Author: Civilian Reader

Excerpt: THE RUNES OF ENGAGEMENT by Dave Klecha & Tobias S. Buckell (Tachyon Publications)

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BuckellKlecha-RunesOfEngagementUSHCNext month, Tachyon Publications are due to publish the new novel by Dave Klecha and Tobias S. Buckell: The Runes of Engagement. Pitched as “The Lord of the Rings meets Slaughterhouse-Five by way of World of Warcraft“, it’s a “delirious mashup” that pits the U.S. military against legendary monsters from fantasy novels and roleplaying games. And that sounds very cool indeed! To celebrate the upcoming release, the publisher has provided CR with an excerpt to share. But first, here’s the synopsis:

No one could have been prepared for the day when orcs, trolls, and dragons fell from portals in the sky. But the world fought back against the invaders as best it could, with soldiers, tactical weapons, and even some rudimentary magic.

Now a tough but not-quite-prepared platoon of Marines is trapped on the wrong side of the portals. The enchanting landscape looks like Middle Earth but — to the dismay of the nerdiest soldiers — is nothing like it. While the Marines fend off dangerous, improbable, and very rude assailants, their mission is to escort a VIP (Very Important Princess) who could broker a strategic alliance between worlds.

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Excerpt: The FORTUNATE FALL by Cameron Reed (Tor Books)

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ReedC-FortunateFallUS2024This summer, Tor Books are due to publish the new, Essentials edition of The Fortunate Fall, Cameron Reed‘s debut novel. This edition also marks the book’s return to print after a few decades. With a new introduction by Jo Walton, this looks like a perfect way to (re)visit this classic science fiction novel. To celebrate the upcoming release, the publisher has provided CR with an excerpt to share. Before we get to that, though, here’s the synopsis:

Tor Essentials presents new editions of science fiction and fantasy titles of proven merit and lasting value, each volume introduced by an appropriate literary figure.

On its first publication in 1996, The Fortunate Fall was hailed as an SF novel of a wired future on par with the debuts of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson. Now it returns to print, in advance of forthcoming new work by the same author. It is one of the great underground classics of the last several decades in SF.

Maya Andreyeva is a “camera,” a reporter with virtual-reality-broadcasting equipment implanted in her brain. What she sees, millions see; what she feels, millions share.

And what Maya is seeing is the cover-up of a massacre. As she probes into the covert political power plays of a radically strange near-future Russia, she comes upon secrets that have been hidden from the world… and memories that AI-controlled thought police have forced her to hide from herself. Because in a world where no thought or desire is safe, the price of survival is betrayal — of your lover, your ideals, and yourself.

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Excerpt: RAKESFALL by Vajra Chandrasekera (TorDotCom)

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ChandrasekeraV-RakesfallUSHCToday, we have an excerpt from the new “standalone science fiction epic about two souls bound together from here until the ends of time” by Vajra Chandrasekera: Rakesfall.

Some stories take more than one lifetime to tell. There are wrongs that echo through the ages, friendships that outpace the claws of death, loves that leave their mark on civilization, and promises that nothing can break. This is one such story.

Annelid and Leveret met as children in the middle of the Sri Lankan civil war. They found each other in a torn-up nation, peering through propaganda to grasp a deeper truth. And in a demon-haunted wood, another act of violence linked them and propelled their souls on a journey throughout the ages. No world can hold them, no life can bind them, and they’ll never leave each other behind.

Tracing two souls through endless lifetimes, Rakesfall is a virtuosic exploration of what stories can be. As Annelid and Leveret reincarnate ever deeper into the future, they will chase the edge of human possibility, in a dark science fiction epic unlike anything you’ve read before

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Quick Review: THE SWORD DEFIANT by Gareth Hanrahan (Orbit)

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HanrahanG-LotF1-SwordDefiantHCThe first in a new, dark epic fantasy

Many years ago, Sir Aelfric and his nine companions saved the world, seizing the Dark Lord’s cursed weapons, along with his dread city of Necrad. That was the easy part.

Now, when Aelfric – keeper of the cursed sword Spellbreaker – learns of a new and terrifying threat, he seeks the nine heroes once again. But they are wandering adventurers no longer. Yesterday’s eager heroes are today’s weary leaders – and some have turned to the darkness, becoming monsters themselves.

If there’s one thing Aelfric knows, it’s slaying monsters. Even if they used to be his friends.

Gareth Hanrahan’s The Sword Defiant is a strong opening book in a new series. Great world-building and characters, and an intriguing mystery — I enjoyed this novel. Continue reading →

Very Quick Review: UNEXPLODED REMNANTS by Elaine Gallagher (TorDotCom)

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GallagherE-UnexplodedRemnantsUSHCA fast-paced, intriguing new sci-fi novella

An A.I. wages war on a future it doesn’t understand.

Alice is the last human. Street-smart and bad-ass.

After discovering what appears to be an A.I. personality in an antique data core, Alice decides to locate its home somewhere in the stargate network. At the very least, she wants to lay him to rest because, as it turns out, she’s stumbled upon the sentient control unit of a deadly ancient weapon system.

Convincing the ghost of a raging warrior that the war is over is about as hard as it sounds, which is to say, it’s near-impossible. But, if Alice fails and the control unit falls into the wrong hands, the balance of power her side of the Milky Way could fall apart. As Alice ports throughout the known universe seeking answers and aid she will be faced with impossible choice after impossible choice and the growing might of an unstoppable foe.

