Year: 2014

Upcoming: All New Captain America & Thor (Marvel)

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Marvel has been in the process of shaking things up, this week. Not only did they announce an all-new, female Thor on The View (see below), but they have now unveiled, yesterday on The Colbert Report, who is going to be the (all-)new Captain America!

And that lucky fellow who will now don the stars and stripes is none other than Sam Wilson, who formerly wore the mantel of the Falcon. In a nod to both his new role and his past super-heroics, his new get-up is pretty cool…

AllNewCaptainAmerica-01-Art

I quite like this, actually. I think this should offer something new to the character, and more so than Bucky’s turn as Captain America – although, I did really like that time in the Cap mythology. Here’s what Rick Remender, who will be writing the new series, had to say…

“Sam wants to lead by example. To help people see their own selfishness and to turn it around. To build better communities, to never forget the little guy… Sam follows his heart and his belief in what the American dream means and how it belongs to everyone.”

And here’s Executive Editor Tom Brevoort on the change-up…

“Steve’s spirit is as willing as ever, but his body is no longer up to the task of being Captain America. So he’ll employ his skills as the new Cap’s remote strategic advisor, running Cap’s missions from his headquarters in Avengers Mansion and providing Sam with technical support and field information from a distance. He’ll also tutor Sam in how to throw the shield, a skill that’s deceptively difficult for the new Cap to master. So Steve will continue to be a vital part of the series moving ahead.”

So, Steve Rogers is the new Nick Fury? Maybe just for new Sam-Cap? Sounds interesting, at any rate.

Given my tendency to wait for comic series to be collected or discounted, this means that two complete runs (or volumes) of Captain America have actually finished, that I haven’t read yet… Kind of: Rick Remender’s Marvel NOW series with Steve Rogers as Cap will end before the first issue of All New Captain America comes out in November 2014. Before that was Ed Brubaker’s second run on the series, which was (I think) part of the Golden Era or something. Marvel are re-juggling things far too frequently for me to keep up. It may look like a desperate plea for attention (certainly, in some instances it’s hard to see it as anything other than that), but it’s nice that they’re properly mixing things up. Just, you know, maybe let a series run for a full year before canning it?

Next up, the new Thor! A character I was not particularly familiar with pre-movie, as I always thought the idea of him was a little silly, compared to all of the other Avengers and Marvel characters. As a result, I have only read about him in the Avengers series, and more recently in Jason Aaron’s Marvel NOW series, Thor: God of Thunder (of which I’ve read the first collection, “The God Butcher”). I am, however, rather intrigued by this change up. Here’s the new Thor…

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First up, that’s a great piece of art. I do love this artist’s work – I think it’s Esad Ribic (the press release didn’t say, but it’s similar in style to Ribic’s work on Thor: God of Thunder). Here’s what the press release had to say:

“No longer is the classic male hero able to hold the mighty hammer, Mjölnir, a brand new female hero will emerge will who will be worthy of the name THOR. Who is she? Where did she come from and what is her connection to Asgard and the Marvel Universe?”

Jason Aaron, who will write the new Thor series, was keen to emphasize that, “This is not She-Thor. This is not Lady Thor. This is not Thorita. This is THOR. This is the THOR of the Marvel Universe. But it’s unlike any Thor we’ve ever seen before.”

“The inscription on Thor’s hammer reads ‘Whosoever holds this hammer, if HE be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.’ Well it’s time to update that inscription,” said Marvel editor Wil Moss. Moss also addressed what was no doubt the immediate thought of many Marvel Comics readers, stating that “this new Thor isn’t a temporary female substitute – she’s now the one and only Thor, and she is worthy!”

Still don’t know who Thor actually is, but I’m interested to see how this series develops. I’m sure Jason Aaron will do a great job, and not just write Valkyrie-with-more-armour-and-a-hammer.

The new Thor #1 will be published in October 2014.

Thor-01-Art

Interview with ERIKA JOHANSEN & Giveaway!

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JohansenE-AuthorPicErika Johansen’s The Queen of the Tearling has been getting some great press ever since WFC 2013 (at least, that’s when I heard of it). The novel finally hits shelves in the UK today, and to celebrate its release, not only do I offer the interview that follows (organised by Transworld), but I also have one copy of the novel to give away to a UK reader! Details at the end. But first, the interview…

Can you give us a brief introduction to The Queen of the Tearling?

A 19 year-old girl, Kelsea Glynn, is the heir to the throne of a degenerate kingdom. Having been raised far from the capital city, she’s not prepared to be the Queen, but she will need to learn quickly. Both the neighboring ruler and Kelsea’s own uncle would like to see her dead. Her kingdom is a mess, drowning in corruption and inequality. All Kelsea has are a strong moral compass, a lot of courage, an unwieldy temper and two hereditary sapphires which may or may not be magical in her hands.

Who are the main characters of the book?

The main characters include Kelsea, the Queen; Mace, her Captain of Guard; the Red Queen, who rules the neighboring kingdom; Javel, a guard in the Tear castle; and Father Tyler, a priest in the Tearling’s central church. Please don’t ask me to explain in a nutshell how they intersect.

