Featuring: Nick Aires, Jesse Armstrong, David Baldacci, Adam Christopher, Sebastien de Castell, David Downing, Mark Andrew Ferguson, Matthew Glass, Daryl Gregory, Austin Grossman, Randy Henderson, Antonia Honeywell, Kameron Hurley, Ben Kane, Dennis Lehane, Evie Manieri, D.J. Molles, Benjamin Percy, Tamora Pierce, Christopher Reich, Loren Rhoads, Anthony Ryan, V.E. Schwab, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Simon K. Unsworth, Jen Williams, Jonathan Wood Continue reading
Today 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
Well, it’s out February 12th this year, and I started writing Guns of the Dawn in… it must have been the late 1990’s.
I mean, obviously there were some distractions along the way. I seem to recall something to do with a ten-book series about insect-people. It’s amazing what just slips in when your attention’s on other things.
Seriously, though, way back when, after the insect-kinden were conceived as an RPG setting in university – but not that long after – and long before I actually scored a hit with this writing lark, I had the idea for a book about a woman who goes to war, following in the footsteps of her brother. She wouldn’t go dressed up as a man, but on her own merits. The setting was decidedly regency-y. Some of the current plot was certainly vaguely planned out. Back then, it didn’t get very far.
I was going through a very choppy period in my writing about then. I’d finished about seven complete manuscripts over the years, and each one had been slapped down by publishers and agents, or just vanished into the void, because that’s my thing, as far as “How did you get to become a writer”; to wit, the long way, the traditional, painstaking and slowly soul-destroying way of writing things and not getting anywhere. It’s a varied and gallant siblinghood. There are a lot of us out there. Continue reading
This is easily one of my most anticipated novels of 2015 — I am a big fan of Adrian Tchaikovsky‘s writing, despite being woefully behind on his truly epic Shadows of the Apt fantasy series. I mentioned this novel before on the blog, but Tor unveiled the final cover artwork, so I get to share it again. Guns of the Dawn is a stand-alone fantasy, and it sounds really interesting:
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.
Guns of the Dawn is published in the UK by Tor Books, on February 12th, 2015. I can’t wait to get my mitts on it.
In the same post (linked above), Tor shared information about Adrian’s other two 2015 releases, Children of Time and The Tiger and the Wolf. Here’s what they had to say about the novels: Children of Time (publication date unconfirmed at the moment) is
“Adrian’s first science fiction novel – and it’s epic. The last remnants of humanity left a dying earth behind, desperate to find a new home. Then when they finally find it, terror is waiting. Think Battlestar Galactica meets Alien – dramatic, stirring and a story with big themes. People seeking a sense of wonder will find everything they need here.”
The Tiger and the Wolf (due to be published November 19th, 2015) is the start of a new epic fantasy series:
“[T]he story of a young girl who is able to shift into the two forms – that of a wolf of her own clan – but also that of their mortal enemies – the tiger. It’s a coming-of-age story about the choices she has to make to decide where she belongs set against a backdrop of warfare and politics. Fantastically-written and a rip roaring read.”
So yeah: 2015 could become the Year of Adrian Tchaikovsky…
A very good post-apocalyptic story from the author of the Shadows of the Apt series
WHEN THE WORLD ENDED…
The Cull swept the world in the early years of the twenty-first century, killing billions and ending civilisation as we know it. Only a fortunate few, blessed with the right blood, were spared. But in times of need, heroes rise. Leaders, soldiers, rebels – even children – take a stand, to hold back the tide of savagery and set a light in the darkness…
Katy Lewkowitz and her friend and old tutor Dr. Emil Weber, fleeing the depredations of the so-called New Teutonic Order, take refuge among the strangely anachronistic survivors at the monastery of Jasna Góra in Western Poland. A battle of faith ensues, that could decide the future of humankind…
This is the first non-fantasy story of Tchaikovsky’s that I’ve read. It is also the first story I’ve read from Abaddon Books’ Afterblight series. With that in mind, I approached it concerned that I would be lost, missing important backstory and context for this post-apocalyptic world. However, I was very pleased to discover that this works perfectly well without past experience with the series. It’s very well-written, and moves at a pretty brisk pace. This is a good story.
