Covers

Cover: THOSE ABOVE by Daniel Polansky (Hodder)

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Polansky-ET1-ThoseAboveUK

Wow. This is a beautiful cover for Daniel Polansky’s next novel. Colour me very excited and incredibly impatient.

THOSE ABOVE is the first novel in Polansky’s next two-part series, The Empty Throne. It is due to be published on February 26th, 2015. Can. Not. Wait.

Polansky is the extremely talented fellow who wrote The Straight Razor Cure (or Low Town in the US), Tomorrow the Killing and She Who Wakes. The first two are amongst the best novels I’ve read. I have shamefully not yet read the third novel in the series (only partly because Daniel signed my book at WFC in Brighton, which automatically made me want to protect the book more than usual…). Hm. Maybe I will read it next…

Also on CR: Interview with Daniel Polansky

Benjamin Percy Writes Two-Part DETECTIVE COMICS Story (DC Comics)

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DetectiveComics-35AI am a huge fan of Benjamin Percy’s novel RED MOON – published in the UK by Hodder and North America by Grand Central. It’s the only book of his that I’ve read, but it will by no means be the last.

I also shared a few days ago information about THE DEAD LANDS, his next novel, which is one of my most anticipated novels. Today, though, I discovered that Percy has also written a two-part story for Detective Comics, one of DC Comics’ various Batman series! This is great news, in my opinion – some of my favourite comic story-arcs have been written by some of my favourite writers (Lauren Beukes’s run on Fairest, Gregg Hurwitz’s run on The Dark Knight, to name but two).

Percy has written the story “Terminus”, which will run over Detective Comics #35-36, to be published October 1st and 8th, respectively. Art for the issues is by John Paul Leon (The Massive, DMZ, American Vampire, Scalped), colours by Dave Stewart (Fray, Lex Luthor, Hellboy), letters by Jared K. Fletcher.

Here’s the synopsis for #35:

In the first chapter of a two-part tale by the guest team of writer Ben Percy and artist John Paul Leon, a civilian appearance at Gotham Airport turns into a horror show for Batman when a plane full of dead passengers arrives on the runway! What happened – and what can Bruce Wayne do about it?

There are also two variant covers, by Cliff Chiang (left) and Becky Cloonan:

DetectiveComics-35Variants

If ever there was an excuse for me to catch up on this series, this was it. I’m very eager to read this. Finally, here’s the artwork that will grace the cover of #36:

DetectiveComics-36-Art

Also on CR: Interview with Benjamin Percy

Upcoming Orbit Titles (Spring/Summer 2015)

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Orbit unveiled the covers for their Spring/Summer 2015 releases today (US/UK – although, they’re mostly the same), and I thought I’d share some of the ones that caught my eye, here. I present them without commentary, but I will say the Peeler cover is rather eye-catching not only because of its bold colouring, but because it’s rather amusing.

Daniel Abraham, The Spider’s War (Dagger & Coin #5)

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James S.A. Corey, Nemesis Games (Expanse #5)

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N.K. Jemisin, The Fifth Season

Jemisin-FifthSeason

This is the way the world ends. Again.

Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze – the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization’s bedrock for a thousand years – collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman’s vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.

Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She’ll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.

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Nicole Peeler, Jinn & Juice

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Cursed to be a jinni for a thousand years, Leila nears the end of her servitude – only to be bound once again against her will. Will she risk all to be human?

Born in ancient Persia, Leila turned to her house Jinni, Kouros, for help escaping an arranged marriage. Kouros did make it impossible for her to marry – by cursing Leila to live a thousand years as a Jinni herself.

If she can remain unBound, Leila’s curse will soon be over. But Ozan Sawyer, a Magi with the ability to See, Call, and Bind jinn has other plans.

