Year: 2013

Amazing Spider-Man: “Died In Your Arms Tonight” (Marvel)

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AmazingSpiderMan-600-ArtWriters: Dan Slott, Stan Lee, Mark Waid, Bob Gale | Artists: John Romita, Jr., Marcos Martin, Colleen Doran, Mario Alberti | Inks: Klaus Janson | Colors: Dean White, Jose Villarrubia, Javier Rodriguez

The return of Doctor Octopus, Daredevil, a wedding you never predicted, and the return of one of the most important people in Peter Parker’s life. Doc’s back in town, but it’s only a prelude to darker days ahead as Spidey unknowingly prepares for a gauntlet he can’t predict. Also, several short features showcase some rarely-explored aspects of both Spidey and Peter’s life. And, finally, the second most important wedding day of Peter Parker’s life.

Collects: Amazing Spider-Man #600-601, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #36,
& material from Amazing Spider-Man Family #7

The book is rather uneven. It’s bitty, highly episodic, and the tone veers all over the place, dependent on the writer. The humour works at times, but at others it feels like it is trying so hard, it’s difficult to like it at all (imagine the quippiness of Gilmore Girls, but with a wall-crawling super-hero). It took longer than I expected to read all of this, as I just couldn’t get sucked in. It is not, however, without its moments. Thankfully, the book improved, once we got beyond the first, mammoth issue.

First up, let me just deal with the “Spider-Man Covers You’ll Never See!” features, which are sprinkled throughout the book. They’re crap, and pointless. Moving on…

AmazingSpiderMan-600Issue #600 of Amazing Spider-Man is 101 pages long, including the cover and back-matter/extras (I was reading this via the comiXology app), and man did it drag at times. I’m not wholly new to Spider-Man or the characters that surround him. I’ve read a number of issues from all over the series chronology, as well as other Spidey series. So I wasn’t exactly lost while reading this, but there were times when I just wondered why the hell I should care at all.

“LAST LEGS”

Writer: Dan Slott | Art: John Romita, Jr. | Inks: Klaus Kanson | Colors: Dean White

In this story, Spidey’s incessant quipping was frankly exhausting. Maybe 10% of the comments, retorts and jokes were enough to raise a smile. That is certainly not a success rate that one might expect from such a popular series. Doctor Octopus is a complete cartoon, and his dialogue is just awful and cliché, and had me cringing on almost every page. I was very disappointed. The story dragged, the wedding stuff preparations and Spidey’s ongoing conflict with Mayor Jameson were simply tedious. I’ve read some later Spider-Man stuff written by Slott, and it’s clear to me that he got much better over time, as he became more comfortable with the characters. Given what I know about Superior Spider-Man, and the end of Amazing Spider-Man (issue #700), I can see some foreshadowing.

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“IDENTITY CRISIS”

Writer: Stan Lee | Art: Marcos Martin | Colors: Javier Rodriguez

In this first back-up-style story, Spidey has visited a shrink. He reflects on his many, many years of adventures. The writing was a little weak, but the premise was strong: Spider-Man basically goes through all the (very) weird events and experiences that have happened over the course of the 600 issues of the series to this point. There’s a nice, knowing nod and a wink regarding the comics industry’s tendency to upend the lives of their various characters, not to mention ret-conning, poor artistic and narrative decisions, and other things like that. It was amusing, but I do think it could have been better, if written by someone else.

“MY BROTHER’S SON”

Writer: Mark Waid | Art: Colleen Doran | Colors: Jose Villarrubia

This short tale is told from the perspective of Uncle Ben. He’s reflecting on his insecurities about raising Peter, after the death of his father. We see how much he worries about his nephew, how much he misses his brother. It builds nicely, and eventually Ben and Peter confront his concerns. It’s calm, not at all melodramatic. And it is actually a wonderful, moving story. Superb.

