Interview with JASON ARNOPP

November 11, 2016November 10, 2016 Civilian Reader Interview Horror, Jason Arnopp, Last Days of Jack Sparks, Most Anticipated 2016, Must Read 2016, Mystery, Orbit, Suspense

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Jason Arnopp?

He’s an author and scriptwriter, with a background in journalism. I started out as a rock journalist and spent over a decade in that field, which set me in good stead for presenting a music journalist as my titular character in The Last Days Of Jack Sparks. I mainly write supernatural fiction, hopefully with an edge and also the odd laugh. On a more personal level, I love horror movies, thrash metal, collecting old VHS videos and other fun stuff like gaming and conjuring.

Your excellent debut novel, The Last Days of Jack Sparks, was recently published by Orbit. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but how would you introduce it to a potential reader?

Thanks – I’m really glad you liked! I’d tell a potential reader that the book’s about an arrogant celebrity journalist who sets out to debunk the supernatural with his latest non-fiction book, only to end up dead. And on a more pretentious, thematic level, it’s about ego, certainty and belief, and how those three things intersect in the social media age. Oh, and death. Continue reading →

Review: DR. KNOX by Peter Spiegelman (Knopf/Quercus)

November 9, 2016November 6, 2016 Civilian Reader Review Crime, Dr Knox, Knopf, Los Angeles, Most Anticipated 2016, Must Read 2016, Peter Spiegelman, Quercus, riverrun, Thriller

An excellent LA-based thriller

Adam Knox comes from a long line of patrician Connecticut doctors — a line he broke to serve with an NGO in the war-torn Central African Republic. His attempt to protect his patients there from a brutal militia ended in disaster and disgrace, and now he runs a clinic near Los Angeles’s Skid Row, making ends meet by making house calls — cash only, no questions asked—on those too famous or too criminal to seek other medical care.

When a young boy is abandoned at his clinic, Knox is determined to find the boy’s family and save him from the not-so-tender mercies of the child welfare bureaucracy. But Knox’s search for the volatile woman who may or may not be the boy’s mother leads him and his friend, a former Special Forces operator, into a labyrinth of human traffickers, Russian mobsters, and corporate security thugs; and squarely into the sights of a powerful, secretive, and utterly ruthless family that threatens to destroy Dr. Knox and everything — and everyone — he holds dear.

I actually read this quite a while ago, but I kept forgetting to write the review. Dr. Knox is the first novel I read by Spiegelman, but it certainly won’t be the last. An idealistic protagonist, single-minded antagonists, organized crime and vulture business collide in this novel. Easily one of my favourite novels of the year. Continue reading →

Interview with JAMES ISLINGTON

November 8, 2016October 31, 2016 Civilian Reader Interview Epic, Fantasy, Heroic, James Islington, Licanius Trilogy, Most Anticipated 2016, Orbit Books, Shadow of What Was Lost

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is James Islington?

I’m 35, Australian, married and with a daughter who’s just turned one. I’ve been writing for about five years now (I originally self-published in 2014 before getting picked up by Orbit)… prior to that, I was running a tech startup, which I really didn’t enjoy at all.

I’m into board games (I own more than 200), video games (I own… too many in my Steam account to admit), TV, movies and the occasional anime. Sometimes books, too!

Your debut novel, The Shadow of What Was Lost, was published recently by Orbit. It looks rather interesting, and I’ve been hearing great things about it (it’s near the top of my ever-tottering TBR mountain). How would you introduce it to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

It’s heroic epic fantasy – think more traditional / less grim and gritty than something like A Game of Thrones, but it’s certainly not the elves, dwarves and dragons of The Lord of the Rings, either. It’s the first book in a trilogy, and my go-to introduction is usually that it’ll appeal to fans of The Wheel of Time and/or Brandon Sanderson’s various series. Continue reading →

An Interview with LILA BOWEN

November 7, 2016January 31, 2021 Civilian Reader Interview Conspiracy of Ravens, Delilah S Dawson, Lila Bowen, Orbit Books, Shadow Series, Urban Fantasy, Wake of Vultures

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Lila Bowen?

