NextRead

Let’s see. It’s coming up to Christmas so you might if you’re lucky have time to read or even luckier have someone that wants to buy you books or might want to treat yourself. Well there are a few that are gathering my interest.

Starting with a new favourite, Mr Charles Stross. Tor are issuing his The Merchant Princes series in the UK starting with The Family Trade. It’s fantasy this time with Knights on horseback wielding machine guns and world-skipping assassins. Though being prolific Mr Stross has another book out in January called Halting State from Orbit and it’s back to sci-fi but with the twist that it’s in the second person. And I’m hoping it”ll persuade me to like a second person narrator

This is a bit of a surprise release as when I last looked the Bram Stoker Award winning Dark Harvest by Norman Patridge wasn’t listed as a British release but it came out just in time for Halloween.

‘…he rises from the cornfields every Halloween, a butcher knife in his hand, and makes his way toward town, where gangs of teenage boys eagerly await their chance to confront the legendary nightmare. Both the hunter and the hunted, the October Boy is the prize in an annual rite of life and death.’

Sounds creepy to me.

Brian Aldiss has been asking, ‘Why are science fiction’s best writers so neglected?’ and he sounds a little bit bitter about the fact that only the time reviewed his latest novel, Harm. Strangely he fails to mention writers like Stephen Baxter, Iain M Banks and Peter F. Hamilton. But never mind he also has an anthology from Penguin called A Science Fiction Omnibus, it sounds like a good collection works from the last 65 years.

Speaking of science-fiction writers Light is now out in paperback. My only exposure so far to M. John Harrison is his collection of stories called, Things that Never Happened. As with most collections I’m only a few stories in but I’m intrigued enjoy to want to read something a little longer. Plus the synopsis sounds good:

‘On the barren surface of an asteroid, located deep in the galaxy beneath the unbearable light of the Kefahuchi Tract, lie three objects: an abandoned spacecraft, a pair of bone dice covered with strange symbols, and a human skeleton. What they are and what they mean are the mysteries explored and unwrapped in LIGHT, M. John Harrison’s triumphant return to science fiction.’

I’m a sucker for a good cover and here is a another great one from Gollancz. Black Man (Thirteen) by Richard Morgan is a wonderful graphic cover and by all accounts (see here, here and here) the contents isn’t bad either.

‘When a thirteen escapes from exile on Mars and apparently goes on an insane killing spree, Carl Marsalis, a soul-weary freelance thirteen hit man, is hired to help track him down. Morgan goes beyond the SF cliché of the genetically enhanced superman to examine how personality is shaped by nature and experience’

Garth Nix’s Abhorsen Trilogy is one of my all time faves and with Across the Wall he returns briefly to the Old Kingdom as well as tales based on the Arthurian legend, a war story, a western, a traditional tale with a twist and a hilarious choose- your- own- adventure spoof. I’m still waiting to dive into the Keys of the Kingdom:

‘Arthur Penhaligon is not supposed to be a hero. He is supposed to die. But then he finds a key, discovers a mysterious house and meets the sinister Mister Monday… Prepare for seven breathtaking adventures as Arthur fights to save his world.’

And finally, for now, what is turning into a British institution,  Schott’s Almanac. It’s a wonderfully eclectic mix of Britishness (or German or Americanness depending on the edition). Packed full of useless, and not so useful but no less interesting information. Great to dip into at anytime of the year.

Tags: reading lists