Year: 2014

Quick Review: MARRIAGE OF MOMENT by Josh Reynolds (Black Library)

Civilian Reader Review , , , , , , ,

ReynoldsJ-G&F-MarriageOfMomentA fun, classic-style Gotrek & Felix short story

Long before the End Times, when Gotrek Gurnisson’s doom was still many years away, he and his Rememberer Felix Jaeger found themselves in all manner of adventures and scrapes. Here is one previously untold story… As the heroic duo travel through the Border Princes, a drunken night coupled with Gotrek’s dwarfish lust for gold leads to him agreeing to a marriage – for Felix. With a halfling. Gotrek is determined that this will be a “marriage of moment”, allowing an unamused Felix to abandon his diminutive wife afterwards, but will she see it that way? And just what is the mysterious Jabas that the villagers are so scared of? Will hilarity ensue from this wedding… or horror?

This doesn’t really need a very long review, but I read and enjoyed it and therefore wanted to give it a mention. The story opens with Felix and Gotrek on a wagon, on their way to a keep in the mountains. Felix is nursing a hangover, and he learns that Gotrek manipulated him into taking part in a contest for suitors… He is less than pleased. What follows is a fun short story, one that felt like the early stories by William King: it’s a complete adventure, with some great action, a couple of twists, a gribbly beastie in need of besting, and decent banter between the two main protagonists. As with other stories in the series, the beastie is also not the primary antagonist: the schemes of man (and halfling) are oh-so-often at the core of sticky situations…

If you’re a fan of the series, then I’m sure you’ll enjoy this diversion. It’s another tale disconnected from the ‘main’ Gotrek & Felix timeline, very much a complete story.

***

Marriage of Moment is only available through Black Library’s website as an eBook. Josh Reynolds is also the author of, most recently, The Return of Nagash, part of the End Times series, which I’ll be reading hopefully very soon.

Review: THE TALON OF HORUS by Aaron Dembski-Bowden (Black Library)

Civilian Reader Review , , , , , , ,

DembskiBowden-A1-TalonOfHorusAn excellent start to a new series

When Horus fell, his Sons fell with him. A broken Legion, beset by rivalries and hunted by their erstwhile allies, the former Luna Wolves have scattered across the tortured realm of the Eye of Terror. And of Abaddon, greatest of the Warmaster’s followers, nothing has been heard for many years. But when Horus’s body is taken from its resting place, a confederation of legionaries seek out the former First Captain, to convince him to embrace his destiny and continue what Horus began.

The Talon of Horus is the first novel in a brand new series from Aaron Dembski-Bowden, author of the Night Lords trilogy and two of the best Horus Heresy novels (The First Heretic and Betrayer). Not only is he one of my favourite authors, but this series will chronicle the rise of one of my favourite characters: Abaddon. On the strength of this novel, it’s going to be just as good (if not better) than his Night Lords novels. This is an excellent novel. Continue reading →

Quick Audio Review: THE CHILD by Sebastian Fitzek (Audible)

Civilian Reader Review , , , , , , , , , , ,

FitzekS-TheChildAUDAn excellent audio drama

My name is Simon. I’m 10 years old. I’m a serial killer. Robert Stern (Rupert Penry-Jones), a successful defense attorney, doesn’t know what lies in store for him when he agrees to meet a new client in a derelict estate on the outskirts of Berlin. Stern is more than surprised, when his old love interest and professional nurse Carina (Emilia Fox) presents him a ten year old boy as his new client: Simon (Jack Boulter), a terminally ill child, who is convinced he has murdered many men in a previous life.

Robert’s surprise turns into horror when he and Carina find human remains in a cellar the boy has led them to. The remains of a man whose head has been split with an axe 15 years ago – just like Simon claimed he had. Things go from bad to worse within hours when Stern discovers more dead bodies, the investigating police officer Engler (Andy Serkis) starts to chase him as a suspect in the murder cases, and his own past comes to haunt him. Stern’s friend and former criminal Andi Borchert (Stephen Marcus) is the only one to believe Stern and Carina. Hunted by the police, and led by Simon’s memories, they start to investigate shady sub cultures of Berlin, and soon discover things that are more gruesome than anything they could have imagined…

Narrated by: Rupert Penry-Jones, Jack Boulter, Emilia Fox, Stephen Marcus, Robert Glenister, Andy Serkis

This is a really good thriller. It’s psychological, suspenseful, and… yes, creepy. The performances are superb from everyone in the cast (and such an excellent cast!). Penry-Jones and Serkis were particular standouts for me. The sound effects are well-balanced, very rarely threatening to overwhelm the actors’ lines (there is a moment early on, in the rain, although that was actually kind of realistic), and there is one voice that is slightly scrambled (on purpose) which wasn’t always clear. I’m keeping this review very short because I don’t want to spoil any of the story — also, it’s out today, and I wanted it up in a timely manner. The story is not written with a breakneck pace — in fact, it’s quite a slow-burn. There are some genre tropes ticked off, but it doesn’t come across as a paint-by-numbers thriller. There are suggestions of something supernatural and/or otherworldly from early on, and it takes some time for things to be unveiled.