Tchaikovsky’s characters are well-drawn and realistic, not to mention plenty of shades of grey. The role of religion in the story was interesting, and I liked the way the author showed how religious organisations could develop in multiple, conflicting ways when presented with the end of the world. Here, we have an Order that seems to feed of the worst historical characteristics of organised religion, fuelled and worsened by intolerance and bigotry. On the flip side, the group occupying Jasna Góra are far more accepting and focused on good works and charity.
There’s an interesting blend of historical/fantasy and post-apocalypse, here, which can be seen most clearly during the siege – bows and arrows from the walls compete against motorbike-mounted “knights” and a tank. Really enjoyed that about this story, the way the future and advancement of the human race came crashing to a halt in the wake of the Cull.
Speaking of bows, I think the only thing that didn’t work for me was Katy’s rather bizarre confusion, when she realised that the people at Jasna Góra used bows for fighting, and not just hunting. For a British-educated postgraduate, the idea that she would have been unaware of archers’ role in warfare was somewhat baffling.
Overall, then, this is not only a good new direction for Tchaikovsky, but also a good introduction (and, no doubt, continuation) of Abaddon Books’ Afterblight series.
It’s not as assured as Tchaikovsky’s Shadows of the Apt epic fantasy series (one that I am woefully behind on, but which comes to an end this year), and I think I preferred his writing and style in that series. Nevertheless, that should not discount The Bloody Deluge – it’s a solid example of post-apocalyptic fiction. If you’re a fan of the genre, then I think you’ll enjoy this, too.
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You can read an interview with Adrian about this story, here.
The Bloody Deluge has been collected in the Journal of the Plague Year anthology. Here’s the synopsis for the other two stories therein:
Journal of the Plague Year offers three new tales from across the world of The Afterblight Chronicles, from the International Space Station to the wilds of the Australian Outback and beyond.
In Malcolm Cross’s Orbital Decay, the team in the Space Station watch helplessly as the world is all but wiped out. Exiled from Earth, astronaut Alvin Burrows must solve the mystery of the “Pandora” experiment, even as someone on the station takes to murdering the crew one by one.
In C. B. Harvey’s Dead Kelly, fugitive and convict Kelly McGuire returns to the lawless city of Melbourne to be revenged on his old gangmates, and, ultimately, to reveal his own terrible destiny.
This post is a bit of a break from the norm for me. I’m also not really sure what it’s meant to do. It’s a bit waffley, for which I apologise only slightly, and in not entirely a heartfelt manner. Fiction awards mean very little to me, being neither author, editor, publisher, nor agent. (At least, not yet…) This means I have never (to my recollection) written a post of any worth/note about shortlists or winners.
Award lists tend to pass me by without comment or thought. Invariably, this is because there aren’t any books featured that I’ve read – or, if there is, it is one that didn’t leave much of an impression one way or another. This year has been a bit different, however. For example, Kameron Hurley’s God’s War has been cropping up on a few shortlists, and it’s a book I rather enjoyed. So that made a nice change.
The shortlists for the Gemmell Awards were announced today at Eastercon. In a real break from the norm, the shortlist for the Legend Award (best fantasy) features not only five authors I have read, but also a book I feel particularly strongly about. So I thought I’d write a quick blog post about it. The book in question is Peter V. Brett’s The Daylight War, the third in his Demon Cycle series.
[Before I continue, let me just state that my focus on this book is not an indictment of the other authors nominated for the award. I just feel particularly strongly about this one. The other Legend nominees – Mark Lawrence, Scott Lynch, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and Brandon Sanderson – are great authors, too, whose works I have enjoyed very much. I just haven’t read their nominated novels.]
