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I’m taking a leaf out of Tales of the Reading Room and having a look at a new list from The Times

Before I do that though here is a few words of introduction (please do read the rest):

Erica Wagner introduces The Times list of the Greatest British Writers Since 1945 - Times Online
Happy new year! What better way to start the year, we thought, than with an argument? Yes, I know that we here in Books aren’t usually thought of as pugnacious, but when we decided to present you — as our first offering for 2008 — with a ranking of whom we consider the best postwar British writers, we knew that at least some of you would surely be cross about something.

So really it’s more a jumping off point for discussion. It’s based on the biases of those compiling it just like competition prizes.

The 50 greatest British writers since 1945 - Times Online
1. Philip Larkin (not a good start)
2. George Orwell (I’ve half read 1984 does that count?)
3. William Golding (Never fancied children running around an island!)
4. Ted Hughes (his collection Crow is one of my all time faves)
5. Doris Lessing (I’m really should)
6. J. R. R. Tolkien (The Hobbit is much better than LOTR but there is no denying his influence)
7. V. S. Naipaul (Not For Me)
8. Muriel Spark (I Really Should)
9. Kingsley Amis (NTM)
10. Angela Carter (wonderful, absolutely amazing)
11. C. S. Lewis (loved the BBC adaptations but didn’t get into the novels)
12. Iris Murdoch (IRS)
13. Salman Rushdie (The Satanic Verses is ready and waiting)
14. Ian Fleming (what can you say he invented James Bond!)
15. Jan Morris (who?)
16. Roald Dahl (an amazing childrens writer)
17. Anthony Burgess (he’s ringing a bell)
18. Mervyn Peake (I need to start on page 1 and keep reading)
19. Martin Amis (meh)
20. Anthony Powell (who?)
21. Alan Sillitoe (who?)
22. John Le Carré (I should try him)
23. Penelope Fitzgerald (who?)
24. Philippa Pearce (who?)
25. Barbara Pym (who?)
26. Beryl Bainbridge (maybe)
27. J. G. Ballard (not sure what do read if I did?)
28. Alan Garner(I was forced to analyse The Owl Service and it killed any joy I had)
29. Alasdair Gray (who?)
30. John Fowles(who?)
31. Derek Walcott(one of my favourite poets but is someone born in St. Lucia British?)
32. Kazuo Ishiguro (NFM)
33. Anita Brookner (who?)
34. A. S. Byatt (NFM)
35. Ian McEwan (meh!)
36. Geoffrey Hill (IRS)
37. Hanif Kureishi (the screening of The Buddha of Suburbia caused a bit of stir but I’ve not read him)
38. Iain Banks (I didn’t really enjoy his first sci-fi novel but always willing to try again. Any suggestions?)
39. George Mackay Brown (again, who?)
40. A. J. P. Taylor (again, who?)
41. Isaiah Berlin (again, who?)
42. J. K. Rowling (hmmm alrite as she’s done more for the English language than anyone but Shakespeare)
43. Philip Pullman (tired him and didn’t like Northern Lights/Golden Compass)
44. Julian Barnes (NTM)
45. Colin Thubron (who?)
46. Bruce Chatwin (IRS)
47. Alice Oswald(IRS)
48. Benjamin Zephaniah (Not my kind of poet but he does a lot)
49. Rosemary Sutcliff (who?)
50. Michael Moorcock (I want to but where the heck to start?)

Well, I think this proves that this list isn’t my list but it does contain a few interesting names. I’d liked to have scene people like Arthur C Clarke, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Catherine Fisher or even Jaqualine Wilson mentioned. And I’m sure I could grab a few more poets off the shelves. But then this is a literary list, whatever literary means.

Anyone you think should have got a shout? What about an American list, who should be on that? Or writers in translation?

Tags: reading lists

Mark Chadbourn has become one of my favourite fantasy authors though for reasons unknown he doesn’t get the big buzz that some do.

It all started with his Age of Misrule trilogy which was followed by The Dark Age Series and now we have the Kingdom of the Serpent.