If you’re looking for something chilling to listen to in these cold(er) winter months, then I would absolutely recommend The Child.

An aside: I’m still not used to reviewing audio fiction, and I think I still prefer audio non-fiction. However, this story still managed to keep my attention and send the occasional chill up my spine. I’d certainly be interested in listening to more like it. (I think I’ll have to try Audible’s other new drama, Six Degrees of Assassination.)

New Books (November #2)

Civilian Reader New Books , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

BooksReceived-20141123

Featuring: Poul Anderson, David Baldacci, Elizabeth Bear, James Enge, Chris Evans, Michel Faber, John French, Joe Haldeman, James M. Hough, Jonathan & Jesse Kellerman, John Love, Brandon Sanderson, Gav Thorpe, Olivier Truc Continue reading →

Well I’ll Be Damned — My 16yr Old Self…

Civilian Reader Random, Uncategorized , , , , , , ,

Gubbinz-1999I stumbled across a pair of articles today that have brought a rush of memories back to me: my first two “published”… well, “articles” — the quotation marks are entirely appropriate, as you will see below. The articles are on tUGS.

When I was a teenager, I was quite fond of Games Workshop’s games — especially those that didn’t require much financial investment (Necromunda, Blood Bowl, and GorkaMorka). Partly this interest in the “smaller” games was lucky, because I also didn’t have anyone to play the games with, thanks to constantly changing country and attending a school whose denizens were oh-so-obsessed with “cool”. (Yup, I was that kind of geek.) Nor, for that matter, could I afford the ever-increasing prices.

Anyway, in my enthusiastic teen years, I submitted two articles of “rules” for GorkaMorka, the Mad Max-style tabletop game of ork warfare. Both of them were accepted and published in Gubbinz, a compilation of extra rules and whatnot. Up until today, I had completely forgotten about them.

So, with a certain amount of nostalgia and slight embarrassment, here are my two, insignificant contributions to Games Workshop’s back-back-list of games: Rokkit Paks and Rebel Grot Pogo Stikks. (The posts contain download links for PDFs of what I cobbled together.)

 GorkaMorka

Review: THE LESSER DEAD by Christopher Buehlman (Berkley)

Civilian Reader Review , , , , , ,

BuehlmanC-TheLesserDeadAn interesting, engaging twist on vampire mythology

The secret is, vampires are real and I am one.

The secret is, I’m stealing from you what is most truly yours and I’m not sorry… 

New York City in 1978 is a dirty, dangerous place to live. And die. Joey Peacock knows this as well as anybody—he has spent the last forty years as an adolescent vampire, perfecting the routine he now enjoys: womanizing in punk clubs and discotheques, feeding by night, and sleeping by day with others of his kind in the macabre labyrinth under the city’s sidewalks.

The subways are his playground and his highway, shuttling him throughout Manhattan to bleed the unsuspecting in the Sheep Meadow of Central Park or in the backseats of Checker cabs, or even those in their own apartments who are too hypnotized by sitcoms to notice him opening their windows. It’s almost too easy.

Until one night he sees them hunting on his beloved subway. The children with the merry eyes. Vampires, like him… or not like him. Whatever they are, whatever their appearance means, the undead in the tunnels of Manhattan are not as safe as they once were.

And neither are the rest of us.

The Lesser Dead is a pretty cool, grim and bloody take on vampires. Other have said it “reclaims” the sub-genre from the likes of Twilight, although I don’t believe horror-vampire fiction ever went away. If you like your vampire fiction bloody and populated by unpleasant, but excellently-drawn characters, then this is for you. It’s a very good read. Continue reading →

Upcoming: MOTHER OF EDEN by Chris Beckett (Corvus)

Civilian Reader Covers, Upcoming , , , , ,

BeckettC-E2-MotherOfEdenUKNext year, Corvus Books will publish Chris Beckett‘s follow-up to his 2013 Arthur C. Clarke award-winning sci-fi novel Dark Eden. I was actually at the awards event (it was fun), and I picked up the novel that night — as, I’m sure, did many others. However, like so very many books I buy, I have yet to get around to it. With the sequel’s release approaching, however, I have extra impetus to get it read in time to enjoy the sequel. Here’s the synopsis:

“We speak of a mother’s love, but we forget her power. Power over life. Power to give and to withhold.”

Generations after the breakup of the human family of Eden, the Johnfolk emphasise knowledge and innovation, the Davidfolk tradition and cohesion. But both have built hierarchical societies sustained by violence and dominated by men — and both claim to be the favoured children of a long-dead woman from Earth that all Eden knows as Gela, the mother of them all.

