Quick Review: THE PROFESSIONALS by Owen Laukkanen (Corvus/Berkley)

March 27, 2015January 31, 2021 Civilian Reader Review Atlantic Books, Berkley, Corvus Books, Crime, Debut 2012, Owen Laukkanen, Penguin, Professionals, Stevens & Windermere, Thriller

A fast-paced, engaging debut thriller

Four friends, caught in a terrible job market, joke about turning to kidnapping to survive. And then, suddenly, it’s no joke. For two years, the strategy they devise works like a charm – until they kidnap the wrong man.

Now two groups are after them – the law, in the form of veteran state investigator Kirk Stevens and hotshot young FBI agent Carla Windermere, and an organized crime outfit looking for payback. As they crisscross the country in a series of increasingly explosive confrontations, each of them is ultimately forced to recognize the truth: the real professionals, cop or criminal, are those who are willing to sacrifice everything.

This is the first of Laukkanen’s Stevens & Windermere thriller, and it marked the arrival of a great new voice for the genre. The novel is quickly-paced. The characters are interesting and mostly well-developed. It has a few debut niggles, but it’s pretty polished and gripping. I’ll be reading the rest of Laukkanen’s novels, and be keeping an eye open for more in the future. Continue reading →

Audiobook Review Round-Up

January 31, 2015 Civilian Reader Review Along the Way, Andrew Miller, Audible, Audio, Biography, Born Standing Up, Emilio Estevez, Fourth Estate, Martin Sheen, Memoir, Moab is My Washpot, Penguin, Simon and Schuster, Stephen Fry, Steve Martin, Year of Reading Dangerously

Four recent audiobooks I listened to, provided for review by Audible UK…

Emilio Estevez & Martin Sheen, ALONG THE WAY: THE JOURNEY OF A FATHER AND SON (Simon & Schuster)

In this remarkable dual memoir, film legend Martin Sheen and accomplished actor/filmmaker Emilio Estevez recount their lives as father and son. In alternating chapters-and in voices that are as eloquent as they are different-they narrate stories spanning more than 50 years of family history, and reflect on their journeys into two different kinds of faith.

At 21, still a struggling actor living hand to mouth, Martin and his wife, Janet, welcomed their firstborn, Emilio, an experience of profound joy for the young couple, who soon had three more children: Ramon, Charlie, and Rene. As Martin’s career moved from stage to screen, the family moved from New York City to Malibu, while traveling together to film locations around the world, from Mexico for Catch-22 to Colorado for Badlands to the Philippines for the legendary Apocalypse Now shoot.

As the firstborn, Emilio had a special relationship with Martin: They often mirrored each other’s passions and sometimes clashed in their differences. After Martin and Emilio traveled together to India for the movie Gandhi, each felt the beginnings of a spiritual awakening that soon led Martin back to his Catholic roots, and eventually led both men to Spain, from where Martin’s father had emigrated to the United States.

Along the famed Camino de Santiago pilgrimage path, Emilio directed Martin in their acclaimed film, The Way, bringing three generations of Estevez men together in the region of Spain where Martin’s father was born, and near where Emilio’s own son had moved to marry and live.

With vivid, behind-the-scenes anecdotes of this multitalented father’s and son’s work with other notable actors and directors, Along the Way is a striking, stirring, funny story-a family saga that listeners will recognize as universal in its rebellions and regrets, aspirations and triumphs. Strikingly candid, searchingly honest, and full of the immediacy and warmth that can only be added by the authors reading their story in their own voices, this heartfelt portrait reveals two strong-minded, admirable men of many important roles, perhaps the greatest of which are as father and son.

This is a pretty interesting idea, as biographies go. Martin Sheen is also President Bartlet in The West Wing, so it was difficult to listen to his chapters and not feel like they were in some way a presidential pronouncement… After listening to this book, I realised that I’ve seen far less of both Sheen’s and Estevez’s movies than I originally thought. We get great accounts of the making of The Way (Estevez’s movie starring Sheen), and also Apocalypse Now – the movie that almost killed Sheen, and gave Estevez and Charlie Sheen quite the exciting and unusual experiences. There are a fair number of chapters that cover shared experiences, but also plenty that give us better insight into Martin’s upbringing and also Emilio’s solo projects. If you are interested in the work of either of them, then I highly recommend Along the Way. The audiobook is excellent, too, with great production.

Stephen Fry, MOAB IS MY WASHPOT (Penguin)

a) A fatuous, wasted, degenerate and wholly useless existence captured in delicate, lyrical and exquisitely realised prose.

b) Lightly amusing anecdotes and tender reminiscences of the great men and women encountered during a rich, varied and rewarding lifetime, fondly remembered in the tranquil evening of a career of public service.

c) The autobiography of a dizzying life fuelled by the lust for power and the search for ever more degrading downward paths of repulsive sexual adventuring and self-destructive debaucheries: the unrepentant libertine author seeks revenge on his many enemies and tears the lid off the private life of blameless churchmen and librarians.

Fry`s autobiography is all and none of these. Too old to rock and roll, too young to die, the author looks back with bruising frankness at his life so far.

I finally got around to listening to Fry’s first biography – I really enjoyed The Fry Chronicles (which started me on my recent audio-biography binging road) and More Fool Me. This one focuses exclusively on his childhood, with the occasional mention of his work and colleagues/friends to come. It’s funny, honest, doesn’t sugar-coat his weaknesses and bad behaviour. He offers plenty of opinions on society, literature, schooling, Britain and so forth. Moab is My Washpot is a good listen, but I think the two follow up volumes are far superior.

