Introduction
My usual way of finding a months releases is a mixture of books received, books I’ve heard about and books that I’ve found scouting out publishers websites and Amazon. This month is not exception. Being a little time poor and at the start of the month these are the ones that I’ve found interesting so far. I’ve made few comments here and there and I wanted to add more like links and other background info but I’d never get it finished if I did that. So I’m afraid you’ll have to take it like it is. I hope you find a couple of books that take your interest. Please do leave a comment if you do 
20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill (Gollancz)
Synopsis
Imogene is young, beautiful, kisses like a movie star, and knows everything about every film ever made. She’s also dead, the legendary ghost of the Rosebud Theater. Arthur Roth is a lonely kid with a head full of big ideas and a gift for getting his ass kicked. It’s hard to make friends when you’re the only inflatable boy in town. Francis is unhappy, picked on; he doesn’t have a life, a hope, a chance. Francis was human once, but that’s behind him now. John Finney is in trouble. The kidnapper locked him in a basement, a place stained with the blood of half a dozen other murdered children. With him, in his subterranean cell, is an antique phone, long since disconnected . . . but it rings at night, anyway, with calls from the dead. . . Meet these, and a dozen more, in 20TH CENTURY GHOSTS, irresistible, addictive fun showcasing a dazzling new talent.
I have an interesting relationship with short fiction. As a form I like it a lot but I can only be able to read so much of it. I think that’s because it’s such a packed form that you can’t keep absorbing it. You need a few breaks. But when I find a good short story writer like any writer really it’s great to revisit them. And I like Joe Hill after reading Heart-Shaped Box so looking forward to seeing what else his mind holds.
The Company by K.J Parker (Orbit)
Synopsis
Hoping for a better life, five war veterans colonize an abandoned island. They take with them everything they could possibly need - food, clothes, tools, weapons, even wives. The colonists feel sure that their friendship will keep them together. But an unanticipated discovery shatters their dream and replaces it with a very different one. Only then do they begin to realize that they’ve brought with them rather more than they bargained for. For one of them, it seems, has been hiding a terrible secret from the rest of the company. And when the truth begins to emerge, it soon becomes clear that the war is far from over.
Comment:
I’m not sure what to expect out of this one but K.J Parker has been highly-rated so this a good excuse to read him/her without committing to a series. This is also a different take on a war story. And I’m all for trying something different. And the line from Simon A’s review clinched it, ‘I am sure his fans will love it, and I hope the shorter form will attract new readers to explore his bleak but realistic view of humanity’
Links:
SSFWorld (review)
Simon A @ BookGeeks.co.uk (review)
Personal Demon by Kelly Armstrong (Orbit)
Synopsis
Hope Adams, tabloid journalist and half-demon, inherited her Bollywood-princess looks from her mother. From her demon father, she inherited a hunger for chaos, and a talent for finding it. Like full demons, she gets an almost sexual rush from danger - in fact, she thrives on it. But she is determined to use her gifts for good. When the head of the powerful Cortez Cabal asks her to infiltrate a gang of bored, rich, troublemaking supernaturals in Miami, Hope can?t resist the excitement. But trouble for Hope is intoxicating, and soon she?s in way too deep. With a killer stalking the supernatural hot spots of Miami, Hope finds herself dangerously entangled, and has no choice but to turn to her crooked werewolf ex-boyfriend for help. What started as a simple investigation has spiralled into chaos. And Hope finds chaos irresistible ?
Comment:
If I had to think of one author that was there at the start of ‘Urban Fantasy’ which had a certain feminine appeal it would be Kelly Armstrong. I’ve had Bitten for far too long which is Book 2 (I bought it when it came out) and we’re now on Book 8. Some catching up to do!
Necropath by Eric Brown (Solaris)
Synopsis
Bengal Station: an exotic spaceport that dominates the ocean between India and Burma. Jaded telepath, Jeff Vaughan, is employed by the spaceport authorities to monitor incoming craft from the stars. There, he discovers a sinister cult that worships a mysterious alien god. The Church of the Adoration of the Chosen One uses drugs to commune with the Ultimate, and will murder to silence those who oppose their beliefs. The story follows Vaughan as his mistrust of his fellow humans is overturned by his love for the Thai street-girl Sukura, while he attempts to solve the murders and save himself from the psychopath out to kill him. Necropath is Eric Brown’s triumphant return to hard SF.
