Books in the Mail (W/E 2015-06-27)

A steady stream of books this week, have a look, won’t you?

Ascendance (Dave Vs. The Monsters #3) by John Birmingham (Del Rey Mass Market Paperback 06/30/2015) – This is the third in the series Birminghams urban fantasy/horror series in the Jonathan Maberry and Larry Correia vein.

Kids, there are no monsters under the bed. They’re in the front yard.

As a hardworking monster-slayer, Dave Hooper tries not to bring his work home with him. But nowadays it’s hard to keep them separate. Email, cellphones, empath daemons, they never let a guy rest.

The Horde has been raising hell and leveling cities from New York to Los Angeles, keeping Dave and his fellow monster-killer, Russian spy Karin Varatschevsky, very busy. But when the legions of hell invade the small seaside town his boys call home, Dave has to make a call. Save the world? Or save his family?

Not as easy a choice as you’d think, since Dave’s ex-wife expects to be saved too. And there’s no convincing her that the supersexy Russian spy isn’t his girlfriend. She’s just his sidekick—and an assassin.

Departure by A.G. Riddle (HarperVoyager Hardcover 10/20/2015) – Riddle is the latest self-published sensation (having sold over one million copies) to make the jump to traditional publishing. This one, as the tag line indicates, has some resonance with Lost .

Flight 305 took off in 2014...

But it crashed in a world very different from our own...

With time running out, five strangers must unravel why they were taken...

And how to get home.

Harper Lane has problems. In a few hours, she'll have to make a decision that will change her life forever. But when her flight from New York to London crash-lands in the English countryside, she discovers that she's made of tougher stuff than she ever imagined.

As Harper and the survivors of Flight 305 struggle to stay alive in the aftermath of the crash, they soon realize that this world is very different from the one they left. Their lives are connected, and some believe they've been brought here for a reason.

In addition to Harper, several other passengers seem to hold clues about why Flight 305 crashed. There's:

Nick Stone, an American on his way to a meeting with The Gibraltar Project, an international group dedicated to building a dam across the Strait of Gibraltar and draining the Mediterranean.

Sabrina Schröder, a German scientist who has unknowingly sealed the fate of half the flight's passengers.

Yul Tan, a Chinese-American computer scientist who has just made the breakthrough of a lifetime: a quantum internet capable of transmitting more data, farther, faster than ever thought possible. His invention, however, does much more than he ever dreamed possible.

With time running out to save the survivors of Flight 305, Harper and Nick race to unravel the conspiracy that crashed their plane. As they put the pieces together, they discover that their decisions have already doomed one world and will soon determine the future of ours.

DEPARTURE is the first new novel from A.G. Riddle since he completed The Origin Mystery, the trilogy that has sold a million copies in the US, is being translated into 18 languages, and is in development at CBS Films to be a major motion picture.

DEPARTURE continues to establish Riddle's standard for fast-paced, high-concept thrillers with twists and big ideas that leave readers thinking long after they turn the last page.

Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit Books 07/07/2015) – I have made multiple attempts at reading novels by KSR and I’ve never been able to connect with them, but I think I’m in the minority since many other genre readers seem to enjoy his work. This is a long departure for him, in that the story leaves our immediate solar system.


A major new novel from one of science fiction's most powerful voices, AURORA tells the incredible story of our first voyage beyond the solar system


Brilliantly imagined and beautifully told, it is the work of a writer at the height of his powers.

Our voyage from Earth began generations ago.

Now, we approach our destination.

A new home.

AURORA.

The Annihilation Score (A Laundry Files novel) by Charles Stross (Ace Hardcover 07/07/2015) – The only Laundry novel I read wasThe Jennifer Morgue which I enjoyed, but never managed to circle back to these books, this is the sixth in the series.

Hugo Award-winning author Charles Stross presents the next case in The Laundry Files, “a weirdly alluring blend of super-spy thriller, deadpan comic fantasy, and Lovecraftian horror” (Kirkus Reviews). 

Dominique O’Brien—her friends call her Mo—lives a curious double life with her husband, Bob Howard. To the average civilian, they’re boring middle-aged civil servants. But within the labyrinthian secret circles of Her Majesty’s government, they’re operatives working for the nation’s occult security service known as the Laundry, charged with defending Britain against dark supernatural forces threatening humanity.