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UK Cover

What is the one thing you hope the reader will take away after reading the novel?

This is fairly presumptuous of me, but ideally, I would hope to instill some sense of civics, of the social contract. I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but there is certainly a large and vocal contingent in my own country that believes it’s perfectly reasonable to grab whatever one can for oneself, and worry about the broader effects on society later, if at all. But I consider America’s subtle moral acceptance of this “I got mine” philosophy to be absolutely toxic to the creation of a healthy society. I’m no philosopher, and I certainly don’t have the intellectual depth to tackle this subject properly. Writing fiction is really the only way I can engage with ideas. At its most basic level, The Queen of the Tearling is about a young woman who has been raised to think about the impact of her actions, not just on herself and her nearest and dearest, but on everyone. Sometimes we simply have to take care of each other: neighbors, strangers, even enemies. This is the only way for a community to succeed. My heroine, Kelsea, is often confused about the “right” thing to do, but when she acts, she consistently tries to choose what’s right for her kingdom as a whole, rather than for herself. If even a tiny fraction of the energy that individuals currently expend on self could be redirected toward the community, I think it would be an extraordinary thing to see.

Kelsea Glynn is the novel’s protagonist – a strong, intelligent character with her own insecurities. Can you tell us a little bit more about the inspiration behind Kelsea, and what sets her aside from other protagonists in the genre?

I have grown extremely tired of reading books in which the female protagonist – even if she’s a strong character – is driven by her love life. I’m also tired of books in which the attractiveness of the heroine is a central plot point, a factor that changes the entire landscape of the novel. Such women can be good entertainment, but to my mind, many of them also make poor role models. I’ve been longing for a book in which a woman can be a strong central character without everything revolving around her looks or her romantic life. Kelsea Glynn is not good-looking, and like many teenage girls, she is tormented by all of the feelings of inadequacy that go with that realization, particularly since it seems to put the man she loves out of her reach. But Kelsea does not let her insecurities control her destiny, or even pay them much mind most of the time. She’s a Queen, and she has more important things to worry about than being pretty. This is not to say that Kelsea is unique; I’m sure there are plenty of similar heroines out there and I’ve simply been reaching for the wrong books. But many of the book’s early reviews have specifically referenced deep pleasure – not to mention surprise – that in a book with a female protagonist “there is no romance!” So I guess I’m not the only one fed up with the formula.

Who are your favourite authors? Were you inspired by them when writing The Queen of the Tearling?

My three favorite authors are Stephen King, William Faulkner and Sara Paretsky. Of the three, I can’t really say that any of them directly inspired this trilogy, except perhaps for Stephen King’s The Eyes of the Dragon, a wonderfully plotted dark fantasy that I have always admired. The Tearling probably drew more inspiration from individual books that I love: Frank Herbert’s Dune; Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon; Richard Adams’s Watership Down; and Terry Brooks’s Heritage of Shannara series all spring to mind. And, of course, anyone who writes any fantasy, ever, should probably toss an amorphous thank-you in the direction of J.R.R. Tolkien, who showed us how it should be done.

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US Cover (Harper Collins)

Setting is hugely important in The Queen of the Tearling, what’s most interesting is how the kingdom feels very ‘Medieval’ even though it’s set in the future. Could you talk a little more on why you chose this setting?

This kingdom is essentially medieval; no electricity, little technology, a lot of superstition. But I chose to set it in the distant future for a pretty prosaic reason: because I wanted my kingdom – and my heroine in particular – to have access to earth’s history, to past nations’ mistakes. The age-old wisdom that there’s nothing new under the sun is in heavy play in the Tearling; all of the mistakes my characters make have certainly been made before. I wanted the ability to shed historical perspective, particularly since my fictional Queen was raised by a historian.

You’ve described yourself as a “Horror reader, Fantasy writer” – can you expand a little on this, and why you chose to write Fantasy and not Horror?

I can’t write good horror. I’ve tried for years; horror is by far my favorite genre to read, and I would love to be able to give any reader the kind of joy I’ve received from King and Straub and Matheson and Lovecraft and the rest. I had youthful dreams of writing a great haunted house novel, of creating an utterly damned edifice to rival Hill House or the Overlook Hotel. But all of my attempts at writing horror have been uniformly terrible, and I finally had to admit to myself that I just don’t have any talent for it. But I wasn’t willing to return to writing about the real world, so next I tried fantasy. Interestingly enough, I’m not that much of a fantasy reader, at least in terms of breadth. I like several fantasy authors quite a bit, and The Lord of the Rings is my all-time favorite book, but the vast bulk of my reading material comes from other genres. So in writing this trilogy, I’m often flying blind, not always sure of the parameters of fantasy. There’s a point at which idea becomes trope, and sometimes I fail to recognize it. Thank god I have an attentive editor, though even she can’t always save me from myself.

How much involvement have you had thus far in the film adaptation of The Queen of the Tearling?