Comment
After quite liking Kethani I’m keen to see what he does when he’s in hard sci-fi mode.
The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks (Orbit)
Synopsis
The perfect killer has no friends. Only targets. For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art. And he is the city’s most accomplished artist, his talents required from alleyway to courtly boudoir. For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he’s grown up in the slums, and learned the hard way to judge people quickly - and to take risks. Risks like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint. But to be accepted, Azoth must turn his back on his old life and embrace a new identity and name. As Kylar Stern, he must learn to navigate the assassins’ world of dangerous politics and strange magics - and cultivate a flair for death.
Comment
Brent Weeks is getting quite a push from Orbit having all three volumes of this trilogy getting released over three months, which is amazing because it’s his debut and this is the first time they’ve been published. And to be honest I like the idea of instant gratification. I’m not sure what effect it’ll have on sales. Do series need the level of anticipation that builds up between releases to keep momentum? Or will going from one to the next be better for the reader? As I person who holds back a lot of reads until I know the next book is out I’m probably not a good judge.
Links
Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist (interview)
The Temporal Void by Peter F. Hamilton
Synopsis
The Intersolar Commonwealth is in turmoil as the Living Dream’s deadline for launching its Pilgrimage into the Void draws closer. Not only is the Ocisen Empire fleet fast approaching on a mission of genocide, but also an internecine war has broken out between the post-human factions over the destiny of humanity. Countering the various and increasingly desperate agents and factions is Paula Myo, a ruthlessly single-minded investigator, beset by foes from her distant past and colleagues of dubious allegiance - but she is fast losing a race against time. At the heart of all this is Edeard the Waterwalker, who once lived a long time ago deep inside the Void. He is the messiah of Living Dream, and visions of his life are shared by, and inspire billions of humans. It is his glorious, captivating story that is the driving force behind Living Dream’s Pilgrimage, a force that is too strong to be thwarted. As Edeard nears his final victory the true nature of the Void is finally revealed.
Comment:
I forced myself to read The Dreaming Void. It’s not that I didn’t think it would be good. It was the size of it. I actively avoid longer books. Mostly because I know how long it’s going to take me to read them. And I was really glad I did and their wasn’t an inch of padding in fact I wanted more. Especially after the revelatory ending. I’ve got this lined up as my next sci-fi read.
Links:
guardian (review)
Anathem by Neil Stephenson
Synopsis
Here is another brilliantly original novel from the cult author of “Snowcrash and Cryptonomicon”.Since childhood, Raz has lived behind the walls of a 3,400-year-old monastery, a sanctuary for scientists, philosophers, and mathematicians. There, he and his cohorts are sealed off from the illiterate, irrational, unpredictable “saecular” world, an endless landscape of casinos and megastores that is plagued by recurring cycles of booms and busts, dark ages and renaissances, world wars and climate change. Until the day that a higher power, driven by fear, decides it is only these cloistered scholars who have the abilities to avert an impending catastrophe. And, one by one, Raz and his friends, mentors, and teachers are summoned forth without warning into the unknown.
Comment
This is huge. In terms of size, it’s much bigger than The Dreaming Void 
in pages. I’m looking forward to this one too but I might be still reading it this time next year!
The Quiet War by Paul J. McAuley (Gollancz)
Synopsis
Twenty-third century Earth, ravaged by climate change, looks backwards to the holy ideal of a pre-industrial Eden. Political power has been grabbed by a few powerful families and their green saints. Millions of people are imprisoned in teeming cities; millions more labour on Pharaonic projects to rebuild ruined ecosystems. On the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, the Outers, descendants of refugees from Earth’s repressive regimes, have constructed a wild variety of self-sufficient cities and settlements: scientific utopias crammed with exuberant creations of the genetic arts; the last outposts of every kind of democratic tradition. The fragile detente between the Outer cities and the dynasties of Earth is threatened by the ambitions of the rising generation of Outers, who want to break free of their cosy, inward-looking pocket paradises, colonise the rest of the Solar System, and drive human evolution in a hundred new directions. On Earth, many demand pre-emptive action against the Outers before it’s too late; others want to exploit the talents of their scientists and gene wizards.Amid campaigns for peace and reconciliation, political machinations, crude displays of military might, and espionage by cunningly wrought agents, the two branches of humanity edge towards war .