“IF I WAS SPIDER-MAN”

Writer: Bob Gale | Artist: Mario Alberti

This story has slightly rougher artwork than the previous stories, but it is a fun story of kids philosophizing (as they are wont to do) about how they would “be” Spider-Man, if they got the chance. They go through all of the things that would be so cool, and the ways in which they’d use their powers for celebrity and other selfish purposes. But then move on to the concerns they have.

“It’s just WRONG — that Spider-Man is cool, but BEING Spider-Man isn’t cool. That’s, like, so totally messed up.”

Tell me about it, thinks Peter Parker, as he wanders past…

“THE BLESSING”

Writer: Marc Guggenheim | Artist: Mitch Breitweiser | Colors: Elizabeth Breitweiser

Aunt May, pre-wedding to Jameson Snr., is visiting Uncle Ben’s grave. She talks to him, going over her various fears, her worry that she might appear to be replacing Ben. It’s a short diversion. Sweet story, interesting art style, but thin and ruined by a silly, schmaltzy ending.

“FIGHT AT THE MUSEUM”

Writer: Zeb Wells | Artist: Derec Donovan | Colors: Antonio Fabella

Wells is also the author of the first few issues of the awesome Avenging Spider-Man. However, this is just another quick jolt of making fun of past bad decisions (the Spider Mobile, in this case). It’s fine, but too short to really do anything beyond make long-time fans chuckle. (In itself, no bad thing, it’s true.)

“VIOLENT VISIONS”

By: Kelly, Fiumara, Chuckry & VC’s Caramagna

This was a very dark and very cool short: it’s clearly a prologue, of sorts, for “The Gauntlet” storyline, which ran from #6??-#6?? (and was collected into five books). I’m quite intrigued by this upcoming story, now, I must say. I had been cool on this whole series (despite picking up the first two collections from #600) at this point, but this short certainly made me sit up and take note.

***

AmazingSpiderMan-601Writer: Mark Waid | Artist: Mario Alberti | Colors: Andres Mossa

Which brings us, after waaay too long, to issue #601. This one features a famous cover – of Mary Jane Watson, sitting suggestively on the couch, breasts pressed together, as Spidey swings off out the window. I have a feeling someone recreated this at some point, perhaps the guy behind Collectors…?

This issue finally picks up the main story from the end of #600. Mary Jane Watson has returned to New York, which has distracted Peter no end. It kicks off the morning after the wedding, with Peter waking up, very hung-over. He turns over, and sees a woman in his bed, who he believes is MJ. Unfortunately for Peter, it’s not his former flame. Michelle (his not-exactly-platonic-anymore roommate) is especially pissed after Peter calls her “MJ”. Naturally: “You’re the reason there’s a waiting period on handguns!” she screams at him.

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The issue had a lot of talk about economic downturn and hard economic and employment times (the issue was published in 2010, so that’s not surprising).

“THE BEST VERSION OF MYSELF”

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis | Artist: Joe Quesada | Colors: Morry Hollowell

This was another pretty cool back-up story: Spidey drops in on Luke Cage’s wife, Jessica Jones, and their baby daughter (she used to be a super-hero, apparently). They talk about Jones’s memories of the first time she ever saw Spider-Man, and how much of an impact it had on her own career as a super-powered-person. Spider-Man convinces her that the best way for her to instill the idea of “With great power comes great responsibility” is to show her the best side of herself, rather than to just tell her. (This story continues in New Avengers, apparently.)

***

AmazingSpiderMan-Annual-36And last, but by no means least, we get to Annual #36.

Writer: Marc Guggenheim | Artist: Pat Oliffe | Inks: Pat Oliffe & Andy Lanning | Colors: Antonio Fabela

The whole Parker and Jameson wedding party has schlepped up to Boston for a special dinner. This, sadly, meant that a lot of the issue was written in a “Bahstin” accent. Rookie, bad writer mistake. It was fine for one or two speech bubbles, but after that, it quickly got old and annoying (not to mention inconsistent). Mid-way through the dinner, some crazy dude called “Raptor” interrupts Peter in the bathroom (uncool), and just starts wailing on him. It turns out, Raptor believes Peter is Ben Reilly – Peter’s clone from a long-running Spider-Man story-arc, The Ben Reilly Epic. There’s more to come from this story, later in the series, and I’ll be interested to see how it unfolds.