Oz needs Leila to help him penetrate Pittsburgh’s steel-soaked magic, a juice potent but poisonous to supernatural creatures, in order to find a missing girl with her own mysterious connection to Kouros. Unfortunately for Leila, becoming Bound to Oz may risk more than just her chance to be human once more – it could risk her very soul…

Jinn and Juice is the first in a new series by fantasy writer, Nicole Peeler, set in a world of immortal curses, powerful jinni and belly dancing.

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Kim Stanley Robinson, Aurora

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Angus Watson, Clash of Iron (Iron Age #2)

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LEADERS ARE FORGED IN THE FIRES OF WAR

Iron Age warriors Dug and Lowa captured Maidun castle and freed its slaves. But now they must defend it.

A Roman invasion is coming from Gaul, but rather than uniting to defend their home, the British tribes go to battle with each other – and see Maidun as an easy target.

Meanwhile, Lowa’s spies infiltrate Gaul, discovering the Romans have recruited British druids. And Maidunite Ragnall finds his loyalties torn when he meets Rome’s charismatic general, Julius Caesar.

War is coming. Who will pay its price?

Two Great New BATMAN Pieces by Lee Bermejo…

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Long time readers of the blog will know I’m a big fan of Lee Bermejo’s artwork. You can find loads of great examples over on his website. Today, I spotted two more in particular that caught my eye, and thought I’d share them on here.

The first is the brooding artwork for Secret Origins #2, a new series published by DC Comics:

SecretOrigins-02-Bermejo

Secondly, we have a black-and-white piece of DC’s “Trinity” – Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman:

Bermejo-Trinity

That’s One Scary Tooth Fairy…

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It’s been quite a while since I read any Zenescope titles. Not really sure why. Anyway, their take on fairy tales should appeal to anyone who enjoys Grimm, Once Upon A Time and other such TV series, not to mention similar novels and other comics. Anyway. In a press release I received today, I saw the image below. That is one scary-ass Tooth Fairy…

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The cover is by Giuseppe Cafaro (this is the B Variant).

Loki is Everywhere…

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Loki seems to be popping up in ever-more places. This is no doubt thanks, in part, to the huge success of Marvel’s Avengers and two Thor movies, and the popularity of Tom Hiddleston’s excellent portrayal of the Norse trickster god. (And Hiddleston did a fantastic job.)

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Cover by Jenny Frison

Marvel is capitalising on the character’s popularity by releasing a new comic series with the character at centre-stage: LOKI: AGENT OF ASGARD. The series will be written by Al Ewing, with art duties handled by Lee Garbett. Here’s what Marvel has said (thus far) about the series:

“LOKI is back and craftier than ever as the All-Mother’s secret weapon against Asgardia’s strangest threats. With his serpent’s tongue, debonair charm, and taste for the uncanny, there’s no assignment Loki won’t take — including the untimely stabbing of THOR! The surprises only start here for the Prince of Lies, as the most conniving corners of the Marvel Universe are blown open…”

Loki-AgentOfAsgard-01B&C

Variant Cover by Frank Cho; Animal Variant by Mike Del Mundo

Meanwhile, Boom Studios has recently announced LOKI: RAGNAROK AND ROLL, their own comic book starring the trickster deity. According to the press release, the series is “a heavy metal twist on Norse mythology” and shows “what happens when you take the classic Norse god Loki and throw him into a rock and roll band in the underground goth clubs of Los Angeles”. This, to me, sounds pretty fun… The series is written by Eric Esquivel and art will be provided by Jerry Gaylord (who has also worked on the rather fun Fanboys vs. Zombies). Here are the two covers for Loki: Ragnarok and Roll #1:

Loki-Ragnarok&Roll-01

Loki: Ragnarok and Roll #1 Alexis Ziritt and Jerry Gaylord Variants

Here’s a little more information about the series:

Loki steps out of the shadow cast by his thunderous brother as Norse mythology crosses over with the only thing on Earth as wild and crazy — rock and roll!

What happens when Odin banishes Loki to Earth? He finds a world of outcasts that appreciate his style! While his kin sharpen their weapons, he picks up an electric guitar.

