Interview with GAVIN G. SMITH

July 9, 2018January 27, 2021 Civilian Reader Interview, Uncategorized Bastard Legion, Friendly Fire, Gavin G Smith, Gollancz, Sci-Fi, War Criminals

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Gavin Smith?

Just some guy. (He’s a science fiction and fantasy writer with a track record for action oriented stories.)

Your third Bastard Legion novel, War Criminals, is due to be published in July. How would you introduce the series to a potential reader? And what can fans of the series expect from this instalment?

So the high concept pitch for Bastard Legion is the Dirty Dozen/Suicide Squad (depending on your age) meets Aliens. It’s about a mercenary penal legion recruited from the 6,000-strong convict population the Hangman’s Daughter (an interstellar prison barge). They are led by the cheerful, if possibly psychopathic, ex-black ops soldier Miska Corbin and the VR ghost of her dead dad.

War Criminals will see the Legion engaged in a full scale war for the first time! (Previously it’s been smaller-scale black ops.) Continue reading →

Quick Review: CITY OF DEVILS by Paul French (Riverrun/Picador)

July 3, 2018 Civilian Reader Review China, City of Devils, Crime, History, Most Anticipated 2018, Must Read 2018, Non-Fiction, Paul French, riverrun, Shanghai, True Crime

An intriguing glimpse into Shanghai’s pre-war underworld

A spellbinding and dramatic account of Shanghai’s lawless 1930s and two of its most notorious criminals…

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.

Until City of Devils, I had only read Paul French’s shorter books on Asia — mainly on early 20th Century China, but also an excellent short book about Kim Jong-un. In City of Devils, French turns his attention to the criminal underworld of Shanghai in the 1930s, and two foreigners who managed to turn certain sectors of the city into their own private kingdoms. It’s a fascinating look at extraterritoriality, Westerners’ fascination with China, and their willingness to take advantage of their hosts. Continue reading →

Interview with CHRISTOPHER RUOCCHIO

July 2, 2018May 18, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview, Uncategorized Christopher Ruocchio, DAW Books, Empire of Silence, Gollancz, Most Anticipated 2018, Sci-Fi, Sun Eater

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Christopher Ruocchio?

I am the author of Empire of Silence, a new space opera/epic fantasy out in July. I am also the Assistant Editor for Baen Books, where I have edited the military SF anthology Star Destroyers and the upcoming Space Pioneers. I sold my first novel — this novel — at age 22. I graduated from North Carolina State University, where I studied English Rhetoric and Classics. I am a boxer, and former fencer, and the owner of half a suit of replica first century Roman armor. I worked as a waiter for seven years, during which time I wrote and paid my way through college at the expense of any sort of social life. I remain an enthusiastic student, and am blessed with what I consider the world’s greatest family, a lovely girlfriend, and better friends than one of my stormy disposition perhaps deserves. Continue reading →

Music Recommendation: NOTHING MORE

June 29, 2018June 29, 2018 Civilian Reader Music Best of 2018, Better Noise Records, Do You Really Want It, Don't Stop, Eleven Seven Music, Got To War, Just Say When, Nothing More, Rock, Stories We Tell Ourselves

Recently, I feel like I’ve become rather unadventurous in my music taste. There are a handful of bands whose albums I will always buy — for example, In Flames, Trivium, Within Temptation, Five Finger Death Punch, Asking Alexandria, and Sia — regardless of whether or not I don’t find the albums particularly compelling (I realized recently, for rather random reasons, that 2011 was a bad year for some of my favourite bands). In this respect, I adhered to Chuck Klosterman‘s truism that music fans (apparently especially men) “have a weird sense of loyalty toward the bands they like; they sometimes view record buying as a responsibility,” regardless of the quality of the album.

Few bands, however, have recently had such an immediate impact on my listening habits than Nothing More. Earlier this year, I stumbled across the video for the band’s “Don’t Stop” (below), and I haven’t been the same since. That’s a rather grand statement, to be sure, but the band’s latest album The Stories We Tell Ourselves is phenomenally good. I’ve since gone back and picked up their previous albums, as well. Continue reading →

Music: “Alone in a Room” by Asking Alexandria (Sumerian Records)

June 29, 2018 Civilian Reader Music Alone in a Room, Asking Alexandria, Best of 2018, Metal, Rock, Sumerian Records

Just wanted to share the latest music video from Asking Alexandria, one of my favourite bands. Taken from their latest, eponymous album, it’s also one of their best songs. Just an all-round fantastic band. Could listen to their latest album and From Death to Destiny any day of the week and still love them.

Follow the Band: Website, Twitter

Interview with WILLIAM MARTIN

June 26, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview William Martin

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is William Martin?

A guy who has been writing stories for forty years, since I left the USC Film School. And I’ve been very lucky. After a few screenplays, my first novel made the New York Times Best Seller list, and I haven’t looked back since. It’s now eleven novels, and counting, a PBS Documentary on the life of George Washington, book reviews, essays, and a cult classic horror film, too.

Your latest novel, Bound For Gold, will be published by published on July 3rd by Forge. The latest book in your Peter Fallon series, how would you introduce the novel and series to a potential reader?

