January 2016 Reading: Bennett, Elliott, Bear, Kemp, Correia, & Lyle

January has ended and I read a handful of books during the months. I reviewed Robert Jackson Bennett’s City of Blades, the second installment of his soon-to-be landmark Divine Cities epic fantasy series.

As for what I haven’t reviewed, at the start of the year I began my long anticipated re-read (books 1-4) and finish off Kate Elliott’s Crown of Stars series with the Nebula nominated first book in the series King’s Dragon. In short, I loved the book, and have much more to say on it. I am thinking of doing a write up of the series as I re-read books 1-4 and as it looks now, I may be doing one book per month. I really like the feel of this world and was pulled along.  I am very excited to continue with this series, the next of which is Prince of Dogs. 

After finishing off King’s Dragon, I dove into Elizabeth Bear’s Dust, a very fascinating take on the generational starship story. Bear always brings a wonderful voice to whatever she writes and this novel from a few years ago (2008) is no exception. It felt as much like a fantasy story with the religion that grew out of long years on the ship.

Although I began listening to the book at the end of December (my audible credit becomes available to me on the 24th of each month), Paul S. Kemp’s thrilling Star Wars novel Lords of the Sith (as read by with gusto and pacing by Jonathan Davis) accompanied me on my commute to and from work and other drives for the first couple weeks of the month. 

I think Kemp did a fine job with Vader and his relationship to Palpatine. This story takes place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, so Vader isn’t quite the feared monster in black he is when we first “meet” him on screen. I’d be pleased if Rogue One took some cues from this novel. There's still some lingering Anakin in Darth Vader in this story.

Although I haven't read every (or even half) of the Star Wars novels out there, I think the only other writer who capture Vader better was Matthew Stover in his novelization of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

Next up was Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter: Alpha. I bought the omnibus o the first three Monster Hunter novels a couple of years ago for a steal at $6. Larry switched things up for the third installment of the Monster Hunter series, focusing on Earl Shackelford (as opposed to Owen Pitt) and switching to an omniscient third person narrative voice rather than Owen’s first person perspective. This was a helluva a lot of fun, so much so that before I even finished reading Monster Hunter: Alpha I bought Monster Hunter: Legion. I would really like to read more novels focused on Earl, maybe some of his earlier adventures. I was also lucky enough to snag a signed copy of

The next audio book I gave a try was/is Anne Lyle’s The Alchemist of Souls, her debut and the first installment of her Night’s Mask trilogy. Michael Page does a very good job with the narration, I like the variety of voices and inflections he brings to the story. The setting is great, but for reasons I can’t fully explain, the story isn’t completely holding my attention. It is by no means bad, but I think I’m going to take a break from it at the moment.

As the month ends, I’m in the middle of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising. Del Rey was giving away copies of this at New York Comic Con this past October (2015). I’ve seen so many great things about the book and for the most part, the book is crafted quite well. A good story, good setting, but I really feel like I’ve read this one before. I finished the book on Friday and wasn't too impressed with the book altogether.  It really felt like The Hunger Games with a male protagonist along with a dash of The Departed. 

Lastly, I began slowly poring over the pages of Volume III of The Annotated Sandman. This is a beast of a book. Leslie Klinger (who did fantastic work on the previous two volumes as well as an Annotated Dracula and volume of HP Lovecraft I own) continues to add layers and depth, from a storytelling perspective, to one of the deepest and richest stories any medium has seen.

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.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2015-01-24)

This is the biggest batch of arrivals in quite a few weeks. I've already read two of them, but the other books look very interesting indeed.

Impulse (The Lightship Chronicles #1) by Dave Bara (DAW Hardcover 03/03/2015) – A brand new Space Opera from DAW, and in hardcover release which shows the publisher has faith in his work. I think Dave’s agent may have mentioned this book to me a while back and I know his editor/publisher mentioned it when he and I chatted at the Tor.com imprint launch party. I finished this one last week and really enjoyed it, I hope it does well for Dave because I want to read more books in this series.

Lieutenant Peter Cochrane of the Quantar Royal Navy believes he has his future clearly mapped out. It begins with his new assignment as an officer on Her Majesty’s Spaceship Starbound, a Lightship bound for deep space voyages of exploration.

But everything changes when Peter is summoned to the office of his father, Grand Admiral Nathan Cochrane, and given devastating news: the death of a loved one. In a distant solar system, a mysterious and unprovoked attack upon Lightship Impulse resulted in the deaths of Peter’s former girlfriend and many of her shipmates.

Now Peter’s plans are torn asunder as he is transferred to a Unified Space Navy ship under foreign command, en route to an unexpected destination, and surrounded almost entirely by strangers. To top it off, his superiors have given him secret orders that might force him to become a mutineer.

The crisis at hand becomes a gateway to something much more when the ship’s Historian leads Peter and his shipmates into a galaxy of the unknown — of ancient technologies, age-old rivalries, new cultures, and unexpected romance. It’s an overwhelming responsibility for Peter, and one false step could plunge humanity into an apocalyptic interstellar war.

 

Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear (Tor, Hardcover 02/3/2015) – Bear churns out novels and stories with remarkable quality and regularity, something not many authors can say. My review for this engaging novel goes up this week.

“You ain’t gonna like what I have to tell you, but I'm gonna tell you anyway. See, my name is Karen Memery, like memory only spelt with an e, and I'm one of the girls what works in the Hôtel Mon Cherie on Amity Street. Hôtel has a little hat over the o like that. It’s French, so Beatrice tells me.”

Hugo-Award winning author Elizabeth Bear offers something new in Karen Memory, an absolutely entrancing steampunk novel set in Seattle in the late 19th century—an era when the town was called Rapid City, when the parts we now call Seattle Underground were the whole town (and still on the surface), when airships plied the trade routes bringing would-be miners heading up to the gold fields of Alaska, and steam-powered mechanicals stalked the waterfront. Karen is a “soiled dove,” a young woman on her own who is making the best of her orphaned state by working in Madame Damnable’s high-quality bordello. Through Karen’s eyes we get to know the other girls in the house—a resourceful group—and the poor and the powerful of the town. Trouble erupts into her world one night when a badly injured girl arrives at their door, seeking sanctuary, followed by the man who holds her indenture, who has a machine that can take over anyone’s mind and control their actions. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the next night brings a body dumped in their rubbish heap—a streetwalker who has been brutally murdered.

Bear brings alive this Jack-the-Ripper-type story of the old west with the light touch of Karen’s own memorable voice, and a mesmerizing evocation of classic steam-powered science

Footsteps in the Sky by Greg Keyes (Open Road Media, Trade Paperback/eBook 05/26/2015) – I’m very happy to see some new original novel-length fiction from Greg Keyes. I’ve read most of his stuff (Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone, Age of Unreason, and The Chosen of the Changeling) though lately he’s been keeping busy with tie-in work, most recently the novelization/tie-in for Interstellar

The pueblo people who landed on the Fifth World found it Earthlike, empty, and ready for colonization . . . but a century later, they are about to meet the planet’s owners

One hundred years ago, Sand’s ancestors made the long, one-way trip to the Fifth World, ready to work ceaselessly to terraform the planet. Descendants of native peoples like the Hopi and Zuni, they wanted to return to the way of life of their forebears, who honored the Kachina spirits.

Now, though, many of the planet’s inhabitants have begun to resent their grandparents’ decision to strand them in this harsh and forbidding place, and some have turned away from the customs of the Well-Behaved People. Sand has her doubts, but she longs to believe that the Kachina live on beyond the stars and have been readying a new domain for her people.

She may be right. Humans have discovered nine habitable worlds, all with life that shares a genetic code entirely alien to any on Earth. Someone has been seeding planets, bringing life to them. But no other sign of the ancient farmers has ever been discovered—until one day they return to the Fifth World. They do not like what they find.

The Eternia Files by Leanna Renee Hieber (Tor, Hardcover 02/3/2015) – Victorian/Gaslight Mystery in the mid-1800s. Hieber seems to really know this era, she is after all a well known actress and Gothic Historian.

