Category Archives: Angry Robot Books

A Visit to the World House

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The World House
Guy Adams
Angry Robot Books
 416pp A-format paperback
£7.99 UK   $tbc Aus
416pp mass-market paperback
$7.99 US    $8.99 CAN
 ISBN 978 0 85766 037 4
ebook  £4.49 / $5.99
 ePub ISBN 978 0 85766 038 1

This one has been out for a while but it’s still worth a read.  As Dean Wesley Smith likes to point out, books aren’t produce; they won’t spoil.  When the book arrived in the mail, I was on my way back to work after meeting my wife for lunch and had stopped by the post office.  I decided to read it on my lunch breaks.  That didn’t happen for two reasons.  One, I keep having to run errands during lunch, and two, I was just too drawn into the story to be able to read only a short number of pages every few days.

The idea of a house where each room contains a world or a passage to a world isn’t new.  James Stoddard used it in The High House and The False House, just to give one example.  And while Stoddard’s books had some creepy moments, The World House does them one better.

This house is not one you want to live in.  In fact, it’s basically a prison.  I’m not giving away anything by saying that; the cover copy mentions a prisoner waiting for a door to be unlocked.  

I’ll mention some, but not all, of the things you find in the house.  There’s a Snakes and Ladders game painted on the floor of the nursery; when you step on it, it becomes three dimensional and the snakes are alive.  There’s a chapel with blood-thirsty cherubs.  The bathroom has an ocean in it.  (No, nothing has backed up.)  Various rooms have taxidermy, which can come to life.  The library has a book about each person’s life, unless of course the book worms eat your volume.  And let’s not forget the cannibals…

For a novel of this length, Adams includes a large number of characters, roughly a dozen or so, depending on how you want to delineate between major and minor characters.  Not all of them make it to the end.  Still, he does a good job of making them individuals, and some are deliciously evil.  They come from the late 1800s to the early 2000s, and all of them entered the house the same way.  They fell through a box.

There’s a small Chinese box.  If you find yourself in a life threatening situation, say about to get the crap beaten out of you by a loan shark, or being chased by your fiance who has taken you somewhere isolated so he can rape you, and you happen to be in contact with the box…well, you just fall in.  Once you do, you’ll find yourself somewhere in the house.  

The characters try survive and figure out how to get home.  The box is known in the real world, and a few have managed to make it back.  And of course, there are people who are searching for the box for reasons of their own.

I’m not going to try to summarize the plot lines involving the characters any more than I have, which I realize isn’t much.  I’ll just say that who the heroes and villains are may surprise you.  And that’s one of the satisfying things about this novel.  Adams doesn’t do the obvious with the characters, and there are hidden relationships between some of the characters which aren’t revealed until the final pages.  

This one was a lot of fun.  Adams has a wonderfully dark and twisted imagination, especially when it comes to populating the rooms of the house.  Half the fun was seeing what he would throw at the reader next.  Even though the story isn’t over, I thought for the most part he did a fine job tying up all loose ends for the first half.  The second part of the tale, Restoration, is sitting on my desk at work.  I’ll be starting it soon. 

Why It’s not Wise to Steal a Giant

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Giant Thief
David Tallerman
Angry Robot Books
mmpb, 416 pp, $7.99 US/$8.99 CAN
416 pp, B format ppb, L7.99 UK/RoW
various ebook formats

With his debut novel, David Tallerman has succeeded in doing what few authors have done.  He has written a story (novel, short story, length doesn’t matter) that made me laugh out loud.  Well, it was more of a chuckle, actually.  But it happened more that once.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to make me laugh while I’m reading, even if I think the story is funny?

I don’t why that is; it just is.  Tallerman pulled it off.  That puts him squarely on my list of authors to read.

Now don’t get the idea that Giant Thief is a humorous novel, such as those written by Tom Holt or Terry Pratchett.  It’s a pretty serious story.  It’s hard to make sudden murder and mass slaughter funny.

The story starts off like this:

Easie Damasco is a compulsive thief.  When the book opens, the soldiers he’s been caught stealing from are discussing the best way to kill him.  They decide on hanging, but before he can expire, the invading warlord, Moaradrid, happens along and orders him cut down.  Rather than waste cannon fodder, he conscripts Damasco into his army.  The same army that’s invading Damasco’s home country.

Now he’s likely to die fighting against his own countrymen rather than at the end of a rope.  Moaradrid has somehow managed to get the Giants to fight for him, something the opposing army doesn’t know yet.  During the battle, the handler of a Giant named Saltlick is killed.  Damasco’s commander orders him to take control of the Giant, which is done by riding on a harness strapped to the Giant’s back.  Then the commander expires of his wounds.

Damasco decides the best course of action is to take Saltlick and flee.  Saltlick is in favor of this idea, especially once Damasco promises him he won’t have to fight again.  Seems the Giants are natural pacifists.

Of course Damasco can’t leave well enough alone.  He has to try for a big score, and manages to steal a small purse from Moaradrid’s tent.  So what’s a kleptomaniac to do once he’s swiped a valuable purse and a conscientious objector?  Head for the hills, in this case literally.

Escaping isn’t as easy as Easie thinks it will be.  There are people waiting for him when he returns to the nearest city.  And there’s more in the purse of value than a few coins.  Damasco finds himself in the center of a battle, both of steel and of wills, for control of what’s in that bag.