Mo’s latest assignment is assisting the police in containing an unusual outbreak: ordinary citizens suddenly imbued with extraordinary abilities of the super-powered kind. Unfortunately these people prefer playing super-pranks instead of super-heroics. The Mayor of London being levitated by a dumpy man in Trafalgar Square would normally be a source of shared amusement for Mo and Bob, but they’re currently separated because something’s come between them—something evil. 

An antique violin, an Erich Zann original, made of human white bone, was designed to produce music capable of slaughtering demons. Mo is the custodian of this unholy instrument. It invades her dreams and yearns for the blood of her colleagues—and her husband. And despite Mo’s proficiency as a world class violinist, it cannot be controlled…

The Philosopher Kings by Jo Walton (Tor , Hardcover 06/30/2015) – Sequel/Second book in the sequence which began in The Just City earlier this year. I seem to have been one of the few people who didn’t connect with it.

From acclaimed, award-winning author Jo Walton: Philosopher Kings, a tale of gods and humans, and the surprising things they have to learn from one another. Twenty years have elapsed since the events of The Just City. The City, founded by the time-traveling goddess Pallas Athene, organized on the principles espoused in Plato's Republic and populated by people from all eras of human history, has now split into five cities, and low-level armed conflict between them is not unheard-of.

The god Apollo, living (by his own choice) a human life as "Pythias" in the City, his true identity known only to a few, is now married and the father of several children. But a tragic loss causes him to become consumed with the desire for revenge. Being Apollo, he goes handling it in a seemingly rational and systematic way, but it's evident, particularly to his precocious daughter Arete, that he is unhinged with grief.

Along with Arete and several of his sons, plus a boatload of other volunteers--including the now fantastically aged Marsilio Ficino, the great humanist of Renaissance Florence--Pythias/Apollo goes sailing into the mysterious Eastern Mediterranean of pre-antiquity to see what they can find--possibly the man who may have caused his great grief, possibly communities of the earliest people to call themselves "Greek." What Apollo, his daughter, and the rest of the expedition will discover…will change everything.

Neptune's Brood by Charles Stross - A Review & Hugo Potential

This is a bit of an expanded version of my review/Hugo Appreciation Post for Charlie Stross's Neptune's Brood,which originally appeared on Tor.com on July 17, 2014.

Charles Stross is a mainstay on genre award ballots every year; 2014 marks his seventh appearance on the short list for the Hugo Award for Best Novel. There’s good reason for these accolades because when it comes to plausible and well-thought out future scenarios, few can invent better scenarios than Stross. Neptune’s Brood, in this case, imagines a post-human, far future where we as humanity have become a thing of the past often referred to as Fragiles. The novel is many things, but a primary thrust is economics in the future and a supposed defrauding scam as it features Krina Alizond-118 on her journeys through the galaxy.

The first novel set in the far

future of Neptune's Brood

Neptune’s Brood is a "sort-of"* sequel to Stross’s 2006 novel, Saturn’s Children (also nominated for a Hugo) set thousands of years into the future of that novel (itself already far into humanity’s future).  Stross takes the post-human universe he created in the previous novel and builds a framework for the economics of the milieu while telling a story that has much in common with a mystery/thriller while also focusing on the notion of identity of the individual.  Heady stuff, no?

*Different characters and further in the future than Saturn's Children. but Neptune's Brood easily stands on its own.

The novel focuses primarily on Krina Alizond-118 as she searches for her missing “sister” Ana Graulle-90 (which in this sense indicates they are cloned from the same being). Krina, with her deep knowledge of the history of accounting and banking, manages to get passage on a space vessel after being convinced to offer her services as a banker. It isn’t long before Krina becomes involved with interstellar pirate bankers, learns more about her sister, and receives body modification to become a mermaid on the water world of Shin-Tethys to find her missing or perhaps dead sister.  On top of all of that, Krin tells us, in her first person narrative, she has a stalker and discovers what amounts to a 2,000-year old money laundering scam which hinges on an object which might be in the possession of her sister. So yeah, lots of stuff going on here.