Steve Martin, BORN STANDING UP: A COMIC’S LIFE (Simon & Schuster)

In the mid-70s, Steve Martin exploded onto the comedy scene. By 1978 he was the biggest concert draw in the history of stand-up. In 1981 he quit forever. Born Standing Up is, in his own words, the story of “why I did stand-up and why I walked away”.

At age 10 Martin started his career at Disneyland, selling guidebooks in the newly opened theme park. In the decade that followed, he worked in the Disney magic shop and the Bird Cage Theatre at Knott’s Berry Farm, performing his first magic/comedy act a dozen times a week. The story of these years, during which he practiced and honed his craft, is moving and revelatory.

Martin illuminates the sacrifice, discipline, and originality that made him an icon and informs his work to this day. To be this good, to perform so frequently, was isolating and lonely. It took Martin decades to reconnect with his parents and sister, and he tells that story with great tenderness. Martin also paints a portrait of his times: the era of free love and protests against the war in Vietnam, the heady irreverence of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the late 60s, and the transformative new voice of Saturday Night Live in the 70s.

I didn’t know what to expect from Born Standing Up. This covers the part of Martin’s career that I am utterly unfamiliar with. There are mentions of some of his later (but still early-ish) movies and television work, but this book covers Martin’s introduction to show-business, stand-up comedy and eventually television. It’s an interesting introduction to his work, his opinions on comedy and “where he came from”. I hope

Andrew Miller THE YEAR OF READING DANGEROUSLY: HOW FIFTY GREAT BOOKS SAVED MY LIFE (Fourth Estate)

An editor and writer’s vivaciously entertaining, and often moving, memoir – a true story that reminds us why we should all make time in our lives for books.

Nearing his fortieth birthday, author and critic Andy Miller realized he’s not nearly as well read as he’d like to be. A devout book lover who somehow fell out of the habit of reading, he began to ponder the power of books to change an individual life-including his own-and to define the sort of person he would like to be. Beginning with a copy of Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita that he happens to find one day in a bookstore, he embarks on a literary odyssey of mindful reading and wry introspection. From Middlemarch to Anna Karenina to A Confederacy of Dunces, these are books Miller felt he should read; books he’d always wanted to read; books he’d previously started but hadn’t finished; and books he’d lied about having read to impress people.

Combining memoir and literary criticism, The Year of Reading Dangerously is Miller’s heartfelt, humorous, and honest examination of what it means to be a reader. Passionately believing that books deserve to be read, enjoyed, and debated in the real world, Miller documents his reading experiences and how they resonated in his daily life and ultimately his very sense of self. The result is a witty and insightful journey of discovery and soul-searching that celebrates the abiding miracle of the book and the power of reading.

I received an eARC of this quite some time ago, but for some reason never got around to reading it. Then I had the chance to get it as an audiobook, and I thought it would be a good listen. I was… half right. The Year of Reading Dangerously is a most uneven book. It doesn’t start well, and I almost didn’t stick with it – sad to say, it was a bland beginning. Nevertheless, I stuck with it, and came to rather enjoy much of what Miller had to say on publishing, fiction and writing. He offers some great insight into the publishing and bookselling industry, and his sharp and sometimes acerbic observations were welcome and amusing. When talking about the books he’s selected to read for this project, however, I found the book a bit dull. Which is probably not what he was hoping for – these classic of literature, and he was not able to make me even remotely interested in what he had to say about them. So, a good book, but not great. Half interesting, half… meh.

Quick Chat with DAVE BARA

January 26, 2015January 7, 2015 Civilian Reader Interview Dave Bara, DAW Books, Defiant, Del Rey UK, Impulse, Lightship, Penguin, Sci-Fi, Space Opera, Starbound

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Dave Bara?

Honestly, I’m a just guy who was pretty much born to write science fiction. My earliest memories are of watching the Gemini and Apollo missions on TV, plus Star Trek, Lost In Space, Outer Limits, Twilight Zone. I was always fascinated with space and science fiction, so it seems like it was my destiny to write it.

Your debut, IMPULSE, will be published by DAW Books in February in the US. How would you introduce the novel to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

It is part of a series, of which Starbound will be the second volume in early 2016 and Defiant will be the third. If I was introducing it I’d say it’s character-driven SF/action-adventure, the kind of thing I like to read. If you’re into space opera and military SF, you’ll probably love Impulse. Continue reading →

Q&A with MELISSA PIMENTEL

January 23, 2015January 16, 2015 Civilian Reader Interview Age Sex Location, Fiction, Humour, Love By The Book, Melissa Pimentel, Penguin, Romance

Although Love By The Book is a novel, the premise comes from an experiment that you conducted in your own life, that you turned into a blog called “Love by the Book.” What made you want to try this and how did you come up with the idea?

The idea came after a year of semi-successful dating in London. I’d come out of a serious relationship the year before (a marriage, in fact) so I wasn’t looking for anything remotely serious… and yet every time I tried to convey that to a guy, they seemed to think I was trying to trick them. It was getting annoying, so when the idea came to me to try these different dating guides – and effectively turn my love life into a science experiment – it instantly appealed. I’ve always thought that dating should be fun – when I was in college, I used to play a game called “wrong or funny” with my roommate in which we’d get ourselves in slightly awkward/controversial situations with guys and then ask each other if the situation was wrong or funny (the best ones were both) – so this felt like killing two birds with one stone: making a game out of dating and also (maybe, hopefully) learning something about male behavior along the way.

