Sci-Fi

Guest Post: “Why I Didn’t Write My Book in an Elevator” by Jack Skillingstead

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Skillingstead-LifeOnThePreservationUSHere’s the so-called elevator pitch for my new novel, Life On The Preservation.

A man discovers his city is caught in a time loop. He fears he may be losing his mind. Then a girl from outside the loop arrives. They find each other and solve the mystery. It’s Dark City meets Groundhog Day.

I never actually delivered this pitch. In fact, I only wrote it just now. One time I did find myself in an elevator with David Hartwell, who is the senior editor at Tor Books. I wasn’t even tempted to blurt a pitch at him. All I said was, “Nice tie.” David is famous for his ties. After that, we did what most people do on elevators. We stared at the doors and waited.

On publication day, which was May 28th, I did a public reading from, Life On The Preservation. The reading took place at the University Bookstore in Seattle, Washington. Duane Wilkins, who runs the excellent science fiction section of the store and who is probably as well-read as anyone ever has been in our genre, had this to say in his introduction:

“I don’t know how to explain this book.”

Then he stared into space for a while, repeated himself, and suggested I might do better at describing Life On The Preservation. Presumably, he believed I could describe my own novel because, after all, I’d written it. But I couldn’t, even though I’m a fairly articulate person. If I’d had my elevator pitch handy I might have recited the thing, but I doubt it. Besides, I only wrote the elevator pitch five minutes ago.

People who like to give writing advice will often tell you that if you can’t describe your book in one paragraph you probably don’t have a saleable idea. If that’s true, I’m living in the wrong universe. Though I have described both of my novels in one or two paragraphs, I did it only after the books were finished and sold and the publishers asked me to do it, so they would have some copy to put on the back of the book and to advertise it in catalogues and around the internet.

Skillingstead-LifeOnThePreservationUKThe truth is, you don’t know what your book is about until you’ve written it, and if the book is any good it lives in the details – details that you discover along the way. At my University Bookstore reading I could have described LOTP as a story of alien destruction, time loops, transhuman survival in an environment of outlaw art, paranoid estrangement and redemption. I could even have said its secret theme concerned living in the world you create – whether you acknowledge you’ve created it or not.

But, while true enough, that description isn’t anything but a laundry list of related generalities. And I must say that, generally, I distrust generalities. Before I wrote LOTP I took several stabs at the one-paragraph description. I even tried to outline chapters. It felt a little like looking at a slide show from a vacation I hadn’t yet enjoyed. Here’s a pretty picture of a beach with random people lying around! Yes, the people are strangers, ciphers, and the beach looks like any other beach. But there it is! And I’m going!

My early efforts of transforming Life On The Preservation from a short story to a novel looked something like a generic beach with sun-bathing ciphers. This is because I was desperate to get organized and write a novel that pushed all the right buttons – you know, the buttons that would make people love the book and shower me with contracts and money. Of course, those first attempts to expand Preservation turned out to be abysmal failures. I learned that – for me, at least – there is only one way to discover whatever it is that might be original within myself. I had to go there and document the journey every inch of the way. Only then could I begin to organize my fancy slide show.

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Life on the Preservation was published by Solaris Books on June 6th. Here’s the synopsis…

Inside the Seattle Preservation Dome it’s always the Fifth of October, the city caught in an endless time loop. “Reformed” graffiti artist Ian Palmer is the only one who knows the truth, and he is desperate to wake up the rest of the city before the alien Curator of this human museum erases Ian’s identity forever. Outside the Dome, the world lies in apocalyptic ruin. Small town teenager Kylie is one of the few survivors to escape both the initial shock wave and the effects of the poison rains that follow. Now she must make her way across the blasted lands pursued by a mad priest and menaced by skin-and-bone things that might once have been human. Her destination is the Preservation, and her mission is to destroy it. But once inside, she meets Ian, and together they discover that Preservation reality is even stranger than it already appears.

