Blue Remembered Earth - My Review at Tor.com

My most recent Tor.com post went live yesterday and it was a review of Alastair Reynolds's Blue Remembered Earth, the first installment of his Poseidon's Children saga:

So click on over and see what I thought of this familial romp through our Solar System.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2012-05-12)

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 Del Rey/Spectra publish quite a few books per month, in mass market paperback, trade paperback and hardcover. 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...


Blackwood by Gwenda Bond (Strange Chemistry, Paperback 09/04/2012) – Gwenda’s been blogging and writing about the genre for quite a while now, this is her debut novel and one of the launch titles for Strange Chemistry, the new YA imprint of Angry Robot Books, so no pressure, right? Right. The premise sounds interesting as I’ve have a bit of a fascination for the lost Roanoke colony.


On Roanoke Island, the legend of the 114 people who mysteriously vanished from the Lost Colony hundreds of years ago is just an outdoor drama for the tourists, a story people tell. But when the island faces the sudden disappearance of 114 people now, an unlikely pair of 17-year-olds may be the only hope of bringing them back.

Miranda, a misfit girl from the island's most infamous family, and Phillips, an exiled teen criminal who hears the voices of the dead, must dodge everyone from federal agents to long-dead alchemists as they work to uncover the secrets of the new Lost Colony. The one thing they can't dodge is each other.

Blackwood is a dark, witty coming of age story that combines America's oldest mystery with a thoroughly contemporary romance.

Undead and Unstable (The Undead Series - Betsy #11 #10) by MaryJanice Davidson (Berkeley, Hardcover 06/05/2012) – The continuing humorous adventures of Betsy the vampire.


“If you’re fans of Sookie Stackhouse and Anita Blake, don’t miss Betsy Taylor. She rocks” (The Best Reviews)—and she’s back once again as a vampire queen who finds herself an unlucky (but fashionable) passenger on the road to damnation…

Betsy’s heartbroken over her friend Marc’s death, but at least his sacrifice should change the future—her future­—for the better. But it’s not as if Betsy’s next few hundred years will be perfect. After all, her half-sister Laura is the AntiChrist, Laura’s mother is Satan, and family gatherings will always be more than a little awkward.

What’s really bothering Betsy is that ever since she and Laura returned from visiting her mom in Hell, Laura’s been acting increasingly peculiar. Maybe it’s Laura’s new job offer: as Satan’s replacement down under. Unfortunately, the position comes at a damnable price: killing Betsy, her own flesh-and-blood.

Over Betsy’s dead body. And for that matter Marc’s, too, since he’s not quite as buried as everyone thought. Now a war has been waged—one that’s going to take sibling rivalry to a whole new level, and a dimension where only one sister can survive.

Orb Sceptre Throne (A Novel of the Malazan Empire ) by Ian Cameron Esslemont (Tor Trade Paperback 05/22/2012) – I’m a big fan of The Malazan Book of the Fallen, though of Esslemont’s contributions, I’ve only read Night of Knives and from Erikson up to Reaper’s Gale. So yeah, I’ve got some catching up to do with this series:

The epic new chapter in the history of Malaz—the new epic fantasy from Steven Erikson's friend and co-creator of this extraordinary and exciting imagined world.

Darujhistan, city of dreams, city of blue flames, is peaceful at last; its citizens free to return to politicking, bickering, trading and, above all, enjoying the good things in life. Yet there are those who will not allow the past to remain buried. A scholar digging in the plains stumbles across an ancient sealed vault. The merchant Humble Measure schemes to drive out the remaining Malazan invaders. And the surviving agents of a long-lost power are stirring, for they sense change and so, opportunity. While, as ever at the centre of everything, a thief in a red waistcoat and of rotund proportions walks the streets, juggling in one hand custard pastries, and in the other the fate of the city itself.

Casket of Souls (Nightrunner, Book 6) by Lynn Flewelling (Bantam Mass Market 05/29/2012)– I read a couple of Flewelling’s novles, The Bone Doll’s Twin was the SFFWorld Fantasy Book Club selection back in June 2003. I’ve always meant to go back and finish reading the series, but well, that’s how things go.

The Nightrunners are back in this gripping novel full of Lynn Flewelling’s trademark action, intrigue, and richly imagined characters.

More than the dissolute noblemen they appear to be, Alec and Seregil are skillful spies, dedicated to serving queen and country. But when they stumble across evidence of a plot pitting Queen Phoria against Princess Klia, the two Nightrunners will find their loyalties torn as never before. Even at the best of times, the royal court at Rhíminee is a serpents’ nest of intrigue, but with the war against Plenimar going badly, treason simmers just below the surface.

And that’s not all that poses a threat: A mysterious plague is spreading through the crowded streets of the city, striking young and old alike. Now, as panic mounts and the body count rises, hidden secrets emerge. And as Seregil and Alec are about to learn, conspiracies and plagues have one thing in common: The cure can be as deadly as the disease.

Blackout (Newsflesh Trilogy #3) by Mira Grant (Orbit Tall Paperback 05/22/2012) – FEED blew me away and Deadline lived up to the promise laid out in the first book. This is one of my top 2 or 3 anticipated releases of 2012 so I’ve got high hopes.

Rise up while you can. -Georgia Mason

The year was 2014. The year we cured cancer. The year we cured the common cold. And the year the dead started to walk. The year of the Rising.

The year was 2039. The world didn't end when the zombies came, it just got worse. Georgia and Shaun Mason set out on the biggest story of their generation. The uncovered the biggest conspiracy since the Rising and realized that to tell the truth, sacrifices have to be made.

Now, the year is 2041, and the investigation that began with the election of President Ryman is much bigger than anyone had assumed. With too much left to do and not much time left to do it in, the surviving staff of After the End Times must face mad scientists, zombie bears, rogue government agencies-and if there's one thing they know is true in post-zombie America, it's this:

Things can always get worse.

BLACKOUT is the conclusion to the epic trilogy that began in the Hugo-nominated FEED and the sequel, DEADLINE.

The Mandel Files, Volume 2 - The Nano Flower by Peter F. Hamilton. (Del Rey Trade Paperback 05/29/2012) – This brings Hamilton’s take on the psychic detective to close, with the third novel in the Greg Mandel trilogy.

Peter F. Hamilton’s groundbreaking Mandel Files series concludes with The Nano Flower, a tour de force of unbridled imagination and cutting-edge scientific speculation.

Greg Mandel is a psychic detective whose skills have been augmented by powerful but dangerous biotechnology. Those abilities have won him success and almost killed him many times over. Little wonder that he has settled down to the life of a gentleman farmer.

But Greg’s former employer, the mighty tech company Event Horizon, needs him once more. After Royan, hacker-genius and husband to company owner Julia Evans, mysteriously vanishes, a business rival suddenly boasts an incredible new technology. Has Royan been kidnapped and forced to work for his captors, or is the truth far stranger? The answer may lie in a gift of flowers received by Julia—flowers with DNA like nothing on Earth. Greg already has his hands full with corporate killers and other unsavory characters. Is he going to have to add aliens to the list?