For my tastes; however, I didn’t fully connect with a lot of the story.  There were multiple info-dumps throughout the story, many of which begin with Krina stating that she was going to tell us a story. In one such instance Krina even says “I am now going to bore you to death with the political economy of Shin-Tethys.” I realize there’s a heavy dose of snark in that statement, but t it still niggles at me that a character would tell us she is going to bore us to death and is almost an invitation to skip ahead. A lot of the info-dumps relay the minutia of the future banking system (slow, medium, and fast money) and how Krina is able to circumvent the system as well as the two-thousand year old FTL-scam which brings Krina more focused on finding her sister. While the concept is quite intriguing, at times I felt lectured at and that I was reading an academic piece rather than a piece of fiction. All of that having been said, in the end, I can see why the novel would work for so many people, while realizing it didn’t fully work for me.  But this is only half the discussion since…

In terms of its worthiness/chances on winning the Hugo Award for best novel, Neptune’s Brood does indeed seem like the type of novel that should be at least short-listed. Aside from the fact that Stross is the author and seems to appear on these lists regularly, the novel takes a rather unexplored concept – economics, and couches the discussion of that concept in a (relatively) familiar setting for Science Fiction – that of the far future while also checking off the post-human, body-modification, and adventure boxes in the novel. From a superficial level, then, Stross strikes a good balance between new approach and familiar elements.

So where does this rank against the other Hugo nominees? It is hard to argue against Ancillary Justice winning because the book has won nearly every award for which it was short-listed.  The Wheel of Time is also hard to ignore as a nominee considering the size of its fan base, but it is difficult to know how much of those fans will be casting final ballots.  Parasite by Mira Grant marks her fourth consecutive nomination. I haven’t (yet) read the book, but seems to hit the same spot as it did for readers of her entertaining Newsflesh trilogy, so seeing her name here is not much of a surprise.  This, at last, brings us to Larry Correia’s Warbound, the third book in his Grimnoir Chronicles, again, one I haven’t read though I have enjoyed the Monster Hunter books he’s written. Larry clearly has his fans, too.

That said and simply judging Neptune’s Brood against its competitors, I’ve got to think Stross will eventually receive the award for Best Novel.  Though Neptune’s Brood has received the same kind of praise previous works by Stross have, I’m not sure this is Charlie’s year considering his competition. On the other hand, this convention is as close to his own backyard for Stross so there may be some support from potentially local attendees to push Neptune’s Brood to the top.

Swords and Toys and Demons and Vamps-OH MY!

I’ve got a slew of SFFWorld reviews to link today, as Mark/Hobbit has been providing some good ones over the past couple of weeks.

First up is Mark’s review of Swords and Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery edited by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders. The anthology has been getting mixed reviews across the intarwebs, and Mark is no different (contrast with my review):

… when the two editors are known as a couple of the best in the business currently, you would expect a healthy selection of the best tales from the best.

The nature of story collections is that there are bound to be stories that you like better than others. Usually though I can say whether I liked the collection or not. Silverberg’s Legends, for example, published in 1998, and its sequel Legends II (2003) had the same intent as this, to showcase the best Fantasy and had some unusual yet interesting choices that made me read more of some authors I had not read.

Here, with the same aim, there were no authors I had not encountered before and all of whom previously I would’ve said were good, but the overriding cumulative impression in the end here is much less positive.

My latest review is of a graphic novel that really took me by surprise, is The Stuff of Legend V1: The Dark by Mike Raicht, which tells the story of a boy’s toys that come to life in order to save him from the Boogeyman.

When this book first arrived, I wasn’t sure what to think of it. Two blurbs on the book; however, immediately impressed me – Brian K. Vaughan and Frank Quietly, two modern comic creator greats – which gave me the impetus to try the book. As soon as I started reading the first page, I was unable to put it down until I finished it. The narrative immediately drew me in and Wilson’s art was perfectly suited for the tale, both the style and color tone used. Though the art is neither black and white nor full color, a muted sepia tone is employed lending a nice aged, authentic, and historical feel to the story told.

