Books in the Mail (W/E 2014-06-28)

Two books this week, each part of a series...

Scarlet Tides (The Moontide Quartet #2) by David Hair (Jo Fletcher Books Hardcover 10/07/2014) – Sequel to the well-received Mage’s Blood publishing a year and a month after the first book. I

The Moontide has come, and a scarlet tide of Rondian legions is flooding into the East, slaughtering and pillaging in the name of Emperor Constant. But the Scytale of Corineus, the source of ultimate magical power, has slipped through the emperor’s fingers. His ruthless Inquisitors are desperately seeking the artefact, before it falls into the hands of those who would bring down the Empire.

But there are some who have pledged to end the cycle of war and restore peace to Urte. They are the unlikeliest of heroes: a failed mage, a gypsy and a lowly market-girl.

As East and West clash more violently than ever before, Urte will discover that love, loyalty and truth can be forged into weapons as deadly as swords and magic.

Hellhole: Inferno by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (Tor Hardcover 08/12/2014) – Conclusion the author team’s first (I think) non-Dune trilogy.

After the events of Hellhole Awakening, the people of Hellhole and the shadow-Xayans scramble to rally against the threat from the still-living rogue Xayans. Back on Sonjeera, the Monarchy is in an uproar after their surprising defeat and the breakaway of the Deep Zone planets. The dowager Queen decides to go to Hellhole on a diplomatic mission, hoping to keep her power. But after touring Hellhole, Queen Michella is shaken, and begins to realize that she can never have the old Monarchy back.

Before the Queen can return to Sonjeera, she’s captured by the rogue Xayans and learns the reason for their attack: the orthodox Xayans had developed their minds to the point where they could evolve and, in so doing, trigger another Big Bang, wiping out everything. 

The rogue Xayans thought they succeeded in stopping the ascension, but the orthodox Xayans on Hellhole are nearly ready. Now, twenty-two huge asteroids from the outer reaches of the solar system are bearing towards Hellhole, summoned by the rogue sect as a last resort. Can all these lives and the planet itself be saved?

Hellhole Inferno is the thrilling conclusion to Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's Hellhole trilogy.

Friday Link-Wrap: Wexler @SFFWorld and Lowachee @SF Signal

Here's the (seemingly now) weekly round up of reviews and assorted geekery which I've posted this week....

Tuesday my review of Django Wexler's The Thousand Names, first of his Shadow Campaigns military / flintlock fantasy series went up at SFFWorld:

War is raging between the Vordanai Empire and the Khandar; a rebelling colony led by a religious group known as the Redeemers. Into this fray (after a prologue, natch) we follow two characters; soldiers, who are embroiled in the military campaign. The first in Django Wexler’s The Shadow Campaigns, The Thousand Names is a military fantasy novel cut from a different swath of cloth. It involves guns and magic, falling into what has now come to be known as Flintlock Fantasy. The story is told primarily from the point of view of two soldiers: Marcus d’Ivoire and Winter Ihrenglass and their experiences in different parts of the military campaign, whose command is taken over by Colonel Janus bet Vhalnich, an enigmatic figure to say the very least.

...

A magical / supernatural backdrop is mostly hinted at through the majority of the novel until the denouement. Much comes to a head when the titular MacGuffin, The Thousand Names comes more intricately woven into the plot. At this point, the novel took a bit of a pleasant and surprising turn. It felt to me as if Django was channeling a bit Lucas and Spielberg because the story veered a bit into pulpy Raiders of the Lost Ark territory.

Yesterday, my latest Completist column was posted to SF Signal, wherein I suggest why you should read Karin Lowachee's Warchild novels:

Military Science Fiction is and has been one of the most popular sub-genres in science fiction, but the books here are quite different from the typical first-person Soldier-in-Training-Then-Fighting-a-War story. Karin Lowachee made something of a splash with her debut novel, Warchild. It won the second WarnerAspect (Hachette’s SF imprint prior to Orbit) first novel contest, sported a glowing blurb on the cover from Tim Powers, and a terrific cover from Matt Stawicki.

Much of Military SF is written by white guys, and here we have a decidedly non-white guy (Karin grew up in South America and is a woman) giving us some excellent Military SF. In the military depicted in the novels, there is no real demarcation between men and women who serve, both serve and it is barely noted (especially in Warchild). In other words, the men and women fighting together is a seamless feature of the world rather than a stand out bug. Lowachee also broaches topics not often seen in Military SF like homosexuality and the damaging effects on children.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2014-06-21)

Two debuts this week, and all three look interesting. At least one of this I will be reading.

Flight of the Golden Harpy by Susan Klaus (Tor Hardcover 06/17/2014) – Debut novel which has a Planetary Romance feel ..

Kari, a young woman, returns to the jungle planet of Dora after ten years in Earth’s schools determined to unravel the mysteries surrounding the harpies, a feral species with the appearance half-bird, half-human. 

The human colonists believe harpies are dangerous animals, which are known to steal women. The creatures are hunted like wild game, their wings considered rare trophies. But Kari distrusts these rumors. When she was attacked by a monster in the jungle as a child, a male harpy with rare golden coloring rescued her. 

Constant hunting by men has driven the harpies to the brink of extinction. Is Kari’s savior, the elegant golden harpy, is still alive? If so, how long can he and his flock survive the ravages of mankind?

Susan Klaus's Flight of the Golden Harpy is an imaginative and romantic fantasy novel that questions what it means to be human.

California Bones by Greg van Eekhout (Tor Hardcover 06/10/2014) – This sounds like an interesting horror/dark fantasy-urban fantasy-spy mash up.

When Daniel Blackland was six, he ingested his first bone fragment, a bit of kraken spine plucked out of the sand during a visit with his demanding, brilliant, and powerful magician father, Sebastian.

When Daniel was twelve, he watched Sebastian die at the hands of the Hierarch of Southern California, devoured for the heightened magic layered deep within his bones.

Now, years later, Daniel is a petty thief with a forged identity. Hiding amid the crowds in Los Angeles—the capital of the Kingdom of Southern California—Daniel is trying to go straight. But his crime-boss uncle has a heist he wants Daniel to perform: break into the Hierarch's storehouse of magical artifacts and retrieve Sebastian's sword, an object of untold power. 

For this dangerous mission, Daniel will need a team he can rely on, so he brings in his closest friends from his years in the criminal world. There's Moth, who can take a bullet and heal in mere minutes. Jo Alverado, illusionist. The multitalented Cassandra, Daniel’s ex. And, new to them all, the enigmatic, knowledgeable Emma, with her British accent and her own grudge against the powers-that-be. The stakes are high, and the stage is set for a showdown that might just break the magic that protects a long-corrupt regime.

Extravagant and yet moving, Greg van Eekhout's California Bones is an epic adventure set in a city of canals and secrets and casual brutality--different from the world we know, yet familiar and true.

The Midnight’s Queen (Noctis Magicae Book One) by Sylvia Izzo Hunter (Ace Trade Paperback 09/02/2014) – Hunter’s debut; I’d been hearing good things about this from her agent for quite a while. Looking forward to this one.

“In the hallowed halls of Oxford’s Merlin College, the most talented—and highest born—sons of the Kingdom of Britain are taught the intricacies of magickal theory. But what dazzles can also destroy, as Gray Marshall is about to discover…

Gray’s deep talent for magick has won him a place at Merlin College. But when he accompanies four fellow students on a mysterious midnight errand that ends in disaster and death, he is sent away in disgrace—and without a trace of his power. He must spend the summer under the watchful eye of his domineering professor, Appius Callender, working in the gardens of Callender’s country estate and hoping to recover his abilities. And it is there, toiling away on a summer afternoon, that he meets the professor’s daughter.

Even though she has no talent of her own, Sophie Callender longs to be educated in the lore of magick. Her father has kept her isolated at the estate and forbidden her interest; everyone knows that teaching arcane magickal theory to women is the height of impropriety. But against her father’s wishes, Sophie has studied his ancient volumes on the subject. And in the tall, stammering, yet oddly charming Gray, she finally finds someone who encourages her interest and awakens new ideas and feelings.

Sophie and Gray’s meeting touches off a series of events that begins to unravel secrets about each of them. And after the king’s closest advisor pays the professor a closed-door visit, they begin to wonder if what Gray witnessed in Oxford might be even more sinister than it seemed. They are determined to find out, no matter the cost…

Friday Round-up: Corey & Howey at SFFWorld and Sullivan at Tor.com

This week's Friday round-up includes another Tor.com piece and SFFWorld review from, plus

First up is my book review of Cibola Burn, the latest installment of (IMHO) the best space based Science Fiction series on the shelves today, James S.A. Corey's The Expanse:

New Terra is not just a potentially inhabitable planet, it is the first inhabitable planet around a distant star (named Ilus) which also has rich deposits of minerals rare and useful. Chrisjen Avasarala, a very high official of the Earth government and a fan-favorite viewpoint character from Caliban’s War, appoints Holden as a mediator with the task of settling the tensions between the people who have made the pilgrimage to New Terra as colonists and Royal Charter Energy (RCE), the company trying to stake a claim for the planet as their own. A group of terrorists have detonated a bomb on the planet’s main Launchpad, destroying an RCE ship and killing the half the people aboard.

...

Corey has always populated these novels with strong characters. We’ve come to know Holden fairly well over the course of these four novels, and while it is great to see returning characters (Bobbie Draper was a POV character and she returns as a POV character in the prologue here), meeting new people is always a feature. The standout here was Elvi, a determined scientist who fits the mold of ‘scientist hero’ in the same vein as many protagonists from the Golden Age aside from her gender. One of the most telling things we learn through her is how the “life” on New Terra cannot be really measured by any known means.

I wrote another #Torbit piece, in support of Hachette/Orbit authors for Tor.com.  This time, I focused on Michael J. Sullivan:

Each omnibus collects two Riyria novels, and the first two, Theft of Swords and Rise of Empire, contain stories that were previously self-published. However, the third volume, Heir of Novron, is split between a previously self-published work and a brand new conclusion to the series titled Percepliquis. Sullivan didn’t want to put-off his long-time readers too much by demanding that they re-purchase book five, so Orbit allowed a compromise of sorts for this final novel, but more on that later.

The series tells the tale of two friends and brothers in arms: Royce Melborn, a thief, and Hadrian Blackwater, a mercenary. The two call themselves Riyria and are known as a competent duo, working outside the thieves’ guild and taking on jobs for nobles who would otherwise not want to get their hands dirty. Off the bat, Sullivan gives readers fully-formed protagonists who are mature rather than the clichéd farmboys of epic fantasy. In fact, the feel of the story at the outset has more of a sword and sorcery adventure than epic fantasy. Of course, the comparison many people have made to Royce and Hadrian is to Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. The relationship between Royce and Hadrian comes across as something that is long-standing.

Also at SFFWorld, Nila reviews another one of Hugh Howey's post-apocalyptic (though not related to Wool) novels, Sand:

Original released as a serial, in Hugh Howey’s latest novel we are introduced to a family falling apart after their father left them for a better place. Actually, he left them to find a better place, but nonetheless, he left them. In his wake, his wife, daughter and three sons struggle to make it in a post-apocalyptic Colorado.

The story is set long after a cataclysmic event that left the world filled with sand and wind. The populations in and around Low-Pub (Pueblo, CO), Springston (Colorado Springs, CO), and Danvar (Denver, CO) have re-arranged themselves into shuffling towns that move with the sands. Water is limited, like it always is in the west, but it is made even harder to acquire because of the constantly shifting sands. The old towns (and knowledge) have long been buried and people have devised a way to dive deep into the sands to recover artifacts that can be used up top.

I will also mention that I "engage" in the comments of this week's episode of Rocket Talk, the Justin Landon-run podcast for Tor.com.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2014-06-14)

Just two books this week and one of them arrived in ARC format a while back.

Nice Dragons Finish Last (Volume 1 of The Heartstrikers Series) by Rachel Bach (07/15/2014) – As my recent write about Rachel for Tor.com indicates, I’m a fan of her work. She’s dipping her toes into the self-publishing realm with this one, which looks fun.

As the youngest dragon in the Heartstriker clan, Julius survives by a simple code: stay quiet, don’t cause trouble, and keep out of the way of bigger dragons. But this meek behavior doesn’t cut it in a family of ambitious predators, and his mother, Bethesda the Heartstriker, has finally reached the end of her patience.

Now, sealed in human form and banished to the DFZ--a vertical metropolis built on the ruins of Old Detroit--Julius has one month to prove to his mother that he can be a ruthless dragon or lose his true shape forever. But in a city of modern mages and vengeful spirits where dragons are seen as monsters to be exterminated, he’s going to need some serious help to survive this test.

He only hopes that humans are more trustworthy than dragons....

The Shadow Throne (Book Two of The Shadow Campaigns) by Django Wexler (Roc Hardcover 07/01/2014) – Nearly exactly a year after Wexler’s debut published to much acclaim, he’s published two other things (the YA The Forbidden Library and the novella John Golden Freelance Debugger) and now the second book in his Flintlock Fantasy series. This is the final/hardcover of the ARC I received a little over a month ago.

Anyone can plot a coup or fire an assassin’s bullet. But in a world of muskets and magic, it takes considerably more to seize the throne.

The ailing King of the Vordan lies on his deathbed. When he dies, his daughter, Raesinia Orboan, will become the first Queen Regnant in centuries—and a ripe target for the ambitious men who seek to control her. The most dangerous of these is Duke Orlanko, Minister of Information and master of the secret police. Having meticulously silenced his adversaries through intimidation, imprisonment, and execution, Orlanko is the most feared man in the kingdom.

And he knows an arcane secret that puts Raesinia completely at his mercy.

Exposure would mean ruin, but Raesinia is determined to find a way to break herself—and her country—out of Orlanko’s iron grip. She finds unlikely allies in the returning war hero Janus bet Vhalnich, fresh from a brilliant campaign in the colony of Khandar, and his loyal deputies, Captain Marcus d’Ivoire and Lieutenant Winter Ihernglass.

As Marcus and Winter struggle to find their places in the home they never thought they would see again, they help Janus and Raesinia set in motion events that could free Vordan from Orlanko’s influence—at the price of throwing the nation into chaos. But with the people suffering under the Duke’s tyranny, they intend to protect the kingdom with every power they can command, earthly or otherwise.

SFFWorld/Tor.com Round-up: Hulick, Aaron/Bach, Campbell and Hunt

Been a busy week for me on the intarwebs.  Or rather, things I'd been working on last week and a bit prior saw the light of day over the past week or so. I mentioned the SF Signal stuff yesterday, so today, I'll mention the SFFWorld and Tor.com stuff.