In the Age of Misrule all over the country the ancient gods of Celtic myth are returning to the land they left bringing with them Fabulous Beasts, shapeshifters, and Night Walkers. New champions are needed in this new age where blue fire has replaced electricity as the world turns away from turns away from technology. The Brothers and Sisters of Dragons have a quest to find four magical talismans that are needed to fight the powers of old.

What makes this start of the series special is the vivid imagination of Chadbourn. He not only reinterprets Celtic myths he reinvents them and reuses them in order to make them as real as a Fabulous Beast flying over head. The other thing he does well is give us characters who are flawed and who become heroes as they progress through the story.

Leaving behind this quest we move on to The Dark Age where people are adapting to this new way of life. Rather than a linked trilogy where each book leads from the last. The two I’ve read so far are separate tales though I’m sure there are subplots and interconnections that will make more sense when I’ve read the last one (is it just me that savors reading a series if I know that I’m not going to see a sequel any time soon?).

All this brings me to the Kingdom of the Serpent. I’ve just read the wiki entry and had goose pimples! Chadbourn is bringing back some of my favourite characters. I wonder how he’ll do it?

Well I better read Jack of Ravens, which was released in paperback in December. And The Burning Man is coming quick succession in hardback in February. Luckily if you want to start at the begining and you should. The first trilogy is sold as an omnibus for the bargain price of £9.99 (or £6.50 currently on Amazon). So no excuses really.

Tags: Gollancz, Mark Chadbourn, Missing from 2007

Here’s what I’m hoping is going to be a semi-regular feature of things that have caught my eye on other blogs.

Fantasy Book Critic got there first with a review Debatable Space, the debut by fellow south Walian, Philip Palmer. What did he have to say?

Philip Palmer’s “Debatable Space” is one heck of a trip. It’s ambitious, original, a self-contained story, laugh-out-loud funny, gleefully violent, and wildly unpredictable.

Tia (of Fantasy Debut) flexes her interviewing muscles by talking to Janet Lorimer about Master of Shadows.

Lots of people have been waving their proofs of Last Argument of Kings in the air including Graeme who’s already declared it his book of the year and I don’t think he was joking! As has Sandstorm Reviews and Wertzone. Why do I care? Nobody sent me one! Kidding. I have the feeling I’m missing out on something not having read any Joe Abercrombie yet.

Another writer that is coming up more and more is Sarah Salway mostly due to her being championed by Scott Pack and loved by Neil Gaiman. I wonder why it’s taking so long for Tell Me Everything to reach paper? I wonder if she’s another unappreciated writer? This is a topic I want to look at a little more I think but I’ll need some help. Who do you think is unappreciated?

More later.

Richard and Judy unveil their 2008 Book Club | News | Guardian Unlimited Books
Happy new years - financially speaking, at least - are in the offing for the 10 authors who found out today that they have been chosen by daytime TV supremos Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan for the couple’s 2008 Book Club.

Otherwise known as, Richard and Judy announce books that are going to sell shed-loads. R&J have lit fireworks under the literary book scene for the last few years generating a momentous increase in sales for the books selected. This year list is:

Blood River by Tim Butcher
A Quiet Belief In Angels by RJ Ellory
Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris
Notes From An Exhibition by Patrick Gale
The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
The Rose of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon
Random Acts of Heroic Love by Danny Scheinmann
Visible World by Mark Slouka

I’m sure they’re all quite enjoyable but none of them have lit me on fire. I’d like to read The Welsh Girl and Mister Pip but that’s a Welsh thing. I’m willing to be persuaded.

In other news:

Costa 2007 | Special Reports | Guardian Unlimited Books

The Costa book awards (formerly the Whitbreads)
have five categories - first novel, novel, biography, poetry and children’s book - and an overall winner (who receives £25,000) is chosen from the category winners.

What Was Lost by Catherine O’Flyn won the First Novel, which is quite exciting when you consider that it’s publisher is a small press.

That ends this literary interlude.

