Interview with LEO CAREW

April 9, 2018April 9, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview Debut 2018, Fantasy, Leo Carew, Orbit, Under the Northern Sky, Wildfire, Wolf

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Leo Carew?

I am a 26-year-old from London. I studied biological anthropology at university, which played a huge role in The Wolf. Outside of writing, I’m training to be an army doctor and am love exploration, particularly in the Arctic.

Your debut novel, The Wolf, will be published this month by Orbit (US) and Wildfire (UK). It looks interesting: How would you introduce it to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

It’s the first in a trilogy which imagines that more than one species of human survived the Ice Age. It follows a protagonist from an alternate race of people (the Anakim) after his father is killed in battle and he attempts to inherit the throne. At the same time he has to resist an invasion from another race of humans, forcing him to gather allies as fast as possible, and turn to some people he’d rather not… Continue reading →

Review: BEST SERVED COLD by Joe Abercrombie (Gollancz/Orbit)

April 5, 2018 Civilian Reader Review Best Served Cold, Fantasy, Gollancz, Grimdark, Joe Abercrombie, Orbit, World of the First Law

Abercrombie expands the World of the First Law

Springtime in Styria. And that means war. Springtime in Styria. And that means revenge.

There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white. While armies march, heads roll and cities burn, behind the scenes bankers, priests and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king.

War may be hell but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso’s employ, it’s a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular — a shade too popular for her employer’s taste. Betrayed, thrown down a mountain and left for dead, Murcatto’s reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die.

Her allies include Styria’s least reliable drunkard, Styria’s most treacherous poisoner, a mass-murderer obsessed with numbers and a Northman who just wants to do the right thing. Her enemies number the better half of the nation. And that’s all before the most dangerous man in the world is dispatched to hunt her down and finish the job Duke Orso started…

Springtime in Styria. And that means revenge.

Joe Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy is one of my favourites: a great story, fantastic characters, superb prose. For some reason, it took me a while to get around to reading Best Served Cold (originally published in 2008). I finally read it after taking a glance at the first pages, and being quickly drawn in by not only the author’s great prose, but also his gift for characterization. Unfortunately, though, I finished the novel with a very different feeling to that I had after finishing Last Argument of Kings… Continue reading →

Upcoming: FELIX CASTOR SERIES by Mike Carey (Re-Issues, Orbit)

January 29, 2018 Civilian Reader Uncategorized Dead Men's Boots, Felix Castor Series, Mike Carey, MR Carey, Naming of the Beasts, Orbit, Supernatural, The Devil You Know, Thicker Than Water, Thriller, Urban Fantasy, Vicious Circle

This year, Orbit is re-issuing Mike Carey‘s Felix Castor series: The Devil You Know, Vicious Circle, Dead Men’s Boots, Thicker Than Water and The Naming of the Beasts. Above and below are the new covers. Here’s the synopsis for the first novel:

Felix Castor is a freelance exorcist, and London is his stomping ground. It may seem like a good ghostbuster can charge what he likes and enjoy a hell of a lifestyle, but there’s a risk: sooner or later he’s going to take on a spirit that’s too strong for him.

When Castor accepts a seemingly simple ghost-hunting case at a museum in the shadowy heart of London, what should have been a perfectly straightforward exorcism is rapidly turning into the Who Can Kill Castor First Show, with demons and ghosts all keen to claim the big prize.

But that’s business as usual: Castor knows how to deal with the dead. It’s the living who piss him off…

Carey has recently been publishing as M.R. Carey, including the critically-acclaimed and best-selling The Girl With All the Gifts and its sequel, The Boy on the Bridge. The Felix Castor novels are published by Orbit in the US and UK.

Also on CR: Review of The Girl With All the Gifts

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter

(Very) Quick Review: OF GODS AND MEN by Stephen Aryan (Orbit)

January 29, 2018 Civilian Reader Review Age of Dread, Fantasy, Novella, Of Gods and Men, Orbit, Stephen Aryan

A prequel to the Age of Dread trilogy

The gruff and mysterious warrior known as Vargus has meant many things to many people over the course of his long life. But when he hears of a village suffering strange attacks in the dead of night, he must take up the role of the Gath — the people’s protector — once again, before any more children go missing.

Of Gods and Men is a very good introduction to the fantasy world Stephen Aryan has created. In this novella, we are introduced to Vargus, one of the main characters of the novels.

I enjoyed the novella — Vargus is an interesting protagonist, and through the mystery that is at the core of the story we learn a fair bit about him: who he is (albeit, with a fair bit of mystery remaining in place), what his motivations are, and what his relationship is to Lanny. To begin with, I was a little confused by certain things — who was who, for example, wasn’t immediately apparent, but I quickly oriented myself. Continue reading →

Review: AGE OF ASSASSINS by RJ Barker (Orbit)

November 30, 2017 Civilian Reader Review Age of Assassins, Fantasy, Most Anticipated 2017, Orbit, RJ Barker, Wounded Kingdom

An interesting new debut fantasy series

It’s a game of assassin versus assassin

Girton Club-foot has no family, a crippled leg, and is apprenticed to the best assassin in the land.

He’s learning the art of taking lives, but his latest mission tasks him with a far more difficult challenge: to save a life. Someone is trying to kill the heir to the throne, and it is up to Girton to uncover the traitor and prevent the prince’s murder — and his own.