Why did you decide to write this as a novel and not as a memoir?

In truth, I ran out of material! The real-life experiment was going really well for a few months. It was fun (if exhausting) and the blog was starting to get some traction… but then lo and behold, I went on a first date with one of the test subjects and fell in love. It was sort of a double-edged sword: on the one hand, I was happy to have met the love of my life (we’re now engaged) but on the other, I was kind of annoyed that I had to give up the project. I actually tried to keep it going for the first month we were together, but it was getting too weird. An editor at Penguin who had been following the blog suggested a try to fictionalize it, and here we are! Continue reading →

Q&A with CATHERINE BAILEY

January 9, 2015January 9, 2015 Civilian Reader Interview Aristocracy, Black Diamonds, Catherine Bailey, History, Non-Fiction, Penguin, The Secret Rooms, UK

Catherine Bailey is the author of The Secret Rooms and Black Diamonds — both histories of the British aristocracy. She read history at Oxford University and is an award-winning television producer and director, making a range of critically acclaimed documentary films inspired by her interest in twentieth century history. Bailey’s US publisher, Penguin, organised this Q&A…

In THE SECRET ROOMS, you explain what drew you to the story of the Rutland family, that you were researching a book on World War I and asked to see the Rutland archives and when there were obvious gaps in the records you decided to devote your attention on uncovering what the family was trying to hide. What brought you to write about Wentworth House and the Fitzwilliam family, and how did you discover that they also had secrets they were trying to keep buried?

I first saw Wentworth House in the late 1990s when I was researching a documentary film in Yorkshire. The size of the house – the largest in Europe – was breathtaking. Here, it seemed, was England’s forgotten palace. Unlike comparable houses, such as Chatsworth or Blenheim, it was closed to the public. Outside its locality, few knew of its existence. Seeing it for the first time, it looked empty and abandoned. The shutters were drawn; its 18th century façade was black with grime and in a poor state of repair. The image was haunting: I wanted to know what had happened there over the centuries, and what had led to its abandonment.

Over the next few years, whenever I could find the time from my work as a television producer, I researched the twentieth century story of Wentworth House. From architectural journals and newspaper articles, I was able to piece together a narrative. In 1900, the house had belonged to William, the 6th Earl Fitzwilliam, the richest man in Britain. His fortune came from coal. Within a 30-mile radius of Wentworth, tens of thousands of men worked in mines in which he had an interest. The Fitzwilliams had powerful connections; in the first decades of the 20th century, the newspapers listed the names of guests at their lavish house parties. They included Kings and Queens, Prime Ministers and politicians, famous musicians, writers and artists. Later, there was a connection to the American Kennedy family. In 1948, Peter, the 8th Earl Fitzwilliam, had been killed in a plane crash with Kathleen Kennedy, the sister of the President. But the details were tantalizingly sketchy; very little appeared to have been written about Wentworth or the Fitzwilliam family. Particularly intriguing, was a photograph, taken in the 1940s, which showed the landscape around the house blighted by open cast mining. Soon after, the Fitzwilliams had moved out. Continue reading →

Review: THE LESSER DEAD by Christopher Buehlman (Berkley)

November 20, 2014 Civilian Reader Review Berkley, Christopher Buehlman, Horror, NYC, Penguin, The Lesser Dead, Vampires

An interesting, engaging twist on vampire mythology

The secret is, vampires are real and I am one.

The secret is, I’m stealing from you what is most truly yours and I’m not sorry…

New York City in 1978 is a dirty, dangerous place to live. And die. Joey Peacock knows this as well as anybody—he has spent the last forty years as an adolescent vampire, perfecting the routine he now enjoys: womanizing in punk clubs and discotheques, feeding by night, and sleeping by day with others of his kind in the macabre labyrinth under the city’s sidewalks.

The subways are his playground and his highway, shuttling him throughout Manhattan to bleed the unsuspecting in the Sheep Meadow of Central Park or in the backseats of Checker cabs, or even those in their own apartments who are too hypnotized by sitcoms to notice him opening their windows. It’s almost too easy.

Until one night he sees them hunting on his beloved subway. The children with the merry eyes. Vampires, like him… or not like him. Whatever they are, whatever their appearance means, the undead in the tunnels of Manhattan are not as safe as they once were.

And neither are the rest of us.

The Lesser Dead is a pretty cool, grim and bloody take on vampires. Other have said it “reclaims” the sub-genre from the likes of Twilight, although I don’t believe horror-vampire fiction ever went away. If you like your vampire fiction bloody and populated by unpleasant, but excellently-drawn characters, then this is for you. It’s a very good read. Continue reading →

Audiobook: “Small Man In A Book” by Rob Brydon (Audible/Penguin)

September 12, 2014November 8, 2014 Civilian Reader Review Audible, Audiobook, Memoir, Penguin, Rob Brydon, Small Man In A Book

Just the sort of memoir I’d imagine Brydon would write: endearing, engaging, and funny

A multi-award-winning actor, writer, comedian and presenter known for his warmth, humour and inspired impressions, Rob Brydon has quickly become one of our very favourite entertainers. But there was a time when it looked like all we’d hear of Rob was his gifted voice.