Review: MARK OF CALTH ed. Laurie Goulding (Black Library)

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Various-HH25-MarkOfCalthThe latest Horus Heresy Anthology

In this all-new collection of Horus Heresy stories, witness the untold tales of the Underworld War.The Heresy reached Calth without warning. In just a few hours of betrayal and bloodshed, the proud warriors of the XIIIth Legion – Guilliman’s own Ultramarines – were laid low by the treachery of their erstwhile brothers of the XVIIth. Now, as the planet is scoured by solar flares from the wounded Veridian star, the survivors must take the fight to the remaining Word Bearers and their foul allies, or face damnation in the gloomy shelters beneath the planet’s surface.The battle for Calth is far from over

I’ve enjoyed all of the Horus Heresy anthologies that Black Library has produced. So I was very happy when I received this as a gift from a friend. I’ve liked some anthologies more than others, it’s true. But in each one, I think the authors have done a great job of advancing the overall story of the larger Galactic Civil War, as well as fleshing out the mythology of the event that has dictated much of the development of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Mark of Calth takes a slightly different approach, focussing on the after-effects of the Word Bearers’ assault on Calth (as portrayed in Dan Abnett’s Know No Fear). It’s a good selection of stories, certainly, but I definitely think it’s time to move the HH story beyond Calth… (I have high hopes for Vulkan Lives, the next novel in the series, by Nick Kyme; and the soon-to-be-more-widely-released Promethean Sun novella, also by Kyme). So, one after the other, here are some short thoughts on the stories herein… Continue reading →

Excerpt: THE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS by Karen Lord (Jo Fletcher Books)

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Karen Lord is also the author of Redemption in Indigo, which I first heard of at the Kitschies Award ceremony back in February 2013. It immediately went on to my to-be-purchased list (I’m still getting around to it!). Luckily, I do have a copy of The Best of All Possible Worlds, the author’s second and already-critically-acclaimed novel, which I hope to read as soon as possible. In the meantime, I offer you this taste of the novel, courtesy of Lord’s UK publisher, Jo Fletcher Books…

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THE BEST OF

ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS

by Karen Lord

BEFORE…

He always set aside twelve days of his annual retreat to finish up reports and studies, and that left twelve more for everything else. In earlier times, he had foolishly tried retreats within commreach of his workplace, and that was not at all helpful. There would always be some crisis, something for which his help would be required. As his salary and sense increased, he took his retreats further and further away, until at last he found himself going off-planet to distant temples where the rule of silence and solitude could not be broken by convenient technologies.

This season, he had chosen Gharvi, a place with small wooden buildings scattered about a huge temple of stone, all set within the rain shadow of a mountain range. An endless ocean, both vista and inspiration, ran parallel to the mountains, and a beach between the two offered long walks to nowhere on either side. A place of two deserts, some said, for sea and land were bleak together – one boundless, one narrow, and both thirsty.

There was a place at home very like it, which had probably influenced his choice, but the sky was unique. The atmosphere was the cloudy blueish-lavender of a recently bioformed planet and the sun was scorching bright. It was so unlike the cool, strong blues and gentle sunlight of his home world that for the first few days he kept his head down and his door closed till nightfall.

On the twelfth day, he took his handheld, replete with work well completed, and put it in the box outside his hermitage door. He cooked and ate his evening lentils, slept soundly through the night and rose to prepare his morning porridge. There was a little water left over from the day before (he was ever frugal), but to have enough for washing he had to fetch the new day’s supply from the box. The young acolytes of the temple always put sufficient water and food into each hermit’s box before dawn. It was enough to stay clean, to fill the solar pot with porridge or pottage and to sip and slake the constant thirst that was the natural consequence of dry air and silence. The acolytes would also take away his handheld and safely transmit its contents to his workplace.

But his handheld was still there.

He paused, confused by this disconnect in the seamless order of the temple’s routine. He stared at the untouched box. He looked up and frowned in puzzlement at the squat shape of the temple, vaguely visible through a haze of heat, blown sand and sea spray.