The Greg Mandel trilogy—which also includes Mindstar Rising and A Quantum Murder, available in Volume 1—set a new standard for science fiction when it first appeared in the 1990s. The Nano Flower is every bit as gripping today—and even more timely.

The Twelfth Enchantment by David Liss (Ballantine Trade Paperback 05/29/2012) – Liss has penned quite a few novels of historical fiction, this seems to be the first one which is infused with bits of fantasy

Lucy Derrick is a young woman of good breeding and poor finances. After the death of her beloved father, she becomes the unwanted boarder of her tyrannical uncle, fending off marriage to a local mill owner. But just as she is resigned to a life of misery, a handsome stranger—the poet and notorious rake Lord Byron—arrives at her house, stricken by what seems to be a curse, and with a cryptic message for Lucy.

With England on the cusp of revolution, Lucy inexplicably finds herself awakened to a world where magic and mortals collide, and the forces of ancient nature and modern progress are at war for the soul of England . . . and the world. The key to victory may be connected to a cryptic volume whose powers of enchantment are unbounded. Now, challenged by ruthless enemies with ancient powers at their command, Lucy must harness newfound mystical skills to preserve humanity’s future. And enthralled by two exceptional men with designs on her heart, she must master her own desires to claim the destiny she deserves.

Look for special features inside. Join the Circle for author chats and more.



Blue Remembered Earth (Poseidon’s Children #1) by Alastair Reynolds (Ace Hardcover Paperback 06/05/2012) – Reynolds is, arguably one of the top selling and most acclaimed SF writers currently publishing today. I’d be on the side of the argument that would say “Yes indeed.” This is the launch of a new series for him that is already garnering a fair amount of praise.

With his critically acclaimed Revelation Space novels, Alastair Reynolds confirmed “his place among the leaders of the hard-science space opera renaissance.” (Publishers Weekly) With Blue Remembered Earth, the award-winning author begins a new epic, tracing generations of one family across more than ten thousand years of future history—into interstellar space and the dawn of galactic society…

One hundred and fifty years from now, Africa has become the world’s dominant technological and economic power. Crime, war, disease and poverty have been eliminated. The Moon and Mars are settled, and colonies stretch all the way out to the edge of the solar system. And Ocular, the largest scientific instrument in history, is about to make an epochal discovery…

Geoffrey Akinya wants only one thing: to be left in peace, so that he can continue his long-running studies into the elephants of the Amboseli basin. But Geoffrey’s family, who control the vast Akinya business empire, has other plans for him. After the death of his grandmother Eunice—the erstwhile space explorer and entrepreneur—something awkward has come to light on the Moon, so Geoffrey is dispatched there to ensure the family name remains untarnished. But the secrets Eunice died with are about to be revealed—secrets that could change everything...or tear this near utopia apart.

Alastair Reynolds and Eric Brown at SFFWorld

We’ve got two SF novels for review this week at SFFWorld. I’m catching up with a book from a few years back and Mark reviewed one of the most anticipated SF titles for 2012.

Mark’s review needs no more introduction than this: Alastair Reynolds’s, Blue Remembered Earth:

The story is focused on Geoffrey, initially a young boy living in Africa with his sister Sunday and his grandmother Eunice. As the story develops we discover that the Akinya family are quite well-to-do, and in the rapidly changing global economy are clearly one of the groups to take advantage of Africa’s burgeoning new-found wealth and economic prosperity. At the beginning of the novel they have Asher-like implants to connect them to the AI global network, the Mechanism, with human-like simulacrums by the end. With an absence of war and famine, it soon becomes clear that Humanity’s future lies in expansion to the rest of the Solar System and beyond, something Geoffrey’s family are quick to take advantage of. They have made a considerable sum mining resources from the solar system, though Geoffrey is more interested in studying elephant psychology in Africa.

…

It is, in essence, a generational space-family-saga of the type quite common in the 1980’s and 90’s, (see, for example, Michael Flynn’s Firestar series) though where the focus then was often US based, this one is stridently African/Asian, reflecting current trends. Though I’m not convinced that the role of Europe and North America in future space exploration would be quite as low key as it is suggested here, it’s an interesting take. And there are reasons suggested in the novel as to why this is – hints of global catastrophes (both physical and technological) which might allow the dominance of those countries as a consequence.

I read and reviewed ith the first of Eric Brown's Bengal Station Trilogy, Necropath, which is his take on the Psychic Detective:

Jeff Vaughn is a telepath working on Bengal Station assisting the police in several investigations. One of these investigations is related the death of Tiger, a young girl whom he befriended. As Vaughn learns more about the cause of her death – overdose of an exotic drug called Rhapsody – a web of connections to an cult emerge and Vaughn’s life becomes increasingly endangered. He begins to suspect his supervisor, Weiss, of having connections to the illicit trade. Vaughn’s pseudo-partner helps Vaughn in his secret investigations all the while trying to urge Vaughn to come out from behind the cold barrier he’s erected around himself. As their investigations progress, Vaughn learns of a cult that worships a star god that, to this reader, had parallels the Great Old One Cthulhu. All the while Vaughn and Chandra are moving along their investigation, Brown parallels their story with that of Tiger’s sister Su (a lady of the night) as Su searches for Tiger.

…

Brown makes Vaughn’s ability out to be more of a curse than a power he enjoys using. Being able to read minds is not a pleasant thing and it takes a great deal for Vaughn to block out other’s thoughts. Due to events in his past, he is even more reluctant to use his ability, but he often realizes inaction would bring him more guilt than action. The whole idea of the telepathic individual and the background for the development of these individuals was very well-thought out by Brown, telepathy comes across as very plausible.

On the Horizon - 2012 Reading Possibilities

Readers can be a forward-thinking bunch, especially readers of Speculative Fiction. We're always planning out what we want to read, often as we are reading books we enjoy a great deal. This includes looking at the books coming out in a given year, despite the size of our current stack of books that have yet to be read.

We’ve got a couple of threads running at SFFWorld for this topic (Fantasy & Horror, Science Fiction), but I figured I’d mention 2012 books I’m looking forward to here on the blog. This list is blatantly copied and pared down from the venerable Locus Web site’s Fortchoming books with some additions. Since I live in the US, I’m only mentioning the US releases

January 2012

• Myke Cole - Shadow OPS: Control Point by – I’ve already read this terrific debut novel, but the book deserves mention since I think it will be a very talked-about book for 2012.
• Michael J. Sullivan – Heir of Novron - I’m reading the second Riyria Revelations omnibus now so I’ll be all over the concluding omnibus in the next month or so.