I’ve been experiencing a phase of fantasy disenchantment, lately. In fact, looking back over the past year or so, I’ve read far less (epic) fantasy than I would have expected. I have picked up and discarded more fantasy novels than I usually do, too. I just can’t get into anything, nor can I rustle up the enthusiasm to sit through hefty tomes.
There is one clear exception to that, though, and that’s Brett’s series. Every time I think about reading a fantasy novel, I find myself wistfully wishing that the next novel in the Demon Cycle was already available. This is because there are very few authors who do it better. That’s not to say other fantasists writing today aren’t good, or are lacking in talent – far from it. But, really, I think the only epic fantasy series I would happily drop everything to read the next book in, is the Demon Cycle. Everything about the novels just works for me – the story, prose, characters… everything. I don’t think, across the three novels published so far, I’ve come across anything that gave me pause. I read the first, The Painted Man, in three sittings – the final sitting a 300-page marathon, which I finished at 4am. I read the second and third novels back-to-back (something I rarely do), eschewing everything else – true, I was unemployed at the time, and had little else to do; but nevertheless, all I wanted to do was read the books.
I haven’t experienced that level of Reading Insistence since I read Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Locke Lamora – the book that got me back into reading fantasy in the first place (as I think I’ve mentioned ad infinitum on the blog). In the case of Lynch’s series, I went straight out and bought Red Seas Under Red Skies when I was only two-thirds of the way through the first book – I even didn’t mind that it was the (frankly ghastly) shiny red-covered edition. Since then, and given the understandable delay before the third book came out, I have been almost afraid to go back and re-read the series to catch up.
Oh actually, that’s not entirely true – I was also incredibly impatient about getting hold of Brent Weeks’s Night Angel Trilogy. I must have pestered the Orbit publicist to the point of irritation, requesting the final two books… I was also really late to Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy, and I do consider Before They Are Hanged to be one of my favourite novels.
Regardless, the point I’m trying to make is that very few epic fantasy novels have really grabbed hold of my imagination and attention. And, I think, none more so than Brett’s Demon Cycle.
So, to bring this ramble back around to the topic at hand, I really hope The Daylight War wins the Legend Award.
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The David Gemmell Awards ceremony will take place at London’s Magic Circle on June 13th, 2014.
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Peter V. Brett’s The Daylight War is published in the UK by Voyager, and in the US by Del Rey. The first two volumes in the series – The Painted Man (UK)/The Warded Man (US) and The Desert Spear are published by the same publishers. Two novellas have also been collected into a single volume: The Great Bazaar and Brayan’s Gold. If you haven’t read them yet, and have any interest in fantasy, then I could not recommend them enough. You won’t regret reading them, I’m sure.
My reviews of the books: The Painted Man, The Desert Spear, The Daylight War and The Great Bazaar and Brayan’s Gold.
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Regarding the Other Shortlists…
For the Morning Star category (best debut), I really enjoyed Brian McClellan’s Promise of Blood – it is also the only novel on the shortlist I’ve read.
In the Ravenheart category (best artwork), I actually like them all, and quite a lot. But I don’t understand why any of the covers for Elizabeth Bear’s Eternal Sky fantasy trilogy didn’t make it onto the final list… (I haven’t read any of the novels, but I want to, and those covers are frankly stunning.)
I was away for a couple of weeks, and when I returned home, I had a veritable jackpot in books waiting for me:
In the spirit of full-disclosure (and just in case it takes a while for me to get around to reading and reviewing them), here’s what turned up, and a few preliminary, pre-reading thoughts…
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Kelley Armstrong, Omens (Sphere)
Twenty-four-year-old Olivia Taylor Jones has the perfect life. The only daughter of a wealthy, prominent Chicago family, she has an Ivy League education, pursues volunteerism and philanthropy, and is engaged to a handsome young tech firm CEO with political ambitions.