Keeping with the Norse mythology theme, Esquivel also penned Thor: The Unkillable Thunder Christ, which I may now have to hunt down…

And, last but by no means least, we have the highly-anticipated THE GOSPEL OF LOKI novel written by Joanne M. Harris. True, this novel is removed from the Marvel Comics universe, but Gollancz/Orion still couldn’t resist adding the following text to the book’s page on their website:

“For fans of THE AVENGERS, this is the first adult epic fantasy novel from the multi-million-copy bestselling author of CHOCOLAT, Joanne Harris.”

Hmm… A little shameless, methinks. Here is the novel’s synopsis:

With his notorious reputation for trickery and deception, and an ability to cause as many problems as he solves, Loki is a Norse god like no other. Demon-born, he is viewed with deepest suspicion by his fellow gods who will never accept him as one of their own and for this he vows to take his revenge.

But while Loki is planning the downfall of Asgard and the humiliation of his tormentors, greater powers are conspiring against the gods and a battle is brewing that will change the fate of the Worlds.

From his recruitment by Odin from the realm of Chaos, through his years as the go-to man of Asgard, to his fall from grace in the build-up to Ragnarok, this is the unofficial history of the world’s ultimate trickster.

And here’s that beautiful cover again…

HarrisJM-GospelOfLoki

Covers, US vs. UK Edition: “The Six-Gun Tarot” by R.S. Belcher (Tor & Titan)

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Spotted the UK cover in Forbidden Planet in London today, and was moved to share it on here. I’ve been aware of R.S. Belcher’s The Six-Gun Tarot since it came out in the US (published by Tor), but it seems to have also been quietly released in the UK, recently, by Titan Books. Here are the two covers…

Belcher-SixGunTarot

Out of the two, I definitely prefer the UK cover (on the right). Really cool. If that doesn’t grab your attention, here’s the synopsis:

Nevada, 1869: Beyond the pitiless 40-Mile Desert lies Golgotha, a cattle town that hides more than its share of unnatural secrets. The sheriff bears the mark of the noose around his neck; some say he is a dead man whose time has not yet come. His half-human deputy is kin to coyotes. The mayor guards a hoard of mythical treasures. A banker’s wife belongs to a secret order of assassins. And a shady saloon owner, whose fingers are in everyone’s business, may know more about the town’s true origins than he’s letting on.

A haven for the blessed and the damned, Golgotha has known many strange events, but nothing like the primordial darkness stirring in the abandoned silver mine overlooking the town. Bleeding midnight, an ancient evil is spilling into the world, and unless the sheriff and his posse can saddle up in time, Golgotha will have seen its last dawn…and so will all of Creation.

I’ll be sure to review it as soon as possible (I already have it).

Three Awesome Comic Covers: EARTH 2 #14-16 (DC Comics)

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Earth2-14-Crop

I’ve only read the first volume of DC’s Earth 2. There was some great stuff in it (artwork in particular), but also some things that didn’t quite work for me. I’ve been told by a couple of other reviewers that some of the things that niggled are longer-term plot-points – an example of my approach to reading comics perhaps not being the best for seeing the wider picture.

Regardless, it’s a series I’m intrigued by, offering as it does an alternative DC Universe. The series is written by James Robinson. If I ever needed an excuse to catch up and keep reading it, though, the covers for issues #14-16 are it:

Earth2-14

Cover by Kenny Martinez

Earth2-15

Cover by Juan Doe

Earth2-16

Cover by Juan Doe

I love these covers! The colours, the weathered-vintage style, the slight Soviet-influence. Really striking. I have no idea what the story is, by this point, but there are the (rather cryptic) synopses for the issues:

#14 – The bells of war ring loudly as Green Lantern, The Flash and Doctor Fate attack Steppenwolf head on – with the future of Earth 2 hanging in the balance.

#15 – Dr. Fate, Red Arrow, The Flash, Green Lantern and The Atom all fall victim to the Hunger Dogs of Apokolips as the war against the forces of Steppenwolf continues.

