Orbit & Tor Acquire New Trilogy from Adrian Tchaikovsky!

TchaikovskyA-AuthorPicOrbit Books (North America) and Tor Books (UK) have acquired a new trilogy from Adrian Tchaikovsky! This is fantastic news, because every new novel (or novella) by Tchaikovsky is something to be cheered and eagerly anticipated. There’s not much information, yet, about the trilogy save for this mini-description:

The new far-future science fiction trilogy begins with Shards of Earth, which will be published worldwide in spring 2021. The novel is set fifty years after a war that nearly extinguished humanity, when the enemies of the human race reappear after a long silence.

Spring 2021 still feels very far away, though. If you are new to Tchaikovsky’s work, or have yet to read anything by him, then maybe you’d like to read one of his already-available novels before the new one comes out? But where to begin? Adrian has written a lot of great novels, by now, so here are just a few suggestions for you to pick from, depending on your tastes. (He has written many more excellent books, but these are just some I think would be good starting points.) Continue reading

New Colson Whitehead UK Editions

Thanks to the runaway success of Colson Whitehead‘s Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award and Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning novel The Underground Railroad, his previous books The Intuitionist, Colossus of New York and Apex Hides the Hurt are getting new UK editions, published by Fleet.

WhiteheadC-IntuitionistUKLet’s take them in publication order. First up is The Intuitionist, which is out now:

Verticality, architectural and social, is at the heart of Colson Whitehead’s first novel that takes place in an unnamed high-rise city that combines twenty-first-century engineering feats with nineteenth-century pork-barrel politics. Elevators are the technological expression of the vertical ideal, and Lila Mae Watson, the city’s first black female elevator inspector, is its embattled token of upward mobility.When Number Eleven of the newly completed Fanny Briggs Memorial Building goes into deadly free-fall just hours after Lila Mae has signed off on it, using the controversial “Intuitionist” method of ascertaining elevator safety, both Intuitionists and Empiricists recognize the set-up, but may be willing to let Lila Mae take the fall in an election year.

As Lila Mae strives to exonerate herself in this urgent adventure full of government spies, underworld hit men, and seductive double agents, behind the action, always, is the Idea. Lila Mae’s quest is mysteriously entwined with existence of heretofore lost writings by James Fulton, father of Intuitionism, a giant of vertical thought. If she is able to find and reveal his plan for the perfect, next-generation elevator, the city as it now exists may instantly become obsolescent.

WhiteheadC-ColossusOfNewYorkUKNext up we have The Colossus of New York, which was published yesterday. Here’s the synopsis:

Here is a literary love song that will entrance anyone who has lived in — or spent time — in the greatest of American cities.

A masterful evocation of the city that never sleeps, The Colossus of New York captures the city’s inner and outer landscapes in a series of vignettes, meditations, and personal memories. Colson Whitehead conveys with almost uncanny immediacy the feelings and thoughts of longtime residents and of newcomers who dream of making it their home; of those who have conquered its challenges; and of those who struggle against its cruelties.

Whitehead’s style is as multilayered and multifarious as New York itself: Switching from third person, to first person, to second person, he weaves individual voices into a jazzy musical composition that perfectly reflects the way we experience the city. There is a funny, knowing riff on what it feels like to arrive in New York for the first time; a lyrical meditation on how the city is transformed by an unexpected rain shower; and a wry look at the ferocious battle that is commuting. The plaintive notes of the lonely and dispossessed resound in one passage, while another captures those magical moments when the city seems to be talking directly to you, inviting you to become one with its rhythms.

The Colossus of New York is a remarkable portrait of life in the big city. Ambitious in scope, gemlike in its details, it is at once an unparalleled tribute to New York and the ideal introduction to one of the most exciting writers working today.

WhiteheadC-ApexHidesTheHurtUKAnd finally, due out at the beginning of next month, the novel Apex Hides the Hurt:

A brisk, comic tour de force about identity, history, and the adhesive bandage industry.

The town of Winthrop has decided it needs a new name. The resident software millionaire wants to call it New Prospera; the mayor wants to return to the original choice of the founding black settlers; and the town’s aristocracy sees no reason to change the name at all. What they need, they realize, is a nomenclature consultant.

And, it turns out, the consultant needs them. But in a culture overwhelmed by marketing, the name is everything and our hero’s efforts may result in not just a new name for the town but a new and subtler truth about it as well.

