Author: Civilian Reader

Quick Review: EASY MONEY by Ben McKenzie w. Jacob Silverman (Abrams)

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McKenzieSilverman-EasyMoneyUSHCAn excellent deep-dive into the murky world of crypto

At the height of the pandemic, TV star Ben McKenzie was the perfect mark for cryptocurrency: a dad stuck at home with some cash in his pocket, worried about his family, armed with only the vague notion that people were making heaps of money on something he — despite a degree in economics — didn’t entirely understand. Lured in by grandiose, utopian promises, and sure, a little bit of FOMO, McKenzie dove deep into blockchain, Bitcoin, and the various other coins and exchanges on which they are traded. But after scratching the surface, he had to ask, “Am I crazy, or is this all a total scam?”

In Easy Money, McKenzie enlists the help of journalist Jacob Silverman for an investigative adventure into crypto and its remarkable crash. Weaving together stories of average traders and victims, colorful crypto “visionaries,” Hollywood’s biggest true believers, anti-crypto whistleblowers, and government operatives, Easy Money is an on-the-ground look at a perfect storm of irresponsibility and criminal fraud. Based on original reporting across the country and abroad, including interviews with Sam Bankman-Fried, Tether cofounder Brock Pierce, Celsius’s Alex Mashinsky, and more, this is the book on cryptocurrency you’ve been waiting for.

An excellent piece of long-form journalism, Easy Money is a must-read for anyone who has looked at the crypto world and thought, “That doesn’t seem legit” — a category in which I very much include myself. I came away from Easy Money better and more informed on the workings of crypto and all the ways in which it is used and abused by a growing number of grifters. This is a very good book, and as the authors write: it’s a “parable of money and lying, or rather a parable of fake money and lying for money.”. Continue reading →

Upcoming: THE CAUTIOUS TRAVELLER’S GUIDE TO THE WASTELAND by Sarah Brooks (Flatiron / W&N)

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BrooksS-CautiousTravellersGuideToTheWastelandsUSHCI first spotted the UK cover (below) for The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wasteland, Sarah Brooks‘s very-intriguing-sounding debut, via a Tweet from Track of Words (a review website you should check out). After doing some looking about for more information, my interest has certainly been piqued. Here’s the synopsis:

A stunning historical fantasy novel set on a grand express train, about a group of passengers willing to make a dangerous journey across a magical landscape

In a nineteenth century world awash with marvels, nothing is so marvelous and terrible as the Wastelands, a vast swath of land between Russia and China of fantastical wildlife that nothing and no one touches except the Great Trans-Siberian Express. Though all know the warnings, the train is never short of travellers, for the Wasteland is as irresistible as it is treacherous. And besides, the train is completely safe.

BrooksS-CautiousTravellersGuideToTheWastelandsUKHCExcept on the last journey, though no one can say what occurred exactly because no one can remember it, not even Wei-Wei, the child of the train who was born on the Express. Only someone does know the truth: Elena, a strange stowaway with a mysterious connection to the Wastelands. As the Express embarks on a new voyage with a new set of travellers, each hiding their own motivations and secrets, Elena and Wei-Wei begin a dangerous friendship just as the train starts to misbehave. Desperate to save the only home she has ever known, Wei-Wei fights to keep the train from breaking down. But the rules of the Wasteland are changing and the wildness outside threatens to consume them all.

Gorgeously written and astonishingly imaginative, The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands is a pulse-pounding adventure and a provocative exploration of our relationship with the disappearing natural world.

*

Sarah Brooks’s The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wasteland is due to be published by Flatiron in North America (July 9th, 2023) and W&N in the UK (June 20th).

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Guest Post: THE CORSET & THE JELLYFISH by Nick Bantock (Tachyon)

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BantockN-CorsetAndTheJellyfishUSHCWhen the publishers and I were working out which of my drabbles to include in the upcoming, The Corset and the Jellyfish, there were a few stories that the editorial team felt had issues, or due to being unable to be squeezed down, was eventually deemed a reject.

Sometimes it’s virtually impossible to convey time and place (beginning, middle, end) of a 100-word story.

Now, liberated from constraint, you can find five of those drabbles available as a guest post at the Civilian Reader.

Please enjoy!

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Very Quick Review: SET FOR LIFE by Andrew Ewell (Simon & Schuster)

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EwellA-SetForLifeUSHCA well-written campus novel, but one that — despite early promise — doesn’t deviate much from the well-worn template

A creative writing professor at a third-tier college in upstate New York is on his way home from a summer fellowship in France, where he’s spent the last three months loafing around Bordeaux, tasting the many varieties of French wine at his disposal, and doing just about anything but actually working on his long overdue novel. A stopover in Brooklyn to see his and his wife’s closest friends — John, a jaded poet-turned-lawyer with a dubious moral compass, and Sophie, a once-promising fiction writer with a complicated past and a mysterious allure — causes further trouble when he and Sophie wind up sleeping together while John is out serenading Brooklyn coeds with poems instead of preparing legal briefs.

But instead of succumbing to his failures as a teacher, writer, and husband, an odd freedom begins to bubble up. Could a love affair be the answer he’s been searching for? Could it offer the escape he needs from the department chair, Chet Bland, who’s been breathing down his neck? Relief from the gossip of colleagues and generational tension with students? Respite from embarrassment over his wife, Debra Crawford, and her meteoric rise as a novelist? His escapades might even make the perfect raw material for an absolutely devastating novel, which would earn him tenure, wealth, and celebrity — everything he needs to be set for life. If only he could be the one to write it.

