Featuring: Dan Abnett, Kaliane Bradley, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, P. Djèlí Clark, Katie M. Flynn, Max Gladstone, Kelly Link, Daniel Polansky, Nita Prose, David L. Roll, Alexander Sammartino, Stuart Turton
Daniel Polansky
Upcoming: TOMORROW’S CHILDREN by Daniel Polansky (Angry Robot)
I’ve been a fan of Daniel Polansky‘s writing ever since I read an early review copy of 2011’s Straight Razor Cure (Low Town in North America). The Low Town trilogy remains one of my favourite fantasy trilogies, and each new novel (or novella) by the author has been a must-read for me. Early next year, Angry Robot Books are due to publish the author’s latest novel, Tomorrow’s Children — as it happens, one that falls in a sub-genre that is also very much of interest to me: post-apocalyptic New York City. Here’s the synopsis:
A high-octane post-apocalyptic romp set in the ruins of Manhattan
Tomorrow, the funk descends on Manhattan – a noxious cloud which separates the island from the rest of the world and mutates the population.
Some generations on, the surviving population exists amid the rubble of modernity, wearing our cast-off clothing, worshipping celebrities as dim gods and using emojis in place or written language. The Island exists in a state of uneasy peace, with each neighborhood an independent fiefdom, protecting itself with scrap metal spears and Molotov cocktails.
But something new has come to the Island, the first tourist in centuries, and this uneasy equilibrium is about to shatter…
I’m really looking forward to reading this.
Daniel Polansky’s Tomorrow’s Children is due to be published by Angry Robot Books in North America and in the UK, on February 27th, 2024.
Also on CR: Interview with Daniel Polansky (2011); Reviews of Straight Razor Cure, Tomorrow the Killing, She Who Waits, A City Dreaming, The Builders, and The Seventh Perfection
New Books (January 2023)
Featuring: Leigh Bardugo, Brian Michael Bendis (w. Matthew Wilson), Sarah Bowring, Kevin Chong, S. A. Cosby, Max Gladstone, Rudy Gobert (w. Hellef Bay), Lee Goldberg, Rachel Howzell Hall, Daniel Polansky, James Swallow, Keziah Weir
Upcoming: MARCH’S END by Daniel Polansky (Angry Robot Books)
Next year, Angry Robot Books are due to published the anticipated new novel by Daniel Polansky: March’s End. I’ve been a fan of Polansky’s work ever since his debut, Straight Razor Cure (Low Town in North America). This new novel is a “multi-generational portal fantasy of strange magics, epic warfare, and deadly intrigue, in which the personality conflicts and toxic struggles of the Harrow family are reflected in the fantasy world they’ve sworn to protect”. Here’s the synopsis:
The Harrows are a typical suburban family who, since time immemorial, have borne a sacred and terrible charge. In the daylight they are teachers, doctors, bartenders and vagrants, but at night they are the rulers and protectors of the March, a fantastical secondary world populated with animate antiquated toys and sentient lichen, a panorama of the impossible where cities are carried on the backs of giant snails, and thunderstorms can be subdued with song.
But beneath this dreamlike exterior lie dark secrets, and for generation after generation the Harrows have defended the March from the perils that wait outside its borders – when they are not consumed in their own bitter internecine quarrels.
In the modern day the Harrow clan are composed of Sophia, the High Queen of the March, a brilliant, calculating matriarch, and her three children – noble Constance, visionary, rebellious Mary Ann, and clever, amoral Will. Moving back and forth between their youth, adolescence, and adulthood, we watch as this family fractures, then reconciles in the face of a conflict endangering not only the existence of the March, but of the ‘real world’ itself.
THE MARCH’S END is a book about growing up, in which the familial struggles of the Harrows are threaded through the mythic history of the fantastical land they protect. It is a story of failure and redemption, in which the power of love is tested against forces that seek to break it, and the necessity of each generation to recreate itself is asserted.
Daniel Polansky’s March’s End is due to be published by Angry Robot Books in North America and in the UK, on May 9th, 2023.
Also on CR: Interview with Daniel Polansky (2011); Reviews of Straight Razor Cure, Tomorrow the Killing, She Who Waits, The Builders, and The Seventh Perfection
New Books (May-June)
Featuring: Lauren Beukes, M.R. Carey, Michael Connelly, Lee Goldberg, Rachel Howzell Hall, Amanda Harlowe, Jennifer Hofmann, Claire Holroyde, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Melissa Korn, Joe R. Lansdale, Owen Laukkanen, Michael Laurence, Jennifer Levitz, Cassidy Lucas, Chuck Palahniuk, Daniel Polansky, Natasha Pulley, Elizabeth Shackelford, Curtis Sittenfeld, Lavie Tidhar, Robert Webb, Django Wexler
Review: THE SEVENTH PERFECTION by Daniel Polansky (Tor.com)
An excellent new mystery novella about memory
When a woman with perfect memory sets out to solve a riddle, the threads she tugs on could bring a whole city crashing down. The God-King who made her is at risk, and his other servants will do anything to stop her.
To become the God-King’s Amanuensis, Manet had to master all seven perfections, developing her body and mind to the peak of human performance. She remembers everything that has happened to her, in absolute clarity, a gift that will surely drive her mad. But before she goes, Manet must unravel a secret which threatens not only the carefully prepared myths of the God-King’s ascent, but her own identity and the nature of truth itself.
I’ve been a fan of Daniel Polansky’s writing ever since his debut, The Straight Razor Cure, was published in the UK. The Seventh Perfection is his second novella for Tor.com (following the superb The Builders), and I’m very happy to report that it absolutely met my very high expectations. Continue reading
Upcoming: THE SEVENTH PERFECTION by Daniel Polansky (Tor.com)
Long-time readers of CR will know that I am a big fan of Daniel Polansky‘s work. His Low Town trilogy is one of my favourite fantasy series, and mixes grimdark fantasy stylings with noir-ish crime/mystery. (If you haven’t had a chance to read these, yet, then I highly recommend you give the series a try.) In 2015, Tor.com published his first novella, The Builders — an excellent fantasy novella that took a Brian Jacques-style fantasy world and plonked it firmly in the grimdark sub-genre. Later this year, the publisher will release The Seventh Perfection, a new novella that not only has a stunning cover, but also sounds fantastic:
When a woman with perfect memory sets out to solve a riddle, the threads she tugs on could bring a whole city crashing down. The God-King who made her is at risk, and his other servants will do anything to stop her.
To become the God-King’s Amanuensis, Manet had to master all seven perfections, developing her body and mind to the peak of human performance. She remembers everything that has happened to her, in absolute clarity, a gift that will surely drive her mad. But before she goes, Manet must unravel a secret which threatens not only the carefully prepared myths of the God-King’s ascent, but her own identity and the nature of truth itself.
Easily one of my most-anticipated books of the year, I can’t wait to read this. The Seventh Perfection is due to be published by Tor.com in North America and in the UK, on September 22nd, 2020.
Also on CR: Interview with Daniel Polansky (2011); Reviews of Straight Razor Cure, Tomorrow the Killing, She Who Waits, The Builders, and A City Dreaming
Review: A CITY DREAMING by Daniel Polansky (Regan Arts/Hodder)
A marvellous, gonzo urban fantasy
M is an ageless drifter with a sharp tongue, few scruples, and the ability to bend reality to his will, ever so slightly. He’s come back to New York City after a long absence, and though he’d much rather spend his days drinking artisanal beer in his favorite local bar, his old friends — and his enemies — have other plans for him. One night M might find himself squaring off against the pirates who cruise the Gowanus Canal; another night sees him at a fashionable uptown charity auction where the waitstaff are all zombies. A subway ride through the inner circles of hell? In M’s world, that’s practically a pleasant diversion.
Before too long, M realizes he’s landed in the middle of a power struggle between Celise, the elegant White Queen of Manhattan, and Abilene, Brooklyn’s hip, free-spirited Red Queen, a rivalry that threatens to make New York go the way of Atlantis. To stop it, M will have to call in every favor, waste every charm, and blow every spell he’s ever acquired—he might even have to get out of bed before noon.
Enter a world of Wall Street wolves, slumming scenesters, desperate artists, drug-induced divinities, pocket steampunk universes, and demonic coffee shops. M’s New York, the infinite nexus of the universe, really is a city that never sleeps — but is always dreaming.
This is a very different kind of fantasy to Daniel Polansky’s debut Low Town series. For one thing, it’s set in New York. Only, it is certainly not the New York you are likely to know. A City Dreaming is wonderfully weird and extremely inventive. I very much enjoyed this. Continue reading
New Books (April-May)
Featuring: Gillian Anderson, Neal Asher, James Bennett, Ezekiel Boone, Brom, Terry Brooks, Lily Brooks-Dalton, Karl Brown, Caleb Carr, Blake Charlton, Paul Cornell, Paul Crilley, Jan Fedarcyk, Jenni Fagan, Mike French, Teresa Frohock, Frank Gardner, Claudia Gray, Grady Hendrix, Lindsey Lee Johnson, Jo Jordan, Richard Kadrey, Guy Gavriel Kay, Paul Kearney, Taylor Larsen, Edward Lazellari, Yoon Ha Le, Ava Marsh, Michael J. Martinez, Imbolo Mbue, Andy McNab, Graham McNeill, Sylvain Neuvel, Paige Orwin, Daniel Polansky, Terry Pratchett, Tarn Richardson, Gene Riehl, Jeff Rovin, John Sandford, Yvonne Sewall-Ruskin, Anne Valente, Ben Winters, Chris Wraight
Above Picture: Crop of Saga #36, by Fiona Staples (Image)
Upcoming: A CITY DREAMING by Daniel Polansky (Hodder/Regan Arts)
Well, this is certainly one of my most-anticipated novels of the year! I loved Daniel Polansky’s Low Town trilogy, and A City Dreaming looks equally fantastic. Here’s the synopsis:
M is an ageless drifter with a sharp tongue, few scruples, and the ability to bend reality to his will, ever so slightly. He’s come back to New York City after a long absence, and though he’d much rather spend his days drinking artisanal beer in his favorite local bar, his old friends — and his enemies — have other plans for him. One night M might find himself squaring off against the pirates who cruise the Gowanus Canal; another night sees him at a fashionable uptown charity auction where the waitstaff are all zombies. A subway ride through the inner circles of hell? In M’s world, that’s practically a pleasant diversion.
Before too long, M realizes he’s landed in the middle of a power struggle between Celise, the elegant White Queen of Manhattan, and Abilene, Brooklyn’s hip, free-spirited Red Queen, a rivalry that threatens to make New York go the way of Atlantis. To stop it, M will have to call in every favor, waste every charm, and blow every spell he’s ever acquired—he might even have to get out of bed before noon.
Enter a world of Wall Street wolves, slumming scenesters, desperate artists, drug-induced divinities, pocket steampunk universes, and demonic coffee shops. M’s New York, the infinite nexus of the universe, really is a city that never sleeps — but is always dreaming.
A City Dreaming is due to be published in October by Hodder (UK) and Regan Arts (US).
Civilian Reader 