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

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

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

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

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

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

Name Your Favorite Apocalypse or Dystopia!

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

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

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

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

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

Friday Round-Up: SF Signal and SFFWorld Goodies

The Bagel Lord of SF Signal John DeNardo recently put SF Signal into a new magazine theme, and has dubbed the look as SF Signal 5.0, go take a look. In addition, John recently "promoted" Kristin Centorcelli (aka My Bookish Ways) as the New Associate Editor. Kristin is one of the most active bloggers in the genre so this is great news for both John/SF Signal and Kristin.

Over at SFFWorld, the forums are still alive, despite twitter, facebook, and reddit drawing conversation away from discussion forums. We've come to realize this is not localized to the forums at SFFWorld (for example, the once lively forums of Terry Brooks's Web site recently closed). But with SFFWorld having active  forums since 1999 or so, we (the moderators and members) don't want to see the place go away. So check out what other fans of the genre are talking about. Site owner Dag Rambruat is cleaning up the forums and layout based on some member feedback.

Back to SF Signal, I've posted a couple of articles/reviews over the past couple of weeks to SF Signal. Two weeks ago, my January Mind Meld was posted:

What 2015 Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Books Are You Looking Forward to Reading?

Participants included Amanda Rutter, Bob Milne, Carl V. Anderson, Foz Meadows, James L. Sutter, Jeff Patterson, Marianne de Pierres, Mark Chitty, Renay!, Sarah Chorn, and Tabitha Jensen.

Lastly, about a week ago, my January Completist column posted, which features Eric Brown's Bengal Station Trilogy:

Eric Brown has written and published just about one novel per year since his first in 1992. Many of those novels have published through Solaris Books, including his Bengal Station Trilogy. At their heart, the books of “The Bengal Station Trilogy” are a modern Psychic Detective novels, albeit set on a space station in the future and involving aliens. That “psychic detective” would be Jeff Vaughan, a cynical, distrustful man who, at times, is trying to run from his past. As the title of the series implies, the novels are set on (or launch from) Bengal Station, a space ship station above India and Thailand.

...

What becomes clear over the course of these three books is how Brown sets up a framework for the series, but with each novel in the series, tweaks the dressing for that framework in fun and interesting ways. Part of the fun in reading such books is revisiting with the characters in each installment.

SFFWorld/SF Signal Link Round-up: Mind Meld, ML Brennan Interview, and Reviews of Erin Lindsey and Joe Hill

Not much posting here at the good ol’ blog the last couple of weeks aside from the weekly books in the mail posts. Work has been taking my attention and writing reviews and other posts have taken other parts of my attention. Other posts? Yeah, quite a few posts and reviews I wrote went live over the past week, let’s have a look shall we?

The thing I had the most fun doing, in terms of my genre writing, over the past week or two was my October Mind Meld for SF Signal. This was my fifth mind meld and probably the most successful, in terms of participants (12!) and responses. Participants included Richard Auffrey, ML Brennan, Adam Callaway, Kristin Centorcelli, Teresea Frohock, Jaym Gates, Tim Marquitz, Seanan McGuire, Cesar Torres, Ellen B. Wright, Mercedes M. Yardley, and Mark Yon. I asked them this question:

Which novel / writer / movie, that wasn’t specifically a horror novel/writer/movie, spooked you the most?

For this week’s panelists, a double-edged question was asked about a writer/book who/that evoked that emotion of fear. Not a horror writer/novel (for example not Stephen King), but perhaps an Epic Fantasy Novel, Science Fiction story, or Military novel where you found parts of it scary/creepy. To the point you might think to yourself, “I’d love to see a straight-out horror novel from this writer!”

Speaking of ML, Brennan, I posted a great interview with ML Brennan to SFFWorld, author of the Generation V novels. I’ve got the first and third and I hope to get to them soon.

Last week, I posted two reviews to SFFWorld. One was Erin Lindsey’s The Bloodbound the third novel by her (the other two she wrote as E.L. Tettensor), but the first under the Erin Lindsey name. I liked this one very much and hope to see more about these characters.

The majority of the novel is told from Alix’s point of view, with some scenes through her King’s eyes. Alix comes across as an honest, almost-too-good-for-her-own-good protagonist torn between duty and passion. She finds her passion and romantic feelings for her closest companion Liam growing, so she acts upon it. The thing that throws a monkey-wrench into their relationship is the king himself. Rather, Alix acting as headstrong as ever; she goes against the orders of her superior Allan Green and breaks formation to save the King’s life. He wakes to find Alix draped over her. That physical interaction leads to more emotional interaction between the two.

As a couple of reviewers pointed out, there’s a strong similarity to Elizabeth Moon’s Paksenarrion novels. One, this is a good thing because I enjoy Elizabeth Moon’s writing very much. Two, this shouldn’t be a surprise when one realizes they share the same agent.*

On Friday, as part of my sort-of-series of Halloween readings, I posted a review of Joe Hill’s Horns, a dark novel that just helped to cement Joe’s status as a top tier writer for me. At this point, I’m not sure how objective I can be about his writing.

Of the stories, novels, and comics Joe Hill has written in his relatively short career, perhaps the least likely to make it to the screen first is his second novel, Horns. This isn’t a comment on the quality of the novel (because it is an excellent dark fantastic tale), but rather the premise that launches the plot as well as the nonlinear fashion of the novel. First, let’s get that premise out of the way. About a year after his girlfriend Merrin is raped and murdered, Ig Perrish wakes one morning with horns sprouting out of his head. The horns grant him a power not many people would like: people are compelled to speak their darkest truths to him and compelled to act upon his direction.

Joe keeps a strong vein of hopefulness in the narrative. Horns in narrative approach reminded me a great deal of the landmark Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons graphic novel Watchmen. Both stories have a core of a murder mystery, with the murder victim dead prior to the “present” of the novel. As such, those murdered characters (The Comedian in Watchmen and Merrin here in Horns) are a large cloud over the narrative whose past is revealed through flashbacks.