Fantasy

Quick Review: THE VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS by Neil Gaiman (William Morrow/Headline)

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GaimanN-ViewFromTheCheapSeatsUSA must-read collection of essays

An enthralling collection of nonfiction essays on a myriad of topics — from art and artists to dreams, myths, and memories — observed in #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman’s probing, amusing, and distinctive style.

An inquisitive observer, thoughtful commentator, and assiduous craftsman, Neil Gaiman has long been celebrated for the sharp intellect and startling imagination that informs his bestselling fiction. Now, The View from the Cheap Seats brings together for the first time ever more than sixty pieces of his outstanding nonfiction. Analytical yet playful, erudite yet accessible, this cornucopia explores a broad range of interests and topics, including (but not limited to): authors past and present; music; storytelling; comics; bookshops; travel; fairy tales; America; inspiration; libraries; ghosts; and the title piece, at turns touching and self-deprecating, which recounts the author’s experiences at the 2010 Academy Awards in Hollywood.

Insightful, incisive, witty, and wise, The View from the Cheap Seats explores the issues and subjects that matter most to Neil Gaiman — offering a glimpse into the head and heart of one of the most acclaimed, beloved, and influential artists of our time.

What to say about a collection of excellent and far-ranging essays? It would be easy to pick through many of my favourites, and quote Gaiman at length, but I’m not sure that would make for a very good/interesting review. So, I’ll keep this very short instead.

GaimanN-ViewFromTheCheapSeatsUKIf you have any interest in Gaiman’s thought-processes when it comes to art, creativity, books, popular culture, specific works… Then you will undoubtedly find something fascinating in The View From The Cheap Seats. It’s a substantial collection of essays and speech transcripts. There is some overlap between certain pieces, which I thought was interesting — giving us some insight into those authors and books that most influenced Gaiman, and also the issues that have been most important to him at certain points during his career.

At no point was it a slog to get through, but it works just as well as both a binge-read and a book to dip in-and-out of at your leisure.

Erudite, informed, passionate, and sometimes amusing. This is an excellent collection. Very highly recommended.

*

The View from the Cheap Seats is published on May 31st, 2016, in North America by William Morrow, and in the UK by Headline.

Upcoming: SKULLSWORN by Brian Staveley (Tor)

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StaveleyB-SkullswornUSJust stumbled across this in Tor’s new catalogue: a stand-alone novel set in Brian Staveley‘s Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne universe! Skullsworn is due to be published in the US by Tor Books, in April 2017 (so far away…). Here’s the synopsis:

Pyrre Lakatur doesn’t like the word skullsworn. It fails to capture the faith and grace, the peace and beauty of her devotion to the God of Death. She is not, to her mind, an assassin, not a murderer — she is a priestess. At least, she will be a priestess if she manages to pass her final trial. 

The problem isn’t the killing. Pyrre has been killing and training to kill, studying with some of the most deadly men and women in the world, since she was eight. The problem, strangely, is love. To pass her Trial, Pyrre has ten days to kill the ten people enumerated in an ancient song, including “the one you love / who will not come again.”

Pyrre is not sure she’s ever been in love. If she were a member of a different religious order, a less devoted, disciplined order, she might cheat. The Priests of Ananshael, however, don’t look kindly on cheaters. If Pyrre fails to find someone to love, or fails to kill that someone, they will give her to the god.

Pyrre’s not afraid to die, but she hates to quit, hates to fail, and so, with a month before her trial begins, she returns to the city of her birth, the place where she long ago offered an abusive father to the god and abandoned a battered brother — in the hope of finding love… and ending it on the edge of her sword.

Really looking forward to this. Will have to finish the first trilogy first, of course. Skullsworn is also due to be published in the UK by Tor Books (they also published the author’s debut trilogy) — not cover, yet.

Interview with EDWARD LAZELLARI

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Lazellari-AuthorPicLet’s start with an introduction: Who is Ed Lazellari?

Ed Lazellari is a fiction writer who believes he looks like John Lennon, but suspects others think he looks like Ringo. Ed really enjoys speaking of himself in the third person. If Ed was a Seinfeld character, he’d be the guy who makes George look good.

Your Guardians of Aandor is published by Tor Books. The first novel, Awakenings, is out now, with two more on the way. The series looks really interesting: How would you introduce it to a potential reader?

What if Bran or Arya Stark, in trying to get away from their enemies came to our world and hid out? And what if those enemies from Westeros got wind of it and came over to get them? Throw in some guardians sworn to protect a boy prince, wizards, amnesia, and you have Awakenings. The Guardians of Aandor is a hodgepodge of the literature I love. It’s a portal fantasy, urban fantasy, adventure, and a mystery. It’s Harry Potter meets Game of Thrones. Continue reading →

Guest Review: UPDRAFT by Fran Wilde (Tor)

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WildeF-B1-UpdraftUSPBWelcome to a world of wind and bone, songs and silence, betrayal and courage.

Kirit Densira cannot wait to pass her wingtest and begin flying as a trader by her mother’s side, being in service to her beloved home tower and exploring the skies beyond. When Kirit inadvertently breaks Tower Law, the city’s secretive governing body, the Singers, demand that she become one of them instead. In an attempt to save her family from greater censure, Kirit must give up her dreams to throw herself into the dangerous training at the Spire, the tallest, most forbidding tower, deep at the heart of the City.

As she grows in knowledge and power, she starts to uncover the depths of Spire secrets. Kirit begins to doubt her world and its unassailable Laws, setting in motion a chain of events that will lead to a haunting choice, and may well change the city forever-if it isn’t destroyed outright.

Reviewed by Ryan Frye

Upon its release, Updraft enjoyed a fair amount of positive buzz from SF/F critics and reviewers that I respect, and when it popped up on numerous “Best Books of 2015” lists, I knew I had to give it a read. When a book receives such widespread hype, my anticipation tends to ratchet up. First and foremost, I was very intrigued by the idea of a city made out of living bones, where humans live far above the ground and get around by flying. This set my imagination running, and I was excited to find out what exactly brought the situation into being. Furthermore, I tend to prefer books written in first person perspective, so this seemed like it would be a perfect read. Continue reading →

Guest Post: “Eye of the Spider” by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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TchaikovskyA-AuthorPicWe humans encounter the world through a very limited set of senses, compared to much of the animal kingdom. Our visual acuity is good but our ability to see colours is crippled by nocturnal ancestors. Birds, reptiles and many grounds of invertebrates see far more bands in the rainbow (if there was a mantis shrimp pride march their flags would be incredible). Our hearing and smell are the shame of Mammalia. What to us is a satisfactory baseline would make dogs cringe with embarassment.

This is my first go-to when approaching a non-human character: the window on the world that the senses give. Obviously there’s more than that, but neuroscience and cultural tropes and the like are all going to be strongly influenced by the tools an entity has to perceive its surroundings. Continue reading →

Review(ish): SERIOUSLY FUNNY — THE ENDLESSLY QUOTABLE TERRY PRATCHETT (Doubleday)

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PratchettT-SeriouslyFunnyUKAn indispensable, but by no means exhaustive collection

‘I’ll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there’s evidence of any thinking going on inside it.’

The most quotable writer of our time, Terry Pratchett’s unique brand of wit made him both a bestseller and an enduring, endearing source of modern wisdom. This collection is filled with his funniest and most memorable words about life, the universe and snoring.

How does one review a short book of quotations? I’m not going to include my favourites from the book, as that might defeat some of the purpose of other people picking it up. To be sure, the book is both funny and profound; clever and witty. It made me miss Pratchett (even though I never met him, but feel like I was getting to know him through interviews and 20+ years of reading his fiction). It certainly made me laugh. It made me wonder why there weren’t more quotations from Death. It made me want to read all of the Discworld novels again. It reminded me of how much I love his novels.

This is a must-have for all fans of Terry Pratchett. It may also inspire newbies to check out some of his work. (Start with Guards! Guards! — I’ve bought it for five different people, all of whom became avid Pratchett fans.)

Highly recommended. Seriously Funny is out now, published in the UK by Doubleday.

Feel free to share some of your favourite Pratchett quotations in the comments, if you like.

Interview with HELEN LOWE

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LoweH-AuthorPicLet’s start with an introduction, for new readers: Who is Helen Lowe?

Thank you, for hosting me on Civilian Reader, Stefan. In terms of “who I am”: I’m a novelist, poet, and occasional interviewer. So far, the only idea I’ve ever had for a novel has come to me in speculative fiction mode, i.e. as fantasy, science fiction, or legendary history, but I write short fiction in a wider range of genres. Outside of writing, I live in “Middle Earth”, aka New Zealand, and I am interested in a range of “stuff”, from astronomy and history, through martial arts, to wine – especially NZ wines – and making and consuming food, the latter in the company of friends whenever possible.

Your latest novel, Daughter of Blood, was published earlier this year by Orbit (UK) and Voyager (US). It’s the third in your fantasy series, but how would you introduce the series to a potential reader?

Well, the Twitter-length synopsis for the series is that it’s a story about a people who believe themselves to be champions of good but are divided by prejudice, suspicion, and fear. (Not to mention xenophobic, socially rigid, and prone to fratricidal blood feuds.) They are also alien to the world they inhabit (Haarth), so there’s an SF-nal element there. The Wall of Night series is a single story told in four distinct parts, but it centres on a young woman, Malian of Night (think ‘princess’, not ‘farm girl’), who must attempt to reunite her fractured people (the Derai) and restore their abandoned magic, as well as building alliances with the other cultures of Haarth, in order to prevent the world being destroyed by (another) alien invader. Continue reading →

Excerpt: SILENT HALL by N.S. Dolkart (Angry Robot Books)

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DolkartNS-SilentHallSilent Hall is N.S. Dolkart‘s debut novel, and it sounds like a fun, epic fantasy adventure:

Five bedraggled refugees and a sinister wizard awaken a dragon and defy the gods.

After their homeland is struck with a deadly plague, five refugees cross the continent searching for answers. Instead they find Psander, a wizard whose fortress is invisible to the gods, and who is willing to sacrifice anything – and anyone – to keep the knowledge of the wizards safe.

With Psander as their patron, the refugees cross the mountains, brave the territory of their sworn enemies, confront a hostile ocean and even traverse the world of the fairies in search of magic powerful enough to save themselves – and Psander’s library – from the wrath of the gods.

All they need to do is to rescue an imprisoned dragon and unleash a primordial monster upon the world.

How hard could it be?

Silent Hall is due to be published by Angry Robot Books at the beginning of June 2016. To celebrate the upcoming release, they have allowed me to share the first two chapters. You can also find out more about the author and his work by checking out his website, and following him on Twitter and Goodreads.

Continue reading →

Catching Up with FRAN WILDE

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WildeF-AuthorPicYour next novel, Cloudbound, is the follow-up to Updraft and due out in September 2016. What can fans of the first novel expect from the new book?

Where Updraft was in some ways about voice — and who speaks, who is heard, and who is not, Cloudbound shifts to a new focus, and a new narrator: Nat.

After the events in Updraft, Nat’s learning how to be a leader, and the benefits and costs of doing so. Politics in the city of living bone are more complex than ever, as are relationships — Nat’s and Kirit’s friendship is tested beyond the breaking point, as is Nat’s understanding of how the city works.

Where Updraft was a story above the clouds, Cloudbound — well, the title tells you a lot about where we’re headed. And yup, more monsters. Big ones. Continue reading →

Upcoming: CITY OF MIRACLES by Robert Jackson Bennett

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BennettRJ-3-CityOfMiraclesUK

Spotted this a few minutes ago, and shared it on Twitter, but I wanted to pop this cover on the site, too: the third novel in Robert Jackson Bennett‘s Divine Cities series, CITY OF MIRACLES! Easily one of my most-anticipated novels of 2017 (it’s out in January), it’ll be published in the UK by Jo Fletcher Books (and Crown in the US). Here’s the synopsis (possible spoilers):

Sigrud je Harkvaldsson is back, and this time he’s out for vengeance.

Shara Komayd, once Prime Minister of Saypur, has been assassinated. News travels fast and far, even to a remote logging town somewhere northwest of Bulikov, where the silent, shaven-headed Dreyling worker ‘Bjorn’ picks up the newspaper and walks out. He is shocked and grieved and furious; he’s been waiting thirteen years for Shara, his closest friend, to reach out to him — to tell him to come home. He’s always believed she was running a long operation, that there would be a role for him at the right time. Now he has no one else in his life, and nothing to live for — except to find the people who did this.

Sigrud wasn’t there for the death of his daughter Signe, and he wasn’t there when his old comrade Shara was murdered. Now Bjorn is dead and Sigrud is back. And he will find answers, for Shara, and for himself. He’s made a promise…

Jo Fletcher Books have also published the first two books in the series: City of Stairs and City of Blades.

Also on CR: Interview with Robert Jackson Bennett; Guest Post on “City of Stairs & the Super Tropey Fantasy Checklist”; Excerpt from City of Stairs; Reviews of The Company Man and City of Stairs

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