Upcoming: LUNA – NEW MOON by Ian McDonald (Tor)

February 9, 2015February 10, 2015 Civilian Reader Upcoming Gollancz, Ian McDonald, Luna, Most Anticipated 2015, New Moon, Sci-Fi, Tor Books

I haven’t read as much of Ian McDonald‘s work as I think I should have. After spotting the cover reveal for this on Twitter, though, I think I’ll be making sure to read at least one of his novels this year. Luna: New Moon is the first in a duology from multi-award-winning British author. I’ve spoken to someone who’s read it, and they say it’s amazing. Here’s the synopsis:

The scions of a falling house must navigate a world of corporate warfare to maintain their family’s status in the Moon’s vicious political atmosphere

The Moon wants to kill you. Whether it’s being unable to pay your per diem for your allotted food, water, and air, or you just get caught up in a fight between the Moon’s ruling corporations, the Five Dragons. You must fight for every inch you want to gain in the Moon’s near feudal society. And that is just what Adriana Corta did.

As the leader of the Moon’s newest “dragon,” Adriana has wrested control of the Moon’s Helium3 industry from the Mackenzie Metal corporation and fought to earn her family’s new status. Now, at the twilight of her life, Adriana finds her corporation, Corta Helio, surrounded by the many enemies she made during her meteoric rise. If the Corta family is to survive, Adriana’s five children must defend their mother’s empire from her many enemies… and each other.

Luna: New Moon is published in the US by Tor Books, and in the UK by Gollancz.

UPDATE (2/10): This morning, Gollancz unveiled their cover for Luna. It’s a wonderfully sharp image (I hope it comes through in the image below). I also really like that the letters in “Luna” have their own moons:

Quick Review: THE CITY STAINED RED by Sam Sykes (Orbit/Gollancz)

February 4, 2015February 4, 2015 Civilian Reader Review City Stained Red, Fantasy, Gollancz, Must Read 2015, Orbit, Sam Sykes

The start of a new trilogy: better, funnier, great place to start

Long before he was sent to hell, the Aeon known as Khoth-Kapira was the closest thing to a living god the world had ever known. Possessed of a vast intellect, he pioneered many of the wonders that persist in the world long after he was banished. Nearly every fragment of medical, economic and technological progress that the mortal races enjoyed could be traced back to him. But with his wonders came cruelty beyond measure: industrialised slavery, horrifying experimentations and a rage that would eventually force the world to bow to him.

Now, as Khoth-Kapira stirs, the world begins to shudder with disasters yet to come.The epicenter is the city of Cier’Djaal. A religious war between two unstoppable military juggernauts begins to brew. The racial fury among many peoples of the world is about to explode. Demons begin to pour from the shadows at the head of a vicious cult worshipping dark powers.

And Lenk finds himself in the middle once more, his fate and the fate of Khoth-Kapira interlinked as the demon attempts to convince him of his earnestness.

“Your world is breaking around you,” He Who Makes says, “let me fix it. Let me help you. Let me out.”

Sam Sykes is one of my favourite fantasy authors. His novels are great, big, fun slabs of dark, tongue-in-cheek fantasy with plenty of conventions turned on their heads. The City Stained Red is the first novel in a new trilogy, set in the same world and featuring the same characters as his Aeons Gate trilogy. However, it is also a great jumping-on point, if you haven’t read the first three novels. Continue reading →

New Books (Jan-Feb 2015)

January 24, 2015August 23, 2018 Civilian Reader New Books 4th Estate, Ally Carter, Ben Tripp, Caitlin Kittredge, Chris Evans, Dave Bara, Del Rey, Del Rey UK, Dick Wolf, Douglas Coupland, EJ Swift, Erika Johansen, Erika Swyler, Gallery, Gollancz, Hammer, Harper, Ian Tregillis, JL Bourne, Maria Dahvana Headley, Mark Stay, Mats Strandberg, Michael Moorcok, Naomi Novik, Neil Gaiman, Orbit, Patricia Briggs, Peter V Brett, Royce Scott Buckingham, Sara B. Elfgren, Thomas Dunne, Thomas Dunne Books, Titan Books, Voyager, Wayne Gladstone, Will Wiles

Featuring: Dave Bara, J.L. Bourne, Peter V. Brett, Patricia Briggs, Royce Scott Buckingham, Ally Carter, Sara B. Elfgren, Chris Evans, Neil Gaiman, Wayne Gladstone, Erika Johansen, Caitlin Kittredge, Michael Moorcock, Naomi Novik, Mats Strandberg, Mark Stay, E.J. Swift, Erika Swyler, Ian Tregillis, Ben Tripp, Will Wiles, Dick Wolf Continue reading →

