Excerpt

Excerpt: TAMARUQ by E.J. Swift (Del Rey)

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SwiftEJ-AuthorPic3Tamaruq is the final volume in E.J. Swift‘s well-received Osiris Project science fiction trilogy. As part of the blog tour to celebrate it’s release, Del Rey UK have given me this excerpt to share with you. But first, the novel’s synopsis:

Fleeing from her family and the elitist oppression of the Osiris government, Adelaide Rechnov has become the thing she once feared, a revolutionary.

But with the discovery of a radio signal comes the stark realization that there is life outside their small island existence. Adelaide’s worries are about to become much bigger.

Meanwhile, as rumour spreads on the mainland, many head to the lost city of Osiris with their own devious objectives. But in a world where war is king and only the most powerful survive, there can only be one victor…

Tamaruq is out now in the UK. The first two novels in the series, Osiris and Cataveiro are also published in the UK by Del Rey.

Also on CR: Interview with E.J. Swift; Inspiration in Translation Guest Post Continue reading →

Excerpt: SKINJOB by Bruce McCabe

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Last week, Bruce McCabe‘s Skinjob was published in paperback in the UK by Transworld Books. It is published in North America by Dreamcon Publishing. Here’s the synopsis:

A bomb goes off in down town San Francisco. Twelve people are dead. But this is no ordinary target. This target exists on the fault line where sex and money meet.

Daniel Madsen is one of a new breed of federal agents armed with a badge, a gun and the Bureau’s latest piece of technology. He’s a fast operator and his instructions are simple: find the bomber – and before he strikes again.

In order to understand what is at stake, Madsen must plunge into a sleazy, unsettling world where reality and fantasy are indistinguishable, exploitation is business as usual, and the dead hand of corruption reaches all the way to the top. There’s too much money involved for this investigation to stay private…

Check back in half an hour for an interview with Bruce. In the meantime, check out this quick excerpt from the thriller: Continue reading →

Excerpt: THE PROVIDENCE OF FIRE by Brian Staveley (Tor)

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As I prep this post, I’m in the middle of reading Brian Staveley‘s debut, The Emperor’s Blades – the first novels in the author’s Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne series. It’s certainly very good. It’s sequel, The Providence of Fire is now out in the UK and North America, published by Tor Books. To whet your appetites, Tor has allowed me to share this excerpt from the first chapter. But first, here’s the synopsis:

War is coming, secrets multiply and betrayal waits in the wings…

The Annurian Empire’s ruling family must be vigilant, as the conspiracy against them deepens. Having discovered her father’s assassin, Adare flees the Dawn Palace in search of allies. But few trust her, until she seems marked by the people’s goddess in an ordeal of flame.

As Adare struggles to unite Annur, unrest breeds rival armies – then barbarian hordes threaten to invade. And unknown to Adare, her brother Valyn has fallen in with forces mustering at the empire’s borders. The terrible choices they face could make war between them inevitable.

Fighting his own battles is their brother Kaden, rightful heir to the Unhewn Throne, who has infiltrated the Annurian capital with two strange companions. While imperial forces prepare to defend a far-distant front, Kaden’s actions could save the empire, or destroy it.

Now, on to the excerpt! Continue reading →

Excerpt: KING OF MORNING, QUEEN OF DAY by Ian McDonald (Open Road)

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McDonald-KingOfMorningQueenOfDayORAvailable in as an eBook via Open Road Media, today we have an excerpt from Ian McDonald‘s King of Morning, Queen of Day. Here’s the synopsis:

Winner of the Philip K. Dick Award and the Prix Imaginales: Three generations of women share a mysterious power—one that threatens to destroy them.

In early-twentieth-century Ireland, life for Emily Desmond is that of the average teenage girl: She reads, she’s bored with school, and she has a powerful imagination. Then things begin to change. Her imagination is so powerful, in fact, that she wills a faerie into existence—an ability called mythoconsciousness. It’s this power that opens a dangerous door that she will never want to close, and whose repercussions will reverberate across time.