Lila is the pseudonym (and alter ego) of Delilah S. Dawson. I’ll answer to Delilah or Lila in public, since they’re pretty much the same word. As Delilah, I’m the author of the Blud series, the Hit series, Servants of the Storm, Star Wars: The Perfect Weapon and Scorched, and a variety of short stories and comics, including the upcoming Ladycastle from Boom! Studios. The Shadow series, which begins with Wake of Vultures, is Lila’s first publishing venture. You can find both of us online and chat with us on Twitter. If you’re wanting to know unbookish things, I live in the north Georgia mountains with my family and really love gluten free cake.

Your next novel, Conspiracy of Ravens, was recently published by Orbit. It looks rather interesting: How would you introduce it to a potential reader? And what should fans of Wake of Vultures expect from this sequel?

Thanks! I would definitely send any new readers to Wake of Vultures, which recently came out in paperback, as it introduces the character of Nettie Lonesome and the Weird West world she inhabits. I think of this series as Buffy the Vampire Slayer-meets-Lonesome Dove, although Conspiracy goes a little more Hell on Wheels/Deadwood. Fans of Wake can expect to see the Shadow killing what needs to die and facing her past and future with new clarity as she hunts an alchemist running a diabolical railroad camp using enslaved monsters. Continue reading →

Guest Post: “Four Kingdoms and Twelve Labours: Turning Myths into Reality” by Matthew Reilly

November 3, 2016October 29, 2016 Civilian Reader Guest Post Action, Adventure, Four Legendary Kingdoms, Jack West Jr, Matthew Reilly, Orion Books, Thriller

One of the things that motivated me to write The Four Legendary Kingdoms was a desire to explore humanity’s fascination with myths, in particular, the myth of the Twelve Labours of Hercules.

I’ve long been intrigued by the Twelve Labours: those twelve tasks given to the great warrior Hercules that were so monstrously difficult they inspired the adjective “Herculean”. More than that, they were so momentous they are still talked about today, 3,000 years after Hercules supposedly performed them.

We all vaguely know the Labours: defeating the Nemean Lion (with its impenetrable pelt) or slaying the Hydra (with its many regenerating heads) or capture the Cretan Bull. Continue reading →

Guest Post: “So You Want To Write Military Science Fiction” by William C. Dietz

November 2, 2016October 29, 2016 Civilian Reader Guest Post Action, America Rising, Dystopia, Into the Guns, Military Sci-Fi, Post-Apocalypse, Titan Books, William C Dietz

So you’d like to write a military science fiction series. Good. You came to the right place. I’ve written some, and would be happy to share my secrets, the first of which is to understand the true nature of business that you hope to be part of. No, it isn’t the book business. What you’re planning to do is join the entertainment industry.

In addition to books you’re going to compete with movies, TV, and social media for eyeballs and dollars. Oh, and while you do that, pirates will steal your stuff, fans will give you one-star reviews because “the book costs too much,” and Amazon will offer cheap used copies right next to the new ones. And guess what? You won’t make a cent off them. Continue reading →

Guest Post: “On Worldbuilding” by Simon Morden

November 1, 2016October 25, 2016 Civilian Reader Guest Post Adventure, Books of Down, Down Station, Fantasy, Gollancz, Portal Fantasy, Simon Morden, White City, Worldbuilding

One of the joys of writing novels over writing for the screen is that your budget is infinite and your imagination is unfettered. You don’t have to worry about the cost of the number of suns your planet orbits around, nor about the practical effort required to have half a dozen alien races, none of whom conform to a basic upright and bipedal morphology, appear repeatedly and interact with your human characters.

In Down Station, when I blew up London – which in and of itself is a somewhat technical task, involving setting fire to the Underground and melting the streets around Mayfair – I needed somewhere for my survivors to run to. That somewhere was Down, which has more in common with Tarkovsky’s Solaris and Julian May’s Pliocene Earth than it does C.S. Lewis’ Narnia. I wanted Down to be both eerily familiar and surprisingly different: you can, of course, read the Books of Down and not worry about what happens under the bonnet, but as the author, that’s exactly what I had to do – open it up and tinker with the engine until I was happy with how it all worked. Continue reading →

Interview with BRADLEY BEAULIEU and ROB ZIEGLER

October 31, 2016October 31, 2016 Civilian Reader Interview Bradley Beaulieu, Burning Light, Fantasy, Rob Ziegler, Sci-Fi, Seed, Song of Shattered Sands, Tor.com, Twelve Kings

Let’s start with an introduction: Who are Brad Beaulieu and Rob Ziegler?