New WOLFHOUND CENTURY Covers…

January 12, 2015 Civilian Reader Covers, Upcoming Alternative History, Fantasy, Gollancz, Peter Higgins, Radiant State, Russia, Truth and Fear, Wolfhound Century

With the third installment fast approaching, Gollancz unveiled today a new cover style for Peter Higgins‘s excellent Wolfhound Century series. And it’s a pretty striking style, to say the least:

Book 1 – Wolfhound Century

Book 2 – Truth and Fear

Book 3 – Radiant State

The new editions are due to be published in April 2015. I may have to buy the first two again, so they look all nice on my shelves… I have shared the cover and details for Radiant State already, but I thought it would be nice to have them all together in one place. You can read my review of Wolfhound Century, here. In case you’ve missed the series, here’s the synopsis for the first in the series:

A thousand miles east of Mirgorod, the great capital city of the Vlast, deep in the ancient forest, lies the most recent fallen angel, its vast stone form half-buried and fused into the rock by the violence of impact. As its dark energy leeches into the crash site, so a circle of death expands around it, slowly – inexorably – killing everything it touches. Alone in the wilderness, it reaches out with its mind.

The endless forest and its antique folk lore are no concern to Inspector Vissarion Lom, summoned to the capital in order to catch a terrorist – and ordered to report directly to the head of the secret police. A totalitarian state, worn down by an endless war, must be seen to crush home-grown terrorism with an iron fist. But Lom discovers Mirgorod to be more corrupted than he imagined: a murky world of secret police and revolutionaries, cabaret clubs and doomed artists. Lom has been chosen because he is an outsider, not involved in the struggle for power within the party. And because of the sliver of angel stone implanted in his head at the children’s home.

Lom’s investigation reveals a conspiracy that extends to the top echelons of the party. When he exposes who – or rather what – is the controlling intelligence behind this, it is time for the detective to change sides. Pursued by rogue police agents and their man-crushing mudjhik, Lom must protect Kantor’s step-daughter Maroussia, who has discovered what is hidden beneath police headquarters: a secret so ancient that only the forest remembers. As they try to escape the capital and flee down river, elemental forces are gathering. The earth itself is on the move.

UK Competition: STEELHEART and FIREFIGHT by Brandon Sanderson!

January 8, 2015January 7, 2015 Civilian Reader Giveaway Brandon Sanderson, Dystopia, Firefight, Gollancz, Reckoners, Sci-Fi, Steelheart, Super-Heroes, UK Competion

Those lovely folks at Gollancz have provided a copy of Brandon Sanderson‘s Steelheart and Firefight for me to give away to one lucky reader in the UK. (Sorry to those of you not from the UK… I’ll try to organise an international giveaway ASAP.) Not sure what the series is about? Well, here’s the synopsis for Steelheart:

Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills.

Nobody fights the Epics… nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.

And David wants in. He wants Steelheart – the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David’s father. For years, like the Reckoners, David’s been studying, and planning – and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.

He’s seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

I enjoyed Steelheart, and also the short story set between the two novels, Mitosis. I’m really looking forward to reading Firefight.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning this action-packed bundle is… leave a comment or email me, and I’ll pick the winner at random on Sunday night. The winner will be notified on Monday morning.

Upcoming: Sarah Pinborough’s FAIRY TALES Trilogy (Titan US)

December 15, 2014December 15, 2014 Civilian Reader Upcoming Beauty, Charm, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Gollancz, Jo Fletcher Books, Novellas, Poison, Sarah Pinborough, Titan Books

I am a big fan of Sarah Pinborough‘s writing — especially the upcoming The Death House (Gollancz), The Language of Dying and Mayhem (Jo Fletcher Books). Already available in the UK, Pinborough’s Fairy Tales trilogy of updated, alternative interpretations of classic stories — Poison, Charm and Beauty — will be published in the US by Titan Books. The books will be published over three months, March-May 2015. Very few details available at the moment on Titan’s US website, but Poison is a retelling of the Snow White tale, Charm is a retelling of Cinderella, and Beauty a retelling of Sleeping Beauty.

I quite like the new US covers — quite different from the original UK hardback and paperback covers (published by Gollancz):

Gollancz to Publish Dan Abnett’s THE WIELD in 2016

December 3, 2014December 3, 2014 Civilian Reader News, Random, Upcoming Dan Abnett, Fantasy, Gollancz, Most Anticipated 2016, Wield

This is pretty great news: Gollancz announced today that they have acquired rights to publish a trilogy of “self-contained action-packed heroic fantasies” by Dan Abnett.