London, 1882: Queen Victoria appoints Harold Spire of the Metropolitan Police to Special Branch Division Omega. Omega is to secretly investigate paranormal and supernatural events and persons. Spire, a skeptic driven to protect the helpless and see justice done, is the perfect man to lead the department, which employs scholars and scientists, assassins and con men, and a traveling circus. Spire’s chief researcher is Rose Everhart, who believes fervently that there is more to the world than can be seen by mortal eyes.

Their first mission: find the Eterna Compound, which grants immortality. Catastrophe destroyed the hidden laboratory in New York City where Eterna was developed, but the Queen is convinced someone escaped—and has a sample of Eterna.

Also searching for Eterna is an American, Clara Templeton, who helped start the project after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln nearly destroyed her nation. Haunted by the ghost of her beloved, she is determined that the Eterna Compound—and the immortality it will convey—will be controlled by the United States, not Great Britain.

The first ina new Victorian fantasy series, Leanna Renee Hieber’s The Eterna Files is available February 10th from Tor Books. Read an excerpt below!

The Thorn of Dentonhill by Marshall Ryan Maresca (DAW Mass Market Paperback 02/03/2015) – This debut sounds like a fun mash-up of superhero fiction & sword and sorcery, in a similar vein to the very enjoyable Shield and Crocus by Michael R. Underwood. That cloak gives me a superhero feel and the cover evokes Scott Lynch. The second book/sequel is set to publish in the summer, giving Maresca (who was a Book Country member where he work-shopped the book) some fairly quick shelf presence.

Veranix Calbert leads a double life. By day, he’s a struggling magic student at the University of Maradaine. At night, he spoils the drug trade of Willem Fenmere, crime boss of Dentonhill and murderer of Veranix’s father. He’s determined to shut Fenmere down.

With that goal in mind, Veranix disrupts the delivery of two magical artifacts meant for Fenmere's clients, the mages of the Blue Hand Circle. Using these power-filled objects in his fight, he quickly becomes a real thorn in Fenmere's side.

So much so that soon not only Fenmere, but powerful mages, assassins, and street gangs all want a piece of “The Thorn.” And with professors and prefects on the verge of discovering his secrets, Veranix’s double life might just fall apart. Unless, of course, Fenmere puts an end to it first.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2014-09-27)

Just one book this week, and it is publishing so far into the future that there's no cover for it yet

Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear (Tor, Hardcover 02/3/2015) – Bear churns out novels and stories with remarkable quality and regularity, something not many authors can say. This one sounds VERY interesting.

“You ain’t gonna like what I have to tell you, but I'm gonna tell you anyway. See, my name is Karen Memery, like memory only spelt with an e, and I'm one of the girls what works in the Hôtel Mon Cherie on Amity Street. Hôtel has a little hat over the o like that. It’s French, so Beatrice tells me.”

Hugo-Award winning author Elizabeth Bear offers something new in Karen Memory, an absolutely entrancing steampunk novel set in Seattle in the late 19th century—an era when the town was called Rapid City, when the parts we now call Seattle Underground were the whole town (and still on the surface), when airships plied the trade routes bringing would-be miners heading up to the gold fields of Alaska, and steam-powered mechanicals stalked the waterfront. Karen is a “soiled dove,” a young woman on her own who is making the best of her orphaned state by working in Madame Damnable’s high-quality bordello. Through Karen’s eyes we get to know the other girls in the house—a resourceful group—and the poor and the powerful of the town. Trouble erupts into her world one night when a badly injured girl arrives at their door, seeking sanctuary, followed by the man who holds her indenture, who has a machine that can take over anyone’s mind and control their actions. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the next night brings a body dumped in their rubbish heap—a streetwalker who has been brutally murdered.

Bear brings alive this Jack-the-Ripper-type story of the old west with the light touch of Karen’s own memorable voice, and a mesmerizing evocation of classic steam-powered science

Books in the Mail W/E 2014-09-06 - Used Book Edition

In lieu of a regular Books in the Mail post today, I’m switching it up slightly. You see, no new review books arrived this week, so I’ll talk about the books I picked up at The Book Trader recently after trading in some books I’ve had for over a couple of years and never read (or plan to read). As I’ve opined in other posts, The Book Trader (once in Rahway, NJ now a few miles down the road and a right turn away in Colonia, NJ) is the used bookshop against which I judge all others. I can always find good books there, and more often than not, the majority of the specific books I’m trying to find, plus the occasional gem I wasn’t expecting or a book or two I didn't realize I was looking for until I saw it on one of their shelves. So, what did I pick up on this little trip? You might notice a theme or two. First the snapshot of the books followed by the explanations.

After reading and enjoying Elizabeth Bear’s fantasy, I wanted to try a novel-length science fiction novel from her. This book, Dust just jumped out at me from the shelves. Here’s the blurb/book description:

On a broken ship orbiting a doomed sun, dwellers have grown complacent with their aging metal world. But when a serving girl frees a captive noblewoman, the old order is about to change....

Ariane, Princess of the House of Rule, was known to be fiercely cold-blooded. But severing an angel’s wings on the battlefield—even after she had surrendered—proved her completely without honor. Captive, the angel Perceval waits for Ariane not only to finish her off—but to devour her very memories and mind. Surely her gruesome death will cause war between the houses—exactly as Ariane desires. But Ariane’s plan may yet be opposed, for Perceval at once recognizes the young servant charged with her care.

One author on my hunting list was Melanie Rawn and her Big Fat Fantasy saga, The Dragon Prince Trilogy, which fittingly enough, begins with Dragon Prince. Rawn and this book is another writer/series I’ve been intending to read for years, many years, for a few reasons.

Quite a few people spoke pretty well of her, specifically these books, in the SFFWorld forums, where I've been virtually hanging out for the better part of a decade and a half.

Joe Sherry (a blogger pal whose opinion I trust quite well, who also happens to be a beer snob and a bowler like me) holds these books in high esteem, and one of my primary web publishers, Tor.com, is running a re-read of the series. It doesn’t hurt that the book is adorned in a classic Michael Whelan cover.

While the second and third book of this series (The Star Scroll and Sunrunner's Flame) were both on the shelf, I wanted to hold off to make sure I liked this one enough to continue. Also, see the other books I acquired on this trip.

I love me some omnibus books and few publishers keep their authors in print as well as DAW with their omnibus editions.  Confederation of Valor, an omnibus of the first two Confederation Military SF novels from Tanya Huff. In this case, Tanya Huff is somebody I’ve had on my mental to read list for a while. I picked up The Silvered earlier this year at Brandon Sanderson’s signing I attended in Philadelphia, PA based on Joshua Bilmes’s recommendation post at SF Signal. He’s also her agent, and I’ve come to learn that I really enjoy a majority of his client authors (i.e. Elizabeth Moon, Myke Cole, Peter Brett, Brandon Sanderson, Sylvia Izzo Hunter to name only a few).

Last and certainly not least was the big score, the three books I had at the top my my hunting list on this trip: books 5, 6, and 7 of Kate Elliott’s Crown of Stars series, The Gathering Storm, In the Ruins, and Crown of Stars respectively. I’ve been intending to finish reading the series for years  and I last read book 4 (Child of Flame) about a decade ago. This was just before review copies began to arrive in droves and drown out other books I intended to read. I recall really enjoying what I read of the series, I remember a very magical aura and feel to these books.

I picked up the second book, Prince of Dogs, at JerseyDevilCon back in 2002 from one of the dealers. Much to my pleasant surprise, the book was a signed by Kate Elliott.

Also, following Kate on twitter and especially after her recent appearance on Rocket Talk, I wanted even more to get reconnect and catch-up with the series, so next year I’m planning to make Crown of Stars my re-read-and-catch-up series. I might even blog about it as I read through the series. I know, us biblioholics and our silly notions of "reading plans."

Any thoughts on these books, let me know in the comments.

New Template, Version 6

About eight months ago, I changed the template on my blog so naturally, I'm changing it again today.  While the previous template looked pretty nice, I realized after reading quite a few books on my kindle, I like reading white/light grey text on a black background. Also, I don't like the way my sidebar was hidden in the previous dynamic view of the blog. 