Very little, all on the writing end. The book has been given to a screenwriter who is not only talented but – as any reader will quickly see – extremely courageous in the undertaking. This book constantly refuses to answer the reader’s questions, because I wrote it specifically for readers like myself. I love a book that doesn’t tell me everything I want to know, one that gives me sufficient information to follow the plot but still keeps me constantly questioning. But one of my first thoughts when the word “film” came up was that the book would be a nightmare to adapt for screen, precisely because so many questions will not be answered until either the first or second sequel. Readers have far more patience with this sort of multiple-installment ambiguity than viewers do. So my involvement with the film thus far has consisted of trying to help the screenwriter maintain consistency in this incredibly secretive world, while not giving away anything I want to keep secret. It’s a rough balance to strike, and should the film ever come to fruition, the screenwriter will likely deserve a medal of some sort…perhaps for artistic bravery, certainly for saintly patience with the source.

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You can find an excerpt from The Queen of the Tearling over on Tor.com.

Giveaway Details: As I mentioned at the top, I have one copy of the novel to give away. I’ll leave this open for the weekend, and pick at random one commenter to receive the book. Just to repeat, the giveaway is UK only. (Sorry everyone else!)

HORNS Teaser Trailer… Looks fantastic.

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I haven’t read Joe Hill’s novel, yet (it’s yet another on my ever-growing, never decreasing TBR mountain), but this teaser trailer for HORNS looks fantastic…

Upcoming: OF BONE AND THUNDER by Chris Evans (Gallery)

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EvansC-OfBoneAndThunderI have never read any of Chris Evans’s novels. As with so many authors, I’m not sure why. I even met him, once, in New York at a drinks event (in a very cool underground bar, in 2011). I think, however, that my unfamiliarity with his novels is about to end. Described as “Apocalypse Now meets The Lord of the Rings”, I think OF BONE AND THUNDER sounds pretty great:

Channeling the turbulent period of the Vietnam War and its ruthless pitting of ideologies, cultures, generations, and races against each other, military historian and acclaimed fantasy writer Chris Evans takes a daring new approach to the traditional world of sword and sorcery by thrusting it into a maelstrom of racial animus, drug use, rebellion, and a growing war that seems at once unwinnable and with no end in sight. In this thrilling epic, right and wrong, country and honor, freedom and sacrifice are all put to the ultimate test in the heart of a dark, bloody, otherworldly jungle.

In this strange, new world deep among the shadows under a triple-canopy jungle and plagued by dangers real and imagined, soldiers strive to fulfill a mission they don’t understand and are ill-equipped to carry out. And high above them, the heavy rush of wings slashing through the humid air herald a coming wave of death and destruction, and just possibly, salvation.

I also really like the cover – it’s not your typical fantasy cover, and does have more in common with non-speculative fiction, only with an added dragon. I think they’ve done a great job. Of Bone and Thunder is published by Gallery Books in October 2014.

Upcoming: STORM by Tim Minchin (Orion)

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MinchinT-StormOn October 16th, Orion will publish STORM, an illustrated book of beat-poetry by comedian, musician, actor Tim Minchin. I don’t have a lot of experience with Minchin’s work, but I’ve seen some clips of his music and comedy, as well as a couple of appearances on UK panel shows (QI in particular stood out). This book, therefore, is of quite some interest. Here’s the press release description of where the idea or seed of STORM came from…

STORM is an illustrated book born from the hit YouTube animation of Tim Minchin’s sublime beat-poem of the same name. With over three million views STORM has won support from high-profile experts in science and scepticism, becoming an anthem for critical thinking worldwide…

In the confines of a London dinner party, comedian Tim wages a verbal and intellectual battle with a hippy named Storm, the fifth guest at the table. While Storm herself may not be converted, audiences have been won over by Tim’s wordplay and the timely message of the piece in a society where science is attacked as the enemy of belief.

The YouTube animation was nominated for an Animated Short Film BAFTA. Tim Minchin had the following to say about the publishing deal:

“I’m so glad this poem has been made into a book: now I can literally hit people over the head with my opinions.”

STORM will come with a foreward by Neil Gaiman, a new introduction by Tim Minchin, and illustrations by D.C. Turner.

Hot Damn: Joey Hi-Fi Covers KILL BAXTER by Charlie Human (South Africa Edition)

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How awesome is this cover for Charlie Human’s second novel, Kill Baxter?

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It’s by Joey Hi-Fi, who has now done four covers for Charlie’s novels – one for each novel for the UK and South African markets. Here’s the synopsis:

AND HE THOUGHT THE HARD PART WAS OVER.

The world has been massively unappreciative of sixteen-year-old Baxter Zevcenko. His bloodline may be a combination of ancient Boer mystic and giant shape-shifting crow, and he may have won an inter-dimensional battle and saved the world, but does anyone care? No.

Instead he’s packed off to Hexpoort, a magical training school that’s part reformatory, part military school, and just like Hogwarts (except with sex, drugs, and better internet access). The problem is that Baxter sucks at magic. He’s also desperately attempting to control his new ability to dreamwalk, all the while being singled out by the school’s resident bully, who just so happens to be the Chosen One.

But when the school comes under attack, Baxter needs to forget all that and step into action. The only way is joining forces with his favourite recovering alcoholic of a supernatural bounty hunter, Ronin, to try and save the world from the apocalypse. Again.

