NextRead

I must admit that at the moment this looks like it could be my literary book of the year. It might be the only literary book I’ve read so far, I could be wrong about that, but it’s going to be hard to beat.

At an English Boys Private School children are going missing, they are dreaming and then disapearing but no one knows where they’ve gone. Miller mixes in war, fantasy, violence and emotion into what is turning into a clever read. Though I’m reserving judgement until I’ve finished the second half.

Things I like so far are the narrative voice and way that Miller is telling his story. It wasn’t what I was expecting and it’s not going in the direction I thought it would. The focus has shifted from Timothy, the focus for the first section, to his father. Each is building a picture from different angles. I’m looking forward to how he’s going to mix them all together. The voice as in the tone and style is very accomplished that I’m surprised that this is a debut as it is confident as a pro.

Fingers crossed for the second half.

Tags: debut, first thoughts

Title: Scar Night
Author: Alan Campbell
Publisher: Tor
Published: May 2007
Price: £7.99
Bought It

Before I say anything else Alan Campbell’s debut novel Scar Night is an amazing creation. Not only does he create rounded characters, he creates a believable world for them to live. I enjoyed reading it immensely but it’s not without its problems. Though before I get into all that let me tell you what it’s all about.

Dill is the last of his line. A battle-archon whose role is to protect the faithful and the Temple of Deepgate. But he’s not a fighter. The role is now ceremonial as the battleships do the fighting and the flying. Dill is left to stand on the roof unable to fly and release the occasional bucket of snails from his room in the Temple kitchens.

The city of Deepgate is suspended by great chains that have been interlinked over the years by lesser chains and ropes. This combined with its industrial needs have created several districts but overlooking them all is the Temple of Ucis. Ulcis is the undead God who is gathering an army of Ghosts, the dead of Deepgate, to reclaim his place in heaven.

As events unfold it is Dill who has no choice but to descend below and find out what hell really looks like.
When I started reading I wasn’t sure what expect. I expected Dill to go for feeble boy to a warrior man and save everyone. But he doesn’t, well not in that Hollywood hero way and that’s a good thing.

Instead Alan Campbell presents an exploration of life, death and faith and how what we believe can build and build until its foundations are forgotten. He also shows that no one is as bad as they first appear.

The trouble is I’m not sure that Campbell always had the balance quite right. The bad characters have some qualities that strip away some of their nastiness, which is alright, but somehow made me pause and wonder about their motives.

Saying that though he does well to give individuality to the minor as well as major characters and my thoughts about some of the motivations didn’t distract or undermine my enjoyment of Scar Night.

In fact I couldn’t wait to see what Campbell did next. Somehow he kept managing to surprise me in terms of what happened in the story and how he got there.

And at the end he left me in no doubt that this was only the beginning.

I recommend this for anyone who likes their fantasy to break and twist conventions and who likes their stories dark with a light at the end of a tunnel. I’m eager to read the just released Iron Angel.

8.5/10

Tags: Alan Campbell, debut, review, Tor

It’s not over yet, but I can’t see any final revelations happening, unless you count Nintendo suddenly releasing a billion or so Wiis. So what I have got to say about the year? I haven’t got a clue but let us see what I can come up with.

Way back in January I wrote a post called ‘Support‘ where I said this year if I could I was going to buy more debuts. And as it turned turned out I was able to do a bit better by reviewing and promoting some great new voices. All starting with Anonymous Lawyer which strangely, or not, started off as a blog written by Jeremy Blachman. It’s a devilishly funny novel and well worth a read. From there I’ve been introduced to some excellent new writers like Chris Ewan, Brian Ruckley and Chelsea Cain who have started off a series of books that I want to read more of.

Mostly this year I’ve read writers who are new to me even if they’ve been around a little while like Charles Stross, Peter F. Hamilton, Charlie Hutson, Chuck Palahniuk, Paul Magrs and Jim Butcher. And I’m still finding new favourite writers. Each one has their own view on what the world is or what the world could be. I guess I’m more interested in writers with an imagination and skill for making alive their dreams.

I still have books that I’m yet to read from people new to me and old friends Here is a non-definitive or exhaustive list:

1. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (Gollancz)
2. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill (Vintage Classics)
3. Cell by Stephen King (Hodder)
4. Lisey’s Story by Stephen King (Hodder)
5. Scar Night by Adam Campbell (Tor)
6. Gradisil by Adam Roberts (Gollancz)
7. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher (Hodder)
8. Vellium by Hal Duncan (Pan)
9. Grave Peril by Jim Butcher (Orbit)
10. The Hounds of Avalon by Mark Chadbourn (Gollancz)
11. Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz (Harper Collins)
12. Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Jennifer Rardin (Orbit)
13. A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett (Corgi)
14. The Court of The Air by Stephen Hunt (Harper Voyager)
15. The Killing Kind by John Connolly (Coronet)
16. The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller (Orbit)
17. Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler (Doubleday)
18. In the Woods by Tana French (Hodder)
19. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (Phoenix)
20. Marco’s Pendulum by Thom Madley (Usbourne)

Wow, that’s probably next years reading right there if this years reading rate is anything to go by. All of them are in some way part of my taste in books - supernatural detection, detective stories, soft sci-fi, urban fantasy, and fable.