This current design is very close to what it was prior to the change over in March. Yeah, I know, I'm a little obsessed with the Red and Black color combination, but the colors  happen to be from my alma mater and my favorite NHL team, the (currently terrible) New Jersey Devils.

So, here it is, the 6th iteration of my blog.  I'll also show off one of the signatures I received at NY Comic Con last month, Elizabeth Bear's signature on Range of Ghosts.

New York Comic-Con 2013

So...New York Comic-Con...this year was the second year I attended and this time, I was able to get in with a Press Pass thanks to the writing I do for SFFWorld and now Tor.com and SF Signal. Also, thanks to Myke Cole for suggesting I try to get a Press Pass.

Last year, I attended on Saturday with my wife but this year, I flew solo on Friday thinking (and hearing from other folks) that Friday is typically not as crowded as Saturday.  Not so much, if anything, Friday this year was as packed as Saturday was last year.

As I was getting closer to the Javits Center (which, every time I go there, amazes me with how big it is), I chatted with a Dalek.  Rather, we exchanged shouts of "Exterminate!" at each other.

R to L Mike Sullivan, Scott Lynch, Elizabeth Bear,
Brian Staveley, and Drew Karpyshyn

The first thing I did was head over to the The Wheel of Time Turns and Epic Fantasy Remains Epic! panel in the basement at the back back back of the convention.I've read three of the five authors (Sullivan, Lynch, & Bear) on the panel and may try the other two in the near future. Brian Staveley in particular impressed me with how comfortable he came across.  It was a fun panel and the authors seemed to get along nicely. Of course, it helps when two of them are partners, Bear and Lynch. The panel was moderated by Maryelizabeth Hart of Mysterious Galaxy books and she did a fine job.

At the conclusion of the panel, I had a chance to chat a bit with Irene Gallo whom everybody reading this likely knows is the art director for Tor (as such, she's responsible for the gorgeous design on Brian's debut novel The Emperor's Blades) and one of my bosses at Tor.com. We chatted a bit about Breaking Bad (happened to be wearing my Breaking Bad/Game of Thrones mash-up T-Shirt) and I had to make sure I told Irene how great the post she did at Tor.com featuring the printing process of A Memory of Light was.

I swaggered over to the autographing to get my books signed by Michael (Theft of Swords), Scott (The Lies of Locke Lamora 1st US HC), and Elizabeth (Range of Ghosts).  I bumped into Mike Underwood (author of Geekomancy and Angry Robots Marketing) on line and chatted with him a bit and realized I need to read his books. From there, I entered the chaos that is the main floor of the Javits Center during New York Comic-Con.

To be honest, I was wandering around like a cross between a zombie and a kid at the annual carnival trying to get to everything I wanted to see. Friends of the family own a comic shop (JC Comics) so I wanted to make sure to visit them. Their double booth in the comic retailer area was swamped with customers rifling through the back-issue bins and buying comics. 

Strolling through the aisles, I stopped over at the Orbit Books booth, chatted with them a bit and had to admit that I was one of the few who didn't like a certain book they published and is getting rave reviews but that I was immensely enjoying Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach (aka Rachel Aaron).

At the Penguin Booth (ACE, ROC, DAW, RazorBill and other YA imprints) SFF Marketing guru and all-around awesome person Colleen Lindsay was running a tight ship, but a fun ship as she was keeping folks in line for book signings with a bull-horn.  I grabbed a few freebies from them, including a book I've been curious about - Fated by Benedict Jacka as well as The Nethergrim by Matthew Tobin (a YA fantasy publishing in April 2014) and Vitro from Jessica Khoury (a near future YA SF publishing in January 2014). 

I stopped by the 47North booth and was offered copies of The Wretched of Muirwood by Jeff Wheeler and Seven Kinds of Hell by Dana Cameron.

Wandering the aisles I arrived at the booth for Abrams Books, who publishes lovely retrospective and coffee-table type books. I had to buy Jeff Vandermeer's Wonderbook, which is signed so I had no problems slapping down some cash for what is an amazingly gorgeous book. The DelRey/Spectra booth was very nice, and was packed for both the Jason M. Hough signing and the Scott Lynch signing. 

I wasn't walking out of the Javits Center without at least a few comics.  I needed volume five of Joe Hill/Gabriel Rodriguez's Locke & Key so I picked that up.  What I found surprising is that some of the comic publishers exhibiting weren't offering discounts on their books and merchandise (especially when the booth across from it, Midtown Comics, was offering a blanket 20% everything). Typically at these things, a discount of at least 10-20% is an across the board thing. Image was knocking off prices on some of their larger graphic novels and I was able to get a deal for 3 trades at the BOOM! booth, but Dark Horse wasn't offering anything. I would have picked up a couple of things if they were.  Based on a recommendation from Jeff Patterson on the SF Signal podcast (or maybe it was his new Three Hoarsmen with Fred Kiesche and John Stevens), I picked up The Hypernaturals by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning.  I'd been wanting to pick up/read Irredeemable by Mark Waid and Peter Krause for a while, so I picked up those two (and The Hypernaturals) at the BOOM! booth.  Lots of dealers were offering 50% of trade paperbacks and/or trades for a flat $10, so I picked up (after years of knowing I should be reading it) the first Hellblazer collection.

I made some more acquaintances at the Tor booth after informing them I wrote for Tor.com, in particular Marco Palmieri (I think) who was sporting an Orphan Black t-shirt so we both gushed about the show since I write about it.  Brian Staveley had a signing at 5PM (or was it 6PM?) and I was initially planning on sticking around for it, but between the crowds, my growing sense of claustrophobia, being on my feet all day, and wanting to make sure I got on a train to NJ that got me home in a timely fashion, I left at about 4:30. Regardless, hearing Brian on the panel (coupled with my SFFWorld colleague Nila's review of the book) convinced me to read The Emperor's Blades when it publishes.

I was really hoping RED BUBBLE would have a booth again this year, but sadly, they did not make it to the show so I didn't walk out with any new T-shirts for myself. However, I did pick up a "Coulson Lives" shirt for my wife who liked Coulson in the past Marvel movies, but has a full on crush thanks to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 

As I was losing steam, I made one last pass through the aisle where the Del Rey booth was located and ran into of Myke Cole who gave me a Challenge Coin (probably the best thing I snagged at the con).  In tow was Peter V. Brett and his girlfriend Laura who was wearing a cool dress that looked to be comprised of panels from Marvel Comics.

The con seemed to run smoothly from my perspective, even if it was extremely crowded. As I get older, I'm liking crowds less and less. The only real gripe I have is with some of the folks who dress up. Rather, I have no problem with the cosplayers, on the whole because it is cool to see how inventive and accurate some of the people's costumes can be.  The issue is when somebody decides to dress up like a 10 foot tall robot and an entire crowded aisle needs to make a path for him. Or the people who hold up the foot traffic taking pictures of folks in a Deadpool costume having a sword fight with Link from Legend of Zelda.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2013-03-16)

A smattering of books this week, all except one of them is from the fine folks at Tor. One of this is a must read for me, which I'm sure will be easy enough to determine.


Range of Ghosts (The Eternal Sky #2) by Elizabeth Bear (Tor, Hardcover 03/17/2013) – I read the opening novel in this sequence last year and was blown away


The Shattered Pillars is the second book of Bear’s The Eternal Sky trilogy and the sequel to Range of Ghosts. Set in a world drawn from our own great Asian Steppes, this saga of magic, politics and war sets Re-Temur, the exiled heir to the great Khagan and his friend Sarmarkar, a Wizard of Tsarepheth, against dark forces determined to conquer all the great Empires along the Celedon Road.

Elizabeth Bear is an astonishing writer, whose prose draws you into strange and wonderful worlds, and makes you care deeply about the people and the stories she tells. The world of The Eternal Sky is broadly and deeply created—her award-nominated novella, "Bone and Jewel Creatures" is also set there.