If you’re wondering by this point, where’s the humor in all this, it’s mostly at the beginning of the novel.  Things get increasingly grim as the story progresses.

Oh, you mean in the situation.  Do you remember that kid in junior high school (or middle school, if you prefer), the one who constantly had a wise-ass remark on the tip of his tongue and never seemed to take anything seriously?  That’s Easie Damasco.  He’s always got a quip, a happy-go-lucky yet cynical view of things.  It was this sort of humor that made me laugh.  I realize humor is subjective, and this form might not appeal to everyone, but for me it worked.

Damasco also has an unbelievable talent for rationalization and self-justification, traits that constantly land him in trouble.  No wonder there’s a price on his head in one of the cities he and his companions visit.  And he is incapable of keeping his sticky fingers to himself.

Not that this stops him from growing a conscience.  He does begin to see how his actions hurt others, although in fairness to him, there are plenty of people using him for their own purposes.  A mayor, a crime lord, a prince, and a guard captain.  No one is completely without sin in this story.

And it’s a good story, one worth reading.  There are passages where Tallerman captures the interaction between characters like an accomplished pro.  When Mayor Estrada whispers to Damasco the reason she needs him in the war, and her response when he asks her to repeat herself is to yell the reason, Tallerman captured the guilt and conflicted emotion of a decent and honorable person forced to do something dishonorable for the greater good.  It was one of the most effective scenes for me, and it wasn’t the only scene like this.  Tallerman is clearly a good writer, but there are glimpses of greater talent still in development throughout the novel. He’s only gong to get better.

It would be tempting for Tallerman to have a romance develop between Damasco and Estrada.  While that may yet happen in a future installment of this series, Tallerman took the more difficult and thus more rewarding course and refrained.

Another thing Tallerman did well was explain the geography.  I still got turned around as to where places were in relation to each other.  A map would have been nice.  My copy is an eARC, so there might be a map in the final edition.  If not, that’s something Angry Robot might want to consider for the sequel.

David Tallerman is not an author with whom I was familiar before reading this book.  In fact I’d never heard of him. I’d be willing to be his name will become more prominent if he writes more books like this one.  I’ll be looking forward to the sequel, but in the meantime, I’ll be hunting up his short stories.

Four Publishers You Should be Reading in 2012

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Yep, that’s right.  I said “publishers”, not “authors”.  The reason for this wording is these are the publishers I think are publishing the most innovative, original, and/or best written stuff in the fantasy and science fiction fields, with a dash of horror thrown in for spice.

I’m limiting my list to four (plus a runner-up) because these are the publishers whose books I’ve most enjoyed this year.  If you’ve read my post from yesterday, you can probably guess which ones won’t be on there.  I’m deliberately not including small presses that publish pricey limited editions, even if they also publish trade editions.  I’m limiting the list to imprints you can find in a local bookstore.  Also, there’s at least one publisher not on the list because I simply didn’t get around to reading any of their books this year, and that’s Orbit. I’ve enjoyed things they’ve published in the past, and have several books in the TBR stack from them.  What I’ve read of Orbit’s line I’ve generally enjoyed, and I expect that to be the case with what I have on hand.

One thing to note about all the publishers on the list.  Roughly a decade, to use round figures, is about as long as any of these publishers have been around, although one or two have existed slightly longer than that.  Some are much younger.  All of them are lean, efficient, and not afraid to take chances with what they publish.  And their books don’t look like all their other books.

Here’s the way I’m structuring this list.  I’ll list the publishers in reverse order, starting with the runner-up (along with an explanation of why that publisher isn’t number 5), with a few recommendations from their line along with a list of some of what I’ll be reading from them in the coming months.  I’ll confine myself to three, at most four, recommendations and TBRs, even though in most cases the actual number is greater.  Links will be to the books’ webpages, not any reviews I’ve posted; there’ll be a comprehensive list of reviews at the end of the post.  For series, I’ll only list the first volume.  A book’s being included in the TBR listing is not a guarantee I’ll review it here or at Futures Past and Present.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Runner-up:  Prime Books.  The reason I’m calling Prime the runner-up is somewhat awkward.  You see, I haven’t actually finished any of their books, at least none that I’ve bought in the last few years.  Not that I’ve disliked any of the books, but that they’ve all been anthologies, and I have a really bad habit of dipping into an anthology  between novels, reading a selection of stories, then putting the anthology down for an extended period of time before coming back to it.  So I’ve got a number of anthologies sitting around unfinished.  (I really need to break that habit.)   Prime does publish novels, and I have some in the TBR list (which I promise I will finish).  Their ebooks are reasonably priced, with most in the $4.95 range, and unlike many higher priced ebooks from larger publishers, the TOCs are interactive.  Highlights of what I have read portions of include Rich Horton’s annual Best Science Fiction and Fantasy series, which I’m waay behind on, and Paula Guran’s annual Best Dark Fantasy and Horror series, which I’m not as far behind on.  Many of the their recent anthologies have been themed reprint anthologies.
Recommendations:  It’s hard to recommend something you haven’t finished, but you could hardly go wrong with any of the Year’s Best, either the science fiction and fantasy or the dark fantasy and horror. 
TBR:  When the Great Days Come by Gardner Dozois, Heart of Iron by Ekaterina Sedia, Mechanique by Genevieve Valentine

