NextRead

So there might be a few bugs. Will be back to normal soon.

Edit:

Software seems stable…

Title: HeartSick
Author: Chelsea Cain
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 3 August 2007
Price: £10.00
Review Copy

I said in a recent review that plotting takes practice and I want to know where Chelsea Cain took her lessons. Heart Sick is more than a catch-the-killer detective story. It plays with your mind.

What would happen if the serial killer you were chasing captured you and then tortured you for ten days before calling 911 and giving herself up just in time to save your life?

How would you cope if after two years a reporter shadows you and asks you questions about secrets that only you and your torturer share as another person is killing young girls and you’re running out of time?

I’m seriously impressed by how Cain explores these ideas. Not only does she put the reader in minds of the Archie, she also shows us him through the eyes of a reporter, at the same time as keeping up the pace on an investigation into a serial killer.

It’s just one more chapter reading until you come to the twisted end, which isn’t even where the ending should be. You need to know what comes next. Cain is a perfect poker player laying out the right cards at the right time but giving nothing away.

Cain has left plenty of scope to explore the strange (sick) relationship between Gretchen and Archie in a sequel.

It can’t all be good right? If I was being picky I could say something about the lack of development time for the secondary characters but that only because the pace doesn’t let up and Cain has made them interesting enough to want to know more about them and I hope they appear again in a future book.

Cain’s kicked off her career with a sky high performance. They don’t get much better than this.

Tags: 10/10, reading lists

BBC NEWS | Business | Borders sells its UK book stores
Book chain Borders is selling its UK and Republic of Ireland stores to private equity group Risk Capital Partners for an initial $20m (£10m).

I wonder what these means? Borders is my favourite bookshop. I guess I’ll have to wait and see.

Edit to add a bit more meat on the bones above.

C4 chairman rescues Borders bookshops | News | Guardian Unlimited Books
Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson has emerged as the surprise buyer of Borders, Britain’s third-largest books retailer.

Title: Already Dead
Author: Charlie Huston
Publisher: Orbit
Published:
Price: £6.99
Review Copy

There are writers you slip into and writers you have to work at and Charlie Huston is as smooth as warm butter. I was hooked from the opening line, ‘I smell them before I see them’. That’s how we’re introduced to the Vampyre and P.I. Joe Pitt though he doesn’t have a licence and I don’t think they have a licence for what he does.

In this series opener, Already Dead, he has to find a missing girl who just happens to have very rich parents and likes hanging out in places where 14-yeard old girl shouldn’t go. He also has a mess to clear up. And people aren’t making it easy for him.

It’s a compulsive read. He’s created a believable underworld of Manhattan where Vampyre clans have carved-up the island and have ways of keeping their existence out of the sunlight. One of those ways is Pitt.

Huston doesn’t let up with the action but still manages to slip in moments of reflection from Pitt’s recent and not so recent history. For a blood feasting Vampyre Pitt has a quite a heart.

I sucked this book dry and I’m craving my next fix.

Tags: 10/10, noir

Title: Murder Most Fab
Author: Julian Clary
Publisher: Ebury Press
Published: 16 August 2007
Price: £16.99
Review Copy

The first thing you notice about Julian Clary’s debut novel, Murder Most Fab, is the bright pink cover. It lights up shelf. If you want a book to standout then this is the way to go and as its author isn’t known for being subtle it suites him perfectly. The question is how does the cover match the contents of the book?

I have mixed feelings about MMF. It wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought it was going to a light-hearted, joke-ridden-romp through the life of a TV star from rising star to fallen angel. But instead we have an outrageous exploration of fame that sucks the life out of someone who can’t escape his first love and has no way out of the life he lives.

The whole book is Jonny D’s retelling of his rise and fall. His life as a country boy who turns to prostitution in London and then finds fame on children’s TV. This though cannot be done without the help of enough coke to keep his audience high for life, lots of man-on-man sex and a few unfortunate deaths alone the way.

