NextRead

Now I’m moving to all the posts that are scarcely piling up in my RSS reader (NetNewsWire or FeedDemon depending if I’m on the mac or the PC). So what follows is probably in the order in which it appears in the list. Though I’m skipping all the art related blogs I like (though if you are interested visit 638ways.co.uk).

Kicking off with the Hugo Awards 2008 shortlist. I’m going to to stick to the Best Novel Category as I’ve not been keeping track on what shorter fiction has been around. I guess the other nominees would be a good place to start. Anyway the nominations for Best Novel are:

• The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins, Fourth Estate)
• Brasyl by Ian McDonald (Gollancz; Pyr)
• Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer (Tor; Analog Oct. 2006-Jan/Feb. 2007)
• The Last Colony by John Scalzi (Tor)
• Halting State by Charles Stross (Ace)

John Scalzi only came to my attention recently when The Ghost Brigades arrived in the post. Then Tor released Old Man’s War as an e-book as part of their current promotion and now the third book in the sequence is a nominee. So I might be cracking open The Ghost Bridges sooner than I thought. I’ve never read any Robert J. Sawyer and I can’t remember hearing about Rollback which seems to concern receiving alien messages. Halting State has been getting dust for far too long and the other two I may or may not pick up in paperback as I’ve read some fabulous reviews of both. Chadon has the slight edge as he’s a crossover writer appealing to be both literary and genre fans.

Via SF Signal (thanks) I’m sticking with award winners. This time the British Science Fiction Assocication Awards where Gollancz’s Brasyl by Ian McDonald just won Best Novel.

Swinging back to Charles Stross as SF Signal has a review of Glasshouse and says, ‘I’d have to say that Glasshouse is one of the best books I’ve read this year’. Sounds like they enjoyed it. And they’ve also dipped into Halting State saying, ‘The first thing you’ll notice when reading Halting State is that the entire book is written in the second person. This can be rather odd, as Stross changes characters every chapter and ‘you’ change gender frequently.’ Which is one of the reasons I’ve been putting off reading it,

Via UK SF Book News we’re back to awards as Nova Swing by M. John Harrison won the Philip K. Dick Award.

I’m skipping on OF Blog of the Fallen for a minute as there is a mass debate (no rude jokes please) on the nature of reviewing and it’s not something I can skim read.

Dovegreyreader reminds me often that there is more than genre fictions out there and she’s made a wonderful small post about short-stories thanks to a pile of books from small press publisher Salt.

Skimming past Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist Post entitled, I’m the EasyJet or Southwest Airlines of SFF book reviewing!;-) , I’m moving on to the review of The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia. I’d like to read more books that make places characters. Phil Rickman does it in his Merrily Waktins series and Neil Gaiman has certainly done it, as has China Meiville. So it’s good to see Moscow getting explored. The final verdict off Pat, ‘Do yourself a favor and read this one!’ So I will.

If I was braver I’d probably read Neuropath by Scott Baker, but I’m not. Especially after reading this bit in Pat’s review, ‘Tom is caught in a terrifying downward spiral as Neil kidnaps and mutilates people with a connection to him. He manipulates their brains, leaving them altered in ways that will shock some people’. But if you’re brave enough check out the rest of the review.

Tia over at Fantasy Debut is Looking for that Sense of Wonder and after reading her post I tend to agree. Though Mark Chadbourn (yep him again) does quite often make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

John Self over at The Asylum reminds me that I really should delve into the depths of the classic and previously published and he as a few words on reissued classics when he looks at The Assistant by Robert Walser.

Tia reminded me and Robert reviewed, Happy Hour of the Damned by Mark Henry (though its UK release isn’t until the 14 June 2008) so I’m hoping I don’t forget about by then.

Next on the list is Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review who, as it happens, has just celebrated one year in blogging and may he have many many more - as long as he doesn’t get crushed to death by a falling stack of review copies first.