Number 4:  Abaddon/Solaris These are two imprints of the same company, with the former having a dark focus and the latter a less grim tone.  Either way, you can’t go wrong.  There’s enough solid science fiction, fantasy, and horror in a wide variety of subgenres here to keep anyone busy.  The company is British, so many of the author’s names might not be familiar to American readers.  Don’t let that stop you; British authors have a slightly different perspective on things, which I find quite refreshing at times.  Check their website, and I’m sure you’ll find several things appealing. 
Recommendations:  Hawkwood’s Voyage (in the omnibus Hawkwood and the Kings) by Paul Kearney, Engineering Infinity edited by Johnathan Strahan, and Viking Dead by Toby Venables
TBR:  Engineman by Eric Brown, The Ten Thousand by Paul Kearney, The Recollection by Gareth L. Powell, Solaris Rising edited by Ian Whates

Number 3:   Angry Robot  This is another British publisher, and the youngest imprint on the list.  Yet in the short time they’ve been around, Angry Robot has embarked on an aggressive program of publishing some of the most ambitious genre-bending books on the market.  Their authors come from all over the English speaking world, and some of their most acclaimed titles are by authors from places other than the US or Great Britain.  They’re beginning to get nominations for the some of the major awards in the field, including the Hugo and the Ditmar, and winning the Arthur C. Clarke and World Fantasy.  This is an imprint to watch.  They’re having an ebook sale  for the month of January, so now’s your chance to check them out and see what all the commotion is about. 
Recommendations:  Winter Song by Colin Harvey, Roil by Trent Jamieson, The Crown of the Blood by Gav Thorpe
TBR:  The World House by Guy Adams, Book of Secrets by Chris Roberson, Walking the Tree by Kaaron Warren

Number Two:  Night Shade  This is the publisher on my list that’s been around the longest, but in my opinion they’re only getting better.  I didn’t read a great many of their books this year, and the science fiction I read wasn’t exactly to my taste although I understand the appeal of those particular titles.  But the fantasy was some of the best I’ve read in years.  The characters were all well-drawn, complex individuals, most of whom you could cheer for, including some of the villains, or perhaps I should say antagonists since most weren’t entirely evil.  The plots were involved and often twisty, with plenty of action and suspense.  Nightshade seems to be focusing on developing new authors at the moment, although one of my favorite authors, who hadn’t been able to get a publishing contract the last few years has signed with them and they’re continuing to reprint much of Glen Cook’s backlist, for which they are to be lauded.  All but one of their titles that I read were the first volumes in new series, which is a good thing.  I’m excited about what they’ve got coming up this year and will be reading more of their books than I did this past year.
Recommendations:  The Winds of Khalakovo by Bradley P. Beaulieu, The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer, The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells
TBR:  Miserere by Teresa Frohock, Southern Gods by John Horner Jacobs, The Serpent Sea by Martha Wells (which I’m reading right now, look for the review in a couple of days)

Number One:  Pyr  If you read books from only one publisher in 2012, this is the one you should read.  This is by far the most impressive and innovative line in all SFF publishing, although the others on this list are giving them increasing competition. If you’ve read many of their books, you understand why editor Lou Anders won the Hugo for Best Editor – Long Form last year.  I’ve not read a single book published by Pyr that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed, something I can’t say about any other publisher.  That’s not to say everything they publish is compatible with my taste.  They have a few items in their lineup that I can tell are not my thing.  And that’s okay; in fact, that’s how it should be.  A good publisher will a wide enough selection of product that most readers can find something they like, not cater to a narrow audience.  While they tend to focus on series (only makes economic sense), Pyr also publishes stand alone novels and a few anthologies.  Their focus has shifted since their inception from science fiction to fantasy, and they’re publishing some of the most exciting fantasy around, especially if you like the heroic variety, which I do.
Recommendations:  The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie, Twelve by Jasper Kent, Wolfsangel by M. D. Lachlan, Shadow’s Son by Jon Sprunk
TBR:  Blackdog by K. V. Johansen, Ghosts of Manhattan by George Mann, City of Ruins by Kristine Kathryn Rusch,  Shadow’s Lure by Jon Sprunk

These are the publishers I think are the best in the field right now, and the ones I’ll be reading the most in 2012.  That’s not to say I won’t be reading other publishers.  I will, just like I listed the indie published authors I’ll be reading in the coming months in a previous post.  As I said there, please be patient.  That’s a lot of books to read and will require time to complete, and I have other books in the TBR listing from some of these publishers that I didn’t list.  I’m sure some of you have your own ideas of which publishers are the ones to be reading, and I’m sure they aren’t the same as mine.  That’s okay.  Feel free to post a comment letting me know which ones they are.  As much good stuff is out there, I’m bound to have overlooked something.

For those who have too much time on their hands might be interested, here are links to the reviews I’ve posted of books by these publishers, arranged by publisher.