Here are the other three covers:

Human-Covers

Quite like the way the two Apocalypse Now Now cover have close-ups of Baxter and what’s going on inside his head, while the Kill Baxter covers have pulled back a bit.

Kill Baxter is published this week in the UK by Century, and will be published in South Africa by Umuzi/Random Struik and the US by Titan Books. I’m not actually sure when Apocalypse Now Now and Kill Baxter will be officially released in the US.

For more on Charlie’s novels and writing, be sure to follow him on Twitter. Also, check out my review of Apocalypse Now Now.

New Books … (July #2)

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Featuring: Daniel Abraham, Katherine Addison, David Annandale, John Connolly & Jennifer Ridyard, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Richard Ford, John French, Gary Gibson, Howard Jacobson, D.J. Molles, James Rollins, Neely Tucker, Brent Weeks, Jaye Wells, & anthologies

Abraham-D&C-4-TheWidowsHouseDaniel Abraham, The Widow’s (Orbit)

THE RISE OF THE DRAGON AND THE FALL OF KINGS

Lord Regent Geder Palliako’s war has led his nation and the priests of the spider goddess to victory after victory. No power has withstood him, except for the heart of the one woman he desires. As the violence builds and the cracks in his rule begin to show, he will risk everything to gain her love – or her destruction.

Clara Kalliam, the loyal traitor, is torn between the woman she once was and the woman she has become. With her sons on all sides of the conflict, her house cannot stand, but there is a power in choosing when and how to fall.

And in Porte Oliva, banker Cithrin bel Sarcour and Captain Marcus Wester learn the terrible truth that links this war to the fall of the dragons millennia before, and that to save the world, Cithrin must conquer it.

I really enjoyed the first novel in this series, The Dragon’s Path. The second one came out during a period of frequent moving for me, however, and as a result it slipped by the way-side. Sadly, this has meant I’m really starting to fall behind on the story! I will endeavour to catch up ASAP.

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AddisonK-GoblinEmperorKatherine Addison, The Goblin Emperor (Tor)

The youngest, half-goblin son of the Emperor has lived his entire life in exile, distant from the Imperial Court and the deadly intrigue that suffuses it. But when his father and three sons in line for the throne are killed in an “accident,” he has no choice but to take his place as the only surviving rightful heir.

Entirely unschooled in the art of court politics, he has no friends, no advisors, and the sure knowledge that whoever assassinated his father and brothers could make an attempt on his life at any moment.

Surrounded by sycophants eager to curry favor with the naïve new emperor, and overwhelmed by the burdens of his new life, he can trust nobody. Amid the swirl of plots to depose him, offers of arranged marriages, and the specter of the unknown conspirators who lurk in the shadows, he must quickly adjust to life as the Goblin Emperor. All the while, he is alone, and trying to find even a single friend… and hoping for the possibility of romance, yet also vigilant against the unseen enemies that threaten him, lest he lose his throne – or his life.

Went into Bakka Phoenix in Toronto, had a nice chat with the two staff members. Both talked about this, said it was really good. So, naturally, I picked it up. What really convinced me, though, was the fact that I asked about another critically-acclaimed series, and they gave me an honest opinion, rather than a hard-sell. They very well could have said this other novel was brilliant, and guaranteed another sale. So, yeah. My new favourite place in Toronto. I will spend much of my monies there…

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Annandale-Yarrick4-TheGallowsSaintDavid Annandale, Yarrick: The Gallows Saint (Black Library)

Fresh from his victory against traitors on Mistral, Commissar Yarrick deploys to Abydos to watch a great triumph in honour of the forces who liberated the world from the grip of the alien tau. But when the planet’s governor is assassinated, Yarrick is drawn into a political game with deadly consequences for himself, his Steel Legion troops and Abydos itself. Can he unravel the mystery and reveal the true traitors on the world before it is too late?

A short story featuring Commissar Yarrick, who seems to be at the centre of a substantial new series (hurrah!) by Annandale. Bought this as soon as I saw it was available. Love the character and think Annandale is doing great things with him. Now I just need to get myself caught up (still haven’t got around to reading the first full-length novel).

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Connolly&Ridyard-ConquestUKHCJohn Connolly & Jennifer Ridyard, Conquest (Headline)

Earth is no longer ours. It is ruled by the Illyri, a beautiful, civilised yet ruthless alien species. But humankind has not given up the fight, and Paul Kerr is one of a new generation of young Resistance leaders waging war on the invaders.

Syl Hellais is the first of the Illyri to be born on Earth. Trapped inside the walls of her father’s stronghold, hated by the humans, she longs to escape.

But on her sixteenth birthday, Syl’s life is about to change forever. She will become an outcast, an enemy of her people, for daring to save the life of one human: Paul Kerr. Only together do they have a chance of saving each other, and the planet they both call home.

For there is a greater darkness behind the Illyri conquest of Earth, and the real invasion has not yet even begun…

I think I got this as a Hardcover, too, but it was passed over because… well, I’m not really sure. It does sound interesting, and I’ve heard some great things about Connolly’s writing (he has his own series as well). I’ll try to get to this at some point soon.