The Gate Thief by Orson Scott Card (Tor Hardcover 03/19/2013) – Second installment in Card’s Urban Fantasy which began with The Lost Gate



In this sequel to The Lost Gate, bestselling author Orson Scott Card continues his fantastic tale of the Mages of Westil who live in exile on Earth.

Here on Earth, Danny North is still in high school, yet he holds in his heart and mind all the stolen outselves of thirteen centuries of gatemages. The Families still want to kill him if they can't control him…and they can't control him. He is far too powerful.

And on Westil, Wad is now nearly powerless—he lost everything to Danny in their struggle. Even if he can survive the revenge of his enemies, he still must somehow make peace with the Gatemage Daniel North.

For when Danny took that power from Loki, he also took the responsibility for the Great Gates. And when he comes face-to-face with the mages who call themselves Bel and Ishtoreth, he will come to understand just why Loki closed the gates all those centuries ago.


The Shape Stealer by Lee Carroll (Tor Trade Paperback 03/05/2013) – Third book in to the Carroll’s sequence (who is a pseudonym for the husband and wife author team of Carol Goodman and Lee Slonimisky) which began with, Black Swan Rising, which Mark enjoyed when it published in the UK last year.

Jewelry designer Garet James is the Watchtower—the last in a long line of powerful women sworn to protect the world from evil. Although she had once defeated evil in New York City, her pursuit of her true love, the 400-year-old vampire Will Hughes, has now unleashed an age-old evil onto the modern world, and the entire planet is at risk.

Marduk, the ageless descendant of a demonic Babylonian deity, is now loose in Paris. He has joined forces with the villainous John Dee in a plan to destroy the world’s economy and plunge the entire world into chaos.

To fight this threat, Garet enlists the help of a modern-day band of knights who are dedicated to preserving the sanctity of the timeline. As she and her allies face this threat, new challenges arise in the form of a rival faction of knights who will stop at nothing to bring about the destruction of everything Garet holds dear.

River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay (Roc, Trade Paperback 04/02/2013) – Kay is a magnificent writer, I’ve enjoyed all of what I’ve read by him. This is set in the same world as Under Heaven though it seems as if it could stand on its own. This is the finished copy of the ARC I received back in January.

In his critically acclaimed novel Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay told a vivid and powerful story inspired by China’s Tang Dynasty. Now, the international bestselling and multiple award-winning author revisits that invented setting four centuries later with an epic of prideful emperors, battling courtiers, bandits and soldiers, nomadic invasions, and a woman battling in her own way, to find a new place for women in the world – a world inspired this time by the glittering, decadent Song Dynasty.



Ren Daiyan was still just a boy when he took the lives of seven men while guarding an imperial magistrate of Kitai. That moment on a lonely road changed his life—in entirely unexpected ways, sending him into the forests of Kitai among the outlaws. From there he emerges years later—and his life changes again, dramatically, as he circles towards the court and emperor, while war approaches Kitai from the north.
Lin Shan is the daughter of a scholar, his beloved only child. Educated by him in ways young women never are, gifted as a songwriter and calligrapher, she finds herself living a life suspended between two worlds. Her intelligence captivates an emperor—and alienates women at the court. But when her father’s life is endangered by the savage politics of the day, Shan must act in ways no woman ever has.

In an empire divided by bitter factions circling an exquisitely cultured emperor who loves his gardens and his art far more than the burdens of governing, dramatic events on the northern steppe alter the balance of power in the world, leading to events no one could have foretold, under the river of stars.



Queen Victoria's Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy by Ellen Datlow and Terry Windling (Tor, Trade Paperback 03/17/2013) – Datlow and Windling are the pre-eminent short-fiction editorial duo, for years they edited the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror anthology as well as many, many themed anthologies.


“Gaslamp Fantasy,” or historical fantasy set in a magical version of the nineteenth century, has long been popular with readers and writers alike. A number of wonderful fantasy novels, including  Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, and The Prestige by Christopher Priest, owe their inspiration to works by nineteenth-century writers ranging from Jane Austen, the Brontës, and George Meredith to Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, and William Morris. And, of course, the entire steampunk genre and subculture owes more than a little to literature inspired by this period.

Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells is an anthology for everyone who loves these works of neo-Victorian fiction, and wishes to explore the wide variety of ways that modern fantasists are using nineteenth-century settings, characters, and themes. These approaches stretch from steampunk fiction to the Austen-and-Trollope inspired works that some critics call Fantasy of Manners, all of which fit under the larger umbrella of Gaslamp Fantasy. The result is eighteen stories by experts from the fantasy, horror, mainstream, and young adult fields, including both bestselling writers and exciting new talents such as Elizabeth Bear, James Blaylock, Jeffrey Ford, Ellen Kushner, Tanith Lee, Gregory Maguire, Delia Sherman, and Catherynne M. Valente, who present a bewitching vision of a nineteenth century invested (or cursed!) with magic.

• “The Fairy Enterprise” by Jeffrey Ford
• “From the Catalogue of the Pavilion of the Uncanny and Marvelous, Scheduled for Premiere at the Great Exhibition (Before the Fire)” by Genevieve Valentine
• “The Memory Book” by Maureen McHugh
• “Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells” by Delia Sherman
• “La Reine D’Enfer” by Kathe Koja
• “Briar Rose” by Elizabeth Wein
• “The Governess” by Elizabeth Bear
• “Smithfield” by James P. Blaylock
• “The Unwanted Women of Surrey” by Kaaron Warren
• “Charged” by Leanna Renee Hieber
• “Mr. Splitfoot” by Dale Bailey
• “Phosperous” by Veronica Schanoes
• “We Without Us Were Shadows” by Catherynne M. Valente
• “The Vital Importance of the Superficial” by Ellen Kushner and Caroline Stevermer
• “The Jewel in the Toad Queen’s Crown” by Jane Yolen
• “A Few Twigs He Left Behind” by Gregory Maguire
• “Their Monstrous Minds” by Tanith Lee
• “Estella Saves the Village” by Theodora Goss

SFFWorld Reviewers' Top SF, Fantasy, & Horror of 2012

As we do every year at SFFWorld, Mark and I took a look back at what we read and reviewed at SFFWorld. This year, we pulled in KatG, who serves as one of the moderators, and Nila (N.E.) White (aka tmso) who moderates, writes reviews for us and makes sure the folks in the writing forum play nice with each other.

Part 1 covers Fantasy and Horror

April saw a slew of Fantasy novels reviewed. Rob reviewed The Hammer and the Blade by Paul S. Kemp, his first non-shared world/media tie-in which is a great example of modern Sword and Sorcery, as well as Elizabeth Bear’s ‘first true venture into Epic Fantasy’, Range of Ghosts. Mark read Alchemist of Souls by Anne Lyle and Fire by Kristin Cashore, occasional reviewer Kathryn read Forged in Fire by J.A. Pitts and Nila reviewed the third Mike Shevdon novel, Strangeness and Charm. Rob’s favorite in April was his much anticipated Caine's Law by Matthew Woodring Stover

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For the start of June SFFWorld went old-school, with the review of a game-book, Destiny Quest: The Legion of Shadow by Michael J. Ward. Mark found it quite fun. He also reviewed the UK re-release of George R.R. Martin’s Armageddon Rag, expanding on a short review he wrote for The Fortean Times. Rob enjoyed the fast-paced mayhem of Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia, and the Young Adult tale Thief's Covenant by Ari Marmell, but his favourite of the month (and of the year) was The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett, a Bradbury-esque tale of strange goings-on in a circus troupe.

Part 2 covers Science Fiction

January started strongly for Space Opera, with Alastair Reynolds’ Blue Remembered Earth which Mark reviewed. Rob reviewed The Recollection by Gareth L. Powell. We also reviewed something we should do more of at SFFWorld, an audio drama, when occasional reviewer Kathryn Ryan reviewed a Ciaphas Cain story Dead in the Water by Sandy Mitchell. Mark reviewed a superhero reimagining with Empire State by Adam Christopher and an old-fashioned duo of future-colony tales, Tau Ceti by Kevin Anderson and Steven Savile. Elsewhere, Paul Mc Auley’s In the Mouth of the Whale was another Space Opera liked by readers, as too Chris Beckett’s alien planet tale Dark Eden, though Mark was not as impressed. Lavie Tidhar’s Osama was published this month, with an audacious meta-fiction premise and was generally well liked, winning the World Fantasy Award for 2012 later in the year.