Abaddon/Solaris:  Hawkwood’s Voyage and The Heretic Kings by Paul Kearney, Engineering Infinity by Jonathan Strahan, Viking Dead by Toby Venables

Angry Robot:  Debris by Jo Anderton, Empire State by Adam Christopher, Darkness Falling by Peter Crowther, Winter Song by Colin Harvey, Roil by Trent Jamieson, The Crown of the Blood and The Crown of the Conqueror by Gav Thorpe

Nightshade:  The Winds of Khalakovo by Bradley P. Beaulieu, The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer, The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells

Pyr:  “Traveler’s Rest” by James Enge,Twelve, Thirteen Years Later, and The Third Section by Jasper Kent, Wolfsangel and Fenrir by M. D. Lachlan, Shadow’s Son by Jon Sprunk

Big Apples in Peril

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Empire State
Adam Christopher
Angry Robot

US/Canada
27 December 2011
416pp Trade Paperback
$12.99 US $14.99 CAN

ebook
27 December 2011
£4.49

If you like pulp superheores, noir, action, mystery, and a fun read, then this is the book for you.  If you notice, the release date on this novel is two days after Christmas, so you will have something to buy with that Christmas money Grandma always sends.

I was fortunate to score an eARC through the Robot Army, and I’m glad I did.  The storyline wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but that’s good.  Angry Robot has a pretty solid track record of publishing stuff that isn’t the same old thing.

So what’s the story about, you say?  I’m glad you asked that.

Now I don’t want to give too much away, because a great deal of the fun is how Christopher plays with your perceptions of what’s really going on and who’s on whose side.

The novel opens like a burst from a Tommy gun, literally.  Rex, a small time Manhattan bootlegger, is on the run from a bigger bootlegger he’s offended.  While making his escape, he gets caught up in the crowd watching a battle between the Skyguard and the Science Pirate over the Empire State Building, under construction at the time the book opens.  These are New York’s two superheroes, once partners and now bitter enemies.

The Chairman

The battle creates a pocket universe, the Empire State, which isn’t a nice place.  It’s a darker version of New York, filled with perpetual rain and fog and governed by the Chairman of the City Commissioners.  That’s an actual photo of him to the right.  (Really.  It is.  Don’t believe me?  Read the book.  You’ll see.)

Over in the Empire State, a detective named Rad is hired to find a missing woman.  It’s at this point that the novel departs from the superhero genre into the PI genre, at least for a while.  You can rest assured the case will involve superheroes, since Rad had a run-in with one just before he gets this case.

Being a detective in the Empire State is even harder than it is in New York.  For one thing, the Empire State is in a perpetual state of Wartime, fighting the Enemy, an unseen foe somewhere out in the fog.  Every few months a new fleet of ironclads is launched, crewed by men who have been turned into robots.  In all the years of Wartime, no ironclad has ever returned.  Until now…

I’ll refrain from telling you further details of the plot.  I don’t want to spoil anymore surprises.  There are twists, turns, crosses, and double crosses in this one.  It has a delightfully pulpy feel to it.  Especially during the airship chase.

I know that at least one person who follows this blog has been waiting for this one.  It’s almost here, and I think you’ll find it will have been worth the wait.

Here’s a sample chapter:

Angry Robots Books Announces New Authors

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The following is a press release from Angry Robot Books:

** ANGRY ROBOT SIGNS TWO NEW “OPEN DOOR MONTH” AUTHORS **

Like most successful publishers, Angry Robot generally only accepts submissions through literary agencies. Earlier this year, however, the company ran a pilot programme to see how many unpublished – but talented – authors there were without representation. During March, Angry Robot invited all un-agented authors to submit completed manuscripts as part of an “Open Door Month”. Over 990 novels were submitted during that period.

Today, Angry Robot are delighted to announce the first acquisitions from the first Open Door Month. Two new authors, each with a minimum two book deal, have now joined the Angry Robot family.

Cassandra Rose Clarke was the first signing to come through this process. Her two novels for Angry Robot show the versatility of this important new talent.

‘The Mad Scientist’s Daughter’ is the heartbreaking story of the journey from childhood to adulthood, with an intriguing science fictional twist. And ‘The Assassin’s Curse’ is a fantastical romp, starring Ananna, a no-nonsense lady pirate, born into pirate royalty.

Clarke said: “I’m beyond excited to have Angry Robot publishing my first-ever novel, and not only because of the delightful coincidence that my novel involves a robot who is, on occasion, angry. Angry Robot’s reputation is stellar and their author list incredibly impressive – I’m humbled to be included amongst their ranks!”

We take a somewhat darker turn with a pair of books from Lee Collins – ‘The Dead of Winter’ and ‘She Returns From War’. Both novels follow Cora Oglesby, a bounty hunter with a reputation for working supernatural cases.

Collins said: “As excited as I am at the prospect of rubbing shoulders with Angry Robot’s outstanding authors, publication was really a secondary goal of my submitting to them. My primary reason was the hope, however slim, of cybernetic augmentation.”

Both deals were negotiated by Angry Robot’s editor, Lee Harris, who stated: “There is an enormous amount of talent out there, waiting to be discovered, and I am thrilled we have found two great new talents as part of our search.”

Both authors’ debut novels will be published by Angry Robot in autumn 2012, with their second books scheduled for spring 2013.

Following the success of the project, Angry Robot expects to run a similar Open Door period in spring 2013, details of which are to be confirmed at a later date.

Ok, that’s the end of the press release.  Further details and author photos can be found on the Angry Robot website.  Advanced reading copies of  The Mad Scientist’s Daughter and The Dead of Winter will be available at some point.  I’ll download them and post the reviews, here for the latter and at Futures Past and Present for the former.  Angry Robot is one of the more innovative publishers out there.  I’m eager to see what new authors they’ve discovered.