Then he shrugged and went on with his day, a little dustier, a little thirstier but convinced that an explanation would eventually be made manifest.

The following morning, well before dawn, the sound of the box lid closing woke him from a sleep made restless by dreams of dryness. He waited a bit, then went to bring in the supplies and drink deeply of the water. His handheld was gone and a double ration of food sat in its place. He did not even peer into the darkness to catch sight of the tardy acolyte. Order had been restored.

‘Dllenahkh, with your level of sensitivity and strength, you must go on retreat regularly.’ So he had been told, long ago, by the guestmaster of his monastery. ‘You are constantly looking to set things to rights, even within yourself. A retreat will teach you again and again that you are neither indispensable nor self-sufficient.’

Put bluntly, learn to stop meddling. Commitment is important, detachment equally so. He congratulated himself on his developing ability to keep curiosity in check and spent the next few days in undisturbed meditation and reflection.

One day, after a long morning meditation, he felt thirsty and decided to fetch more water from his supply box. He stepped out with his glass drinking bowl in hand and set it on the edge of the box while he tilted the half-lid and reached inside. His hands were steady as he poured water smoothly from the heavy narrownecked jug. Moving slowly, he straightened and took a moment of blissful idleness, the jug left uncovered near his feet, to squint at the sun glare on the desert beach and the desert ocean, and to feel the coolness of the water creeping into his palms as he held the bowl and waited to drink. It was a child’s game, to hold a bowl of water and mark the increase of thirst with masochistic pleasure, but he did it sometimes.

He brought the bowl to his mouth and had a perfect instant of pale-blue ocean, bright blue glass and clear water in his vision before he blinked, sipped and swallowed.

Many times after, when he tried to recall, his mind would stop at that vivid memory – the neatly nested colours, the soothing coolness of the glass – and not wish to go any further. It was not long after that, not very long at all, that the day became horribly disordered.

A man walked out of the ocean, his head darkly bright with seawater and sunlight. He wore a pilot’s suit – iridescent, sleek and permeable – which would dry as swiftly as bare skin in the hot breeze, but his hair he gathered up in his hands as he approached, wringing water from the great length of it and wrapping it high on the crown of his head with a band from his wrist.

Recognition came to Dllenahkh gradually. At first, when the figure appeared, it was a pilot; then, as it began to walk, it was a familiar pilot; and finally, with that added movement of hands in hair, it was Naraldi – a man well known to him, but not so well known as to excuse the early breaking of a retreat. He opened his mouth to chide him. Six more days, Naraldi! Could anything be so important that you could not wait six more days? That was what he intended to say, but another thought came to him. Even for a small planet with no docking station in orbit, it was highly uncommon for a mindship to splash down so close to land that a pilot could swim to shore. Although he knew Naraldi, they were not so close as to warrant a visit at this time and in this place.

The pilot slowed his step and looked uncertainly at him with eyes that streamed from the irritation of salt water.

‘Something terrible has happened,’ Dllenahkh said simply.

Naraldi wiped at his wet face and gave no reply.

‘My mother?’ Dllenahkh prompted to break the silence, dread growing cold and heavy in his stomach.

‘Yes, your mother,’ Naraldi confirmed abruptly. ‘Your mother, and my mother, and . . . everyone. Our home is no more. Our world is—’

‘No.’ Dllenahkh shook his head, incredulous rather than upset at the bitterness and haste of Naraldi’s words. ‘What are you saying?’

He remembered that he was still thirsty and tried to raise the bowl again, but in the meantime his hands had grown chilled and numb. The bowl slipped. He snatched at it, but only deflected it so that it struck hard on the side of the water jug and broke just in time to entangle his chasing fingers.

‘Oh,’ was all he said. The cut was so clean, he felt nothing. ‘I’m sorry. Let me . . .’ He crouched and tried to collect the larger fragments but found himself toppling sideways to rest on one knee.