Tags: Book Awards, Literary

Seeing as it is the New Year I’ve been thinking about resolutions. I have one: READ MORE! But as I’ve said several times before, there is always more to read. Being more sensible I’m going to try and get at least one review up a week and hopefully if I have some thinner books I’ll get a couple posted. The real question is what types of books? Last year it was debuts and this year? I might have to think about that more. I am going to introduce more crime novels into the mix. I also have some catching up to do. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Anyway, here are the books that I’ve selected for reading this month:

Starting with Vellum by Hal Duncan. This is one of my catch-up books. I’m 20% in terms of pages read but in terms of story I have no idea. The story leaps through different places, times, versions but the more I’m reading the more it’s making sense. Hal Duncan has a wonderfully poetic writing style that resonates as themes and ideas are explored and the main players in the story emerge and their motivations are revealed. I’ll let you know how it all comes together.

I did promise Dave that In The Woods by Tana French would be next but it’s almost next. I’ll probably read it in parallel. I have mentioned it a couple of times before so I won’t say much more. Though I’ve just found her website here and details of her next book The Likeness. It looks like a sequel which doesn’t sound like a bad thing.

Back to catching up we have The Hounds of Avalon by Mark Chadbourn. The third book in The Dark Age trilogy. This time Chadbourn presents two friends, as different as night and day, who are charged with task to find the dreaming hero, King Arthur, before time runs out. I’ve really kept this one back far too long. I’m looking forward to seeing what surprises he’s held back to the climax of this part of the story. Look for a further Chadbourn post next week.

This turning into a debut month as the final two books are again new voices.  Debatable Space by Philip Palmer and The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes have both been mentioned a couple of posts back so I won’t repeat myself though I will say that Fantasy Book Critic got to Palmer first!

Well this is plan and if I read faster or get caught up in something this might change but that is the top of the pile as it stands.

Tags: Hal Duncan, Jonathon Barnes, Mark Chadbourn, Philip Palmer, reading lists, Tana French, This Month's Reading List

I’ve been reading the round-ups of the best of 2007 and it reminds me how many books I’ve missed.

Starting with one that slipped past me even though I was looking for it’s UK release. The Book of Joby by Mark J. Ferrari has had some fantastic reviews from Fantasy Book Critic, A Dribble of Ink, The Book Swede, Fantasy Debut to name a few. And the contents is right up my street with God and Lucifer betting on the Virtue of mankind.

‘ “The Book of Joby” is an epic fantasy complete in one large volume. Lucifer and God have entered, yet again, into a wager they’ve made before, but this time, the existence of creation itself is balanced on the outcome. Born in California during the twilight years of a weary millennium, nine-year-old Joby Peterson dreams of blazing like a bonfire against the gathering darkness of his time. Instead, he is subjected to a life of crippling self-doubt and relentless mediocrity inflicted by an enemy he did nothing to earn and cannot begin to comprehend. The angels watch Lucifer work virtually unhindered to turn Joby’s heart of gold into ash and stone. And so when he is grown to manhood, Joby’s once luminous love of life seems altogether lost, and Lucifer’s victory assured. What hope remains lies hidden in the beauty, warmth, and innocence of a forgotten seaside village whose odd inhabitants seem to defy the modern world’s most inflexible assumptions, and in the hearts of Joby’s lost youthful love and her emotionally wounded son. As the final struggle unfolds, one question occupies every mind in heaven and in hell. Which will prove stronger, love or rage? ‘

I’m going to have to catch it in paperback!

Tags: debut, Tor

Well as this is my first official post over at my new blog I thought I’d start with books that are appearing on the UK shelves in January either as brand new releases or paperback re-releases or for some other reason to make them worth mentioning.

Starting with a collection of tales by a master of the genre. Gollancz are releasing The Necronomicon: The Weird Tales of H.P Lovecraft. I’ve read a few stories by Lovecraft and this collection of just over 1000 pages looks likes it’s going to be a definite edition for new readers, fans and collectors. As a writer Lovecraft has a had an influence of some of my favourite writers like Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Charles Stross and his ideas have seeped into popular culture.

Next is the Black Swan paperback The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I’m not sure what to make of it. The blurb goes like this; ‘The story of a young German girl who steals books, of her family and the Jewish boxer hidden in their basement as they struggle to survive in Nazi Germany when the bombs begin to fall. ‘ The twist is that it’s narrated by Death. The other other novelist that personifies Death is Terry Pratchett even giving him his own series of Discworld Books. It seems that Mark’s take is very different. It’s had excellent and long reviews in a Guardian and Independent and depending on where it’s published is marketed at both the YA and adult audiences.

