New Books (December 2017-January 2018)

January 13, 2018August 23, 2018 Civilian Reader New Books Adrian Tchaikovsky, Alastair Reynolds, Angus McIntyre, Brad Meltzer, Elizabeth Bear, Ezekiel Boone, Gareth L. Powell, Jessica Knoll, John Jackson Miller, Jonathan Ames, Jordanna Max Brodsky, Josh Reynolds, Kelly Robson, Laline Paull, Leo Carew, Margaret Killjoy, Matthew Kneale, Mira Grant, Peter Watts, Rae Carson, Richard J Grace, RJ Barker, Rob Sanders, Ron Chernow, Saladin Ahmed, Sean Grigsby, Sebastian Rotella, Siobahn Adcock, Spencer Ellsworth, Tess Sharpe, Tom Bissell, Tristan Palmgren, Ulysses S Grant, Vaseem Khan

Featuring: Saladin Ahmed, Jonathan Ames, RJ Barker, Elizabeth Bear, Tom Bissell, Ezekiel Boone, Jordanna Max Brodsky, Leo Carew, Rae Carson, Ron Chernow, Mira Grant, Ulysses S. Grant, Grigsby, Vaseem Khan, Margaret Killjoy, Matthew Kneale, Jessica Knoll, Phillip Margolin, Angus McIntyre, Brad Meltzer, John Jackson Miller, Michael Moreci, Laline Paull, Tristan Palmgren, Gareth L. Powell, Alastair Reynolds, Josh Reynolds, Kelly Robson, Sebastian Rotella, Rob Sanders, Tess Sharpe, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Peter Watts, Timothy Zahn

Continue reading →

Upcoming: THE POPPY WAR by R.F. Kuang (Voyager)

January 12, 2018 Civilian Reader Upcoming Fantasy, Most Anticipated 2018, Poppy War, RF Kuang, Voyager

Yesterday, Barnes & Noble’s Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog unveiled the cover for R.F. Kuang‘s upcoming debut novel, The Poppy War. This novel had only just come onto my radar, but I’m really interested in reading it.

The novel is inspired by China’s 20th Century history, according the above-linked post (I’m assuming early 20th), which made this novel shoot up my Must Read list — Chinese history is very much in my wheelhouse (BA and PhD). Couple that with the fact that I’m always on the lookout for interesting new authors… well, I’ve got to read this. Here’s the official synopsis:

When Rin aced the Keju — the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies — it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard — the most elite military school in Nikan — was even more surprising.

But surprises aren’t always good.

Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard. Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a lethal, unearthly power — an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive — and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.

For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away…

Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity… and that it may already be too late.

The Poppy War will be published in North America and the UK by Harper Voyager in early May 2018.

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter

Upcoming: CITY OF DEVILS by Paul French (Picador/riverrun)

January 12, 2018 Civilian Reader Upcoming China, City of Devils, Crime, History, Most Anticipated 2018, Non-Fiction, Paul French, Picador, Raincoast, riverrun, Shanghai

I’ve only recently started to read Paul French‘s books. I’ve been aware of his stuff for a long while, but this past Christmas I went on a Penguin China Special reading-binge, which meant I finally read two of French’s titles: Betrayal in Paris, The Badlands and Bloody Saturday — all three of which were excellent.* I promptly bought Midnight in Peking (for myself and family members), and will read it very soon. In the meantime, I thought I’d some information about his next non-fiction book, City of Devils. here’s the synopsis:

1930s Shanghai could give Chicago a run for its money. In the years before the Japanese invaded, the city was a haven for outlaws from all over the world: a place where pasts could be forgotten, fascism and communism outrun, names invented, fortunes made — and lost.

‘Lucky’ Jack Riley was the most notorious of those outlaws. An ex-Navy boxing champion, he escaped from prison in the States, spotted a craze for gambling and rose to become the Slot King of Shanghai. Ruler of the clubs in that day was ‘Dapper’ Joe Farren — a Jewish boy who fled Vienna’s ghetto with a dream of dance halls. His chorus lines rivalled Ziegfeld’s and his name was in lights above the city’s biggest casino.