Wednesday, my review of Sworn in Steel, Douglas Hulick's second Tales of the Kin novel was posted to SFFWorld. This is a fun Sword & Sorcery series that I hope to be reading for a while.  Think one part Brust, one part Lynch, throw in a little Wendig and a dose of Goodfellas and you'll get an idea.  The second novel, Sworn in Steel, was just as good as the first:

The events of Among Thieves had major ramifications on Drothe and the criminal underworld of Ildrecca, where he made his home. One of those ramifications has seen his closest friend – Bronze Degan – disappear, though Drothe manages to learn where Degan went rather quickly and despite knowing Degan likely doesn’t want him to follow, Drothe tries to find his friend. This is problematic, because Drothe’s station has moved up in the world considerably as a result of the fallout of Among Thieves. By leaving Ildrecca to travel across the sea to this faraway nation of Djan he is leaving some very important responsibilities behind. Another Degan*, who only gives the name Wolf, compels Drothe to leave Ildrecca to find Bronze Degan after framing Drothe for the murder of one of Drothe’s rivals. Wolf sees Degan as a very important key in unraveling the truth of the Order of Degans. Drothe also manages to get involved with a troupe of actors who join him on his journey.

Also on Wednesday, a new piece I wrote for Tor.com went live. My fine editors (Bridget McGovern & Irene Gallo) at Tor.com have been doing their part to step-up for Hachette/Orbit authors because of the problems between Hachette & amazon.com. For my part, I put together this overview/review spotlight on Rachel Aaron/Rachel Bach, Aaron and Bach: A Tale of Two Rachels:

Rachel Aaron is an Orbit author, through and through, under both her real name and the pseudonym Rachel Bach. She is a writer who was cultivated by Orbit and whose audience grew through some smart publishing decisions in the early days of Orbit’s US imprint. To wit, Orbit US launched in 2007 and her debut, The Spirit Thief, published in October 2010.

Then there’s Rachel’s Paradox series of novels—comprised of Fortune’s Pawn, Honor’s Knight, and Heaven’s Queen—published under the pen name Rachel Bach. Aaron was very open about the pseudonym being used to differentiate her SF from her Fantasy. This isn’t to say there aren’t parallels between what Rachel is doing in her Bach and Aaron books, just a little bit more of some stuff in Bach (more swearing, more sex) and a different setting (secondary fantasy world v. Space Opera). If the Eli books are PG-13, then the Paradox books are more of an R rating.

Over at SFFWorld, Mark Chitty took a look at the latest Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier novel, Steadfast:

After the events of Guardian, Geary and his fleet are touring Earth before making preparations to leave Sol with the alien Dancers. But when two of his lieutenants go missing the fleet track them down only to be faced with a problem none of them expected: having to make a rescue from the strictly off-limits moon of Europa. Back in Alliance space, Geary is ordered to the edges of Alliance territory to settle refugee issues from a Syndic system. Once there he discovers that information that the Alliance has been presenting isn’t quite what it seems, and that’s only the start of his troubles…

Steadfast was both the novel I was expecting, and the novel I wasn’t. Let me tackle the first point. Quite simply, Steadfast is a Lost Fleet novel.

Lastly, Mark Yon reviewed In Dark Service, the start of a new series from Stephen Hunt (of SF Crowsnest):

It is good to read of a world that is a bit more than the usual setting, and I liked the point that one of the key features of this novel is the planet itself. The sheer size of Pellas reminded me of Dune’s Arrakis or even Jack Vance’s Big Planet in its scale. By building a world too big to traverse in your lifetime, this also creates an enormous blank canvas upon which the cast (and the writer) can play. As in the best planetary romances, Pellas is filled with different places and settings, groups and societies, all a little beyond the usual. There’s glimpses of an intriguing backstory too that suggests that Pellas has a long history. I am hoping that much of this will develop further as the tale expands.

Completiest and Mind Meld at SF Signal

Last week my latest Completist column posted to SF Signal, this time featuring Peeps, the young adult vampire apocalypse duo from Scott Westerfeld:

Vampires, we all know them and at one point they were supposed to be scary creatures that could take over your soul, drink your blood and destroy you. Well, over the years to say the vampire has lost some of its scary edge is an understatement. While Dracula did have some sexiness to him, the modern perception of the vampire is less scary and more sexy. Enter Scott Westerfeld and his two book series which includes Peeps and The Last Days. These books tell the story of a world on the brink of apocalypse, overrun by vampires, but not your average vampires and are rarely referred to as such. Rather, they are “peeps” as the title indicates, peep being a shortening of the term parasite positive. You see, in Westerfeld’s tale, parasites cause the stricken person to shun both the light and that which he or she loved in their previous life. Throughout the first novel Peeps, Westerfeld injects a logical scientific explanation for many of the tropes of the vampire legend. By doing this, Westerfeld allows the novel to be read on many levels: a vampire novel, a young adult novel [which it is marketed as], a horror novel (mashed up with science fiction), or a dark fantasy novel.

Also, my role at SF Signal has grown in the past few weeks. In addition to the occasional book review, I am now one of the Mind Meld curators for the SF Signal overlords John DeNardo and JP Frantz.  As such, my first Mind Meld posted yesterday and asked the question:

Q: How long do you have a book before you read it? We, as biblioholics and voracious readers often accumulate books at a greater pace than we can read them. What is the longest you’ve had a book before you’ve read it and/or how long do you typically let a book sit before you read it?

The participants included:

1. Ellen B. Wright, the Senior Marketing Sorceress for Orbit books 
2. My long time friend and colleague from SFFWorld - Mark Yon (aka Hobbit)
3. Kristen Bell, purveyor of the fine blog/web site Fantasy Café
4. Mark Chitty, another SFFWorld colleague, but he and I have been internet pals before he was writing for SFFWorld back when he was running the great SF blog Walker of Worlds
5. Twitter chum Kathryn A. Ryan (aka @Loerwyn)
6. N.E. White, Writer/Editor and fellow SFFWorld moderator and reviewer (and editor of the forthcoming Wars to End All Wars themed anthology (for which I'm reading some stories and doing some edits)
7. Jennie Ivins, a fellow NJ SFF fan and one of the folks behind Fantasy-Faction
8. SFF blogger and fellow beer aficionado Joe Sherry
   and lastly...
9. The great Sarah Chorn owner and supreme overseer of Bookworm Blues.

So go find out what they had to say! (http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2014/06/mind-meld-how-long-do-you-have-a-book-before-you-read-it/)

Books in the Mail (W/E 2014-06-07)

Very strangely, a little over a year ago, I received the predecessor series books to two of these two. Last year, those were the only two books I received. Also in a strange twist of fate, about a month ago I recieved the arc of Tower Lord and the first book in Molles's Remaining series and this week I received the final copy of Tower Lord and the second book in Molles's Remaining series.

Earth Awakens (The First Formic War #3) by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston (Tor Hardcover 06/10/2014)– Third in the pre-Ender series from Card and Johnston, which is publishing nearly exactly a year after the previous volume.

The story of The First Formic War continues in Earth Awakens.

Nearly 100 years before the events of Orson Scott Card’s bestselling novel Ender’s Game, humans were just beginning to step off Earth and out into the Solar System. A thin web of ships in both asteroid belts; a few stations; a corporate settlement on Luna. No one had seen any sign of other space-faring races; everyone expected that First Contact, if it came, would happen in the future, in the empty reaches between the stars. Then a young navigator on a distant mining ship saw something moving too fast, heading directly for our sun.