History meets mystery, in a grand intermarriage of past and present. It’s about the California Gold Rush, one of the seminal moments in American history, when anyone could get rich if he was lucky enough, unless he was Chinese or Mexican. Those people, of course, faced the kinds of prejudices that have always boiled over wherever men of different races meet. And they boil over in the book. Continue reading →

An Annotated Chapter of RAVENCRY by Ed McDonald (Gollancz/Ace)

June 26, 2018June 21, 2022 Civilian Reader Annotated Excerpt Ace Books, Annotated Excerpt, Ed McDonald, Fantasy, Gollancz, Grimdark, Raven's Mark, Ravencry

When I was asked to provide a first chapter critique of my own book, I thought that this was an excellent way to explain the way that my own writing craft works, and to point out the level of complexity that comes into play through many rounds of editing.

I think that I have to stress that the first chapter did not look like this at the end of the first draft. So many of the details, the events, even the character of Levan Ost, all changed multiple times during the editing process. These were the details and events that remained when the dust settled.

Throughout this text I’ve interrupted the narrative to point out why I made particular decisions. Everything in this chapter is a conscious choice, and hopefully I’ve been able to explain why I made some of them. Writing is a deeply personal and individual craft and no two people’s are the same. These were the right choices for me.

It should be noted that although there are no direct spoilers in my commentary, if you’ve not read RAVENCRY yet, then I will be pointing out particular details that are specifically of interest later in the book.

Continue reading →

Recommendation: Penguin’s World War I China Specials

June 25, 2018June 25, 2018 Civilian Reader Random, Review Anne Witchard, Badlands, Betrayal in Paris, Bloody Saturday, China, China Specials, Chinese Labour Corps, England's Yellow Peril, Frances Wood, From the Tsar's Railway to the Red Army, Getting Stuck in For Shanghai, History, Jonathan Fenby, Mark O'Neill, Paul French, Penguin, Picnics Prohibited, Robert Bickers, Russia, Siege of Tsingtao, UK, USA, World War I

This series of nine short books is fantastic. I bought them quite some time ago — they were released to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I — but I have finally caught up. If you have any interest in learning about China, then I would highly recommend these books. Each of them was informative, engaging, sometimes entertaining, and frequently brutally honest. Continue reading →

New Books (May-June)

June 22, 2018August 23, 2018 Civilian Reader New Books A.M. Homes, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Anna Smith Spark, Bill Clinton, Brian McClellan, Dale Lucas, David Mealing, Gail Carrier, Gail Carriger, Harrison Scott Key, James Patterson, Jennifer Wolfe, Jim Butcher, Joanne Proulx, Jon Hollins, Joseph Fink, Joshua Reynolds, Laird Barron, Lauren Groff, Lawrence Osborne, Mark Adams, Max Hastings, Nadia Dalbuono, Nicholas Eames, Nick Harkaway, Patrick S. Tomlinson, Phil Kelly, RJ Barker, Sebastien de Castell, Steve Kornacki, Tade Thompson, Tasha Suri, Terry Brooks, Tom Barbash, Vivian Shaw

Featuring: Mark Adams, Tom Barbash, RJ Barker, Laird Barron, Terry Brooks, Jim Butcher, Gail Carrier, Bill Clinton, Nadia Dalbuono, Sebastien de Castell, Nicholas Eames, Joseph Fink, Lauren Groff, Nick Harkaway, Max Hastings, Jon Hollins, A.M. Homes, Phil Kelly, Harrison Scott Key, Steve Kornacki, Dale Lucas, Brian McClellan, David Mealing, Lawrence Osborne, James Patterson, Joanne Proulx, Vivian Shaw, Anna Smith Spark, Tasha Suri, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Tade Thompson, Patrick S. Tomlinson, Jennifer Wolfe

Continue reading →

Upcoming: A DOUBLE LIFE by Flynn Berry (Viking/W&N)

June 21, 2018 Civilian Reader Upcoming A Double Life, Fiction, Flynn Berry, Most Anticipated 2018, Mystery, Viking, W&N, Weidenfeld & Nicolson

The worlds of rarefied privilege have always provided rich inspiration and source-material for fiction. Never more so than when something bad happens, or something is thrown into the mix that upends the lives of the privileged. In Flynn Berry‘s upcoming novel, A Double Life, the protagonist is the daughter of one of the “most notorious murder suspects” in the UK — a Lord. I haven’t read Berry’s previous novel, the critically-acclaimed Under the Harrow, but this one has certainly caught my attention. It is due to be published on July 31st, by Viking in North America and Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the UK. Here’s the synopsis:

Claire is a hardworking doctor leading a simple, quiet life in London. She is also the daughter of the most notorious murder suspect in the country, though no one knows it.

Nearly thirty years ago, while Claire and her brother slept upstairs, a brutal crime was committed in her family’s townhouse. The next morning, her father’s car was found abandoned near the English Channel, with bloodstains on the front seat. Her mother insisted she’d seen him in the house that night, but his powerful, privileged friends maintained his innocence. The first lord accused of murder in more than a century, he has been missing ever since.

When the police tell Claire they’ve found him, her carefully calibrated existence begins to fracture. She doesn’t know if she’s the daughter of a murderer or a wronged man, but Claire will soon learn how far she’ll go to finally find the truth.

Loosely inspired by one of the most notorious unsolved crimes of the 20th century – the Lord Lucan case – A Double Life is at once a riveting page-turner and a moving reflection on women and violence, trauma and memory, and class and privilege.

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter

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