Graeme’s also happened to review Happy Hour of the Damned saying, ‘It’s an irreverent and fun read that has got me waiting impatiently for the sequel ‘Road Trip of the Living Dead’’. As an aside I’m also reading Cell, which is a Stephen King take on zombies or so it seems from the first few gruesome but intriguing pages. Speaking of zombie he also managed to see Diary of the Dead which has disappeared from my local cinemas faster than £50 note on a pavement.

Hallelujah, I know now what The Name of the Wind is actually about. The whole thing is making a bit more sent thanks to Graeme’s enlightening synopsis.

The bouncy Book Swede, Chris, has reviewed Procession of the Dead by D.B. Shan. He seems to come to the conclusion that it’s good but not great due to a couple of flaws in both characterisation and exposition. Still sounds worth reading.

Kimbofo at Reading Matters has a review of The Ghost by Robert Harris. Robert Harris is one of those writers that you feel you ought to read but seems a little bit too big to actually do it. It seems that The Ghost is a good one to read and has erased any doubts that Robert Harris is a writer for her.

My film of the year last year had to be the magical Stardust based on the illustrated story, now novel, by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess. So it’s good to see that Katie’s Reading enjoyed the original novel and recommends reading both the book and seeing the film in any order you like.

Daren at The Genre Files has a couple of recommended reads. Being connected Darren managed to get hold of a copy of Richard Morgan’s The Steel Remains, something us mere mortals have to wait until August to read. But by the sounds of it Morgan’s first fantasy novel after some very successful sci-fi novels will be well worth the wait. It’s a very thorough review and worth reading. The interesting point for me was. ‘The Steel Remains is one of the darkest, most intense epic fantasy novels I’ve read to-date. I also think it’s a fantasy novel that doesn’t so much transcend as extend the genre, into the sort of thematic territory that the majority of fantasy writers wouldn’t even consider going anywhere near.’ He also has good words for the debut Black Ships by Jo Graham. Which is reassuring after reading Robert’s review. It was also released under the Librarything Early Reviewer programme. Not that I can get into the Librarything thing but it seems to be working as Black Ships also has a review by an Librarything early reviewer Fyrefly.

booklit reminds me that there is still an Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction.

In my last post I mentioned that covers are slowly going more painterly and Grimspace by Anne Aguirre falls into that category and according to Grasping for the Wind it also falls into ‘pure entertainment’.

I think that just about covers it. In part 3 I’ll be catching up with other stuff. And maybe wade into the review thing that’s in the air.

This is going to be a little random and maybe a little long but I have a lot of catching up to do.

He’s the plan so far. In this post I’m going to try and catch up with this months releases and highlights, leaning quite heavily on Robert aka Fantasy Book Critic so I hope he doesn’t mind too much. Then I’ve got a stack of book-o-sphere/RSS/Newsgator feeds-type catch up do to. And I want to mention a few books and publishers who’ve got in contact with me and then hopefully I’ll have cleared some of the backlog. That’ll keep me going for the next few posts at least. And then I should get to the books I’ve been pecking away at reading.

Deep breath. Here we go.

It’s not often I see Stephen King getting a blog review so it was nice to see Duma Key getting a positive review on Fantasy Book Critic. I’m a little behind on Mr King (aren’t I always) but this one might slip past the ones I already have waiting so I can experience, ‘Just like the ending of The Sixth Sense, readers will want to go back and read “Duma Key” to search for the clues they missed, as well as to re-read the segments that slapped them in the face with starkness.’

Sticking with Fantasy Book Critic. He has a wonderful and extensive round-up of March’s releases (I know we’re past the middle of March).