#16 – The war against Steppenwolf and the Hunger Dogs is over… all hope is lost!

The first two of these issues have been published, and #16 will be published October 2nd 2013. I will start saving up to catch up… now.

“Cuckoo’s Calling” Art an Homage to Hellblazer? Also, some BAD Journalism.

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Not sure why, but the cover art for Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling’s The Cuckoo’s Calling makes me think of Vertigo Comics’ John Constantine/Hellblazer covers.

Galbraith-CuckoosCalling

The shadowy figure scuttling away, the antique lamppost, the fire-like smog/smoke, the iron wrought fence, London… Ok, so the colour palette is a shade more chirpy than John Constantine’s covers, but if you were to darken it and swap out the birds for bats… Think it would work brilliantly. Below is the closest Hellblazer cover I could find after an admittedly very brief Googling session (by Simon Bisley)…

Hellblazer-SimonBisleyCover

Incidentally, we were finally able to get a copy of The Cuckoo’s Calling (since the big reveal, all of my local booksellers have an abundance of copies), and Alyssa blitzed through it in a single day. She said it was really good. I’ll try to get to it in the next couple of weeks, but I can’t promise anything. (Too. Many. Awesome. Books. To. Read.)

Also, in related news, the article in last week’s Sunday Times about the revelation that “Robert Galbraith” was really JK Rowling was the worst bit of journalism I’ve read in a long while. The article is behind the pay-wall, but here are two choice bits that irked me. First of all, the author of the piece was really scraping the barrel, claiming Rowling-as-Galbraith was an elementary deduction, making the article little more than a piece of I-Am-More-Awesomely-Deductive-Than-Thou puffery. The “killer clue” that tipped them off? Yeah, someone told her outright! But after that, the journalist insists,

“Of course it was JK Rowling. There are only two female authors who could write convincingly about the excesses of super-rich, super-glamorous London… There are only two female authors who could write totally persuasively about being chased by paparazzi and write compassionately about being famous. One is Zadie Smith; the other is JK Rowling. I know Zadie and I knew it wasn’t her…”

So, a nice spot of celebrity name-dropping, and a single-handed writing off of 99.99% of female authors who may wish to ever write about high society in the UK. The Sunday Times has spoken: you will never do it convincingly. If you are male? Well, forget it, too. According to the author of the ST piece, men can’t write women well enough or convincingly. The idea that a debut author couldn’t have done this? Unbelievable. The article got worse, however:

“It all became so obvious: the themes of the books are Rowling’s and are subjects she addressed in last year’s The Casual Vacancy – and in the Harry Potter books: noble small people; ghastly, spoilt wealthy ones; social injustice; race; poverty; being in the wrong family…”

So, going by this ‘logic’, Rowling also wrote Gossip Girl… These are universal, as-old-as-time literary themes, and are not the sole (or even rare) province of Hogwarts…

Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim rides again! And picks up some new jackets along the way… (Voyager)

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Anyone who’s been reading CR for the past year will know that I’m a huge fan of Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim series. I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed the first four, and I am impatient to get my hands on the fifth in the series, Kill City Blues, to be published in hardcover this August in the UK (artwork above), and July in the US (artwork below).

Kadrey-5-KillCityBluesUS

In addition to book five, the first four are getting released in paperback in the UK as well. Voyager has commissioned some pretty cool, retro, quite ‘LA-punk’ covers for the books. The first two, Sandman Slim and Kill the Dead, will be published June 20th…

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These will be followed by Aloha From Hell and Devil Said Bang, on July 5th and July 18th, respectively…

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If you haven’t already tried this series, I highly recommend that you do. With the new editions, I can’t think of a better time, either. Even better, if you’re a UK Kindle owner, they’re currently discounted on Amazon…

This is one of my favourite series, which has also managed to maintain its high quality (something that seems rather rare, these days…). Deliciously dark, original, well-crafted, and often surprising.