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I think the annual should have been placed at the start of the book: chronologically, it would’ve made far more sense, being set before the wedding. It’s not a bad way to finish a book, though. Despite the “Bahstin” accents…

***

So, overall, this book is very hit-and-miss. It’s long, but the first issue makes it feel so much longer. There are moments of excellent story-telling; but there are also swathes of dull, drawn-out and boring sections. If you want to start on Amazing Spider-Man, then there may be a better point either earlier or later in the series. I’ll be investigating later collections (I have already read the follow up to this book, Red-Headed Stranger), so I might be able to give new readers a suggestion for a better starting-point.

Mini-Review: Fatale, Vol.1 – “Death Chases Me” (Image)

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CRIM008_cvrWriter: Ed Brubaker | Artist: Sean Phillips | Colors: Dave Stewart

In modern times, Nicolas Lash stumbles upon a secret that will lead him down the darkest path imaginable… to a seductive and ageless woman who’s been on the run since the 1930s.

And in 1950s San Francisco, reporter Hank Raines crosses paths with that same woman and gets caught in a vicious triangle between a crooked cop and a man who is more monster than man.

But who is Josephine and what is her secret? And how many men will die and kill for her?

Collects: Fatale #1-5

Brubaker and Philips’s Fatale is an interesting, if flawed blend of noir-ish thriller and horror suspense and weirdness. The series has enjoyed plentiful good and middling coverage in all comic-related corners of the internet. I’m not really sure I can add much to the discussion, to be honest. After finishing it, I found I had very little opinion on it – positive or negative.

The story is fine: there are corrupt cops; a rash of strange, “cult killings” all over San Francisco. This first volume follows a number of slightly-muddled story-threads, which all lead up to an underground confrontation with a cult-leader (who is a lot more than he appears to be). Josephine appears to have a strange, powerful allure for apparently all men she encounters – and, of course, a mysterious past. Despite my interest in such stories, though, Fatale never really managed to excite my interest beyond the cursory.

The artwork is good, and certainly enhances the atmosphere and noir-feel to the story, but it is sadly not a style I would spend much time lingering over.

I think Fatale would have worked much better as a prose-novel. It was too fast-paced near the end, despite an almost agonizingly-slow build up at the start. Despite my qualms and reservations, it will be interesting to see how the series develops in the second volume, but I wouldn’t rush to buy it. (Luckily, I recently got Volume 2 through NetGalley, so I could get to it a lot quicker than I otherwise would have done).

In conclusion, then, and coming from a huge fan of Brubaker’s other work – specifically his initial run on Marvel’s Captain America (and Winter Soldier), Gotham Central (review coming soon), and also Batman: The Man Who Laughs – I’m sad to say that this was a massive disappointment.

I borrowed Fatale Volume 1 from the local library.

Fatale-Vol.01-Content

An Interview with KAREN HEULER

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Last week I posted an excerpt from Karen Heuler’s much-talked-about and anticipated The Inner City anthology. Naturally, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to interview Karen as well, and ask her about the book, inspirations and also an old job with strange, alphabetical hiring practices…

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Karen Heuler?

I’ve published over 60 stories in literary and speculative journals and anthologies. My first four books were published with university presses.

Your latest story collection, The Inner City, was recently published by ChiZine. Have you always written darker fiction?

I’ve been writing odd fiction for dozens of years. My first collection was published in 1995, and the New York Times review called it “haunting and quirky.” I thought then that I was firmly in the literary world and occasionally writing magic realism. I managed to get a lot of stories published in literary journals and won an award and was short-listed for others. But some of my favorite stories never found a home. I used to read science fiction and fantasy when I was in my twenties, but for some reason moved into mysteries after that (still mainlining literary fiction, though).

