Upcoming: UPRIGHT WOMEN WANTED by Sarah Gailey (Tor.com)

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GaileyS-UprightWomenWantedI enjoyed Sarah Gailey‘s American Hippo novellas — a fun, interesting and imaginative take on the alternate history western genre. (If you haven’t tried them, yet, I’d highly recommend giving them a try.) Next February, the author returns with Upright Women Wanted, another pulpy western:

“That girl’s got more wrong notions than a barn owl’s got mean looks.”

Esther is a stowaway. She’s hidden herself away in the Librarian’s book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her—a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda.

The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists, and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing.

Upright Women Wanted is due to be published by Tor.com in North America and in the UK, on February 4th, 2020. Gailey’s latest novel, Magic For Liars, is also out now.

Also on CR: Interview with Sarah Gailey (2017); Review of River of Teeth

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter

Upcoming: PROSPER’S DEMON by K.J. Parker (Tor.com)

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ParkerKJ-ProspersDemonJust a quite post to draw your attention to this, the latest novella by master of the form K.J. Parker: Prosper’s Demon is out in late January 2020, and is easily one of my most-anticipated books of next year. Here’s the synopsis:

In a botched demonic extraction, they say the demon feels it ten times worse than the man. But they don’t die, and we do. Equilibrium.

The unnamed and morally questionable narrator is an exorcist with great follow-through and few doubts. His methods aren’t delicate but they’re undeniably effective: he’ll get the demon out — he just doesn’t particularly care what happens to the person.

Prosper of Schanz is a man of science, determined to raise the world’s first philosopher-king, reared according to the purest principles. Too bad he’s demonically possessed.

Parker’s novellas are among some of my favourite reads of the past few years. The Devil You Know, in particular, cemented his place among the ranks of my favourite authors.

Prosper’s Demon is due to be published by Tor.com in North America and in the UK, on January 28th, 2020.

Also on CR: Reviews of The Devil You Know, The Last Witness, and Downfall of the Gods

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads

Interview with REESE HOGAN

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Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Reese Hogan?

I’m a sci fi writer who loves to write books with a blend of high action and broken relationships. I’m also the father of two very cool children. I love working out, and I’m obsessed with music, especially alt and punk rock.

Your latest novel, Shrouded Loyalties, is published this month by Angry Robot Books. It looks really interesting: How would you introduce it to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

It’s a dieselpunk spy fi about a submarine that can travel vast distances across the planet through an alternate realm inhabited by monsters. When Chief Sea Officer Blackwood receives strange powers during a mission through this realm, she is put in the hands of ruthless scientists to be studied, along with her partner, Holland. But she doesn’t know that Holland is an enemy spy… or that Holland’s partner has seduced her teenage brother Andrew and drawn him into enemy collaboration. Continue reading →

Quick Review: TO BE TAUGHT, IF FORTUNATE by Becky Chambers (Voyager/Hodder)

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ChambersB-ToBeTaughtIfFortunateUSA stand-alone novella from the award-winning author of the Wayfarers series

At the turn of the twenty-second century, scientists make a breakthrough in human spaceflight. Through a revolutionary method known as somaforming, astronauts can survive in hostile environments off Earth using synthetic biological supplementations. They can produce antifreeze in subzero temperatures, absorb radiation and convert it for food, and conveniently adjust to the pull of different gravitational forces. With the fragility of the body no longer a limiting factor, human beings are at last able to journey to neighboring exoplanets long known to harbor life.

A team of these explorers, Ariadne O’Neill and her three crewmates, are hard at work in a planetary system fifteen light-years from Sol, on a mission to ecologically survey four habitable worlds. But as Ariadne shifts through both form and time, the culture back on Earth has also been transformed. Faced with the possibility of returning to a planet that has forgotten those who have left, Ariadne begins to chronicle the story of the wonders and dangers of her mission, in the hope that someone back home might still be listening.

I’ve been looking forward to reading this novella ever since I read the synopsis. I was not disappointed: this is an engaging, very well-written novella about exploration and the decisions and ethics that surround it. Continue reading →

Upcoming: SIXTEENTH WATCH by Myke Cole (Angry Robot)

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ColeM-SixteenthWatchMyke Cole, the acclaimed author of the Shadow Ops and Sacred Throne series, is back with new novel next year: Sixteenth Watch! Here’s the synopsis:

A lifelong Search-and-Rescuewoman, Coast Guard Captain Jane Oliver is ready for a peaceful retirement. But when tragedy strikes, Oliver loses her husband and her plans for the future, and finds herself thrust into a role she’s not prepared for. Suddenly at the helm of the Coast Guard’s elite SAR-1 lunar unit, Oliver is the only woman who can prevent the first lunar war in history, a conflict that will surely consume not only the moon, but earth as well.

Sixteenth Watch is due to be published by Angry Robot Books in North America and in the UK, in March 2020. It’s unclear if this is the first in a planned series, or a stand-alone. Myke is also the author of the acclaimed Legion Versus Phalanx history book, which I would also highly recommend.

Seems like March 2020 is going to be “Coast Guard… in Space!” month. (See also: K.B. Wagers’s A Pale Light in the Black.)

Also on CR: Interview with Myke Cole (2011); Guest Post on “Influences & Inspirations”; Review of Control Point, Fortress Frontier, Breach Zone, and The Armored Saint

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter

Upcoming: A PALE LIGHT IN THE BLACK by K.B. Wagers (Voyager)

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WagersKB-NeoG1-APaleLightInTheBlackUSK.B. Wagers is the author of the acclaimed Indranan War and Farian War series, published by Orbit (the latter is still ongoing). Next year, the author launches a new series — NeoG — which will be published by Voyager. A Pale Light in the Black is a “rollicking” first entry in the NeoG series, that introduces readers to the Near-Earth Orbital Guard: a military force patrolling and protecting space inspired by the real-life mission of the U.S. Coast Guard. Here’s the synopsis for the upcoming novel:

For the past year, their close loss in the annual Boarding Games has haunted Interceptor Team: Zuma’s Ghost. With this year’s competition looming, they’re looking forward to some payback — until an unexpected personnel change leaves them reeling. Their best swordsman has been transferred, and a new lieutenant has been assigned in his place.

Maxine Carmichael is trying to carve a place in the world on her own — away from the pressure and influence of her powerful family. The last thing she wants is to cause trouble at her command on Jupiter Station. With her new team in turmoil, Max must overcome her self-doubt and win their trust if she’s going to succeed. Failing is not an option — and would only prove her parents right.

But Max and the team must learn to work together quickly. A routine mission to retrieve a missing ship has suddenly turned dangerous, and now their lives are on the line. Someone is targeting members of Zuma’s Ghost, a mysterious opponent willing to kill to safeguard a secret that could shake society to its core… a secret that could lead to their deaths and kill thousands more unless Max and her new team stop them.

Rescue those in danger, find the bad guys, win the Games. It’s all in a day’s work at the NeoG.

There seems to be a trend in sci-fi at the moment: plucky bands of adventurers venturing out into space and getting up to shenanigans. Personally, I am very much on board for this trend.

A Pale Light in the Black is due to be published by Voyager in North America and in the UK, in March 2020.

Also on CR: Interview with K.B. Wagers (2016)

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter

New Books (July-August)

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This New Books post comes rather quickly after the previous, I know, but I’ve decided to post them more frequently — probably when I hit 15 books (as here), because I want to let people know about the upcoming books ASAP.

Featuring: Ben Aaronovitch, Binyamin Appelbaum, Andrew Bacevich, Myke Cole, D.K. Fields, Oliver Harris, Justin D Hill, Ian McDonald, David Poyer, Kate Quinn, Kate Racculia, Lina Rather, Priya Sharma, Katherine Stansfield, Adrian Tchaikovsky

Continue reading →

Very Quick Review: THE BOYS (Amazon Studios)

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Boys-HomelanderPosterA fantastic adaptation of a comic series I couldn’t finish…

THE BOYS is an irreverent take on what happens when superheroes, who are as popular as celebrities, as influential as politicians and as revered as Gods, abuse their superpowers rather than use them for good. It’s the powerless against the super powerful as The Boys embark on a heroic quest to expose the truth about “The Seven,” and their formiddable Vought backing.

When I first heard that Amazon was adapting Garth Ennis’s The Boys into a TV series, I admit I was skeptical. Mainly, my reaction was, “But… how?” It is a series that by no means pulls its punches, is graphic to the point of being gratuitous, and doesn’t exactly come across as corporate-friendly. Nevertheless, I dipped in, and blitzed through it. The Boys is a fantastic show. Continue reading →

Interview with TROY CARROL BUCHER

Civilian Reader Interview

BucherTC-AuthorPicLet’s start with an introduction: Who is Troy Carrol Bucher?

Former marathon runner. Former resident of Arizona. Soon to be former Lieutenant Colonel. Served in the Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Your debut novel, Lies of Descent, is due to be published by DAW in August. It looks really interesting: How would you introduce it to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

It’s the first of three books in the coming-of-age story of two characters, Riam and Nola. While it begins along the lines of the typical hero’s journey, things soon spiral in very different directions for the protagonists. It’s an otherworld fantasy, in a place where the gods fell from the heavens and fought long ago. It has a bit of military flavour, since it is loosely centered around the regiments that remain from the Fallen Gods’ War. So that’s were the story begins, with Riam and Nola plucked from their homes to serve in the regiments that remain. Whether or not they ever get to serve, or if they even should… well, those are for the reader to find out. Continue reading →

Interview with FONDA LEE

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LeeF-AuthorPicLet’s start with an introduction: Who is Fonda Lee?

A novelist, martial artist, action movie aficionado, recovering corporate strategist, and Eggs Benedict enthusiast.

Your latest novel, Jade War, was recently published by Orbit – who have also announced the follow-up: Jade Legacy. They are the second and third novel in your Green Bone Saga series. How would you introduce the series to a new reader? And what can fans of the first novel expect from the middle and third books?

The Green Bone Saga is an epic urban fantasy Asia-inspired gangster family saga. I’ve referred to it as “The Godfather with magic and kung fu.” Fans of the first novel can expect the second book, Jade War, to be bigger in every way — not simply in terms of page count, but because the scope of the story broadens onto an international stage. Jade Legacy is going to take place over a longer period of time and gives the conflicts introduced in the earlier books intergenerational aspects and repercussions. Continue reading →