But Olivia’s world is shattered when she learns that she’s adopted. Her real parents? Todd and Pamela Larsen, notorious serial killers serving a life sentence. When the news brings a maelstrom of unwanted publicity to her adopted family and fiancé, Olivia decides to find out the truth about the Larsens.
Olivia ends up in the small town of Cainsville, Illinois, an old and cloistered community that takes a particular interest in both Olivia and her efforts to uncover her birth parents’ past.
Aided by her mother’s former lawyer, Gabriel Walsh, Olivia focuses on the Larsens’ last crime, the one her birth mother swears will prove their innocence. But as she and Gabriel start investigating the case, Olivia finds herself drawing on abilities that have remained hidden since her childhood, gifts that make her both a valuable addition to Cainsville and deeply vulnerable to unknown enemies. Because there are darker secrets behind her new home and powers lurking in the shadows that have their own plans for her.
I’ve only read a couple of Armstrong’s novels – and, strangely, not the ones I always wanted to… I discovered her Women of the Otherworld series around the time I started receiving ARCs from publishers, which meant I could never really justify buying them for myself. Then the later books in the series started turning up, and my sister pinched them (she did buy the first ones, you see). I did, however, read Armstrong’s two non-supernatural thrillers, ?? and ??, which I enjoyed a great deal. This novel is the start of a new series, so I’m hoping to read it very soon (and prevent my sister from liberating it first…).
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Brenda Cooper, The Diamond Deep (Pyr)
The discovery ship, Creative Fire, is on its way home from a multi-generational journey. But home is nothing like the crew expected. They have been gone for generations, and the system they return to is home to technologies and riches beyond their wildest dreams. But they are immediately oppressed and relegated to the lowest status imaginable, barely able to interact with the technologies and people of the star station where they dock, the Diamond Deep.
Ruby Martin and her partner, Joel North, must find a way to learn what they need to know and to become more than they have ever been if they are to find a way to save their people.
I have sadly been unable to keep on top of all my reading from Pyr Books. I feel pretty bad about this, given how willing they are to send me review copies (not to mention how much I like their authors…). The previous book in this series, This Creative Fire, is one such missed book. I’ll do my best to catch up ASAP.
Also on CR: Interview with Brenda Cooper
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Troy Denning, Crucible (Century)
Han Solo, Leia Organa Solo, and Luke Skywalker return in an all-new Star Wars adventure, which will challenge them in ways they never expected—and forever alter their understanding of life and the Force.
When Han and Leia Solo arrive at Lando Calrissian’s Outer Rim mining operation to help him thwart a hostile takeover, their aim is just to even up the odds and lay down the law. Then monstrous aliens arrive with a message, and mere threats escalate into violent sabotage with mass fatalities. When the dust settles, what began as corporate warfare becomes a battle with much higher stakes—and far deadlier consequences.
Now Han, Leia, and Luke team up once again in a quest to defeat a dangerous adversary bent on galaxy-wide domination. Only this time, the Empire is not the enemy. It is a pair of ruthless geniuses with a lethal ally and a lifelong vendetta against Han Solo. They will stop at nothing to control the lucrative Outer Rim mining trade—and ultimately the entire galactic economy. And when the murderous duo gets the drop on Han, he finds himself outgunned in the fight of his life. To save him, and the galaxy, Luke and Leia must brave a gauntlet of treachery, terrorism, and the untold power of an enigmatic artifact capable of bending space, time, and even the Force itself into an apocalyptic nightmare.
I’m rather behind on my Star Wars reading. I have to finish Fate of the Jedi, and then read Mercy Kill before I can get to this. Hopefully soon-ish. Interestingly, I was also able to find an early draft version of the cover. I think it’s rather good, so I decided to share it again here…
I may actually like this one better…
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Mark Hodder, The Secret of Abdu el-Yezdi (Del Rey UK)
Burton & Swinburne return in a new series!
The Beast is coming. History will be remade.
Since the assassination of Queen Victoria in 1840, a cabal of prominent men-including King George V, HRH Prince Albert, Benjamin Disraeli, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel-has received guidance from the Afterlife. The spirit of a dead mystic, Abdu El Yezdi, has helped them to steer the empire into a period of unprecedented peace and creativity. But on the eve of a groundbreaking alliance with the newly formed Greater German Confederation, scientists, surgeons, and engineers are being abducted-including Brunel!
The government, in search of answers, turns to the Afterlife, only to find that Abdu El Yezdi is now refusing to speak with the living. Enter the newly-knighted Sir Richard Francis Burton, fresh from his discovery of the source of the Nile. Appointed the king’s agent, he must trace the missing luminaries and solve the mystery of Abdu El Yezdi’s silence. But the Beast has been summoned.
How can the famous explorer fulfill his mission when his friends and loved ones are being picked off, one by one, by what appears to be a supernatural entity-by, perhaps, Abdu El Yezdi himself?
I’ve never read any of Hodder’s series… I’m not entirely sure why. Maybe this will be the first? Anyone know if that’s not a good idea? Should I start from the very beginning, or can I just dive straight in?
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Drew Karpyshyn, Children of Fire (Del Rey UK)
Long ago the gods chose a great hero to act as their agent in the mortal world and to stand against the demonic spawn of Chaos. The gods gifted their champion, Daemron, with three magical Talismans: a sword, a ring, and a crown. But the awesome power at his command corrupted Daemron, turning him from savior to destroyer. Filled with pride, he dared to challenge the gods themselves. Siding with the Chaos spawn, Daemron waged a titanic battle against the Immortals. In the end, Daemron was defeated, the Talismans were lost, and Chaos was sealed off behind the Legacy—a magical barrier the gods sacrificed themselves to create.
Now the Legacy is fading. On the other side, the banished Daemron stirs. And across the scattered corners of the land, four children are born of suffering and strife, each touched by one aspect of Daemron himself—wizard, warrior, prophet, king.
Bound by a connection deeper than blood, the Children of Fire will either restore the Legacy or bring it crashing down, freeing Daemron to wreak his vengeance upon the mortal world.
I’ve mentioned this on the blog before. I’m certainly interested in seeing what Karpyshyn has come up with. I enjoyed his Star Wars novels (at least, the Darth Bane books, which are the only ones of his that I’ve read). Hopefully get to this pretty soon.
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Daniel Polansky, She Who Waits (Hodder)
Low Town: the worst ghetto in the worst city in the Thirteen Lands.
Good only for depravity and death. And Warden, long ago a respected agent in the formidable Black House, is now the most depraved Low Town denizen of them all.
As a younger man, Warden carried out more than his fair share of terrible deeds, and never as many as when he worked for the Black House. But Warden’s growing older, and the vultures are circling. Low Town is changing, faster than even he can control, and Warden knows that if he doesn’t get out soon, he may never get out at all.
But Warden must finally reckon with his terrible past if he can ever hope to escape it. A hospital full of lunatics, a conspiracy against the corrupt new king and a ghetto full of thieves and murderers stand between him and his slim hope for the future. And behind them all waits the one person whose betrayal Warden never expected. The one person who left him, broken and bitter, to become the man he is today.
The one woman he ever loved.
She who waits behind all things.
Possibly my most-anticipated novel of the year. Ever since I read Straight Razor Cure/Low Town, and Tomorrow the Killing shortly thereafter, I have been impatient for this novel. Expect it to be read and reviewed very soon. If you haven’t read this series yet, I highly recommend that you do. It’s superb.