Sometime in the late ’90s or early aughts, I started looking more closely at people like Kelly Link and a lot of writers who were crossing back and forth between literary and genre – Lethem, Saunders, Bender, et al. I returned to speculative fiction in terms of trying to catch up on what I’d missed, and also because it became a world where the stories I loved the most might find a home. I was completely surprised when it turned out that I was writing dark fiction of any kind. And horror. Not me! I frighten easily. I creep out easily. But I do, indeed, write dark. I write dark and I scare easily. Luckily, ChiZine created a glow-in-the-dark fish for me so I would feel safer (note: see cover).

Heuler-InnerCity

What inspired you to write the stories? And where do you draw your inspiration from in general?

What I think about most is how odd it is that we rarely experience “normal.” We have a standard in our heads of what our lives will be – or at the very least, should be – and it’s true, some people do have a great childhood, school popularity, a loving marriage, brilliant children, and a successful career. But it’s more common to experience failed love, menacing diseases, lack of recognition, and failed expectations. We live in a world shocked by earthquakes, falling meteors, cancer, flesh-eating diseases and a host of unexpected and unpredictable whims of fate. I work with this jarring alternate reality and to a certain extent, find an explanation for it. Secret city governments playing with you; scientists experimenting around you; people grabbing your hair and then your job – when you reveal the engine behind life’s arbitrariness, it all makes sense. And I, for one, want it to make sense.

How do you enjoy being a writer and working within the publishing industry? Do you have any specific working, writing, researching practices?

HeulerKaren-AuthorPicSome of my earliest jobs were as an editorial assistant – the first was at Dell Crosswords, where the person in charge had a policy of only hiring women whose names began with C or K.

I later worked as an editor at a very small art publisher whose paychecks bounced. Whenever we got paid, we all raced to the bank to try to get there before the account was emptied out.

This has of course spilled over to my own habits. I try to send my stories out as soon as I can, so they can get to magazine editors before other stories do. I tell my students, however, to revise up to 10 times before sending out their stories. And never to send to magazines with editors whose names begin with C or K.

Aside from that, I pretty much write when I can, when I have something to write. I am not much good at writing to schedule; I usually end up just throwing things out when I try to force writing. And I believe very firmly that a lot of the preparation for writing is already happening in the back of the brain as long as you keep it stimulated with books, movies, and people. It’s all process.

When did you realize you wanted to be an author, and what was your first foray into writing? Do you still look back on it fondly?

I wrote a “book” when I was 11. I lost it a long time ago, gratefully. I then wrote poetry and what would now be called flash fiction when I was in my teens. Then a few stories and my first novel in my twenties. That and the next two novels were more exercises than successes. I think your early work is basically testing out your talent, trying to locate the area(s) where your writing works best.

What are you reading at the moment (fiction, non-fiction)?

Schulman-ThreeWeeksInDecemberI’m re-reading Three Weeks in December by Audrey Schulman, reading James Tiptree’s stories, and trying to read a lot of stories in online magazines like Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, and Daily Science Fiction. And I’m going through a huge backlog of New Yorker issues.

What’s something readers might be surprised to learn about you?

A native guide abruptly caught and then handed me a caiman while we were in a boat on the Amazon river. I handed it right back.

What are you most looking forward to in the next twelve months?

I’d love to finish a linked-story collection that’s been almost finished for the past six or seven years. I’ve got stories I’ve started that need to get finished. I have a novel coming out next January from Permuted Press [Glorious Plague]. But in the meantime, I’m enjoying life with The Inner City and ChiZine. Very much.

Green Lantern, Vol.1 – “No Fear” (DC)

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GreenLantern-Vol.1-NoFearWriter: Geoff Johns | Artist: Carlos Pacheco (#1-3), Ethan van Sciver (#4-5), Simone Bianchi (#6) | Inks: Jesus Merino (#1-3), Prentis Rollins (#5) | Colors: Moose Baumann (#1-5), Nathan Eyring (#6)

Hal Jordan is back from the dead – now watch as he re-establishes his life as a pilot. Standing in his way, though, is one of the deadly Manhunter androids followed by the Shark.

