Welcome to NextRead.co.uk. After one year successfully posting news, comments, features and reviews on books I’ve read or would like to read on my personal blog I’ve decided to give my book passion it’s own place. And here it is. I hope you enjoy.
gav.
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Jackson to produce Hobbit movies
Peter Jackson, Oscar-winning director of the Lord of the Rings movies, has signed a deal to produce two films based on JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit
I loved The Hobbit when I read it at maybe 10 or 11 and I was dreding a film version that was outside the cinematic landscape that Jackson made.
The Hobbit is Tolkien-lite and in my opinion much better for it. When I read The Lord of the Rings I couldn’t see the point of reading any more after Frodo dropped the ring in Mount Doom. I’m told that important things happened after but I’d had my fill of wondering around even if he was going home.
Tolkien is a brilliant world builder and creator but he could have done with a bit of fire under him when he was writing. A bit too self indulgent if you ask me.
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:
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
Let’s see. It’s coming up to Christmas so you might if you’re lucky have time to read or even luckier have someone that wants to buy you books or might want to treat yourself. Well there are a few that are gathering my interest.
Starting with a new favourite, Mr Charles Stross. Tor are issuing his The Merchant Princes series in the UK starting with The Family Trade. It’s fantasy this time with Knights on horseback wielding machine guns and world-skipping assassins. Though being prolific Mr Stross has another book out in January called Halting State from Orbit and it’s back to sci-fi but with the twist that it’s in the second person. And I’m hoping it”ll persuade me to like a second person narrator
This is a bit of a surprise release as when I last looked the Bram Stoker Award winning Dark Harvest by Norman Patridge wasn’t listed as a British release but it came out just in time for Halloween.
‘…he rises from the cornfields every Halloween, a butcher knife in his hand, and makes his way toward town, where gangs of teenage boys eagerly await their chance to confront the legendary nightmare. Both the hunter and the hunted, the October Boy is the prize in an annual rite of life and death.’
Sounds creepy to me.
Brian Aldiss has been asking, ‘Why are science fiction’s best writers so neglected?’ and he sounds a little bit bitter about the fact that only the time reviewed his latest novel, Harm. Strangely he fails to mention writers like Stephen Baxter, Iain M Banks and Peter F. Hamilton. But never mind he also has an anthology from Penguin called A Science Fiction Omnibus, it sounds like a good collection works from the last 65 years.
Speaking of science-fiction writers Light is now out in paperback. My only exposure so far to M. John Harrison is his collection of stories called, Things that Never Happened. As with most collections I’m only a few stories in but I’m intrigued enjoy to want to read something a little longer. Plus the synopsis sounds good:
‘On the barren surface of an asteroid, located deep in the galaxy beneath the unbearable light of the Kefahuchi Tract, lie three objects: an abandoned spacecraft, a pair of bone dice covered with strange symbols, and a human skeleton. What they are and what they mean are the mysteries explored and unwrapped in LIGHT, M. John Harrison’s triumphant return to science fiction.’
I’m a sucker for a good cover and here is a another great one from Gollancz. Black Man (Thirteen) by Richard Morgan is a wonderful graphic cover and by all accounts (see here, here and here) the contents isn’t bad either.
‘When a thirteen escapes from exile on Mars and apparently goes on an insane killing spree, Carl Marsalis, a soul-weary freelance thirteen hit man, is hired to help track him down. Morgan goes beyond the SF cliché of the genetically enhanced superman to examine how personality is shaped by nature and experience’
Garth Nix’s Abhorsen Trilogy is one of my all time faves and with Across the Wall he returns briefly to the Old Kingdom as well as tales based on the Arthurian legend, a war story, a western, a traditional tale with a twist and a hilarious choose- your- own- adventure spoof. I’m still waiting to dive into the Keys of the Kingdom:
‘Arthur Penhaligon is not supposed to be a hero. He is supposed to die. But then he finds a key, discovers a mysterious house and meets the sinister Mister Monday… Prepare for seven breathtaking adventures as Arthur fights to save his world.’
And finally, for now, what is turning into a British institution, Schott’s Almanac. It’s a wonderfully eclectic mix of Britishness (or German or Americanness depending on the edition). Packed full of useless, and not so useful but no less interesting information. Great to dip into at anytime of the year.