In 1940 they bestrode the Shanghai Badlands like kings, while all around the Solitary Island was poverty, starvation and genocide. They thought they ruled Shanghai; but the city had other ideas. This is the story of their rise to power, their downfall, and the trail of destruction they left in their wake. Shanghai was their playground for a flickering few years, a city where for a fleeting moment even the wildest dreams seemed possible.

In the vein of true crime books whose real brilliance is the recreation of a time and place, this is an impeccably researched narrative non-fiction told with superb energy and brio, as if James Ellroy had stumbled into a Shanghai cathouse.

City of Devils is due to be published in July by Picador in North America (Raincoast in Canada), and in June by riverrun in the UK.

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter

* The Penguin Specials series is fantastic in general: around 100 pages or so, compact and focused non-fiction narratives. I’d highly recommend them. They appear to be focusing on a different theme every year (or so). Last year, for example, they released a handful of Hong Kong Specials, which I’ll be buying and reading very soon.

New ALTERED CARBON trailer!

January 11, 2018 Civilian Reader Upcoming, Video Altered Carbon, Del Rey, Gollancz, James Purefoy, Joel Kinnaman, Most Anticipated 2018, Netflix, Richard K Morgan, Sci-Fi, Takeshi Kovacs, Trailer, TV, Will Yun Lee

Netflix has released a new trailer for its upcoming adaptation of Richard K. Morgan’s Altered Carbon! My anticipation levels for this series are very high (I’ve mentioned before on CR that the novel carries much of the blame for getting me into sci-fi), and this trailer further ramped up my impatience. Here it is:

Here’s the official synopsis for the series:

In the distant future, human consciousness can be digitized and downloaded into different bodies. Brought back to life after 250 years by Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy) the richest man on Earth, ex-Envoy soldier Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnaman / Will Yun Lee) must solve Bancroft’s attempted murder for the chance to live again in a world he doesn’t recognize.

Altered Carbon releases on February 2nd, 2018. In the meantime, the novel is published by Gollancz in the UK, and Del Rey in North America (a new, series tie-in edition will be released in February).

MorganR-TK1-AlteredCarbon

Interview with TYRELL JOHNSON

January 9, 2018January 2, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview Dystopia, HQ, Most Anticipated 2018, Mystery, Post-Apocalyptic, Scribner, Simon & Schuster, Thriller, Tyrell Johnson, Wolves of Winter

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Tyrell Johnson?

Well, my Twitter bio says I’m a father, husband, writer, editor, and donkey trainer. So at least a few of those things MUST be true.

Your new novel, The Wolves of Winter, will be published by HQ this month. It looks rather fabulous: How would you introduce it to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

It’s a post-apocalyptic thriller about a young woman surviving in the Yukon wilderness with her family. When she encounters a strange man in the wilderness, his dark past calls her to a role she never imagined. I’d love to announce that it’s part of a series, but since nothing is “in the books” yet, I don’t want to jump the gun. Continue reading →

Seth Meyers’s Golden Globes Monologue… (And a couple of other victory speeches)

January 8, 2018January 8, 2018 Civilian Reader Random, Video Allison Janney, Comedy, Elisabeth Moss, Golden Globes, Hollywood, Seth Meyers, Sterling K Brown

Meyers’s intro-monologue was very good. I’m not surprised. One of my favourite late-night comics, I thought I’d share the clip, in case you missed it:

It was a great night for wins, actually. Sterling K. Brown won Best Actor in a TV Series, Drama, for his role in This Is Us — a truly deserving win. The show is spectacular, but by far his is the standout performance: Continue reading →

Music: Five Finger Death Offspring…

January 4, 2018 Civilian Reader Music, Video 5FDP, A Decade of Destruction, Five Finger Death Punch, Ixnay of the Hombre, Metal, Music, Music Video, Offspring, Punk, Rock

Yesterday, during one of my many YouTube music-video binges, I stumbled across the new video for Five Finger Death Punch’s “Gone Away” (above). I had missed its release entirely (despite 5FDP being one of my favourite bands), and quickly realized it was a (very faithful) cover of The Offspring’s song of the same name. It’s been a long time since I last listened to anything by Offspring (which is strange, because I love their earlier albums), but it was amazing how quickly the lyrics came flooding back. So, naturally, I sang along. It was a welcome trip down memory lane.