There a few books that stand-out for me. Kay Keyon is writing four novels called the The Entire and The Rose Quartet. The second book called A World Too Near is getting its US release both from Pyr. I missed the release of the first one, Bright of the Sky, in the UK last September (though it’s had a large format paperback release this month and I didn’t even know that Pyr released books over here.) SFReviews have a wonderful reviews of both Bright of the Sky (review by Sci-Fi.com) and A World Too Near (review by Sci-Fi.com) . The bit that caught my eye was the universe that Keynon has created:

The Entire is an artificial universe created by the Tarig, a curious humanoid race who have peopled their creation with engineered duplicates of species from natural universes like our own, which they call the Rose. The Entire itself beggars easy description. It is like a landscape of sorts that spans galactic distances and even possesses the radial shape of a spiral galaxy. It is bordered on its sides by roiling curtains of ineffable exotic matter, and above by a sky that never darkens. The Tarig rule their subject species like the despots they are. Only they possess the ability to communicate across the Entire’s vast radial arms, the primacies. And they control the most important means of travel, achieved with vessels piloted by beings called navitars that journey a river, the Nigh, made of yet more exotic matter.
Extract from Bright of Sky review on SFReviews

Darren Shan is a writer that has never really appealed to me, basically the covers didn’t appeal to me or present the type of thing that I can see myself reading. Now Darren Shan has morphed into D.B Shan to present The City Trilogy to older (more adult?) readers. He starts with Procession of the Dead:

‘The first volume in a noirish, gritty urban fantasy for adults from the bestselling author otherwise known as Darren Shan. Quick-witted and cocksure, young upstart Capac Raimi arrives in the City determined to make his mark. As he learns the tricks of his new trade from his Uncle Theo — extortion, racketeering, threatening behaviour — he’s soon well on his way to becoming a promising new gangster. Then he crosses paths with The Cardinal, and his life changes forever. The Cardinal is the City and the City is The Cardinal. They are joined at the soul. Nothing moves on the streets, or below them, without the Cardinal’s knowledge. His rule is absolute. As Capac begins to discover more about the extent of the Cardinal’s influence on his own life he is faced with hard choices. And as his ambition soars ever higher he will learn all there is to know about loss, and the true cost of ultimate power’!

I might actually give these a go! Sounds up my street. Released by HarperVoyager

Speaking of things up my street. I do have more than a glancing knowledge of tarot cards so it’s interesting to see a novel based around them. The Magician and the Fool by Barth Anderson:

Two fallen scholars vie for control over the earliest known tarot deck, and find themselves in a battle with a force beyond their reckoning. One homeless man with an unspeakable gift hides in the shadows from an unknown enemy and wrestles with the riches and horrors that true power bestows. One ancient and mysterious document holds secrets that should never be spoken. All converge in one explosive fate that exposes what real magic actually means, and shows us what true sacrifice entails.

The other plus point is that I’m having a pull towards more historical novels. So this book seems to mix both interests. US import released by Bantam.

There are a few more that caught my eye.

The Dark Lantern by Gerri Brightwell:

A fascinating portrayal of a vanished England as well as an unconventional mystery, The Dark Lantern exposes the grand “upstairs” of a Victorian home and the darker underbelly of its servants’ quarters. The clash between the classes makes for a suspenseful novel of mistaken identities, intriguing women, and dangerous deceptions.

I can’t seem to find any enlightening reviews of this one, so I’m looking forward to, hopefully, seeing some soon. US import published by Crown.

The Reef by Mark Charan Newton

I have to say that I’m not overly convinced by the synopsis as I can’t quite grasp what’s going on. But it seems to involve water and ancient technology so I’ll go with that. The real reason why The Reef stands out is that Mark Charan Newton has just signed a two-book deal with Macmillan/Tor UK. So the lad has something (and yes he’s a lad as he’s the tender age of 26). He also has a series of posts called Road to Publication that are worth checking out. Mark’s debut is released by Pendragon Press.

The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton is getting it’s US release this month courtesy of Del Rey. This is quite exciting as it’s usually the other way around and us Brits have to wait for (and in my case usually miss) books that have been out in America for quite a while. I really enjoyed reading The Dreaming Void when I reviewed it last year and I hope it’ll pick up Hamilton a few more us fans.

The next two books show how behind I am as the wonderful Fantasy Book Critic has already passed judgement but that’s not stopping me from mentioning them.

The Lost Ones by Christopher Golden.