A series about which Mark and I agree is Charlie Stross’s Laundry Files and Mark jumped into the latest book in the series, The Fuller Memorandum, and gave his thoughts:

… For those who are not aware, Bob’s an IT technician who over the length of the series has become a bit more than your usual computer fixer-upper. By Book 3 he’s married to Mo (Doctor Domanique O’Brien, if you like) and a key operative under the stern, watchful eye of his mentor, Angleton.
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After dealing with Nazis and megalomaniacs in previous tales (not to mention concrete cows in Milton Keynes) this time Bob’s involved with the Russians. As a result, we’re dealt secret London Underground Tube stations, equally labyrinthine corridors of bureaucracy, administrative red tape galore, zombie servants (though they’re called Residual Human Resources here), a great dollop of the Laundry’s past history and a wealth of deliberately silly codenames, from TEAPOT to CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN. It’s not just codenames - the ubiquitous iPhone gets a look in too, albeit renamed the JesusPhone, obviously for its arrival being seen as the Second Coming.

Lastly, Mark reviewed what he think isn’t just “yet another vampire novel,” The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan:

… In this season of vampires, there’s a lot to choose from. From the Twilight series to Anita Blake, from Justin Cronin’s The Passage to.... well, this would be a pretty good alternative.

The tale hits the ground running with the arrival of Flight 753 in New York. All seems well, but on landing the plane suddenly goes dark. Covert observations show dead passengers sat in their seats with no signs of stress or trauma. There are seemingly no survivors, neither passengers or crew.
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This is a fast paced blockbuster of a novel that starts fast and maintains the pace pretty much throughout. Unsurprisingly perhaps, Guillermo (director of Pan’s Labyrinth, Chronos and Hellboy I and II) brings a dynamic filmic quality to the book, though this is more than a bloated film script.

Stross, Banks, & Sturges - Review and Thoughts

Charles Stross is one of the more prolific writers, releasing a book or two a year in each of the different series he writes, or stand-alones like Saturn’s Children. The latest wide release for Mr. Stross is The Jennifer Morgue, the review of which I posted yesterday. Mixing James Bond and Cthulhu pastiche, the book was a lot of fun, here’s part of my review:

Part of the fun of this book is reveling in the clichés Stross himself pokes fun at and uses to tell the story. Much of the early spy plot mirrors Casino Royale in that Bob Howard finds himself in a casino gambling at high stakes. However, whereas Bond is smooth, debonair, and a single ladies-man, Howard is awkward, romantically linked and can’t gamble worth a lick. When he meets up with his partner Romana, a drop-dead gorgeous American counterpart, the Bond parallels only continue, but this is where the Lovecraftian/Cthulhu elements really take hold. It turns out the titular JENNIFER MORGUE is something of a lodestone between our world and the world of the DEEP SEVEN, beings who mirror Lovecrafts Old Ones. When billionaire Ellis Billington, who does have cat much like Blofeld, hatches a plot to take the MORGUE for his own purpose, the Bond elements are in full effect.

While I’ve read, and for the most part enjoyed, some of Stross’s other fiction (Singularity Sky; Saturn’s Children; Missile Gap) this is the most over-the-top and readable book I’ve read by him. I also get the sense that Stross had a great deal of fun putting Bob Howard through the proverbial wringer in this story. The humour abounds, and one of the most entertaining aspects of the story is the use of footnotes throughout the novel that either provide additional narrative insight from Howard or provide “facts” about the world in which the story takes place.

The two books I’m reading at the moment, Consider Phlebas and Midwinter, are hitting some of the same thematic notes. Granted the Banks novel takes place in the deep reaches of space and involves strange aliens who can shift their shapes and the Sturges novel takes place in a Faerie-land with elves and talking horses…well right there you’ve got a similarity of Other places. But also, both novels can be consider capers or heist stories. I hadn’t even planned to be reading them simultaneously, so I find it kind of cool how they both work on that level. Regardless, I like both of them quite a bit so far.

Books in the Mail (W/E 12/20/2008)

It’s Sunday, so you know what that mean’s here at the Blog o’ Stuff. I tell you, my millions…and millions, of readers the books I received for review the prior week. I of course can’t read all of them, but I don’t want to ignore them either. For shits and giggles, I’ll run a poll for the week - Which of these books is Rob least likely to read?

