Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Fran Wilde?
Fran Wilde (that’s me!) can program robot minions, set gemstones, tie a sailor’s knot board, and harmonize perfectly when alone in my car.
Your debut novel, Updraft, was published by Tor Books at the beginning of September. It looks really cool. How would you introduce it to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?
Updraft is about wind and wings, secrets and betrayal, songs and silence. It is a high-flying adventure in a city of bone towers that rises above the clouds. Updraft can be read as a stand-alone book; there will be another, Cloudbound, coming from Tor in fall 2016. Continue reading →
What do Severus Snape, Gollum, and Darth Vader all have in common? Besides being three of the most celebrated villains in science fiction and fantasy, that is?
The way I see it, there are two types of villains. The first type is like a natural disaster. This kind of villain personifies evil, with no redemptive qualities at all. He represents a force outside of the protagonists, powerful and relentless, that can’t be reasoned with or turned aside. We rarely see the story from his point of view. Voldemort is a villain of the first type, as is Sauron. But that’s not the type I like best. Continue reading →
The Left-Hand Way is a globe-spanning fantasy thriller, like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with ancient magic. Part of this description may surprise readers of my first book, American Craftsmen, as that story for the most part kept a tight focus on the U.S. Another surprising change is my new first-person point-of-view character. In my previous book, it was the nonbelieving and somewhat irreverent Dale Morton who told the main story. In book two, it’s his Puritan foil, Michael Endicott, who speaks with his own voice.
My reasons for these changes have to do with the dynamics of keeping a series fresh and the evolution of the worldbuilding. Some series of books are mere continuations of one running story. For my American Craft series of magic and military intrigue, I haven’t gone that route. Instead, I have each book’s story stand on its own, and readers will feel that they’ve gotten a beginning, middle, and end for their effort. Of course, I still have plenty of continuity elements, and each novel so far has an epilogue that slingshots the story into the next book as an invitation to readers to keep going. Continue reading →
Today, a quick look at upcoming titles from Tor Books (US) that have caught my eye — some of these aren’t due out until early 2016, but I thought they looked interesting enough to feature now.
Charlie Jane Anders, ALL THE BIRDS IN THE SKY (January 26th, 2016)
Childhood friends Patricia Delfine and Laurence Armstead didn’t expect to see each other again, after parting ways under mysterious circumstances during middle school. After all, the development of magical powers and the invention of a two-second time machine could hardly fail to alarm one’s peers and families.
But now they’re both adults, living in the hipster mecca San Francisco, and the planet is falling apart around them. Laurence is an engineering genius who’s working with a group that aims to avert catastrophic breakdown through technological intervention. Patricia is a graduate of Eltisley Maze, the hidden academy for the world’s magically gifted, and works with a small band of other magicians to secretly repair the world’s every-growing ailments. Little do they realize that something bigger than either of them, something begun years ago in their youth, is determined to bring them together — to either save the world, or plunge it into a new dark ages.
A deeply magical, darkly funny examination of life, love, and the apocalypse.
A dazzling novel of humanity, noir heroines, and the Singularity
They call it Company Towna citysized oil rig off the coast of the Canadian Maritimes, now owned by one very wealthy, powerful, byzantine family: Lynch Ltd.
Hwa is of the few people in her community (which constitutes the whole rig) to forgo bioengineered enhancements. As such, she’s the last truly organic person left on the rigmaking her doubly an outsider, as well as a neglected daughter and bodyguard extraordinaire. Still, her expertise in the arts of selfdefense and her record as a fighter mean that her services are yet in high demand. When the youngest Lynch needs training and protection, the family turns to Hwa. But can even she protect against increasingly intense death threats seemingly coming from another timeline?
Meanwhile, a series of interconnected murders threatens the city’s stability and heightens the unease of a rig turning over. All signs point to a nearly invisible serial killer, but all of the murders seem to lead right back to Hwa’s front door. Company Town has never been the safest place to bebut now, the danger is personal.
A brilliant, twisted mystery, as one woman must evaluate saving the people of a town that can’t be saved, or saving herself.
I think the first time I heard about Company Town was via Angry Robot Books, who published Ashby’s The Machine Dynastyseries. However, I can’t find anything about Company Town on their website (this might be because of the recent purchase of the publisher and subsequent changes).
R.S. Belcher, BROTHERHOOD OF THE WHEEL (March 1st, 2016)
A unique new urban fantasy exploring the haunted byways and truck stops of the U.S. Interstate Highway System
In 1119 A.D., a group of nine crusaders became known as the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomona militant monastic order charged with protecting pilgrims and caravans traveling on the roads to and from the Holy Land. In time, the Knights Templar would grow in power and, ultimately, be laid low. But a small offshoot of the Templars endure and have returned to the order’s original mission: to defend the roads of the world and guard those who travel on them.
Theirs is a secret line of knights: truckers, bikers, taxi hacks, state troopers, bus drivers, RV gypsiesany of the folks who live and work on the asphalt arteries of America. They call themselves the Brotherhood of the Wheel.
Jimmy Aussapile is one such knight. He’s driving a big rig down South when a promise to a ghostly hitchhiker sets him on a quest to find out the terrible truth behind a string of children gone missing all across the country. The road leads him to Lovina Hewitt, a skeptical Louisiana State Police investigator working the same case and, eventually, to a forgotten town that’s not on any mapand to the secret behind the eerie BlackEyed Kids said to prowl the highways.
Seth Dickinson, THE TRAITOR BARU CORMORANT (September 15th)
A young woman from a conquered people tries to transform an empire in this richly imagined geopolitical fantasy.
Baru Cormorant believes any price is worth paying to liberate her people-even her soul.
When the Empire of Masks conquers her island home, overwrites her culture, criminalizes her customs, and murders one of her fathers, Baru vows to swallow her hate, join the Empire’s civil service, and claw her way high enough to set her people free.
Sent as an Imperial agent to distant Aurdwynn, another conquered country, Baru discovers it’s on the brink of rebellion. Drawn by the intriguing duchess Tain Hu into a circle of seditious dukes, Baru may be able to use her position to help. As she pursues a precarious balance between the rebels and a shadowy cabal within the Empire, she orchestrates a do-or-die gambit with freedom as the prize.
But the cost of winning the long game of saving her people may be far greater than Baru imagines.
Dickinson’s debut is published in the UK by Tor Books, as The Traitor.
The Moon wants to kill you. Whether it’s being unable to pay your per diem for your allotted food, water, and air, or you just get caught up in a fight between the Moon’s ruling corporations, the Five Dragons. You must fight for every inch you want to gain in the Moon’s near feudal society. And that is just what Adriana Corta did.
As the leader of the Moon’s newest “dragon,” Adriana has wrested control of the Moon’s Helium-3 industry from the Mackenzie Metal corporation and fought to earn her family’s new status. Now, at the twilight of her life, Adriana finds her corporation, Corta Helio, surrounded by the many enemies she made during her meteoric rise. If the Corta family is to survive, Adriana’s five children must defend their mother’s empire from her many enemies… and each other.
This is published in the UK by Gollancz, on September 17th, 2015.
For eighteen-year-old Gideon Blake, nothing but death can keep him from achieving his goal of becoming a U.S. Army Ranger. As it turns out, it does.
Recovering from the accident that most definitely killed him, Gideon finds himself with strange new powers and a bizarre cuff he can’t remove. His death has brought to life his real destiny. He has become War, one of the legendary four horsemen of the apocalypse.
Over the coming weeks, he and the other horsemenConquest, Famine, and Deathare brought together by a beautiful but frustratingly secretive girl to help save humanity from an ancient evil on the emergence.
They fail.
Nowbound, bloodied, and druggedGideon is interrogated by the authorities about his role in a battle that has become an international incident. If he stands any chance of saving his friends and the girl he’s fallen fornot to mention all of humankindhe needs to convince the skeptical government officials the world is in imminent danger.
V.E. Schwab, A GATHERING OF SHADOWS (February 23rd, 2016)
Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell’s possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Rhy was wounded and the Dane twins fell, and the stone was cast with Holland’s dying body through the rift, and into Black London.
In many ways, things have almost returned to normal, though Rhy is more sober, and Kell is now plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks like she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games-an extravagent international competition of magic, meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries — a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.
But while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life, and those who were thought to be forever gone have returned. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning, and so it seems Black London has risen again — and so to keep magic’s balance, another London must fall.
Brian Staveley, THE LAST MORTAL BOND (March 15th, 2016)
War engulfs the Annurian Empire.
The ancient csestriim are back to finish their purge of humanity; armies march against the capital; leaches, solitary beings who draw power from the natural world to fuel their extraordinary abilities, maneuver on all sides to affect the outcome of the war; and capricious gods walk the earth in human guise with agendas of their own.
But the three imperial siblings at the heart of it all Valyn, Adare, and Kaden come to understand that even if they survive the holocaust unleashed on their world, there may be no reconciling their conflicting visions of the future.
The first two books in Staveley’s Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne are also published in the US by Tor Books: The Emperor’s Blades and Providence of Fire. The series is published in the UK by Tor (UK). I loved the first two books, can’t wait to read this!
Once a year on Dragon Day the fabled Dragon Gate is raised to let a sea dragon pass into the Sabian Sea. There, it will be hunted by the Storm Lords, a fellowship of powerful water-mages who rule an empire called the Storm Isles.
Emira Imerle Polivar is coming to the end of her tenure as leader of the Storm Lords, but she has no intention of standing down graciously. As part of her plot to hold onto power, she instructs an order of priests known as the Chameleons to sabotage the Dragon Gate. There’s just one problem: that will require them to infiltrate an impregnable citadel that houses the gate’s mechanism — a feat that has never been accomplished before.
But Imerle is not the only one intent on destroying the Storm Lord dynasty. As the Storm Lords assemble in answer to a mysterious summons, they become the targets of assassins working for an unknown enemy. And when Imerle sets her scheme in motion, that enemy uses the ensuing chaos to play its hand.
Turner’s debut, When Heavens Fall, is also published by Tor Books in the US, and in the UK by Titan Books. I assume they’ll be publishing book two as well.
Welcome to a world of wind and bone, songs and silence, betrayal and courage.
Kirit Densira cannot wait to pass her wingtest and begin flying as a trader by her mother’s side, being in service to her beloved home tower and exploring the skies beyond. When Kirit inadvertently breaks Tower Law, the city’s secretive governing body, the Singers, demand that she become one of them instead. In an attempt to save her family from greater censure, Kirit must give up her dreams to throw herself into the dangerous training at the Spire, the tallest, most forbidding tower, deep at the heart of the City.
As she grows in knowledge and power, she starts to uncover the depths of Spire secrets. Kirit begins to doubt her world and its unassailable Laws, setting in motion a chain of events that will lead to a haunting choice, and may well change the city forever — if it isn’t destroyed outright.
Featuring: Mitch Albom, David V. Barrett, D. Randall Blythe, Aliette de Bodard, Charles Bukowski, Umberto Eco, Carolyn Ives Gilman, Victor Gischler, Mark Hodder, Mitchell Hogan, Howard Andrew Jones, Stephen P. Kiernan, Ted Kosmatka, Stina Leicht, Shanna Mahin, George Mann, Ari Marmell, Rhonda Mason, Brian Panowich, Adam Rakunas, Andy Remic, Karin Slaughter, Paul Theroux, Simon Toyne, Tony Tulathimutte Continue reading →
Featuring: John Joseph Adams, Andy Abramowitz, Edgar Cantero, Joshua Cohen, Bennett R. Coles, Ctein, Dennis Dunaway, Matthew Dunn, Vaughn Entwhistle, Michael R. Fletcher, Teresa Frohock, Caseen Gaines, John Gilstrap, Ed Greenwood, Janet Groth, Paul Kane, Marshall Ryan Maresca, John Niven, Tom Pollock, Ronda Rousey, John Sandford, Charles Stross, Neely Tucker, Jon Wallace, Fran Wilde, Daniel H. Wilson Continue reading →
Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Dan Wells?
