SFFWorld/SF Signal Link-Dump Friday (Decker, Carey, Ashura)

Over the last couple of weeks, I've had a few things posted on SFFWorld and SF Signal.  Last week, my review of James K. Decker's Fallout, an excellent follow-up to his superb The Burn Zone.  Fallout successfully builds on its predecessor and makes me want to read more about these characters and the world:

So, what can a review offer when holding back on a lot of the plot description? Well, I can say that Fallout is an excellent follow-up to what I thought was one of the more enjoyable (and surprising because of the comparably small fanfare prior to the release of the novel) SF novels I read in 2013. Decker takes everything he did previously and turns it up to eleven. Seeing the world through Sam’s eyes is not a pretty thing, society seems on the fringe of survival, the future is an unclean world, and trust is something she has little spare change for in her wallet. Her ‘father’ Dragan has taken up with a woman whom Sam distrusts and dislikes. Sam’s trying to strike a balance with Vamp; Sam knows he has romantic feelings for her but she’s afraid to let him get too close.

...

Although the novel is set primarily in Hangfei, in taking the story to that theoretical 11, Decker expands the conflict and issue of the Haan to a global scale. Nations outside of China are mentioned as problematic, particularly America. Implications are not only relegated to Hangfei in China, elevating Sam’s plight and actions above a personal issue.

Over at SF Signal, my latest Completist column was published featuring a novel split into two books for publishing purposes.  A haunting, dark, and beautiful tragedy, Jacqueline Carey's The Sundering:

The Sundering Duology (Banewreaker and Godslayer) tells the story of the powers of the “dark” struggling against the powers of “light.” A bright force loved by many, with a dark enemy many look upon as the epitome of evil. Prophecy, elves, an ancient powerful wizard, a youthful bearer of a powerful object, and a dark army of ogres may sound familiar, but that is the beauty of what Ms. Carey is laying out in this novel — familiarity laced with something new. Indeed, this is the essence of much of the best High/Epic Fantasy today, readers know the generalities of the territory in which they tread, it is the magical spin with which the author presents the story that can make the story/novel rise above its peers. The Sundering definitely rises above its peers. On the surface, The Sundering seems, and only on the thin surface, another Tolkien-inspired saga of Good versus Evil, or rather Evil vs. Good.

...

The Sundering is very much a tragedy, especially considering the protagonist is a “villain” and this is essentially told through the Lord of the Rings framework. That said, the prose and writing is elegant, and an experience I did not want to cease. Her ability at creating real characters is excellent. This novel, with the dark cloud of war driven by motivations muddied with changing points of view, resonates with today’s world.

Nila reviewed Davis Ashura's debut novel A Warrior’s Path – Book One: The Castes and the Out Castes,. (David has been hanging around the SFFWorld forums for a few years under the Radone moniker):

Mr. Davis Ashura’s debut novel, A Warrior’s Path – Book One: The Castes and the Out Castes, is told from the point of view of several characters. The first we are introduced to is Rukh Shekton and his cousins out on their first, their virgin, mission across the monster-ridden spaces between protected cities. Their caravan is about to be attacked by those monsters, the Chimera, creatures cobbled together from different parts of other animals by an insane god, Suwraith. The troop, hundreds strong, prepare to outrun the Chimeras. They discard their wagons and any gear not necessary for survival. Scouts are dispatched and a small contingent sent back to Asoka (their destination) to relay events.

...

I picked up and put down this book several times, intending not to continue reading it. Once I got past the first few sections, I’d been inundated with so much backstory and world-building, I simply kept reading because I invested so much energy trying to keep all the names straight, I thought I owed it to myself to just keep trying.

I’m glad I did.

Mark and I helped to host a part of Brandon Sanderson's UK blog tour and Den Patrick made a stop to tell SFFWorld about the world of his new novel, The Boy with the Porcelain Blade.

Also at SF Signal, Patrick Hester did a podcast interview with Jeff VanderMeer about his new Southern Reach Trilogy, which is getting a staggered release throughout 2014 and Paul Weimer reviewed the kickstarted Kaiju Rising anthology edited by Nick Sharps and Tim Marquitz (which I backed).

SFFWorld/SF Signal Weekly-ish Wrap Up: David Anthony Durham and Elizabeth Moon

Earlier this week, Tuesday to be specific, I posted my first review to SFFWorld in a few weeks, David Anthony Durham's The Other Lands. This is the second installment of his superb Acacia Trilogy and after finishing the third and final book recently, stands quite high in my echelon of Fantasy series.