It’s a fun read. The voice of Jonny is enjoyable and easy to get on with. The writing is clean and crisp giving enough information to keep everything moving along, not lingering on the sticky details, with just enough of a flavour so you know what’s going on.

For me it’s let down slightly in some of the stranger plot twists and turns but I’ll forgive that for the emotional journey that Clarey took me on. And I’m always more forgiving of first novels than ones by more seasoned writers. Plotting takes practice.

It’s not going to win any literary prizes but it’s a surprisingly fun way to spend an evening or two. It’s also an interesting commentary from the other side on the realities of celebrity as what you see isn’t really what you get. And if I was Jonny I’d have pushed Catherine off a bridge round about page 181.

As Mr Clary can definately write and has a way with words I have high hopes that he’ll florish even more with his next book.

Tags: 7/10

There’s more. To be honest there is always more. But these look like good reads. I’ve got some and some are waiting on my Amazon.co.uk wishlist.

If is a current theme in my reading it has to be life and death and how to avoid dying. In The Dreaming Void they have several ways of avoiding it from digitising themselves, using bionic enhancements to genetic resequencing. The Electric Church offers the chance salvation set in a world that has enforced Unification tearing down national border and governments though everything may not be as it seems. This looks like a promising debut. Jeff Somers is interviewed here and The Electric Church already has reviews in The Guardian, and Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist plus there’ll be a review in this parish soonish thanks to Orbit.

Speaking of living forever The Waking is a debut thriller where Dr Nate Sheehan is brought back to life sixty four years after his murder in a body from a mysterious donor. A journalist blows the cover on this sensational story which threatens to explose the identity of the donor and unravel the truth behind Sheehan’s murder. It has a great quote from Mo Hayder - ‘Riveting. Think Tess Gerritsen meets Philip K. Dick.’ It also just a great review in SFX. Look for a review here soon thanks to Pan.

There are a few more debuts to mention.

Heart Sick by Chelsea Cain come to my attention via Fantasy Book Critic. And it does sound a little too dark for me so I’m apprehensive about reading it. I’m a fan of crime fiction with pre-Blow Fly Cornwell, and John Connolly a couple of my faves. Though they seem tame compared to the promise here. Getchen Lowell inflicted ten days of psychological and physical torture on the detective who was hunting her before handing herself in. Two years later the same detective needs Lowell’s help to catch killer. Very Silence of the Lambs. They’re be a review of this too. Thanks to Pan again.

Back to fantasy with The Name of the Wind. This debut by Patrick Rothfuss has just won a Quill Book Award in the Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror category. Not a bad start to a career. There’s a review again on Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist. Aidan Moher seems to be his biggest fan with lots and lots of related posts on his blog including an interview. Part one is here. His review says:

“Fans of typical High Fantasy full of sword fighting, action, huge battles and liberal use of magic may be disappointed in The Name of the Wind, but those looking for a deep, character driven look into the early days of a legend in the making, will find something to be excited about.”

Though part of me is wondering how many starts to new fantasy sequences can one reader take?

I saw a review this morning that had me almost driving to Borders at lightning speed. It was for Something Borrowed by Paul Magrs. It has a fun slightly retro cover. This seems like a sequel to Never the Bride. At least I hope it is otherwise I’ve ordered the wrong one. What got so excited? I’m just going to share the blurb:

“Brenda has had a long and eventful life and she has come to Whitby to run a B&B in search of some peace and quiet. She and her best friend Effie like nothing better than going out for tea at the Walrus and the Carpenter or dinner at Cod Almighty and keeping their eyes open for any of the mysterious goings on in town. And what with satanic beauty salons, more than illegal aliens, roving psychic investigators and the frankly terrifying owner of the Christmas Hotel there are no shortage of nefarious shenanigans to keep them interested. But the oddest thing in Whitby may well be Brenda herself. With her terrible scars, her strange lack of a surname or the fact that she takes two different shoe sizes, Brenda should have known that people as, well, unique as she is, just aren’t destined for a quiet life.”