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DembskiBowden-Abaddon-ChosenOfChaosAaron Dembski-Bowden, Abaddon: Chosen of Chaos (Black Library)

In the aftermath of battle, a group of Black Legion warlords – traitors to mankind, drawn from across the Legions of Chaos and sworn to the Warmaster – torture a prisoner, a captain of the Space Marines. Defiant to the last, the son of the Emperor is prepared to die, his duty fulfilled. But Abaddon, the Chosen of Chaos, has other plans for this brave warrior…

Aaron DB is one of my favourite science fiction authors. What he can do with anti-heroes is really quite amazing. Whether it’s his Night Lords trilogy, or his contributions to the Horus Heresy series, his writing has never disappointed so far. This short story is a prequel of sorts for his new series, focusing on Abaddon the Despoiler – the sort-of leader of the Traitor Marines in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The first full novel comes out later this year. Can. Not. Wait.

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Richard Ford, Independence Day & The Lay of the Land (Bloomsbury)

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ID: Frank Bascombe, in the aftermath of his divorce and the ruin of his career, has entered an “Existence Period,” selling real estate in Haddam, New Jersey, and mastering the high-wire act of normalcy. But over one Fourth of July weekend, Frank is called into sudden, bewildering engagement with life.

Both of these (and a whole bunch of other books by Ford) were only 51p on Kindle. Couldn’t figure out why, but I think Bloomsbury were running a quiet promotion. Anyway, I have The Sportswriter (the first novel featuring Frank Bascombe) and Canada by Ford, and thought this price point was too good to pass up on. Independence Day won the Pulitzer Prize. [NB: This author should not be confused with the other Richard Ford, who is the author of the fantasy novel Kultus, Herald of the Storm and The Shattered Crown.]

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FrenchJ-Ahriman-TheDeadOracleJohn French, Ahriman: The Dead Oracle (Black Library)

Ctesias, an ancient Space Marine and former prisoner of Amon of the Thousand Sons, tells the tale of one of the events that led him to his destiny. After Amon’s demise, Ctesias comes into the service of Ahriman, the exiled First Captain of the broken Legion, and is given power undreamed of – and drawn into a plot involving the otherworldly daemons of the warp, the machinations of Ahriman and the mysterious dead oracle.

A short story featuring Ahriman, the most important sorcerer of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion. Despite buying it early, I still haven’t read the first full-length novel featuring Ahriman (Exile). French told me this follows the novel, but that it is independently intelligible. I may save it for after the novel, so it may not be reviewed for a little while. No rush, though, as I bought it so there’s no review pressure.

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GibsonG-ExtinctionGameGary Gibson, Extinction Game (Tor)

When your life is based on lies, how do you hunt down the truth?

Jerry Beche should be dead. Instead, he’s rescued from a desolate Earth where he was the last man alive. He’s then trained for the toughest conditions imaginable and placed with a crack team of specialists. Every one of them is a survivor, as each withstood the violent ending of their own alternate Earth. And their new specialism? To retrieve weapons and data in missions to other apocalyptic worlds.

But what is ‘the Authority’, the shadowy organization that rescued Beche and his fellow survivors? How does it access other timelines? And why does it need these instruments of death?

As Jerry struggles to obey his new masters, he begins to distrust his new companions. A strange bunch, their motivations are less than clear, and accidents start plaguing their missions. Jerry suspects the Authority is feeding them lies, and team members are spying on him. As a dangerous situation spirals into catastrophe, is there anybody he can trust?

An author I have always wanted to read, but for some reason never have. Not a clue why. This sounds really interesting, so I’ll hopefully get to it ASAP.

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JacobsonH-JHoward Jacobson, J. (Crown)

Set in the future, a world where the past is a dangerous country, not to be talked about or visited, J. is a love story of incomparable strangeness, both tender and terrifying.

Two people fall in love, not yet knowing where they have come from or where they are going. Kevern doesn’t know why his father always drew two fingers across his lips when he said a world starting with a J. It wasn’t then, and isn’t now, the time or place to be asking questions. Ailinn too has grown up in the dark about who she was or where she came from. On their first date Kevern kisses the bruises under her eyes. He doesn’t ask who hurt her. Brutality has grown commonplace. They aren’t sure if they have fallen in love of their own accord, or whether they’ve been pushed into each other’s arms. But who would have pushed them, and why?

Hanging over the lives of all the characters in this novel is a momentous catastrophe – a past event shrouded in suspicion, denial and apology, now referred to as What Happened, If It Happened.

For some reason, I always thought Howard Jacobson was American. Probably because his novels seem so widely available in the US bookstores I’ve visited. Anyway, this sounded interesting, and I think Alyssa will like it, too. So I requested it via NetGalley and was approved.

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Molles-R4-FracturedD.J. Molles, The Remaining: Fractured (Orbit)

A SOLDIER’S MISSION IN A WORLD GONE TO HELL: SURVIVE, RESCUE, REBUILD

This is the destiny of those who stand for others.