A prologue illustrates the horrors of the Quota – the pogrom in which children are stolen and used either as slaves and/or their life force is sapped to power the boats, machines, and indeed the lives of the Lothan Aklun, one of the nations in the world. This prologue shows a glimpse of the despair and horrors of slave life and how in an instant, a brother and sister can be torn apart.

...

In each of the first two novels in this series, the incoming leader has goals of ridding the world of the Quota, of slaves, before ascending the throne. A throne, mind you, that both times was gained through violence and the death of the previous throne’s sitter. Hanish Mein wanted to abolish the Quota, but realized how powerful a tool it was to making the world turn. Removing such a foundation proves more difficult than idealistic minds anticipate. Haunting the novel is the specter of Aliver, Corinn’s older brother who was the rightful king of Acacia. His proclamation to rid the Known World of slavery and the mist (an addictive drug used by the ruling class to keep the great unwashed populace in check) is seen by his now ruling sister as a childish dream. While the mist’s hold over the populace was broken thanks to the sorcerous events of the first novel, the Quota is still an unchangeable thing. Corinn seems to embrace the Quota and goes to great lengths to create a new tool to control the populace in the same fashion the mist was used in the past. Rather than an addictive mist, she charges her alchemists to create a wine – the Vintage – which will bring all the people who consume it fully under her sway.

Over at SF Signal, my latest completest column is up and features the seminal Military Fantasy trilogy by Elizabeth Moon - The Deed of Paksenarrion.

One of the strongest elements of this trilogy was how that Moon chose to tell the story of Paks, not as the Hidden Heir Chosen to Rule, but rather she who finds the Hidden Heir Chosen to Rule. I liked nearly everything about the three books contained in the big grey/blue book published by Baen. What’s more impressive is that these three books are the first three published by Elizabeth Moon. I think she developed the character of Paks very well throughout the novels and the world came across as quite real, especially because of the solid and believable groundwork she laid down in the first novel Sheepfarmer’s Daughter. If you want readers to believe in the fantastic elements (elves, magic, etc.) the real elements must be authentic and true, it seems Elizabeth Moon takes that statement to heart. I’ve also seen the criticism leveled ad Paks that she’s too perfect, but a lot of her gains and successes are through hard-earned work and some suffering, she gives up part of herself in service to her goals and what she hopes to achieve, especially by trilogy’s end so it isn’t as if she just picks up a magical sword and becomes the greatest sword-wielder the world has ever seen.

Also at SFFWorld, Mark reviewed the latest massive tome edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer, The Time Traveler's Almanac.

It is difficult to summarize such a tome, and it would perhaps be wrong of me to try. However, like the previous Vandermeer collection, I found old personal favourites (Ray Bradbury, HG Wells, Asimov, Kuttner and Moore, Connie Willis) as well as ones totally new to me (Vandana Singh, Dean Francis Alfar, Rosaleen Love, Karen Haber, Rjurik Davidson). I found stories from authors I liked, but hadn’t read (George RR Martin, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Kim Newman, Eric Frank Russell) and stories I know others will like but left me cold (Ursula K leGuin, Adam Roberts). There are some old ones (Edward Page Mitchell’s The Clock that went Backward, 1881, regarded here as one of the earliest time-travel tales, Max Beerbohn’s Enoch Soames, 1916, EF Benson’s In the Tube 1923), and some relatively new ones (John Chu’s Thirty Seconds from Now, 2011, Adrian Tchaikovsky’s The Mouse Ran Down, 2012). There were some that I forgot nearly as soon as I had finished reading them, even some I disliked. But that is the nature of such an eclectic assemblage: if you don’t like one, there’ll be another along in a minute that you probably will.

New York Comic-Con 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VanderMeers, Weber, and Howard Reviewed at SFFWorld

This is the first Tuesday in December (also St. Nicholas Day), but that won’t stop the reviews!! Two more reviews were posted to SFFWorld this past week, one from me and one from Mark.

As a follow-on to his interview with the Vandermeers Mark posted his review of the landmark tome The Weird currently available in the UK via Corvus and available next year via Tor (YAY!):

Where this collection really scores is that there is a lot here even the experienced expert will find new. Many of the tales have been translated from other languages, especially for this edition, and so were new to me. Authors I have heard of (Belgium’s Jean Rey, for example) I was now reading for the first time. There’s Kafka and Borges here, but new to me were France’s Michel Bernanos, Spain’s Merce Rodreda, Italy’s Dino Buzzati and Japan’s Ryunosuke Akyutagawa. What this confirmed to me was that there is an amazing world of the Fantastic beyond the English prose.