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Just as impressive in June was David Brin’s Existence, which Rob loved for its big, bold ideas and complex plot, saying ‘Brin achieved an excellent gestalt of character, big ideas, and narrative energy.’ We also had the US release of John Scalzi’s Redshirts, a book Rob recommended because it ‘succeeded in making me laugh a great deal and had the all-important powerful pull to keep reading to find out what happens next.’ Mark also reviewed the book on its UK release in December.

Triumph over Tragedy: Hurricane Sandy Benefit Anthology

As many of my readers know, I live in New Jersey.  Superstorm Sandy hit two weeks ago and to say that the natural disaster transformed  parts of the region into an apocalyptic landscape would be an understatement.  In other words, I'll take the five-day power outage and dozen or so toppled trees around my property as a win compared to what happened in other parts of New Jersey and New York.

http://www.indiegogo.com/TriumphOverTragedy

Author R.T. Kaelin immediately grabbed his bootstraps and put together Triumph over Tragedy, a benefit anthology for victims of Hurricane Sandy. Sarah of the terrific blog Bookworm Blues has been pitching in as well, most recently securing Elizabeth Bear for a story. Additionally, the VERY IMPRESSIVE list of contributors looks something like this:

• Robert Silverberg (Hugo and Nebular Award winner)
• Marion Zimmer Bradley (Locus Award winner) (donated by the MZB Literary Trust)
• Elizabeth Bear
• Michael J. Sullivan
• Bradley P. Beaulieu
• Phillip Athans
• Stephen D. Sullivan
• Mark Lawrence
• Rick Novy
• Jean Rabe
• Maxwell Alexander Drake
• SM Blooding
• Erik Scott de Bie
• Alex Bledsoe
• Matthew Wayne Selznick
• R.T. Kaelin
• Ari Marmell
• Jaym Gates
• C.S. Marks
• C.J. Henderson
• Marian Allen
• Bryan Young
• Donald Bingle
• Janine Spendlove
• T.L. Gray
• Miya Kressin
• Steven Saus
• Addie King
• Rob Knipe
• Vicki Johnson-Steger
• Tracy Chowdhury
• Doris Stever
• Gregory Wilson

More information, and how to contribute, can be found at the Indie Go Go page for Triumph over Tragedy.

Favorite SFF Books First Half 2012

I did this last year so I might as well keep the tradition alive. We’ve just passed the halfway point of 2012 and thus far, I’ve read 35 novels (some of those were part of an omnibus so the technical book count is 30).  19 of those books hold a 2012 copyright . Since it isn’t always easy to place one novel above another when the writers are creating different stories, I’ll do this top 6 alphabetically (6 months, 6 books). Right, I know that’s a cop-out but I make the rules here:

Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed

With Doctor Adoulla Makhslood is that overweight, aged (60+) protagonist. He loves the city in which he lives, Dhamsawaat; and is the foremost ghul-hunter in the city, in fact he’s the last. His young assistant is the holy/monk swordsman Raseed bas Raseed who takes out monsters with his dual-tipped sword. When the two are tasked with investigating a string of ghul appearances, the cross paths with the were-lion Zamia, or as her powers are considered in Ahmed’s world – angel-touched. Zamia is the Protector of the Band, a desert wasteland tribe that, as Adoulla and Raseed meet Zamia, has been decimated. As the appointed protector, Zamia blames herself, but soon joins Adoulla and Raseed since they have a mutual goal of finding and eradicating the man responsible for creating these powerful ghuls. Complicating matters is the roguish Pharaad Az Hammaz AKA The Falcon Prince, a master thief/rebel who is seeking to bring down the strong, controlling grip of Khalif who sits upon the titular Throne. In addition to these characters, Ahmed surrounds Makshlood with a strong-knit group of associates who are much of a surrogate family for the good Doctor who would rather relax with a cup of tea alongside Miri, “the one that got away” than battle demons
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Where Ahmed excels is with his protagonist, Doctor Adoulla Makhslood. He’s the type of guy you want to have as the ‘crotchety but cool uncle’ at the bar with you to share a drink or at your side should that bar-room brawl occur. We get in the head of Makhslood as he re-examines the decisions he’s made in the immediate past and ponders of how he should best proceed particularly with the Falcon Prince. Where Adoulla shows the most emotion is in his regret of the lost love of Miri, who he set aside – for lack of a better term – to give into his calling as protector of Dhamsawaat, his city which he does truly love.

I hadn’t read any novel-length fiction from Elizabeth Bear before this year, though I did read various short stories in a few anthologies. Considering those stories often stood out, I wasn’t surprised I enjoyed Range of Ghosts, but I didn’t expect to be as entranced as I was:

Did I mention the gods are alive and real and each ‘nation’ has a different sky which contains different moons and stars? Yeah, there’s that too. One of the things that make this novel so amazing is Bear’s ability to weave these elements into a wholly cohesive narrative. Woven along with these elements is an incredibly lush and powerful resonant element of mythology. The vital connection between the creation myth one character recounts has great bearing on the world itself. In many other fantasies the gods may be part of the world, but more so in Bear’s richly developed world the gods, or beings thought of as gods, actions have logical connections to how the characters react, in terms of consequences of the gods actions and how the characters internalize those elements into their own actions.


I mentioned the resonance in this novel that Bear has constructed so wonderfully, I felt the same power reading Range of Ghosts I did reading and enjoying archetypal myths and folktales that have been around for thousands of years such. While I enjoyed reading the novel in the moment, the sense of gravitas in the story settled in with my imagination after I’d set the novel aside for the day’s reading or even when I completed the novel. In a sense, Range of Ghosts, from my reading experience, can be seen as a successful experiment in modern mythmaking. What is even more promising is that this is just the beginning and Bear has more to tell in this resonant story.

The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett was a stunning novel and like most of the other novels in this post, it was my first exposure to the writer’s novel (or in this case, any) writing

The small things are important, too, Bennett’s The Troupe reminds us. Sure there may be an apocalyptic, near biblical conflict that serves as the engine, or rather, the sheet music of the events, but engine parts and players are what put these elements into motion. In the case of The Troupe, George Carole is of course this major part although to call him the driving character may not be completely accurate. Sure his initial query about his father brought him to Silenus’s Troupe, but once there, he’s more of a front-seat passenger than the actual driver. He’s a young man searching for his family – an orphan if you will – and for a sense of purpose in life. Initially, he’s headstrong and unwilling to hear that he’s young and perhaps not ready to take the stage in Silenus’s Troupe. After all, as George likes to inflate himself by saying, he could headline and make an appreciable sum for his performances. What truly makes George stand out to Harry is that George is the only audience member who has ever been able to remember the Troupe’s final act.
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Harry, comes across just as headstrong, but as the mentor who seemingly holds back necessary information from the young hero of the tale. Harry’s obsession – something he’s initially unwilling to share with anybody other than the silent Stanley – is what drives the story and the Troupe across the country in search of something supernatural and away from something equally supernatural, though much darker. There’s a great aura of confliction surround Harry, he’s got very honorable intentions and goals but he often comes across as a callous and harsh individual. I felt some resonance in the Harry/George relationship to the relationship portrayed in Gangs of New York between Daniel Day Lewis’s Bill the Butcher (who might make a terrific Harry if The Troupe ever made it to film) and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Amsterdam or even to Roland the Gunslinger and the boy Jake Chambers in King’s The Dark Tower, and there was something about Harry that reminded me of Jessie Custer, the title character from Garth Ennis & Steve Dillion’s landmark Preacher comic book series. Bennett’s deft depiction of Harry as a conflicted character is evident down to his speech pattern, Harry’s dialogue often includes allusions to wondrous things which are soon punctuated with a contrarian “fucking…this” or “that fucking bastard.” In short, Harry is a gem of a character