Their honour will be bought in blood and pain.

The Camp Ryder Hub is broken. Captain Lee Harden is nowhere to be found, and his allies are scattered across the state, each of them learning that their missions will not be as easy as they thought. Inside the walls of Camp Ryder, a silent war is brewing between those few that still support Lee’s vision of rebuilding and the majority who support Jerry’s desire for isolation. But this war will not remain silent for long. And in this savage world, everyone will have to make a choice.

This series is being published much faster than I can read it. Well, faster than I can start it, as I still haven’t cracked open book one. This is book four. Anyone read it, yet? Is it good? I do tend to like some apocalyptic zombie dystopia from time to time.

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Rollins-SF10-6thExtinctionUSJames Rollins, The 6th Extinction (William Morrow)

A military research station buried in the remote Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California broadcasts a frantic distress call that ends with a chilling order:

“This is sierra, victor, whiskey. There’s been a breach. Failsafe initiated. No matter the outcome: Kill us… kill us all.”

The site is part of TECOMM, the U.S. Army Test Command. When help arrives to investigate, they discover that everyone in the lab is dead – not just the scientists, but every living thing for fifty square miles is annihilated: every animal, plant, and insect, even bacteria. The land is completely sterile – and the blight is spreading.

Only one team on earth has the scientific knowledge and military precision to handle this mission: Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma. The dead scientists were working on a secret project, researching radically different forms of life on Earth, life that could change our understanding of biology and humanity itself. But something set off an explosion in the lab, and now Sigma must contend with the apocalyptic aftermath.

To prevent the inevitable, they must decipher a futuristic threat that rises out of the distant past – a time when Antarctica was green and life on Earth was balanced on a knife’s edge. Following a fascinating trail of clues buried in an ancient map rescued from the lost Library of Alexandria, Sigma will make a shocking discovery involving a prehistoric continent and a new form of life and death buried under miles of ice. Gray Pierce and his dedicated team must race through eons of time and across distant continents to decipher millennia-old secrets out of the frozen past and untangle mysteries buried deep in the darkest jungles of today, as they face their greatest challenge yet: stopping the Sixth Extinction – the end of humankind.

But is it already too late?

The tenth novel in the Sigma Force series, I’m really looking forward to getting to this one. However… I haven’t yet read the two previous novels in the series, despite having them – Bloodline and The Eye of God. Maybe I’ll have a bit of a Sigma-Binge this month or next? Really enjoyed all of the books I’ve read, so I have high hopes that I’ll enjoy this one, too.

The Sixth Extinction is published in the UK by Orion.

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TuckerN-WaysOfTheDeadUKNeely Tucker, The Ways of the Dead (Cornerstone)

TRUE DETECTIVE meets HOUSE OF CARDS in the electrifying first novel of a new crime series from a veteran Washington, D.C., reporter

The body of the teenage daughter of a powerful Federal judge is discovered in a dumpster in a bad neighbourhood of Washington, DC. It is murder, and the local police immediately arrest the three nearest black kids, bad boys from a notorious gang.

Sully Carter, a veteran war correspondent with emotional scars far worse than the ones on his body, suspects that there’s more to the case than the police would have the public know.

With the nation clamouring for a conviction, and the bereaved judge due for a court nomination, Sully pursues his own line of enquiry, in spite of some very dangerous people telling him to shut it down.

Spotted this on Amazon, as a Recommended Read based on something else I was looking at. Looked interesting, so I bought it. Hopefully it’ll be read soon, as I’m really in the mood for thrillers at the moment, and especially DC/politics-based ones. My usual go-to authors for that sub-genre are in between novels, so this should fill the gap rather nicely.

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Weeks-BrokenEyeHCBrent Weeks, The Broken Eye (Orbit)

As the old gods awaken and satrapies splinter, the Chromeria races to find the only man who might still end a civil war before it engulfs the known world. But Gavin Guile has been captured by an old enemy and enslaved on a pirate galley. Worse still, Gavin has lost more than his powers as Prism – he can’t use magic at all.

Without the protection of his father, Kip Guile will face a master of shadows as his grandfather moves to choose a new Prism and put himself in power. With Teia and Karris, Kip will have to use all his wits to survive a secret war between noble houses, religious factions, rebels, and an ascendant order of hidden assassins called The Broken Eye.

I’m SO BEHIND! Still need to read the second novel in this series. Shameful, really, given how much I enjoy Weeks’s writing – the Night Angel Trilogy were the first books I got to review from Orbit, and they helped me develop a fondness and loyalty, not to mention trust in Orbit’s publishing taste. Ever since, I have rarely been disappointed in one of their novels. Weeks is one of my favourite fantasy authors, and I really can’t figure out why I’ve let this series slide…

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WellsJ-PW2-CursedMoonJaye Wells, Cursed Moon (Orbit)

MAGIC IS A DRUG. IT’LL COST MORE THAN YOU CAN PAY.

When a rare Blue Moon upsets the magical balance in the city, Detective Kate Prospero and her Magical Enforcement colleagues pitch in to help Babylon PD keep the peace. Between potions going haywire and everyone’s emotions running high, every cop in the city is on edge. But the moon’s impact is especially strong for Kate who’s wrestling with guilt over falling off the magic wagon.