…

I haven’t even tried to review the tales in depth here. I was pleased to read some old favourites but was more pleased to read stories I’d never heard of before. Consequently there was a joy in just not knowing where a story was going to lead.
There is enough here for everyone. It is awesomely weird. There are stories of drama, of fantastic mythology, of creepiness and unease, of tales in the past and ones that might just be happening now.

Last week I posted my review of the latest installment of David Weber’s Safehold saga. I nearly forgot I had a review of the first book, Off Armageddon Reef sitting in my files (in an incorrect folder) for a couple of years, so now is as good a time as any to post the review. This is the novel that really hooked me into the series (obviously) and started me on my path to becoming a fan of Weber as a whole. For my money, this is one of the stronger opening volumes on the shelves.

The novel begins in the 25th Century, during the twilight of human civilization on Earth. Although humanity has expanded beyond the confines of the Solar System, the alien Gbaba have nearly exterminated humanity in a galactic war that has lasted decades. In a last ditch effort to keep humanity alive, a great space Ark is constructed to transport humanity thousands of light years away to the planet that comes be known as Safehold, far beyond the reach of the Gbaba. With most of humanity eradicated by the Gbaba, only the highest ranking military leaders commandeer this mission. One of the sacrifices; however, is that in order to survive, the remaining survivors are implanted with false memories. These memories wipe away the knowledge of the Gbaba, advanced science and mathematics, bringing the level of technology to the age of sail. You see, the Gbaba are able to detect radio waves and other aspects of technological growth as civilizations approach the space faring technology and have wiped out civilizations in the past.

…

Clearly, Weber has big things planned for this novel, and this epic series. The story then jumps 800 years as society has come to know that God created them and placed them on Safehold 800 years ago. The story is joined at this 800 years later juncture as Shan-wei’s counter-plan takes form – he implanted the memories, perhaps even the soul, of one of his people (a young woman named Nimue) into a program that would awaken to help return humanity’s freedom of thought and knowledge of the past to the people of Safehold. As the personality of Nimue slowly reawakens and comes to learn about human history on Safehold over the prior 800 years, she realizes that because of the theocracy that has been established, her best bet at fitting in and having an effect on the people is to be a man, so she adopts the name Merlin.

The mighty-thewed barbarian continues to see his tales being reprinted in the UK in what look to be very nice editions. As such, Mark reviewed the second repackaging entitled Conan the Berserker:

And so to Conan: the Midlife Crisis, in the second volume of this re-released series, publishing the original Conan tales in chronological order. The first of the three volumes, Conan the Destroyer, was reviewed HERE, with Volume Three, Conan the Indomitable, to follow. Here Conan is at his most vibrant, less the inexperienced youth of the earlier tales and not yet the grimmer, more sombre King of Aquilonia in the later tales.

…
This will make many fans happy: both tales are regarded as classic Conan. People of the Black Circle is often regarded as one of the best Conan tales, a story of the countries of Vendhya and Ghulistan (though we would perhaps call them India and Afghanistan respectively today). It is, at its heart, a revenge tale, the tale of Devi Yashmana who seeks revenge for the death of her brother, Bunda Chand, the King of Vendhya. Conan kidnaps the Devi, intending to use her as hostage in return for seven of his men. Together Conan and the Devi create a grudging alliance. Conan wants his men back, Devi wants to kill the Black Seers of Yimsha. We later discover Kerim Shah, a secret agent who killed Bunda on the orders of King Yezdigerd of Turan.

VanerderMeers Interviewed and Emily Gee Reviewed at SFFWorld,

I’ll lead all my faithful readers into the weekend with excerpts/links to a couple of goodies recently posted to SFFWorld.

Mark interviewed Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, editors what could be considered a landmark tome: The Weird currently available in the UK via Corvus and available next year via Tor (YAY!), as well as the companion Web site: Weird Fiction Review.




They are sort of the power couple of Fantastic/Weird Literature as of late, Ann having edited Weird Tales, Jeff writing some terrifically imaginative novels (City of Saints and Madmen, Veniss Underground, and Shriek), and the two of them collaborating the Thackery T. Lambshead books.

Here's an excerpt of the interview:

Of the many tales you include, which are your personal favourites and why?

Ann: It’s difficult to pick favourites; in some ways I wish this book could have been twice the size! One story that I keep coming back to is Jerome Bixby’s “It’s A Good Life.” This story was made into one of my all-time favourite Twilight Zone episodes, which was a major influence on my early leanings towards weird fiction. I read this story for the first time in preparation for this anthology and was totally blown away. Keep in mind I know this story backwards and forwards – no surprises here, however, reading the story still gave me the major creeps. And just talking about it now is bringing that creepy feeling straight back to me.