Hi! I’m Dan Wells, and I write books. I mostly play around in horror and science fiction, but I’ve dabbled in fantasy, steampunk, thriller, humor, historical, and one time I wrote a novella about a Mormon Pioneer superhero who fights zombies. So I kind of cover everything. I lived in Germany for the past couple of years, and am now back in the states, in Utah. I have 5.5 children, and collect board games with obsessive zeal. My favorite movie is Jaws, I have Darth Vader’s autograph, and I will eat ramen at literally any opportunity.Continue reading →
Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Peter Orullian?
My rote answer is that I have two abiding passions in life: writing, and music. In addition to my fiction, I’m also a musician. I spent many years in classical voice training. And I love almost all kinds of music: jazz, Broadway, classical, etc., in addition to rock and metal.
By day, I work for Xbox, which is good, since I’m a gamer. But I’m also a dad. Kids are awesome.
Your next novel, Trial of Intentions, was recently published by Tor. It’s the second in your Vault of Heaven series. How would you introduce the series to a potential reader? And what can fans expect from the new novel?
When I started my series, The Vault of Heaven, I had this idea: Write a series that uses some of the familiar elements of the genre to gently lead readers to someplace new. Someplace my own. That idea begins to kick in with the first book. Then, with Trial of Intentions, it kicks into high gear. Things aren’t what readers are expecting. And a few of my early readers have said they’ve loved having me violate their expectations. Continue reading →
Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Marc Turner?
Marc Turner is the dashing and debonair (and sometimes delusional) author of the forthcoming epic fantasy series, The Chronicles of the Exile. He was born in Canada, but grew up in England, and currently lives in Durham with his wife and son.
And he’s as confused as everyone else as to why he’s started talking about himself in the third person.
Your debut, When The Heavens Fall, is due to be published this year by Tor Books. How would you introduce it to a new reader? Is it the beginning of a new series?
When The Heavens Fall tells the story of a mage who steals an artefact, the Book of Lost Souls, that gives him power over the dead. He uses it to resurrect an ancient civilization in order to challenge Shroud, the Lord of the Dead, for control of the underworld, and Shroud responds by sending his most formidable servants to seize the Book. But the god is not the only one interested in the Book, and a host of other forces converge, drawn by the magic that has been unleashed.
I spent a long time trying to think of a tag line that captures the book, and I came up with “The Lord of the Rings meets World War Z“. I should note, WTHF is not a zombie apocalypse story, but if you read the book (if? When!) you’ll understand the reference. Continue reading →
Featuring: Kate Atkinson, Jenny T. Colgan, Sebastien de Castell, Jeffery Deaver, Nelson DeMille, Katie Disabato, Richard Ford, Jonathan Freedland, S.L. Grey, Charlaine Harris, Aleksandar Hemon, Chris Holm, Jason LePier, Duff McKagan, Todd Moss, K.J. Parker, Joe Perry, John Sandford, Stephanie Saulter, Stefan Spjut, Sabaa Tahir, Dan Wells, Robert Charles Wilson Continue reading →
Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Fran Wilde?
My rote answer is that I have two abiding passions in life: writing, and music. In addition to my fiction, I’m also a musician. I spent many years in classical voice training. And I love almost all kinds of music: jazz, Broadway, classical, etc., in addition to rock and metal.
Civilian Reader 