Author: Civilian Reader

Upcoming: THE BLACK GOD’S DRUMS by P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com)

Civilian Reader Upcoming , , , , , , ,

ClarkPD-BlackGodsDrumsThe cover for P. Djèlí Clark‘s The Black God’s Drums started doing the rounds online a little while ago. (I’ve also seen that reviewers are starting to receive ARCs, so reviews should start appearing soon, too.) Due to be published by Tor.com in August 2018. I haven’t read any of Clark’s previous work, but I have high hopes for this, given how interesting it sounds:

In an alternate New Orleans caught in the tangle of the American Civil War, the wall-scaling girl named Creeper yearns to escape the streets for the air – in particular, by earning a spot on-board the airship Midnight Robber. Creeper plans to earn Captain Ann-Marie’s trust with information she discovers about a Haitian scientist and a mysterious weapon he calls The Black God’s Drums.

But Creeper also has a secret herself: Oya, the African orisha of the wind and storms, speaks inside her head, and may have her own ulterior motivations.

Soon, Creeper, Oya, and the crew of the Midnight Robber are pulled into a perilous mission aimed to stop the Black God’s Drums from being unleashed and wiping out the entirety of New Orleans.

The novella “brings an alternate New Orleans of orisha, airships, and adventure to life”, and has been described by Scott Westerfeld as “A sinewy mosaic of Haitian sky pirates, wily street urchins, and orisha magic. Beguiling and bombastic!” That’s a pretty great endorsement. Looking forward to giving it a try. The Black God’s Drums will be published on August 21st, by Tor.com in North America and in the UK.

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter

Upcoming: New BINTI hardcovers! (Tor.com)

Civilian Reader Upcoming , , , , , ,

OkoraforN-BintiTrilogyHC

Earlier this week, Tor.com announced that they were going to be re-releasing Nnedi Okorafor’s Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Binti novel(la)s in hardcover: Binti, Home and The Night Masquerade. The three new covers are above, and the books will arrive in stores on July 24th. Here’s the synopsis for the first book:

Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs.

Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti’s stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.

If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the the gifts of her people and the wisdom enshrined within the University, itself — but first she has to make it there, alive.

The first book will also have a new introduction, written by N.K. Jemisin. The series is currently available in paperback and eBook, in North America and the UK.

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter

Upcoming Movie: ROBIN HOOD (Lionsgate)

Civilian Reader Movies, Upcoming , , , , , , , , , ,

I think the AV Club had it right, when they said that the “trailer for Jamie Foxx’s Robin Hood movie seems a lot like a Green Arrow movie”. To me, it seems to be very much in the same vein as Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur (but hopefully not as wooden/boring/bad). The trailer certainly makes it look quite madly fun — but, as many of us have discovered, trailers can be very misleading.

Robin Hood is due to be released in November by Lionsgate. The movie has a pretty great cast, including Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Ben Mendelsohn, Eve Hewson, Tim Minchin, and Jamie Dornan. The movie was directed by Otto Bathurst, and written by Ben Chandler and David James Kelly. Here’s the trailer:

New Books (April-May)

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

NewBooks-20180429

Featuring: Rob Boffard, Pat Cunnane, Delilah S. Dawson, Francesco Dimitri, Ronan Farrow, R.S. Ford, Daniel Godfrey, Jonathan Lethem, Brian McClellan, Derek B. Miller, Daniel José Older, Kathleen O’Neal Gear, Sarah Pinborough, Chistopher Ruocchio, John Sandford, Nick Setchfield, Jake Tapper, Daniel Torday, Alex White, Tyler Whitesides, You-Jeong Jeong

Continue reading →

Upcoming: LOST EMPRESS by Sergio De La Pava (Pantheon/MacLehose Press)

Civilian Reader Upcoming , , , ,

delaPavaS-LostEmpress

Sergio de la Pava‘s prize-winning A Naked Singularity is one of those novels I purchased quite some time ago, but keep forgetting I have on my Kindle. I recently found out about his upcoming book, Lost Empress, which sounds really interesting. If potentially weird. Described as “a shockingly hilarious novel that tackles, with equal aplomb, both America’s most popular sport and its criminal justice system”, it sounds pretty ambitious. If the author pulls it off, it could also be amazing. Here’s the synopsis:

From Paterson, New Jersey, to Rikers Island to the streets of New York City, Sergio de la Pava’s Lost Empress introduces readers to a cast of characters unlike any other in modern fiction: dreamers and exiles, immigrants and night-shift workers, a lonely pastor and others on the fringes of society — each with their own impact on the fragile universe they navigate.