First to be affected is her daughter, Jessica, who, in the mid-1930s, finds that she must face her mother’s power by using the very same gift against her. Then, in the near future, Jessica’s granddaughter, Enye, must end the cycle once and for all—but it may prove too powerful to overcome.

The novel is currently part of Open Road Media’s “Coming of Age” eBook promotion. Continue reading →

Excerpt: THE AUTUMN REPUBLIC by Brian McClellan (Orbit)

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McClellanB-PM3-AutumnRepublicIf you’ve been reading Civilian Reader for the past couple of years, you’ll have noticed that I’m a big fan of Brian McClellan‘s Powder Mage series – the novels and novellas have all been great. The third and (possibly?) final novel – The Autumn Republic – will be published by Orbit Books on February 10th, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing how the story ends. Orbit US have provided me with the second chapter to share with you all. You can read the first chapter over on Orbit’s blog, here.

Before we get to the excerpt, however, here’s the synopsis:

The capital has fallen…

Field Marshal Tamas returns to his beloved country to find that for the first time in history, the capital city of Adro lies in the hands of a foreign invader. His son is missing, his allies are indistinguishable from his foes, and reinforcements are several weeks away.

An army divided…

With the Kez still bearing down upon them and without clear leadership, the Adran army has turned against itself. Inspector Adamat is drawn into the very heart of this new mutiny with promises of finding his kidnapped son.

All hope rests with one…

And Taniel Two-shot, hunted by men he once thought his friends, must safeguard the only chance Adro has of getting through this war without being destroyed…

If you’d like to read more, here’s what else is on CR: Interview with Brian McClellan, Guest posts on Favourite Novel and Protagonist Ages in Epic Fantasy; Reviews of Promise of Blood and The Crimson Campaign

Now, on to the excerpt…! Continue reading →

Excerpt: THE SENTINEL MAGE by Emily Gee (Open Road)

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GeeE-CK1-SentinelMageToday, I have an excerpt from Emily Gee‘s The Sentinel Mage, the first book in the Cursed Kingdoms trilogy, provided by Open Road Media. Here’s the synopsis:

In a distant corner of the Seven Kingdoms, an ancient curse festers and grows, consuming everything in its path. Only one man can break it: Harkeld of Osgaard, a prince with mage’s blood in his veins. But Prince Harkeld has a bounty on his head–and assassins at his heels.

Innis is a gifted shapeshifter. Now she must do the forbidden: become a man. She must stand at Prince Harkeld’s side as his armsman, both protecting and deceiving him. But the deserts of the Masse are more dangerous than the assassins hunting the prince. The curse has woken deadly creatures, and the magic Prince Harkeld loathes may be the only thing standing between him and death.

The novel is currently in ORM’s “Coming of Age” eBook promotion. CR published a review of the novel when it first was published, in 2011. Read on for the excerpt… Continue reading →

Excerpt: SIGNAL TO NOISE by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Solaris)

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SIGNAL TO NOISEA new literary fantasy from Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Signal To Noise is a very good novel, and is a story about love (young and not), music and sorcery. Due to be published by Solaris Books in February 2015, the publisher has allowed me to share this excerpt. I’ll post my review later this week. First, here’s the synopsis:

Mexico City, 1988: Long before iTunes or MP3s, you said “I love you” with a mixtape. Meche, awkward and fifteen, has two equally unhip friends — Sebastian and Daniela — and a whole lot of vinyl records to keep her company. When she discovers how to cast spells using music, the future looks brighter for the trio. The three friends will piece together their broken families, change their status as non-entities, and maybe even find love…

Mexico City, 2009: Two decades after abandoning the metropolis, Meche returns for her estranged father’s funeral. It’s hard enough to cope with her family, but then she runs into Sebastian, reviving memories from her childhood she thought she buried a long time ago. What really happened back then? What precipitated the bitter falling out with her father? Is there any magic left? Continue reading →

Excerpt: THINGS HALF IN SHADOW by Alan Finn (Gallery Books)

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FinnA-ThingsHalfInShadowToday, we have an excerpt from Alan Finn‘s Things Half in Shadow, a historical and supernatural thriller. Published by Gallery Books in the US today, here is the synopsis:

Postbellum America makes for a haunting backdrop in this historical and supernatural tale of moonlit cemeteries, masked balls, cunning mediums, and terrifying secrets waiting to be unearthed by an intrepid crime reporter.

The year is 1869, and the Civil War haunts the city of Philadelphia like a stubborn ghost. Mothers in black continue to mourn their lost sons. Photographs of the dead adorn dim sitting rooms. Maimed and broken men roam the streets. One of those men is Edward Clark, who is still tormented by what he saw during the war. Also constantly in his thoughts is another, more distant tragedy — the murder of his mother at the hands of his father, the famed magician Magellan Holmes… a crime that Edward witnessed when he was only ten.

Now a crime reporter for one of the city’s largest newspapers, Edward is asked to use his knowledge of illusions and visual trickery to expose the influx of mediums that descended on Philadelphia in the wake of the war. His first target is Mrs. Lucy Collins, a young widow who uses old-fashioned sleight of hand to prey on grieving families. Soon, Edward and Lucy become entwined in the murder of Lenora Grimes Pastor, the city’s most highly regarded — and by all accounts, legitimate — medium, who dies mid-séance. With their reputations and livelihoods at risk, Edward and Lucy set out to find the real killer, and in the process unearth a terrifying hive of secrets that reaches well beyond Mrs. Pastor.

Blending historical detail with flights of fancy, Things Half in Shadow is a riveting thriller where Medium and The Sixth Sense meet The Alienist — and where nothing is quite as it seems…
Continue reading →

Excerpt: WILD SEED by Octavia E. Butler (Open Road)

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ButlerOE-P1-WildSeedA little while back, Headline began publishing some of Octavia E. Butler‘s critically-acclaimed backlist in the UK. I haven’t read any of the novels, yet, but I fully intend to do so. In the US, Open Road Media started releasing some of the author’s earlier novels in eBook, and were kind enough to let me run this excerpt from Wild Seed, part of the Patternist Series — which also includes Mind of My Mind, Clay’s Ark and Patternmaster. Here’s the synopsis:

When two immortals meet in the long-ago past, the destiny of mankind is changed forever

For a thousand years, Doro has cultivated a small African village, carefully breeding its people in search of seemingly unattainable perfection. He survives through the centuries by stealing the bodies of others, a technique he has so thoroughly mastered that nothing on Earth can kill him. But when a gang of New World slavers destroys his village, ruining his grand experiment, Doro is forced to go west and begin anew. He meets Anyanwu, a centuries-old woman whose means of immortality are as kind as his are cruel. She is a shapeshifter, capable of healing with a kiss, and she recognizes Doro as a tyrant. Though many humans have tried to kill them, these two demi-gods have never before met a rival. Now they begin a struggle that will last centuries and permanently alter the nature of humanity.

Continue reading →

Excerpt: MISTWORLD by Simon R. Green (Open Road)

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GreenSR-TotE1-MistworldMistworld is the first novel in Simon R. Green‘s Twilight of the Empire science fiction series. It was recently released in eBook form via Open Road Media, who have also included it in an end-of-year sale. To celebrate all these things, the publisher has allowed me to share this excerpt. First, though, here’s the synopsis:

An outlaw planet becomes the target of a shadowy, deadly force

Long before the start of a galactic rebellion, Mistworld is just another rebel planet, cut off from the fruits of empire by a punishing blockade. In a spaceport where ships hardly land anymore, and any piece of high tech is worth far more than its weight in gold, a medieval order has imposed itself on this once-rich world: The strong rule, the weak perish, and no one is too rich to steal.

Investigator Topaz is one of the few honest people left on this cutthroat planet. With her husband, Sergeant Michael Gunn, Topaz does what she can to keep the crooks who run Mistworld in check. But when the corrupt Empire devises an unprecedented scheme to attack the ESP shield that guards Mistworld, Topaz is the only one who can save the planet from being overrun. An enemy fleet lurks just off world—but it is the enemies at home whom Topaz and Gunn should fear the most. Continue reading →