Fantasy

Guest Post: “Saving the World — With a Little Help From Friends” by Gail Z. Martin

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0061-eWomenNetworkWhen the chips are down and you’ve got monsters on every side and the fate of the world hangs in the balance, you need to know you’ve got good friends watching your back.

And if those friends include two people learning to wield powerful magic and a nearly 600 year-old vampire, your odds of winning — and surviving — just went up.

Welcome to the world of my Deadly Curiosities urban fantasy series including Vendetta, my new novel that just launched December 29. The series is set in historic, haunted Charleston, South Carolina. The main character, Cassidy Kincaide, is a psychometric who can read the history and magic of objects by touching them. She owns Trifles and Folly, an antique and curio shop with a few dangerous secrets. Continue reading →

Quick Review: A SONG FOR NO MAN’S LAND by Andy Remic (Tor.com)

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RemicA-WWI1-ASongForNoMansLandA weird, imaginative World War I urban fantasy tale

He signed up to fight with visions of honour and glory, of fighting for king and country, of making his family proud at long last.

But on a battlefield during the Great War, Robert Jones is shot, and wonders how it all went so very wrong, and how things could possibly get any worse.

He’ll soon find out. When the attacking enemy starts to shapeshift into a nightmarish demonic force, Jones finds himself fighting an impossible war against an enemy that shouldn’t exist.

This novella is the first in a projected series by Andy Remic. It is a really interesting, creepy take on the First World War. Told from the perspective of a volunteer, alternating between narrative and diary entries (for the main). The novella recounts the difficulties and horrors of the Front, the and the intense confusion warfare.

Add to this, though, a touch of horror and fantasy myth, and Remic has come up with an original take on war fiction. There were a few times when the story felt a little confusing, but I think that was intentional — our hero doesn’t always know what is actually going on, and the creatures he believes he keeps seeing are monstrous. Is his mind just creating a lie to explain the nature of war? Or is he really faced with monsters from childhood myth and nightmare?

A Song for No Man’s Land is a really interesting start to a new series. This novella is very much setting up the world and premise for the series to come, and ends on quite a tantalizing moment. I think this should have pretty broad appeal. Recommended.

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Also on CR: Interview with Andy Remic

A Song for No Man’s Land is published by Tor.com next month. The next two novellas in the series — Return of Souls and Iron Beast — will also be published by Tor.com. Here are the covers (provisional, I think):

RemicA-WWISeries1to3

Interview with LAWRENCE M. SCHOEN

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SchoenLM-AuthorPicLet’s start with an introduction: Who is Lawrence M. Schoen?

What? I thought you knew? Isn’t that why you invited me here? Hmm… this is why they give me those little table tents with my name at conventions, right?

Okay, more seriously I’m yet another overeducated, middle-aged, heterosexual, nearsighted, overweight, bearded, bespectacled, egocentric white male. You know, like usual.

Your new novel, Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard, has been published by Tor Books. It looks rather fantastic: How would you introduce it to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

I made up postcards to describe the novel in under 20 words. Ready?

Prophecy. Intolerance. Loyalty. Conspiracy. Friendship.

A Drug for Speaking to the Dead.

Also Elephants, in Space. Continue reading →

Eight Anticipated Voyager Titles…

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VoyagerUK-Early2016

While looking for another book, I stumbled across a couple of covers for upcoming Voyager covers. For some reason, I haven’t read many books published by Voyager for some time, despite them publishing some of my favourites — for example, Peter V. Brett, Richard Kadrey, Stacia Kane and Mark Lawrence. Whatever the reason, here (alphabetical-by-author) are some interesting-looking titles that will hit shelves this year — they are mainly UK releases, but I’ve included details for North American editions, too. [The publisher is publishing other interesting titles, of course, but I’ll share more of those in another post in the not-too-distant future.] Continue reading →

Covers: The Gorgeous UK Jackets of David Mitchell

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MitchellD-NewUK2016

Sceptre has published David Mitchell’s novels in the UK with some truly gorgeous covers (above) — it’s a little hard to tell which of these are recent re-jackets, but I’m pretty sure a number of them are new.