5FDP’s cover appears on their greatest hits (so far) collection, A Decade of Destruction. The original song (video below) appeared on Offspring’s Ixnay on the Hombre album (1996) — the follow up to the appropriately-named Smash (1994).

Quick Review: NAGASH: THE UNDYING KING by Joshua Reynolds (Black Library)

January 2, 2018 Civilian Reader Review Age of Sigmar, Black Library, Fantasy, Joshua Reynolds, Most Anticipated 2018, Nagash, Undying King, Warhammer

One of my favourite fantasy/horror characters returns in the Age of Sigmar

Since the dark days of the Great Awakening, the scattered remnants of humanity have clung to a bleak existence, surviving howsoever they can, no matter what the cost. Tamra, a voivode of the Rictus clans, fights one last, desperate battle for the survival of her tribe, the Drak. Now her people face their most relentless enemy ever – the lumbering minions of the Plague God. Where is their lord Nagash, the Undying King, when his people need him most? As the gods and their servants vie for power in the Mortal Realms, Tamra is drawn into a deadly game between life and death, as beings long thought gone start to exert their powers once again.

This is Reynolds’s second book to feature Nagash set in the Age of Sigmar — the lord of the undead appeared in Mortarch of Night, and the author previously wrote about the character in the first End Times novel, The Return of Nagash. Nagash has long been one of my favourite Warhammer characters, so I’ve always been interested in reading fiction with him at its centre. The Undying King did not disappoint. Continue reading →

Upcoming: KILL THE FARM BOY by Delilah S. Dawson & Kevin Hearne (Del Rey)

January 2, 2018 Civilian Reader Upcoming Del Rey, Delilah S Dawson, Fantasy, Humour, Kevin Hearne, Kill the Farm Boy, Most Anticipated 2018, Satire, Tales of Pell

So, this novel may have my favourite fantasy title ever. I can’t actually think of one that amused me as much before — although, Magic Kingdom For Sale, Sold and many Pratchett titles have been favourites for a long while. I hadn’t heard about Kill the Farm Boy until a few moments ago, when B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Tweeted about it. Written by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne, here’s the synopsis:

Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom, a hero, the Chosen One, was born… and so begins every fairy tale ever told.

This is not that fairy tale.

There is a Chosen One, but he is unlike any One who has ever been Chosened.

And there is a faraway kingdom, but you have never been to a magical world quite like the land of Pell.

There, a plucky farm boy will find more than he’s bargained for on his quest to awaken the sleeping princess in her cursed tower. First there’s the Dark Lord who wishes for the boy’s untimely death… and also very fine cheese. Then there’s a bard without a song in her heart but with a very adorable and fuzzy tail, an assassin who fears not the night but is terrified of chickens, and a mighty fighter more frightened of her sword than of her chain-mail bikini. This journey will lead to sinister umlauts, a trash-talking goat, the Dread Necromancer Steve, and a strange and wondrous journey to the most peculiar “happily ever after” that ever once-upon-a-timed.

Kill the Farm Boy is due to be published by Del Rey in North America, in July 2018. (At the time of writing this, I couldn’t find any information about a UK release.)

Also on CR: Interview with Lila Bowen (2016); Interview with Kevin Hearne (2011); Reviews of Kevin Hearne’s Hounded and Hexed

Follow the Author, Dawson: Website, Goodreads, Twitter

Follow the Author, Hearne: Website, Goodreads, Twitter

Civilian Reader

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Year: 2018