Jeff: That’s so tough...Just being able to include work by Julio Cortazar, Angela Carter, Ben Okri, Shirley Jackson, and Jorge Luis Borges, for example—those were all my heroes growing up and huge influences on me as a writer. So being able to reprint their stories is almost overwhelming. In terms of individual stories, I love some of the more out there stuff like Eric Basso’s “The Beak Doctor”. But I am also a huge fan of Aickman, and I still find his “The Hospice” one of the strangest and at times absurdly funny tales of the supernatural ever written. The Michel Bernanos is one of the greatest weird tales ever written. I also loved that George R.R. Martin’s “Sandkings” held up to a re-reading. Then there are the stories you don’t appreciate until you revisit them. Like Kelly Link’s “The Specialist’s Hat,” which I love now. Murakami’s “The Ice Man” is a great story. Steve Duffy’s “The Lion’s Den.” I could go on and on. It’s so difficult to choose.

Kathryn (aka Loewryn) reviewed the first book in new series (The Cursed Kingdoms Trilogy) by Emily Gee: The Sentinal Mage.

The story is told to us through a moderate number of characters. The larger chapters revolve around Innis, Prince Harkeld and Justen, the prince's armsman, who is one of the shapeshifting mages in disguise. Harkeld's sister, Princess Brigitta or Britta as she is known by those close to her, is used to tell us a little about the politics of the land whilst Jaumé, a small boy, is our link to those directly affected by the spreading curse. These four main points of view compliment each other well and give us some insight into the world and its people. Jaumé and Brigitta elicit a lot of sympathy from the reader, the former for losing his family in a bloodbath at the age of eight, and the latter for being forced into a marriage with an overweight, sweaty man who rapes her multiple times a day. Together, these characters give us the means to view this world and the desperation of its people, but also the sheer amount of devastation that will fall upon the Seven Kingdoms if the curse is not broken.

…

Gee deals with a lot of themes in this book, and she does it well. Most prominent of all is the shapeshifting magic used by Innis, and how it affects her. Mages are forbidden from taking the form of other humans, but they also run the risk of madness if they hold forms for too long. I also thought that the way mages are seen was well done, as they were discriminated against in ways that are eerily reminiscent of techniques used in our past to demonise those perceived as different. There's use of derogatory terms such as witches, but also of stories and rumours that serve to represent the mages as subhuman, an example being the rumour that they engage in physical relations with animals. The third theme Gee explores is that of forced or arranged marriages, and how they affect those directly involved, but also those around the marriage.

Elizabeth Moon & SFFWorld

Over the course of the past near-decade at SFFWorld, particularly in my role as moderator/administrator of the SFFWorld forums, I’ve seen a fair number of published authors participate. It always pretty neat

James Barclay (author of the awesome Raven series of books, the first trilogy of which recently hit US shores thanks to Pyr is a regular participant and moderator, R.A. Salvatore was participating for a while, Jim Butcher dropped in once, Jeff VanderMeer stopped by during our Book Club discussion of Veniss Underground, and perhaps most recently Brandon Sanderson (posting as EUOL).

Heck, we host official author forums for R. Scott Bakker, Alison Croggon, Gary Wassner, Kevin Radthorne, and Matthew Stover

This all brings me to the latest top-name author to become a member of SFFWorld forums, Elizabeth Moon. Mrs. Moon has gone full gusto since joining, providing some great writing advice and discussing both her SF work and her Paksenarrion saga with our members, as well as Science Fiction in general.

She’s got a major release coming out early 2010, the next of her Paksenarrion saga, Oath of Fealty.


In addition, she’s written some popular and acclaimed Science Fiction:
Vatta’s War, Serrano Legacy and the Nebula Award winning Speed of the Dark



So, after reading some of her posts and interacting with Mrs. Moon, I'm very inclined to jump into some of the books she's written. I will likely start with Oath of Fealty, an ARC of which I received a few of weeks ago, and hope to get the omnibus of The Deed of Paksenarrion for Christmas, then I might jump into some of the Heris Serrano books.

Friday Review - Other Earths edited by Gevers & Lake

With a backlog of unposted reviews, I figured I’d post one before the weekend starts. Other Earths edited by Nick Gevers and Jay Lake is impressive with good stories by Gene Wolfe (Donovan Sent Us), Robert Charles Wilson (This Peaceable Land, or, The Unbearable Vision of Harriet Beecher Stowe), and Stephen Baxter (The Unblinking Eye) among others.

Podcasts

I’ve recently begun listening to podcasts on my iPod, pretty much downloading a new podcast every day. Granted, one of those podcasts is of a daily radio show out of Philadelphia – The Preston and Steve Show so there’s something new every day, but I usually throw something else into the mix. Unsurprisingly, that ‘something else’ is more often than not, a genre podcast. Unfortunately by the time I discovered Adventures in SciFi Publishing, creator Shaun Farrell placed the podcast on hiatus.