I haven’t really. I’m out of the swing of posting but then I’ve had a couple of things on my mind that you don’t want boring with. Except to say that I’m older than I was last time I posted. I’m now 29! What does this mean? Well I’ve blown my chances at winning an Eric Gregory Award for poets under 30. It also means I had some wonderful gifts, namely a lovely new iPod nano, that I immediately bought For the Birds to try on it. And I’ve been playing the new The Simpons Game and that cheered me up no end.
Apart from that I have been ploughing through Fool Moon by Jim Butcher. I’ve been putting that one off for a while as after watching the TV series I thought it was going to be similar to one of the episodes. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It’s a complex and well thought out book. Who knew there was more than one type of werewolf?
I got to see 30 Days of Night as a birthday treat. It might have worked as a comic (though I’ve never read it so I couldn’t tell you) but it doesn’t work as a film. It mostly has to do with how time works and how they cope and partly to how the vampires go from superhuman to more human and back again for no other reason than to make the plot work. Shame.
More DRM stuff. Well not DRM as such but galleycat is reporting that Marvel and DC have teamed up against people who scan and share their comic books without permission. Fair enough. But what’s the alternative to fans who want to read all those hard to get issues of their favourite characters well Marvel has the answer. They’ve launched Marvel Digital and from that trial issues on-line it’s pretty damned impressive and not that expensive when I consider my old comic habit. Now when are DC going to do something similar?
Gods Behaving Badly might be making it’s way to the small screen via Ben Stiller’s production company. You can find a link here.
The highly energetic Book Swede has been showing off some of Orbit’s New Year Releases. I’m loving the cover for Halting State by Charles Stross, another good looking book on my TBR pile. And more Charles Stross news comes from The Genre Files reminding me that a fantasy story called The Family Trade is out now.
Speaking of fellow bloggers the Grumpy Old Bookman is taking a well deserved rest. Dovgreyreader isn’t that well read it seems having reading only 9 out of 100 books chosen as ‘hidden gems’ by the people behind World Book Day. She’s much more cultured and read then I with 0 of 100 read.
Fantasy Book Critic has reviewed The Solaris Book of New Fantasy which says, ‘I hope that Solaris will continue producing these anthologies for years to come…’. Can’t get a better recommendation than that.
Tia over at Fantasy Debut has announced a policy update. The reason I mention it is that she’s limited her time and energy to books from major publishers and prominent independents, which is, I’d suggest, a good place to go if you want to support new writers. Why? Well from my little experiment this year on focusing on debut writers there are some wonderful writers out there that we need to see more of and they need sales in order to have their second, third, fourth novels come to light. And the more sales they generate the more risks publishers will take with new authors. It’s a good circle.
I’m not knocking POD books as I’ve recently had a my hand in helping a wonderfully received book come into physical form but I might be suggesting that the risks of not getting 100% value for money might be a bit higher than a book from a more established source.
Book blogs are a wonderful source of finding books you’re never likely to hear about any other way and Mr John Self has made another appear on my ‘must by soon’ list by introducing me to, A Mysterious Affair of Style by Gilbert Adair and his earlier title The Act of Roger Murgatroyd.
And that’s it for this update. More soon.
In my previous post on ‘ebook displays’ (for won’t of a better term) I forgot to mention the important bit. You buy a real book and you can read it anywhere you like. Not so with an ebook. There is the dreaded DRM (digital rights management) to battle with. I know an ipod has it when you buy music from itunes but I can’t see me changing from itunes at any point soon and I’m more inclined to rip a CD from Tesco’s than download an MP3. Plus my mum was adding music to her Nano the day it arrived even though they only had the computer. That alone makes the ipod/itunes combo a good deal. And they’ve kept the prices low.
The same can’t be said for an ebook. You can’t rip a book the same as a CD so you’re left with the download only option and you have a variety of formats to choose from. The Irex Iliad (and the Cybook Gen3 how did I miss this?) use Mobipocket for their DRM books. Sony Reader is exclusive to Sony Connect. Amazon Kindle is exclusive to Amazon.com (even though it owns Mobipocket!). Not one of them (as far as I can tell) supports Adobe or Microsoft ebook formats (the main ones on WHSmith’s eBookshop).
On top of that I’ve just looked at some prices. It’s just me I’m sure and might be why I’m not a big downloader from itunes (I only get the occasional single) is that if I’m going to spend £8.99 on a CD I’d rather have something for my money rather than a file on my computer and if I’m going to spend £18.99 (£11.00 on Amazon) on the latest William Gibson (which is selling as an ebook for $25.95) I want a nice big hardback.
It’s official Amazon have killed the paperback and they’ve called it the Kindle!