Comment:
My previous experience with McAuley wasn’t that positive but like Ken McCleod I’m hoping that over the last 10 years that we’ve both changed. I’m back into enjoying sci-fi and the ideas here look like they might be might be good.
Links:
guardian (review)
Blood Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski (Gollancz)
Synopsis
For more than a hundred years humans, dwarves, gnomes and elves lived together in relative peace. But times have changed, the uneasy peace is over and now the races once again fight each other - and themselves: dwarves are killing their kinsmen, and elves are murdering humans and elves, at least those elves who are friendly to humans …Into this tumultuous time is born a child for whom the witchers of the world have been waiting. Ciri, the granddaughter of Queen Calanthe, the Lioness of Cintra, has strange powers and a stranger destiny, for prophecy names her the Flame, one with the power to change the world - for good, or for evil …Geralt, the witcher of Rivia, has taken Ciri to the relative safety of the Witchers’ Settlement, but it soon becomes clear that Ciri isn’t like the other witchers. As the political situation grows ever dimmer and the threat of war hangs almost palpably over the land, Geralt searches for someone to train Ciri’s unique powers. But someone else has an eye on the young girl, someone who understand exactly what the prophecy means - and exactly what Ciri’s power can do. This time Geralt may have met his match.
Comment
I must admit that I stalled on The Last Wish - I think because I wanted something more meaty with the character of Geralt, well here it is. I’m looking forward to seeing the reviews and the paperback
Piper by Helen McCabe (Myrmidon Books)
Synopsis
Legend has it that in medieval times the children of Hamelin were led East into Transylvania…In bleak post Ceausescu Rumania, Dr Sacha Maritsa a psychiatric researcher absorbed with the high incidence of mental illness among the women of Alva, a remote mountain village near the border with Russia, gradually uncovers a horrific history of ritual child murder. After the latest incident Maritsa and police inspector Valentin almost succeed in cornering their prime suspect who appears to elude justice by dying in a plane crash. Local cop Dave Durant and his music teacher wife Diane seem to lead an idyllic life with their three children in the small lakeside town of Sunny Mead, New Hampshire.All that mars their contentment is the disability and muteness of their 13-year-old son Pip as the result of a car accident. When Diane engages new arrival Diep Koppelberg as a therapist for her son, Diep’s charm and exceptional musical talent captivates all who in the little community meet him and Diane and her daughter are gradually drawn to him to the point of infatuation. Only Pip sees Diep differently. Where others see beauty he sees only ugliness and decay.
Where they see benevolence, he sees malice and unspeakable evil. Either Pip must succeed in convincing his family of the danger before it is too late or find a way to confront the threat himself.
Comment
I don’t think I’ve seen a modern twist on the piped piper. This one looks like a very good twist.
To Dream of the Dead by Phil Rickman (Quercus)
Synopsis
December, and the river is rising. The village of Ledwardine has never been flooded in living memory. Within days it will be an island. There’s no electricity. The church is serving as a temporary mortuary for two people who drowned. Only one man feels safer. An aggressively-atheist author has been moved, for his own safety, Rushdie-style, into a secluded house just outside the village. Fundamentalist Christians have hated him for years. Now he’s offended the Muslims. Bad move. Meanwhile, archaeologists, assisted by Merrily’s teenage daughter, Jane, are at work in Coleman’s Meadow, unearthing an ancient row of standing stones which some people would rather stay buried. The atheist’s temporary home is close to the site. And his young wife is becoming conspicuously agitated. Is it the fear of discovery - or the kind of fear that she, of all people, could never disclose? One thing is clear: the last person who’s going to be welcome in that house is an exorcist.
With the flood water washing up Church Lane towards the vicarage and the shop running out of cigarettes it looks like a cold and complex Christmas for Merrily Watkins in an ancient community forced to untangle its own history against the swirling uncertainty of the future.
