L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future anthology

And oh yeah, how could I forget? We are also hosting the official forums of Matthew Stover, author of the novelization of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Matt, thanks to Gabe, has also begun blogging again, at what amounts to his official Web site: http://mattstover.blogspot.com/ Matt is the author of, easily, two of my top 10, and maybe my top 5 favorite novels of all time: Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle.

FSF Publishers

SciFi Wire starts of the year on a good foot with a great review of the seminal Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons masterpiece Watchmen. Most of the people who read my blog have read Watchmen, so this review will probably not be something new, but its good to see the Graphic Novel reviewed again in a prominent FSF Webzine.

Over the past few months and the coming months, US publisher BantamSpectra is doing some very cool things. They are publishing acclaimed novels previously unavailable to the larger US readership. Last summer, they released M. John Harrison’s Hard SF Space Opera Light, published in 2002 in the UK. This past November, they published The Etched City by K.J. Bishop, published in 2003 by Prime Books, a small press publisher. Early this year two novels previously only available overseas, Natural History by Justina Robson and Pashazade by Jon Courtenay Grimwood will be published and in April they are publishing the acclaimed collection, The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases edited by Jeff VanDerMeer and Mark Roberts. The Lambshead book features contributions by Alan Moore, K.J. Bishop, Kage Baker, Michael Moorcock, and China Miéville.

What does all this mean? It seems as BantamSpectra has a good editor running the FSF line and is responding by producing a diverse group of books people want to see. They probably have one of the better web presences considering they actually update their site every month with a newsletter. Daw and Ace haven’t updated since May, Roc hasn’t updated since October....of2003! Tor, probably the largest publisher in the genre, updates their Web site about every 16 months. In this day and age (to be clichéd) it is pretty sad that these publishers don’t pay better attention to their Web presences and how effective a tool this could be for them. It’s not like the Internet is new.

This is not to say each of these big publishers aren't publishing a good to great diverse set of books, because they certainly are. Tor publishes Gene Wolfe, Walter Hunt, Jacqueline Carey, Juliet Marillier, and Steven Brust, just to name a few. Daw's got Tad Williams, John Marco, and CJ Cherryh. Ace has Charles Stross, Alastair Reynolds, Patricia McKillip, and Brian Jacques. Roc has E.E. Knight, Carol Berg, and Jim Burns' Harry Dresden series.

The only two other big name publihsers with as good a web presence as BantamSpectra is their sister imprint Del Rey and Eos books (an imprint of HarperCollins). These other two publishers update every month and have a similar level of Web presence.

I can't speak too well about the smaller presses, like Prime Books, Night Shade, and Golden Grypon, but what I've seen these publishers put out is pretty impressive. But that's a different topic.

I suppose that's enough soapboxing about the publishing industry for now.