A Brief Look at Debris

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Debris
Jo Anderton
Angry Robot
464pp mass-market paperback
$7.99 US, $8.99 CAN
ebook £4.49 / $5.99

This review would have been up a few days ago if I had had access to a computer.  My son didn’t have school today, so we took advantage of the long weekend to go visit my parents.  Only their computer was in the shop, and I hadn’t brought mine along.  So instead of a post about every other day for a few days, this is (hopefully) the first of at least four days in a row with new material.

But you probably aren’t interested in that.  What you want to know is if the book is any good.  Am I right?  Of course I am.  Aren’t I always?  (Don’t answer that.)

Yes, this is a good book, but I have a quibble with the publisher about it.

This is the third book I’ve reviewed from Angry Robot in the last six weeks.  The first one, Roil, was listed by the publisher as fantasy, while I felt it was more science fiction, or at the outside, science fantasy.  The second novel, Darkness Falling, I considered to be fantasy, although the publisher listed it as science fiction.  Now we come to Debris, a novel I consider to be science fantasy if not outright fantasy, while the publisher calls it…you guessed it, science fiction.

I’ll explain my reasons in a minute.  To understand, you need some background.  Tanyana is an architect.  In this world, that’s a slightly different job than it is in ours.  Tanyana is capable of seeing and controlling pions, which are the building blocks of matter.  They almost act as if they are alive.  When pions are used to make things, build things, produce energy, or for any other purpose, they generate waste called debris.  The debris acts like it’s alive at times as well.

There’s just one problem with this scenario.  I don’t buy it.  As a practicing physicist, I can assure you the universe doesn’t act that way, at least not the one we inhabit.  Well, maybe the one that weird guy in the office at the end of the hall lives in, but not the rest of us.  The pions described in this book aren’t the ones I’m familiar with.  I was expecting a science fiction novel, but that’s not what I got, at least by my definition.  Because the physical world described here clearly isn’t ours, I would have to classify this as fantasy.  I think what threw me was Ms. Anderton’s use of the word “pion”, which has a particular meaning for me.

Anyway, once I got over all that, I quite enjoyed the book.  This is a story of a woman who doesn’t so much fall from great heights as she is pushed.  Literally.  The opening chapter finds Tanyana leading her circle of binders (people who can control pions) in building a giant statue.  Something goes wrong, they lose control, and Tanyana is thrown off the statue.  Her injuries are such that she can no longer see pions.

She can, however, see debris.  Debris is like entropy personified, although not everyone can see it, just like not everyone can see pions.  That doesn’t make it any less destructive.  Debris has to be collected and contained or all sorts of bad things will happen.  Assigned to a collecting team that doesn’t want her, Tanyana must figure out who is behind not only her disgrace, but the systematic campaign to ruin everyone who ever did her a favor. 

Collectors are at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder, while binders are near the top.  Things go from bad to worse, as Tanyana’s life unravels and she is forced to piece a new one together, while eruptions of debris are increasing and becoming more deadly.  All the while she is stalked by the mysterious and frightening puppet men.

Not everyone is who or what they appear to be.  There are mysteries here, and not all of them are solved.  The ones that are, well, they still have plenty of open questions. Important pieces of history appear to have been lost.  Some of the characters have surprising depths.  Once I got into the story and past my physics hangups, I was hooked.  The characters are real, growing and changing.  They are individuals you care about.  The mysteries are intriguing, the plot captivating, the villains frightening.  And characters from children’s stories in this world, well, they may just turn out to be real. 

Ms. Anderton is an Australian writer, and this is her first novel, so her name may not be familiar to most of you.  Remember it.  This book promises to be the launch of what should be a successful and major career in the field.  It’s the first of a series, it’s fresh and original, and I’ll be reading the next installment.

Darkness Falling, A Review of Peter Crowther’s Latest Novel

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Darkness Falling
Peter Crowther
Angry Robot Books
US/Canada 27 Sep 2011
400 pp trade paperback $12.99 US/ $14.99 Canada
UK 6 Oct 2011
464 pp B-format paperback    L7.99
ebook 27 Sep 2011 L4.99/$5.99

As and editor and publisher, Peter Crowther has few peers.  His accomplishments in these fields have overshadowed his work as a writer.  He tends to write primarily in the horror genre, and this latest novel is no exception.

The publisher classifies it as science fiction on the book’s webpage, and I have no argument with that designation.  However, I’ve chosen to review it here rather than on Futures Past and Present, my science fiction blog, because as a scientist I’m a little skeptical about some of the things that happen.  Since Angry Robot classified Roil as a fantasy and I reviewed it as science fiction (which I maintain it is), I figure this just evens things out.

With Halloween approaching, this book fits the season well.

This is basically a zombie novel with a dash of vampiric photo-phobia thrown in.  There are echoes of the original Night of the Living Dead as well as allusions and references to other classic horror films, not the least of which is Invasion of the Body Snatchers. 

Most of the population disappears in a Rapture-like event, a flash of bright light in the middle of the night.  Only a few people are left.  That’s about as far as the similarities to the Left Behind books goes.  Twenty-four hours later, there’s a second flash of light.  The bodies of the people who disappeared are back.  Only they’ve changed.  And they’re not friendly.

I have to admit my initial impression of this book wasn’t exactly positive.  Two of the characters turned me off completely.  The first was Ronnie, whose marriage is in trouble.  He’s on a plane with his wife, and he’s ogling every female of legal age in sight.  He doesn’t disappear, but his wife does.  Also on the plane with him are a little girl named Angel, who happens to be clairvoyant, and the navigator, who doesn’t really know how to land the plane.  It’s only when Ronnie begins to be a father figure that he becomes a likeable character.