Another very good podcast I’ve been following is The Dragon Page Cover to Cover which is led by Michael R. Mennega and Michael Stackpole.

I just started listening to Scott Sigler’s Infected, which he released as a free audiobook through iTunes. I recall a very humorous brew-ha-ha over on Jeff VanderMeer’s Ecstatic Days blog when Infected was published in hardcover.

I know I’m a little behind the curve with listening to podcasts, but I only got my iPod about a year ago, so forgive me.

So, does anybody from my millions…and millions of readers listen to any good podcasts?

Books in the Mail (W/E 10/18/2008)

The theme this week is middle books in series in which I haven’t read previous volumes. Here goes…

Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card (Tor Hardcvover 11/11/2008)– Who hasn’t read Card’s landmark Ender novels? I went through a phase over a couple of years where I was devouring most of Card’s back catalogue zipping through the Enderverse. I made it through a few of the Bean sequels before stopping. I liked Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead very much and they still stand pretty high in my mind. Of course many people will say Card is milking the Ender franchise for everything he can. Either way, this will be interesting to read to see how I’ve changed as a reader since reading those books.


The Black Ship (A Novel of Crosspointe) by Diana Pharaoh Francis (Roc Paperback 11/04/2008) – This is the second book in a series, that on the surface, reminds me a bit of Robin Hobb’s wonderful Liveship Traders trilogy. It doesn’t seem too terribly offputting for those of us who haven’t read the first in the series.

Here’s the brief description: Thorn is a member of the Pilot’s Guild—those who possess the magical ability to navigate Crosspointe’s deadly seas. When a malevolent master within the Guild bans him from the sea, it seems his life is over. Then he is kidnapped and forced to serve aboard the rogue ship Eidolon—pitch black from bow to stern—and Thorn finds himself battling a mad captain, a mutinous crew, and the terrifying magic of the sea.

But there is a saboteur on board, trying to make sure the Eidolon never arrives safely in port. Thorn begins to realize his kidnapping may have been no mere chance— and that the cargo the black ship carries may seal his doom…

The Clone Elite A Clone Army novel by Stephen L. Kent (Ace Paperback 1 1/04/2008) - Another book in an ongoing series that looks accessible to new readers, although Kent warns on his blog to avoid reading descriptions if you haven’t read other books in the series. Specifically, that he cannot tease The Clone Elite without giving away the farm in the all of the prior books. Regardless, I may just jump in mid-series on this one. Here’s the synopsis:

2514 A.D.: An unstoppable alien force is advancing on Earth, wiping out the Unified Authority’s colonies one by one. It’s up to Wayson Harris, an outlawed model of a clone, and his men to make a last stand on the planet of New Copenhagen, where they must win the battle and the war—or lose all.


Watchers Out of Time by H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth (Del Rey Paperback 10/30/2008)– This is another volume in Del Rey’s terrific series of Lovecraft reprints. I read The Horror in the Museum. Like that volume, Watchers Out of Time doesn’t quite have contain Lovecraft penned stories, as most of these are “collaborations” with August Derleth.


Heir to Sevenwaters by Juliet Marilier (Roc Paperback 11/04/2008)– I read her debut novel, and the first of the Sevenwaters saga waaaay back in October 2004 when it was the SFFWorld Fantasy Book Club of the Month and liked it very much. Unfortunately, this series was one of quite a few I really liked at the start, but never finished out. Heir to Sevenwaters seems like it could work well enough for new readers.

The chieftains of Sevenwaters have long been custodians of a vast and mysterious forest. Human and Otherworld dwellers have existed there side by side, sharing a wary trust. Until the spring when Lady Aisling of Sevenwaters finds herself expecting another child—a new heir to Sevenwaters.

Then the family's joy turns to despair when the baby is taken from his room and something...unnatural is left in his place. To reclaim her newborn brother, Clodagh must enter the shadowy Otherworld and confront the powerful prince who rules there.

Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk (Ace Paperback 11/04/2008) - The easy quip here would be to say “…yet another urban fantasy with a sexy-tough heroine…” but this looks pretty interesting with the novel set in the Pacific Northwest, Portland to be specific. This is Monk’s debut novel, although she’s written quite a few short stories. Here’s the blurb

Using magic means it uses you back, and every spell exacts a price from its user. But some people get out of it by Offloading the cost of magic onto an innocent. Then it’s Allison Beckstrom’s job to identify the spell-caster. Allie would rather live a hand-to-mouth existence than accept the family fortune—and the strings that come with it. But when she finds a boy dying from a magical Offload that has her father’s signature all over it, Allie is thrown back into his world of black magic. And the forces she calls on in her quest for the truth will make her capable of things that some will do anything to control...