In perhaps the most assured debut since Peter V. Brett’s The Warded Man (no coincidence since the two writers are long time friends and share an agent). Shadow OPS: Control Point by Myke Cole really hit all the right cylinders for me:

Oscar Britton is part of a military unit responsible for rounding up ‘Selfers,’ those people who suddenly manifest magical abilities and run amok. In, Shadow OPS: Control Point, Myke Cole’s near future saga blends Urban Fantasy and Military Science Fiction, two branches of Speculative Fiction that don’t come together often. The Great Reawakening has taken place, magic is real as are the creatures out of fantasy and myth like goblins and Rocs. The military has permitted (and controls) schools of Elemental magic dealing with wind, fire, water, and earth control. Other ‘schools’ such as reanimating the dead and opening up portals for quick travel, are forbidden. Oscar manifests sorcerous powers in the forbidden school of magic – Portomancy, the ability to open portals allowing for instant transportation to any location. Due to the laws in place, he must immediately turn himself into the authorities. As an officer in the military responsible for bringing in those who manifest out of the public, Oscar has seen what happens to Latents, people such as himself, so he flees and becomes a fugitive. What drives home the fact that Latents such as himself are treated like dangerous criminals is the opening scene of the novel – Oscar and his military team, step into a dangerous scene where two young people have manifested and are causing havoc at a school, killing people, and harming the officers tasked with quelling the situation. Oscar must decide if it is better to turn himself in and eventually cooperate or if he should buck the system and forge his own path.
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Told in a third person perspective, Cole still conveys the stress and conflict Britton experiences both physically and mentally in a supremely believable fashion. At times I found myself sympathizing with Oscar’s plight, other times, I wanted to whack him upside the head and shout “Just go with it!” It proved frustrating at times, but I’d almost say in a car-wreck kind of way because I wanted to see if Oscar would actually do what he’s told or continue to rebel. I don’t know if this is what Cole intended, but also found myself siding with characters that were likely set out as antagonists – specifically legally empowered magic practitioner Harlequin who was once part of Oscar’s team and then attempted to secure Oscar once he manifested.

Paul S. Kemp has been carving out a nice swath in the sword and sorcery genre with his popular Erevis Cale novels set in The Forgotten Realms. It can both be risky and rewarding for an author to jump from shared worlds to their own worlds, but it paid off VERY well for Kemp’s first non-shared world/tie-in novel: The Hammer and the Blade:

Sword and Sorcery is making something of a renaissance in genre fiction, thanks in no small part very recently to writers like Scott Lynch, James Barclay, and James Enge. Part of the reason for such a flourishing of these personal tales of fantasy featuring blue collar heroes getting in over their head is the popularity of role playing games over the past couple of decades allowing players to participate in what amounted to collaborative sword and sorcery storytelling. One of the most popular and widely played games during that time (and now) is The Forgotten Realms and one of the more popular authors of novels tied into that franchise is Paul S. Kemp. That’s the long way of saying how Kemp’s pedigree, for lack of a better term, provides him with a strong foundation to pen his first novel set outside any previous shared worlds to which he contributed. Thus, we have The Hammer and The Blade A Tale of Egil and Nix. I’m very pleased to say this sword and sorcery novel was a blast.
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To say these characters and this story is a love letter to Fritz Leiber would be selling Kemp short of what he’s done. In Egil and Nix, he’s given readers possible long-distant cousins to Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser in that he’s got the large bruiser and short thief duo, as well as the banter between the two. Furthermore, one of the main areas in this world is known as the Low Bazaar, an obvious homage the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser story Bazaar of the Bizarre. Kemp also throws out shout-outs to Green Lantern mythos along the way.

Regular readers of my blog and members of the SFFWorld forums are aware of how highly I rank Matthew Stover in my pantheon of favorite writers so it should come as no surprise that a novel by him makes this cut. In this case, the “last” Caine novel: Caine’s Law

Matthew Stover has carved out a solid niche for himself at the intersection of Fantasy and Science Fiction genres with hisActs of Caine sequence. The first book, Heroes Die was published in 1997 and introduced readers to Hari Michaelson the actor who portrays Caine, the most popular adventurer in Overworld, a fantasyland Earth discovered and exploits as the ultimate reality television experience. In Heroes Die, Caine is on what is thought to be his last adventure to save his girlfriend from a sorcerer (Ma’elKoth, probably my favorite hero antagonist) who has ascended to godhood. Heroes Die easily stands on its own, although thankfully, for readers like myself, Caine’s voice kept haranguing Stover to continue telling stories about him. The sequel novel, Blade of Tyshalle was at least as good as Heroes Die (some would say better, I might even say that sometimes) and is the story of both the fallout of Heroes Die and Earth’s continued exploitive efforts on Overworld. A few Star Wars novels later, Stover again picked up the story of Caine in Caine Black Knife (billed with the sub-title Act of Atonement, Book I) which was a dual narrative with one thread having followed the ‘modern’ day Caine while the other followed Caine on the adventure that made him a star, “Retreat from the Boedecken.”
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The not-so-straightforward narrative not only changes POV character and voice, but time / history as we see a young Duncan Michaelson before he’s married and a father, a young Hari Michaelson while he’s a boy in the hospital where his mother dies, and an older grizzled Caine, among other character time-points. One of, if not the central question, of the narrative is whether or not one would change a past event filled with regret, given the opportunity. A simple question, on the surface, but of course the implications of such a question are more interesting than the question itself. To summarize the plot any more would be an injustice to the multiple branches of the narrative Stover leads the reader, but suffice it to say Caine’s Law is a novel about heroes and gods, past and present, power and manipulation. It’s about saying fuck you to the people trying to hold you down, control you and mess with your family; it’s about love and honor; and sometimes about being the right guy even if that means not being the good guy all the time. Simple enough, right? Didn’t think so.

Elizabeth Bear, Anne Lyle & J.A. Pitts Reviewed at SFFWorld

Another slew of reviews have been posted over the past week including reviews by Kathryn (Loewryn), Mark Hobbit, and myself..


Over the years that I’ve been writing these reviews, I’ve received a handful of novels written by Elizabeth Bear. Much to my chagrin, I hadn’t read any of them though I’ve read nothing but good things about her writing. Well, that has changed with Range of Ghosts the first world in a series she’s calling The Eternal Sky:

The basic thrust of the story finds Temur coming out of the aforementioned battle along the Celadon Highway and taken in by Edene’s people. A devotion and attraction grows between Eden and Temur, as they travel across the titular Range of Ghosts, Edene is taken away by the ghosts who haunt the trail. He is devastated and soon crosses paths with Samarkar and they attempt to find Edene. Meanwhile, a cult tries to take over the world through subterfuge and behind-the-scenes devilry.
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I mentioned the resonance in this novel that Bear has constructed so wonderfully, I felt the same power reading Range of Ghosts I did reading and enjoying archetypal myths and folktales that have been around for thousands of years such. While I enjoyed reading the novel in the moment, the sense of gravitas in the story settled in with my imagination after I’d set the novel aside for the day’s reading or even when I completed the novel. In a sense, Range of Ghosts, from my reading experience, can be seen as a successful experiment in modern mythmaking. What is even more promising is that this is just the beginning and Bear has more to tell in this resonant story.

The novel is just over 300 pages, which judged against many other novels considered Epic Fantasy, may be considered a bit slight. It’s possibly a worn-out phrase, but not one word, punctuation mark, or letter is wasted in the telling of Range of Ghosts. It is precise, engaging and powerful.