A very quick/short review, for this one. This is a pretty fast-paced, galaxy-trotting science fiction novella. After a slightly shaky start, I quickly fell into the setting and became invested in the characters’ fates. It doesn’t quite stick the landing, but I nevertheless enjoyed it. Continue reading →

Upcoming: THE CITY IN GLASS by Nghi Vo (TorDotCom)

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VoN-CityInGlassUSHCOn October 1st, TorDotCom are due to publish The City in Glass, the latest novel by Nghi Vo: a “beguiling” fantasy stand-alone, set in a “city in the tradition of Calvino, Mieville, and Le Guin.” I’ve enjoyed some of Vo’s previous books, and really must get caught up on her Singing Hills Cycle (also published by TorDotCom). Described as “an epic love story, of death and resurrection, memory and transformation, redemption and desire”, it sounds great. The synopsis caught my attention a while before the publisher unveiled the great cover artwork — check it out below:

A demon. An angel. A city.

The demon Vitrine — immortal, powerful, and capricious — loves the dazzling city of Azril. She has mothered, married, and maddened the city and its people for generations, and built it into a place of joy and desire, revelry and riot.

And then the angels come, and the city falls.

Vitrine is left with nothing but memories and a book containing the names of those she has lost — and an angel, now bound by her mad, grief-stricken curse to haunt the city he burned.

She mourns her dead and rages against the angel she longs to destroy. Made to be each other’s devastation, angel and demon are destined for eternal battle. Instead, they find themselves locked in a devouring fascination that will change them both forever.

Together, they unearth the past of the lost city and begin to shape its future. But when war threatens Azril and everything they have built, Vitrine and her angel must decide whether they will let the city fall again.

Nghi Vo’s The City in Glass is due to be published by TorDotCom in North America and in the UK, on October 1st.

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Upcoming: GRAVEYARD SHIFT by M. L. Rio (Flatiron)

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RioML-GraveyardShiftUSHCBack in 2017, I read an ARC of M. L. Rio‘s excellent If We Were Villains (which seems to get a new edition every few months). Ever since finishing it, I have been periodically checking to see if the author has a new book on the way. And the wait if almost over! Flatiron Books recently announced the author’s hotly-anticipated next book, a novella: Graveyard Shift. Due out in September, here’s the synopsis:

A story about a ragtag group of night shift workers who meet in the local cemetery to unearth the secrets lurking in an open grave.

Every night, in the college’s ancient cemetery, five people cross paths as they work the late shift: a bartender, a rideshare driver, a hotel receptionist, the steward of the derelict church that looms over them, and the editor-in-chief of the college paper, always in search of a story.

One dark October evening in the defunct churchyard, they find a hole that wasn’t there before. A fresh, open grave where no grave should be. But who dug it, and for whom?

Before they go their separate ways, the gravedigger returns. As they trail him through the night, they realize he may be the key to a string of strange happenings around town that have made headlines for the last few weeks — and that they may be closer to the mystery than they thought.

M. L. Rio’s Graveyard Shift is due to be published by Flatiron Books in North America and Wildfire in the UK, on September 24th.

Also on CR: Review of If We Were Villains

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Excerpt: CALYPSO by Oliver K. Langmead (Titan Books)

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LangmeadOK-CalypsoHCToday, we have an excerpt from the new epic verse novel Calypso, by Oliver K. Langmead: “A saga of colony ships, shattering moons and cataclysmic war in a new Eden.” It’s out now, published by Titan Books. Here’s the synopsis:

Rochelle wakes from cryostasis to take up her role as engineer on the colony ark, Calypso. But she finds the ship has transformed into a forest, populated by the original crew’s descendants, who revere her like a saint.

She travels the ship with the Calypso’s creator, the enigmatic Sigmund, and Catherine, a bioengineered marvel who can commune with the plants, uncovering a new history of humanity forged while she slept.

She discovers a legacy of war between botanists and engineers. A war fought for the right to build a new Earth – a technological paradise, or a new Eden in bloom, untouched by mankind’s past.

And Rochelle, the last to wake, holds the balance of power in her hands.

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New Books (March-April)

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Featuring: Rachel Aaron, Rowan Beaird, Lisa Gray, Victoria Hayward, Elizabeth O’Brien Ingleson, Fiona McFarlane, Claire North, Sarah Pinsker, Richard Price, Sarah Rees Brennan, Colombe Schneck, Geoffrey Wawro

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Excerpt: WITHERED by A.G.A. Wilmot (ECW Press)

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WilmotAGA-WitheredHCTomorrow, ECW Press is due to publish the second novel from A.G.A. Wilmot (following 2018’s The Death Scene Artist): Withered — a “queer paranormal horror novel in the style of showrunner Mike Flannagan” (Midnight Mass, The Fall of the House of Usher, and so forth). To mark the release, the publisher has allowed CR to share the novel’s Prologue with our readers. First, check out the synopsis:

After the tragic death of their father and surviving a life-threatening eating disorder, 18-year-old Ellis moves with their mother to the small town of Black Stone, seeking a simpler life and some space to recover. But Black Stone feels off; it’s a disquieting place surrounded by towns with some of the highest death rates in the country. It doesn’t help that everyone says Ellis’s new house is haunted — everyone including Quinn, a local girl who has quickly captured Ellis’s attention. And Ellis has started to believe what people are saying: they see pulsing veins in their bedroom walls and specters in dark corners of the cellar. Together, Ellis and Quinn dig deep into Black Stone’s past and soon discover that their town, and Ellis’s house in particular, is the battleground in a decades-long spectral war, one that will claim their family — and the town — if it’s allowed to continue.

Withered is queer psychological horror, a compelling tale of heartache, loss, and revenge that tackles important issues of mental health in the way that only horror can: by delving deep into them, cracking them open, and exposing their gruesome entrails.

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