Excerpt: THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE WORLD by Lavie Tidhar (Tachyon)

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Tidhar-CircumferenceOfTheWorldUSHCNext month, Tachyon Publications will publish The Circumference of the World, the latest mind-bending novel from Lavie Tidhar, and they have provided CR with an excerpt to celebrate the upcoming release. An author whose name on the cover indicates a must-buy/-read, this latest book looks like it’ll be as intriguing and original as his others. Before we get to the excerpt, let’s first check out the synopsis:

Caught between realities, a mathematician, a book dealer, and a mobster desperately seek a notorious book that disappears upon being read. Only the author, a rakish sci-fi writer, knows whether his popular novel is truthful or a hoax…

Delia Welegtabit discovered two things during her childhood on a South Pacific island: her love for mathematics and a novel that isn’t supposed to exist. But the elusive book proves unexpectedly dangerous. Oskar Lens, a science fiction-obsessed mobster in the midst of an existential crisis, will stop at nothing to find the novel. After Delia’s husband Levi goes missing, she seeks help from Daniel Chase, a young, face-blind book dealer.

The infamous novel Lode Stars was written by the infamous Eugene Charles Hartley: legendary pulp science-fiction writer and founder of the Church of the All-Seeing Eyes. In Hartley’s novel, a doppelganger of Delia searches for her missing father in a strange star system. But is any of Lode Stars real? Was Hartley a cynical conman on a quest for wealth and immortality, creating a religion he did not believe in? Or was he a visionary who truly discovered the secrets of the universe?

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Excerpt: THINGS GET UGLY by Joe R. Lansdale (Tachyon)

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LansdaleJR-ThingsGetUglyUSHCToday we have an excerpt from Things Get Ugly, a collection of The Best Crime Stories by Joe R. Lansdale. Published this week by Tachyon Publications, this excerpt is from the story “The Projectionist”.

First, though, here’s the synopsis for the collection as a whole:

In the 1950s, a young small-town projectionist mixes it up with a violent gang. When Mr. Bear is not alerting us to the dangers of forest fires, he lives a life of debauchery and murder. A brother and sister travel to Oklahoma to recover the dead body of their uncle. Edgar Award winner and bestselling author Joe R. Lansdale (the Hap and Leonard series) returns to the piney, dangerous woods of East Texas to reveal the best of his award-winning crime fiction.

In this collection of nineteen unforgettable crime tales, Joe R. Lansdale brings his legendary mojo and witty grit to harrowing heists, revenge, homicide, and mayhem. No matter how they begin, things are bound to get ugly—and fast.

Now, read on for the excerpt…!

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Excerpt: STORMING HEAVEN by Miles Cameron (Mobius/Gollancz)

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CameronM-AoB2-StormingHeavenUSHCTo celebrate the release of Storming Heaven, the second novel in Miles Cameron‘s Age of Bronze series, Mobius Books has provided us with an excerpt to share with you all! The excerpt is comprised of the prologue and some other information to help readers get situated, and hopefully whet your appetite to read the rest of the novel. First, though, here’s the synopsis…

Before iron helmets and steel swords, when dragons roamed the world, was an age of bronze and stone, when the Gods walked the earth, and people lived in terror.

A scribe, a warlord, a dancer, a mute insect and a child should have no chance against the might of the bickering gods and their cruel games. But the gods themselves are old, addicted to their own games of power, and now their fates may lie in the hands of mere mortals . . .

By divine plan a plague of cannibals has been unleashed across the world, forming an armada which preys on all who cross their path. Meanwhile the people who allied against the gods have been divided, each taking their own path to attack the heavens — if they can survive the tide of war which has been sent against them.

All they need is the right distraction, and the right opportunity, to deal a blow against the gods themselves . . .

An original, visceral epic weaving together the mythologies of a dozen pantheons of gods and heroes to create something new and magical, this tale of the revolt against the tyranny which began in Against All Gods is a must read from a master of the fantasy genre.

Now, on with Storming Heaven…

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Excerpt: INANNA by Emily H. Wilson (Titan Books)

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WilsonEH-S1-InannaNext week Titan Books is due to publish Inanna, the debut novel from Emily H. Wilson. To mark he imminent publication, the publisher has provided us with this excerpt. It’s the first book in the author’s Sumerians trilogy. Check out the synopsis:

Stories are sly things… they can be hard to catch and kill.

Inanna is an impossibility. The first full Anunnaki born on Earth in Ancient Mesopotamia. Crowned the goddess of love by the twelve immortal Anunnaki who are worshipped across Sumer, she is destined for greatness.

But Inanna is born into a time of war. The Anunnaki have split into warring factions, threatening to tear the world apart. Forced into a marriage to negotiate a peace, she soon realises she has been placed in terrible danger.

Gilgamesh, a mortal human son of the Anunnaki, and notorious womaniser, finds himself captured and imprisoned. His captor, King Akka, seeks to distance himself and his people from the gods. Arrogant and selfish, Gilgamesh is given one final chance to prove himself.

Ninshubar, a powerful warrior woman, is cast out of her tribe after an act of kindness. Hunted by her own people, she escapes across the country, searching for acceptance and a new place in the world.

As their journeys push them closer together, and their fates intertwine, they come to realise that together, they may have the power to change to face of the world forever.

The first novel in the stunning Sumerians Trilogy, this is a gorgeous, epic retelling of one of the oldest surviving works of literature.

Now, on with the excerpt…!

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Excerpt: THE NIGHT FIELD by Donna Glee Williams (Jo Fletcher Books)

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WilliamsDG-NightFieldUKHCThe Night Field by Donna Glee Williams is published today by Jo Fletcher Books. To mark the occasion, the publisher has provided the first chapter for me to share here on CR.