When the alien ship screamed through the solar system, it disrupted communications between the far-flung human mining ships and supply stations, and between them and Earth. So Earth and Luna were unaware that they had been invaded until the ship pulled into Earth orbit, and began landing terra-forming crews in China. Politics and pride slowed the response on Earth, and on Luna, corporate power struggles seemed more urgent than distant deaths. But there are a few men and women who see that if Earth doesn’t wake up and pull together, the planet could be lost.

The Aftermath (Volume 2 of The Remaining) by DJ Molles (Orbit, Paperback 06/24/2014) – Second in Molles Zombie Apocalypse / Military Science Fiction mash-up. This might be perfect pool-side reading over the summer. This one publishes nearly exactly a month (less 3 days) from book 1



To Captain Lee Harden, the mission to rescue his countrymen and rebuild the nation seems like a distant memory.




 
Wounded and weaponless, he has stumbled upon a group of survivors who may be his last hope. But a tragedy in the group causes a deep rift and forces him into action.

 
And in the chaos of a world overrun by infected, Lee is pursued by a new threat: someone who will stop at nothing to keep him from his sworn duty.

Tower Lord (Raven’s Shadow Book Two) by Anthony Ryan (Ace Hardcover 07/02/2013) – Second novel in Anthony’s series, the first of which was his debut Blood Song which blew me away last year. This is the final version of the ARC which arrived about a month ago. My reading plans are pretty tied up for the immediate future, but as soon as those are finalized, this will be one of the first books I jump into.

“The blood-song rose with an unexpected tune, a warm hum mingling recognition with an impression of safety. He had a sense it was welcoming him home.” 

Vaelin Al Sorna, warrior of the Sixth Order, called Darkblade, called Hope Killer. The greatest warrior of his day, and witness to the greatest defeat of his nation: King Janus’s vision of a Greater Unified Realm drowned in the blood of brave men fighting for a cause Vaelin alone knows was forged from a lie. Sick at heart, he comes home, determined to kill no more. 

Named Tower Lord of the Northern Reaches by King Janus’s grateful heir, he can perhaps find peace in a colder, more remote land far from the intrigues of a troubled Realm. But those gifted with the blood-song are never destined to live a quiet life. Many died in King Janus’s wars, but many survived, and Vaelin is a target, not just for those seeking revenge but for those who know what he can do. 

The Faith has been sundered, and many have no doubt who their leader should be. The new King is weak, but his sister is strong. The blood-song is powerful, rich in warning and guidance in times of trouble, but is only a fraction of the power available to others who understand more of its mysteries. Something moves against the Realm, something that commands mighty forces, and Vaelin will find to his great regret that when faced with annihilation, even the most reluctant hand must eventually draw a sword.


Shattering the Ley (Erenthal #1) by Joshua Palmatier (DAW, Hardcover 07/01/2014) –A brand new series for Palmatier whose work I’ve read and enjoyed. This cover is really eye catchy (though the fonts could use a little work).


Erenthrall—sprawling city of light and magic, whose streets are packed with traders from a dozen lands and whose buildings and towers are grown and shaped in the space of a day.

At the heart of the city is the Nexus, the hub of a magical ley line system that powers Erenthrall. This ley line also links the city and the Baronial plains to rest of the continent and the world beyond. The Prime Wielders control the Nexus with secrecy and lies, but it is the Baron who controls the Wielders. The Baron also controls the rest of the Baronies through a web of brutal intimidation enforced by his bloodthirsty guardsmen and unnatural assassins.

When the rebel Kormanley seek to destroy the ley system and the Baron’s chokehold, two people find themselves caught in the chaos that sweeps through Erenthrall and threatens the entire world: Kara Tremain, a young Wielder coming into her power, who discovers the forbidden truth behind the magic that powers the ley lines; and Alan Garrett, a recruit in the Baron’s guard, who learns that the city holds more mysteries and more danger than he could possibly have imagined . . . and who holds a secret within himself that could mean Erenthrall’s destruction — or its salvation.

Books (None) in the Mail (W/E 2014-05-31)

A slow week with no new arrivals over the past seven days. No complaints because I've got plenty to read and review for the near future (plus something else on the horizon to keep me reading).

All that said, here's another picture of Sully.

Friday Round-Up of SFFWorld reviews: de Pierres, Bach, and Abercrombie

Here's a collection of SFF linkery I (or my various internet genre colleagues) have posted this week.

Tuesday, Mark Chitty posted his review of a book I enjoyed earlier in the year (my review for Tor.com), Marianne de Pierres's Peacemaker:

My first impression of Peacemaker was, quite simply, cool. The setting – a Wild West style landscape set in the future – cried out to me as somewhere that could tell some very interesting stories. While the sci-fi side of the coin is perhaps not quite as prevalent as I would have hoped, it really didn’t matter. There were touches here and there to remind you that this was the future, but it was the western elements that really enriched the story.

...

There are also mystic elements to Peacemaker, particularly in Virgin’s spirit pet, Aquila. When she turns up it sets many aspects of the story into motion, and Virgin’s understanding of why and how she is there is never firm. Something that is clear from the outset is that Sixkiller is a font of knowledge, but he rarely offers opinions, and Virgin doesn’t trust him to delve and ask questions

On Wednesday, my review of Heaven's Queen, the concluding (for now, I hope) volume of Rachel Bach's highly charged space-opera series Paradox:

Rachel Bach has crafted a stable foundation over two books in the Paradox series and has left readers like myself hoping for a payoff that both works with that foundation, but also surprises. When we last left Devi, she was an outlaw, having run off from her mercenary group with just her former lover Rupert Charkov by her side. Their relationship is not quite what it once was, Devi now knowing that Rupert wasn’t all that he said he was, she (understandably) finds it difficult to fully trust him at first.. More importantly, he was withholding some very important information from her. This adds more tension to their already strained relationship, but through everything that has affected the two lovers, their true feelings for each other is the core strength of their relationship. Devi, despite her anger and frustration, can’t bury her feelings for Rupert. On the other hand, Rupert continually admits his devotion to her, and almost puppy-dog like fashion.

...

Perhaps what I appreciated most was the candor of the dialogue between Brian Caldswell and Devi leading up to the climax of the novel. Their conversations came across as a fairly level-headed disagreement between two characters who both felt extremely passionate about their opposing viewpoints. Both characters even acknowledged the validity of the other’s argument.

Today, Mark Yon (aka Hobbit) posted a review of Half a King,  Joe Abercrombie's foray into "young adult" or books for younger readers, or whatever you call books that are less squelchy and cursey than his usual fare:

...a Viking-esque, young adult tale that is less gory, less sweary and yet all the more enjoyable for it. It has an Abercrombie tone, it must be said, although I’m still trying to work out what exactly I mean by that, but the writing is as tight and as dexterous as ever.

The forty chapters, generally no more than half a dozen pages each, give the novel an episodic format, but not too fragmented. The characters and their values are identifiable, and, for the most part, likeable.

Our hero, Prince Yarvi, is an outsider, initially put into a position unwanted and yet necessary by circumstances outside his control. Against opposition, he must prove his worth and show that he is capable of dealing with the many problems brought to him. ‘A king must lead’, it is pointed out early in the book.

The twist in the story is that he must do this all the while with a physical disability – he is ‘Half a King’ because he has only one fully formed and functional hand. Consequently seen by many, including his father, as a weakling, (and to my mind rather like Miles Vorkosigan before him), Yarvi has personal demons and practical issues to deal with as well as his unwanted new commitments.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2014-05-25)

Just three books this week, one of which is going to be read sooner rather than later...