Going Under (Quantum Gravity Book Three) by Pyr (Trade Paperback 9/29/2008) – I read the first one (Keeping it Real), and Hobbit/Mark read first and second (Selling Out) for SFFWorld. I think he likes them better than I do. The idea was interesting, but I just didn’t connect with the narrative.

Lila Black is off with the faeries . . .

Ever since the Quantum Bomb of 2015 things have been different; the dimensions have fused and suddenly our world is accessible to elves, demons, ghosts and elementals—and their worlds are open to us. Things have been different for Special Agent Lila Black too: tortured and magic-scarred by elves, rebuilt by humans into a half-robot, part-AI, nuclear-fueled walking arsenal, and carrying the essence of a dead elfin necromancer in her chest, sometimes she has trouble figuring out who she is.

The Golden Tower: (Book 2 of the Warriors of Estavia) by Fiona Patton (Daw Hardcover 11/04/2008) - This is the second book in a series where I haven’t read the first:

In Anavatan, the city of the Silver Lake, the Gods manifest themselves on an all-too-regular basis, and it’s hard to survive if you’re not pledged to one of the deities. Now, Brax, Spar, and Graize have discovered their destinies. Grown into their powers, they are about to face off in a confrontation that will spark a war and see the rise of a new player among the Gods themselves


The Flame and the Shadow (Book 1 in the Four-Sided Pentacle series) by Denise Rossetti (Ace Paperback 11/04/2008) - Erotic Fantasy isn't quite like my cup of tea. Four sided pentacle? Sounds weird, but here’s the description:

Some are drawn to the light. Some are drawn to the dark. Some desire both...

Grayson of Concordia, known on countless worlds as the Duke of Ombra, is a mercenary, a sorcerer of shadows—a man whose soul is consumed by darkness. For Gray, the bleak savagery in his heart is manifest in an entity he calls Shad. He has long resisted Shad's enticements, but when he is hired to kidnap a fire witch, he seizes the chance to restore his soul—no matter the cost.

Cenda's heart is ash. Since the death of her precious baby daughter, life has lost all meaning for the fire witch. Slowly, she has worked to master her powers and go on living. But when she encounters Gray, her will is no match for her desire. But her love may not survive the terrible discovery of Gray's betrayal...

Kris Longknife: Intrepid by Mike Shepherd (Ace Mass Market Paperback 11/04/2008) This is the sixth novel in an ongoing military science fiction series that superficially resembles David Weber’s Honor Harrington Novels. Not having read any, I can’t say for sure, so here’s the very brief synopsis:

Kris Longknife has been assigned to The Wasp, the best warship beyond the Rim of Human Space. But while hunting for pirates, Kris stumbles upon something. It’s a plan to kill one of the members of the aristocratic Peterwald family—and the would-be killers are setting her up as the assassin.

Fortune and Fate (A Twelve Houses novel) by Sharon Shinn (Ace Mass Market Paperback 11/04/2008) A new (Standalone?) novel in Shinn’s long-running Twelve Houses saga. Many years ago I read her novel, Archangel and really enjoyed it. Whether I get to this one is a different story. Here’s the synopsis:

A troubled Warrior Rider named Wen faces her greatest challenge in the last place she ever expected: behind the walls of a great family estate known as Fortune, where Wen has been hired to guard the young heiress. Once there, she will find that fate has other plans for her.

Fast Ships, Black Sails by Ann & Jeff Vandermeer (Nightshade Books Trade Paperback October 2008)– I actually submitted a short story to Jeff Vandermeer for this volume, but didn’t make the cut. Regardless, I’m looking forward to reading this one considering the great writers included:

Boojum- Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette
Araminta, or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake - Naomi Novik
Avast, Abaft! - Howard Waldrop
I Begyn as I Mean to Go On - Kage Baker
Castor on Troubled Waters - Rhys Hughes
Elegy for Gabrielle, Patron Saint of Healers, Whores and Righteous Thieves - Kelly Barnhill
Skillet and Saber - Justin Howe
The Nymph's Child - Carrie Vaughn
68˚06'N, 31˚40'W - Conrad Williams
Pirate Solutions - Katherine Sparrow
We Sleep on a Thousand Waves - Brendan Connell
Pirates of the Suara Sea - David Freer & Eric Flint
Voyage of the Iguana - Steve Aylett
Iron Face - Michael Moorcock
A Cold Day in Hell - Paul Batteiger
Captain Blackheart Wentworth - Rachel Swirsky
The Whale Below - Jayme Lynn Blaschke
Beyond the Sea Gate of the Scholar-Pirates of Sarskoe - Garth Nix