February 2012

• Rachel Aaron - The Legend of Eli Monpress - This omnibus contains the first three novels in Rachel Aaron’s fantasy saga. Hobbit had some good things to say about the first novel, The Spirit Thief.
• Saladin Ahmed - Throne of the Crescent Moon - Lots of good things have been said about Ahmed’s short fiction. This novel is poised as an early contender for most promising Debut Epic Fantasy of 2012.
• Tobias S. Buckell - Arctic Rising - I’ve got an e-ARC of this one, Buckell’s first original novel in a couple of years.
• Tony Daniel Guardian of Night - I’ve only read one novel by Mr. Daniel, enjoyed it a great deal, but then he seemed to have disappeared form the shelves. The fine folks at Baen have signed him up and this looks like good ol’ SF adventure with invading aliens in the future.
  
• Elizabeth Moon Echoes of Betrayal - This is the third in Moon’s Paladin’s Legacy series, which is a sequel series to her popular fantasy trilogy, The Deed of Paksenarrion, which I read and loved in 2011. I have an ARC of Echoes of Betrayal though I may not get to the book until the finished/final version arrives.
  

March 2012

• Seanan McGuire Discount Armageddon - This is the launch of a new urban fantasy series by the author who is also known as Mira Grant. Typically, this might not be a book I’d normally read but loving her work as Grant might get me to read this book.

April 2012

• Kevin Hearne Tricked - the fourth in his Iron Druid Chronicles, which I called the logical heir to Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files. These books are quick, enthralling, funny reads.
  
• Stephen King - The Dark Tower VIII: The Wind Through the Keyhole - I was a long-time fan of King, but the last book I read by him was the (at the time) final Dark Tower novel so this could be an interesting read.
  
• James Lovegrove - Age of Aztec - I thoroughly enjoyed two of books I read in Lovegrove’s Pantheon sequence, so I’m looking forward to this one.
• Matthew Stover Caine's Law - The fourth installment in The Acts of Caine, one of my favorite fantasy/science fiction series and perhaps the most under-rated current SF sequences.

May 2012

• Daniel Abraham The King's Blood - The second installment in Abraham’s The Dagger and the Coin. Considering I placed The Dragon’s Path as one of my top 2011 novels, yeah, I’ll be reading this one.

June 2012

• Eric Brown - Weird Space: The Devil's Nebula - The first of a new shared world Space Opera series Brown created for Abaddon Books. This one sounds like fun and considering I named The Kings of Eternity by Mr. Brown my favorite 2011 book, I'll be reading this book.
• James S. A. Corey - Caliban's War - The second book in The Expanse sequence, which began with Leviathan wakes, another favorite SF novel from 2011
• Mira Grant - Blackout - The concluding volume of The Newsflesh Trilogy and one of my most anticipated 2012 novels. Nuff said.
• Paul S. Kemp The Hammer and the Blade - Kemp’s first original/non-shared world novel is the first in series recounting the adventures of the rouges Eagle and Nix. Modern Sword and Sorcery by a guy who does S&S proud with his Forgotten Realms novels, can’t wait for this one.
• Alastair Reynolds - Blue Remembered Earth - It’s a new novel, which launches an epic SF saga about the next 11,000 years of humanity’s evolution and expansion to the stars. What else needs to be said? Yeah, look at that jaw-dropping cover, too.
  
• John Scalzi Redshirts - Sclazi mixes humor and SF very well, I hope to get to this one; however, I still have yet to read Fuzzy Nation.
  

July 2012

• Ian Tregillis - The Coldest War - After far-too long a delay, the second installment in Tregillis’ alternate history/superhero fiction/Cthulhu mytos/Science Fiction Milkweed Tryptich hits shelves.

August 2012

• David Brin - Existence - I’ve never read David Brin, something I hope to rectify this year by the time this novel publishes, or at the very latest with this novel.
• Justin Cronin - The Twelve - Sequel to Cronin's blockbuster The Passage, a favorite of mine in 2010
  
• Mark Lawrence - King of Thorns - Sequel to what I thought was the best debut of 2011 and second in The Broken Empire trilogy? Yeah, this one is a priority read for me.

Not Scheduled (through September 2012)

• Scott Lynch - The Republic of Thieves - The third Gentlemen Bastards novel has seen some long delays, hopefully this one gets to us in 2012
• Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson - A Memory of Light, the final Wheel of Time novel. I’ve got some catching up to do, which leads to the next section of this blog post….

Backlist Reading/Non-new Releases
You’d think I have enough to read with the books publishing through August 2012, right? Well, chances are I may not get to all of the books noted above because of some other books I want to read

So, the last book I mentioned was A Memory of Light. I’m in the middle of re-reading Wheel of Time, plus I’ve got the books after Winter’s Heart to read before reading A Memory of Light. I think I might go a WOT book a month between now and November, the anticipated pub date of A Memory of Light.

I might be re-reading the three Caine books before Caine’s Law publishes, though I’ve read both Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle at least twice already

I’d really like to get to some of the older titles I picked up last year at used bookshops, like:

• The Giants Trilogy by James P. Hogan
  
• The Evergence Trilogy by Sean Williams and Shane Dix – Space Opera from an author who has delivered for me in the past.
• Legend by David Gemmell – I never read this book. I know, please don’t stone me.
• The Gap Sequence by Stephen R. Donaldson – This series is supposedly as good, some say better, than his Thomas Covenant books. I’d been hunting the series down in used book shops in NJ for a while, never finding a complete set until this past summer
• A Canticle for Leibowitz - by Walter M. Miller – Another landmark novel of the genre I haven’t read. Remember, please hold the stones.

Other Books I’ve Had Laying about the House

• The Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham – I tried the first book, A Shadow in Summer a few years ago and it just didn’t completely click with me at the time. I now have all four books and based on how much I enjoyed Abraham's books from last year, I need to catch up with this series.
• Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky – I only read the first of the series, liked it enough that I’ve hung onto the subsequent installments.
• Honor Harrington - I picked up books 2-5 used last year. Weber has really risen in my personal ranks. I may wind up doing a read-through of the entire series starting this year. Over a dozen books in the series, what am I, crazy?
  
• The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher – I usually read at least one or two of these a year, perhaps I’ll finally catch up to the publication schedule
• The Black Company by Glen Cook – I’ve had the second and third omnibuses for a couple of years.
• Heris Serrano by Elizabeth Moon – Another omnibus I’ve had for a couple of years. Having enjoyed Moon’s fantasy, I want to try her SF stuff.

Others/Books I don’t Have

Since I received a Kindle for my birthday in November, I’ve downloaded a bunch of freebies from Baen as well as some from amazon. So here's a random of assortment of other books I might get to this year:

• David Weber - Empire from the Ashes - seems like fun Big Dumb Object SF – The Moon is actually an ancient Warship!
• Lois McMaster Bujold - The Vorkosigan Saga - All of these books are free at the Baen Fifth Imperium. Another SF series I’ve been wanting to catch up with since reading one of the many omnibus editions (Young Miles) collecting the series.
• The Uplift Series by David Brin – These books have been in the back of my mind for quite some time (especially since Adam Whitehead recently reviewed the series on his blog) and with Brin releasing a new book in 2012, I think it’s about time I get to his most famous set of books. I do have a copy of Earth I may get to, as well.
• Arthur C. Clarke - One of the Big Three, I’ve only read one book by him. Shame on me, must rectify.
• John Ringo and David Drake – Two modern masters of Military SF with a decent amount of their work available free through the Baen Fifth Imperium

Terminal World by Reynolds Reviewed & Sprunk Interviewed

Some new content up at SFFWorld over the past week, one review and one interview. Let's begin with my review, shall we? The book's been sitting on my to-read pile for over a year, but I finally read it. The book? Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds, which will also be SFFWorld's Science Fiction Book Club selection in July (2011). After the cover shot, the usual review excerpt

Spearpoint is a city-world separated by zones, wherein each zone is the equivalent of its own country and even its own atmosphere, technology, and power sources. The divide between zones is so marked that denizens of one zone have difficulty surviving unaided in other zones for long periods of time. Spearpoint itself is a powerful blending of storytelling and world-building, a characteristic Reynolds has demonstrated in previous novels and perhaps most strongly here in Terminal World. Throughout Quillion and Meroka’s journey, they encounter the denizens of each zone from Skullboys to Vorgs to all sorts of post-human creatures. In some respects, Reynolds could probably pen a short-novel centered on each zone of Spearpont.

The relationship between Quillion and Meroka reminded me a great deal of the relationship between Yorick Brown and Agent 355 (at least the early portion of their relationship) in Brian K. Vaughan/Pia Guerra’s landmark comic/graphic novel saga Y: The Last Man. There’s antagonism on one side, frustration on the other and as the story progresses in both Terminal World and Y: The Last Man a level of respect does grow between the characters.

The interview, conducted by SFFWorld's KatG is with, Jon Sprunk, author of Shadow's Son and Shadow's Lure.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2011-05-07)

A bunch of stuff from the Penguin imprints arrived this week at the lair of the o’ Stuff…Pray tell in the comments, what interests you the most?

Conviction: (Fate of the Jedi Book Seven) by Aaron Allston (Hardcover 5/09/2011 Del Rey). Seventh book, and last contribution from Allston, in the latest series involving that pesky Skywalker clan.

Chief of State Natasi Daala has been overthrown, and the Jedi Order has taken control of the Galactic Alliance. But while the new governors dismantle Daala’s draconian regime, forces still loyal to the deposed official are mobilizing a counterstrike. And even the Jedi’s new authority may not be enough to save Tahiri Veila, the former Jedi Knight and onetime Sith apprentice convicted of treason for the killing of Galactic Alliance officer Gilad Pellaeon.

Meanwhile, Luke and Ben Skywalker are relentlessly pursuing Abeloth, the powerful dark-side entity bent on ruling the galaxy. But as they corner their monstrous quarry on the planet Nam Chorios, the two lone Jedi must also face the fury of the Sith death squadron bearing down on them. And when Abeloth turns the tables with an insidious ambush, the Skywalkers’ quest threatens to become a suicide mission.

Prince of Thorns (Book One of The Broken Empire) by Mark Lawrence (Hardcover 08/2/2011 Ace) – This is both Lawrence’s debut novel and the first of a trilogy, which has been generating a fair amount of pre-publication buzz. Mark has been visiting the SFFWorld forums on and off for the past few months.

Before the thorns taught me their sharp lessons and bled weakness from me I had but one brother, and I loved him well. But those days are gone and what is left of them lies in my mother's tomb. Now I have many brothers, quick with knife and sword, and as evil as you please. We ride this broken empire and loot its corpse. They say these are violent times, the end of days when the dead roam and monsters haunt the night. All that's true enough, but there's something worse out there, in the dark. Much worse."

Once a privileged royal child, raised by a loving mother, Jorg Ancrath has become the Prince of Thorns, a charming, immoral boy leading a grim band of outlaws in a series of raids and atrocities. The world is in chaos: violence is rife, nightmares everywhere. Jorg's bleak past has set him beyond fear of any man, living or dead, but there is still one thing that puts a chill in him. Returning to his father's castle Jorg must confront horrors from his childhood and carve himself a future with all hands turned against him.

The thorns taught him a lesson in blood...

The Prince of Thorns is the first volume in a powerful new epic fantasy trilogy, original, absorbing and challenging. Mark Lawrence’s debut novel tells a tale of blood and treachery, magic and brotherhood and paints a compelling and brutal, sometimes beautiful, picture of an exceptional boy on his journey toward manhood and the throne.

Timecaster by Joe Kimbal (Ace Mass Market Paperback 05/31/2011) – First SF novel from a writer who has published extensively under other names.

Chicago, 2064: Talon Avalon is bored.

Talon is a timecaster—one of a select few peace officers who can operate a TEV—the Tachyon Emission Visualizer—which allows the user to record events (most specifically, crimes) that have already happened. Violent crime is at an all-time low and there hasn’t been an unsolved murder in seven years. So Talon has little to do except give lectures to school kids—and obsess about his beloved wife’s profession as a licensed sex partner.

Then one of her clients asks Talon to investigate a possible murder. And when Talon uses the TEV to view the crime, the identity of the killer is unmistakable—it’s him, Talon Avalon. Someone is taking timecasting to a whole new level and using it to frame Talon. And the only way he can prove his innocence is to go off the grid—which even in 2064 is a very dangerous thing to do…


The Golden Key by Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, and Kate Elliott - (DAW , Mass Market Paperback 06/07/2011) – This is a re-reprint of the World Fantasy nominee by three of the top Fantasy writers from DAW’s stable. I’ve read Elliott and enjoyed her work, but not the other two. What bothers me is how they chopped the original art by Michael Whelan

In Tira Virte, art is prized for its beauty and as a binding legal record of everything from marriages to treaties. Yet not even the Grand Duke knows how extraordinary the Grijalva family's art is, for certain Grijalva males are born with the ability to alter events and influence people in the real world through that they paint. Always, their power has been used for Tira Virte. But now Sario Grijalva has learned to use his Gift in a whole new way. And when he begins to work his magic both the Grijalvas and Tira Virte may pay the price.

Hot & Steamy by Jean Rabe and Martin H. Greenberg (Mass Market Paperback 6/07/2011 DAW ) – The monthly themed anthology from DAW for June 2011 is a mash-up of romance and Steampunk.

From the co-editor of Steampunk'd comes an all-new collection of adventure and romance amid Victorian steampunk settings. Sparks fly in these original stories of a steam-driven airship searching for a lost city, a crazy inventor in a powered wheelchair with a plot to take over the world, and a love story set in an alternate history version of America. Adventure abounds in these stories of love, loss, and danger- and there is plenty of steam!