Growing up in South Wales, Rob had a passion for radio and soon the Welsh airwaves resounded to his hearty burr. However, these were followed by years of misadventure and struggle, before, in the TV series Marion and Geoff and Gavin and Stacey, Rob at last tickled the nation’s funny bone. The rest, as they say, is history. Or in his case autobiography.

Small Man in a Book is Rob Brydon’s funny, heartfelt, honest, sometimes sad, but mainly funny, memoir of how a young man from Wales very, very slowly became an overnight success.

Rob Brydon has been in, or involved with an awful lot of productions that I am familiar with. Some, of course, are more famous – Gavin & Stacey and Marion and Geoff were very popular in the UK, for example. More recently, his two excellent road-trip shows with Steve Coogan. This is a delightful audiobook, delivered perfectly, and entertaining throughout. Continue reading →

New Books… (July/August)

July 28, 2014 Civilian Reader Uncategorized Books Received, Fantasy, Gollancz, Mulholland Books, Penguin, Random House, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Featuring: Guy Adams, Scott K. Andrews, Edward Cox, Matthew Dunn, Maria & Sergey Dyachenko, Ian C. Esslemont, William Gibson, Bill Granger, Lev Grossman, Marc Guggenheim, Jim C. Hines, Mark Hodder, James Lovegrove, Andy Miller, Fredrik T. Olsson, Gaie Sebold, Tricia Sullivan, David Shafer

Guy Adams, The Rain-Soaked Bride (Del Rey UK)

How do you stop an assassin that can’t be killed?

When several members of the diplomatic service die in seemingly innocent, yet strangely similar

circumstances, it seems a unique form of murder is being used.

Toby Greene is part of Section 37, known as The Clown Service, a mostly forgotten branch of British Intelligence tasked with fighting exactly this kind of threat.

However, the Rain-Soaked Bride is no ordinary assassin. Relentless, inexorable and part of a larger game, merely stopping this impossible killer may not be enough to save the day…

This is the sequel to Adams’s The Clown Service, which I have not yet read. It sounds pretty interesting, though.

Scott K. Andrews, Timebomb (Hodder)

New York City, 2141: Yojana Patel throws herself off a skyscraper, but never hits the ground.

Cornwall, 1640: gentle young Dora Predennick, newly come to Sweetclover Hall to work, discovers a badly-burnt woman at the bottom of a flight of stairs. When she reaches out to comfort the dying woman, she’s knocked unconscious, only to wake, centuries later, in empty laboratory room.

On a rainy night in present-day Cornwall, seventeen-year-old Kaz Cecka sneaks into the long-abandoned Sweetclover Hall, determined to secure a dry place to sleep. Instead he finds a frightened housemaid who believes Charles I is king and an angry girl who claims to come from the future.

Thrust into the centre of an adventure that spans millennia, Dora, Kaz and Jana must learn to harness powers they barely understand to escape not only villainous Lord Sweetclover but the forces of a fanatical army… all the while staying one step ahead of a mysterious woman known only as Quil.

Sounds interesting. Looks like it hops back-and-forth in time quite frequently. Could work. Or could not. We’ll see.

Edward Cox, The Relic Guild (Gollancz)

In the sealed Labyrinth, a young woman must find a way to control her magic and escape her prison in this remarkable debut fantasy.

Magic caused the war. Magic is forbidden. Magic will save us.

It was said the Labyrinth had once been the great meeting place, a sprawling city at the heart of an endless maze where a million humans hosted the Houses of the Aelfir. The Aelfir who had brought trade and riches, and a future full of promise. But when the Thaumaturgists, overlords of human and Aelfir alike, went to war, everything was ruined and the Labyrinth became an abandoned forbidden zone, where humans were trapped behind boundary walls a hundred feet high.

Now the Aelfir are a distant memory and the Thaumaturgists have faded into myth. Young Clara struggles to survive in a dangerous and dysfunctional city, where eyes are keen, nights are long, and the use of magic is punishable by death. She hides in the shadows, fearful that someone will discover she is touched by magic. She knows her days are numbered. But when a strange man named Fabian Moor returns to the Labyrinth, Clara learns that magic serves a higher purpose and that some myths are much more deadly in the flesh.

The only people Clara can trust are the Relic Guild, a secret band of magickers sworn to protect the Labyrinth. But the Relic Guild are now too few. To truly defeat their old nemesis Moor, mightier help will be required. To save the Labyrinth – and the lives of one million humans – Clara and the Relic Guild must find a way to contact the worlds beyond their walls.

I read an early draft of this, and I’m very eager to get stuck in to read this final, fully-edited version of the story. I have very high hopes for this novel and series.

Also on CR: Interview with Edward Cox

Matthew Dunn, Dark Spies (William Morrow)

On the run from the CIA, intelligence operative Will Cochrane heads to the U.S. to uncover a diabolical spymaster at the center of an international conspiracy in this thrilling follow up to Slingshot.

When Will Cochrane encounters a Russian spymaster – codenamed Antaeus – who everyone believes is dead, he is thrust into a deadly game set in motion by powerful players deep inside the U.S. intelligence community. Will has worked with the CIA for years and knows them all. But now he knows there’s no one he can trust.

His orders from Langley are clear: ANTAEUS MUST NOT BE TOUCHED. FURTHER INQUIRIES REQUIRE PROJECT FERRYMAN CLEARANCE. But as Antaeus and his men then attempt to execute the CIA’s best agents, Will decides to take his own shot at the spymaster, knowing it will make him a marked man.

Now, the only way to save his career – and his life – is to get into the U.S. and expose the truth about Project Ferryman. But to accomplish that he’s got to outmaneuver four deadly Russian assassins and an elite FBI team controlled by shadowy officials who will stop at nothing to keep their sins and secrets safe.

This is the fourth novel in Dunn’s Spycatcher series. A series I have not actually yet read. It has, however, been on my radar for a very long time, and so I’ve bought the first three books in the series to catch up on – I’m hoping to do a number of thriller-series-binges over the next few months. So, expect these to feature soon. (I also received the novella for review, which falls between books three and four.)

Maria & Sergey Dyachenko, Vita Nostra

The words VITA NOSTRA, or “our life,” come from an old Latin student anthem Gaudeamus : “Vita nostra brevis est, Brevi finietur” or “Our life is brief, It will shortly end …”

The heroine of the novel has been forced into a seemingly inconceivable situation. Against her will, she must enter the Institute of Special Technologies. A slightest misstep or failure at school – and the students’ loved ones pay a price. Governed by fear and coercion, Sasha will learn the meaning of the phrase “In the beginning was the word …”

VITA NOSTRA is a thrilling journey into the deepest mysteries of existence, a dizzying adventure, an opening into a world that no one has ever described, a world that frightens and attracts the readers of the novel.

The novel combines the seemingly incongruous aspects – spectacular adventures and philosophical depth, incredible transformations and psychological accuracy, complexity of ethical issues and mundane details of urban life.

VITA NOSTRA enjoyed a considerable critical acclaim in Russia. It has received eight major literary prizes and has been named the best novel of the twenty first century in the sci-fi/fantasy genre (Prize of Prizes, Eurocon-2008, Moscow). It has been translated into several languages.

Information about this novel is pretty limited in the English-speaking world. I heard about it via Aliette de Bodard’s Twitter feed and a short blog post she wrote about it. More a press release than a synopsis, what it above is pretty much all I’ve been able to find outside of other review. (Lev Grossman provided the blurb on the cover, which further increased my interest.) It does sound pretty interesting. I picked it up for my Kindle (it’s very cheap for a new, 500+ page novel) and also The Scar – the authors’ previous novel, an epic fantasy that was published in the US by Tor Books.

Ian C. Esslemont, Assail (Transworld)

Tens of thousands of years of ice is melting, and the land of Assail, long a byword for menace and inaccessibility, is at last yielding its secrets. Tales of gold discovered in the region’s north circulate in every waterfront dive and sailor’s tavern and now adventurers and fortune-seekers have set sail in search of riches. And all they have to guide them are legends and garbled tales of the dangers that lie in wait – hostile coasts, fields of ice, impassable barriers and strange, terrifying creatures. But all accounts concur that the people of the north meet all trespassers with the sword – and should you make it, beyond are rumoured to lurk Elder monsters out of history’s very beginnings.

Into this turmoil ventures the mercenary company, the Crimson Guard. Not drawn by contract, but by the promise of answers: answers that Shimmer, second in command, feels should not be sought. Also heading north, as part of an uneasy alliance of Malazan fortune-hunters and Letherii soldiery, comes the bard Fisher kel Tath. With him is a Tiste Andii who was found washed ashore and cannot remember his past and yet commands far more power than he really should. It is also rumoured that a warrior, bearer of a sword that slays gods and who once fought for the Malazans, is also journeying that way. But far to the south, a woman patiently guards the shore. She awaits both allies and enemies. She is Silverfox, newly incarnate Summoner of the undying army of the T’lan Imass, and she will do anything to stop the renewal of an ages-old crusade that could lay waste to the entire continent and beyond. Casting light on mysteries spanning the Malazan empire, and offering a glimpse of the storied and epic history that shaped it, Assail brings the epic story of the Empire of Malaz to a thrilling close.

The final book in the Malazan world, I believe. A series I have not read. Still. Now that the epic is complete – both Esslemont’s and Erikson’s novels – maybe I’ll give it a try.

William Gibson, Distrust That Particular Flavour (Putnam)

“The future’s already here: it’s just not evenly distributed.”

William Gibson was writing fiction when he predicted the internet. And as his stories bled into reality so he became one of the first to report on the real-world consequences of cyberspace’s growth and development.

Now, with the dust settling on the first internet revolution, comes Gibson’s first collection of non-fiction – essays from the technological and cultural frontiers of this new world.

Covering a variety of subjects, they include: Metrophagy – the Art and Science of Digesting Great Cities; An account of obsession in “the world’s attic” – eBay; Reasons why “The Net is a Waste of Time”; Singapore as “Disneyland with the Death Penalty”; A primer on Japan, our default setting for the future…

These and many other pieces, collected for the first time in Distrust that Particular Flavour, are studded with revealing autobiographical fragments and map the development of Gibson’s acute perceptions about modern life. Readers of Neal Stephenson, Ray Bradbury and Iain M. Banks will love this book.

Some non-fiction by William Gibson. Should be interesting.

Bill Granger, November Man Series #1-3 (Grand Central)

The president learned long ago that the CIA could not be trusted. And so he created his own group of deadly efficient men to gather independent intelligence: a watchdog organization to keep the CIA in check. R Section was born.

“There are no spies…”

Until he heard those four simple words, Devereaux thought he’d left his days in R Section behind. He was no longer The November Man, an American field officer in the vice-grip of duty and danger – and the most brilliant agent R Section had ever produced. When he receives the cryptic message from Hanley, his former handler, Devereaux has no idea he’s about to be reactivated into a mission to save both his life and R Section itself. He’s not aware that a beautiful KGB agent has been ordered to stalk and kill him-or that Hanley is now in a government-subsidized asylum for people with too many secrets. And he doesn’t know that zero hour ticks closer for an operation to catch a master spy… with Devereaux the designated pawn.

What The November Man doesn’t know can kill him.

Code Name November, Schism, and The Shattered Eye are the first three novels in Bill Granger’s long-running November Man series, which is being re-issued to celebrate the upcoming release of the Pierce Brosnan-starring movie based on the first book. I’m quite intrigued, I must say. It sounds like a classic espionage thriller. High hopes.

~~Confusingly,~~ Code Name November was ~~previously published as The November Man, and~~ originally published as There Are No Spies.

CORRECTION: I actually have The November Man, which is the seventh title in the November Man series – that is the novel that has been adapted into a movie starring Pierce Brosnan.

Lev Grossman, The Magician Land (Penguin)

Quentin Coldwater has lost everything. He has been cast out of Fillory, the secret magical land of his childhood dreams that he once ruled. Everything he had fought so hard for, not to mention his closest friends, is sealed away in a land Quentin may never again visit. With nothing left to lose he returns to where his story began, the Brakebills Preparatory College of Magic. But he can’t hide from his past, and it’s not long before it comes looking for him. Meanwhile, the magical barriers that keep Fillory safe are failing, and barbarians from the north have invaded. Eliot and Janet, the rulers of Fillory, embark on a final quest to save their beloved world, only to discover a situation far more complex – and far more dire – than anyone had envisioned.

Along with Plum, a brilliant young magician with a dark secret of her own, Quentin sets out on a crooked path through a magical demimonde of gray magic and desperate characters. His new life takes him back to old haunts, like Antarctica and the Neitherlands, and old friends he thought were lost forever. He uncovers buried secrets and hidden evils and ultimately the key to a sorcerous masterwork, a spell that could create a magical utopia. But all roads lead back to Fillory, where Quentin must face his fears and put things right or die trying.

I just finished The Magician King, which was excellent (if a tad slow to get going). I’m taking a short break from this setting, but will hopefully get this reviewed for the week of release. If you haven’t tried Grossman’s series, yet, then you really should – it does a wonderful job of deconstructing the fantasy genre (especially that pioneered by C.S. Lewis).

Also on CR: Interview with Lev Grossman

Marc Guggenheim, Overwatch (Mulholland)

A young CIA lawyer uncovers a dangerous worldwide conspiracy, masterminded by forces within the US intelligence community.

Alex Garnett has spent his life in the shadow of his father, a former Chief of Staff and Solicitor General to two presidents who’s been responsible for getting Alex every job he ever had, including his latest: attorney for the CIA. However, a seemingly routine litigation leads to a series of unexpected events, including poison, kidnapping, torture and murder. As casualties pile up, it becomes clear Alex is the final target in someone’s blood-soaked attempts to cover their tracks.

With the help of a neurotic hacker, Alex unravels a conspiracy older than the CIA itself. The trail of clues reveals the presence of unseen forces that are bringing this nation to the brink of war – and Alex’s life is only one of many in danger.

This novel has been on my radar for a while, and I’m very happy that I finally have my hands on it. Guggenheim is quite the accomplished writer of TV (Law & Order, Brothers & Sisters) and comics (Spider-Man, Wolverine, etc.), not to mention the fact that he is also a co-creator of Arrow, one of my favourite new TV shows. And this is a political thriller. So I’m really looking forward to reading this. It may have to be my next read, after I finish Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (another Mulholland title – details below).

Jim C. Hines, Codex Born (Del Rey UK)

They’re back. And they want revenge…

Sent to investigate the brutal slaughter of a wendigo in the north Michigan town of Tamarack, Isaac Vainio and his companions find they have wandered into something far more dangerous than a simple killing.

A long established werewolf territory, Tamarack is rife with ancient enemies of Libriomancy who quest for revenge. Isaac has the help of Lena Greenwood, his dryad bodyguard born from the pages of a pulp fantasy novel, but he is not the only one in need of her unique and formidable powers…

The second novel in Hines’s Magic El Libris series. I enjoyed the first one, Libriomancer – though it was slightly flawed, it was a lot of fun, especially for genre fans and fantasy bibliophiles.

Mark Hodder, The Return of the Discontinued Man (Del Rey UK)

Burton and Swinburne return in a new wildly imaginative steampunk adventure, and this time they’re facing their greatest foe…

Leicester Square, London. Blood red snow falls from the sky and a strange creature, disorientated and apparently insane, materialises out of thin air. Spring Heeled Jack has returned, and he is intent on one thing: hunting Sir Richard Francis Burton.

Burton is experiencing one hallucination after another; visions of parallel realities and future history plague his every thought. These send him, and his companions, on an unimaginable expedition – a voyage through time itself…

An author I have never got around to reading, this is the latest in Hodder’s Burton & Swinburne steampunk series. I have never really been taken with steampunk. But, given how popular this series is, I may just have to give it a go.

James Lovegrove, World of Fire (Solaris)

Dev Harmer, reluctant agent of Interstellar Security Solutions, wakes up in a newly cloned host body on the planet Alighieri, ready for action. It’s an infernal world, so close to its sun that its surface is regularly baked to 1000 degrees centigrade, hot enough to turn rock to lava. But deep underground there are networks of tunnels connecting colonies of miners who dig for the precious helium-3 regolith deposits in Alighieri’s crust.

Polis+, the AI race who are humankind’s great galactic rivals, want to claim the fiery planet’s mineral wealth for their own. All that stands between them and this goal is Dev. But as well as Polis+’s agents, there are giant moleworms to contend with, and a spate of mysterious earthquakes, and the perils of the surface where a man can be burned to cinders if he gets caught unprotected on the day side…

Sounds a little like Richard Morgan’s Altered Carbon, only set on a really hot planet. Could be cool – Lovegrove is a great author, after all.

Also on CR: Interview with James Lovegrove; Guest Posts – Age of Godpunk, Pantheon Inspirations; Excerpt from Age of Shiva

Andy Miller, The Year of Reading Dangerously (William Morrow)

An editor and writer’s vivaciously entertaining, and often moving, chronicle of his year-long adventure with fifty great books (and two not-so-great ones) – a true story about reading that reminds us why we should all make time in our lives for books.

Nearing his fortieth birthday, author and critic Andy Miller realized he’s not nearly as well read as he’d like to be. A devout book lover who somehow fell out of the habit of reading, he began to ponder the power of books to change an individual life – including his own – and to the define the sort of person he would like to be. Beginning with a copy of Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita that he happens to find one day in a bookstore, he embarks on a literary odyssey of mindful reading and wry introspection. From Middlemarch to Anna Karenina to A Confederacy of Dunces, these are books Miller felt he should read; books he’d always wanted to read; books he’d previously started but hadn’t finished; and books he’d lied about having read to impress people.

Combining memoir and literary criticism, The Year of Reading Dangerously is Miller’s heartfelt, humorous, and honest examination of what it means to be a reader. Passionately believing that books deserve to be read, enjoyed, and debated in the real world, Miller documents his reading experiences and how they resonated in his daily life and ultimately his very sense of self. The result is a witty and insightful journey of discovery and soul-searching that celebrates the abiding miracle of the book and the power of reading.

Why this book is interesting probably doesn’t need an explanation.

Fredrik T. Olsson, Chain of Events (Sphere)

Nothing would make me keep a diary.

Except for one thing.

The realisation that soon there won’t be anyone around to read it.

William Sandberg. A broken genius, snatched from his home.

Christina Sandberg, his ex-wife. She does not believe their lies.

Our future hangs on their survival. If they fail, we are all lost.

To be honest, I don’t know much about this novel, but it has been on my radar for some time. It’s created a fair bit of stir and seems to be picking up international publishers left and right. As I’m going to be reading and featuring more thrillers in the coming months, this should fit in very nicely. Expect more pretty soon.

Gaie Sebold, Shanghai Sparrow (Solaris)

The British Empire is at war, both within and without. Eveline Duchen was once a country child, touched by the magic that clings to the woods. Now she is a street urchin in a London where brutal poverty and glittering new inventions exist side by side, living as a thief and a con-artist. Caught in an act of deception, Eveline is faced with Mr Holmfirth, who offers her a stark choice. Transportation, or an education – at Madam Cairngrim’s school for female spies.

The school’s regime is harsh, but she plans to take advantage of everything they can teach her, then go her own way. But in the fury of the Opium Wars, the British Empire is about to make a devil’s bargain. Eveline’s choices will change the future of her world, and reveal the truth about the death of her sister Charlotte. Shaghai Sparrow is set in an alternative England and China.

I finally got around to buying this. I loved Sebold’s debut novel, Babylon Steel, and this sounds even more like something I’d like (being a Chinese history fan). Hopefully get to this pretty soon.

Also on CR: Interview with Gaie Sebold

David Shafer, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (Mulholland)

The Committee, an international cabal of industrialists and media barons, is on the verge of privatizing all information. Dear Diary, an idealistic online Underground, stands in the way of that takeover, using radical politics, classic spycraft, and technology that makes Big Data look like dial-up. Into this secret battle stumbles an unlikely trio: Leila Majnoun, a disillusioned non-profit worker; Leo Crane, an unhinged trustafarian; and Mark Deveraux, a phony self-betterment guru who works for the Committee.

Leo and Mark were best friends in college, but early adulthood has set them on diverging paths. Growing increasingly disdainful of Mark’s platitudes, Leo publishes a withering takedown of his ideas online. But the Committee is reading – and erasing – Leo’s words. On the other side of the world, Leila’s discoveries about the Committee’s far-reaching ambitions threaten to ruin those who are closest to her.

In the spirit of William Gibson and Chuck Palahniuk, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is both a suspenseful global thriller and an emotionally truthful novel about the struggle to change the world in- and outside your head.

I’ve heard and read a lot of positive murmers about this novel. I’m reading it at the moment, and enjoying it a good deal. Shafer writes very well, and, while I’m not entirely sure where the story is headed, it’s well-paced and engaging. Very good characters, too.

Tricia Sullivan, Shadowboxer (Solaris / Ravenstone)

Jade Barrera is a 17-year-old champion martial arts fighter; when she’s in the cage she dominates her opponents – but in real life she’s out of control. After a confrontation with a Hollywood star that threatens her gym’s reputation, Jade’s coach sends her to a training camp in Thailand for an attitude adjustment.

Hoping to discover herself, she instead uncovers a shocking conspiracy. In a world just beyond our own, a man is stealing the souls of children to try and live forever.

As Jade’s world collides with that of ten-year-old refugee Mya, can she keep her cool and remember the training camp’s lessons when she enters the ring for the fight of her life? A fight that will seal not only her own fate, but Mya’s too…

Sounds like an interesting novel. Not sure if it’s the first of a series or a stand-alone, but I hope to get to it soon.

Upcoming: GEMINI CELL by Myke Cole (Ace Books)

July 18, 2014 Civilian Reader Uncategorized Ace Books, Cover Art, Penguin, Upcoming

Screw eloquence with this one: that’s one hell of a cover…

A Dribble of Ink got the scoop on the cover, which is by Larry Rostant. I must say, this is better than the covers for the US editions of the first trilogy – CONTROL POINT, FORTRESS FRONTIER and BREACH ZONE. (The UK covers were a lot better.)

GEMINI CELL is the fourth novel in Myke Cole’s Shadow Ops series, although it’s the start of a new trilogy within that ‘world’, set in the early days of the Reawakening of magic in the world. It’s due out in the US in late January 2015, published by Ace Books. Headline will be publishing in the UK, but I wasn’t able to find any more details. Here’s the synopsis:

US Navy SEAL Jim Schweitzer is a consummate professional, a fierce warrior, and a hard man to kill. But when he sees something he was never meant to see on a covert mission gone bad, he finds himself – and his family – in the crosshairs. Nothing means more to Jim than protecting his loved ones, but when the enemy brings the battle to his front door, he is overwhelmed and taken down.

That should be the end of the story. But Jim is raised from the dead by a sorcerer and recruited by a top secret unit dabbling in the occult, known only as the Gemini Cell. With powers he doesn’t understand, Jim is called back to duty – as the ultimate warrior. As he wrestles with a literal inner demon, Jim realizes his new superiors are determined to use him for their own ends and keep him in the dark – especially about the fates of his wife and son…

Also on CR: Interview with Myke Cole, Guest Post

“The Fry Chronicles” by Stephen Fry (Audible / Penguin)

May 20, 2014 Civilian Reader Review Audible, Penguin, Stephen Fry

A superb memoir and audiobook, from one of Britain’s greatest comics

Thirteen years ago, Moab Is My Washpot, Stephen Fry’s autobiography of his early years, was published to rave reviews and was a huge best seller. In the years since, Stephen Fry has moved into a completely new stratosphere, both as a public figure, and a private man. Now he is not just a multi-award-winning comedian and actor, but also an author, director, and presenter.

In January 2010 he was awarded the Special Recognition Award at the National Television Awards. Much loved by the public and his peers, Stephen Fry is one of the most influential cultural forces in the country. This dazzling memoir promises to be a courageously frank, honest and poignant read. It will detail some of the most turbulent and least-well-known years of his life, with writing that will excite you, make you laugh uproariously, move you, inform you, and, above all, surprise you.

I am a big fan of Stephen Fry. Ever since I watched Jeeves & Wooster and Blackadder when I was younger (both get frequent re-watches), and right up to my current bingeing on past and recent episodes of QI, I have enjoyed pretty much everything of his that I’ve seen or read. I am, however, pretty new to audiobooks. After a couple of interesting experiments with memoirs and fiction in audio, I decided to try some comedy memoirs. Picking this as my first was really a no-brainer. And I’m very glad I did – this is a brilliant memoir and audiobook.

This really is a superb book, and the production is excellent. Fry’s narration is superb, invested with his mannerisms, self-deprecation, amusement, and humour throughout. It’s a very welcoming audiobook, peppered with Fry’s observations, anecdotes, and plenty of asides. He covers his life up to the mid-2000s, discussing his time in prison in his youth, to his reformatory period (teaching at a school, being accepted into Cambridge) and then going on to become a successful writer and actor. Fry is quite self-deprecating and self-critical, but in his hands the subject, emotion and tone never descends into mawkishness or teenage-angst – it’s an honest, funny account.

I’ve been trying to figure out which were my favourite chapters and subjects, and yet I can’t select any single one without then thinking of another equally good bit. Really, The Fry Chronicles was never dull – not for a single moment, pretty much. I had intended to listen to this only when I was at the gym (where I can’t stand the radio, nor just plodding along with nothing but the depressing clicking-over of distance, calories burned, and timer to read…). But, about two hours into this audiobook, I found myself listening to it when walking anywhere. Indeed, the fact that I enjoyed this so much has got me listening to a number of comic memoirs (currently, Jennifer Saunders’s Bonkers).

If, like me, you were brought up on Jeeves & Wooster, Blackadder, A Bit of Fry & Laurie, then this is a must-read. The appearances and comments about other beloved British comics and actors are great – including Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, Ben Elton and many, many more.

Very highly recommended indeed.