Interview with ROB BOFFARD

June 18, 2015May 1, 2015 Civilian Reader Interview Most Anticipated 2015, Orbit, Rob Boffard, Sci-Fi, Tracer

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Rob Boffard?

A funny-looking South African with freakishly long arms, lots of tattoos, a really weird accent, and bad hair. I spent a decade as a journalist being paid specifically to not make stuff up, and now I’m getting paid to do the exact opposite.

Your debut novel, Tracer, will be published by Orbit Books in July 2015. How would you introduce the novel to a potential reader? Is it part of a planned series?

Tracer is about a courier on a city-sized space station. Her name is Riley, she loves going as fast as humanly possible, and she makes a point of never asking what she carries. Of course, when she accidentally finds out what’s in one particular shipment, things go very wrong, very fast.

It’s the first book in a trilogy, and if you like space stations, parkour, killer gadgets, edible insects, explosions, psychotic villains or any combination of the above, you’re going to love it. Continue reading →

New Books (May)

May 24, 2015August 23, 2018 Civilian Reader New Books Adrian Tchaikovsky, Andrew Michael Hurley, Angry Robot Books, Anthony Bozza, Back Bay Books, Bill Flippin, Bill Willingham, Bradley Somer, Chuck Klosterman, Cindy Dees, David Hair, David Mitchell, Django Wexler, Gayle Lynds, Harper, Hodder, James L. Cambias, James SA Corey, John Henry Clay, John Murray, Keith Richards, KM McKinley, Laurell K Hamilton, Michael Arnold, Mick Wall, Mike Brooks, Nalo Hopkinson, NK Jemisin, Orbit, Orion, Redhook, Rob Boffard, Sceptre, Slash, Solaris, St Martin's Press, Tachyon Publications, Tor UK, Vertigo, Wesley Chu

Featuring: Michael Arnold, Rob Boffard, Mike Brooks, James L. Cambias, Wesley Chu, John Henry Clay, James S.A. Corey, Cindy Dees, Bill Flippin, David Hair, Laurell K. Hamilton, Nalo Hopkinson, Andrew Michael Hurley, N.K. Jemisin, Chuck Klosterman, Gayle Lynds, K.M. McKinley, David Mitchell, Keith Richards, Slash, Bradley Somer, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Mick Wall, Django Wexler, Bill Willingham Continue reading →

An Aside: On a Bit of a SF Buying Binge…

April 9, 2015April 22, 2015 Civilian Reader Random, Upcoming Al Robertson, Alex Lamb, Becky Chambers, Del Rey UK, Gollancz, Hodder, Jamie Sawyer, Jason LaPier, JP Smythe, Justina Robson, Kim Stanley Robinson, Mike Brooks, Orbit, Rob Boffard, Sci-Fi, Voyager

I seem to be on an unusual sci-fi purchasing kick at the moment. Or, if not actively purchasing/pre-ordering sci-fi novels, I’m filing them away on my To Buy list, or on my Amazon wishlist. Today, I purchased Becky Chambers’s The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet — which was recently published by Hodder.

This is a little bit strange, because I don’t really read much sci-fi. Sure, I read almost everything set in Black Library’s Horus Heresy series (which is becoming a tad drawn-out), and I used to read every Star Wars novel I could get my hands on (as long as it was set after New Hope). But, over the past couple of years, I’ve cooled on SW novels (mainly because I haven’t really liked any that I’ve tried to read over the past couple of years). This has left a rather gaping SF hole on my shelves. Save for a mere handful of SF novels by Richard Morgan, Rachel Aaron, and … well, actually I think that’s about it… I just don’t read much SF. I read the first book in James S.A. Corey’s Expanse series, Leviathan Wakes (Orbit), which was pretty good.

This fleeting observation made me look at my various lists and TBR pile, and it looks like there are going to be some interesting SF book in the next few months. Alongside Chambers’s novel, above, I recently acquired an ARC of Kim Stanley Robinson’s next novel, Aurora (Orbit, July 9th), which I’m really interested in reading; and also Justina Robson’s The Glorious Angels (Gollancz). I also pre-ordered Jason LaPier’s Unexpected Rain (Voyager, May 7th), and will probably buy Jamie Sawyer’s The Lazarus War: Artefact (Orbit) in the not-too-distant future. Looking a bit further ahead, Rob Boffard’s Tracer looks interesting (Orbit, July 2nd), as do Mike Brooks’s Dark Run (Del Rey UK, June 4th), Alex Lamb’s Roboteer (Gollancz, July 16th – I’ve preordered this, only £1.99!) and Al Robertson’s Crashing Heaven (Gollancz, June 18th). There’s also J.P. Smythe’s Way Down Dark (Hodder, July2nd). And, of course, there’s Ernest Cline’s Armada (Century, July 16th)… [Details for all of these titles after the break.]