Well not really though the have made the reality of an ipod-esque book replacement one step closer. There are already a couple of ‘readers’ (for want of a much better term) in the US market. Sony Reader is now in it’s second generation and Irex’s Iliad (Andrew Marr gave the first generation Reader and the Iliad a good go in an article for the Guardian earlier this year). You can get the Iliad in the UK for £433!!
It seems that the Kindle takes book reading one stage further by using a free mobile phone connection so that you can buy books, read your subscriptions to a couple of newspapers and selected blogs (as selected by Amazon and for a price).
There are so many things to say about displays that masquerade as books that I don’t know where to start!
The good thing about each of them is that use a version of digital ink so that the words are permanently on. Meaning that there should be any flicker to tire your eyes. It also means that there is no back lighting of the displays so you have to use ambient light - not such a bad thing as it says the battery for turning the pages though I don’t know how using the network connection on the Kindle will effect the battery life.
My problem is that I can not see an ipod like revolution in way we read. ipods are great. I have one that was kindly bought for me. I have music on the go. That is on long car journeys and train trips.
If I want to listen to music at home I usually have it blasting from the computer as I type or I’m feeling really environmentally unfriendly the computer is on as I read. I have decent pair or headphones and good speakers so the music arrives in good shape.
Now with a book I don’t need electronics to enjoy it unlike pre-recorded music or television. I can pick up a book open it and I’m off. If I drop it that’s ok it’s not going to damage it that much. I can skim it really quickly if it’s poetry book or a non-fiction title and I’m looking for something. And if I loose it I’ve lost a couple of quid. The same can’t be said for ‘readers’. They need charging. You can’t skim it the same way. And if I drop or loose it I’m down a lot more than the price of paperback.
Guilt plays a big part in a my book reading. A big pile of books forces me to read them so the pile goes down. How to you do that with an electronic book? On top of that I like to see the bookmark progressing through the book and when I’m near the end I can see how much further I have to go.
But the more I think about it the more I like the idea of having one as long as it feels nice to use. On visuals and size I like Sony’s Reader. If I was going to have an electronic book then all I really need is software to swap books from computer to device and something to turn the pages. No keyboards, no pens, wi-fi might be alright. But the simpler the better.
I wonder when the UK is going to get a Sony Reader and Kindle? and will I actually get one??
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.
….back in a week or so.
From the Academi Newsletter:
The following letter recently appeared in the Western Mail .
SIR – The National Library of Wales is currently digitising 90 Welsh periodicals and magazines. This project, Welsh Journals Online, aims to provide “free, online, searchable access” to complete runs of such titles as Barddas and Poetry Wales.
Set up by librarians and academics, the project does not seem to have consulted creative and professional writers or the bodies that represent them.
The project is receiving more than £840,000 in public funding. The Library, though, has not allocated any money for the people who wrote the articles, reviews, stories and poems that make up the magazines. Instead, it hopes that rights holders will allow their material to be used for free.
Writing is work. Professional writers are paid both for their work and for its re-use. In not making provision for the payment of copyright holders, the project is seriously flawed. Until this matter is addressed, writers who want to keep Welsh writing on a professional basis will not allow the National Library of Wales to digitise their work. They include:
| Sam Adams John Barnie Desmond Barry Gillian Clarke Anne Cluysenaar Tony Curtis Stevie Davies Maria Donovan Menna Elfyn Christine Evans Catherine Fisher Matthew Francis Philip Gross Paul Groves Graham Hartill Paul Henry Jeremy Hooker Mike Jenkins Nigel Jenkins Cyril Jones Stephen Knight Gwyneth Lewis Malcolm Lewis Hilary Llywellyn-Williams Gareth Miles Jan Morris Tony Conran Lynne Rees Deborah Kay Davies Richard Marggraf Turley Graham Mort Llwyd Owen |
Patrick McGuinness Christopher Meredith Catherine Merriman Robert Minhinnick Fiona Owen Richard Poole Clare Potter Oliver Reynolds Wil Owen Roberts Owen Sheers Meic Stephens Ifor Thomas Jeni Williams Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch Kevin Mills Duncan Bush Owen Martell Delyth George Harri Pritchard Jones Bethan Gwanas Tiffany Atkinson Angharad Price Sion Eirian Angharad Devonald David Woolley John Goodby Tony Brown Pascale Petit Norman Schwenk Meg Lewis Ioan M. Williams |
To add your name to this list in support of payment for writers, please email Oliver Reynolds: oreynolds@hotmail.co.uk
