It’s a bit of a cut down round-up compared with last weeks packed edition but no less interesting.
link: Nayu’s Reading Corner: My Thoughts On…The Keys to the Kingdom Series by Garth Nix
This post is just my thoughts on the series as a whole. It does contain spoilers about the stories, because here I’ll reveal details of the theories that I developed while reading the books.
So if you haven’t read the books yet and don’t want the story spoilt for you, please stop reading this post. I’d rather you did read it, but perhaps leave it until you’ve finished the series. Various thoughts on the series as a whole, including my own personal theories regarding certain aspects of the plot.
Nayu completed the series just after I posted last weeks round-up. The top of this post contains links to all the reviews and if you’ve read the series, which I haven’t, some thoughts and comments. I admit I didn’t scroll down as I still have this on my TBR.
link: Floor to Ceiling Books: A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin
So we have stunning writing, and a crazy amount of spectacular ideas: these still would be nothing if the underlying story were not as gripping and tense as it turns out to be. Matthew Swift has been pulled out of death and is hunting to find out who wanted him returned to life.
This is a great book and so glad it got another fab review!
and straight on to the next one!
link: Floor to Ceiling Books: The Midnight Mayor by Kate Griffin
Altogether, The Midnight Mayor is another triumph of imagination and whimsical storytelling from Kate Griffin. I thoroughly enjoyed working my way through the stunning prose. The effort it takes to immerse yourself in the world of Matthew Swift is definitely repaid in full.
I did start reading this one yesterday but needed to be little bit more on the ball. I’m coming straight back to it after finishing Destroyer of Worlds by Mark Chadbourn
link: The Book Smugglers » Blog Archive » Steampunk Appreciation Week – The Calendar
It’s here! It is finally here! We have talked about holding a Steampunk week ever since we started the blog, more than two years ago. For one reason or another, we always ended up postponing it until we set our feet down and said NO MORE: let’s do it! The time is now.
The Book Smugglers have had a great week on the blog this week but you already know that and enjoyed the celebration? Haven’t you??
link: Dark Wolf’s Fantasy Reviews: 2 questions round – 2009 Bram Stoker Awards nominees
I am always interested in the speculative fiction awards and I like to see how the final ballot list becomes the list of nominations and finally the winners’ list. I was always curious about what means a nomination for a specific award and how can that change an author’s career. Now I have the opportunity to satisfy my curiosity with the help of some of the nominees for the 2009 Bram Stoker Awards, among them a few that were nominated and won the award before.
They answer: How does it feel to be nominated for the Bram Stoker Award? Is winning the award as important as the nomination? and Can a nomination for an award such as the Bram Stoker Award change an author’s career? Does this nomination set a higher standard for your works?
Interesting stuff!
link: Review: Pushing Ice, by Alastair Reynolds | Only The Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy
As usual, I struggle to tell you how much I enjoyed the book without giving away too much and spoiling it for you. In this case, you will have to take my word that the plot twists and turns make for a fantastic ride – so endowed by a unique style and a blend of close quarters drama and hard sci fi. The story arc tends to drag on a bit in the latter half of the novel as the situation of the crew changes dramatically, but the shift felt natural and can even be considered necessary. This isn’t cheap military sci fi after all…
Glad it’s not just me that struggles with writing reviews 
link: Temple Library Reviews: [Interview] Kaaron Warren on Angry Robot Books
It is high time my love fest for Angry Robot Books to start and I am kicking it off with a blitz style interview with the always delightful Kaaron Warren. Since, this is a Marathon dedicated more or less to the publishers through the books and author I meet, this interview will focus on the author’s experience with Angry Robot Books, magic man Lee Harris and his boss Marc Gascoigne.
Harry is having a bit of an Angry Robot Books event this month already there are:
"Slights" by Kaaron Warren
[Review] ‘Walking the Tree’ by Kaaron Warren
[100 Pages] ‘Angel of Death’ by J. Robert King
to name a few.
link: The Osiris Ritual, by George Mann | Bookgeeks
ann does an excellent job keeping the action moving and, while the character of Newbury owes much to Sherlock Holmes, he also feels like his own man and a character that will continue to grow as the series progresses. Veronica, his Watson, shows a strong knack for investigation herself, and Newbury’s active encouragement and appreciation of her strengths makes them a formidable pair.
I bought the limited edition of this one as I loved The Affinity Bridge. Need to get to it before The Immorality Engine come out in September!