Mark takes a look at a historical/alternate fantasy debut, Anne Lyle’s Alchemist of Souls:

From the start this story feels great and has a tone and presence that feels both natural and of its time, Tudor England. It reminded me very much of Mark Chadbourn’s Will Swyfte novels, which I‘ve read and reviewed before (and perhaps partly explains why Mark has a glowing comment on the front of this book.) Like Mark’s books, the dialogue is appropriately nuanced, the places reeking with the grubby effluvium and gorgeous splendour of Elizabethan life as you would expect.
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The book is also slyly about gender and sexuality. Much is about hidden identities. In a subplot, Coby is a girl masquerading as a boy named Hendricks in a troupe preparing for the presentation of a major play held in a competition in honour of the ambassador’s visit. Coby has to not only keep her identity a secret, for to be discovered invites death. She meets Mal in order to train in fighting so that she can fend off the attentions of other males and females in the company, though she harbours a secret love for him. Mal himself has secrets: he once was a member of the Hunters, a secret clan who kill skraylings as part of an initiation ceremony. He has relationships with women but more secretly with his best friend, Ned. Ned himself is forced to betray Mal to people looking for him, which leads to others knowing about Mal’s twin brother, who is insane and secretly kept locked away in a hospital.

Kathryn/Loewryn has been professing her enjoyment of J.A. Pitts’s Norse urban fantasy series Sara Beauhall so she was able to get an early copy of the fourth installment Forged in Fire:

Set immediately after Honeyed Words, Forged in Fire sits in a perfect place to tie up Sarah Beauhall's hectic year. Despite facing and defeating the same dragon twice, becoming a champion of Odin and having her whole world view changed, she remains resolute. Her friends are still nursing the wounds of their initial fight with the dragon Jean-Paul, whilst also working to maintain vigil over the local area, but the stress and fear multiply the tension. To make matters worse, Sarah's life becomes even more chaotic. The core Black Briar group gain new family members, her relationship with Katie hits a slightly rough patch and she has one of the most powerful and influential dragons breathing down her neck. She must work with her friends, and those whom she does not trust, in order to defeat the next wave of terror that swoops down upon them.
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However, I found the main strength of the book to be within the more personal moments. For example, I particularly enjoyed the exploration of Sarah's feelings and thoughts, her relationship with Katie and their friends, the addition of some potentially interesting characters (whom I don't wish to spoil), and even just the detailing of the lives of Sarah's friends. We're shown a group of people who are still nursing their wounds, physical or otherwise, and who are getting to grips with a world that's been turned upside down, but who still have their own lives to lead. With this novel, Pitts once again shows that he has a flair for blending both personal and global stories, each complimenting the other yet one thread never becomes dominating.

Books in the Mail (2012-03-09)

It’s about time I did the whole preface to the Books in the Mail post, so here goes….

As a reviewer for SFFWorld and maybe because of this blog, I receive a lot of books for review from various publishers. Since I can't possibly read everything that arrives, I figure the least I can do (like some of my fellow bloggers) is mention the books I receive for review on the blog to at least acknowledge the books even if I don't read them.

Some publishers are on a very predictable schedule of releases, making this blog post fairly easy to compose. For example, the fine folks at DAW publish exactly 3 mass market paperbacks a month and often, one of those books is a themed anthology of short stories, and most often, they send their books about a month prior to the actual publication date.

Sometimes I get one or two books, other weeks I'll get nearly a dozen books. Some weeks, I’ll receive a finished (i.e. the version people see on bookshelves) copy of a book for which I received an ARC (Advance Reader Copy) weeks or months prior to the actual publication of the book. Sometimes I'll want to read everything that arrives, other weeks, the books immediately go into the "I'll never read this book" pile, while still others go into the nebulous "maybe-I'll-read-it-category." More often than not, it is a mix of books that appeal to me at different levels (i.e. from "this book holds ZERO appeal for me" to "I cannot WAIT to read this book yesterday"). Have a guess in the comments about which book fits my reading labels “I’ll Never Read…” “Zero Appeal” or “cannot wait” "maybe I'll get to it later" and so forth...

Here's the rundown of what arrived either in the mailbox, in front of my garage (where most packages from USPS and UPS are placed) or on my doorstep...

Range of Ghosts (The Eternal Sky #1) by Elizabeth Bear (Tor, Hardcover 03/27/2012) – Bear is one of the most consistent genre writers, both in quality and quantity. I’m sort of embarrassed I’ve yet to read one of her novels, but this is the one that changes that status quo.


Temur, grandson of the Great Khan, is walking away from a battlefield where he was left for dead. All around lie the fallen armies of his cousin and his brother, who made war to rule the Khaganate. Temur is now the legitimate heir by blood to his grandfather’s throne, but he is not the strongest. Going into exile is the only way to survive his ruthless cousin.

Once-Princess Samarkar is climbing the thousand steps of the Citadel of the Wizards of Tsarepheth. She was heir to the Rasan Empire until her father got a son on a new wife. Then she was sent to be the wife of a Prince in Song, but that marriage ended in battle and blood. Now she has renounced her worldly power to seek the magical power of the wizards. These two will come together to stand against the hidden cult that has so carefully brought all the empires of the Celadon Highway to strife and civil war through guile and deceit and sorcerous power.


The Master of Heathcrest Hall by Galen Beckett (BantamSpectra, Trade Paperback 03/27/2012) – Concluding volume of the series which began with The Magicians and Mrs. Quent, which seems to be a Victorian magic and manners series. Becket is also known as Mark Anthony.


Even as her husband is about to attain undreamed-of power, Ivy Quent fears for her family’s safety. With war looming and turmoil sweeping the nation of Altania, Ivy finds the long-abandoned manor on the moors a temporary haven. But nowhere is really safe from the treachery that threatens all the Quents have risked to achieve. And an even greater peril is stirring deep within the countryside’s beautiful green estates. As Ivy dares an alliance with a brilliant illusionist and a dangerous lord, she races to master her forbidden talents and unravel the terrible truth at the heart of her land’s unrest—even as a triumphant, inhuman darkness rises to claim Altania eternally for its own.


Body, Inc. by Alan Dean Foster (Del Rey 03/27/2012) – I think Alan Dean Foster is neck and neck with Harry Turtledove for the amount of books I’ve received for review over the past few years. Unfortunately, a majority of these books are part of larger series – and deeply into the series at that – so I haven’t jumped into any of the books.

New York Times bestselling author Alan Dean Foster has always been on the cutting-edge of science fiction. In Body, Inc., he creates a tomorrow where genetic manipulation has become ubiquitous, and the very meaning of what it is to be human is undergoing drastic transformation.

In a world deeply wounded by centuries of environmental damage, two unlikely souls join forces: Dr. Ingrid Seastrom has stumbled into a mystery involving quantum-entangled nanoscale implants—a mystery that just may kill her. Whispr is a thief and murderer whose radical body modifications have left him so thin he is all but two-dimensional. Whispr has found a silver data-storage thread, a technology that will make him wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. He is also going mad with longing for Dr. Ingrid Seastrom. Their quest to learn the secrets of the implant and the thread—which may well be the same secret—has led them to the South African Economic Combine, otherwise known as SAEC. Or, less respectfully, SICK. SICK, it seems, has the answers.

Unfortunately, SICK has also got Napun Molé, a cold-blooded assassin whose genetic enhancements make him the equivalent of a small army. Molé has already missed one chance to kill Ingrid and Whispr and now he has followed them to South Africa. This time, he is not only going to succeed, he is going to make them suffer.

Alien Diplomacy (Kitty Kat: Alien Super-Being Exterminator Book 5) by Gini Koch (DAW Mass Market Paperback 04/5/2012) – Koch’s writing speed is very impressive, this is the fifth book in the series since it launcehd in 2010.

Being newlyweds and new parents is challenging enough. But Jeff and Kitty Martini are also giving up their roles as super-being exterminators and Commanders in Centaurion Division while mastering the political landscape as the new heads of Centaurion's Diplomatic Corps. Enter a shadowy assassination plot and a new set of anti-alien conspirators, and nothing will ever be the same...


Age of Aztec (The Pantheon Saga#4) by James Lovegrove (Solaris Books, Mass Market Paperback 03/27/2010) – I read and thoroughly enjoyed Age of Zeus Age of Odin (second and third in the Pantheon Saga) last year and this book focuses on the Gods who held sway over the Americas before Europeans landed on the shores..