Collects: Green Lantern #1-6

After reading Blackest Night, its prequel Agent Orange, and Green Lantern: Rebirth, I’ve finally got around to reading the first collection of Geoff Johns’s pre-New 52 run on Green Lantern proper. And I was… well, not exactly bowled over, but nor was I exactly disappointed. It’s a fun book, and I’m sure it would be a good buy if you’re a fan of the character, but haven’t managed to read that much of his back-story or pre-New 52 adventures.

The first four pages of the book are a blitz-through of the story of how Abin Sur selected of Hal Jordan to be his successor. There’s a mention of the yellow impurity, which was properly explained in Green Lantern: Rebirth. The main story begins, as Jordan is trying to get a new job, back in the US Air Force. He’s struggling a bit, given that the guy he clocked to get his initial discharge is now heading up the program and division he would have to join to get re-upped. Awkward, for sure…

GreenLantern-01-Interior1

The next two chapters focus on a rogue “Manhunter 2.0” and Hal’s attempt to put it down. As it turns out, Manhunters are not so keen on humans…

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The book is a little uneven beyond this, as we’re informed that an entire, new Green Lantern Corps is being called up, after the ravages of Parallax, which at least means they don’t know what Jordan became and what he did when he was possessed. Very strangely, at the start of one chapter (#4), what appears to be an alien, a gray, stepped out for a cigarette and is hit by a military jeep…

GreenLantern-04-Interior3

There’s a lot of cryptic information and nuggets throughout this book, but it didn’t really feel like it was going anywhere. Jordan goes to see Hector Hammond. Who has a huge head… I wasn’t entirely familiar with the character, but he features in the rest of the book.

In Chapter 5, we get… SHARKS!! Big, f**k-off evil ones. In another example of characters evolving “millions of years” in one go by an apparent freak accident… It gets to the point when it feels a bit like a narrative crutch. Thankfully, we do get an explanation for all this rampant evolution. And also a huge fight against a shark-beast that Jordan apparently has clashed with in the past.

Also, while reading this book, I was initially very confused about the creepy little German-speaking gremlins that kept cropping up at seemingly random moments…

GreenLantern-05-Interior1

In the final chapter, everything is finally tied up, and the German-speaking gremlins are explained. This was really weird. Quirky, not necessarily in a bad way, though. They appear to be experiment-obsessed aliens who like to dick around with others species’ genetics, technology, and evolutionary stage.

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The artwork throughout is strong, as you can see from the samples included here. It’s not particularly stand-out, but it serves its purpose well – Johns’s story is well-realised. It was not, however, anything I felt particularly strongly about.

“No Fear” is not a bad book, overall, nor is it a bad start to a newly re-booted series. It’s a little bit unfocused, but at the same time it is starting to show signs of the quality I’ve seen in later books and the New 52 Green Lantern (which is the reason I decided to pick this up in the first place). At this point, pre-New 52 Green Lantern isn’t nearly as strong as the first two volumes of the New 52 re-boot. I’m not sure it’s as good for new readers, either. That’s a lot of dissembling after I said it was a good book… But, in view of the series at large, “No Fear” just isn’t as strong as other collected editions or story-arcs. It’s rather quirky, though.

Will I read volume two and beyond? Absolutely. I’m just not in as much of a rush to do so as I was after reading Blackest Night and the New 52 Green Lantern.

GreenLantern-Vol.1-NoFear-Content

Review: THE DESERT SPEAR by Peter V. Brett (Voyager/Del Rey)

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BrettPV-DC2-DesertSpearUKThe Epic sequel to The Painted Man

The sun is setting on humanity. The night now belongs to voracious demons that arise as the sun sets, preying upon a dwindling population forced to cower behind ancient and half-forgotten symbols of power. These wards alone can keep the demons at bay, but legends tell of a Deliverer: a general-some would say prophet-who once bound all mankind into a single force that defeated the demons. The Deliverer has returned, but who is he?