Naraldi rushed forward. He grasped Dllenahkh’s bleeding right hand, yanked the band from his hair and folded Dllenahkh’s fist around the wad of fabric. ‘Hold tight,’ he ordered, guiding Dllenahkh’s left hand to clamp on to his wrist. ‘Don’t let go. I’ll get help.’

He ran off down the beach towards the temple. Dllenahkh sat down carefully, away from the broken bits of glass, and obediently held tight. His head was spinning, but there was one small consolation. For at least the length of time it took Naraldi to return, he would remember the words of the guestmaster: he would not be curious, he would not seek to know, and he would not worry about how to right the tumbled world.

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Karen Lord’s The Best of All Possible Worlds is published by Jo Fletcher Books in the UK, and Del Rey in the US (both covers, below the synopsis).

The Sadiri were once the galaxy’s ruling élite, but now their home planet has been rendered unlivable and most of the population destroyed. The few groups living on other worlds are desperately short of Sadiri women, and their extinction is all but certain.

Civil servant Grace Delarua is assigned to work with Councillor Dllenahkh, a Sadiri, on his mission to visit distant communities, looking for possible mates. Delarua is impulsive, garrulous and fully immersed in the single life; Dllenahkh is controlled, taciturn and responsible for keeping his community together. They both have a lot to learn.

LordK-BestOfAllPossibleWorlds

Review: GEMSIGNS by Stephanie Saulter (Jo Fletcher Books)

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SaulterS-GemsignsAn intriguing techno-socio-political science fiction debut

For years the human race was under attack from a deadly Syndrome, but when a cure was found – in the form of genetically engineered human beings, Gems – the line between survival and ethics was radically altered.

Now the Gems are fighting for their freedom, from the oppression of the companies that created them, and against the Norms who see them as slaves. And a conference at which Dr Eli Walker has been commissioned to present his findings on the Gems is the key to that freedom.

But with the Gemtech companies fighting to keep the Gems enslaved, and the horrifying godgangs determined to rid the earth of these ‘unholy’ creations, the Gems are up against forces that may just be too powerful to oppose.

I didn’t actually know anything about this novel, before I started it. Nevertheless, during a moment of book-funk, I browsed my TBR shelf, selected three books and Gemsigns had by far the best opening page. And the best second, third, and onwards. I soon found I was a few chapters in, and I couldn’t stop reading. I really enjoyed this novel. Continue reading →

Interview with WESLEY CHU

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Wesley Chu’s debut, recently published by Angry Robot Books, has been taking critics by storm. It was, I thought, a great time to pester him for an interview. Luckily, it didn’t take too much convincing and I grilled him about his novels, writing, and more…

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Wesley Chu?

Wesley Chu is a scotch drinking actor and former stuntman, specializing in niche token Asian roles where companies want to prove to consumers that they love diversity. You can also find Wesley playing roles such as security guard #4, gangster #9, businessman sitting on a designer couch, or human prop in background.

Oh, and Wesley wrote a book. His debut, The Lives of Tao is out now.

I thought we’d start with your fiction: Your latest novel, The Lives of Tao, was recently published by Angry Robot. How would you introduce the novel to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

The Lives of Tao, the first in a planned trilogy, is a modern day science fiction about an alien, Tao, who inhabits an overweight loser and convinces him, kicking and screaming, to train and fight in a war over humanity’s evolution.

Along the way, Roen Tan, the said tubby loser, has his work cut out for him. He needs to lose weight, develop a stiff jab, find love, and stay alive while being hunted by a very powerful shadow organization that is bent on killing Tao, which unfortunately, requires Roen to die as well.

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What inspired you to write the novel? And where do you draw your inspiration from in general?

I’m a sucker for the overachieving loser plot, except my losers don’t have fate or prophecy backing them up. I like real losers that weren’t tabbed thousands of years ago by some legend to be the special ray of sunshine the world has been waiting for.

