Cover

Covers, US vs. UK Edition: “The Six-Gun Tarot” by R.S. Belcher (Tor & Titan)

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Spotted the UK cover in Forbidden Planet in London today, and was moved to share it on here. I’ve been aware of R.S. Belcher’s The Six-Gun Tarot since it came out in the US (published by Tor), but it seems to have also been quietly released in the UK, recently, by Titan Books. Here are the two covers…

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Out of the two, I definitely prefer the UK cover (on the right). Really cool. If that doesn’t grab your attention, here’s the synopsis:

Nevada, 1869: Beyond the pitiless 40-Mile Desert lies Golgotha, a cattle town that hides more than its share of unnatural secrets. The sheriff bears the mark of the noose around his neck; some say he is a dead man whose time has not yet come. His half-human deputy is kin to coyotes. The mayor guards a hoard of mythical treasures. A banker’s wife belongs to a secret order of assassins. And a shady saloon owner, whose fingers are in everyone’s business, may know more about the town’s true origins than he’s letting on.

A haven for the blessed and the damned, Golgotha has known many strange events, but nothing like the primordial darkness stirring in the abandoned silver mine overlooking the town. Bleeding midnight, an ancient evil is spilling into the world, and unless the sheriff and his posse can saddle up in time, Golgotha will have seen its last dawn…and so will all of Creation.

I’ll be sure to review it as soon as possible (I already have it).

Upcoming: “Coffin Hill” #1 (Vertigo)

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I’m really looking forward to this. Out of all the “bigger” comics publishers, I am really falling for a lot of Vertigo series. COFFIN HILL, which will be published on October 9th 2013, looks like yet another series that will appeal to my (rather dark, twisted) taste.

The cover is by Dave Johnson, and the variant by Gene Ha. Inaki Miranda, who handles art duties on this title, is an awesome artist, and one of my favourite recent finds – she worked on Lauren Beukes’s excellent run on Fairest, and put together some of the most striking panels and full-page spreads I’ve ever seen.

Coffin Hill is written by Caitlin Kittredge (who I have no experience reading). Kittredge is the author of the Black London series.

COFFIN HILL stars Eve Coffin, a rebellious, teenage lowlife from a high-society family with a curse that goes back to the Salem Witch trials.

Following a night of sex, drugs and witchcraft in the woods, Eve wakes up naked, covered in blood and unable to remember how she got there. One friend is missing, one is in a mental ward—and one knows that Eve is responsible.

After a stint as a Boston cop that ends in a bullet wound and unintended celebrity, Eve returns to Coffin Hill, only to discover the darkness that she unleashed ten years ago in the woods was never contained. It continues to seep through the town, cursing the soul of this sleepy Massachusetts hollow, spilling secrets and enacting its revenge.

Set against the haunted backdrop of New England, COFFIN HILL explores what people will do for power and retribution.

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Count me very much looking forward to this. This sounds great. As a bonus, here are the covers (without text, etc.) for the second and third issues:

CoffinHill-2&3

Upcoming: “The Path to Power” by Karen Miller (Orbit)

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Spotted this over on Orbit Books’ recent mass-cover-reveal post, and I really liked the look of it (dead bodies, mysterious silhouetted figure, grand hallways…):

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Sadly, I couldn’t find anything about the story itself, except for this comment from Miller’s website: “Have to continue being a bit hush hush about the story, but I promise I’ll reveal more when I can!” Bugger. I’m intrigued.

Upcoming: “The Cormorant” by Chuck Wendig (Angry Robot)

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This is the third book in Chuck Wendig’s critically-acclaimed Urban Fantasy series. One I have yet to read… (Oh, how many series are there now for which I can say that?) I’ve enjoyed some of Wendig’s vampire fiction for Abaddon Books, so I have no idea why I haven’t read this series, yet… I shall have to get that fixed A.S.A.P. Anyway, I spotted the cover for this novel over on Angry Robot’s website, and had to share it. Once again, the piece has been done by the ever-excellent Joey Hi-Fi, and it’s superb. Here’s the synopsis:

Miriam is on the road again, having transitioned from “thief” to “killer”.

Hired by a wealthy businessman, she heads down to Florida to practice the one thing she’s good at, but in her vision she sees him die by another’s hand and on the wall written in blood is a message just for Miriam.

She’s expected…

File Under: Urban Fantasy [ Plying Her Trade | Inevitable | Touch of Death | No More! ]

The Cormorant is due to be published in at the end of December 2013 (eBook and in US), and the beginning of January (UK).

Artwork: Guardians of the Galaxy #5, Variant Cover (Marvel)

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Really liked this Vintage-style variant cover for Guardians of the Galaxy #5 (new ongoing series).

Written by: Brian Michael Bendis

Cover by: Paolo Rivera

Published: July 31st 2013

Synopsis: Spinning out of the dramatic conclusion of Age of Ultron, dimensions collide and Heaven’s most fearsome Angel pushes the Guardians back on their heels.

Upcoming: “Breach Zone” by Myke Cole (Headline)

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ColeM-SO3-BreachZoneUKFantasy Faction had the exclusive reveal, but it’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Myke Cole’s novels – and so, naturally, I decided to share the quite awesome new UK cover for Breach Zone here. The cover was done by Larry Rostant, and prominently features Scylla…

The Great Reawakening did not come quietly. Across the country and in every nation, people began “coming up Latent,” developing terrifying powers—summoning storms, raising the dead, and setting everything they touch ablaze. Those who Manifest must choose: become a sheepdog who protects the flock or a wolf who devours it…

In the wake of a bloody battle at Forward Operating Base Frontier and a scandalous presidential impeachment, Lieutenant Colonel Jan Thorsson, call sign “Harlequin,” becomes a national hero and a pariah to the military that is the only family he’s ever known.

In the fight for Latent equality, Oscar Britton is positioned to lead a rebellion in exile, but a powerful rival beats him to the punch: Scylla, a walking weapon who will stop at nothing to end the human-sanctioned apartheid against her kind.

When Scylla’s inhuman forces invade New York City, the Supernatural Operations Corps are the only soldiers equipped to prevent a massacre. In order to redeem himself with the military, Harlequin will be forced to face off with this havoc-wreaking woman from his past, warped by her power into something evil…

I really like this cover – the composition, the colours, the prominence of Scylla… Even the flame-y stuff (although, I presume that’s meant to be some form of manifestation of her entropy-power?). That being said, while I like this cover overall way more than the US art, I’m not sure anything can truly beat the raised-eyebrow on the latter…

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“I do not think so…”

Breach Zone will be published in the UK February 2014 (which is so far away!), and in the US January 2014 (by Ace Books).

Also on CR: Reviews of Control Point & Fortress Frontier, Interview with Myke Cole, Guest Post (“Influences & Inspirations”)

Upcoming: “Children of Fire” by Drew Karpyshyn (Del Rey)

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I actually stumbled across this novel via NetGalley a little while ago (I really need to get my ass in gear and read-and-review it…). Today, though, I caught a Tweet by Del Rey UK with the British cover artwork, so I thought I’d finally share it on the blog. Out of the two, I think I prefer the UK cover (it’s darker and, dare I say it, grittier), although I do like that they’ve maintained the overall colour palette for the newer UK artwork (on the left).

This is the best synopsis I was able to find, from Random House (New Zealand, strangely)…

Wizard, Warrior, Prophet, King. The Immortal Daemron, know as the Slayer, was all these things before his ascension.

Trapped in a realm of Chaos for centuries by the Old Gods, using a magical barrier known as The Legacy, a last desperate ritual will herald the return of Chaos to the human world, and the lives of four children will never be the same.

The mortal realm is a balance of secular and religious authority, with The Order of the Crown holding much power over humanity, its members gifted with amazing abilities and all children with magical talents are theirs to claim.

Cassandra, Vaaler, Scythe and Keegan grow up in different places and with different lives, but all share the taint of Chaos magic. As various factions struggle to find the best solution to the coming return of Chaos, the fate of the world is in their hands.

I’ve enjoyed some of Karpyshyn’s Star Wars novels, so I’m intrigued to see how good his own stuff is. Hopefully I’ll get to this in the not-too-distant-future.

[Incidentally, yes – I do have better access to the internet for a little while, which should see an up-tick in posting for a week or so.]

Cover Reveal: THE WOKEN GODS by Gwenda Bond (Strange Chemistry)

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I haven’t managed to keep on top of my Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry reviewing – certainly not as much as I would like. (They have had a considerable number of awesome-sounding titles coming out recently… I really should get my act together and read more of them…)

Nevertheless, one of my favourite debut reads last year was Gwenda Bond’s Blackwood. I was very intrigued, therefore, to learn about Bond’s next novel, The Woken Gods. I didn’t know much about it, but the cover certainly nabbed my interesting…

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The US Congress, the All-Seeing Eye, Egyptian Gods…? Colour me intrigued. The Woken Gods will be published by Strange Chemistry in September 2013. Here’s the synopsis…

Five years ago, the gods of ancient mythology awoke around the world.

This morning, Kyra Locke is late for school.

Seventeen-year-old Kyra lives in a transformed Washington, D.C., home to the embassies of divine pantheons and the mysterious Society of the Sun. But when rebellious Kyra encounters two trickster gods on her way back from school, one offering a threat and the other a warning, it turns out her life isn’t what it seems. She escapes with the aid of Osborne “Oz” Spencer, an intriguing Society field operative, only to discover that her scholar father has disappeared with a dangerous relic. The Society needs it, and they don’t care that she knows nothing about her father’s secrets.

Now Kyra must depend on her wits and the suspect help of scary gods, her estranged oracle mother, and, of course, Oz–whose first allegiance is to the Society. She has no choice if she’s going to recover the missing relic and save her father. And if she doesn’t? Well, that may just mean the end of the world as she knows it.

I’m certainly looking forward to this.

Upcoming: “Felix & Gotrek: City of the Damned” by David Guymer (Black Library)

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Guymer-G&F-CityOfTheDamnedI’ve been reading the Felix & Gotrek series ever since the very early Games Workshop Warhammer anthologies (the first I bought was Wolf Riders). When Black Library was formed, and William King started releasing regular novels, I was very happy. Then Nathan Long took over the series, and he maintained the quality very well, taking it to the next level. Now the series seems to be more of a team-effort, with multiple short stories by different authors, and now novels by different people – this latest one by David Guymer, and also Josh Reynold’s Road of Skulls (which I really need to read… Maybe I’ll read it this coming week).

It’ll be interesting to see how these new installments add to the expanding Gotrek & Felix canon. Especially as they seem to be diverging from the timeline set out by King and Long…

Gotrek and Felix: unsung heroes of the Empire, or nothing more than common thieves and murderers? The truth perhaps lies somewhere in between, and depends entirely upon whom you ask… Legend tells of the City of the Damned – a dark and forbidding place destroyed in a previous age by the wrath of Sigmar. Long have its fallen towers remained undisturbed by the people of Ostermark, but now an ancient evil stirs in the depths, gathering its strength once more. Gotrek and Felix are swept up in the crusade of Baron Gotz von Kiel to cleanse the city, and as the ruins are torn from the passage of time itself, the Slayer’s doom appears to be approaching more quickly than either of them would like.

City of the Damned will be published in September 2013.

Upcoming: “The Warmaster” by Dan Abnett (Black Library)

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Abnett-WarmasterDan Abnett’s Gaunt’s Ghosts is one of the best sci-fi series, in my opinion. Not only has it been running for so long, but it has (with but one wobble) maintained a very high quality. Each novel has built on the last, the characters develop naturally. A good number of them have died. I just love it.

Alongside the Horus Heresy and the Gotrek & Felix series, Abnett’s was one of the only Black Library series I rushed out to buy on day one (or read ASAP, if I got a review copy).

Anyway, it’s been a couple of years since Abnett’s last Ghosts-related fiction (the novel Salvation’s Reach and a short-story), so I am very much looking forward to getting reacquainted with the characters.

Here’s the synopsis for the 14th book in the series, The Warmaster…

After the success of their desperate mission to Salvation’s Reach, Colonel-Commisar Gaunt and the Tanith First race to the strategically vital forge world of Urdesh, besieged by the brutal armies of Anarch Sek. However, there may be more at stake than just a planet. The Imperial forces have made an attempt to divide and conquer their enemy, but with Warmaster Macaroth himself commanding the Urdesh campaign, it is possible that the Archenemy assault has a different purpose – to decapitate the Imperial command structure with a single blow. Has the Warmaster allowed himself to become an unwitting target? And can Gaunt’s Ghosts possibly defend him against the assembled killers and war machines of Chaos?

The Warmaster will be published by Black Library in December 2013.