Shadows Edge (Night Angel Trilogy #2) by Brent Weeks (Orbit Paperback 11/30/2008) – I finished the first in the trilogy, The Way of Shadows the day before posting this. I really enjoyed it so, are I’ll jump into this one. Early comparisons were to Scott Lynch, but I’m reminded more so of Robin Hobb, at least in the tone. The first book, The Way of Shadows is already generating some pointed discussion at SFFWorld and the blogosphere (Jeff at Fantasy Book News and Review and Pat's Fantasy Hotlist).

Where's Mario?

Fun with camera phone, part I:

As I was preparing to cut the lawn and clean up the leaves, I came across a gigantic mushroom. The shoe in the picture is mine just to give an idea of the size of this thing.

Keep in mind I'm not a small gentleman - I wear a size 12 sneaker.

Makes me wonder what Jeff VanderMeer would think of this fungus. Though this thing certainly isn't a Gray Cap, it still scares me

SPOTLIGHT: The Blog/Review Ranting Meme

For the purposes of this post, I’ll just consider blogging and online reviewing the same kin. Also, there will be many parentheses throughout.

Rather than respond to all the posts in my blogroll about this topic, I decided to continue the meme. This rant may wind up being more to voice my thoughts to myself than anything, though.

All over the genre blogosphere (at least the blogosphere that consists of my sidebar and other haunts) the topic of blog/reviewing has reared its head again. This creature comes out of hiding every few months and this time, the questioning creature has something of a different face – the bloggers themselves are asking these questions, whereas in the past publishers (not exclusively) have been the ones to spark these discussions. Perhaps because of the two new genre blogs (Suvudu and Tor) having recently been launched not to mention the venerable Web sites like SFSite & SF Signal, we (the FSF review/blog community) find ourselves navel gazing again.

About, I don’t know a year ago or something on that order, the blogosphere started to make its presence known in the SFFWorld forums, where a lot of new bloggers thought they could just drop in and get some free publicity and linkage to their blogs without really ingratiating themselves into or becoming part of the community there. Admittedly this put the moderators at SFFWorld in an interesting place, especially me since I have my own blog. The sense of community we’d built at SFFWorld over the past half-decade plus was now (at that point) perceived by the blogging community, by some of us behind-the-scenes folks, as nothing more than a free advertisement forum for these new bloggers. In the time since, I think (and hope) we’ve been able to build and tow a decent line between keeping SFFWorld discussions active the forums themselves while also continuing to foster a good genre community to consider cool for discussion. Essentially, I hope we’ve been able to foster a good community between the SFFWorld forums and the bloggers who visit.

So, where were we? Jonathan McCalmont started it, the returning Gabe continued it, Pat took the relay, and Larry kept the ball rolling. One of the points brought up was how (or if) getting paid for writing these reviews was viable. Getting paid would make it almost like a job, wouldn't it? A lot of us start doing this blogging / reviewing thing in our "personal time" out of our enjoyment of the books we read. This idea of payment could also bring into the validity of the reviews; after all couldn’t we just be seen as paid members of the PR machine – paid to pander to those who pay us to help promote their product? In one sense, we reviewers / bloggers are part of the PR machine, but right now we are basically unpaid independent contractors. What we need is a union!

The publishers, in about the past year, saw the sense of community between the bloggers/ reviewers and started paying attention to us. Granted I’d been receiving review copies for a few years, but the bloggers started receiving them for review on their blogs. Most notably, newer publishers like Pyr and Solaris, but the Del Reys, Roc & Aces, and Tors of the world are there too. It’s a tricksy place we find ourselves in nowadays. There seems to be an almost, I don’t know, over-worked sense to some of the discussions I’m seeing. As people have been posting their daily and weekly hauls of books they receive in the mail (both from publishers and bought on their own, but mostly the free books for review) it seems as if some of us are overwhelmed by our place in the genre community. Or perhaps, I’m speaking solely for myself here. Part of the issue is that (as I’ve said in comments on other blogs and probably here as well) it is impossible to review everything I (or any other blogger/reviewer) receives.