I have to say that I’ve never registered Christopher Golden but I’m going to forgive myself as he’s not yet, as far as I can tell, had a major UK release. Which seems a shame considering that The Lost Ones brings to a close The Veil trilogy and it follows on from The Myth Hunters (Flames Rising Review) and The Borderkind (SciFi.com review). Why is it a shame? From the looks of it Golden plays with myth and reality another love of mine (do I love too many things?). You can find Fantasy Book Critic’s review of The Lost Ones, plus links the other reviews and a Bonus Q&A with with author here. US import published by Bantam Spectra

Poison Sleep by T.A. Pratt

Covers in the US seem to be getting a bit more painterly these days and are quite stunning and it wasn’t until I saw the cover of Blood Engines that I remembered about seeing T.A Pratt before. I’m the same with people. I can remember a face 100 times easier than I can a name. I think in some ways I do judge a book by its cover. Poison Sleep is second book of what looks to be a four-part series based on Marla Mason and slightly worryingly the Marlaverse. The taste of cheese doesn’t quite end there as the bit of the blurb from Blood Engines that I love is:

A rival is preparing a powerful spell that could end Marla’s life — and, even worse, wreck her city. Marla’s only chance at survival is to boost her powers with the Cornerstone, a magical artifact hidden somewhere across the country in San Francisco. But when she arrives in the pretty white city by the bay, she finds the quest isn’t quite as simple as she’d expected… and that some of the people she’d counted on for help are dead.

Both books have a lot of praise from FBC, ‘both terrific reads and if Tim can keep it up with the next couple of books, then the Marla Mason series will be one of the first that I recommend to readers wanting to discover great urban fantasy…’ And I’m sure they aren’t as cheesy as I imagine them to be. US import published by Bantam Books.

Moving on from the Fantasy Book Critic, at least for a while, with a few UK releases that caught my eye:

It’s not very often that I see a book that I just have to read ASAP. Well it happened last year with Never the Bride by Paul Magrs and now his second book, Something Borrowed, on the adventures of Brenda is out in paperback. I wonder what will happen in the quiet little town of Whitby this time? It’s waiting patiently in my Amazon basket for payday.

Kelly Armstrong is another Urban Fantasy writer that I need to get into. I’ve read Bitten, the first novel in her The Otherworld series before stalling. Have I mentioned that I don’t like getting into things halfway through? As much as I enjoyed it. Werewolves just don’t get me going. I will read Stolen. I wonder if it’s safe to skip to Dime Store Magic, where the narrator changes to Paige, but she also features in Stolen. Dilemma. Anyway the reason for mentioning Kelly Armstrong is that books seven and eight are now out. No Humans Involved gets a paperback release after coming out in hardback and Personal Demon has a hardback release. It shows something of the appeal of Armstrong that she gets a two-stage release schedule. It looks Jeremy from Bitten is still around in No Humans Involved where necromancer Jamie Vegas looks into the darker side of LA calling on her personal angel, Eve and a chaos demon to investigate the things that keep haunting her as she sees them in the corner of her eye and hears fragments whispered in her ear. Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review has a review and it seems like he got a taste for more. Both books are presented by the wonderful people at Orbit.

I have a soft spot for a good cover design and one that keeps grabbing my attention is Swiftly by Adam Roberts. I loved his third book, Stone, where the narrator tells a rock about his life and crimes and how he came to be imprisoned in an unescapable prison. And it is one of the best works of sci-fi I’d read. I’ve tried to get into his first and second books, Salt and On, but they are so different that they didn’t click. Back to Swiftly, the blurb says, ‘A rip-roaring 19th century adventure, a love story and a thought-provoking pre-atomic SF novel about our place in the universe’ and ‘Wellsian sequel to Gulliver’s Travels and a unique piece of SF literature all of its own’. Never a man to have small ideas is Roberts. Released by Gollancz

And finally for part one I’ve just spotted a new book and a new series on Amazon by Garth Nix. It has the title of The Fall (The Seventh Tower). The synopsis says:

Tal is getting ready for the Day of Ascension – a day when all the 13-year-old Chosen from the Castle of Seven Towers enter the spirit world of Aenir. Then his father disappears with the family’s Primary Sunstone. Without it, Tal cannot enter Aenir and bind himself to a Spiritshadow – a guardian being, both protector and friend.
Tal tries to steal a Sunstone, but during his act of thievery is thrown off the Castle of Seven Towers by a powerful Spiritshadow Keeper. He falls down to the iceworld below, where he is captured by Icecarls. To save his life, he must team up with Milla – a Shield-Maiden-in-training – and offer his aid to the nomads. Which complicates his task immeasurably…

Now this sounds like my sort of book and if it’s told with any of the care and skill that Nix used on The Old Kingdom series I’m going to be more than happy. Oh, I found a review of it here. Released by HarperCollins Children’s.

In part two, I’m going to be taking a look at what’s been happening in the book-o-sphere whilst my back’s been turned.

Sorry for the unexpected silence. Normal service will resume soon.

Title: Un Lun Dun
Author: China Miéville
Publisher: Pan
Published: 5 Feb 2007
Price: £6.99
Review Copy

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started reading Un Lun Dun. All I knew about Miéville was that he was an imaginative and political writer who could be categorised as writing in the New Weird tradition plus this was his first novel for Young Adults. After reading Un Lun Dun I’d say he was all of the above and then some.

Two girls find themselves in an alternative London where London’s lost and broken things end up along with some of the people. The strange this is that the girls are expected and there is a prophecy to fulfil; the Smog is bent on it’s destruction and the city needs a hero.

Mieville has created a unique twisted take on not only London but on the quest novel where nothing quite works out as planned. And the unexpected is one of Miéville’s strengths. He plays with words, conventions, and draws from a very fascinating imagination. I can’t see anyone else making a pack of blood-thirsty giraffes quite so scary or coming up with the same wide-range of unique areas and inhabitants of Un Lun Dun like rock climbing librarians or ghost houses that fade in and out. But cutting through that is the journey that Miéville takes us on.

What at first seems right and proper is in fact quite the opposite and vice versa. It’s not every novel you read when the hero fails and falls at the first hurdle but then continues in un-expected ways. Miéville is really playful with not only the companions of our hero but also how they go about fulfilling that role.

What I liked the most is that it’s a modern fairy tale with slight mix of politics but it doesn’t preach or moralise. Any messages it does have are delivered through the events and the decisions that takes place.

Overall, Miéville’s furtile and playful imagination along with a strong story telling skills has created a modern fairy tale for young adults and adults who love a good story. Though some of the language is quite complex so it might be a challenging read to some less experienced young readers. It’s well worth reading.

There is also a slight door left open to revisit Un Lun Dun again and I hope he does. But in the meantime I’ll be reading more by China Miéville.

9/10

Tags: 9/10, China Miéville, Pan, review

I started a new job this week. Not just any job but a full-time job. I’m only mentioning it as its cutting into my reading time. Well it will until I finish training and then I hope I’m getting some time back. I have been finding some time to read Un Lun Dun by China Mieville and I’m loving his imagination. He’s created an amazing distortion of London and the story isn’t bad either.

And this, of course, is the biggest threat to the novel, but not just the book, any media that takes time to complete is going to struggle in these time poor days. It’s one of the reasons that I think that novels need to get tighter. When I’m buying a book it’s a major consideration. If it has small type and is thick then I am going to think twice. If you’re going to invest time in writing a big book then make sure it counts. The book that springs to mind is Dreaming the Void. It’s over 600 packed pages but nothing felt wandering or superfluous.

I bought two books this week as I was in Borders and thought that books would be a good treat for working so hard. I had a couple of books in mind. I was sorely tempted by the large paperback version of The Domino Men and I saw the new cover re-issues of Greg Egan. There were a few more but then Borders is like a sweet shop.

In the end I went for The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski and The Necropolis Railway by Andrew Martin. It helped that they were on the ‘buy one, get one half price’ tables but what really swung it was the fact that they were less than 300 pages each and I think I’ll be able to read them in the time I have. Though The Domino Men came a very close second…