Nina Gill, daughter of the aging owner of the Dallas Cowboys, was instrumental in building her father’s dynasty. So it’s a shock when her brother inherits the franchise and she is left with the Paterson Pork, New Jersey’s failing Indoor Football League team. Nina vows to take on the NFL and make the Paterson Pork pigskin kings of America. All she needs to do is recruit the coach, the players, and the fans.

Meanwhile, Nuno DeAngeles — a brilliant and lethal criminal mastermind — has been imprisoned on Rikers Island for a sensational offense. Nuno fights for his liberty — while simultaneously planning an even more audacious crime.

In Lost Empress, de la Pava weaves a narrative that encompasses Salvador Dalí, Joni Mitchell, psychiatric help, emergency medicine, religion, theoretical physics, and everything in between. With grace, humor, and razor-sharp prose, all these threads combine, counting down to an epic and extraordinary conclusion.

Lost Empress is due to be published in North America by Pantheon and in the UK by MacLehose Press, on May 8th, 2018. (The UK cover, top right, is much better than the US cover…)

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads

Upcoming: OUR TOWNS by James & Deborah Fallows (Pantheon)

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

Fallows-OurTownsUSI have long been a fan of James Fallows‘s journalism — I first read his work in The Atlantic, back in 2007 when he was still living in China (some of his articles from that time have been collected in the excellent Postcards From Tomorrow Square, which I’m reading at the moment). This year, Pantheon will publish Fallows’s latest book, co-written with his wife, Deborah Fallows, Our Towns. Here’s the synopsis:

A vivid, surprising portrait of the civic and economic reinvention taking place in America, town by town and generally out of view of the national media. A realistically positive and provocative view of the country between its coasts.

For the last five years, James and Deborah Fallows have been traveling across America in a single-engine prop airplane. Visiting dozens of towns, they have met hundreds of civic leaders, workers, immigrants, educators, environmentalists, artists, public servants, librarians, business people, city planners, students, and entrepreneurs to take the pulse and understand the prospects of places that usually draw notice only after a disaster or during a political campaign.

The America they saw is acutely conscious of its problems — from economic dislocation to the opioid scourge — but itis also crafting solutions, with a practical-minded determination at dramatic odds with the bitter paralysis of national politics. At times of dysfunction on a national level, reform possibilities have often arisen from the local level. The Fallowses describe America in the middle of one of these creative waves. Their view of the country is as complex and contradictory as America itself, but it also reflects the energy, the generosity and compassion, the dreams, and the determination of many who are in the midst of making things better. Our Towns is the story of their journey — and an account of a country busy remaking itself.

I received an ARC of this book recently, and I’m really looking forward to reading it. (I’ll probably start it either after finishing Postcards…, or after my next non-fiction read.)

Follow the Authors: Goodreads — James/Deborah; Twitter — James/Deborah

Upcoming: GIGGED by Sarah Kessler (St. Martin’s Press)

Civilian Reader Upcoming , , , , , , , ,

KesslerS-GiggedUSSarah Kessler‘s upcoming book looks really interesting. The gig economy has come to dominate a few sectors, and seems to be spreading. To someone who is an accidental freelancer (I didn’t expect to be one so soon in my career), Gigged therefore looks really interesting and relevant. Even though the book is focused on the gig economy in the United States, I think it will resonate with readers in other countries, where gigging is fast becoming a wider experience of life and work. Here’s the synopsis:

The full-time job is disappearing—is landing the right gig the new American Dream?

One in three American workers is now a freelancer. This “gig economy” — one that provides neither the guarantee of steady hours nor benefits — emerged out of the digital era and has revolutionized the way we do business. High-profile tech start-ups such as Uber and Airbnb are constantly making headlines for the disruption they cause to the industries they overturn. But what are the effects of this disruption, from Wall Street down to Main Street? What challenges do employees and job-seekers face at every level of professional experience?

In the tradition of the great business narratives of our time, Gigged offers deeply-sourced, up-close-and-personal accounts of our new economy. From the computer programmer who chooses exactly which hours he works each week, to the Uber driver who starts a union, to the charity worker who believes freelance gigs might just transform a declining rural town, journalist Sarah Kessler follows a wide range of individuals from across the country to provide a nuanced look at how the gig economy is playing out in real-time.

Kessler wades through the hype and hyperbole to tackle the big questions: What does the future of work look like? Will the millennial generation do as well their parents? How can we all find meaningful, well-paid work?