I often use Rand and Harry as examples, but this time, I’m going to add a few more to the list. Little precious snowflakes like Luke, Frodo, Ender, and even Kirk aren’t my kind of heroes. If I had to choose a character that reminds me of Roen, I would say… Chunk from The Goonies.

I draw a lot of my inspiration from many aspects of my life. I’d like to think a person can get a good sense of who I am and what I’ve been through from reading the book. And in case you’re wondering, the answer is yes.

The Lives of Tao is not so much a science fiction novel but a manifesto on the eventual alien takeover of humanity. There are aliens afoot and if we don’t do something about it fast, we’re all in deep shit!

How were you introduced to genre fiction?

My English professor father brought me to a bookstore when I was kid. He took me to the literary section and said he’d buy any book I wanted. I’m sure he secretly hoped I’d pick up Machiavelli, Macbeth, Portnoy’s Complaint, or something equally literary.

I made a beeline toward the section of the bookstore with the pretty pictures and picked out The Misenchanted Sword by Lawrence Watt-Evans and A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony. English Professor dad was very disapproving, but after a lot of crying and pouting (and book throwing I’m ashamed to add), I got my way. That’s basically when my love affair with SFF began.

Wesley-ChuHow do you enjoy being a writer and working within the publishing industry? Do you have any specific working, writing, researching practices?

Joining the writing community has been the most fulfilling experience of my life. For the first time in my professional career, I love my job. I mean, let’s face it. No little kid grows up thinking “I’m gonna work in corporate America and sit in a cubicle with red rugged walls all day staring at a computer screen. Yeah!”

As for writing practices, I used to be one of those trendy authors who went to cafés as if I was J.D. Salinger, trying to look cool and practice my “art”. These days, I sit at home in my bathrobe with a gallon of French pressed coffee and write. Once in a while, Eva Da Terrordale will drag my pasty ass out for a walk. It’s the only time my vampire white skin sees the sun.

When did you realize you wanted to be an author, and what was your first foray into writing? Do you still look back on it fondly?

I realized I wanted to be an author at a pretty young age. I remember reading The 101 Dalmatians once a day every day for a summer. You know, that’s a super hero level of OCD to be able to read the same damn book every day for three months. That was when I first fell in love with reading and became the super geek I am today.

The first short story I wrote was about the planets in the solar system running into each other, thus creating all the pock marks on their surfaces. The planets kept getting into fights until finally, King Sun got pissed off and enforced gravity on all of them. English Professor Father read it and said that the story “didn’t suck.” When an Asian parent says that you don’t suck at something, that usually means you’re actually might be pretty good. Thus, a writing career was born.

What’s your opinion of the genre today, and where do you see your work fitting into it?

Wow, that’s such an open ended question. It’s a great time to be a reader. There’s a lot of talent in speculative fiction right now and everyone has their own little style and niche. I do think there’s a tendency to chase trends, but the trends tend to be cyclical. Funny, I keep saying that but like the vampire and zombie thing won’t go away.

On the other hand, it’s tough to be a full time writer. It was never easy to begin with but it’s much harder now than say, back in the seventies. I think it’s a little sad that there are so many talented authors that can’t make a living on writing alone.

What other projects are you working on, and what do you have currently in the pipeline?

Well, The Deaths of Tao is dropping Oct 29th during World Fantasy in Brighton so I’m hoping for a little party on my first trip across the pond. If you’re within two hundred kilometer of Brighton, please come party with me. As for the third book, it’s up to the robot overlords and the fans.

On top of the Tao books, I have a series in the works that I’m very excited about. I’m keeping it under wraps for now but the idea came to me in a dream. I woke up and was like “WTF! I need to write this down immediately.”

What are you reading at the moment (fiction, non-fiction)?

I used to be a single threaded reader, as in I would read a book from beginning to end before I started another. No exceptions. Now, as an author, I no longer have that luxury to read to the very end if the book doesn’t grab me right away. I’ve started abandoning books at an alarming rate.

I just finished up a blurb request for an excellent book called Three by Jay Posey which should be out this fall. Next up will be either 2312, American Elsewhere, or um… The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I was recently informed at Wiscon that the world needs a better Wesley Chu.

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What’s something readers might be surprised to learn about you?

One of the scenes in the book is based on real events. I was the victim of an attempted mugging. Back then, I was young, overly confident, and a bit of an idiot. I was also a Kung Fu master (BTW, I use that master term very loosely). Or was it my Quasing who goaded me?

The mugger pulled a knife and wanted my stuff. The smart thing to do was to just give it to him and be on my way. But you know what? Kung Fu masters and vessels don’t give up their shit so easily, so I picked up these two wine bottles near the dumpster and tried to mug him. And yes, wine bottles are hard to break. The sad part of all this was that, in the moment, all that Kung Fu training went right out the window. I turned my inner caveman on and chased him for about ten or so yards before taking an adrenaline dump and nearly passing out.

What are you most looking forward to in the next twelve months?

This is my debut year so I told myself I’d debut right. That means I went ahead and had a big release party and planned to go to as many cons as possible. This year will be nine cons, including my first trip to the UK. I am pumped!

Not gonna lie; I love conventions. Chicon was my very first conn ever and I’m hooked. There’s no other place where a guy can hobnob with all these awesome and talented writers. Every time I’m at a con, it’s like I’m a hobbit back in the shire.

Upcoming: “THE ACE OF SKULLS” by Chris Wooding (Gollancz)

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WoodingC-AceOfSkullsOne of my most-anticipated novels of the year, The Ace of Skulls is the final planned installment in Chris Wooding’s Ketty Jay series. I loved the first two books in the series – Retribution Falls and The Black Lung Captain – but have been reprehensibly slow about reading The Iron Jackal (which I have on my Kindle – I fear an out-of-sight-out-of-mind Kindle victim, here…).

I’ll endeavor to get caught up with the third novel before this one comes out, though. It’s a great, fun, and very well-plotted and -written sci-fi Western(-ish) adventure. Here’s the synopsis…

All good things come to an end. And this is it: the last stand of the Ketty Jay and her intrepid crew.

They’ve been shot down, set up, double-crossed and ripped off. They’ve stolen priceless treasures, destroyed a ten-thousand-year-old Azryx city and sort-of-accidentally blew up the son of the Archduke. Now they’ve gone and started a civil war. This time, they’re really in trouble.

As Vardia descends into chaos, Captain Frey is doing his best to keep his crew out of it. He’s got his mind on other things, not least the fate of Trinica Dracken. But wars have a way of dragging people in, and sooner or later they’re going to have to pick a side. It’s a choice they’ll be staking their lives on. Cities fall and daemons rise. Old secrets are uncovered and new threats revealed.

When the smoke clears, who will be left standing?

The Ace of Skulls is published by Gollancz in the UK on September 19th, 2013. Really can’t wait to read this one.

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Covers of the First Three Ketty Jay Novels

‘I’ve Never Read…’ & New Jackets for GARY GIBSON (Tor)

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A new series for the blog (although, I may have done some similar, occasional posts way back when), in which I take a look at an author I’ve never read but really want to. And perhaps should have read by now…

GARY GIBSON, author of many well-received sci-fi novels, published by Tor in the UK. And definitely an author I should have read by now… I’ve always been drawn more to fantasy than science fiction (with the exception of Star Wars and Warhammer 40k, but that’s through long years of familiarity), which probably goes some way to explaining the oversight.

I was reminded of his work today, because Gibson’s Angel Station is Tor’s eBook of the month (DRM free, don’t forget). The author’s novels have received some rather nice new covers for the earlier books (The Shoal series, and his first two stand-alones), to match the style of his latest novel, another stand-alone, Marauder (the full artwork for which graces the top of this post).

Over on the Tor blog, you can read a quick Five Question Interview with the author, which is quite interesting.