Thistledown by Irene Radford (DAW Mass Market Paperback 6/7/2011) – Standalone from Radford, known for series about Dragons and Merlin, this one plays on the myth of faeries and imaginary friends.

Desdemona "Dusty" Carrick had lived in the small town of Skene Falls, Oregon her entire life. And, like many of the local children, she had played with "imaginary" Pixie friends in and around Ten Acre Woods. With each generation, as the children grew up they forgot their Pixie friends. Or most of them did. Others, like Dusty and her brother Dick, never truly forgot. For the Pixies of the Skene Falls were not in the least imaginary. And now their most treasured haven, the Ten Acre Woods, might soon be destroyed – and without the woods, the Pixies themselves would die.

The only hope for the Pixies rested with Thistle Down, exiled from her tribe and trapped in a mortal woman's body. Only if Thistle could adjust to being in a mortal body – minus her wings and most of her magic – and succeed in convinving Dusty and some of the townspeople of the danger they all faced, would she have any chance to save her own people and, perhaps, be allowed to return home...

Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds (Ace Mass Market Paperback 05/31/2011) –I received this in hardcover last year but never read it, the book just kept getting pumped on the to-read pile. I will read this sooner rather than later since I’ve enjoyed all of the books I’ve read by Mr. Reynolds

Spearpoint, the last human city, is an atmosphere-piercing spire of vast size. Clinging to its skin are the zones, a series of semi-autonomous city-states, each of which enjoys a different - and rigidly enforced - level of technology. Horsetown is pre-industrial; in Neon Heights they have television and electric trains . . . Following an infiltration mission that went tragically wrong, Quillon has been living incognito, working as a pathologist in the district morgue. But when a near-dead angel drops onto his dissecting table, Quillon's world is wrenched apart one more time, for the angel is a winged posthuman from Spearpoint's Celestial Levels - and with the dying body comes bad news. If Quillon is to save his life, he must leave his home and journey into the cold and hostile lands beyond Spearpoint's base, starting an exile that will take him further than he could ever imagine. But there is far more at stake than just Quillon's own survival, for the limiting technologies of the zones are determined not by governments or police, but by the very nature of reality - and reality itself is showing worrying signs of instability . . .

Hex by Allen Steele (Ace Hardcover 06/07/2011) – This is an offshoot of Steele’s popular Coyote saga, perhaps it works well enough on its own for new readers?.


The two-time Hugo Award-winner expands the universe of his Coyote saga.

The danui, a reclusive arachnid species considered the galaxy's finest engineers, have avoided contact with the Coyote Federation. Until, that is, the danui initiate trade negotiations, offering only information: the coordinates for an unoccupied world suitable for human life-a massive sphere, composed of billions of hexagons.

But when the Federation's recon mission goes terribly wrong, the humans realize how little they know about their new partners

The Scarab Path (Shadows of the Apt 5) by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Pyr , Trade Paperback 04/13/2010) – This series is really gaining momentum. For my part, I read the first installment and found it interesting – not perfect, but with enough potential (coupled with the good word of mouth the series gets) to have me interested in the subsequent volumes. Tchaikovsky writes fast and Pyr is gaining ground on the UK release schedule, so I’ve now got four books in the series if I want to fully catch up.


The war with the Wasp Empire has ended in a bitter stalemate, and Collegium has nothing to show for it but wounded veterans. Cheerwell Maker finds herself crippled in ways no doctor can mend, haunted by ghosts of the past that she cannot appease, seeking for meaning in a city that no longer seems like home.

The Empress Seda is regaining control over those imperial cities that refused to bow the knee to her, but she draws her power from something more sinister than mere armies and war machines. Only her consort, the former spymaster Thalric, knows the truth, and now the assassins are coming and he finds his life and his loyalties under threat yet again.

Out past the desert of the Nem the ancient city of Khanaphes awaits them both, with a terrible secret entombed beneath its stones...

This is the fifth novel in the Shadows of the Apt series following Empire in Black and Gold, Dragonfly Falling, Blood of the Mantis, and Salute the Dark.

2009 Reading Year in Review

I read a lot of books in 2009. I read 82 books, which includes graphic novels (10) but not the many single-issue comics I’ve read. This is down only 2 books from 2008, which is a blip, I should say.

In 2009, I posted 56 reviews to SFFWorld and one new one to the Sacramento Book Review /San Francisco Book Review.

I’d say that’s a pretty decent number of reviews. Having said that, in the coming year, I’ll be cutting back on the number of reviews I post. Since I started getting review books from publishers, a lot of books have been piling up. Not only those I’ve received for review, but the books that I’ve purchased and others that have been put aside in favor of the review books. I also want to do a Wheel of Time re-read/catch up and the same for Glen Cook’s Black Company. One or both of those may be an ongoing feature here on the blog. Or, since SFFWorld doesn’t have any *official* reviews for any of the Wheel of Time books, I may just post reviews of the books there. Plus I want to catch up with other series (for example David Weber’s Safehold, Ian M. Banks’s Culture, Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files and Codex Alera) and now that some series are complete (Daniel Abraham’s Long Price and Sean Williams’s Astrolopolis to name only two), I want to get through them too.

One of my personal ‘reading goals’ for 2009 was to read more books by women, which I did more than doubling the number of women-authored books I read 2008. That’s 12.5 in 2009 (one of the books was The Dragons of Ordinary Farm co-authored by Deborah Beale) vs 5 in 2008.

54 of the 82 books I read were published in 2009, roughly 2/3. Breaking down the genres, 26 could be considered SF, 32 Fantasy, 6 Horror (and a few of the books could fit in two (The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbartcould be considered both fantasy and horror or all three like Gregory’s The Devil’s Alphabet) and 5 short story collections/anthologies.

All that said, on to the categories for the 2009 … Robloggies? ManBearPiggies? Stuffies? I don’t know! This isn’t a typical top 10 or 12 or anything, but whatever you want to call them, here are some categories for what I read in 2009 and what I put at the top of those categories.

Rob Favorite Science Fiction Novel(s) Read in 2009

This year I rediscovered Alastair Reynolds, first with Pushing Ice then with what amounted to one of my favorite SF novels of 2009 House of Suns.

Since this is an Alastair Reynolds novel, one would expect some big-ideas and one would not be let down. Set millions of years in the future, ample time has passed in the galaxy for humanity to evolve and join the greater universal civilization. And what a civilization it is. Some scenes worked really well to show off a grittiness of the future, that there are still scrupulous creatures willing to make a hazy deal. Conversely, the ideals of love haven’t changed too much – certain love is embraced and other love is shunned and looked down upon. On the other, the great leaps of time that take place in Reynolds human history as well as the characters lives showcases how far humanity has evolved in this novel.