Cibola Burn (The Expanse #4) by James S.A. Corey (Orbit Hardcover 06/17/2014) – The boys have done quite well with these book, to say the least. I loved the first three and listed this one as a book I couldn’t wait to read when I was on the SF Signal podcast back in February. This is the physical hardcover of the eArc I received last week. The series has ‘graduated’ from trade paperback to hardcover.

ENTER A NEW FRONTIER.

"An empty apartment, a missing family, that's creepy. But this is like finding a military base with no one on it. Fighters and tanks idling on the runway with no drivers. This is bad juju. Something wrong happened here. What you should do is tell everyone to leave."

The gates have opened the way to a thousand new worlds and the rush to colonize has begun. Settlers looking for a new life stream out from humanity's home planets. Ilus, the first human colony on this vast new frontier, is being born in blood and fire.

Independent settlers stand against the overwhelming power of a corporate colony ship with only their determination, courage, and the skills learned in the long wars of home. Innocent scientists are slaughtered as they try to survey a new and alien world. The struggle on Ilus threatens to spread all the way back to Earth.

James Holden and the crew of his one small ship are sent to make peace in the midst of war and sense in the midst of chaos. But the more he looks at it, the more Holden thinks the mission was meant to fail.

And the whispers of a dead man remind him that the great galactic civilization that once stood on this land is gone. And that something killed it.

The Merchant Emperor (The Symphony of Ages #7) by Elizabeth Haydon (Tor Trade Paperback 06/03/2014) – I read the first three books in this series years ago when they first published (Rhapsody, Prophecy, and Destiny) and remember enjoying them at the time

The long awaited seventh book in Elizabeth Haydon’s critically-acclaimed epic fantasy series, the Symphony of Ages.

The war that they had feared is now upon them. Ashe and Rhapsody, leaders of the Cymrian Alliance, are gathering their allies to combat the machinations of Talquist, who will soon be crowned emperor of Sorbold. Gwydion Navarne remains by Ashe’s side. Anborn, Lord Marshal, has taken to the field. And Rhapsody has been forced into hiding to protect the life of her infant son.

The Merchant Emperor of Sorbold has unintentionally allied himself with a pair of demons and has begun targeting the dragons that remain on the Middle Continent. Talquist will stop at nothing until the Cymrians are wiped out and the entire continent and the rest of the Known World is under his rule. 

Assailed by danger from all sides, surrounded by lies and intrigue, Rhapsody is left with one undeniable truth: if their forces are to prevail, she must join the war herself, wielding the Daystar Clarion, an ancient weapon whose power is nearly unparalleled. As she struggles to reconcile her duties as a mother and ruler, a danger far more devastating than Talquist is stirring beneath the surface of the land itself.

In The Merchant Emperor, beloved characters are forced to make soul shattering sacrifices. Bestselling author Elizabeth Haydon has delivered a breathtaking seventh installment to the Symphony of Ages.

Nihal from the Land of the Wind (Chronicles of the World Emerged #1) by Licia Troisi (Open Road Integrated Media Trade Paperback 06/10/2014) – Open Road Media has been reissuing quite a few genre classics, but this is a bit of a change for them…a translation of a popular work from outside of the United States into English.

An international bestseller from an extraordinary storyteller-get ready for Nihal and her world

Nihal lives in one of the many towers of the Land of the Wind. There is nobody like her in the Overworld: big violet eyes, pointed ears, and blue hair. She is an expert in swordplay and the leader of a handful of friends that includes Sennar the wizard. She has no parents; brought up by an armorer and a sorceress, Nihal seems to be from nowhere.

Things suddenly change when the Tyrant takes charge. Nihal finds herself forced to take action when she is faced with the most difficult mission a girl her age could imagine.

Fierce, strong, and armed with her black crystal sword, Nihal sets out to become a real warrior. Readers will be riveted as she forges her powerful path of resistance.

Friday SFFWorld and SFSignal Round-up: Boyett, McClellan, Bywater, Hines plus more!

Here's my semi-regular round-up of reviews and assorted linkery from the past week or so.  Last week, my Completist column for SF Signal went live, this time featuring a two-book series that might be considered cult favorites, The Change books by Stephen R. Boyett:

In the Changed world of the novel, no creature is more magical than a unicorn and nothing holds as much magical power as the horn of a unicorn. It is for this reason that Pete and Ariel must constantly be on guard and aware of their surroundings even more than usual in this dangerous new world. When they come int the area of Atlanta, this danger confronts them head-on as an imposing man on a Griffin who, on behalf of a powerful Necromancer in New York, demands Ariel’s horn. Fortunately, Pete had recently befriended a warrior named Malachai Lee who helps to fend off the Griffin and its rider. Malachai is a sword master of the newly changed world and takes Pete under his wing. With the real threat of a bounty on Ariel, Malachai sets out for New York to confront the Necromancer, demanding Pete and Ariel not follow him.
...
Even though Elegy Beach and Ariel are told in the same type of narrative voice, Fred is a much different narrator than his father. That said, Boyett’s voice in Ariel was crisp and honest, and much the same can be found here. The framework of the two novels is similar; both are essentially quest fantasies wherein the heroes must travel to the enemy’s stronghold and bring him down to save the world.

This week, I posted a new review to SFFWorld for the first time in a few weeks. The book under review? The Crimson Campaign, the second installment of Brian McClellan's Powder Mage Trilogy, which is evolving into a premier Epic/Military Fantasy series.

War is still raging between the Adro and Kez, caught in the middle are Tamas, Admat, Taniel Two-Shot and one-time seamstress Nila, among others. The Crimson Campaign is the second installment of Brian McClellan’s Powder Mage Trilogy and as excellent a debut as was A Promise in Blood, he elevated his game with this second novel.
...
Where A Promise of Blood gave a broad stroke of the military, The Crimson Campaign delves much more into the importance of stability in the military. McClellan also shows how short-sighted leadership can cost a great deal in the long run. Although the gods are a part of the story, these gods are backdrop and merely a part of the story rather than the complete focus. People in the story don’t universally believe the gods have returned, despite a few of them (Taniel, Tamas, Ka-Poel) conversing with the Gods. Rather, they are just one more complication in the larger global conflict; the gods are not the be-all end-all of the story. As such, one can consider The Crimson Campaign a slide from Epic Fantasy along lines of his mentor Brandon Sanderson and into a story more grounded as a Military Fantasy, with a stronger resonance to Glen Cook’s landmark Black Company novels as the story has progressed through two volumes and there’s still a vibe of Abercrombie in the feel of the story at times. These are all good things.

At SF Signal Sarah Chorn's (aka Bookworm Blues) ongoing series Special Needs in Strange Worlds features the great Jim C. Hines.

Also at SFFWorld is a review from Mark Yon of Stephen Bywater's debut novel The Devil's Ark:

Set mainly in the 1920’s, the story tells of Harry Ward, a photographer working in Iraq/Mesopotamia. Still affected by his fighting and his injuries there in The Great War, he takes on what should be a relatively simple job – to take photographs of an archaeological dig just outside Mosul.

...

Whilst the plot may not be particularly new, The Devil’s Ark is a great fun read. Sometimes you can be happy knowing what sort of thing to expect in a read and here in The Devil’s Ark the reader is not disappointed. Like a good Hammer Horror movie or a Weird Tales magazine story, the fun here is not in the actual events as they happen but in the telling.