Pyn-Poi’s mother Marak wants her to grow up to be the matriarch of the tribe, learning how to cook, to make medicines, how to care for everyone, but Pyn-Poi would rather be out among the trees like her father Sook-Sook, learning how persuade tree roots into bridges, to feel when shoots are too crowded, when drooping leaves need attention.

Then something starts going wrong in The Real: when the rains come, instead of nourishment, they bring a noxious stench that’s poisoning people and plants alike. Pyn-Poi is the treewoman now: it’s her job. Their only chance is for her to climb to the land beyond the Wall, where the Ancestors live, to plead for their intercession

Pyn-Poi never expected to find a whole new world up there, with people who are very different from her own family and friends – a land where they are killing nature, and that’s killing The Real.

The trees have a job for Pyn-Poi, and to succeed, she is going to have to be brave and strong and true – no matter what.

Now: on with the excerpt…!

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Quick Review: THE BOOK OF JAMES by Valerie Babb (PublicAffairs)

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BabbV-BookOfJamesUSHCAn interesting examination of LeBron James in the context of wider American society, business and politics

The unique social, cultural, and political life of the incomparable LeBron James

LeBron James is the hero in two very American tales: one, a success story the nation loves; the other, the latest installment in an ongoing chronicle of American antiblackness. He’s the poor boy from a “broken” home who makes good. He’s also the poor Black boy from a “broken” home who makes good, then at the apex of his career finds “n*****” spray-painted across the gate to his home.

James has lived in the public eye ever since high school when his extraordinary athletic skills subjected his every action, every statement, every fashion choice to intense public scrutiny that tells us less about James himself and more about a nation still wrestling with many social inequities. He uses his celebrity not to transcend Blackness, but to give it a place of cultural prominence, and the backlash he receives exposes the frictions between Blackness and a country not fully comfortable with its presence. As a result, James’s story is a revelatory narrative of how much Blackness is loved, hated, misunderstood, and just plain cool in an America that has changed and yet not changed at all.

I thought Valerie Babb’s new book would offer an interesting and different take on LeBron James’s career and impact — on sports, culture, business, and politics. Babb certainly delivered this, and the book contains plenty of interesting and thought-provoking content. However, James himself seemed strangely secondary for much of it. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting read. Continue reading →

Excerpt: THE LEGEND OF CHARLIE FISH by Josh Rountree (Tachyon)

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RountreeJ-LegendOfCharlieFish“The Black Lagoon meets the Six Gun universe” is how Joe R. Lansdale has described Josh Rountree‘s new novel, The Legend of Charlie Fish; it’s also been described as “True Grit by way of The Shape of Water” — which are two pretty great pitches, in my opinion! To mark its upcoming release, Tachyon Publications have provided us with an excerpt to share with CR’s readers. Before we get to it, here’s the synopsis:

As an unlikely found-family flees toward Galveston, a psychic young girl bonds with Charlie Fish, an enigmatic gill-man. Meanwhile, they are pursued by bounty hunters determined to profit from the spectacle of Charlie. But the Great Storm—the worst natural disaster in U.S. history—is on its way.

As always, Floyd Betts rides into town alone. He arrives for his father’s funeral, but he is returning to Galveston, Texas, with two orphaned siblings he has rescued. Nellie, who is descended from a long line of witches, has visions from other people’s minds. Hank, her impulsive younger brother, just wants to break out his outsized revolver.

Along the way home, Floyd, Nellie, and Hank encounter a dubious traveling salesman, Professor Finn, and his henchman, Kentucky Jim. They are struggling to capture a fish-man in order to put him on cruel display. When Nellie taps into the peril of the gentle Charlie Fish, Floyd’s makeshift family expands to include the lost, two-legged amphibian.

With the circus charlatans in pursuit, ominous winds are picking up from an impending hurricane. Meanwhile, all Charlie Fish wants is to return to his home at sea.

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Upcoming: THE TAINTED CUP by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey)

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BennettRJ-TaintedCupUSHCI stumbled across Robert Jackson Bennett‘s next novel, The Tainted Cup, while browsing NetGalley yesterday. As a long-time fan of the author’s work (going back to 2011’s The Company Man), I was immediately intrigued. If you haven’t tried Bennett’s work, yet, I strongly recommend you give it a try — either by diving into one of his fantasy trilogies (the Divine Cities and Founders trilogies), or, if you want a smaller commitment, his novella Vigilance is also excellent.

The author has described The Tainted Cup as “a murder mystery set in a fantasy empire”, and the premise suggests a Holmesian inspiration, too. Which all sounds very much like my cup of tea. Here’s the synopsis:

An eccentric detective and her long-suffering assistant untangle a web of magic, deceit, and murder in this sparkling fantasy reimagining of the classic crime novel…

In Daretana’s greatest mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead — killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even here at the Empire’s borders, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death both terrifying and impossible.

Assigned to investigate is Ana Dolabra, a detective whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. Rumor has it that she wears a blindfold at all times — and that she can solve impossible cases without even stepping outside the walls of her home.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered in ways that make him the perfect aide to Ana’s brilliance.

Din finds himself at turns scandalized, perplexed, and utterly infuriated by his new superior — but as the case unfolds and Ana’s mind leaps from one startling deduction to the next, he must grudgingly admit that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra — and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

Robert Jackson Bennett’s The Tainted Cup is due to be published by Del Rey in North America and in the UK, on February 6th, 2024.

Also on CR: Interview with Robert Jackson Bennett (2012); Guest Post on “City of Stairs and the Super Tropey Fantasy Checklist”; Excerpts from City of Stairs and Locklands; Reviews of The Company Man, City of Stairs, and Vigilance

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter