Well as I’ve been taking my eye off the blog-o-sphere for the best part of two weeks quite a few things have been happening. Here’s a few highlights for you:
Dark Wolf’s Fantasy Reviews has a stunning cover for the Spanish-edition French edition of Books of Blood by Clive Barker.
Spooky stuff
Tim Lebbon is on a blog-tour so I’m going to have to do a bit of cyber-stalking to catch-up with all his stops but here are a few appearances I’ve found. He’s been on Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review for one. Speculative Horizon’s has a review of Fallen,
Another strong element is Lebbon’s prose. Rich and fluid, his action scenes are tense and gripping, while his descriptive writing benefits from his ability to throw in a bit of lyrical verve. Fallen is subsequently a joy to read – I flew through it at rapid speed, which doesn’t tend to happen a lot these days.
More cover art. This time from Aiden @ A Dribble of Ink. Shadow and Betrayal is Book One of The Long Price by Daniel Abbraham.
If that takes your fancy he also has the cover for Book Two. Shadow and Betrayal isn’t out until 25 Sep 2009 in the UK. Not too long to go then!
Fantasy Book News & Reviews has a post called, No More Early Reviews. My policy is to flag up future releases though the Promo and Cover P0rn posts but leave reviews until you can actually get your hands on them or at least have them within a week or so of seeing the review. Anyone got any thoughts on early reviews?
Negative reviews is a subject that comes up every now and again. This time Liz posts her thoughts on a book she just couldn’t finish, which is rare in Liz’s case,
‘The Atlantis Code did not work for me because of the author’s use of language. It was stilted and archaic. The story did not flow, the characters’ dialogue was genuinely tough to read as it was just too over the top dramatically. I could not suspend my disbelief and found some of the actions the characters take in the novel very hard to equate with them.’
I think that about covers it then…
Whilst I was out of the country Patrick Rothfuss of The Name of the Wind was in Forbidden Planet. Damn! Liz, along with Graeme and Adam were there though and I’ll have to make do with blog posts. I love the pic of Graeme!
He’s turned in the first draft of book two too!
I always like finding out about new books. A great place at the minute due to it’s varied list of contributors is BookGeeks.co.uk. This time it’s Simon A’s Review of The Unknown Knowns, by Jeffrey Rotter,
‘Jim Rath is a classic nerd: a comic collector with few social skills. On the night the action commences his most peculiar hobby has driven his wife to leave him: Jim believes in the aquatic ape therory of human evolution, and has combined this with his fetish for superhero comics to invent a complete underwater civilisation: Nautika. Every available moment is dedicated to Jim’s dream of opening a museum about Nautika’
You’ll have to read the rest of the review to make sense of that quote 
Some interesting comments following a ‘not for me’ review of Fall of Thanes on Fantasy Book Critic – it’s always a challenge balancing books that are worth reading and warning which ones to avoid. Being a first reviewer sometimes means that I don’t have other peoples opinions to go from. I’m choosy and lucky with what I read so it’s rare for me to not to like something. I’m not a fan of the I’ve started so I’ll finish doctrine. Anyone want to see more harsh reviews?
I can’t decide if the new cuddly toy promoting Moxyland is disturbing or cute!
Another cover – staying with Angry Robot Books. This one is for Angel of Death,
The angel of death in Chicago oversees all people in the megalopolis, making sure their deaths fit their lives. Though most deaths naturally do, those that result from serial murder do not, so the angel spends much time trailing serial killers in his area.
On the trail of one such man, he encounters a cop and falls in love with her. When he is assigned to kill her, though, he has to make a choice between divinity and humanity.
Reminds me of old John Grisham covers. Hmm not sure…
Blood of the Muse has a review of the excellent IMHO, This is Not a Game by Walter Job Williams
We have a winner, The Victoria Vanishes by Christopher Fowler, part of the Bryant & May Investigates series, has won the Last Laugh Award, via (Between the Lines)
It’s a Crime reminds me that there are new Sherlock Holmes stories. Laura R. King has written The Language of Bees, Book 9 in her Russell and Holmes series. This is a series that I’d love to read but it suffers from a confusing publishing history. And that’s really putting me off. It’s supposed to be a great series can someone please just publish the entire series and unifying it?
Liz has a review of The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan, a book I promo’d last week,
They have stripped the vampire down to the terrifying creature he was since legends of blood drinkers surfaced in ancient Greek times. It is not romantic, it is terrifying and illogical, self centred and wholly on a quest to break the pact it had created with other Immortals back in history.
Liz is also making me think if I’d want to pay £1,000 for a book? Even if it is Agatha Christie!
Walker of Worlds has a review of The Accord,
The Accord is a story of love and revenge set against a science fiction back drop, and it does it quite nicely. I would recommend it, but not without reservations.
It’s one of those books that I’ve tried and just can’t get into.
John Self said in a recent review,
It’s Beginning to Hurt is, in places, the best story collection I have read since Tobias Wolff’s Our Story Begins. Those places are where Lasdun plays to what is evidently his strength: creating a wry but rounded examination of muddled modern men, usually on the slip road (arriving or leaving) of middle age
Interested in find out more now…
Is is too early to start thinking about the Best Book of 2009? Larry doesn’t seem to think so!
Kimbofo @ Reading Matters has 292 books in her reading pile. Glad it’s not just me then…
A wonderful review of Yellow Blue Tibia on Dark Wolf Reviews
I also absolutely loved the humor of “Yellow Blue Tibia”. Throughout the novel Adam Roberts creates amusing scenes, each one brightening my day and ripping a burst of laugh from me. Besides the amusing scenes there are dialogues that are delicious to read and savor and I find the dialogues between the main character, Konstantin Andreiovich Skvorecki, and the taxi driver Saltykov to be the cherry on the cake.
I think that’ll have to do. Hope you find one or two interesting things. I know I did!