Brad Beaulieu: I’m the author of Twelve Kings in Sharakhai, an epic fantasy with a strong Arabian Nights feel to it, and The Lays of Anuskaya, another epic, but with windships and elemental magic that was inspired by Muscovite Russia and Ottoman Turkey. Until recently, I was an IT guy, selling and configuring enterprise software for Big Blue. But I’ve recently taken the leap to full-time writing. So I’m also a very scared man. But this is an exciting time. Along with writing a collaborative project here and there (cough cough, The Burning Light, cough), I’m hard at work on the third book in The Song of the Shattered Sands.

Rob Ziegler: I’m the author of the novel Seed. It’s the story of young scavenger-cum-highwayman trying to save his younger brother from a giant agri-corp in a southwest ravaged by climate change. It has the feel of a western by way of The Road Warrior. I write full time. Currently I’m working on my second novel, Angel City, as well as the occasional side project like The Burning Light. Over the years I’ve basically done everything — landscape design, IT, bartending, real estate management. My wife and I live a mostly chill life in western Colorado. We hike a lot. Continue reading →

New Books (October)

October 29, 2016August 23, 2018 Civilian Reader New Books A.J. Smith, Adam Roberts, Annie Hauxwell, Becky Chambers, Ben Aaronovitch, Benjamin Percy, Brent Weeks, Charles Cumming, Daniel Pyne, David Dalglish, Douglas Coupland, Elan Mastai, Ezekiel Boone, Gav Thorpe, Gavin Extence, George Saunders, Ian Tregillis, J.D. Oswald, James Islington, James Rollins, Jeffrey J. Mariotte, Jilly Gagnon, John Grisham, John Sandford, Joseph Knox, K.B. Wagers, Laura Hickman, Laurell K Hamilton, Laurence Scott, Liz Harmer, Marcus Sedgwick, Michael Harvey, Mur Lafferty, Nnedi Okorafor, Noah Richler, Oliver Harris, Paulette Jiles, Plutarch, Reed Karaim, Roger Zelazny, Ron Chernow, Ronald Wright, Scott Reardon, Tana French, Tracy Hickman, Will McIntosh, William C Dietz

Featuring: Ben Aaronovitch, Ray Bradbury, Ron Chernow, Douglas Coupland, Charles Cumming, David Dalglish, William C. Dietz, Gavin Extence, Tana French, Jilly Gagnon, John Grisham, Laurell K. Hamilton, Liz Harmer, Oliver Harris, Michael Harvey, Annie Hauxwell, Tracy & Laura Hickman, James Islington, Paulette Jiles, Reed Karaim, Joseph Knox, Mur Lafferty, Mike MacDonald, Jeffrey J. Mariotte, Elan Mastai, Will McIntosh, Nnedi Okorafor, J.D. Oswald, Benjamin Percy, Plutarch, Daniel Pyne, Scott Reardon, Noah Richler, Adam Roberts, James Rollins, John Sandford, George Saunders, Laurence Scott, Marcus Sedgwick, A.J. Smith, Gerard Stembridge, Gav Thorpe, Ian Tregillis, K.B. Wagers, Brent Weeks, Ronald Wright, Roger Zelazny

Above Image: Cover Crop of Bunker #19 (Oni Press)

Continue reading →

Excerpt: THE BLOOD MIRROR by Brent Weeks (Orbit)

October 28, 2016October 27, 2016 Civilian Reader Excerpt Blood Mirror, Brent Weeks, Epic, Fantasy, Lightbringer Series, Most Anticipated 2016, Orbit Books

The Blood Mirror, the fourth novel in Brent Weeks‘s epic Lightbringer series, was published yesterday. To celebrate its arrival, Orbit has given me this excerpt to share. First, the novel’s synopsis:

Stripped of both magical and political power, the people he once ruled told he’s dead, and now imprisoned in his own magical dungeon, former Emperor Gavin Guile has no prospect of escape.

But the world faces a calamity greater than the Seven Satrapies has ever seen… and only he can save it.

As the armies of the White King defeat the Chromeria and old gods are born anew, the fate of worlds will come down to one question: who is the Lightbringer?

The Blood Mirror is published in the UK and US by Orbit Books.

And now, the excerpt…