Mean Streets four novellas by Jim Butcher, Simon R. Green, Kat Richardson, and Thomas E. Sniegoski (Roc , Trade Paperback 01/06/2009) – Butcher’s story is (surprise, surprise) a Harry Dresden story, Green’s is a Nightside novella featuring John Taylor, Richardson’s is a Harper Blaine/Greywalker story and Sniegoski’s novella features Remy Chandler. All in all, it looks a solid collection of Roc’s top Urban Fantasy authors. I've read one and this contains the first of two Green stories in what I received this week.

Airs of Night and Sea (The Horsemistress Saga #3 novel) by Toby Bishop (Ace, Mass Market Paperback 12/30/2008) – This is the third book in a trilogy about women who ride flying horses. Driven by insane jealousy, Duke William is determined to found his own flying school, where the valuable flying horses of Oc will learn to bond with well-born young men-instead of arrogant women. Now, Larkyn Hamley and her beloved Black Seraph must gather all of their allies from the air to the ground. For if they do not soar now, none will ever see the skies again.

Regenesis by CJ Cherryh (DAW, Hardcover 01/06/2009) – This is a sequel to her Hugo-award winning Downbelow Station and Cyteen. I read Downbelow Station when it was the SFFWorld Science Fiction Book Club Selection back in September 2006 and it left me feeling rather meh and nonplussed. It is a genre classic and no doubt a great many people are looking forward to Regenesis



Just Another Judgement Day (The Tenth Novel of the Nightside) by Simon R. Green (Ace, Hardcover 01/06/2009) – Green is an extremely prolific author who goes between several subgenres of Speculative Fiction. The Nightside novels are his take on the ever-growing Urban Fantasy subgenre and since this is the 10th, he’s obviously doing something right. I tried one of his Deathstalker novels years ago and felt neither here nor there about it, but have wanted to give his writing another try so this seems a good book with which to go.



In Shade and Shadow (The Tenth A Novel of the Noble Dead) by Barb and JC Hendee (Roc, Hardcover 01/06/2009) –I’ve been curious about the Noble Dead for a while and this may be an opportunity to give the series a try, since this book in particular is the first of second series in this world. Considering the series began as mass market paperback originals (like E.E. Knights terrific Vampire Earth saga and Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, so things seem to be going well for the Hendees. Here’s the snippet:
After escaping the castle of ancient vampires with Magiere and Leesil, Wynn Hygeorht has returned to Calm Seatt, home of the Guild of Sagecraft, bearing texts supposedly penned by vampires from the time of the Forgotten History and the Great War. Her superiors seize both the ancient texts and her personal journals, dismissing her tales of the undead as delusional fancies.

But the guild's scholars have not dismissed the texts. Without Wynn's consent, they begin sending the texts out to scriptoriums for copying. Then one night several pages disappear — and the two sages charged with conveying these pages are murdered. Suspicious of the Guild, separated from the only friends she fully trusts, and convinced the Noble Dead are responsible for the killings, Wynn embarks on a quest to uncover the secrets of the texts, unaware of her allies from unexpected quarters....


The Stepsister Scheme (Princess Series #1) by Jim C. Hines (DAW Books, Mass Market Paperback January 2009) – After a successful ‘revisionist humorous’ trilogy detailing the exploits of Jig the Goblin, Jim C. Hines turns his pen to the fairytale princess most often associated with the Disney films. Here, the princesses and their life “happily ever after” are given a modern twist as Charlie’s Angels type kick-butt women. I’ve been intending to try his novels for a while and this seems a great spot. Jim runs a great blog / LiveJournal, particularly the now defunct lol cats book cover features and seems an affable and generous writer.


Getting to Know You by David Marusek (Del Rey, Trade Paperback 12/30/2008) – I received the ARC of this back in September and with the publication date ‘round the corner, the final Trade Paperback version arrived. David Marusek has been on my radar since his debut novel, Counting Heads, was released almost two three years ago now, to much acclaim. His short stories have won awards (Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award) and acclaim as well. This collection was originally offered as a limited edition by Subterranean Press last year.