Abnett has been a prolific writer for Black Library (primarily where I know him from), 2000AD (where I first read his work),* and multiple comics publishers. His first original fiction was published by Angry Robot Books — Triumff, which was a rather fun swashbuckler. Long-time readers of CR will know that I’m a big fan of his contributions to Black Library’s Horus Heresy series as well as the long-running Gaunt’s Ghosts series (the latest of which, Warmaster, should be out pretty soon). Abnett’s run on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is also the story the recent mega-popular movie was based on.

There’s no official synopsis available, just yet, but here’s the press release’s description of the series:

The highly original THE WIELD trilogy takes place in a human-populated society with a vivid dark ages culture. Following an ancient and elite band of warriors, THE WIELD books are dynamic heroic fantasy adventures packed with vivid action and bloody battles. The flawed but engaging characters and the enthralling premise with a clever twist, will appeal to readers of Dan Abnett’s bestselling Black Library books, and fans of David Gemmell and dynamic heroic fantasy.

I am quite looking forward to this. The three novels will be published between November 2016-18. So, it’s still quite a long wait… But it never hurts to have something to look forward to.

In the meantime, I’d recommend you check out First & Only, Horus Rising and Xenos (published by Black Library), Embedded (Angry Robot) and The New Deadwardians (Vertigo Comics) — just a small selection of his work, but probably my favourites and good starting points.

* I can’t remember if it was Sinister Dexter or Durham Red that I read first, but I liked them enough to make a note of the author’s name. Both were very good.

Review: THE DEATH HOUSE by Sarah Pinborough (Gollancz)

December 1, 2014December 4, 2014 Civilian Reader Review Death House, Dystopia, Fiction, Gollancz, Must Read 2015, Sarah Pinborough, YA

Another great short novel

Toby’s life was perfectly normal… until it was unravelled by something as simple as a blood test.

Taken from his family, Toby now lives in the Death House; an out-of-time existence far from the modern world, where he, and the others who live there, are studied by Matron and her team of nurses. They’re looking for any sign of sickness. Any sign of their wards changing. Any sign that it’s time to take them to the sanatorium.

No one returns from the sanatorium.

Withdrawn from his house-mates and living in his memories of the past, Toby spends his days fighting his fear. But then a new arrival in the house shatters the fragile peace, and everything changes.

Because everybody dies. It’s how you choose to live that counts.

What happens when kids and teens are thrown together in a situation, under minimal supervision, knowing they’ve not got long to live? This is, basically, what The Death House is about. The kids are “defectives”, guaranteed to get sick and be disappeared in the night, whisked away to the sanatorium never to return. This novel gives us a brief glimpse into the lives and minds of the doomed teens. It’s a moving, brilliantly written book. Continue reading →

Upcoming: RADIANT STATES by Peter Higgins (Gollancz/Orbit)

December 1, 2014 Civilian Reader Upcoming Fantasy, Gollancz, Orbit Books, Peter Higgins, Radiant State, Russia, Urban Fantasy, Wolfhound Century

I really enjoyed Peter Higgins‘s first novel, Wolfhound Century. I haven’t got around to reading the sequel, Truth And Fear, but it is inching up my TBR mountain. In the meantime, I spotted this cover on Gollancz’s website, and thought I’d share it. While the publisher’s page didn’t have a lot of information, I did some digging and it turns out that this is the third novel in the Wolfhound series. While digging, I also found the cover for the US edition (below), which will be published by Orbit Books. As for a synopsis…? Well, this is all I was able to come up with:

IN THE WAR BETWEEN THE ANGELS AND THE STATE, THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE VICTOR.

Radiant State will be published May 19th by Orbit in the US, and May 21st by Gollancz in the UK.

Incredibly, someone has already rated it 1* on Goodreads… What a tool.

New Books (November #1)

November 17, 2014August 23, 2018 Civilian Reader New Books Abaddon, Ace Books, Adaptive Studios, Ben Aaronovitch, Ben Okri, EC Myers, Francesca Haig, Gallery, Gollancz, Head of Zeus, Matthew Reilly, Myke Cole, Simon and Schuster, Stephen Blackmoore, Stephen King

A quieter month — I don’t know if that’s just because there’s less coming out, or because I’ve somehow missed a bunch of new releases that never made it on to my radar. Feel free to add suggestions and recommendations in the comments, if you think I’ve missed something I shouldn’t have.

Featuring: Ben Aaronovitch, Stephen Blackmoore, Myke Cole, Francesca Haig, Stephen King, E.C. Myers, Ben Okri, Matthew Reilly Continue reading →