After a rogue wizard steals dangerous potions from the local covens, Kate worries their suspect is building a dirty magic bomb. Her team must find the anarchist rogue before the covens catch him, and make sure they defuse the bomb before the Blue Moon deadline. Failure is never an option, but success will require Kate to come clean about her secrets.

This novel, and the one before it in the series, just sound like a lot of fun, good-quality Urban Fantasy. Expect them to be read soon.

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Various-FearsomeMagicsVarious, Fearsome Magics (Solaris)

A cabinet of magic! A cavalcade of wonder! A collection of stories both strange and wondrous, of tales filled with wild adventure and strange imaginings. Fearsome Magics, the second New Solaris Book of Fantasy, is all these things and more. It is, we think, the best book you will read all year.

Award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan has invited some of the best and most exciting writers working in fantasy today to let their imaginations run wild and to deliver stories that will thrill and awe, delight and amuse. And above all, stories that are filled with fearsome magic! Authors commited to take part include Christopher Priest, Garth Nix, Catherine M. Valente, Ellen Klages, Isobelle Carmody, Nalo Hopkinson, Frances Hardinge, Scott Lynch, Robert Shearman, Justina Robson, Christopher Rowe, Karin Tidbeck and KJ Parker.

Interesting mix of authors, including a fair number I’ve never read befor but would like to try.

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deBodard-SolarisRising3Various, Solaris Rising 3 (Solaris)

Following the exceptionally well received Solaris Rising 1, 1.5 (e-only) and 2, series editor Ian Whates brings even more best-selling and cutting-edge SF authors together for the latest extrordinary volume of new original ground-breaking stories.

These stories are guaranteed to surprise,thrill and delight, and continue our mission to demonstrate why science-fiction remains the most exciting, varied and inspiring of all fiction genres. In Solaris Rising 1 and 2 we showed both the quality and variety that modern science fiction can produce. In Solaris Rising 3, we’ll be taking SF into the outer reaches of the universe. Aliette de Bodard, Tony Ballantyne and Sean Williams are just three of the exciting names to appear.

See commnet above, as it is relevant here, too.

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Various-221BakerStreetsVarious, Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets (Solaris)

The world’s most famous detective, as you’ve never seen him before! This is a collection of original short stories finding Holmes and Watson in times and places you would never have expected!

A dozen established and up-and-coming authors invite you to view Doyle’s greatest creation through a decidedly cracked lens.

Read about Holmes and Watson through time and space, as they tackle a witch-trial in seventeenth century Scotland, bandy words with Andy Warhol in 1970s New York, travel the Wild Frontier in the Old West, solve future crimes in a world of robots and even cross paths with a young Elvis Presley…

Set to include stories by Kasey Lansdale, Guy Adams, Jamie Wyman, J E Cohen, Gini Koch, Glen Mehn, Kelly Hale, Kaaron Warren, Emma Newman and more.

Uh… ditto. Again.

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Upcoming & New Cover Art: THE CITY STAINED RED by Sam Sykes (Orbit US)

Civilian Reader Uncategorized

SykesS-4-TheCityStainedRedUSShamelessly pinching this from Justin at Staffer’s Book Review (shameless, I say!), here’s the US cover for Sam Sykes’s upcoming fourth novel, The City Stained Red. To be published by Orbit in October 2014 (eBook) and January (print), here’s the synopsis, from the author’s website…

Every city has its secrets, every man has his demons.

The city of Cier’Djaal has grown rich from the silk its horse-sized spiders spin.  From their unimaginable wealth, the fasha ruling class built a city the likes of which legends strain to capture: spires that glitter gold in the desert sunlight, streets choked with people carrying burdens of coin and silk, a world where the differences between thieves and nobles are so small that an outsider might not even know.

And where there is wealth, there is war.

A radical upstart cult has risen from the slums and sewers of the city, intent on toppling its wealthy masters and spilling their gold upon the streets for the downtrodden.  The ruling thieves’ guild has come to meet them with fire and blade, intent on preserving the rule of their own bloody law.  Foreign armies intent on conquering the city and their opportunity to use the violence as an excuse to seize the city’s vast wealth for itself.  And beneath human heels, the tribal shicts and ferocious tulwar clans seethe, waiting to strike back against the society that has trampled them underfoot.

And into this, Lenk comes seeking a new life.  A life where he can set his sword down and leave the violence of his adventuring life behind him.

But there are whispers of something darker behind the wars, a sinister hand moving pieces across a board, intent upon ushering in a new world, free of gods, of fear, of humanity.  And its gaze has just settled upon Lenk.

I read a very early draft of the novel, in 2013, and really liked it. I enjoyed the first two of Sam’s novels – Tome of the Undergates and Black Halo – and this was even better. The City Runs Red will be published in the UK by Gollancz (only, as “A…” rather than “The…”).