The Vacant Throne (Throne of Amenkor #3) by Joshua Palmatier (DAW Books, Mass Market Paperback January 2009) – Joshua sent me the trilogy two weeks ago and I received the third of the trilogy this past week in paperback from DAW.

The city is on the brink of starvation, and the trading ships sent out to bring back supplies needed to feed the city have disappeared without a trace. Both Varis and Eryn, the former Mistress, are obsessed with a vision they alone share of Amenkor invaded by an unknown enemy, the harbor watchtowers destroyed, wrecked ships sinking in waters stained red with blood, even as the city itself is engulfed in flames. . . .

Then their vision comes true, and, forced to draw on all of Amenkor's remaining resources, both ordinary and magical, Varis must fight a desperate battle for the city's survival against these ruthless invaders known as the Chorl. But victory is not without its price. And perhaps that price is too high, as the very heart and soul of Amenkor's power, the Skewed Throne, is irrevocably damaged--totally drained of the magic, knowledge, life force, and memories of previous rulers.

The city's last hope lies with its sometime ally, the city of Venitte, rumored to be home to the only throne that is twin in power to Amenkor's, the two created at the same time by a magical working which no one can now duplicate.

The Vampire Agent (A The Annals of Alchemy and Blood #2 novel) by Patricia Rosemoor and Marc Paoletti (Del Rey , Mass Market Paperback 12/30/2008) – On the sultry streets of New Orleans, Captain Scott Boulder and Leah Maguire are about to begin a deadly mission. The traumatized, genetically altered subjects of a Department of Defense experiment gone wrong have escaped, among them Rachel Ackart, a beautiful, seductive, and powerful woman–who is now under the dangerous influence of Andre Espinoza de Madrid, a vampire of incomparable evil and power.

Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor by Matthew Stover (Del Rey, Hardcover December 30, 2008) – Any year with oneMatthew Stover is cause for reading celebration; a year with two Stover novels is just awesome. His Star Wars novels are the cream of the crop, and his novelization of Episode III is head and shoulders above the film itself. This is Stover’s crack at the original heroes (Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Lando) with the story set shortly after Return of the Jedi. Clearly, this will be put atop the “To Be Read” pile.

Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader are dead. The Empire has been toppled by the triumphant Rebel Alliance, and the New Republic is ascendant. But the struggle against the dark side and the Sith order is not over. Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, and their faithful comrades have had little time to savor victory before being called on to defend the newly liberated galaxy.

Powerful remnants of the vanquished Empire, hungry for retaliation, are still at large, committing acts of piracy, terrorism, and wholesale slaughter against the worlds of the fledgling Republic. The most deadly of these, a ruthless legion of black-armored stormtroopers, do the brutal bidding of the newly risen warlord Shadowspawn. Striking from a strategically advantageous base at the planet Mindor, they are waging campaigns of plunder and destruction, demolishing order and security across the galaxy—and breeding fears of an Imperial resurgence. And another reign of darkness beneath the boot-heel of Sith despotism is something General Luke Skywalker cannot and will not risk.

Mobilizing the ace fighters of Rogue Squadron—along with the trusty Chewbacca, Threepio, and Artoo-Detoo—Luke, Han, and Leia set out to take the battle to the enemy at the site of its stronghold, and neutralize the threat before it's too late. But their imminent onslaught against Mindor will be playing directly into the hands of their cunning new adversary. Lord Shadowspawn is no freshly anointed Sith Chieftain, but in fact a vicious former Imperial Intelligence officer—and Prophet of the Dark Side. The Emperor's death has paved the way for Shadowspawn's return from exile in the Outer Rim; and mastery of ancient Sith knowledge and modern technology has given him the capability to mount the ultimate power play for galaxy-wide dominion. Dark prophecy has foretold that only one obstacle stands in his way, and he is ready—even eager—for the confrontation.

All the classic heroes, all the explosive action and adventure, all the unparalleled excitement of Star Wars come breathlessly alive here, as the further adventures of Luke Skywalker continue.