I know that it’s the execution that makes things work but oh my there is a lot of promise here. The other point is that I want to know how it compares to a novel-in-progress my mate has been writing about a place, Westwell, which has some similar strange things going on. On a slow boat from Amazon.

Here is another series that’s picking up massive speed and due to a recent cover revamp I’m getting swung towards it though ships and dragons aren’t really my thing. Temeraire by debut writer Naomi Novik has just won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer for best new science fiction writer of 2006. And there are three more available for you to tuck into right now. If you’re quick you can also win a set here if you live in North America.

Speaking of award winners another debut that has been making waves is out in paperback in the UK this week. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn won the CWA New Blood Fiction Dagger 2007 a prize that The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam probably should have been up for.

The Judges’ comments:

‘This was a novel characterized by its vivid and poetic writing. A superb sense of character with an imaginative treatment of the reasons for and the problems of self-harm.’

There is also a quote from Stephen King on the cover. Looking like she’s an author to watch. On a slow boat from Amazon.

And finally we have The Jennifer Morgue by the prolific Charles Stross. I love the description on its Wiki page ‘The stories are Lovecraftian spy thrillers involving a secret British intelligence agency known as “The Laundry”, which deals with occult events and technology.‘ I loved The Atrocity Archives and I have high hopes for the next episodes. Look for review thanks to Orbit.

There’s more but those will do for now.

Tags: reading lists

There’s been an explosion of Book Blogs on my reading list over the summer and thank god for Google Reader otherwise I’d never keep up. And if you haven’t looked down the sidebar for a while I thought I’d give some of them a shoutout. I can’t list everyone but I hope these will get you started. There is wonderful wide range of tastes here so you should find a couple of dozen books to read each month.

Firstly there is John Self’s Asylum, which always has a surprising selection of literary titles. Then we have dovegreyreader who now has a book deal for a book about reading. Both are currently helping me decide if I’m going to be reading anything from this years Booker selection.

Moving on we have someone after my own heart, Fantasy Debut has a whole host of new voices in fantasy that you might want to check out. Speaking of fantasy there are a bunch of brilliant reviewers including (and this is in no way an inclusive list) Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review, Fantasy Book Critic, Bookie Monster, Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, The Book Swede & His Blog, and there are more great ones on the sidebar but that’ll overload you for now.

Other people I have to mention are Katie’s Reading, Booklit, the kingfisher scrapbook (who is slowly tackling the booker) and finally, well not finally are there are still more great ones, the original reviewer who got me into the whole book blog scene Books Wot I Have Read.

Tags: reading lists

Title: Blood Kin
Author: Ceridwen Dovey
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Published: 12 July 2007
Price: £10.99
Review Copy 

Blood Kin is a depressing novel. The story starts from the view points of a President’s barber, chef and portrait artist who are being held captive in the President’s Summer Residence after a coup in an unnamed country where the President has been has been replaced by the Commander. 

None of the characters are likeable from those mentioned above to his barber’s brother’s fiancé, his chef’s daughter and his portraitist’s wife, each of whom tells a part of the story from their own point of view. 

The technique of interweaving chapters from varying points of view makes for an interesting exploration of the situation, which is not as simple as it first appears. They are more than a barber, chef and portrait artist. Their lives are intertwined with the President though not in ways that you’d immediately imagine.

Because it is such a dark novel it’s hard to find any enjoyment from it. It is a not a novel read for entertainment. This is a novel of exploration. It is a novel of power and corruption and those who are attracted to it, their motivations and the lies they delude themselves with. 

For all it’s bleakness it’s still worth reading as Dovey manages to build a story where each of these characters is revealed as creatures to pity as well as despise. They are in some ways victims of circumstances who seem to have no choice but to follow the path laid out for them.