When Starlight Brooking meets a handsome and powerful man from across Worldpool, she believes he will offer an outlet for her ambition and energy. But she has no idea that she will be a stand-in for Gela herself, and wear Gela’s ring on her own finger.

And she has no idea of the enemies she will make, no inkling that a time will come when she, like John Redlantern, will choose to kill…

Chris Beckett‘s Mother of Eden is due to be published on June 4th, 2015 in the UK by Corvus.

Upcoming: FISHBOWL by Matthew Glass (Corvus)

Civilian Reader Covers, Upcoming , , , , ,

GlassM-FishbowlUKMatthew Glass is an author I’m very interested in reading. I have his first two novels, Ultimatum and End Game, but haven’t managed to get around to them yet. I spotted Fishbowl while browsing Atlantic Books’ latest catalogue, and I think it sounded very interesting. There are obvious connections with the story behind Facebook (see Ben Mezrich’s The Accidental Billionaires or the superb film adaptation, The Social Network), while Glass’s other works have brought to mind Kim Stanley-Robinson’s Science in the Capitol trilogy. Here’s the synopsis for the upcoming novel:

When you’re the next big thing in Silicon Valley, the whole world is watching.

As a gifted Ivy League student, Andrei Koss hit upon an idea that would revolutionise social networking and move it on by a generation. Enlisting the help of his best friends, Ben and Kevin, he turned their dorm room into an operations base, where fl ashes of creative brilliance and all-night-coding sessions led to the creation of Fishbowl. He is now the 21-year-old CEO of a multi-billion-dollar empire. His creation reaches into every corner of the planet. But its immense power has many uses, and some will stop at nothing to get a piece of it.

Matthew Glass (a pseudonym) Fishbowl is due to be published on February 5th, 2015 by Corvus in the UK.

Cover Reveal: SECRET HISTORIES Series by Simon R Green (Jo Fletcher Books)

Civilian Reader Covers, Upcoming , , , , , , , , , ,

GreenSR-SecretHistoriesUK-Sm

I haven’t read much of Simon R. Green‘s work. This is partly because they haven’t always been as widely available in the UK as one might have thought (the author is British, after all). Jo Fletcher Books is attending to this oversight, however: this year, they have published the author’s Nightside series (twelve novels) in eBook, and on December 11th they will publish the seven novels (so far) in Green’s Secret Histories urban fantasy series. The covers are above. Here’s the synopsis for the first novel, The Man With the Golden Torc:

For ages, Eddie Drood and his family have kept humanity safe from the things that go bump in the night. But now one of his own has convinced the rest of the family that Eddie’s become a menace, and that humanity needs to be protected from him. So he’s on the run, using every trick in the book, magical and otherwise, hoping he lives long enough to prove his innocence…

The Secret Histories: The Man With the Golden Torc, Daemons Are Forever, The Spy Who Haunted Me, From Hell With Love, For Heaven’s Eyes Only, Live and Let Drood, Casion Infernale

One I didn’t know before: Green also wrote the movie novelisation for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

The first two novels in the series were originally available in the UK, published by Gollancz.

Audio Review: YES PLEASE by Amy Poehler (Harper Collins/Audible)

Civilian Reader Review , , , , , , , ,

PoehlerA-YesPleaseAn amusing, interesting idiosyncratic memoir

Do you want to get to know the woman we first came to love on Comedy Central’s Upright Citizens Brigade? Do you want to spend some time with the lady who made you howl with laughter on Saturday Night Live, and in movies like Baby Mama, Blades of Glory, and They Came Together? Do you find yourself daydreaming about hanging out with the actor behind the brilliant Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation? Did you wish you were in the audience at the last two Golden Globes ceremonies, so you could bask in the hilarity of Amy’s one-liners?

If your answer to these questions is “Yes Please!” then you are in luck. In her first book, one of our most beloved funny folk delivers a smart, pointed, and ultimately inspirational read. Full of the comedic skill that makes us all love Amy, Yes Please is a rich and varied collection of stories, lists, poetry (Plastic Surgery Haiku, to be specific), photographs, mantras and advice. With chapters like “Treat Your Career Like a Bad Boyfriend,” “Plain Girl Versus the Demon” and “The Robots Will Kill Us All” Yes Please will make you think as much as it will make you laugh. Honest, personal, real, and righteous,Yes Please is full of words to live by.

I’m not actually too familiar with Poehler’s most famous work — save for a few SNL skits (mostly those with Tina Fey), Undeclared, and a couple of episodes of Parks & Recreation, I haven’t really seen much of what she’s done and been in. Nevertheless, I’ve enjoyed what I have seen, so I was interested in listening to Yes Please. I was not disappointed: this is a fun, lively and welcoming memoir. It’s not linear, and Poehler jumps about a bit in her narrative, but it is always interesting and entertaining. Continue reading →