Some Pieces of Wolverine Art… (Marvel)

Civilian Reader Comics , , ,

Despite my belief that the mini-series will either be a disappointment, fail to deliver, or quickly retconned, Marvel has released some pretty cool artwork for Death of Wolverine. Today, for example, the following three images arrived in my inbox. They’re a selection of three work-in-progress versions of the same page: pencils, inks, and colours…

DeathOfWolverine-01-Preview1-Pencils

DeathOfWolverine-01-Preview1-Inks

DeathOfWolverine-01-Preview1-Colors

The artwork is by Steve McNiven (pencils), Jay Leisten (inks), and Justin Ponsor (colours). The series is written by Charles Soule. Issue one of Death of Wolverine will be published on September 3rd, 2014 – it will also include 20 pages of bonus content, like these progression pages.

In addition to these three versions of the page, Marvel have also unveiled some Canadian variant covers. Why Canada? Well, Wolverine is Canadian. Here are the variant covers and the series synopsis…

DeathOfWolverine-Canada1&2

Born in Alberta, Canada – James Howlett’s long and eventful life now comes to an end. He has been counted among the X-Men, the Avengers and Canada’s own Alpha Flight.  He’s fought alongside heroes in numerous wars. He’s been the headmaster of a school for gifted youngsters. He has been the best there is at what he does for over a century. But the day has come where his best is not enough…

Left without his mutant healing factor, his enemies now close in for the kill – and the Wolverine faces his greatest battle alone. As he runs the gauntlet of his deadliest foes, be there when the once indestructible killing machine makes his final stand! What does a world without Wolverine look like?

DeathOfWolverine-Canada3&4

In case you’re wondering, the plethora of Maple Leaves all over those covers is kind of appropriate…

A Quick Chat with CARRIE PATEL

Civilian Reader Interview , , ,

PatelC-AuthorPicLet’s start with an introduction: Who is Carrie Patel?

I’m an expatriate Texan living in California where I work as a narrative designer for Obsidian Entertainment. In my free time, I write books!

Your debut novel, The Buried Life, is due to be published by Angry Robot Books in July 2014. How would you introduce the novel to a new reader? Is it part of a series?

It’s the first in a series about a stratified underground society that forms after a world-shaking catastrophe. The Buried Life follows two different characters – an inspector and a laundress – trying to unravel a series of murders surrounding the wealthy and powerful.

Patel-1-TheBuriedLife2014

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

For me, inspiration is about taking these quick, impressionistic mental snapshots of different places, moments, and people, and remixing them into something different. A lot of the inspiration for The Buried Life came from a study trip to Argentina, but it’s not the kind of thing that would necessarily be apparent from reading the book.

How were you introduced to reading and genre fiction?

My parents are both readers, so I developed a habit early. They always encouraged leisure reading when I was young, and having a good school library went a long way, too. Picking out the books I wanted to read was an important act of expression and freedom at that age.

How do you enjoy being a writer and working within the publishing industry?

Now that I have external deadlines, balancing writing with everything else is a greater challenge, but it’s rewarding, too. After spending years as an unpublished author, selling work feels incredible.

PatelC-2-CitiesAndThrones2015

Do you have any specific working, writing, researching practices?

Scheduling time is key. I’m a morning person, so I make regular time before work every day to write. Research is important, but I’ve found that it can also be a convenient way to put off the actual writing, so I make sure that I spend some of my time every day actually drafting and revising.

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?

As a reader, writing was always in the back of my mind, but working myself up to committing to a story in 90,000 words was another matter!

My very first effort was a short story about a medieval battle that I wrote in sixth grade. It’s not something I’d want to put up on the refrigerator now, but I had a blast writing it back then. For an early effort, the thrill and satisfaction are probably what matter most.

What’s your opinion of the genre today, and where do you see your work fitting into it?

Speculative fiction is expanding and bringing us a wider set of stories from a wider array of authors, which is wonderful. We’ve got more novels like Saladin Ahmed’s Throne of the Crescent Moon that tell great adventure stories in settings that aren’t explored as often. And then we’ve got novels like China Miéville’s The City and the City, which is also a fantasy but unlike anything else in the genre. It’s an exciting time to be writing!

PatelC-GenreBreakingSFF

I’d like to see my work push at the boundaries of the genre, too, which is one reason I’m thrilled to be published by Angry Robot. The Buried Life is part fantasy, part mystery, and part something else, and it’s not something that would traditionally fit in a really clear subcategory of speculative fiction, either.

What other projects are you working on, and what do you have currently in the pipeline?

Right now, I’m working on Cities and Thrones, which is the sequel to The Buried Life. I’ve got another project on hiatus right now that’s very different but that I’m also very excited about – it’s a near-future science fiction novel about colonizing Mars with “bare branches” youths from India and China.

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

Since I can never make up my mind between fantasy and sci-fi, I’m reading N.K. Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and George Wright Padgett’s Spindown.

PatelC-Reading

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

I have gone bungee jumping from the Bloukrans Bridge in South Africa, which is the highest bungee bridge in the world! I did it hours before my phone interview with Obsidian.

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For more on Carrie Patel’s writing, be sure to check out her website and follow her on Twitter. You can also check out an extract from The Buried Life here.