I have still not read anything by Mitchell. I really don’t know why, to be honest. Alyssa’s mother waxes lyrical about his novels on a weekly basis, and I have to say she has excellent taste (I also bought Slade House for her for Xmas). I’ve heard such great things from so very many people about The Bone Clocks, but apparently reading Slade House will point out that they are all (at least in some small way) connected.

Despite writing the other week that I wasn’t going to set any reading goals in 2016, maybe I should propose one: read David Mitchell.

Here are links to the books: Ghostwritten, number9dream, Cloud Atlas, Black Swan Green, The Thousand Lives of Jacob de Zoet and The Bone Clocks.

Want to Read: Simon R Green’s HAWK & FISHER Series

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GreenSR-Hawk&FisherOmnibusEds

I spotted on Twitter a few minutes ago that Simon R. Green’s Hawk & Fisher sword-and-sorcery series had been re-issued as two eBook omnibus editions by his literary agent, JABberwocky.*

I first stumbled across information about the series a couple of years ago, but the books slipped from my mind because they weren’t widely available in the UK at the time. Which was a pity, as I had been really in the mood for this kind of fantasy series. The two eBooks — The Swords of Haven and The Guards of Haven — are available through most major eBook vendors, in the UK and US (I’m assuming elsewhere, too). Here’s the synopsis for the first book:

Hawk and Fisher: partners, husband and wife, Captains in Haven’s City Guard. Known, respected, and mostly feared, Hawk and Fisher fight crime, pursue justice, and protect Haven with their unique blend of strength, steel, and razor-sharp instinct. Haven’s citizens have never needed their protection more. The city is a hotbed of violence and corruption, where the natural and supernatural constantly collide, ready to boil over at any moment. Hawk and Fisher have their work cut out for them — for even by daylight, Haven is a dark place.

Swords of Haven brings together the first three novels in New York Times bestselling author Simon R. Green’s beloved Hawk & Fisher series:

Hawk & Fisher — A high-level city official is murdered during a dinner party and Hawk and Fisher have only a few hours to find the killer among the guests, including powerful spell-casters, cunning politicians, Haven royalty, and the victim’s own wife. 

Winner Takes All — Hawk & Fisher grapple with dark magics, devious politicians, and deadly assassins when they’re assigned to protect James Adamant, a fiery young politician whose plan to root out Haven’s corruption makes him very popular…as a target. 

The God Killer — No one is safe in Haven, not even the Gods! When divine residents of the Street of Gods fall prey to a murderer, Hawk & Fisher must team up with an exclusive tactical unit to catch the killer before all hell breaks loose in Haven. 

This looks like a fun sword-and-sorcery series. Strongly considering picking it up. Anyone read them when they were first available?

* JABberwocky has an eBook division that is bringing out-of-print and print-only titles back into circulation as eBooks. Sometimes, it’s just for books not available in certain territories. It’s a great project/programme, and they have a lot of titles available that I had long given up being able to find. So, even if you dislike Amazon, they’ve done a good job of making eBooks a viable format, which has helped bring these titles back. Open Road Media do a similar thing, on a much larger scale.

Guest Review: THE TYRANT’S LAW by Daniel Abraham (Orbit)

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Abraham-D&C3-TyrantsLawThe Dagger and the Coin, book three

The great war cannot be stopped.

The tyrant Geder Palliako begins a conquest aimed at bringing peace to the world, though his resources are stretched too thin. When things go poorly, he finds a convenient target among the thirteen races and sparks a genocide.

Clara Kalliam, freed by having fallen from grace, remakes herself as a ‘loyal traitor’ and starts building an underground resistance movement that seeks to undermine Geder through those closest to him.

Cithrin bel Sarcour is apprenticing in a city that’s taken over by Antea, and uses her status as Geder’s one-time lover to cover up an underground railroad smuggling refugees to safety.

And Marcus Wester and Master Kit race against time and Geder Palliako’s men in an attempt to awaken a force that could change the fate of the world.

Reviewed by Ryan Frye

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become a much more discerning reader. I have to work a lot harder to carve out reading time these days, so I’m much more picky about what I read. My pickiness reaches even greater heights when it comes to book series. Let’s face it, if it is hard to commit time to one book, it is even harder to commit to three, four, five, or – if it is a Sanderson or Erikson series – ten or more books. But, here’s the catch: I love epic fantasy. So, I’ve adopted a stance where the author has to keep me interested in the series book after book after book. It’s no longer a case of, “Well I liked the first book in the series, so I gotta read ‘em all.” If a series isn’t up to snuff, I’m done. I’ll move on. Harsh, maybe, but there’s so many books out there that sound amazing! Anyway, Daniel Abraham has been doing his part of keeping me interested in his Dagger and Coin series, so I gotta do my part and keep reading.