Gigged is due to be published by St. Martin’s Press on June 12th, 2018.

Follow the Author: Goodreads, Twitter

Upcoming: GATE CRASHERS by Patrick S. Tomlinson (Tor Books)

Civilian Reader Upcoming , , , ,

TomlinsonPS-GateCrashersUSThere is a growing number of authors writing more humorous and lighter science fiction and fantasy, suggesting we are going through one of the cyclical tonal shifts within the genres (I think it’s fair to say that many were feeling wearied by the grimdark influence on the SFF genres). Patrick S. Tomlinson‘s next novel, Gate Crashers sounds like it will be a lot of fun. Published on June 26th by Tor Books, here’s the synopsis:

The only thing as infinite and expansive as the universe is humanity’s unquestionable ability to make bad decisions.

Humankind ventures further into the galaxy than ever before… and immediately causes an intergalactic incident. In their infinite wisdom, the crew of the exploration vessel Magellan, or as she prefers “Maggie,” decides to bring the alienstructure they just found back to Earth. The only problem? The aliens are awfully fond of that structure.

A planet full of bumbling, highly evolved primates has just put itself on a collision course with a far wider, and more hostile, galaxy that is stranger than anyone can possibly imagine.

Tomlinson’s previous novels include the Children of a Dead Earth trilogy, published by Angry Robot Books. Gate Crashers will be published by Tor Books in North America and in the UK.

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter

Upcoming: THE MERE WIFE by Maria Dahvana Headley (MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Civilian Reader Upcoming , , , , ,

HeadleyMD-MereWifeUSMaria Dahvana Headley‘s latest novel sounds really interesting. It is a “modern retelling of the literary classic Beowulf, set in American suburbia as two mothers — a housewife and a battle-hardened veteran — fight to protect those they love”. The Mere Wife is due to be published by MCD/Farrar, Straus & Giroux in July 2018. Here’s the synopsis:

From the perspective of those who live in Herot Hall, the suburb is a paradise. Picket fences divide buildings — high and gabled — and the community is entirely self-sustaining. Each house has its own fireplace, each fireplace is fitted with a container of lighter fluid, and outside — in lawns and on playgrounds — wildflowers seed themselves in neat rows. But for those who live surreptitiously along Herot Hall’s periphery, the subdivision is a fortress guarded by an intense network of gates, surveillance cameras, and motion-activated lights.

For Willa, the wife of Roger Herot (heir of Herot Hall), life moves at a charmingly slow pace. She flits between mommy groups, playdates, cocktail hour, and dinner parties, always with her son, Dylan, in tow. Meanwhile, in a cave in the mountains just beyond the limits of Herot Hall lives Gren, short for Grendel, as well as his mother, Dana, a former soldier who gave birth as if by chance. Dana didn’t want Gren, didn’t plan Gren, and doesn’t know how she got Gren, but when she returned from war, there he was. When Gren, unaware of the borders erected to keep him at bay, ventures into Herot Hall and runs off with Dylan, Dana’s and Willa’s worlds collide.

Not going to lie — my eye was definitely caught by that cover. Really looking forward to giving this a try. The Mere Wife is published on July 17th, 2018, by MCD.

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter

Upcoming: THE GOOD SON by You-Jeong Jeong (Little, Brown)

Civilian Reader Upcoming , , , , , ,

YouJeongJ-GoodSonUKNext week, Little, Brown are due to publish million-selling Korean author You-Jeong Jeong‘s The Good Son. The author has been described as “Korea’s Stephen King”, and A.J. Finn described The Good Son as perfect “For fans of Jo Nesbo and Patricia Highsmith”. Now, the UK will get to enjoy/be terrified by You-Jeong’s novel. Here’s the synopsis:

YOU WAKE UP COVERED IN BLOOD

THERE’S A BODY DOWNSTAIRS

YOUR MOTHER’S BODY

YOU DIDN’T DO IT. DID YOU?

HOW COULD YOU, YOU’VE ALWAYS BEEN THE GOOD SON

When Yu-jin wakes up covered in blood, and finds the body of his mother downstairs, he decides to hide the evidence and pursue the killer himself.

Then young women start disappearing in his South Korean town. Who is he hunting? And why does the answer take him back to his brother and father who lost their lives many years ago.

The Good Son is inspired by a true story.

The Good Son is published in the UK by Little, Brown, on May 3rd; and in North America by Penguin, on June 5th.

Follow the Author: Goodreads