The sheer scale of intelligent civilization in this universe is mind-boggling. Perhaps most fascinating are the Machine People and the Machines who preceded them thousands of years before the events in even Abigail Gentian’s time. On the other hand, that sense of time, that tens of thousands of years can pass so effortlessly in these characters lives really adds to the sense of wonder for which Reynolds is so well known. These themes are handled with an expert’s care in Reynolds’s assured storytelling ability.

Another book at the top of my SF list for 2009 has a very strong alternate history vibe, with a bits of post-apocalyptic fiction and steampunk thrown into the mix, even though it is set about a hundred years in the future, Robert Charles Wilson’s Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America:

The tone is very comfortable and Wilson’s prose is just wonderful to read and digest. The comfortable to which I’m referring is the tone is inasmuch as we the reader, through Adam’s positioning of words, know who Julian Comstock really is. Essentially, the feel of the novel is that we are taking a peek behind the curtain at how the real events transpired around a legendary and historical figure.

…

It isn’t through info dumps or anything obtrusive that the reader learns about the world at large, technology like cars and travel to the moon are viewed as nearly magical things of the past or fallacies of fantasy outright banished from collective thought. Wilson also manages to conjure the reality of the future world and layer the details very well through the characters thoughts, actions, and words. Furthermore, by just touching on some of the details rather than flat out explaining them, Wilson lends a credibility to 22nd Century America which gives a deeper sense of resonance. Credibility and believability in this world is also conjured through Adam Hazzard’s footnotes sprinkled throughout the novel.

I couldn’t get through a top 2009 list without mentioning Peter F. Hamilton’s The Temporal Void, the middle book of a rollicking, over-the-top-in-the-best-way Space Opera trilogy.

The Temporal Void really is two intertwined novels under one cover – the Waterwalker storyline which takes place in the Void and the effect of the expanding Void and Living Dream movement outside of the Void could conceivably stand on their own as two separate books. Both ‘novels’ are compelling, with the Edeard story being slightly more so. However, considering the book (at least in US ARC form) is large enough to stop a rhino in its tracks, the read was quick and engaging thanks to the best pacing I’ve read from Hamilton. (Admittedly, I’ve yet to complete what many consider his landmark work – The Night's Dawn Trilogy). The link between the Waterwalker’s world and the Commonwealth seem tangential at first, but Hamilton hints at connections between the two throughout with further hints of a more concrete connection perhaps to be revealed in the concluding volume, The Evolutionary Void.

In a book packed with great storytelling, flaws are minor but existent. Perhaps the greatest flaw is in Edeard the Waterwalker himself. Throughout his storyline, he manages to triumph over every defeat. Reading those scenes proved exciting, but as the final chapters of the Waterwalker storyline came and went, some of the dramatic tension was lost. Despite his youth and initial lack of experience with his telekinetic powers, he still defeated all of his enemies. Theconclusion to Edeard’s story was both revelatory and powerful. I’m also hopeful that Hamilton will reveal more of Edeard and the Void’s true nature so as to better explain why Edeard overcame every obstacle. I also trust enough in Hamilton’s storytelling abilities to anticipate a solid (if at times protracted) conclusion and revelation of the connection between the Void and the outer galaxy.

Rob’s Favorite Fantasy Novel(s) Read in 2009

Again I’m torn between two books and each time I think to myself, ‘yeah, that’s the best fantasy novel I read this year’ I then think about the other one. The first of those two is Lev Grossman’s The Magicians.

Grossman’s writing is subtle and relaxed on the whole, but like the sex scene between the two male students I mentioned earlier, he will throw a sucker punch in the midst of otherwise well-flowing narrative. In two cases, this comes in the form of Penny, one scene of which is literally a sucker punch from Penny to Quentin. Another scene (not with Penny) involves a standard lecture, with Quentin being bored (as most students tend to get during college lectures) when suddenly the Beast appears shocking everyone including the instructor and killing a student. These “sucker-punch” scenes occur even more explicitly once the Physical Kids finally arrive in Fillory. Grossman shows how magic might work in the real world in an effective manner, with possibly terrifying implications. Perhaps the strongest parallel I can draw here is how well Alan Moore / Dave Gibbons showed the effects of superheroes in the real world in their landmark graphic novel Watchmen. In this sense, Grossman illustrates just how unsafe magic could be, especially in the unpracticed hands of young college students, and even older students and thos who graduated – perhaps the axiom a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing applies. Gone is the safe illusion of magic as Quentin and his friends soon realize. Just like Watchmen, The Magicians is a work I can see myself returning to multiple times in the future

That other book, is R. Scott Bakker’s return to Eärwa, The Judging Eye, which is the latest entry in his über-saga, The Second Apocalypse:

There are no absolutes in Bakker’s fictional world, or rather once something is thought of as an absolute, something or someone thrusts that absolute into the fire both illuminating and destroying what could be considered absolute. Take Sorweel again - his hatred for Kellhus is thrown asunder once Kellhus appears. The dichotomy of conflicting absolutes drives much of the fiction and can be seen in the mirrored journeys of Achamanian and the Skin Eaters and the march of the Great Ordeal. Both are striving towards what they see as the greater good, although part of what fuels Achamanian is his hatred of Kellhus. Whereas the Great Ordeal is marching in the name of good against an accepted evil, Akka’s march in the depths of darkness may eventually illuminate the true nature of Kellhus. The Great Ordeal is an army of knights and order, Akka’s march is basically a mish-mash of chaos and those on the fringes of society.

While The Judging Eye is “just the opening” of a greater story, Bakker does bring the storyline to a satisfactory stopping point. As a relatively slim volume of just over 400 pages of story, the book is somewhat small compared to other Epic Fantasies. What Bakker’s done in those 400 pages is crafted the best novel of the year, and one that hints at greater things to come. As the characters who seemingly know Kellhus the most intimately come to question much about the God who was once a man, the reader can only do the same. Is he a savior of the world, preventer of the Second Apocalypse or is he the destroyer and igniter of the Second Apocalypse. Bakker is not one to give absolute answers, but the novel gives many things to consider about unconditional perceptions.

Rob's Favorite Debut(s) of 2009

Two of the three strongest debuts for me were both published by Orbit Books. The first was a book that kind took me by surprise, Kate Griffin’s Madness of Angels which I thought “epitomizes more of an earlier (think 80s & early 90s) definition of Urban Fantasy - street magician/sorcerer, magical monsters made of trash, the Bag Lady as a prophetess/seer. No vampire fighting chicks in leather to be seen here (and that isn't a slight), just the magic of life.”
The other debut from Orbit that really impressed me was The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart, which I thought that if “readers can handle Hegel and Manfried as protagonists , they will be rewarded with an ultimately rich and entertaining reading experience, that is especially more impressive since it is the author’s first novel.”
My favorite debut of the year; however, was Peter V. Brett’s The Warded Man, the first in a series. Not only was this book one of my top debut novels, it was one of my top reads for the entire year. This is a very promising start to a series and a writer’s career:

The small isolated villages comprise the majority of human society in this novel and while I wouldn’t say it isn’t exactly a medieval setting it is a degradation to a level of technology equal to medieval. In some ways, a minor parallel can be drawn to Terry Brooks’s Shannara series in that the world of 3,000 years prior to the novel could possibly be our own world. A stronger parallel that resonated with me is the world of Stephen King’s Dark Tower – in many ways, the aura of a technological breakdown and even the Old West feel permeates Brett’s world. The harshness and unconnected pools of humanity that flavor Brett’s world also remind me of King’s opus. Other things like the name Rojer, a phonetic cousin to Roger, and much of the language bears potential fruit for a phonetically similar past as “our” world. Brett does well to only hint at such things, giving readers questions to ponder as we wait for The Desert Spear, the second volume of the as-yet untitled series.