I do wish though that there were a bit thinner or by reading them I wasn’t committing myself to reading a long series. Actually that’s wrong I do love series as long as I don’t have to remember in detail what happened on page 321 of book two when I’m reading book nine page 840.

And if that back catalogue wasn’t enough there are yet more books that have just come out, about to come out, planned or books that I’ve not even heard of that are going be on a ‘want to read’ list by this time next year.

This all goes to prove that the book business as far as coming out with good and great books is a healthy one. New writers get a chance to shine but if you are looking to get published you have to be very very good. Literary fiction is best left to those who have a name or some background that supports the name they make for themselves. Genre is the way to go.

If I had to choose books of the year under gun point and on a lie detector I’d say that the ones to check out are (in no particular order):

The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton.

Heartsick by Chelsea Cain

Already Dead by Charlie Hutson

The Atrocity Archives/The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross

Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow

Never the Bride by Paul Magrs

I’ll probably change my mind tomorrow but those are the ones that are coming to the surface right now.

Right back to the surprisingly good-so-far The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson

Tags: reading lists

I’m feeling decidedly non-booky at the moment. No curling up on the sofa and letting the world fade away. Nothing read. Nothing bought. No obsessive surfing. But despite that let’s see what I can do as I’ve still been visiting my favourite blogs and keeping half an eye on the book-o-sphere.

Graphic Novels are the new novel. Or so it seems. With novels being converted panelled and inked for the non-novel generation and Graphic Novels coming from mainstream publishers. One example that landed through the door the other day. Jonathon Cape have just released Alias The Cat by Kim Deitch, which looks absolutely bonkers. And they’ve set up Pantheon Graphic Novels to release more. And if you’re in the US the fabulous Fantasy Book Critic shows off some new adaptations of Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein, and The Dresden Files to name two.

I was a winner a couple of weeks ago much to my surprise and excitement. I just happened to checking my mail when Vintage Classics’ Newsletter arrived offering a complete set of their October Halloween-themed releases to the first person to answer a question. It took all of three minutes from it arriving to my email. So I have a Wilkie Collins, Susan Hill, Henry James, Mervyn Peake, to read for the first time as well as Bram Stoker to reread. I’m not sure I’ll read Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr Jekylll and Mr Hyde. I’ve never liked any of the adaptations of it. I’m open to persuasion though.

Novelist Daniel Abraham has made his UK debut with The Long Price that brings together his the first two novels of his Long Price Quartet. And has some good reviews from the UK mags. It is getting a little crowded in the new fantasy series section but the more the merrier I say.

More later.

Tags: horror, reading lists

Title: The Pools
Author: Bethan Roberts
Publisher: Serpent’s Tail
Published: 29 August 2007
Price: £10.99
Review Copy

Bethan Roberts has started her literary career with a disturbing tale of Middle England, mid-1980s when the death of a teenager, Robert, is the inevitably conclusion to the paths of many lives.

This is a hard book to pin down. Beth rebuilds the events that lead up to Robert’s death but she goes further than that. She dismembers them. She gets under the skin of the narrators as she retraces the steps.

This is not a who dunnit. It’s not even a why dunnit. It’s story of life and how our characters might be natured as well as nurtured and how we can’t escape from what is in our hearts.

I wish that Roberts wasn’t so honest in her portrayal. I was she’d been more writery so that the story isn’t as brutal as it is. But she doesn’t flinch and she doesn’t pull her punches. She confronts the confusion we experience as we find out who we are and maybe face the realisation that we can’t escape what we done or perhaps the effect that our parents have on us.

Overall, Bethan has created a challenging novel that delves deep into the pools inside each one of us and it makes you question your own decisions. It also makes you thankful that you still have choices. An outstandingly insightful début.

Tags: reading lists

Title: The Electric Church
Author: Jeff Somers
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 20 September 2007
Price: £9.99
Review Copy

Normally I put down books that I don’t enjoy, stick it on the little list on the sidebar and move on. But there has been a lot of hype for The Electric Church so I can’t really just let it drift off.

It all comes down to a question of style (examples of Somers writing can be found here and here) and a matter of taste (mine and not Somers). And Somers prose style is not to my taste. I found it a little cold and more tell and little show.