This is a good debut. Stephen manages to set up the tale well, evoking images of an ancient Empire, lying redolent in desert heat, whilst an even older evil is awakened.

Some great podcasts have dropped this week, too:

• The new podcast Justin Landon runs for Tor.com, Rocket Talk this week features Brian T. McClellan and Delilah Dawson. McClellan is a writer I've come to really enjoy (duh, look at the review I linked above) and Dawson is an author whose work I really would like to try. I follow her on twitter and she dishes out some great advice.
• Two great SF Signal podcast, both from the Pike Peak Writer's conference Patrick Hester attended:
• Diversity in Genre Panel Live from PPWC2014 With Carol Berg, Jim C. Hines, Chuck Wendig and Amy Boggs
• Patrick interviewing Carol Berg, another author whose work I hope to return to after enjoying her debut years ago.

Godzilla (2014) - A Fan's "Review"

In my last post, I provided a snapshot into my relationship with Godzilla (though I forgot to mention that one of the most vivid dreams I remember from when I was a young kid involved Godzilla, him destroying things and me yelling at him and slapping his nose as if he was a bad dog) leading up to the 2014 movie which just released this past weekend. Again, that was just a small snapshot.

Now I’ll talk about the movie itself so be warned this post has a wealth of spoilers.  Again, keep in mind that there may not be a lot of objectivity in this based on my fan historical from yesterday.

This movie is everything I hoped to see in an American Godzilla movie since learning about a potential American Godzilla movie in 1994 where he was set to fight something called the Gryphon. The credits roll over “footage” of atomic tests with the final bomb shot into the ocean were familiar looking jagged spikes are moving along the surface. Cut to 1999 where Ishiro Serizawa* (Ken Watanabe) and Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins) two scientists climb into a cave which turns out to be the bones and innards of a giant deceased creature when they learn something hatched and crossed the ocean from the Philippines to Japan. The other “spore” was sent to Nevada to be stored in the Nuclear Waste Repository. But before we truly get to the monsters, we learn about the people most profoundly affected by those monsters.

*a descendant of the Dr. Serizawa from the original 1954 film

Bryan Cranston and Juliet Binoche play husband and wife Joa and Sandra Brody scientists stationed in Japan, working a nuclear power plant. The two head to work as their son Ford heads to school. Little did Ford know that day, which also happened to be Dad’s birthday, would be the last day he saw mom. Mom was sent to investigate the leak, and was trapped during the catastrophe.

The thing which hatched caused an earthquake as it burrowed under the power plant consuming the energy, which eventually collapsed the power plant. Fast-forward fifteen years later, Ford Brody is a Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) who has just returned from duty to his wife Elle and son Sam when the phone rings. His father, Joe was arrested in Japan and is thought to be something of a whack-job. Joe leaves that night to get Dad, who is still obsessed with the mystery surrounding the collapse of the Nuclear Power plant, because he knows it wasn’t an earthquake and has not gotten over the death of his wife. However, the seismic activity he registered prior to the collapse is happening again, so he and son head to their old home which is a quarantined zone due to the nuclear fallout from the collapse of the power plant. When they arrive, the air is clean as Joe takes off his helmet.

The Brodies are arrested and brought to the power plant where Joe once worked. Serizawa and Graham have set up shop and are observing a giant pulsating thing in the middle of the power plant. The thing eventually erupts and a creature emerges sucking in more energy before sprouting wings and flying away. This creature resembles the monster from Cloverfield, primarily because of its long, thin legs.

The M.U.T.O. (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) is an ancient creature, as we learn from Serizawa, which feeds off of radiation, but as radiation levels cooled across the globe ages ago, the creature went into a state of super-hibernation. However, the operation is taken over by the Navy and Dr. Serizawa says this creature is the prey of something much larger, an Apex Predator which was awoken in 1954, and subsequently, the nuclear tests publicized were actually attempts to kill the Apex Predator. Ford reveals his father was tracking echolocation anomalies and it is deduced that M.U.T.O. was communicating with something, which also drew the Apex Predator’s attention.

M.U.T.O. and the Naval forces arrive in Hawai’i where Godzilla also makes landfall. The two monsters have a brief scuffle, which is more or less in the background as people, including Ford who is on a monorail when M.U.T.O. arrives, struggle to survive. M.U.T.O. flies away, heading to the mainland US, where its signal is being sent. We eventually learn that a larger M.U.T.O., wingless, erupts in Nevada and it is deduced the two M.U.T.O.s will be mating as the female is the larger of the two in Nevada.

A military plan to draw the M.U.T.O. mating pair off the coast of California with the nuclear warhead is enacted because they can sense the power which feeds them. This will draw all three monsters together and kill three with one proverbial stone. Conversely, Serizawa thinks Godzilla is the only thing that can stop the M.U.T.O. as he is the super-predator.

The three monsters converge on San Francisco, where M.U.T.O.s engage in a kind of mating ritual, where we can see just how much larger the female is compared to the male. Godzilla can easily take one of these creatures, but is overwhelmed when they fight him in unison, which is what happens after the female lays her eggs and joins the fight. In the midst of the fight, Brody’s group of soldiers head to the nest to stop the nuclear bomb, when they realize the controls are broken so they must extract the bomb can be detonated off-shore. Ford lags behind, cracks open a gas tanker and lights up the nest destroying the eggs.

This draws the female away from Godzilla and the male M.U.T.O. and brings the female to where Ford is crawling away from the scene of the egg’s destruction Godzilla saves Ford by using his atomic breath for the first time, which is a great scene. Godzilla blows her away and to finally takes care of the male with his tail. This a move shows Godzilla as a smart fighter, learning quickly from his experience battling these monsters. Unfortunately, the move Godzilla used to take care of the male M.U.T.O. also collapses a building on Godzilla, knocking him out.

Ford finally gets to the boat with the nuclear bomb with his team, the female M.U.T.O. tracks them down leaving Ford as the only survivor who launches the boat with the bomb out to sea. As the female M.U.T.O. crouches down over Ford and the bomb, she stops. Godzilla has come back to claim his prey and the final battle between the two is spectacular. Unfortunately, Godzilla has been worn out by his battles with the two kaiju and collapses on the shore.

The next morning, San Francisco is in ruins, Ford finally reunites with his wife Elle and son Sam. Serizawa and Graham are at the site where Godzilla has collapsed, Serizawa sad because his great find is seemingly dead. Then, a giant eye opens, Godzilla “The King of the Monsters” lives and swims out to sea.

OK, so that’s what happened in the movie, here are some thoughts and reactions.