Some readers may be put-off by the youthful protagonists and straightforward writing at the beginning would do well to soldier on towards the end. Brett’s evolution of style subtly matches the evolution of the story itself.

Favorite Multi-Genre/Non-Genre Books of 2009

These two books fit more than one genre, but both really stood out to me as engrossing, solid reads that really deserve to be called out in some fashion.

Dan Simmons’s Drood, easily falls into this category with elements of horror, Victorian literature, possible fantasy, and an unreliable narrator. I’ve read quite a few of his books and regard them all very highly. As for Drood, I read it early in the year and loved it, considering it a masterpiece:

The feel of the novel is rich and exquisitely evokes Victorian London. Since I can’t really travel back in time to check on Simmon’s veracity in his ability to evoke the time and place, I can only go with my gut and it tells me Simmons hit the mark in this respect. In that sense, the novel’s haunted feel is only strengthened by the time and place – an era of gaslights, trains and a world at the cusp of vast technological change. The London of Drood, especially the London nights, is very much hidden in shadows with smoke ‘round the corner and hints of danger and otherworldy Underworlds.

Both Collins and Dickens take mythic journeys in this novel, most notably to the Underworld of London. A vast cavern of tunnels underneath the great city where day laborers live in abject poverty and opium dens are visited by men of society, including Collins. It is a dangerous place, a place where vagrants live, where "lost boys" roam the catacombs, and where the dark figure of Drood and his two steersmen usher Dickens on a gondola to the deepest recesses of Underworld. The mythic parallels to Charon, and more explicitly, the Egyptian god of the dead, Anubis are evocative and resonant in their power. Here again, Collins’s role as Unreliable Narrator comes into play, if not during these scenes as much as they do later upon reflection of the events.

I finished The Devil’s Alphabet by Daryl Gregory late in the year and I was almost equally wowed. In it Gregory mixes up a lot of things – horror, science fiction, fantasy, to name just three:

Pax also has a difficult time reconciling with his father, whose small flashes of sanity in his dark and horrific life almost string Pax along for what could be an unrewarding ride. Gregory set up the three offshoots, charlies, argos, and betas, as distinct societal groups within Switchcreek. Lording over everything is the outwardly charming and matronly Aunt Rhoda who, in the intervening 15 years since Pax left Switchcreek, has become mayor. At times she is very supportive of Pax in welcoming him back to Switchcreek. Other times, when Pax wishes to get his father back home and out of the halfway/healing home, she vehemently, but very politely, tells him he should let things be as they are. In many ways, Aunt Rhoda reminded me of the character Frau Totenkinder from Bill Willingham’s superb comic book series Fables – on the surface warm and welcoming, but beneath the surface lies a depth and cunning.

One element of the book that slowly comes to light is how the majority of the characters who hold power are women. Aunt Rhoda, arguably the most powerful character in the novel, is of course a woman. The top doctor in town is a woman. The specter of Jo Lynn, who to me seemed the smartest character in the novel even in death, is a woman. There’s another play with gender since Pax becomes as dependent on his father’s vintage as a child is on his/her mother’s milk.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy could easily fall into this category. Granted it was published a few years ago, but I didn't get to it until this year. Although it published as a literature and fiction novel, the post-apocalyptic setting thrusts it right into Science Fiction. This was one of the best books I have ever read. Moving, powerful, and remarkable.

MVP Author of 2009

Quite a few authors managed to have multiple books on the shelves in 2009, but few had the impact and reach of who I’ve dubbed the MVP author of 2009:

Brandon Sanderson

He only published three novels and helped to revive The Wheel of Time, the defining Fantasy Saga of this generation. His solo fantasy novel, Warbreaker was a solid follow-up to his superb Mistborn trilogy and a top 10 book for me in 2009

So, after a successful trilogy, Brandon Sanderson has given readers a done-in-one (for now, at least) Epic Fantasy novel that is engaging, entertaining, and like his Mistborn trilogy, gives a new lens with which to view familiar elements of a pleasing story. If I can level any negative criticism at the novel it is that once Vivenna leaves her homeland of Idris, it is only spoken of as a place to keep out of war. Considering Vivenna is the only remaining princess after Siri is sent off to be married, I was expecting her father or a group of men from Idris to come into Hallendren in search for Vivenna. This never happened and seemed odd that a King wouldn’t search out for a runaway princess especially when that princess is his daughter. On the whole, this aspect wasn’t a detriment to my enjoyment of the novel, but it itched at my brain a bit. In many ways, the story initially has a faery-tale feel to it, with a royal daughter’s marriage binding two kingdoms. What unfolds from that simple premise is well-wrought, intelligent, and at times, surprising – one might say a conspiracy novel with hints of slight hints 1984 wrapped in a wonderful fantasy package.

He published the third book in his popular Alcatraz series.

Didn’t he publish something else though? Oh yeah, the little book that toppled the Mighty Dan Brown from the #1 spot on the NY Times Bestseller list. To say that The Gathering Storm sparked some life in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time saga is like saying The Flash can run somewhat fast and the New York Yankees are a relatively successful sports franchise. Though I’ve yet to read it (see above for my Wheel of Time re-read/catch-up nod), the book has been nearly universally praised by many, many, people.

Favorite ‘New To Me’ Author(s) of 2009

These are books or authors that have been publishing/published for quite some time, but for whatever reason, I only managed to get to them this past year.

In no particular order:

S. Andrew Swann – I read two books by him in 2009 and though very highly of both of them. One of those books was the Space Opera Prophets and the other was the Werewolf/Historical Fantasy/Romance Wolfbreed. I’ll be following those two series and I plan to read the books that precede Prophets, plus I have the omnibus/duology Dragons and Dwarves awaiting a read.

Based on the two books I did read by Swann, he flows very well between the related subsets of Speculative Fiction. Taking a look at his bibliography would bear this out - Space Opera, Mystery, Thriller, Historical Fantasy, Urban Fantasy.