This paperback has had a long road to a paperback release. Back in Oct 2006 Penguin released The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters as a 10-book series of chapbooks before releasing the complete hardback in January 2007. What’s it about? ‘Miss Temple didn’t come to the city for an adventure - she came to find a husband. But, when her fiance, Roger Bascombe, threw her over for no reason, Miss Temple decided to find out why. Yet, following Roger to a masked ball (one with a most sinister purpose) will take Miss Temple very far from the respectable world she has always known.’ It’s had mixed reviews which is putting me off. I think I’m going to have to read a few pages to see if the writing is engaging.

Continuing my support of debuts here is one with a very dodgy cover. Die With Me by Elena Forbes. This time we move to crime and to a newish publisher Quercus. It’s had some good reviews here and here. What’s it about? ‘For fifteen year old Gemma it is already too late. Her body is found in the nave of a church in Ealing, west London. At first all the signs were that it was a suicide. But then the autopsy suggests it is not and Detective Inspector Mark Tartaglia and the Barnes murder squad are called in.For Tartaglia and his team it is just a matter of time before the tragedy repeats itself.’ I don’t read enough crime and enjoy it when I do plus the reviews are very positive.

Now this one I’ve picked up and put down so many times when I’ve been browsing my local bookstore. It’s calling to me. It might be the Western wanted poster effect cover or it might be that I have an unhealthy obsession with debut authors. I love the synopsis on Amazon, “‘Be warned. This book has no literary merit whatsoever. It is a lurid piece of nonsense, convoluted, implausible, peopled by unconvincing characters, written in drearily pedestrian prose, frequently ridiculous and wilfully bizarre. Needless to say, I doubt you’ll believe a word of it.’ So starts the extraordinary tale of Edward Moon, detective, his silent sidekick the Sonambulist and devilish plot to recreate the apocalyptic prophecies of William Blake and bring the British Empire crashing down. With a gallery of vividly grotesque characters, a richly evoked setting and a playful highly literate style this is an amazingly readable literary fantasy and a brilliant debut.’” The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes seems worth reading to find out how he mixes with William Blake vivid imagination.

The follow-up The Domino Men is also also being released by Gollancz this month, ‘A young man discovers a manuscript and so begins a bizarre tale that brings together his grandfather, every conspiracy theory you’ve ever heard about the royal family and the true story about where the power of Number 10 really lies. Readers of The Somnambulist may well recoginise the characters kept within a chalk circle in a cellar beneath Downing Street. With a gallery of vividly grotesque characters, a gleefully satiric take on modern life and a playful and highly literate style, this is an amazingly readable literary fantasy. In his sequel to the crazed Victoriana of The Somnambulist Jonathan Barnes brings his invention, reality, grotesquerie and curiosities bang-up-to-date.’ Which gives me more reason to read the first one.

Were now moving into space with Debatable Space by Philip Palmer a debut from Orbit. ‘Flanagan (who is, for want of a better word, a pirate) has a plan. It seems relatively simple: kidnap Lena, the Cheo’s daughter, demand a vast ransom for her safe return, sit back and wait. Only the Cheo, despotic ruler of the known universe, isn’t playing ball. Flanagan and his crew have seen this before, of course, but since they’ve learned a few tricks from the bad old days (being particularly bad if you happen to have been one of the myriad sons or daughters the Cheo let die rather than give in to blackmail) and since they know something about Lena that should make the plan foolproof, the Cheo’s defiance is a major setback. It is a situation that calls for extreme measures. Luckily, Flanagan has considerable experience in this area…’ There’s a great interview with Palmer over at The Book Swede.