Also on CR: Interview with Daniel Polansky
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Christopher Ransom, The Orphan (Sphere)
The truth is more terrifying than you can imagine. Darren and Beth Lynwood always dreamed of having a son, but when young amnesiac runaway Adam enters their lives, he brings with him a creeping darkness that threatens to engulf their family and everyone around them. When Adam’s memories claw their way to the surface, Darren finds himself haunted by thoughts of his own childhood – and of a boy very much like Adam who was done an unspeakable wrong. As buried secrets are unearthed, the Lynwood’s happy home becomes the hunting ground for a relentless evil and an obsession that will not die. There’s no point locking the door. There’s no use shutting out the night. Because the orphan is already inside. Dare you read to the end of The Orphan? Discover the chilling new novel from the author of The Birthing House and The People Next Door.
I’ve never read anything by Christopher Ransom. Sounds pretty cool, though…
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Michael J Sullivan, The Crown Tower (Orbit)
TWO MEN WHO HATE EACH OTHER. ONE IMPOSSIBLE MISSION. A LEGEND IN THE MAKING.
A warrior with nothing to fight for is paired with a thieving assassin with nothing to lose. Together they must steal a treasure that no one can reach. The Crown Tower is the impregnable remains of the grandest fortress ever built and home to the realm’s most valuable possessions. But it isn’t gold or jewels the old wizard is after, and this prize can only be obtained by the combined talents of two remarkable men. Now if Arcadias can just keep Hadrian and Royce from killing each other, they just might succeed.
Loved the Riyria Revelations, Sullivan’s original six-part series set in this world. The Crown Tower (and The Rose and Thorn) takes place prior to that series, and introduces us to Hadrian and Royce as they meet for the first time.
Also on CR: Interview with Michael J. Sullivan, Guest Posts – Gritty vs. Heroic Fantasy and History & Riyria
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Adrian Tchaikovsky, War Master’s Gate (Tor)
Relentlessly advancing towards Collegium, the Empire is again seeking to break down its walls. The mighty imperial armies have learnt from their failures, and Empress Seda will brook no weakness in her soldiers. However, Stenwold Maker has earned his title, and the War Master has strategies to save his city. His aviators rule the skies – but the Wasp Kinden Empire has developed a terrifying new aerial weapon.
Yet the campaign may be decided far from marching armies and the noise of battle. In an ancient forest, where Mantis clans pursue their own civil war, the Empress Seda is seeking lost magic. Some dangerous shadow of old night is locked up among these trees and she is wants its power. Cheerwell Maker must stop her, at any cost, but will their rivalry awaken something far deadlier? Something that could make even their clash of nations pale into insignificance…
A series I have shamefully left un-caught-up… I plan to do a mega catch-up at some point in the near future. Perhaps one a month or something (I overdose easily). Hopefully in time so I am ready for the final book, when it’s published. Really enjoyed the first book in the series, Empire in Black & Gold.
Also on CR: Interview with Adrian Tchaikovsky, Guest Post
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Lavie Tidhar, The Violent Century (Hodder)
They’d never meant to be heroes.
For seventy years they’d guarded the British Empire. Oblivion and Fogg, inseparable at first, bound together by a shared fate. Until a night in Berlin, in the aftermath of the Second World War, and a secret that tore them apart.
But there must always be an account… and the past has a habit of catching up to the present.
Recalled to the Retirement Bureau from which no one can retire, Fogg and Oblivion must face up to a past of terrible war and unacknowledged heroism, a life of dusty corridors and secret rooms; of furtive meetings and blood-stained fields, to answer one last, impossible question:
What makes a hero?
It’s Lavie, dealing with Super-Heroes and 20th Century history. Of course I’m interested in reading this. I’ll be reading it very soon. I’ve also seen a mock-up of the cover art, which I think is really cool. Can’t wait to see the final version.
[Disclaimer: I work for Lavie’s agent. Which means this is also ‘work’ reading. It’s a hard life…]
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David Towsey, Your Brother’s Blood (Jo Fletcher)
Thomas is thirty-two. He comes from the small town of Barkley. He has a wife there, Sarah, and a child, Mary; good solid names from the Good Book. And he is on his way home from the war, where he has been serving as a conscripted soldier.
Thomas is also dead – he is one of the Walkin’.