The other character, Virgil, is a serial killer.  What I didn’t care for was the detail into his past we were given, specifically the sexual abuse he experienced from his mother.  He never becomes a likeable character, but then he’s not supposed to be.  He just suffered from too much information in the early chapters.

After a few chapters, though, I found myself being hooked.  With the exception of Virgil, all of the other characters are appealing, eventually if not immediately.  The fact that they don’t all survive adds to the suspense.  Not all of the characters are together in the beginning.  By the end all the viewpoint characters have joined up and have formed a plan, which will be implemented in the next book.  Crowther is a talented writer, and the prose flowed.  The market is somewhat saturated with zombies right  now.  This one is the cream of the crop.

Being a type of zombie novel, there’s plenty of gore in places.  While that might turn some readers off, I didn’t find it excessive.  There’s enough mystery about what happened to keep me reading, even if I’m not entirely sure I buy everything in Crowther’s scenario from a scientific standpoint. 

There are two more volumes planned in this series, with release dates in the fall of 2012 and 2013.  I’ll be looking for them.

It’s Easier to Take a Crown Than Keep it

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The Crown of the Conqueror
Gav Thorpe
Angry Robot Books
432 pp., $7.99 paper, $5.99 ebook

If you haven’t read the first volume in this series, The Crown of the Blood, I’m giving you fair warning that I’m going to have at least one major spoiler in this review.

When I reviewed The Crown of the Blood, I really enjoyed it but had a few quibbles about a couple of things.  Overall, though, I thought it was a good book.  The Crown of the Conqueror, on the other hand is a very good book.  The  gripes I had about the first book, which I considered to be relatively minor, aren’t present in this one.  The pace moves at what feels like a breakneck speed, which is an impressive trick for Mr. Thorpe to pull off, considering 3 1/2 years pass from the first page to the last.

The first book ended with a real cliffhanger (this one does, too), and in the opening chapter things pick up right where they left off.  Here’s the spoiler, which is included in the sample at the end of the review.  At the end of The Crown of the Blood, when Ullsaard put the crown on his head, he hear a voice.  Askh, founder of the empire and dead for two centuries.  It seems that every king since Askh has really been…Askh.  When the new king puts on the crown, Askh takes over and the original inhabitant of the body ceases to be in control or even be aware of what’s happened.  By interrupting the line of succession, Ullsaard has messed up that process so that while he can hear Askh and carry on a conversation with him, he’s still in control.  Askh is along for the ride, experiencing everything Ullsaard does but unable to influence events.  This leads to some complications of Ullsaard’s love life. 

Ullsaard soon learns that taking the crown and wearing it are two different things, and one is much harder than the other.  He has to deal with fighting a war without a lot a support from the nobles unless they can gain a political or financial advantage.  He has to fight more than one war at once.  And he has to deal with betrayal and revenge.

The supporting characters that gave The Crown of the Blood so much of its depth are back, although some of them don’t survive until the end of the book.  In fact, that adds to the suspense.  Once I realized Thorpe would kill characters who were playing a major role in some of the subplots, the book became a lot less predictable.  To me this added to the realism, since most things in life are not resolved in a quick and easy manner.  They’re messy with lots of false starts and missed opportunities.  Something the landship owner Anglhan finds out.  The descent of his character, to me, was one of the most fascinating parts of the story.  Anglhan’s story is unresolved, something that aggravates me to no end.  That’s a compliment, not a criticism.  A good writer makes the reader want more, and I want to find out what happens to Anglhan.  Hopefully it will involve flaying and impaling.

One of the criticisms of second books in trilogies is that they are often fillers between the setup in the first book and the finale in the third.  Gav Thorpe avoids that here, something he writes about on his blog.  Others may disagree with me on this point (it’s a free country and they have a right to be wrong), but I think he succeeded admirably.  We learn more about the history of this world, and about the Brotherhood in particular.  We also learn about Askh and how he came to found the empire.  I was reminded of some of the themes of H. P. Lovecraft here, and that’s a good thing because this gives a whole new light on the events of the first two books.  I won’t spoil any of the details, but this part of the story should become more dominant in the next book, The Crown of the Usurper. 

Unfortunately that book isn’t due out for another year.  It’s going to be a long wait.  If you like stories of empire and conquest, particularly those modeled on the Roman Empire, then this series will probably be your cup of tea.

For your convenience, I’ve included the publisher’s sample below.  (With permission of course.)

Of Blood and Crown and Conquest

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The Crown of the Blood
Gav Thorpe
Angry Robot Books
464 p., $7.99 paper, $5.99 ebook

You know any book that is dedicated to Phillip, Alexander, and Julius is going to be battle-centric.  Or perhaps I should say campaign-centric, because battles are only a small part of a campaign.  The Crown of the Blood doesn’t disappoint, although towards the end I felt the campaign was a little rushed.

Is this book worth reading?  If you like military oriented fantasy without a lot of sorcery in the middle of the battle, then you should enjoy this one.  There is some sorcery, but the battles are fought between legions and bandits, legions and those-soon-to-be-conquered, and legions and legions.  Unlike Glen Cook’s Black Company novels (which I love), sorcery has little to do with the combat.  It’s done the old fashioned way:  looking your opponent in the eye when you try to kill him, just like he’s doing to you.