The date is 4 Jaguar 1 Monkey 1 House – November 25th 2012 by the old reckoning – and the Aztec Empire rules the world.

The Aztecs’ reign is one of cruel and ruthless oppression, encompassing regular human sacrifice. In the jungle-infested city of London, one man defies them: the masked vigilante known as the Conquistador.

Then the Conquistador is recruited to spearhead an uprising, and discovers a terrible truth about the Aztec and thier gods. The clock is ticking. Apocalypse looms, unless the Conquistador can help assassinate the mysterious, immortal Aztec emperor, the Great Speaker. But his mission is complicated by Mal Vaughn, a police detective who is on his trail, determined to bring him to justice.

A Game of Thrones The Graphic Novel Volume 1 (A Song of Ice and Fire #1) by George R.R. Martin (adaptation by Daniel Abraham and Tommy Patterson Bantam Spectra, Hardcover 03/27/2012) – What can I say about Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire that hasn’t been said or people don’t know? Well, relevant to this volume, the artist, Tommy Patterson, did work for Boom!’s FarScape comic and his work looks better now .

You’ve read the books. You’ve watched the hit series on HBO. Now acclaimed novelist Daniel Abraham and illustrator Tommy Patterson bring George R. R. Martin’s epic fantasy masterwork A Game of Thrones to majestic new life in the pages of this full-color graphic novel. Comprised of the initial six issues of the graphic series, this is the first volume in what is sure to be one of the most coveted collaborations of the year.

Winter is coming. Such is the stern motto of House Stark, the northernmost of the fiefdoms that owe allegiance to King Robert Baratheon in far-off King’s Landing. There Eddard Stark of Winterfell rules in Robert’s name. There his family dwells in peace and comfort: his proud wife, Catelyn; his sons Robb, Brandon, and Rickon; his daughters Sansa and Arya; and his bastard son, Jon Snow. Far to the north, behind the towering Wall, lie savage Wildings and worse—unnatural things relegated to myth during the centuries-long summer, but proving all too real and all too deadly in the turning of the season.

Yet a more immediate threat lurks to the south, where Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King, has died under mysterious circumstances. Now Robert is riding north to Winterfell, bringing his queen, the lovely but cold Cersei, his son, the cruel, vainglorious Prince Joffrey, and the queen’s brothers Jamie and Tyrion of the powerful and wealthy House Lannister—the first a swordsman without equal, the second a dwarf whose stunted stature belies a brilliant mind. All are heading for Winterfell and a fateful encounter that will change the course of kingdoms.

Meanwhile, across the Narrow Sea, Prince Viserys, heir of the fallen House Targaryen, which once ruled all of Westeros, schemes to reclaim the throne with an army of barbarian Dothraki—whose loyalty he will purchase in the only coin left to him: his beautiful yet innocent sister, Daenerys

Railsea by China Miéville (Del Rey, Hardcover 04/15/2012) – Miéville’s first Young Adult novel since the terrificUn Lun Dun .

Playful and clever, this is the new gloriously imagined novel from China Miéville

On board the moletrain Medes, Sham Yes ap Soorap watches in awe as he witnesses his first moldywarpe hunt.

The giant mole bursting from the earth, the harpoonists targeting their prey, the battle resulting in one’s death and the other’s glory are extraordinary. But no matter how spectacular it is, travelling the endless rails of the railsea, Sham can't shake the sense that there is more to life. Even if his philosophy-seeking captain can think only of the hunt for the ivory-coloured mole she’s been chasing – ever since it took her arm all those years ago.

When they come across a wrecked train, at first it's a welcome distraction. But the impossible salvage Sham finds in the derelict leads to considerably more than he'd bargained for. Soon he's hunted on all sides: by pirates, trainsfolk, monsters and salvage-scrabblers.

And it might not be just Sham's life that's about to change. It could be the whole of the railsea.



The Shining City: (Book 3 of the Warriors of Estavia by Fiona Patton (DAW Mass Market Paperback 04/05/2012) - The concluding volume in Patton’s trilogy and the third copy of this book I’ve received:

"Expert world builder"* Fiona Patton concludes The Warriors of Estavia saga. *Midwest Book Review

With the three children of prophecy-the seers Spar and Graize, and the warrior Brax-now grown, and the young God Hisar ready to stake his claim to a place in the pantheon of Anavatan, a time of chaos and change is fast approaching. For only if sworn enemies Spar and Graize can come together as Hisar's priests will the God stand any chance of surviving the coming battles with both the hungry spirits seeking to devour him, and the war with the mortal invasion fleet, which is even now sailing for Anavatan.

Year Zero: A Novel by Rob Reid (Del Rey, Hardcover 04/15/2012)– SF Humor, and a debut that seems like it could be fun..


An alien advance party was suddenly nosing around my planet.
Worse, they were lawyering up. . . .

In the hilarious tradition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Rob Reid takes you on a headlong journey through the outer reaches of the universe—and the inner workings of our absurdly dysfunctional music industry.

Low-level entertainment lawyer Nick Carter thinks it’s a prank, not an alien encounter, when a redheaded mullah and a curvaceous nun show up at his office. But Frampton and Carly are highly advanced (if bumbling) extraterrestrials. And boy, do they have news.

The entire cosmos, they tell him, has been hopelessly hooked on humanity’s music ever since “Year Zero” (1977 to us), when American pop songs first reached alien ears. This addiction has driven a vast intergalactic society to commit the biggest copyright violation since the Big Bang. The resulting fines and penalties have bankrupted the whole universe. We humans suddenly own everything—and the aliens are not amused.

Nick Carter has just been tapped to clean up this mess before things get ugly, and he’s an unlikely galaxy-hopping hero: He’s scared of heights. He’s also about to be fired. And he happens to have the same name as a Backstreet Boy. But he does know a thing or two about copyright law. And he’s packing a couple of other pencil-pushing superpowers that could come in handy.

Soon he’s on the run from a sinister parrot and a highly combustible vacuum cleaner. With Carly and Frampton as his guides, Nick now has forty-eight hours to save humanity, while hopefully wowing the hot girl who lives down the hall from him.

Shadow’s Son by John Sprunk (Pyr Trade Paperback 03/27/2012) – Mr. Sprunk has impressively managed to publish this trilogy over the course of three years and to a fair amount of positive buzz. John hangs out at the SFFWorld Forums and has been a solid member. This book has a really nice cover by Michael Komarck.

THE NORTHERN WASTES...

A land of death and shadow where only the strongest survive. Yet that is where Caim must go to follow the mystery at the heart of his life. Armed only with his knives and his companions, he plunges into a world of eternal night where the sun is never seen and every hand is turned against him.

Caim has buried his father's sword and found some measure of peace, but deep in the north an unfathomable power lies waiting. To succeed on this mission, Caim will have to do more than just survive. He must face the Shadow's Master.

With this novel, Jon Sprunk brings his action-packed trilogy to an epic conclusion.


The Helix War by Edward Willett (DAW Mass Market Paperback 04/03/2012) – As the fine folks at DAW are wont to do with their authors backlist, this book is an omnibification of Marseguro and Terra Insegura.

Marseguro Water world Marseguro is home to the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from human DNA. When an unmodified human seeks revenge on a Selkie by activating a distress beacon taken from the remains of the original colony ship, a strikeforce is sent from Earth to eradicate the genetic abomination. Yet Marseguro will not prove as easy to conquer as the Earth force anticipates...

Terra Insegura
Marseguro, a water world far from Earth, is home to a colony of humans and the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from modified human DNA. For seventy years the colony has lived in peace. Then Earth discovers Marseguro, and a strike force is sent to eradicate this "abomination." But Marseguro has created a genetically tailored plague to use against Earth’s Holy Warriors. With the enemy defeated, the people of Marseguro feel they are safe. But Chris Keating, the traitor who signaled Marseguro's location to the Holy Warriors, has fled to Earth, unknowingly carrying the deadly plague within him. The people of Marseguro feel they must send a ship to Earth with a life-saving vaccine. Only time will tell what awaits them when they reach their destination.