Still not convinced. Try this:
link: SF Signal: Free Fiction: ‘The Hambleton Affair’ by George Mann (A Sir Maurice Newbury Story)
Along the way, Mann wrote some short stories featuring Sir Maurice Newbury. We already told you about "The Shattered Teacup". Now, thanks to the author and the kind folks at Snowbooks, SF Signal is pleased to be able to bring you another short story featuring Sir Maurice Newbury…previously available in the UK hardcover version of The Affinity Bridge…
It’s a great short story!
link: Ark « Torque Control
Or, put another way, in the end I couldn’t find the right question to ask of Ark. It seems too much a novel of disparate parts – not by any means all bad; but not unified. Perhaps I shouldn’t be treating it so much as its own book. It’s true that the series Baxter has written over the last decade or so – the Manifold books, Destiny’s Children, even Time’s Tapestry – follow the same general pattern, in that they eschew direct continuity even as they share a setting, and can generally be read in any order, and true that readers coming cold to Ark seem to find things to enjoy. But I can’t see the separation as entirely successful in this case.
If you’ve read yesterday’s update you’ll see that I’m reading Ark for my BSFA Novel week. Should be interesting then…
link: Speculative Horizons: Scott Lynch reveals reason for the delay with The Republic of Thieves…
I have been dealing for some time with bouts of depression, which have been bad, and ongoing panic attacks, which have been orders of magnitude worse– positively crippling.
James reports on Scott Lynch’s post and it’s a good reminder that writers are people too and they put their lives into their books – this isn’t to say that reviewers should be false with their reviews just that we should be kind when giving talking about the bad bits…
link: Floor to Ceiling Books: Living With the Writer – Michaela Deas
I got to wondering about the people who Live With the Writers – those long-suffering spouses and partners that (mostly) dwell in the shadows of those who produce the art we love. How do they cope with the relative fame of their partners? How does the work impact on their lives? With that in mind, I contacted an extremely bemused Michaela Deas to see if she would be kind enough to provide me with a few answers. She wasn’t sure that anyone would be interested, but her answers are illuminating and I invite you to give the whole interview a read.
Great alternative thinking!
Barrington Stoke has been publishing books for reluctant readers and young people with reading difficulties since 1997. Based in Edinburgh, the company has scooped up countless awards in its 13 years of existence and has managed to attract work from some of the top children’s authors in the country, as well as some of the top writers of adult fiction. And me.
Who knew!
link: Speculative Horizons: Book review: Horns
Hill’s prose is smooth and fluid; he handles exposition superbly and understands the importance of atmosphere (and how best to use it). More importantly, he understands people – for all of the fantastical elements in Horns, it’s a book that is essentially about what it is to be human. I was greatly surprised at how emotionally invested I became in the book; it’s been a very long time since I’ve read a novel that has moved me to such a degree. Unelievably, I even feel a little emotional just writing this and thinking about the book. There were certain scenes that I could personally identify with (not the growing of horns, I’d like to point out), and Hill really does absolutely nail these scenes on an emotional level.
James gets to the heart of Horns, understanding people on an emotional level – a top ten book of the year, probably. It’s a great review too.
link: The Wertzone: Where to Start? – Peter F. Hamilton
Thanks to the power of the Internet, more and more readers are receiving recommendations about authors they should check out. However, given the prolific nature of some authors and their dabbling in multiple series (complete with multiple starting points, thanks to prequels, first-published novels and so on), finding a good starting point can be tricky. A case in point is Peter F. Hamilton, who has written multiple novels, some set in different universes, with his individual settings and universes having multiple entry points. So where is the best place to start with his work?
I started with The Dreaming Void but I could have started elsewhere too!
link: Fantasy Book Critic: “I Am Not A Serial Killer” by Dan Wells (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)
Then there’s the demon. A serial killer with supernatural abilities, the demon—which is how John describes the killer—immediately adds a unique dimension to “I Am Not A Serial Killer”, especially when John decides to kill the demon himself and uses his extensive knowledge of serial killers and his sociopathic tendencies to study and profile the demon, particularly the demon’s methods, reasonings and weaknesses. What’s really interesting about the demon is how it forces John to analyze himself, and the startling things he learns, like what happens when he lets the monster inside loose…
I have the next one, Mr Monster, here – I never know if I should start at the beginning or not?
Sounds good though.
And that’s it’s it for this week.
Any post you think I’ve missed or ones that I should have mentioned? Please share in the comments.