The plot concerns one Ulsaard, a general in the Askhan army who has managed to work his way up the ranks and is as close to nobility as he can ever be in this society.  He’s more comfortable with his legions than he is with the intrigues of court, and this causes him to be manipulated into taking sides in a disagreement over the succession.

The Empire was founded by Askhos, and he set some pretty strict rules about how things were to be done after he was gone.  By this time Askhos is considered something of a deity.  For one thing, only those of the Blood, Askhos’ descendants, can rule.  All bastards are killed by the Brotherhood, an organization responsible for things like rule of law and collecting taxes, but which also seems to serve a religious function by stamping out any beliefs in conflict with Askhos’ teachings.  The Empire must expand by conquest until it controls the entire continent; Ulsaard thinks this one has been neglected of late.  And the succession must pass to the oldest living son, no exceptions.

What starts things off is that the heir, Kalmud, has fallen ill with some sort of lung disease that is keeping him bedridden but so far hasn’t been fatal.  His younger brother, Aalun, and also Ulsaard’s patron, finds this all very inconvenient.  Ulsaard is chomping at the bit to invade the neighboring kingdom of Salphoria.  Aalun uses this to put Ulsaard in the position of appearing to be in rebellion when he presses to be named successor.  Of course, what starts out as appearance soon turns to fact, especially after Aalun dies unexpectedly.  Ulsaard decides to continue the campaign.

Civil war follows.  One interesting thing is that Thorpe doesn’t hesitate to introduce semi-major characters and then kill them off.  This adds to the suspense as some key players don’t last as long as you expect, making you wonder who is next. 

Another thing I found interesting was that apparently when a man marries a woman, he also marries her sisters.  Depending on the sisters, this could be a sweet deal.  Or not.  In Ulsaard’s case it’s something of a mixed bag.  He loves the older sister, uses the younger sister mainly as a sex object, and barely tolerates the middle sister, who is a scheming social climber and quite adulterous.

There are different cultures shown in the book, with viewpoint characters from some of those cultures, but the main one is the (not surprisingly) Askhan culture, especially the culture of the legions.  Much of the world remains unexplored, in terms of the reader’s knowledge, although to an extent that’s true of the characters as well.  I suspect from some loose ends that we’ll be getting a closer look at some of them in later books.

This was a good book that moved well, had depth of character, and still had some surprises as it went along.  I only had two complaints with the structure of the story.  First, as I mentioned earlier, the end of the campaign seemed somewhat rushed, with several key battles skipped over.  I suspect for reasons of length.  The other was the one situation in which sorcery was used.  It was during winter, when Ulsaard’s legions are encamped, that they began to experience a series of increasingly damaging attacks, things like people getting literally deathly ill with no notice, while hearing chanting voices.  That seemed to be dropped after the most vicious attack fails.  Thorpe skips ahead to spring in the next chapter.

Those weren’t enough to spoil the book for me, though.  I’ve downloaded the sequel, The Crown of the Conqueror, and should be posting a review of it in a few weeks.  One word of warning to some of you.  The violence, sex, and language in this novel are quite graphic at times, more so than in many novels published these days, at least in the States.  Or perhaps I should say at least among the authors I’ve read over the last few years.  If you are squeamish or offended by that sort of thing, you might want to give this one a pass.  Otherwise, enjoy it.  It’s an exciting story that drags you in.

E-Book Prices: A Not-So-Brief Rant

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Ok, the main point of this post is to vent my spleen.  I’m not sure what good it will do other than perhaps get some frustration out of my system.  But if you’re reading this, you’re probably among the people who would most understand.

I was browsing in the local Barnes and Noble over the weekend.  There were a number of books there in multiple genres that looked intriguing (no big surprise).  One in particular seemed to be a really good fit for this blog.  It was a new release in mass market paperback, and no, I’m not going to tell you the title.  I’ll refrain out of respect to the author.  You’ll see why in a minute.  It appeared to be something that would move quickly to the top of the TBR pile, both because it looked like something I would really enjoy as well as something the people who read this blog would be interested in.

Now, before I go any further, you need to understand something to get some context.

After moving to the house where we currently live, we had to make a decision about what to put in storage since this house is considerably smaller than the previous one.  Over half my library is currently in boxes.  Much of what isn’t probably should be for the simple reason that I don’t have much space.  As in literally none.  I don’t have room in the house to bring more books in.  The shelves are spilling over, and my wife is starting to complain about tripping over the stacks on the floor.  Which is why I got an ereader, specifically a Nook, because B&N is just down the road.  When I buy a paper book, I need to clear space by either taking one (or some) to storage, selling them, or giving them to friends.  I will still buy paper books from a few writers, either because those writers are ones I want to read in physical copies or because I want them signed.  Also, there are some books that don’t have electronic editions, especially if they’re from small presses.  But with those exceptions, all of my book buying for the foreseeable future needs to be in electronic format.

I’ve got my Nook with me at B&N, so I check to see if there’s an electronic edition of this particular book.  Yep, sure enough, there is.

It costs the same as the paper edition.