Eclipse Two edited by Jonathan Strahan (Night Shade Books , Trade Paperback December 2008) – I thought (Eclipse One) was a strong collection. When the TOC for this volume was announced it caused a considerable stir and a great deal of undue ire aimed at Jonathan Strahan. Regardless of that, new stories from Jeff Ford, Alastair Reynolds, Ted Chiang, and Margo Lanagan are always good things.

Here’s the TOC:

Introduction - Jonathan Strahan
The Hero - Karl Schroeder
Turing's Apples - Stephen Baxter
Invisible Empire of Ascending Light - Ken Scholes
Michael Laurits is: Drowning - Paul Cornell
Night of the Firstlings - Margo Lanagan
Elevator - Nancy Kress
The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm - Daryl Gregory
Exhalation - Ted Chiang
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom - David Moles
The Rabbi's Hobby - Peter S. Beagle
The Seventh Expression of the Robot General - Jeffrey Ford
Skin Deep - Richard Parks
Ex Cathedra - Tony Daniel
Truth Window: A Tale of the Bedlam Rose - Terry Dowling
Fury - Alastair Reynolds


The Jennifer Morgue (Book Two of the Laundry Series) by Charles Stross (Ace, Trade Paperback 01/06/2009) – This I’ve a handful of stuff by Stross, most recently (Saturn’s Children) but have yet to read any of these stories which sound like a really cool marriage of James Bond and Cthulu.

When he's not trying to save the world from unearthly horrors, Bob Howard — an agent for the British supersecret organization known simply as The Laundry — has time sheets to complete and field liaison meetings to attend. (And don't get Bob started on how much he despises corporate PowerPoint presentations!)

In The Jennifer Morgue, Lovecraft meets Ian Fleming in this highly anticipated new "Bob Howard" adventure from Charles Stross, author of the 2005 Hugo Award-winning novella "The Concrete Jungle."

In 1975, the CIA made an ill-fated attempt to raise a sunken Soviet ballistic missile submarine from the depths of the Pacific Ocean. At least, "ill-fated" was the information leaked to the press. In reality, the team salvaged a device, codenamed "Gravedust," that permitted communication with the dead — the very long dead. Enter Ellis Billington, glamorous software billionaire, who has acquired Gravedust by devious means. Billington plans to raise an eldritch horror, codenamed "Jennifer Morgue," from the vasty deeps, and communicate with this dead warrior for the purpose of ruling the world. Worse still, he's prepared occult defenses that can only be penetrated by one agent walking a perilous path.

But James Bond doesn't work for the Laundry. Instead, they send Bob Howard, geekish demonology hacker extraordinaire. Bob must inveigle his way aboard Billington's yacht, figure out what the villain is up to, and stop him. But there's a fly in Bob's ointment by the name of Ramona Random — a lethal but beautiful agent for the Black Chamber, the U.S. counterpart to The Laundry. Billington's yacht is docked in the Caribbean, and Her Majesty's Government is not allowed to operate in this area without an American minder. The Black Chamber has sent Ramona to ride shotgun on Bob, but Ramona has her own agenda that conflicts with her employer's . . .

Bob and Ramona become entangled (literally), and are then captured by Billington and used to further his insidious plot. But let's not forget Bob's significant other, Dr. Dominique "Mo" O'Brien, also an agent of The Laundry, who has been trained especially for this mission. Can these intrepid agents stop Billington from raising the dead horror and thus save the world from total domination? The Jennifer Morgue takes the reader on a wild adventure through the worlds of Lovecraft and Ian Fleming, non-Euclidian mathematics and computer hackerdom — sort of like Austin Powers, only more squamous and rugose — with fast cars and faster women.

In addition to the novel-length The Jennifer Morgue, this volume also includes an added bonus story, Pimpf, featuring agent Bob Howard in the world of virtual gaming, along with a thought-provoking Afterword entitled The Golden Age of Spying.

Beyond the Shadows (The Night Angel Trilogy #3) by Brent Weeks (Orbit, Mass Market Paperback December 2008) – I read the first two (The Way of Shadows and Shadow’s Edge) last month and really enjoyed them, so I’m really looking forward to this novel. This series and author is also drawing quite a bit of positive attention in the SFFWorld forums. I think Weeks might be the most impressive fantasy writer to emerge in 2008 and if this final volume lives up to the promise of the first two, then that might becomes will.