This begs the question posed and intimated in the links above – how does one decide which book to read out of the plethora of choices? Initially it can be pretty easy – Book 4 of a series in which I haven’t read or even own books 1 through 3 get shunted to the pile of unread books. That eliminates about a book a week. I’ve had Richard Morgan’s The Steel Remains on the pile for a few months and I feel it is a book I have to read and review since it seems to be one of “the” books this year. Matt Stover’s next Caine novel, Caine Black Knife arrived recently and that’s a definite. Conversely, if one of the books I receive doesn’t seem to be getting all that much attention around the blogosphere (at least those limited to my sidebar), I’ll try to get that book into the mix. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a media tie in arrived and primarily because I really enjoy the writer, Sean Williams, I’ll be reading/reviewing it. But I wonder what affect, if any, reviews from our portion of the genre community, will have on a book that basically has a built-in audience of Star Wars fans and gamers. (This could be a topic all to itself.) What of a book like The City at the End of Time by Greg Bear? The book sounds like pretty interesting Big Idea novel and I’ve enjoyed much of what I’ve read by Bear, yet there doesn’t seem to be much chatter about the book, so how do I factor that into the decision on whether or not to read the book?

In terms of quantity vs. quality, one Harriet Klausner is enough and the majority of us are self-aware enough of what we don’t want to do in our reviews. As such, we’ve all crafted our own personalities and quirks. In a more snarky sense, McCalmont seems to be contrarian, Adam’s reviews are solid and very balanced, and not a one of us can figure out Pat’s damned number ratings.

I recall Cheryl Morgan’s last postings at Emerald City and her talk of review burn-out. I’ve been posting at least one new book review a week for the majority of this year and much of 2007 and times, more than one review. I know some of the reviews are stronger than others, it’s only natural. I can feel it when I force myself to write some of the reviews both the positive and the negative reviews, and some would say I often lean towards the positive in my reviews. I also don’t want to keep saying the same things over and over again, even if I’m lucky enough to be reading books that often work for me. I’ve also thought about taking a break, if not completely putting and end to this whole reviewer thing. The thing of it is, I love the genre and I really like being a part of it even in my small capacity as reviewer and administrator/moderator at SFFWorld and maintaining this blog. I’m also working on my own fiction and generating these reviews, irrespective of their length, do take a decent amount of time to think about and craft. In some form, though, I feel a great drive to write, be it review of my own fiction.

After this sense of review burnout creeps in; however, I’ll read a book like Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother and want to shout how great it is or, on the other hand, I’ll read a book that didn’t agree with me like Karen Miller’s Empress and feel the drive to put my thoughts about that book down. Or, right now I’m reading a book that didn’t initially interest me too much based on the premise and the author was untested (by me), but I figured I would go outside my comfort zone and give it a try. I think that’s something we all need to do, is go outside our reading comfort zone and Jeff VanderMeer has said as much. Conversely, I really enjoy Epic Fantasy and I’ve really begun to enjoy Urban Fantasy / Detective Wizard, so if something new with one of those slants comes down the pike, I feel a responsibility (for lack of a better word) to measure it against other books if its kind.

As I said, this whole reviewing thing started out because I enjoy reading and sharing my thoughts about what I read. The reviewing gives me an opportunity to voice my thoughts and opinions on a larger scale. Contrary to this though, sometimes I just want to read a book without having to write a review or with a review as the ‘endgame.’ Books like Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, Steven Erikson’s Malazan saga, the Star Wars Legacy of the Force series, an anthology like the Strahan/Dozois edited New Space Opera, Michael Chabon’s Gentlemen of the Road, or other books that have remain unread for upwards of a year or two, but at times, I’ll feel a little guilty about reading one of those while 10-20 books I’ve received from publishers await on the TBR pile for reviewing. This doesn’t even factor in my weekly/monthly haul of comics and graphic novels.

Don’t get me wrong, these aren’t life-shattering decisions or frustrations (I don’t think), but they are things I and (probably) my peers think about. I enjoy being involved, knowing what books are out there, and being afforded the opportunity to have my voice heard. I also have to admit that I like getting the free books, but I think it’s only natural (based on the resonance I’ve seen in other’s thoughts) to feel a bit guilty about not being able to read all that arrives. Strange dichotomy, I realize.

Where does this all leave us? Still in that strange place between fan and critic, I suppose. Granted, my blog is not as trafficked nor does it have the volume (and consistent substance) of postings as many others, but I feel responsibility to maintain it. I enjoy maintaining it and being part of this community. In the end, my drive to write (be it my fiction, the book reviews, on this blog, or if somebody wants to be kind enough to compensate my monetarily for my thoughts) will continue and push me to be a presence.

Ambergris

Click the above banner to read the excerpt we are hosting on SFFWorld.com. Jeff VanderMeer is an amazing writer and this is the definitive edition of what many consider to be one of the most important and imaginative fantasies in the past ten years. But most of the poeple reading my blog already know that.