Which means it will cost me more than the paper edition, because with a B&N card, I get a discount on the paper copy.  While annoying, it’s not so surprising.  I don’t have a problem with a business model in which electronic copies are similar or even identical in price to the paper copies initially, with the electronic copies dropping  in price over the course of the next few months.  I probably won’t buy the electronic copies until they’ve dropped in price.   Not just because I’m cheap, but I’m so far behind on my reading that usually it takes a couple of months before most new books rise to the top of the TBR pile.  So why not wait and pay the lower price?  If I want the book so badly that I buy it when it’s first published, it’s probably one I would want in paper.

But that model not what I see happening.  Most of the major houses that I’ve checked aren’t lowering the price of the ebooks after a few months, at least not by very much.  Now, I admit I haven’t done anything even approximating a scientific survey.  But looking at the things I read and the types of books I buy, I don’t see a lot publishers pricing their electronic copies much differently than their paper copies.  (Angry Robot seems to be an exception.)  For example, I would love to have the Del Rey Robert E. Howard collections in electronic format.  That way I could read whichever story I wanted to wherever I am as long as I have the Nook with me.  All of them as of this writing are either $12.99 or $13.99.  The exception is the newest collection, Sword Woman, which is only $9.99.  I have no idea why that one is priced so low now, because I bought it electronically when it was published a few months ago and paid $12.99.  And, yes, I hear what you’re saying:  I can get other electronic editions of Howard’s work.  But I want the Del Rey editions because those are the ones that have the corrected texts, the alternate drafts, and the fragments, as well as other material.  My point is I think these books are priced a little high.

I realize supply and demand, author popularity in other words, comes into play.  I’m okay with that.  A publisher expecting someone to pay more for a popular author than for an unknown is not unreasonable.  That’s the way the free market works.  It’s not just someone like Howard, an author has been around for a while and has a solid fan base that isn’t going to go away, whose books are being overpriced.  I’ve looked at a number of titles from a variety of publishers, and most of them are priced the same as the paper editions or maybe a dollar less.  (I’m talking mass market paperbacks here; electronic versions of books only available in hardcover are usually about half the hardcover price.  But hardcovers are luxury items.)  And not all of these titles are recent.  And not all of the authors are well known.  There are several first novels that look appealing by people I’ve never heard of before that have the same price in electronic and paper formats.

Before you conclude I’m one of these people who think ebooks should be priced at one or two dollars, I’m not.  I don’t have a problem paying between $5 and $10 for an electronic version of a book, although I naturally prefer the lower end of that range, provided the paper copy is considerably more expensive.  I see no reason to pay the same price for an electronic book as I do a paper copy, no matter what the price is on the paper copy.  There’s no reason I should.  There’s still editing, copy-editing, layout, cover art, and similar costs no matter what the format.  These all need to be taken into account when pricing the book, which is why I don’t think one or two bucks is a reasonable price for many ebooks, especially those coming from major publishers.  But there’s no printing costs, no shipping costs, no warehousing costs for electronic books.  I find it hard to believe a dollar difference between electronic books and paper books covers all the cost of printing, shipping, warehousing, etc.  The publishers shouldn’t expect me to pay for the rent on their Manhattan offices by gouging me on the price of the ebook.

If most of the difference in production costs between electronic and paper books went to the author, I would have a different opinion.  But it doesn’t, and so neither do I.  See J. A Konrath’s analysis for some numbers to get an idea of how much money most authors see on your average ebook compared to how much the publishers get. 

So I find  book I want to read, one that has an electronic version priced at or near the price of the paper version.  I have some choices.  I buy the paper copy, but with the spatial and spousal limitations I have, that’s not an option I can use very often.  Let’s assume it’s not in this case, which is a safe assumption.  I can buy the ebook, and sell out my principles, letting the publisher manipulate me to pay a price I think is too high.  I have a really difficult time doing that.  Or I can take what’s behind door number three, as they used to say on the game show Let’s Make a Deal.  I can pass on buying the book and wait for a copy to show up in a used book store.

That last would be my default option except for one thing.  There’s a writer who won’t get paid for the book.  As an aspiring writer myself, I have as big a problem with that as with the first two options.  I realize not everyone does.  If the average book buyer thinks the cost of an ebook is too high, they won’t buy it.  There’s more than enough to read out there that’s priced lower. More good and interesting stuff than any one person can ever read in an entire lifetime.  With the internet connecting second hand book dealers with customers miles away, a reader can find the book he or she wants at a lower price by exercising a little patience.

And that’s where I think big publishing is going to hurt itself.  By pricing itself out of the market.  Publishing is very much a free market right now in the sense that customers have power and the publishers don’t.  We have power, like I stated, to wait, read something else, or get it used.  That power is only going to increase as more authors begin to self-publish, both backlist titles and new books, and price their books significantly below what publishers are charging.  Readers are going to expect a certain price range on books, and books outside that range aren’t going to sell.  With the cost of fuel rising and driving everything else up along with it, book buying is going to become more of a luxury.  I know it is for me.  That means that higher priced ebooks are going to be less attractive to readers.  And the trend will probably get a lot worse before it gets better.

We need more variety in fantasy and science fiction, in detective fiction and historical adventure.  Not less.  There’s too much lowest common denominator crap on the shelves as it is.  That means more writers need a way to get their books to readers and still make enough to keep writing.  That won’t happen if their books, print or electronic, don’t sell.  The publishers will drop them like hot rocks.  And more voices will be silenced. More careers will end far too early.  And everyone, readers and authors and publishers, will all be the poorer for it.

Oh, and if you’re wondering what I decided about that book I really want to read and review for you here?  I’m still thinking about it.