I’ve always been a fan of campus novels — ever since I read Richard Russo’s very good Straight Man (recently adapted into the limited series, Lucky Hank, starring Bob Odenkirk). Since then, Julie Schumacher has joined the ranks of my all-time favourite authors. My fond reading memories are populated by a good number of novels set on campuses. It is probably unsurprising, then, that when I had the chance to read and review Andrew Ewell’s Set For Life, I jumped at the chance. As it turned out, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Continue reading →

Excerpt: A LIGHT MOST HATEFUL by Hailey Piper (Titan Books)

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PiperH-ALightMostHatefulNext week, Titan Books are due to publish A Light Most Hateful by Hailey Piper, a new horror mystery sure to appeal to fans of the genre. To celebrate the upcoming release, the publisher has provided us with an excerpt to whet your appetite for the book. First, though, here’s the synopsis:

Three years after running away from home, Olivia is stuck with a dead-end job in nowhere town Chapel Hill, Pennsylvania. At least she has her best friend, Sunflower.

Olivia figures she’ll die in Chapel Hill, if not from boredom, then the summer night storm which crashes into town with a mind-bending monster in tow.

If Olivia’s going to escape Chapel Hill and someday reconcile with her parents, she’ll need to dodge residents enslaved by the storm’s otherworldly powers and find Sunflower.

But as the night strains friendships and reality itself, Olivia suspects the storm, and its monster, may have its eyes on Sunflower and everything she loves.

Including Olivia.

Now, on with the excerpt, which is taken from Chapter 2 of the novel…

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Excerpt: A STRANGER IN THE CITADEL by Tobias S. Buckell (Tachyon)

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BuckellTS-AStrangerInTheCitadelUSHCToday, we have an excerpt from A Stranger in the Citadel, the latest novel from Tobias S. Buckell — due out next month (October 17th) via Tachyon Publications. An intriguing-sounding novel, here’s the synopsis:

A complex novel of humanity’s passion for the written word. At the revolutionary crossroads of magic, betrayal, and long-forgotten truths, a naïve, compassionate royal and a determined, hunted librarian discover a dangerous world of mortal and ancient menaces.

The life of the youngest musketress of Ninetha has been one of hard training. But Lilith’s days have also contained many pleasures, the royal privileges of her family’s guardianship of the Cornucopia, a mystical source of limitless bounty. Lilith has never seen a book, and she never expects to encounter one within the safety of the citadel.

When Ishmael, an outcast librarian, shows up outside the Afriq Gate, Lilith saves him from immediate execution by her father’s second-in-command, the zealot Kira. As Lilith’s curiosity draws her to Ishmael, she lets slip her family’s most dangerous secret to Kira, sparking a deadly rebellion and an unexpected journey full of stunning revelations.

Now, on with the excerpt…!

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Excerpt: THE UNDETECTABLES by Courtney Smyth (Titan Books)

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SmythC-MD1-UndetectablesThe Undetectables, the first novel in Courtney Smyth‘s new Magical Detectives series, is due to be published next week by Titan Books. To give readers a taste of the novel, the publisher has provided us with this extract. Here’s the synopsis:

A magical serial killer is stalking the Occult town of Wrackton. Hypnotic whistling causes victims to chew their own tongues off, leading to the killer being dubbed the Whistler (original, right?).

Enter the Undetectables, a detective agency run by three witches and a ghost in a cat costume (don’t ask). They are hired to investigate the murders, but with their only case so far left unsolved, will they be up to the task?

Mallory, the forensic science expert, is struggling with pain and fatigue from her recently diagnosed fibromyalgia. Cornelia is suddenly stirring all sorts of feelings in Mallory. Diana is hitting up all her ex-girlfriends for information. And not forgetting ghostly Theodore: deceased, dramatic, and also the agency’s first – unsolved – murder case.

With bodies stacking up and the case leading them to mysteries at the very heart of magical society, can the Undetectables find the Whistler before they become the killer’s next victims?

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Excerpt: THE PLINKO BOUNCE by Martin Clark (Rare Bird Books)

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ClarkM-PlinkoBounceUSHCToday, we have an excerpt from The Plinko Bounce, the latest legal thriller/mystery by Martin Clark. I’m a relative newcomer to Clark’s work, having only started reading him with 2019’s The Substitution Order. Since then, though, I have read and enjoyed a number of his novels, and am very much looking forward to reading this latest. Due to be published by Rare Bird Books on September 12th, here’s the synopsis:

For seventeen years, small-town public defender Andy Hughes has been underpaid to look after the poor, the addicted, and the unfortunate souls who constantly cycle through the courts, charged with petty crimes. Then, in the summer of 2020, he’s assigned to a grotesque murder case that brings national media focus to rural Patrick County, Virginia — Alicia Benson, the wife of a wealthy businessman, is murdered in her home. The accused killer, Damian Bullins, is a cunning felon with a long history of violence, and he confesses to the police. He even admits his guilt to Andy. But a simple typographical error and a shocking discovery begin to complicate the state’s case, making it possible Bullins might escape punishment. Duty-bound to give his client a thorough defense, Andy — despite his misgivings — agrees to fight for a not-guilty verdict, a decision that will ultimately force him to make profound, life-and-death choices, both inside and outside the courtroom.

And now, on with the excerpt…

Continue reading →