Here are the new covers and the novels’ synopses, in chronological order…

GibsonG-AngelStations2013ANGEL STATIONS

Aeons ago, a super-scientific culture known as ‘Angels’ had left incomprehensible relics all over the galaxy. Among these phenomena were the Stations, whereby human spacecraft could jump instantly from one part of the galaxy to another. And from them the brilliant Angel technology could be explored and exploited.

One of these stations orbits the planet Kaspar, where the only other known sentient species outside Earth has been meticulously allowed to continue evolving in its own world of primitive ignorance. But suddenly Kaspar’s mysterious ‘Citadel’ has become the vital key to repelling the fast-approaching threat of the stellar burster.

At what cost, though, to its native inhabitants… and to the human residents of the orbiting Angel station?

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GibsonG-AgainstGravity2013AGAINST GRAVITY

It’s the late twenty-first century, and Kendrick Gallmon, survivor of an infamous research facility called the Maze, is trying to pick up the pieces of his life, even though he knows the Labrat augments inside his body are slowly killing him.

Then one day his heart stops beating, forever, and a ghost urges him to return to the source of all his nightmares, a long-abandoned military complex filled with entirely real voices of the dead.

I really like this cover. Reminds me a little of the artwork for Chris Wooding’s Fade, actually.

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The Shoal Sequence:

STEALING LIGHT, NOVA WAR, and EMPIRE OF LIGHT

GibsonG-ShoalTrilogy

In the 25th century, only the Shoal possess the secret of faster-than-light travel, giving them absolute control over all trade and exploration throughout the galaxy.  This gives the Shoal absolute control over all trade and exploration throughout the galaxy.

Mankind has meanwhile operated within their influence for two centuries, establishing a dozen human colony worlds scattered along Shoal trade routes. Dakota Merrick, while serving as a military pilot, has witnessed atrocities for which this alien race is responsible.

But the Shoal are not yet ready to relinquish their monopoly over a technology they acquired through ancient genocide.

Marauder, below, is also set in the Shoal universe, but is a stand-alone…

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Final Days Series:

FINAL DAYS and THE THOUSAND EMPERORS

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It’s 2235 and through the advent of wormhole technology more than a dozen interstellar colonies have been linked to Earth. But this new mode of transportation comes at a price and there are risks. Saul Dumont knows this better than anyone. He’s still trying to cope with the loss of the wormhole link to the Galileo system, which has stranded him on Earth far from his wife and child for the past several years.

Only weeks away from the link with Galileo finally being re-established, he stumbles across a conspiracy to suppress the discovery of a second, alien network of wormholes which lead billions of years in the future. A covert expedition is sent to what is named Site 17 to investigate, but when an accident occurs and one of the expedition, Mitchell Stone, disappears – they realise that they are dealing with something far beyond their understanding.

When a second expedition travels via the wormholes to Earth in the near future of 2245 they discover a devastated, lifeless solar system – all except for one man, Mitchell Stone, recovered from an experimental cryogenics facility in the ruins of a lunar city. Stone may be the only surviving witness to the coming destruction of the Earth. But why is he the only survivor – and once he’s brought back to the present, is there any way he and Saul can prevent the destruction that’s coming?

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GibsonG-Marauder2013MARAUDER

Megan Jacinth has three goals, and they all seem unattainable.

First, she needs to find her oldest friend Bash, who she’d left for dead to save her own life. Then she needs Bash’s unique skill-set to locate an ancient space-faring entity. Lastly she must use this Wanderer’s knowledge to save human-occupied worlds from an alien incursion.

The odds seem impossible, but the threat is terrifyingly real. Megan finds Bash, but the person she’d known and loved is a husk of his former self. Bash is also held captive by her greatest enemy: Gregor Tarrant. Tarrant wants the Wanderer too, even more than he wants her life, with motives less pure than her own. And he’s close to finding Megan’s most closely-guarded secret. A race across space to reach the Wanderer seems Megan’s best option. But this entity is also known as the Marauder, and is far from benign. The price for its secrets may be just too high. Megan should know, as she still bears the scars from their last encounter…

I actually have a copy of Final Days, somewhere, so I think I’ll try to get that read. But I may start with Angel Stations. We’ll see.