This Is Not A Game by Walter Jon Williams (Orbit, Hardcover March 24, 2009) – Williams is a terrific and smart writer; I enjoyed the novel he published with NightShade Books earlier this year, Implied Spaces. Here’s the synopsis::
This Is Not a Game is a novel built around the coolest phenomenon in the world.

That phenomenon is known as the Alternate Reality Game, or ARG. It's big, and it's getting bigger. It's immersive and massively interactive, and it's spreading through the Internet at the speed of light.

To the player, the Alternate Reality Game has no boundaries. You can be standing in a parking lot, or a shopping center. A pay phone near you will ring, and on the other end will be someone demanding information.

You'd better have the information handy.

ARGs combine video, text adventure, radio plays, audio, animation, improvisational theater, graphics, and story into an immersive experience.

Now, one of science fiction's most acclaimed writers, Walter Jon Williams, brings this extraordinary phenomenon to life in a pulse-pounding thriller. This is not a game. This is a novel that will blow your mind.

Steel Saturn

Two reviews went up today, Richard Morgan’s The Steel Remains and Charles Stross’s Saturn’s Children. On one hand, you might say two very different books one is Sword & Sorcery/Epic Fantasy the other is Space Opera. On the other, over the course of the narrative in both novels, gender roles are examined and both books are quite graphic. Saturn’s Children published in July from Ace and The Steel Remains in August from Gollancz in the UK and will be publishing early 2009 from Del Rey. I realize I may be the last of my kind (online reviewer/blogger) to tackle The Steel Remains, but whatever.

Here’s a snippet of my review of Saturn’s Children:

Freya constantly references her One True Love bringing focus back onto what her, and all of her kind’s, purpose in the galaxy is. Stross characterizes her enough to make her seem human, until she ponders removing an arm and a leg in order to secure safe passage in the galaxy.
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So, then, Stross provides ample rumination for identity in the future and how circumstances lead to identity. Freya’s jumbled identity isn’t the only one up for debate; she is blocked at several points along her journey and it’s rarely clear just who is employing her and who is trying to stop her. In many senses, this element of the novel lent a heist-like feel to the story.

Here’s some from The Steel Remains:

Like many a fantasy novel, one of the main themes hanging over the heads of the characters is war. However, Morgan doesn’t focus on war itself as much as the specter of a past war and the threat of a potential war. In the protagonist Ringil Eskiath (Gil), Morgan captured an air of embittered veteran. Ringil is called home by his mother to search for his missing cousin Shering, rumored to have been sold into slavery. Ringil brings with him an enchanted sword, Ravensfriend, with the magical ability to can through anything. Unfortunately, Ringil’s father and people from his town are dead set against his quest to save his cousin. Adding fuel to the fire is the disdain Ringil’s father holds over his son; despite Ringil being an honored war veteran, dad still can’t look past Ringil’s homosexuality. Clearly, Ringil is a complex character who has quite a lot baggage, straddles many lines, and ultimately, comes across as rather genuine.

Books in the Mail (W/E 7/05)

Destroyermen I: Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson – Pressed into service when World War II breaks out in the Pacific, the USS Walker—a Great-War vintage “four-stacker” destroyer—finds itself in full retreat from pursuit by Japanese battleships. Its captain, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Patrick Reddy, knows that he and his crew are in dire straits. In desperation, he heads Walker into a squall, hoping it will give them cover—and emerges somewhere else.

Familiar landmarks appear, but the water teems with monstrous, vicious fish. And there appear to be dinosaurs grazing on the plains of Bali. Gradually Matt and his crew must accept the fact that they are in an alternate world—and they are not alone. Humans have not evolved, but two other species have. And they are at war.

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

Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross – Sometime in the twenty-third century, humanity went extinct—leaving only androids behind. Freya Nakamichi 47 is a femmebot, one of the last of her kind still functioning. With no humans left to pay for the pleasures she provides, she agrees to transport a mysterious package from Mercury to Mars. Unfortunately for Freya, she has just made herself a moving target for some very powerful, very determined humanoids who will stop at nothing to possess the contents of the package.