But it’s probably just me because as mentioned in a previous post it has already got some good reviews.

I’m afraid I didn’t get past the first 30 pages so I there is not a lot more I can say but it’s not for me

Tags: noir, Scf-Fi

Title: HeartSick
Author: Chelsea Cain
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 3 August 2007
Price: £10.00
Review Copy

I said in a recent review that plotting takes practice and I want to know where Chelsea Cain took her lessons. Heart Sick is more than a catch-the-killer detective story. It plays with your mind.

What would happen if the serial killer you were chasing captured you and then tortured you for ten days before calling 911 and giving herself up just in time to save your life?

How would you cope if after two years a reporter shadows you and asks you questions about secrets that only you and your torturer share as another person is killing young girls and you’re running out of time?

I’m seriously impressed by how Cain explores these ideas. Not only does she put the reader in minds of the Archie, she also shows us him through the eyes of a reporter, at the same time as keeping up the pace on an investigation into a serial killer.

It’s just one more chapter reading until you come to the twisted end, which isn’t even where the ending should be. You need to know what comes next. Cain is a perfect poker player laying out the right cards at the right time but giving nothing away.

Cain has left plenty of scope to explore the strange (sick) relationship between Gretchen and Archie in a sequel.

It can’t all be good right? If I was being picky I could say something about the lack of development time for the secondary characters but that only because the pace doesn’t let up and Cain has made them interesting enough to want to know more about them and I hope they appear again in a future book.

Cain’s kicked off her career with a sky high performance. They don’t get much better than this.

Tags: 10/10, reading lists

Title: Murder Most Fab
Author: Julian Clary
Publisher: Ebury Press
Published: 16 August 2007
Price: £16.99
Review Copy

The first thing you notice about Julian Clary’s debut novel, Murder Most Fab, is the bright pink cover. It lights up shelf. If you want a book to standout then this is the way to go and as its author isn’t known for being subtle it suites him perfectly. The question is how does the cover match the contents of the book?

I have mixed feelings about MMF. It wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought it was going to a light-hearted, joke-ridden-romp through the life of a TV star from rising star to fallen angel. But instead we have an outrageous exploration of fame that sucks the life out of someone who can’t escape his first love and has no way out of the life he lives.

The whole book is Jonny D’s retelling of his rise and fall. His life as a country boy who turns to prostitution in London and then finds fame on children’s TV. This though cannot be done without the help of enough coke to keep his audience high for life, lots of man-on-man sex and a few unfortunate deaths alone the way.

It’s a fun read. The voice of Jonny is enjoyable and easy to get on with. The writing is clean and crisp giving enough information to keep everything moving along, not lingering on the sticky details, with just enough of a flavour so you know what’s going on.

For me it’s let down slightly in some of the stranger plot twists and turns but I’ll forgive that for the emotional journey that Clarey took me on. And I’m always more forgiving of first novels than ones by more seasoned writers. Plotting takes practice.

It’s not going to win any literary prizes but it’s a surprisingly fun way to spend an evening or two. It’s also an interesting commentary from the other side on the realities of celebrity as what you see isn’t really what you get. And if I was Jonny I’d have pushed Catherine off a bridge round about page 181.

As Mr Clary can definately write and has a way with words I have high hopes that he’ll florish even more with his next book.

Tags: 7/10

There’s more. To be honest there is always more. But these look like good reads. I’ve got some and some are waiting on my Amazon.co.uk wishlist.

If is a current theme in my reading it has to be life and death and how to avoid dying. In The Dreaming Void they have several ways of avoiding it from digitising themselves, using bionic enhancements to genetic resequencing. The Electric Church offers the chance salvation set in a world that has enforced Unification tearing down national border and governments though everything may not be as it seems. This looks like a promising debut. Jeff Somers is interviewed here and The Electric Church already has reviews in The Guardian, and Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist plus there’ll be a review in this parish soonish thanks to Orbit.

Speaking of living forever The Waking is a debut thriller where Dr Nate Sheehan is brought back to life sixty four years after his murder in a body from a mysterious donor. A journalist blows the cover on this sensational story which threatens to explose the identity of the donor and unravel the truth behind Sheehan’s murder. It has a great quote from Mo Hayder - ‘Riveting. Think Tess Gerritsen meets Philip K. Dick.’ It also just a great review in SFX. Look for a review here soon thanks to Pan.

There are a few more debuts to mention.

Heart Sick by Chelsea Cain come to my attention via Fantasy Book Critic. And it does sound a little too dark for me so I’m apprehensive about reading it. I’m a fan of crime fiction with pre-Blow Fly Cornwell, and John Connolly a couple of my faves. Though they seem tame compared to the promise here. Getchen Lowell inflicted ten days of psychological and physical torture on the detective who was hunting her before handing herself in. Two years later the same detective needs Lowell’s help to catch killer. Very Silence of the Lambs. They’re be a review of this too. Thanks to Pan again.