And Barkley does not suffer the wicked to live.
I’ve mentioned Your Brother’s Blood on the blog before (as well as hosted an excerpt), and it’s one of my most-anticipated of 2013. Hope to get to this ASAP. The novel is due to be published in the UK on September 26th 2013.
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Helene Wecker, The Golem and the Djinni (HarperCollins)
If you were bewitched by The Night Circus…
If you were mesmerised by A Discovery of Witches…
If you were enthralled by Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell…
You will be enchanted by
THE GOLEM & THE DJINNI
Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic. When her master, the husband who commissioned her, dies at sea on the voyage from Poland, she is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York in 1899.
Ahmad is a djinni, a being of fire, born in the ancient Syrian desert. Trapped in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard centuries ago, he is released accidentally by a tinsmith in a Lower Manhattan shop. Though he is no longer imprisoned, Ahmad is not entirely free – an unbreakable band of iron binds him to the physical world.
The Golem & The Djinni is their magical, unforgettable story; unlikely friends whose tenuous attachment challenges their opposing natures – until the night a terrifying incident drives them back into their separate worlds. But a powerful threat will soon bring Chava and Ahmad together again, challenging their existence and forcing them to make a fateful choice.
Having read none of those comparisons, I really don’t know what to expect from this novel. But it was available through Amazon Vine, so I thought why not? I’m certainly interested in reading it, as I try to mix up the genres I’m reading and featuring on the blog. The title is slightly (pointlessly) different in the US: The Golem and the Jinni (also published by Harper).
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From the Library…
A new additional component of the Books Received posts – I will now include mention of anything I’ve picked up in the local library. Because… well, why not?
Richard Kadrey, Kill City Blues (Voyager)
James Stark, aka Sandman Slim, has managed to get out of Hell, renounce his title as the new Lucifer, and settle back into life in LA. But he’s not out of trouble yet. Somewhere along the way he misplaced the Qomrama Om Ya, a weapon from the banished older gods who are also searching for their lost power.
The hunt leads Stark to an abandoned shopping mall-a multi-story copy of LA-infested with Lurkers and wretched bottom-feeding Sub Rosa families, squatters who have formed tight tribes to guard their tiny patches of this fake LA. Somewhere in the kill zone of the former mall is a dead man with the answers Stark needs. All Stark has to do is find the dead man, get back out alive, and outrun some angry old gods-and a few killers-on his tail.
I love this series. It’s dark, irreverent, funny, and has plenty of action and weird goings-on. This is book five, and each of the previous four was a strong addition to the series. Everyone should read it. Go on, what are you waiting for?
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Astro City, Vol.1 – “Life In The Big City” (DC Comics)
Welcome to Astro City, a shining city on a hill where super heroes patrol the skies. Each chapter in this collection is a standalone story, highlighting different aspects or characters in the Astro City world. The city’s leading super hero tries to be everywhere at once, and berates himself for every wasted second as he longs for just a moment of his own. A smalltime hood learns a hero’s secret identity, and tries to figure out how to profit from the knowledge. A beat reporter gets some advice from his editor on his first day on the job. A young woman tries to balance the demands of her family with her own hopes and desires. Despite the fantastic settings, the characters in these slice-of-life stories feel like real people, and that gives the stories real power.
This series has just been re-booted/-launched by DC, so I figured it was a good time to start at the very beginning, and see what it was like before investing in the new series (which I think has reached #3).
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Black Orchid (Vertigo)
Before introducing the modern version of The Sandman, Neil Gaiman wrote this dark tale that reinvented a strange DC Comics super hero in the Vertigo mold. Featuring spectacular art by Gaiman’s frequent collaborator, Dave McKean, BLACK ORCHID is now collected in a deluxe trade paperback
After being viciously murdered, Susan Linden is reborn fully grown as the Black Orchid, a hybrid of plant and human, destined to avenge her own death. Now, as this demigoddess attempts to reconcile human memory and botanical origins, she must untangle the webs of deception and secrets that led to her death. Beginning in the cold streets of a heartless metropolis and ending in the Amazon rainforest, this book takes the reader on a journey through secrets, suffering and self-rediscovery.