I guess, since people don’t like spoilers, I should note here that there will be spoilers for books one and two in this review… Obviously. Continue reading →

Catch-Up Interview with EDWARD COX

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CoxEd-AuthorPic2015Your second novel, The Cathedral of Known Things, is out now, published by Gollancz. What can fans of The Relic Guild expect from the second novel?

The boundaries that were set up in the first book are broken down, and the universe is expanded. We see the Houses of the Aelfir for the first time, along with the Genii War. More of the secrets that were kept from the agents of the Relic Guild, and those they had to keep from each other, are revealed. There are some new characters, some new weapons, and one or two surprises along the way. All mixed in with the usual monsters, magic and mayhem, of course.

How did you find the writing process the second time around? Any particular challenges?

The old challenges were still there. The Relic Guild is a single story told over three books. It’s divided into two timeframes, separated by forty years. Planning the past and the present across three books could be hideously complicated at times. Having now finished the third book, The Watcher of Dead Time, I can honestly say that The Cathedral of Known Things was the hardest to write. Continue reading →

Quick Review: TWELVE KINGS by Bradley P. Beaulieu (Gollancz/DAW)

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BeaulieuB-1-TwelveKingsUKA fascinating new fantasy series

In the cramped west end of Sharakhai, the Amber Jewel of the Desert, Çeda fights in the pits to scrape a living. She, like so many in the city, pray for the downfall of the cruel, immortal Kings of Sharakhai, but she’s never been able to do anything about it. This all changes when she goes out on the night of Beht Zha’ir, the holy night when all are forbidden from walking the streets. It’s the night that the asirim, the powerful yet wretched creatures that protect the Kings from all who would stand against them, wander the city and take tribute. It is then that one of the asirim, a pitiful creature who wears a golden crown, stops Çeda and whispers long forgotten words into her ear. Çeda has heard those words before, in a book left to her by her mother, and it is through that one peculiar link that she begins to find hidden riddles left by her mother.

As Çeda begins to unlock the mysteries of that fateful night, she realizes that the very origin of the asirim and the dark bargain the Kings made with the gods of the desert to secure them may be the very key she needs to throw off the iron grip the Kings have had over Sharakhai. And yet the Kings are no fools — they’ve ruled the Shangazi for four hundred years for good reason, and they have not been idle. As Çeda digs into their past, and the Kings come closer and closer to unmasking her, Çeda must decide if she’s ready to face them once and for all.

I’m a fan of Beaulieu’s work. I haven’t read as much of it as I would like, but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read so far. Twelve Kings is no exception: it offers a big, sprawling new fantasy world and series, populated by interesting and diverse characters — with shades of the horrific to add extra flavour.
Continue reading →

Guest Post: “Writing Novels vs. RPGs” by F. Wesley Schneider

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SchneiderFW-AuthorPicWriting a novel, you’re telling your story. Writing an RPG adventure, you’re telling a thousand stories, none of which are yours. They’re both fantastic mediums, but they’re nothing alike.

I’ve been writing stories for roleplaying games like the Pathfinder RPG and Dungeons & Dragons for more than fifteen years, and as the editor-in-chief at Paizo Inc., my team and I create the former. While RPG players always love new options for their games, published adventures stand at a pinnacle of tabletop RPG design. These adventures look something like a giant outline, detailing monsters, settings, and the behavior of a story’s minor players. But main characters, those run by the game’s players, are complete mysteries. As the writer of an RPG adventure, you’re telling a story without knowing the main characters and have to predict various outcomes for every scenario. It sounds crazy — and it sort of is — but these stories are designed to allow players to create any characters they want and send them in to experience the adventure. Adding to the challenge, the adventure’s author isn’t the one telling players the story, that’s the Game Master’s responsibility. So, on top of these stories’ complexity, the author ultimately hands the story off to someone else to tell. It’s a challenging way to tell a story — and that’s before you even factor in that you have to include game rules. Continue reading →