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

After stalling on Martin Andrew’s The Necropolis Railway, I know it’s steam powered but good god get on with it!, I picked up the next title on my review copy pile and I’m engaged and reading every moment I can fit in.

What has me so excited? It’s the next title by Mark Chadbourn and his wonderfully inventive and playful fantasy series. The Burning Man takes out heroes away from where they’ve been before and puts them face to face with other Great Dominions (the Celts aren’t the only ones with gods after all). At this point their mission seems insurmountable but if their is one message from this series it’s that there is always light even in the darkest places.

Tags: Books, Gollancz, Mark Chadbourn, Novel, reading

This is always a hard choice for me. On the one hand I have books that have one the shelves for ages(read years) that I should give time to and then there is the pile of new releases that are shouting at me we’re new read me now! And usually I try and balance personal reading with review copies from publishers. The problem comes when I just can’t settle and pick a book. I think about it, put it down, read a couple of pages and then move on to the next one.

Reading for me has a lot to do with mood. Do I want to read something comforting by a writer I know or read something new that I might not like. Added to that is when my inner editor is front and centre and it takes quite a lot to impress him.

For example I’ve picked and put down two books that I’ve had sitting in the pile for a little bit. My problem is that that my inner editor is shouting and screaming as I read. “Show not tell! Show not tell!” I think I’m a bit of a snob. So this leaves me with a bit of a dilemma. Should I struggle and hope it’s a phase and that I won’t end up hating every second. Or should I move on?

I usually choose move on as I’m not enjoying it. Quality of writing I think is important for me even if I’m reading a genre that isn’t considered literary, which isn’t a fair comment to make as I’ve read more quality writing in genre fiction that I have in the literary books. Though I’ve also read some of the worse writing in genre titles as well.

Anyway, I’m hoping to find something I’ll like soon. Currently I’m trying Andrew Martin’s The Necropolis Railway. Fingers crossed.

Tags: reading

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

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.

Tags: reading lists

OF Blog of the Fallen: Yet another post on reviewing epistemology

Reviewing a book is an inexact science. In many ways, reviews are idiosyncratic and they reflect the reviewer’s personality and his/her take on reading. While some might argue that reviews are a take ‘em or leave ‘em affair, many have commented on what they call a “bad” review. When I say a “bad” review, I am not talking about whether or not a book was well-written or not, but rather whether or not the work being reviewed ever really was “reviewed.”

This blog post raises a few interesting questions and it addresses things I do and don’t do in my own reviews. My reviews fall into what this post calls the ABCs (”A) Plot Summary, B) Liked it/Disliked it, C) Short Wrap-up, with nary a citation for those opinions.”). Well I hope I’m a bit more expansive about point C but they pretty much fit this pattern.

I try hard to avoid spoilers because most of the books I read have an element of speculation and intrigue and they are strong part of the enjoyment of the book and I don’t want to flag those in the readers mind more than I have to. The whole Fool Moon is full of potential spoilers so it’s hard to say much about the plot further than what is on the blurb of the book.

And I don’t know if I want to analyse and dissect something unless I’m being negative and need to explain what I had issues with. Reading for me is mostly indulgent and has nothing to do with me wanting to be literary, though I can and often do have literary thoughts. I just don’t think that the types of books I’m interested in need that level of examination. And the books that do have to work on first reading and stand on their own initial merits.

Do reviewers need to be more critical? Should we be justifying ourselves more? Explaining more? What do you think?

Title: Fool Moon
Author: Jim Butcher
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 01 September 2005
Price: £6.99
Own Copy

In Storm Front Harry Dresden had to battle with dark magic drawn from lust and desire. Now in Fool Moon he has to travel deeper into our animal natures and battle against werewolves. Being Chicago’s only wizard in the phonebook isn’t just about looking for lost items you know.

I have to admit having a soft spot for Dresden after watching the prematurely cancelled Dresden Files earlier this year and the main actors will now forever be etched as the characters they portrayed. Not sure a bad thing though I am missing the embodied version of Bob. Though being a novel these version are a bit more kick ass.

And kicking ass there is. Fool Moon is action from beginning to end along with the added complication of Murphy not quite yet recovered from the events of Storm Front and so has Dresden on a very short leash and a very short fuse.

Butcher knows how to keep things moving though does seem to get himself into one too many impossible corners that aren’t 100% satisfyingly got out of. Him and Dresden are still finding their feet and it’s not done badly just not as eloquently as it could have been. There are also hints of more dangers on the horizon.

This series are bags of potential and a good job too as I’m a bit behind. If you like your magic modern and fast moving and realistic then this is shaping up to be the series for you.

Tags: Bookshelf, reading lists, Urban Fantasy

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.

Tags: reading lists

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.

Tags: horror, reading lists