Arlen Bales, formerly of the small hamlet of Tibbet’s Brook, learnt harsh lessons about life as he grew up in a world where hungry demons stalk the night and humanity is trapped by its own fear. He chose a different path; chose to fight inherited apathy and the corelings, and eventually he became the Painted Man, a reluctant saviour.

But the figure emerging from the desert, calling himself the Deliverer, is not Arlen. He is a friend and betrayer, and though he carries the spear from the Deliverer’s tomb, he also heads a vast army intent on a holy war against the demon plague… and anyone else who stands in his way.

The sequel to excellent The Painted Man is another epic instalment in Brett’s highly-successful Demon Cycle series. With the third novel in the series just released, I decided to finally catch up. The Desert Spear is a tour-de-force fantasy epic – brilliantly written, wonderfully realised, and highly addictive. I loved this. Continue reading →

“Green Lantern: Rebirth” (DC)

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GreenLantern-Rebirth-TPBGeoff Johns re-boots the Green Lantern series

Writer: Geoff Johns | Artist: Ethan van Sciver | Colors: Moose Baumann | Inks: Prentis Rollins (#2-6) & Mick Gray (#5-6), Marlo Alquiza (#6)

Hal Jordan was considered the greatest Green Lantern of them all. But Jordan lost control, allowed himself to be corrupted and transformed into the villainous Parallax. Later, Jordan reappeared and made the ultimate sacrifice – a sacrifice that allowed him to become the Spectre, the Wrath of God. After several years of activity on Earth, The Spectre became restless and sought a way to prove himself worthy of that noble reputation. See how a man born without fear and seeking to rebuild his life, puts cosmic forces into motion that will have repercussions not only on Earth but across the universe.

Green Lantern: Rebirth is the book that re-booted the franchise and character pre-New 52. Penned by Geoff Johns (who is fast becoming one of my favourite comic authors), it explains how Hal Jordan, who killed himself while possessed by the malevolent entity Parallax, comes back to life. As super-heroes are so very wont to do. It’s not a bad place to start, but this could be because I’ve read other Green Lantern books and series, not to mention later chapters in Johns’s run (don’t ask why, but I’m reading it entirely out of order).

So, as this book begins, there’s a lot of new and weird shit going on. First off, Hal Jordan is no longer the being Parallax. Instead, he appears to have become the Spectre, an incredibly powerful being created (maybe by a god) to go around the DC Universe meting out justice. Secondly, one of Earth’s other Lanterns (there are four), Guy Gardner is some kind of alien-shape-changer-hybrid, and no longer in the Green Lantern Corps. He is still on good terms with another Earth Lantern, John Stewart. Kyle Rayner, the fourth, final, and youngest human Lantern, who we meet in the first pages as he crash-lands back on on Earth, is oddly absent for a lot of this book.

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The first chapter is very focused on scene setting, for which I was grateful. The Justice League make an appearance, as they try to figure out what’s going on: Gardner appears to have gone biologically nova – he unwittingly unleashed a massive power blast that destroys a Green Lantern-themed bar (a bit tacky, but there we go), and seems to have lost control of his shape-changing abilities. It’s a big mess. There are signs of Jordan returning, and not in a good way, as many of his former colleagues in the Lantern Corps and also the Justice League only see him now as the Spectre. Batman, on the other hand, is highly suspicious. As he is wont to be.

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We learn more of Hal’s powers as the Spectre, when the Justice League confront him after he fixes the old, dilapidated airfield where he learned to fly, where his dad died, and where he met Carol. But then the other Lanterns start going nuts – Stewart attacks the Justice League members, and then Guy Gardner gets his ring back and then he, too, goes mental and starts attacking everybody.