David Weber - I read his retrospective anthology Worlds of Weber in 2008 and in the Fall of this past year, I picked up Off Armageddon’s Reef the highly enjoyable opening novel of his Safehold series. Since Santa brought the second and third books in the series, with a fourth one publishing in 2010, I’ve got a nice chunk of reading ahead of me in this promising series. I also may go back to his Honorverse novels.

Warhammer/ Warhammer 40,000 - I know this franchise has been around for a while, but I read a couple of the books this past year and have a slew on the plate to review. So far, I’ve enjoyed what I read quite a bit and can really see why the universe appeals to so many people

Most Disappointing Reads of 2009

Three books for which I had high hopes didn’t work for me that I had high hopes for when I began reading them last in 2009. Each book disappointed me for different reasons, though.

The Quiet War by Paul J. McAuley is a book I looked forward to a great deal since Mark enjoyed it and I was in the mood for a good solid space opera. I didn’t get that with this book. What I got was more of a mystery with not nearly as much space opera goodies as I hoped to read.

How to Make Friends with Demons by Graham Joyce was another major reading disappointment of 2009 for me. I just couldn’t attach myself to the story enough to care. This is really a shame because everything up to this point I read by Joyce I enjoyed a great deal. I’ll chalk this up to a case of the wrong book at the wrong time.

Soulless by Gail Carriger was quite disappointing, too. The premise sounded fairly interesting – Steampunk meets Vampires, but the protagonist really wore on me after a while: By this point, it would seem that I enjoyed the novel. I did – up to the first 80-100 pages, which worked well for me. I was enjoying the way Carriger revealed her supernatural world and I liked the characters of Lord Maccoon, Alexia, and Lord Akeldama. Unfortunately, the immediacy of the opening of the novel and the charm of the characters began to wear off as the novel progressed, especially the prattling between Alexia and her friend Miss Ivy Hisselpenny, a constant wearer of ugly hats. I also found Alexia’s and Maccon’s back and forth to lack the pull when they first began their romance in the novel. Lastly, I felt browbeat by a lot of the repetitive aspects of the novel, the continual reference to Hisselpenny’s ugly hats, and the even more derogatory slant of Alexia’s Italian heritage which seemed to be pointed out every five pages, to the point where I started to say to myself, "OK, I get it, she’s half Italian and that’s not a good thing."

Favorite Author Whose Work I Revisited in 2009

Robert J. Sawyer, with WWW: Wake is what puts him in this category.

I read a handful of his novels years ago but never managed to return to them and in that time he’s published over a half-dozen books and won some awards. This WWW trilogy is quite promising.

House of Suns review; District 9 thoughts

For just about a decade, Alastair Reynolds has been publishing some of the best Science Fiction in the genre. His stories are galactic in scope, but still manage to key down to the human level. His latest, House of Suns is no different. The story spans millions of years and is to put succinctly, awesome. My review went up last night and here’s the requisite snippet:

The ancestors of humanity, specifically the clones or ‘shatterlings’ (of both sex) of Abigal Gentian, known throughout the universe as both the Gential Line and the House of Flowers are set to meet in one of their 200,000-year reunions when the reunion is sent asunder by a hostile attack. Luckily, two of the clones (Campion and Purslane) who have fallen in love were delayed and are among the very slim number of shatterlings of the Gential line not destroyed. In their delay, they contact a somewhat disreputable broker named Ateshga, who they hope can sell them a ship upgrade in order to arrive at the reunion party with plenty of time to spare in the 1,000 day celebration. This of course does not go according to plan since Atheshga tries to sabatoge Campion and Purslane. However, the two shatterlings turn the tables and get their ship upgraded and secure the freedom of Hesperus, a robot and member of the ‘Machine People.’
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The sheer scale of intelligent civilization in this universe is mind-boggling. Perhaps most fascinating are the Machine People and the Machines who preceded them thousands of years before the events in even Abigail Gentian’s time. On the other hand, that sense of time, that tens of thousands of years can pass so effortlessly in these characters lives really adds to the sense of wonder for which Reynolds is so well known. These themes are handled with an expert’s care in Reynolds’s assured storytelling ability.

Mrs. o’ Stuff and I caught District 9 on Friday and we both thought it was easily the best film we’d seen this summer. I might go into more detail in a post later this week, but suffice it to say, this film does everything Good Science Fiction should do – it was at turns frightening, plausible, and awe-inspiring. Very few movies exceed my expectations as much as this one did, and I went it expecting it to be good – it was GREAT.

Prohpets by Swann Reviewed + Al and George Talk

The Guardian published a follow up interview with Alastair Reynolds after breaking news that he received a £1m deal (just over $1.6M). (via SF Signal)

George breaks the silence. Sort of:

But I am making a small exception now because... well, I'm feeling rather jazzed right now, and for the first time in a very long while, I think I can see a glimmering that might just be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Bouncing back to Science Fiction after last week’s review, comes Prophets by S. Andrew Swann the first book in a new trilogy which itself is set in the same world as his The Hostile Takeover Trilogy and Moreau series. As the review indicates, I enjoyed the book. Below is a snapshot of the review:

Swann throws quite a few SF tropes into this novel – for starters, the novel is a Space Opera set 500 years into the future. You’ve also got genetically engineered humans and demi-humans, high-speed space travel, alien super-intelligences, and artificial intelligences. What’s more impressive is that he makes it work very well, with each element serving the next and the ones before it in a smooth and complimentary fashion.

The far future setting is well-thought out and ingeniously crafted. The sense of depth to the universe and some of the characters (particularly Nickolai and Tjaele Mosasa) further lends weight to the rich history of which Prophets shows just a snapshot. Swann could have easily overloaded the reader with infodump after infodump about his future history. As I’ve said about other writers who do what Swann did here, he filters in the details in a very balanced manner through his character’s conversations and internal thoughts.

Swann’s one of those DAW authors* who seems to churn out books regularly and to whom the publisher seems very loyal. For the trilogies he’s released with them, DAW published omnibus versions of their trilogies/series (The Hostile Takeover Trilogy and The Moreau Omnibus, as well as the forthcoming Dragons and Dwarves: Novels of the Cleveland Portal).



*DAW has done the same thing with authors like Marion Zimmer Bradley, C.J. Cherryh, Mickey Zucker Reichert, Jennifer Roberson, and John Zakour to name just a few.

So what am I saying? The fact that DAW is doing this is great for the authors since it keeps their stories in print. It’s great for readers since it makes it easier to ‘catch up’ with authors who have a backlist with whom said reader has recently been acquainted.

Alastair Reynolds lands £1m book deal

Nacked from Next Read


This is cool news, I've just started getting back into Reynolds with Pushing Ice, which I really like at about the halfway mark. The short fiction I've read from him has been excellent, he's won and been nominated for major awards and many consider him to be one of, if not, the standard bearer for the New Space Opera and British SF. I've got House of Suns on the to-read pile, plus Chasm City plus a couple of novellas issued by Subterranean Press.