Comment
I saw this and though. Damn (it wasn’t actually that word) not another one. This isn’t because I don’t like Phil Rickman. I love him and his Merrily Watkins series. And I was saying earlier about saving books until the next one comes out well. I’ve saved three books in this series. So it prompted me to pick up and get 154 pages into (since yesterday) The Smile of a Ghost . It’s making me home sick as I was brought up near where it’s set.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (Bloomsbury)
Synopsis
When a baby escapes a murderer intent on killing the entire family, who would have thought it would find safety and security in the local graveyard? Brought up by the resident ghosts, ghouls and spectres, Bod has an eccentric childhood learning about life from the dead. But for Bod there is also the danger of the murderer still looking for him - after all, he is the last remaining member of the family. A stunningly original novel deftly constructed over eight chapters, featuring every second year of Bod’s life, from babyhood to adolescence. Will Bod survive to be a man?
Comment
New Neil Gaiman, nuff said? Well I need to say a bit more as I’ve just ordered in a massive fit of madness the first two volumes of Absolute Sandman from the USA.
Castle (The Seventh Tower) by Garth Nix
Synopsis
Second title in fantasy adventure series, THE SEVENTH TOWER, from bestselling author, Garth Nix. In the Dark World, society is ranked according to colour clans and the most precious commodity is light. In all the world there is only one place that ever sees the sun, a seven-towered castle on a mountain high above the desolate ice lands below. Tal, a Chosen, and Milla, an Icecarl, have been thrown together on a dangerous quest to gain a Sunstone. They must reach the Castle of the Seven Towers, home for Tal, but a dangerous and strange place for Milla. From the deadly Hall of Nightmares to the magical chambers of Tal’s great-uncle Ebbitt, they must navigate the Castle without being discovered. Sinister forces are conspiring against them and it will take all their strength just to survive
Comment
Garth Nix must never stop writing! What is it in Australia that makes some amazing fantasy writers?
Extraordinary Engines: The Definitive Steampunk Anthology Nick Gevers (Editor)
Synopsis
From The Golden Compass to online communities like Brass Goggles, Steampunk’s mix of retro Victoriana and modern technology is the hottest trend in science fiction.
Extraordinary Engines: The Definitive Steampunk Anthology brings together original stories by the foremost writers of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Edited by Nick Gevers, this collection includes Jeffrey Ford James Morrow, Robert Reed, James Lovegrove, Marly Youmans, Kage Baker, Ian R. MacLeod, Margo Lanagan, Keith Brooke, Adam Roberts, Jeff VanderMeer and Jay Lake
Comment
I need to get hold of this just to improve my ignorance of steampunk… I don’t know much about it. Some good writers listed though.
Necropolis (Power of Five) by Anthony Horowitz
Synopsis
This is the eagerly-awaited fourth book in this bestselling series. Hong Kong has been taken over by the Old Ones and has become Necropolis, city of the dead. Once in, there is no way out…Evil has been unleashed on the world and only five children - with special powers - can save it. Matt and the other three desperately need to find Scar, the final gatekeeper, who has been trapped in Hong Kong, where puddles of water turn into puddles of blood, where ghosts, demons and hideous creatures stalk the streets. Matt has no choice but to follow her. Now, both imprisoned, their only hope of survival is to reach a secret door in the Man Ho temple. But even if Scar can find her psychic power, it may already be too late.
Comment
This is a series that has been on the edges of my attention but it’s a bit larger on the radar after reading that Hong Kong has been turned into the City of the Dead. How fab is that?
Hellboy The All-Seeing Eye by Mark Morris (DarkHorse)
Synopsis
Hellboy has his hands full. While the supernatural is on a rampage in London, a series of brutal ‘Torso Murders’ turns up at various sites around the city. All of the corpses are headless, limbless, and drained of their blood. Called in to investigate the killings, B.P.R.D. agents Abe Sapien and Liz Sherman discover a wellspring of black magic under the London streets. They also find a sack of heads. Hellboy descends into the dark underworld of London, encountering demons who prophesy the coming of plague and the opening of an eye to the otherworld, bringing forth death and destruction upon the land.
Comment
I loved the Hellboy mythos created in the two films and two aminated movies and I’m been keen to read the comics. And now we have another novelisation to expand that universe. Hellboy is going from strength to strength.
I really should steal this idea from 