Though if I do have one reservation it does seem a little too fantastical in parts especially some of the ways their lives come together. But then people of power aren’t that grounded in reality.

Overall, Dovey is an intelligent storyteller who delves a little too deep into darkness to make this entertaining though it is a thoughtful and haunting novel which makes me think of Evita without all the singing and dancing.

20070828 02, originally uploaded by abrinsky.

Gollancz has posed a question for readers with its latest promotion. It has re-released and re-jacketed eight bestselling novels and asked are they Future Classics?

They are:

Richard Morgan, Altered Carbon
Greg Egan, Schild’s Ladder
Alastair Reynolds, Revelation Space
Christopher Priest, The Separation
Paul McAuley, Fairyland
Dan Simmons, Hyperion
Greg Bear, Blood Music
Stephen Baxter, Evolution

Strangely, though it might not be strange considering the amount of the books that are out there, I’ve only read Revelation Space (great book), another book by Greg Bear (Darwin’s Radio) but not Blood Music and I’ve got Altered Carbon. Most of the others I’ve heard of.

One month after launch it seems to have caused a little controversy over at Torgue Control due in part to the lack of women in the selection. It makes for interesting reading especially the comments from Simon (the editor) on some of the choices made.

He also takes part in an interview over at uksfbooknews.net:

“The key thing for us is that the vast majority of those readers will be new to each author, perhaps even to the genre itself – the promotion is all about getting these books displayed in ways or in places they may not have been before. Once that has happened we can, I think, rely on the covers being eye-catching; hopefully that will get the books brought and then the respective writers have a chance of their own writing winning them new readers.”

And they are eye-catching. Each cover relies on the wordless cover to attract the reader if they’re in their stand or on tables or front facing. But not only are the covers wordless they have unique features.For example Evolution is fury and Fairlyland has rainbow ink in the veins.

The other thing about the covers is that they are designed to attracted not only new readers to each author but also readers who are usually put off by their usual genre covers. I could quite happily be seen reading these, but then I don’t mind being seen reading the children’s covers of Harry Potter.

Each title is selected as a classical example of each of the authors. So next time I’m in the mood for some sci-fi this looks like a good place to start.

Though stocks are limited to the promotion so once they’re gone they’re gone!

Tags: reading lists, Scf-Fi

Title: The Dreaming Void
Author: Peter F. Hamilton
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 3 August 2007
Price: £17.99
Review Copy

I don’t know where to start. Really. Peter F. Hamilton has a packed a universe into a 600 pages and I’m surprised that the books aren’t spontaneously exploding on the shelves.

There is a Void in space that is more deadly than a black hole. There are humans who think that the Void is a Nirvana due to the dreams of Inigo who has shown billions the life inside the Void.

The Dreaming Void centres on those supporting a Pilgrimage to the Void and those who don’t. Hamilton grounds the story through a pair of characters, one each side of the Void, whilst agents of the factions search for the missing Inigo and the mysterious Second Dreamer.

What amazes me is how Hamilton keeps all the characters in play, just when you’re getting used to one and falling into their rhythm he swaps to someone else. This makes for a challenging read but as you progress you can see all the pieces being moved into place. And the story ends with the board set for whatever comes next and a revelation that asks more questions than it answers.

Throughout the story it also makes references to and brings back characters from an earlier two-part story which happened a thousand years ago and is retold in Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained. As I’ve not yet read them I didn’t feel there was any obvious gaps though I have the feeling that I’ll have a few revelations once I have.

The Dreaming Void is set in an amazing imaging of the future of the human race. It’s complex and challenging but has huge moments of satisfaction throughout. If you like your science fiction to explore what it is to be human with all our potential and our weaknesses and enjoys seeing new worlds and technology you’ll love Part One of The Void Trilogy. If you like your narratives to follow a more linear path this maybe a little too in-depth to be satisfactory.

I personally am now integrated into the worlds of the Commonwealth and can’t wait to see what happens next.

Tags: Scf-Fi