[If you’re in the UK, Amazon are selling the eBook for less than £4, which is less than Tor, but obviously locked to your device with DRM… The same goes for Nova War and Final Days; Stealing Light and Empire of Light are under £5.]

Anyone read Gibson’s work? What did you think?

Upcoming: “The Warmaster” by Dan Abnett (Black Library)

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Abnett-WarmasterDan Abnett’s Gaunt’s Ghosts is one of the best sci-fi series, in my opinion. Not only has it been running for so long, but it has (with but one wobble) maintained a very high quality. Each novel has built on the last, the characters develop naturally. A good number of them have died. I just love it.

Alongside the Horus Heresy and the Gotrek & Felix series, Abnett’s was one of the only Black Library series I rushed out to buy on day one (or read ASAP, if I got a review copy).

Anyway, it’s been a couple of years since Abnett’s last Ghosts-related fiction (the novel Salvation’s Reach and a short-story), so I am very much looking forward to getting reacquainted with the characters.

Here’s the synopsis for the 14th book in the series, The Warmaster…

After the success of their desperate mission to Salvation’s Reach, Colonel-Commisar Gaunt and the Tanith First race to the strategically vital forge world of Urdesh, besieged by the brutal armies of Anarch Sek. However, there may be more at stake than just a planet. The Imperial forces have made an attempt to divide and conquer their enemy, but with Warmaster Macaroth himself commanding the Urdesh campaign, it is possible that the Archenemy assault has a different purpose – to decapitate the Imperial command structure with a single blow. Has the Warmaster allowed himself to become an unwitting target? And can Gaunt’s Ghosts possibly defend him against the assembled killers and war machines of Chaos?

The Warmaster will be published by Black Library in December 2013.

HOODS! MOAR HOODS! (Upcoming Books)

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Ok, keeping with the Angry Robot theme, here are two more covers for upcoming books, both of which share a feature with each other and so many other fantasy and sci-fi books of late: the Hooded Man on the cover. Personally, I find the conformity rather amusing, and some of the covers are pretty great. These two are two of the better examples of Hooded Men Covers. Here are the synopses and details for the novels…

Jay Posey’s THREE, book one in the Legends of the Duskwalker, published in August 2013 (cover by Steven Meyer-Rassow):

The world has collapsed, and there are no heroes any more.

But when a lone gunman reluctantly accepts the mantle of protector to a young boy and his dying mother against the forces that pursue them, a hero may yet arise.

File Under: Science Fiction [ Three For All | Apocalyptic Wasteland | A Journey Home | Fear the Weir ]

I like the rain-effects on this one.

James A. Moore’s SEVEN FORGES, published in October 2013 (cover by Alejandro Colucci):

The people of Fellein have lived with legends for many centuries. To their far north, the Blasted Lands, a legacy of an ancient time of cataclysm, are vast, desolate and impassable, but that doesn’t stop the occasional expedition into their fringes in search of any trace of the ancients who once lived there… and oft-rumoured riches.

Captain Merros Dulver is the first in many lifetimes to find a path beyond the great mountains known as the Seven Forges and encounter, at last, the half‐forgotten race who live there. And it would appear that they were expecting him.

As he returns home, bringing an entourage of the strangers with him, he starts to wonder whether his discovery has been such a good thing. For the gods of this lost race are the gods of war, and their memories of that far-off cataclysm have not faded.

File Under: Fantasy [Savage Lands | Vengeful Gods | An Expected Journey | Battalions at War]

A brighter cover, less brooding. There’s something about it that reminds me of the cover for Gail Z. Martin’s Ice Forged. Maybe it’s just a connection made by the cold climate and snowy mountains in the background portrayed… Colucci also did the cover for The Red Knight by Miles Cameron (Orbit US).