I’ve never read this, but I’ve heard a lot of great things. After reading my first volume of Sandman, too, I’m interested in reading a lot more of Gaiman’s comic-work. So when I saw this on the shelf, I picked it up right away – after all, where better to start than at the beginning?
In this guest post, Adrian Tchaikovsky looks back on the nine books in his Shadows of the Apt series available to date (the tenth and final book in the series, Seal of the Worm, will be published next year, by Tor UK).
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“Nine books, Six Years, One Stenwold Maker”
by Adrian Tchaikovsky
It seems a lot longer ago than 2008 when the first of the Shadows of the Apt books came out. Maybe it’s that the actual setting and a lot of the characters, most definitely including War Master Maker, came from a role-playing campaign I ran back in the early 90’s, and have been rattling about in my head ever since. But mostly I think it’s just the very different pace my life has had ever since the first book got taken up by Tor UK. “Roller-coaster” is a fair description: highs and lows.
Ten books. Ten books is a lot, frankly. Even nine books is a lot, and we’ve still got Seal of the Worm next year. A lot, but not unprecedented. Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Dead, George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones. A certain species of fantasy does lend itself to the grand and epic sweep of invented history. I don’t think that I could have told the story I wanted to tell in less. In fact it’s been a job to fit it in the space I’ve had.
The first four books – Empire in Black and Gold through to Salute the Dark – are the story of the first war, covering Stenwold’s hard-won rallying of the disparate Lowlands cultures to fend off the Wasp-kinden’s advance, and at the same time the equally key political tangle of the Imperial court, and the covert struggle for dominance between Alvdan and his unassuming sister.
Books five to seven are set between the wars: the Lowlands falls apart, the Empire makes the political and technological adjustments that will allow it to return to the campaign. Most importantly, several characters have their moments of forging and testing: Cheerwell in The Scarab Path, Stenwold in the Sea Watch and Tynisa in Heirs of the Blade.
Heirs of the Blade nearly sunk me, in fact. As well as Tynisa’s adventures in the Commonweal, this turned out to be the pivot-point for the whole series: here was where the stories from the previous volumes came to be tied up, and the foreshadowing for the next came to loom. No other book in the series gave me quite as many fits, or got edited and shuffled about so much. One entire subplot just had to be cut entirely because it was less than essential, and because by then the book was very long.
And then we hit the final leg: the Empire, in fact, striking back, starting with the blitzkrieg of The Air War, and continuing with the new War Master’s Gate that has our man Stenwold on the cover and in the title. Readers who have followed the series to date will know that since Salute the Dark the books have followed two different plotlines – the political/technological (“Apt”) line through Sea Watch and Air War, and the mystical (“Inapt”) plot of Scarab Path and Heirs. Well, War Master’s Gate is where it all comes together. It’s just about the whole gang back together again in one volume (if not one place): Stenwold, Che, Tynisa, Thalric, Tynan, Seda and the new characters from the Air War. Everything comes together; everything falls apart. There will be blood, magic, killer war machines, characters will die like flies (or, indeed, Flies). And then, after the smoke clears, there will be the Worm.
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The first nine books of the Shadows of the Apt are out now in the UK, published by Tor (War Master’s Gate is published today, in fact). The first four novels in the series are published in the US by Pyr Books.
For more information about the series and the author, be sure to visit Adrian Tchaikovsky’s website and follow him on Twitter. Naturally, of course, what you really need to do – if you have only recently been introduced to this author – is go out and buy the series! And I need to catch up! With the final book on the horizon in 2014, I think I may actually be able to catch up, if I read roughly one every month or two…
Who else has read some or all of the Shadows of the Apt? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments thread, below.
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