• I thought the connection / retcon to the original film was smart. It worked very well in the same way J.J. Abrams launched the new Trek franchise. (That was perhaps the smartest thing Abrams did with those movies, actually). Making this a ‘sequel’ also works just like the Millennium era films are each sequels to the original film.
• I like the M.U.T.O.s, which to me, are very much an updated, leveled-up and bad-ass version of Mothra. Insect like, a pair of them, fighting Godzilla together, but no twin fairies (thankfully) However, I’ve never found it plausible* that two giant grubs and a giant moth could beat Godzilla. Sure the design evokes the Cloverfield monster, but it still works for Godzilla's latest enemies.
  *plausible is a tricksy word when discussing a movie whose main thrust is two giant monsters fighting each other
• The original Godzilla / Gojira was very much a parable showing the dangers of nuclear power. While that is still a theme here, there’s also the theme of man v. nature. These creatures are ancient forces of nature and humanity has no chance in the face of that as Serizawa points out at one point in the film.
• I like that Godzilla was once again the ‘hero’ since he was a villain or threat in the the Heisei series /era  I think his surfacing in the US points to this:
• When Godzilla emerges in San Francisco Bay at the Golden Gate Bridge, there are a lot of kids and civilians on the bridge. The military was being all willy-nilly firing all over the place trying to stop Godzilla. At least one time (and probably more) Godzilla happened to be in a spot to block the munitions from connecting with the bridge where a bus full of kids was stationary, including Elle and Ford’s son Sam.
• Another instance it seemed like Godzilla may have been holding up the bridge which allowed the bus full of children to cross safely.
• Whether Godzilla had intent to save kids and people at this point could be up for conjecture, but the fact of the film remains, he saved some kids in a more personal manner than simply fighting the other monsters and in doing so saved, people wholesale.
• Often in these types of films (disaster films, science fictional apocalyptic films, etc.), the military is depicted as strong-headed and for lack of a better term, a bunch of unwavering jerks. Not so here. While David Strathairn’s character did indeed have a presence of power and strong will, he was cooperative and willing to listen to Serizawa.
• I really like the design of Godzilla in this film. Over the years, Godzilla has had many different designs, even if the differences were slight (larger eyes, more spikes, taller, etc). For me, there was always something vaguely dog-like in the design of his head. Godzilla here is heftier and his head is more blocky, but it works very well, especially when he roars.
• That roar is not quite the classic roar for Godzilla, but it is close enough and powerful enough that the difference from the classic is no problem for me. I particularly like how his roar ends in a bit of a growl. Again, the similarity to dogs comes to mind for me because the snarly-growl at the end isn’t too far off from the noises my own dog makes.*
  *I think part of the appeal and reason why we like Godzilla is this aspect – that slight resemblance to a dog, something familiar with which people bond.
• I loved how Godzilla's Atomic Breath was shown, used, and highlighted in the film. It felt like a last ditch effort when Godzilla was fighting and boy was it powerful.  From the hints of Godzilla's tail glowing to the eruption of that first Breath it was great.
• I’ve seen some complaints that there isn’t enough Godzilla in this movie. While I can understand that line of thinking, I can’t agree with it. The first 40 minutes to hour of the movie establish the world and the characters so we can care about them. (Granted Aaron Taylor-Johnston’s performance was a bit stiff). We saw the M.U.T.O. creatures before Godzilla, which to my logic makes sense. For the most part, we know what Godzilla looks like. We know what he can do (1998 notwithstanding) so getting to know the scope of the other monsters worked for me.
• The theater where I took my mom to see it wasn’t fully packed, it was an afternoon showing on a beautiful Saturday, but there were a good chunk of people in the theater. One of the largest group was a group of about a dozen 10 and 11 year-olds.. They were cheering at the right spots and seemed to be enjoying it. I pumped my fist and cheered when Godzilla used his atomic breath, so I was a 12 year old boy, too.
• My mom loved it, which is as much a seal of Godzilla approval for me as anything else

In the end, this is pretty much what I want to see in a Godzilla movie, and that in a nutshell sums it all up.

Godzilla 2014 … A Preamble

I am and have been a big fan of Godzilla in specific, and Kaiju in general, for as long as I can remember. I recall when I was young boy that the NY stations WWOR (Channel 9) and/or WPIX (Channel 11) would run Godzilla marathons (usually three Godzilla movies in a row) on the Friday after Thanksgiving and I looked forward to that more than Turkey Day itself. Occasionally, one of the NY stations would have themed movie weeks and I was always excited when Godzilla and Gamera movies would be featured, or the Saturday movie marathons would feature these giant beasts fighting each other.

This passion and love for Godzilla was kindled by my mother who introduced me to Godzilla when I was maybe 5 or 6 years old and a lifelong fascination with Gojira was in full effect. One Christmas (or birthday), I was given perhaps the coolest toy I ever received* - th Shogun Warrior Godzilla toy, which “breathed fire” and shot its fist, with a punch of a button in the toy’s elbow. I think that was a feature of the toy line because Godzilla never did that in any of the movies.

*Maybe the Pit, the G.I. JOE base might come close

Fast forward to college in the nascent days of the Internet (early-mid 1990s) and hanging out in the University Libraries browsing the web on the old Netscape Navigator I searched for what else, Godzilla. This is when I learned that more Godzllla movies beyond Godzilla 1985 (as it was known here in the States) were made and released. One of the better informed and most detailed Web sites at that time was Barry’s Temple of Godzilla. It was around this time I learned of a potential American Godzilla film featuring a creature called The Gryphon. I could swear I saw the teaser trailer in theaters, too. Sadly (perhaps fortunately in hindsight), this film never happened. What we got in 1998 was much, much, much worse. In many ways, Godzilla was my introduction to Science Fiction, in a perhaps a smaller way, Godzilla was my introduction to fandom.

Meanwhile, there were two Flea Markets in NJ (Route 18 flea market in East Brunswick and the US 1 Flea Market in New Brunswick which was featured in the film Mallrats) where I remembered seeing some Godzilla toys when I was younger. Visiting these markets again around the time I learned of the continuing Godzilla franchise, I found a store where imports of these movies were sold. The quality was not the greatest and all of the movies was subtitled, but these were still new Godzilla movies: Godzilla vs. Biollante, Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla, the films that came to be part The Heisei series/era, which ended with Godzilla vs. Destroyah. These movies are separate from the films that were produced in the 1960s and 1970s, but do form a continuity with each other.  

Then 1998 happened and a collective wail of anger could be heard in the hearts and souls of all Godzilla fans.

Moving on.

However, a couple of years later, Toho re-launched the franchise with what was known in the US as Godzilla 2000. This was a fun movie I saw in the theaters and most importantly unlike that more recent mis-step, Godzilla fought a new monster. The movies in that series, which came to be known as The Millennium era/series, took still a different approach with most of the movies being unrelated with the exception of being sequels / continuations of the original 1954 Godzilla. What I’ve seen of these movies randomly on cable have been god.

This leads us to Legendary Films announcing, in 2010, acquisition of the rights to Godzilla. Fans were still understandably nervous having the 1998 G.I.N.O. film on their minds (and replayed on cable far too often because just once would be too often). 

 When Gareth Edwards, director of the independent film Monsters was announced cautious optimism soon replaced nervousness. Anybody who has seen this film knows Edwards has good fiilmmaking skills. If you haven't seen it, I highly, highly recommend it. Then casting began, with Bryan Cranston and Ken Watanabe as major stars who would appear in the movie, Heisenberg v. Godzilla soon became a rallying cry. For if one of the most talented American actors today would be in this Godzilla film, surely we can hope.

The latest American Godzilla film was set to release on May 16, which happens to be my mother’s birthday. What better gift than to take my mom to see Godzilla (because frankly, both my father and my wife don’t quite share the same enthusiasm for Godzilla which goes to show nobody is perfect).

Since this post is getting quite lengthy and I've barely discussed the latest American Godzilla movie, I'll hold off on that for another post, soon to follow. 

Books in the Mail (W/E 2014-05-17)

Fiefdom (A Kingdom Novel) by Dan Abnett & Nik Vincent (Abaddon Books Paperback 07/08/2014) – This one takes a story begun in comic book format and spins into a prose novel. Genetic engineering, post apocalypse and military SF come together in this tale.

New York Times best selling author Dan Abnett is to write an original novel set in the world of his hit comics series Kingdom for legendary British comic book 2000 AD. Co-written with Nik Vincent, Fiefdom is set one hundred years after the events of Kingdom, in which a genetically engineered dog-soldiers fought giant marauding insects in a post-apocalyptic future.