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Civilian Reader is 10yrs Old… A Look Back at the First Review

Happy10thBirthdayTen years ago today, I posted my first fiction review on Civilian Reader. It’s very weird to think I’ve been writing reviews, etc., for a decade. It was not my first ever book review, though: the first novel I reviewed was Richard Morgan’s excellent Market Forces, for my university newspaper. A review that was, sadly, completely butchered by the editor. Maybe that’s one reason I decided to start my own book review website…

I’ve thought about shutting the website down a number of times over the years — sometimes more seriously than others. And yet, I keep getting drawn back into writing for it. It’s taken up a lot of my free time. I’m of two minds about whether or not this has been a good or bad thing.

And so, to mark the ten-year anniversary, here’s the first review I posted to CR…

*

THE BLACK SUN by James Twining (Harper Collins)

TwiningJ-2-BlackSunUKSequel to The Double EagleThe Black Sun is a fine sophomore novel from a truly talented British author.

In London, an Auschwitz survivor is murdered in his hospital bed, his killers making off with a macabre trophy – his severed left arm.

In Fort Mead, Maryland, a vicious gang breaks into the NSA museum and steals a World War II Enigma machine, lynching the guard who happens to cross their path.

Meanwhile, in Prague, a frenzied and mindless anti-Semitic attack on a synagogue culminates in the theft of a seemingly worthless painting by a little known Czech artist called Karel Bellak.

A year has passed since Tom Kirk, the world’s greatest art thief, decided to put his criminal past behind him and embark on a new career, on the right side of the law . Then three major thefts occur, and suddenly Tom is confronted with a deadly mystery and a sinister face from the past.

James Twining has managed to write a twisting tale of historical intrigue and action, while not falling foul to the cliches and pot-holes that affect Dan Brown. There’s no dubious religious connotations or huge leaps into left field to help his arguments and premises. True, he’s clearly made some of the background up, but then that’s why this book is found in the “Fiction” section of Waterstone’s… Continue reading

New STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Poster

StarWars07-ForceAwakens-Poster1

I’m very much looking forward to this movie. Very, very much, in fact. I wonder why Luke isn’t in the image, though. Also, does anyone else wonder if John Boyega’s character, “Finn”, is Leia and Lando’s child…? Here’s the trailer (again):

And the Comic-Con 2015 Reel — an all-too-short making of clip, featuring a few cameos from the stars and crew:

Gollancz to Publish Dan Abnett’s THE WIELD in 2016

This is pretty great news: Gollancz announced today that they have acquired rights to publish a trilogy of “self-contained action-packed heroic fantasies” by Dan Abnett.

Abnett has been a prolific writer for Black Library (primarily where I know him from), 2000AD (where I first read his work),* and multiple comics publishers. His first original fiction was published by Angry Robot Books — Triumff, which was a rather fun swashbuckler. Long-time readers of CR will know that I’m a big fan of his contributions to Black Library’s Horus Heresy series as well as the long-running Gaunt’s Ghosts series (the latest of which, Warmaster, should be out pretty soon). Abnett’s run on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is also the story the recent mega-popular movie was based on.

There’s no official synopsis available, just yet, but here’s the press release’s description of the series:

The highly original THE WIELD trilogy takes place in a human-populated society with a vivid dark ages culture. Following an ancient and elite band of warriors, THE WIELD books are dynamic heroic fantasy adventures packed with vivid action and bloody battles. The flawed but engaging characters and the enthralling premise with a clever twist, will appeal to readers of Dan Abnett’s bestselling Black Library books, and fans of David Gemmell and dynamic heroic fantasy.

I am quite looking forward to this. The three novels will be published between November 2016-18. So, it’s still quite a long wait… But it never hurts to have something to look forward to.

In the meantime, I’d recommend you check out First & OnlyHorus Rising and Xenos (published by Black Library), Embedded (Angry Robot) and The New Deadwardians (Vertigo Comics) — just a small selection of his work, but probably my favourites and good starting points.

Abnett-BestOfForNewbies

* I can’t remember if it was Sinister Dexter or Durham Red that I read first, but I liked them enough to make a note of the author’s name. Both were very good.

Welcome to the New Civilian Reader!

It’s basically the same as the Old Civilian Reader (est. April 2006), but… well, here.

As I explained at the previous location, the shift was the result of my move from PC to Mac, and complete dissatisfaction with the online Blogger platform. For the past few years, I’ve been using Windows Live Writer (incredibly, the best blog-editing program available, in my opinion), and it just wasn’t available for Mac.

So. Here I am. Only the past year’s-worth of posts have been transferred to this URL, so I’m leaving the blogspot active. New content should only appear on this website. (Starting in a few minutes, actually.) I’ve replicated the Reviews and Interviews pages (at the top there) – at the time of writing, all of the links are to the old website, but I’ll slowly replace the links for content that has migrated here.

Enjoy, and thank you for reading.