This is the first new fantasy series that I’ve read in quite some time. In fact, it’s only the second this year (the other was Ed McDonald’s Blackwing). Long-time readers of CR may have noticed that I’ve been struggling with the genre for a while, but Age of Assassins really worked for me. This is the start of an interesting, engaging and entertaining new fantasy series. I’m really looking forward to the sequel. Continue reading →

Upcoming: ADRIFT by Rob Boffard (Orbit)

November 25, 2017November 25, 2017 Civilian Reader Upcoming Adrift, Most Anticipated 2018, Orbit, Rob Boffard, Sci-Fi

Next summer, a new sci-fi novel from Rob Boffard will be hitting shelves! Adrift is due to be published by Orbit, and it sounds pretty cool:

In the far reaches of space, a tour group embarks on what will be the trip of a lifetime – in more ways than one…

At Sigma Station, a remote mining facility and luxury hotel in deep space, a group of tourists boards a small vessel to take in the stunning views of the Horsehead Nebula.

But while they’re out there, a mysterious ship with devastating advanced technology attacks the station. Their pilot’s quick thinking means that the tourists escape with their lives – but as the dust settles, they realize they may be the only survivors . . .

Adrift in outer space on a vastly under equipped ship, they’ve got no experience, no weapons, no contact with civilization. They are way out of their depth, and if they can’t figure out how to work together, they’re never getting home alive.

Because the ship that destroyed the station is still out there. And it’s looking for them…

Adrift will be published in both the US and UK by Orbit next year. The author’s previous series, Outer Earth, is also published by Orbit in the US and UK.

Also on CR: Interview with Rob Boffard (2015); Guest Posts on “What to Do if You’re Set Adrift in Space” and “Rob Boffard Raps 64 SFF Books”; Review of Tracer

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter

Upcoming: AFTERWAR by Lilith Saintcrow (Orbit)

November 25, 2017 Civilian Reader Upcoming Afterwar, Dystopia, Lilith Saintcrow, Orbit, Sci-Fi

SaintcrowL-AfterwarUS In May 2018, Orbit is due to publish Lilith Saintcrow’s latest novel, Afterwar. I stumbled across it in a catalogue, and I think it looks rather interesting. Here’s the synopsis:

They say the war’s over when the surrender is signed. It’s a lie.

America’s bloody Second Civil War lasted for years. When the surrender is signed, it’s supposed to be over; refugees flood the highways, trying to get back home. For Swann’s Riders — especially their newest addition Lara Nelson, snatched from certain death in the Firster kamp system-there’s no such thing as a home to return to.

Swann and his crew of partisans work for the Federal Army now, hunting through the wreckage for war criminals and kamp officials. Their next quarry is carrying something explosive, something that can level the nascent Federal government and turn the entire continent into a hellscape — well, more than it already is.

Across America, working against time and chaos, Swann’s Riders are back in the fight. And Lara, whose secrets may well end up consuming her too, has a vengeance of her own to deliver…

Afterwar will be published by Orbit in the US and UK.

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter

Interview with CHRIS BROOKMYRE

November 10, 2017November 8, 2017 Civilian Reader Interview Chris Brookmyre, Most Anticipated 2017, Orbit, Places in the Darkness, Sci-Fi

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Chris Brookmyre?

I am a writer from Glasgow, Scotland, author of twenty-one novels, eighteen of them crime thrillers. My novel Black Widow won the 2016 McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year and in 2017 was named Theakstons Old Peculier British Crime Novel of the Year. As well as writing books, I collaborated with videogame developers RedBedlam to adapt my 2013 novel Bedlam into a first-person shooter that was released in 2015 on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

Your latest novel, Places in the Darkness, has recently been published by Orbit. It looks really interesting: How would you introduce it to a potential reader?

It is a thriller in the tradition of the great Shane Black movies like Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, about two mismatched investigators forced to work together, but with two major differences. One is that the buddy cop duo are both women, and the second is that the whole thing takes place aboard the Ciudad de Cielo (City in the Sky), a space station where 300,000 people live and work developing what would be the Earth’s first interstellar craft. It is a place where ambitious scientists and engineers go to work on cutting edge technology, but also where many people go to escape the things that went wrong in their lives back on Earth. The city’s private police force boasts that there has never been a murder aboard (though they do have a liberal interpretation of what constitutes an accidental death), but that changes when a dismembered body is found floating in zero-gravity. Continue reading →

Interview with DAVID DALGLISH

November 8, 2017 Civilian Reader Interview Breaking World, David Dalglish, Fantasy, Half-Orcs, Orbit, Paladins, Seraphim Trilogy, Shadowborn, Shadowdance, Soulkeeper

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is David Dalglish?

I’m a somewhat nerdy guy who grew up playing way too many video games, writing custom D&D campaigns, and re-reading Salvatore’s Dark Elf Trilogy an unhealthy number of times. Now I’m a dad of three, still just as nerdy, and still playing way too many games.

Orbit Books has recently published the final book in your Seraphim trilogy, Shadowborn. How would you introduce the series to a potential new reader, and what can fans of the first two books expect from the finale?

The apocalypse happened, and hundreds of years later, the tiny remnant of humanity lives on floating islands above an endless ocean, while above, the sky burns nightly with fire. Using prisms possessing magical powers, the elite of these islands fly about in fanciful gold and silver wings throwing fireballs and blasts of lightning at one another, until the prisms run out and they close in for mid-air sword fights. Continue reading →

Upcoming: 84K by Claire North (Orbit)

November 1, 2017 Civilian Reader Upcoming 84K, Claire North, Most Anticipated 2018, Orbit, Sci-Fi

A new Claire North book is always something to cheer. The only problem is that we have to wait until next year… 84K, the author’s fifth novel, sounds fantastic: