Excerpt

Excerpt: WASTELANDS 2 (Titan)

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Various-Wastelands2Today, Titan Books publish Wastelands 2, a new anthology of post-apocalyptic fiction edited by award-winning editor John Joseph Adams. Featuring such mega-sellers as George R.R. Martin, David Brin and Hugh Howey, not to mention Pulitzer-prize winner Junot Diaz, the stories contained within offer “an eclectic mix of tales that explores famine, death, war, pestilence, and harbingers of the biblical apocalypse.”

Today, I can share with you an extract, the introduction to Christie Yant‘s story “The Revelation of Morgan Stern”…

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It is July 31, your birthday, and I can’t reach you. I’ve been trying all day, but the cell networks are down, the internet is down. I even tried a pay phone–there are two left in town that I know of, and I collected all of my change and walked to the 76 in the village. It was on fire. I watched it for a while from a distance as it painted a brown, toxic streak across the sky. It was a long walk back to the house, or what’s left of it. My feet hurt, and it was too quiet.

The back of the house fell in, but I managed to climb into the kitchen and recover a few things. Tonight we would have celebrated your birthday over video chat, the best we could do so far apart. I have no way to tell you that I salvaged a donut and lit a candle and sang to you. I don’t know if you’re alive or dead. Continue reading →

Excerpt: ELEMENTARY – THE GHOST LINE by Adam Christopher (Titan)

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ChristopherA-Elementary-GhostLineElementary is one of my favourite TV shows at the moment, so I was very interested when I saw that Adam Christopher would be writing some tie-in novels. The first novel is The Ghost Line, out this week. Titan Book were kind enough to send me this excerpt to share. First, though, the synopsis:

A brand-new novel tie-in for the popular Elementary TV series.

A summons to a body found riddled with bullets in a Hell’s Kitchen apartment is the start of a new case for Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson. The victim is a subway train driver with a strange Colombian connection and a mysterious pile of money, but who would want to kill him? The search for the truth will lead the detectives into the hidden underground tunnels of New York City, where more bodies may well await them.

Adam Christopher is the author of a number of other novels, including Empire State, Seven Wonders and Hang Wire (Angry Robot), and The Burning Dark and The Machine Awakes (Tor US/Titan UK).

Onwards with the excerpt…

Continue reading →

Excerpt: EDGE OF DARK by Brenda Cooper (Pyr)

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CooperB-GE1-EdgeOfDarkEDGE OF DARK is the latest science fiction novel from Brenda Cooper. It is the first in the Glittering Edge Duology, and is published next month by Pyr Books. Here’s the synopsis:

What if a society banished its worst nightmare to the far edge of the solar system, destined to sip only dregs of light and struggle for the barest living. And yet, that life thrived? It grew and learned and became far more than you ever expected, and it wanted to return to the sun. What if it didn’t share your moral compass in any way?

The Glittering Edge duology describes the clash of forces when an advanced society that has filled a solar system with flesh and blood life meets the near-AI’s that it banished long ago. This is a story of love for the wild and natural life on a colony planet, complex adventure set in powerful space stations, and the desire to live completely whether you are made of flesh and bone or silicon and carbon fiber.

In Edge of Dark, meet ranger Charlie Windar and his adopted wild predator, and explore their home on a planet that has been raped and restored more than once. Meet Nona Hall, child of power and privilege from the greatest station in the system, the Diamond Deep. Meet Nona’s best friend, a young woman named Chrystal who awakens in a robotic body….

Now, on with the excerpt… Continue reading →

Excerpt: GUNS OF THE DAWN by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor)

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TchaikovskyA-GunsOfTheDawnToday I have a short extract from Adrian Tchaikovsky‘s Guns of the Dawn, one of my top 5 Most Anticipated novels of 2015. Published this month by Tor UK, I can’t wait to read it. Tchaikovsky recently wrote a guest blog for CR about the genesis of the novel – “The Art of Gunsmithing – Writing Guns of the Dawn“. First up, here’s the synopsis:

Denland and Lascanne have been allies for generations, but now the Denlanders have assassinated their king, overthrown the monarchy and marched on their northern neighbour. At the border, the war rages; Lascanne’s brave redcoats against the revolutionaries of Denland.

Emily Marshwic has watched the war take her brother-in-law and now her young brother. Then comes the call for more soldiers, to a land already drained of husbands, fathers and sons. Every household must give up one woman to the army and Emily has no choice but to join the ranks of young women marching to the front.

In the midst of warfare, with just enough training to hold a musket, Emily comes face to face with the reality: the senseless slaughter; the weary cynicism of the Survivor’s Club; the swamp’s own natives hiding from the conflict.

As the war worsens, and Emily begins to have doubts about the justice of Lascanne’s cause, she finds herself in a position where her choices will make or destroy both her own future and that of her nation.

Now, on with the extract! Continue reading →

Excerpt: THE BROKEN SWORD by Poul Anderson (Open Road)

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AndersonP-TheBrokenSwordPoul Anderson‘s The Broken Sword was published the same year as J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), and draws on some of the same Scandinavian mythology and history to create its fantasy world. The novel has been described as “a masterful tale of men, elves, and gods that is at once breathtakingly exciting and heartbreakingly tragic.” A winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula awards, Anderson is considered by many to be one of the masters of “golden-age” speculative fiction. The Broken Sword was recently released in eBook by Open Road Media, as well as 16 of the author’s other novels.

Here’s the synopsis:

In his greed for land and power, Orm the Strong slays the family of a Saxon witch—and for his sins, the Northman must pay with his newborn son. Stolen by elves and replaced by a changeling, Skafloc is raised to manhood unaware of his true heritage and treasured for his ability to handle the iron that the elven dare not touch. Meanwhile, the being who supplanted him as Orm’s son grows up angry and embittered by the humanity he has been denied. A pawn in a witch’s vengeance, the creature Valgard will never know love, and consumed by rage, he will commit a murderous act of unspeakable vileness.

It is their destiny to finally meet on the field of battle—the man-elf and his dark twin, the monster—when the long-simmering war between elves and trolls finally erupts with a devastating fury. And only the mighty sword Tyrfing, broken by Thor and presented to Skafloc in infancy, can turn the tide in a terrible clashing of faerie folk that will ultimately determine the fate of the old gods.

Read on for a two-chapter excerpt. Continue reading →

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 →