The third chapter finally gives me the catch-up I’d been waiting for; as we get a very good history of Parallax, the Guardians’ battle with him (it?), and also the nature and cause of the “yellow impurity” that has a strange, detrimental impact on the Corps: they have a weakness against the color yellow… (This made me snort. I think it’s daft, and I can’t see how they managed to get this past the editors way back when. At least now, though, they have a decent explanation…)

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Then, of course, everything come to a gigantic battle-crazy climax, as revelations are had and surprises dealt out. Sinestro enters the mix, and things get even crazier and more brutal. I think I preferred the second half of this book, but I do see why Johns took the approach he did. I have a feeling that, had I read this issue-by-issue as released, rather than in one go, I may not have continued with it all the way. So yes, the final half of Green Lantern: Rebirth saves the book from leaving me completely lost and disappointed. It was still more all-star than I would like (why does the Justice League have to appear all the damned time?). I enjoyed the portrayal of Batman, as a suspicious… well, dickhead. And the pathetic fallacy of having him portrayed as always deep in-shadow was nicely done.

If you want to delve back into the pre-New 52 relaunch, then this is a book that could help. But, at the same time, maybe starting with Volume 1, “No Fear”, would be enough?

(I have already read “No Fear”, and I can say that both would have worked as starting points for me – with, again, the caveat that I’m not entirely new to the setting and characters.)

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Official GAME OF THRONES Season 3 Trailer

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This has been doing the rounds already, but I thought I’d share it here as well. I’ve really enjoyed the first two seasons, and am (despite never reading the novels) really looking forward to the third season.

Upcoming: “Before the Fall” by Francis Knight (Orbit)

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KnightF-RD2-BeforeTheFallI loved the first novel in Knight’s Rojan Dizon series, Fade to Black. I thought it was a fun, well-written and fast-paced fantasy thriller, in a very well-realised world. I have, therefore, been keeping my eyes open for more information about its soon-to-be-released sequel, Before the Fall. I’ve posted the artwork before, but was waiting on a synopsis. Which I now have. So here it is:

With the destruction of their main power source, the towering vertical city of Mahala is in crisis.

Downsiders are verging on a riot, and the mage Rojan Dizon is just trying to keep his head down and some power back to the city — whilst staying hopeful that he won’t get executed for using his magic. Then things go from bad to worse when a Downsider and emerging mage is found murdered. It’s a crime that divides all sides, and the result is mayhem.

But Rojan’s worst nightmare is just around the corner. When he discovers the killer’s identity, he’s either going to be responsible for all-out anarchy, or for a war with Mahala’s neighboring countries that no one is prepared for.

And there’s nothing Rojan hates more than being responsible.

Before the Fall will be published by Orbit in both the UK and US on June 18, 2013 (in paperback and eBook editions).

Upcoming: “Inferno” by Dan Brown (Transworld & Doubleday)

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BrownD-InfernoUKSo. The Da Vinci Code. A lot of people read that book. An awful lot of vocal people despised it. The Vatican said it was blasphemy (thereby guaranteeing excellent sales worldwide).* Lots more people complained about it, and also its prequel, Angels & Demons, and follow-up, The Lost Symbol, saying it was terrible or poorly written, and any number of criticisms. They’re not high-literature, nor are they the best historical-crypto-thrillers out there. They are quick and engaging reads. And, as always, any book that sells a bajillion copies (probably the real number) is good for the publishing industry as a whole. Be it Brown’s novels, Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight or E.L. James’s 50 Shades of Grey (all sneered at by people from all walks of life, most by those who haven’t read them), they all go some way to supporting other novels that will appeal more to CR readers and general SFF fans who don’t, to their detriment, read CR…

BrownD-InfernoUSI will probably read Inferno. There’s something comfortable and reassuring about a novel that you know will give you exactly what you’re expecting. Suspend your disbelief and pathological need for realism, and I’m sure this will be a fun read. Regardless of what you may think of the author, Transworld have commissioned a pretty nice cover (above, right). The American cover, from Doubleday, isn’t too bad (left) either, but is basically a good example of the sub-genre’s standard style.

Here is the (US) synopsis:

In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology, Robert Langdon, is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces… Dante’s Inferno.

Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust… before the world is irrevocably altered.

Inferno will be published in both the UK (Transworld) and the US (Doubleday) in May 2013.

* When I write my novel, and if anyone is kind enough to publish it, I will do everything I can to get the Vatican to publicly black-list it. I can’t think of a better publicity strategy…