The last of humanity has taken refuge in hibernation at the poles, hiding from the giant invading insects that have conquered the Earth. Defending these outposts against bug attacks are genetically engineered dog soldiers, loyal and unquestioning to the Masters' voices in their heads. At least they were, but things have changed on the Earth. The Masters voices have gone and a new peace has arrived in the northern hemisphere. The legend of a masterless rogue soldier from the distant South has spread, and in the new Fiefdoms of old Germany something very dangerous is about to happen.

In a not-too-distant future, amongst ruins in the the ancient city of Berlin the Aux's live in clans, fighting amongst themselves. Their ancient enemey, Them - giant marauding insects, are a folk memory. Young Evelyn War however will be the first to realise that this quiet is not what it seems, that the Auxs themselves, having been bred for hand-hand combat in a war long-thought to be over, and now idling violently in peace in the subways and collapsing buildings Europe, must set aside their petty hostilities if they are to face the battle to come. Evelyn is the only one to see the oncoming storm, but the clan leaders and her elders do not believe her warnings, and time is running short.

Cibola Burn (The Expanse #4) by James S.A. Corey (Orbit Hardcover 06/17/2014) – The 'upgrade' to hardcover indicates the boys known as Jimmy Corey have done quite well with these book, to say the least. I loved the first three and listed this one as a book I couldn’t wait to read when I was on the SF Signal podcast back in February.

ENTER A NEW FRONTIER.

"An empty apartment, a missing family, that's creepy. But this is like finding a military base with no one on it. Fighters and tanks idling on the runway with no drivers. This is bad juju. Something wrong happened here. What you should do is tell everyone to leave."

The gates have opened the way to a thousand new worlds and the rush to colonize has begun. Settlers looking for a new life stream out from humanity's home planets. Ilus, the first human colony on this vast new frontier, is being born in blood and fire.

Independent settlers stand against the overwhelming power of a corporate colony ship with only their determination, courage, and the skills learned in the long wars of home. Innocent scientists are slaughtered as they try to survey a new and alien world. The struggle on Ilus threatens to spread all the way back to Earth.

James Holden and the crew of his one small ship are sent to make peace in the midst of war and sense in the midst of chaos. But the more he looks at it, the more Holden thinks the mission was meant to fail.

And the whispers of a dead man remind him that the great galactic civilization that once stood on this land is gone. And that something killed it.

Two Serpents Rise (Craft Sequence #2) by Max Gladstone (Tor Trade Paperback 05/06/2014) – Second installment in Gladstone’s fantasy/legal thriller hybrid sequence and I see nothing but good things about these books. I now have all three and thanks to Max for sending me this one signed!.

In Two Serpents Rise by Max Gladstone, shadow demons plague the city reservoir, and Red King Consolidated has sent in Caleb Altemoc—casual gambler and professional risk manager—to cleanse the water for the sixteen million people of Dresediel Lex. At the scene of the crime, Caleb finds an alluring and clever cliff runner, Crazy Mal, who easily outpaces him. 

But Caleb has more than the demon infestation, Mal, or job security to worry about when he discovers that his father—the last priest of the old gods and leader of the True Quechal terrorists—has broken into his home and is wanted in connection to the attacks on the water supply.

From the beginning, Caleb and Mal are bound by lust, Craft, and chance, as both play a dangerous game where gods and people are pawns. They sleep on water, they dance in fire...and all the while the Twin Serpents slumbering beneath the earth are stirring, and they are hungry.

The Mirror Empire (Worldbreaker Saga #1) by Kameron Hurley (Angry Robots, Trade Paperback 09/02/2014) – When this book was announced in January, the books’s ranking in my want-to-read list steadily rose. I read and enjoyed God’s War and have been following the author on twitter for some time. She’s one of the best young voices in the genre today. Also, just look at that stunning cover.

From the award-winning author of God’s War comes a stunning new series…

On the eve of a recurring catastrophic event known to extinguish nations and reshape continents, a troubled orphan evades death and slavery to uncover her own bloody past… while a world goes to war with itself.

In the frozen kingdom of Saiduan, invaders from another realm are decimating whole cities, leaving behind nothing but ash and ruin. As the dark star of the cataclysm rises, an illegitimate ruler is tasked with holding together a country fractured by civil war, a precocious young fighter is asked to betray his family and a half-Dhai general must choose between the eradication of her father’s people or loyalty to her alien Empress.

Through tense alliances and devastating betrayal, the Dhai and their allies attempt to hold against a seemingly unstoppable force as enemy nations prepare for a coming together of worlds as old as the universe itself.

In the end, one world will rise – and many will perish.

File Under: Science Fiction

Cyador’s Heirs (The Saga of Recluce #17) by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. (Tor Hardcover 05/20/2014) – I read and enjoyed (a lot more than I expected, the 20th Anniversary of the first in the series last year so I’ve got just a wee bit of catching up to do.

Cyador's Heirs -- the new novel in L. E. Modesitt, Jr.'s New York Times bestselling Saga of Recluce.

Decades after the fall of Cyador, its survivors have reestablished themselves in Cigoerne, a fertile country coveted by hostile neighbors in less hospitable lands. Young Lerial, the second son of Duke Kiedron, lives in the shadow of his older brother Lephi, the heir to their father's realm. Lerial’s future seems preordained: He will one day command his brother’s forces in defense of Cigoerne, serving at his older sibling’s pleasure, and no more.

But when Lerial is sent abroad to be fostered by Major Altyrn to learn the skills and wisdom he will need to fulfill his future duties, he begins a journey into a much larger world that brings out his true potential. Lerial has talents that few, as yet, suspect: He is one of those rare beings who can harness both Order and Chaos, the competing natural forces that shape the world and define the magic that exists within it. And as war finally engulfs the fringes of Cigoerne, Lerial’s growing mastery of Order and Chaos is tested to its limits, and his own.

Exoprachia by Peter Watts (Tor Hardcover 08/24/2014) – Sequel to Watt’s highly popular Blindsight, which Mark reviewed back in 2006.

Prepare for a different kind of singularity in Peter Watts' Echopraxia, the follow-up to the Hugo-nominated novel Blindsight 

It's the eve of the twenty-second century: a world where the dearly departed send postcards back from Heaven and evangelicals make scientific breakthroughs by speaking in tongues; where genetically engineered vampires solve problems intractable to baseline humans and soldiers come with zombie switches that shut off self-awareness during combat. And it’s all under surveillance by an alien presence that refuses to show itself.

Daniel Bruks is a living fossil: a field biologist in a world where biology has turned computational, a cat's-paw used by terrorists to kill thousands. Taking refuge in the Oregon desert, he’s turned his back on a humanity that shatters into strange new subspecies with every heartbeat. But he awakens one night to find himself at the center of a storm that will turn all of history inside-out. 

Now he’s trapped on a ship bound for the center of the solar system. To his left is a grief-stricken soldier, obsessed by whispered messages from a dead son. To his right is a pilot who hasn’t yet found the man she's sworn to kill on sight. A vampire and its entourage of zombie bodyguards lurk in the shadows behind. And dead ahead, a handful of rapture-stricken monks takes them all to a meeting with something they will only call “The Angels of the Asteroids.”

Their pilgrimage brings Dan Bruks, the fossil man, face-to-face with the biggest evolutionary breakpoint since the origin of thought itself.