Back to fantasy with The Name of the Wind. This debut by Patrick Rothfuss has just won a Quill Book Award in the Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror category. Not a bad start to a career. There’s a review again on Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist. Aidan Moher seems to be his biggest fan with lots and lots of related posts on his blog including an interview. Part one is here. His review says:

“Fans of typical High Fantasy full of sword fighting, action, huge battles and liberal use of magic may be disappointed in The Name of the Wind, but those looking for a deep, character driven look into the early days of a legend in the making, will find something to be excited about.”

Though part of me is wondering how many starts to new fantasy sequences can one reader take?

I saw a review this morning that had me almost driving to Borders at lightning speed. It was for Something Borrowed by Paul Magrs. It has a fun slightly retro cover. This seems like a sequel to Never the Bride. At least I hope it is otherwise I’ve ordered the wrong one. What got so excited? I’m just going to share the blurb:

“Brenda has had a long and eventful life and she has come to Whitby to run a B&B in search of some peace and quiet. She and her best friend Effie like nothing better than going out for tea at the Walrus and the Carpenter or dinner at Cod Almighty and keeping their eyes open for any of the mysterious goings on in town. And what with satanic beauty salons, more than illegal aliens, roving psychic investigators and the frankly terrifying owner of the Christmas Hotel there are no shortage of nefarious shenanigans to keep them interested. But the oddest thing in Whitby may well be Brenda herself. With her terrible scars, her strange lack of a surname or the fact that she takes two different shoe sizes, Brenda should have known that people as, well, unique as she is, just aren’t destined for a quiet life.”

I know that it’s the execution that makes things work but oh my there is a lot of promise here. The other point is that I want to know how it compares to a novel-in-progress my mate has been writing about a place, Westwell, which has some similar strange things going on. On a slow boat from Amazon.

Here is another series that’s picking up massive speed and due to a recent cover revamp I’m getting swung towards it though ships and dragons aren’t really my thing. Temeraire by debut writer Naomi Novik has just won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer for best new science fiction writer of 2006. And there are three more available for you to tuck into right now. If you’re quick you can also win a set here if you live in North America.

Speaking of award winners another debut that has been making waves is out in paperback in the UK this week. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn won the CWA New Blood Fiction Dagger 2007 a prize that The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam probably should have been up for.

The Judges’ comments:

‘This was a novel characterized by its vivid and poetic writing. A superb sense of character with an imaginative treatment of the reasons for and the problems of self-harm.’

There is also a quote from Stephen King on the cover. Looking like she’s an author to watch. On a slow boat from Amazon.

And finally we have The Jennifer Morgue by the prolific Charles Stross. I love the description on its Wiki page ‘The stories are Lovecraftian spy thrillers involving a secret British intelligence agency known as “The Laundry”, which deals with occult events and technology.‘ I loved The Atrocity Archives and I have high hopes for the next episodes. Look for review thanks to Orbit.

There’s more but those will do for now.

Tags: reading lists

Title: Blood Kin
Author: Ceridwen Dovey
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Published: 12 July 2007
Price: £10.99
Review Copy 

Blood Kin is a depressing novel. The story starts from the view points of a President’s barber, chef and portrait artist who are being held captive in the President’s Summer Residence after a coup in an unnamed country where the President has been has been replaced by the Commander. 

None of the characters are likeable from those mentioned above to his barber’s brother’s fiancé, his chef’s daughter and his portraitist’s wife, each of whom tells a part of the story from their own point of view. 

The technique of interweaving chapters from varying points of view makes for an interesting exploration of the situation, which is not as simple as it first appears. They are more than a barber, chef and portrait artist. Their lives are intertwined with the President though not in ways that you’d immediately imagine.

Because it is such a dark novel it’s hard to find any enjoyment from it. It is a not a novel read for entertainment. This is a novel of exploration. It is a novel of power and corruption and those who are attracted to it, their motivations and the lies they delude themselves with. 

For all it’s bleakness it’s still worth reading as Dovey manages to build a story where each of these characters is revealed as creatures to pity as well as despise. They are in some ways victims of circumstances who seem to have no choice but to follow the path laid out for them.

Though if I do have one reservation it does seem a little too fantastical in parts especially some of the ways their lives come together. But then people of power aren’t that grounded in reality.

Overall, Dovey is an intelligent storyteller who delves a little too deep into darkness to make this entertaining though it is a thoughtful and haunting novel which makes me think of Evita without all the singing and dancing.