I enjoyed reading Charles Stross (see here and here). They even made my books of the year. Halting State from Orbit has had some great reviews like this one from Chris and here. And if the cover wasn’t interesting enough here is the blurb, ‘It was called in as a robbery at Hayek Associates, an online game company. So you can imagine Sergeant Sue Smith’s mood as she watches the video footage of the heist being carried out by a band of orcs and a dragon, and realises that the robbery from an online game company is actually a robbery from an online game. Just wonderful. Like she has nothing better to do. But online entertainment is big business, and when the bodies of real people start to show up, it’s clear that this is anything but a game. For Sue, programmer Jack Reed, and forensic accountant Elaine Barnaby, the walls between the actual and the virtual are about to come crashing down. There is something very dangerous and very real going on at Hayek Associates, and those involved are playing for more than experience points. No cheats, no extra lives, no saving throw - make a wrong call on this one and it’ll be more than game over.’

Speaking of books by writers I enjoy, White Night by Jim Butcher is the ninth book in The Dresden Files released by Orbit. I’ve been playing catch up. Book reviewing is a double edged sword sometimes as I’m lucky enough to have a review copy of this but I’ve to catch up first. So if you see a disproportionate number of Dresden related reviews you know why. Harry Dresden is a wonderful creation. He has all this power but it’s mixed with a huge amount of compassion and a tendency for trouble to find him.

Moving into horror we have The Terror by Dan Simmons. It’s been drawing my attention for a while especially after it was reviewed by the Fantasy Book Critic and it made it into the book of the year list by Of Blog of the Fallen. It’s based on ‘real events’, ‘The men on board, Her Britannic Majesty’s Ships Terror and Erebus had every expectation of triumph. They were part of Sir John Franklin’s 1845 expedition - as scientifically advanced an enterprise as had ever set forth - and theirs were the first steam-driven vessels to go in search of the fabled North-West Passage. But the ships have now been trapped in the Arctic ice for nearly two years. Coal and provisions are running low. Yet the real threat isn’t the constantly shifting landscape of white or the flesh-numbing temperatures, dwindling supplies or the vessels being slowly crushed by the unyielding grip of the frozen ocean. No, the real threat is far more terrifying. There is something out there that haunts the frigid darkness, which stalks the ships, snatching one man at a time - mutilating, devouring. A nameless thing, at once nowhere and everywhere, this terror has become the expedition’s nemesis. When Franklin meets a terrible death, it falls to Captain Francis Crozier of HMS Terror to take command and lead the remaining crew on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. With them travels an Eskimo woman who cannot speak. She may be the key to survival - or the harbinger of their deaths. And as scurvy, starvation and madness take their toll, as the Terror on the ice become evermore bold, Crozier and his men begin to fear there is no escape…’

A Stephen King release is always something to look forward to and contrary to earlier reporst from the man himself he shows little sign of slowing down. Hodder & Stoughton have got a wonderful painted cover for the Duma Key and it explores the tortured of an artist, ‘DUMA KEY is the engaging, fascinating story of a man who discovers an incredible talent for painting after a freak accident in which he loses an arm. He moves to a ‘new life’ in Duma Key, off Florida’s West Coast; a deserted strip, part beach, part weed-tangled, owned by a patroness of the arts whose twin sisters went missing in the 1920s. Duma Key is where out-of-season hurricanes tears lives apart and a powerful undertow lures lost and tormented souls. Here Freemantle is inspired to paint the amazing sunsets. But soon the paintings become predictive, even dangerous. Freemantle knows the only way forward is to discover what happened to the twin sisters — and what is the secret of the strange old lady who holds the key? The story is about friendship, about the bond between a father and his daughter. And about memory, truth and art. It is also is a metaphor for the life and inspiration of a writer, and an exploration of the nature, power and influence of fiction.

And finally for now is the sequel to Vellum by Hal Duncan. Ink from Pan Books has had some great reviews like this one from Sandstorm Reviews and it made Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist’s Top Ten Books of 2007. I’m currently reading Vellum I’m enjoying Hal Duncan’s writing even if it’s not making that much sense yet due to the leaping narrative. It’s good to see that the next one is going to be worth reading.

This isn’t an exhaustive list but does give you a good idea of what attracts my attention. It does also give you some idea of the strength of writing that we have to look forward to in 2008

Tags: Bantam, Black Swan, Gollancz, Hodder & Stoughton, New Releases, news, Orbit, Pan Books, Paperbacks, Penguin, Quercus, Re-releases