Cover for Abercrombie’s Red Country Released

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Joe Abercrombie’s next novel, Red Country, is due out in the UK from Gollancz on October 18 and in the US from Orbit on October 23.  I know what I’ll be reading over the Thanksgiving break (unless I can score an ARC first).  Gollancz has released the UK cover.  That’s it on the right.

From what I’ve been able to learn, it seems to be a Western in a fantasy setting, where a woman seeks revenge out on the frontier.

 Here’s the wraparound cover:  

The US cover looks like this:

 Finally, if you’re wondering what the book is about, here’s the jacket copy: 

“They burned her home.
They stole her brother and sister.
But vengeance is following.
Shy South hoped to bury her bloody past and ride away smiling, but she’ll have to sharpen up some bad old ways to get her family back, and she’s not a woman to flinch from what needs doing. She sets off in pursuit with only a pair of oxen and her cowardly old stepfather Lamb for company. But it turns out Lamb’s buried a bloody past of his own, and out in the lawless Far Country, the past never stays buried.
Their journey will take them across the barren plains to a frontier town gripped by gold fever, through feud, duel and massacre, high into the unmapped mountains to a reckoning with the Ghosts. Even worse, it will force them into alliance with Nicomo Cosca, infamous soldier of fortune, and his feckless lawyer Temple, two men no one should ever have to trust…”

Donald E. Westlake Tribute Video

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If you’re a fan of Donald E. Westlake, you’ll probably be interested in this video that James Reasoner has posted on his blog.  (And if you’re not a fan of Westlake, why not?)  Although he started out in science fiction, he made his mark in mystery and crime writing.  I’ve only read a small portion of his work (the man was prolific), but I’ve never read a bad book by him, whether one of the comic caper novels or one of his darker crime novels, such as the Parker novels under the name Richard Stark.  Tomorrow would  have been his 79th birthday.  His final novel, The Comedy is Finished, was recently published by Hard Case Crime. 

Recommendations from the First Half of 2012

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There have been a lot of lists posted or published, depending on the format, in the last few weeks, claiming to enumerate the best books/stories/graphic novels/dirty limericks/ransom notes/whathaveyou from the first half of 2102.  To which, I say, yeah, right.  Unless these lists were compiled by committee, no one person could have read enough novels to say their list is the best.  And if the list were put together by committee, well, we all know what too often comes out of committee.

Now I’m not saying those lists don’t have value, just the title “Best” is misleading.  So I’m going to call the list that follows simply my recommendations for the first half of 2012.

First, a couple of ground rules.  I’m going to limit myself to novels, and with one or two exceptions which were self-published, novels published in 2012.  I’m making an exception for the self-published novels because they sometimes need a little time to develop some momentum.  Anyone paying attention to the trade publishers should be aware of forthcoming novels.

I’m also going to take the coward’s way out and not try to rank them.  I started to, but quickly ran into the issue of trying to decide between two books I thoroughly loved but for entirely different reasons.  I could bite the bullet and give them rankings, but tomorrow I’d probably change my mind.  Instead the books will be listed alphabetically by title.

So here are my recommendations from the first half of 2012, along with an occasional cheeky synopsis.  If more than one book in a series came out in the first part of the year, I’ve only listed the first book.
 
Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig  This is short, dark, compulsively readable tale of a young woman who can see the death of any person she touches through the eyes of that person.  One day she touches a man and sees herself present at his death.  Review here.

Carpathia by Matt Forbeck  The Carpathia was the ship which rescued the survivors of the Titanic.  What if there were vampires onboard?  Review here.

Crazy Greta by David A. Hardy  I called this the book John Bunyan would have written if he had been dropping acid while writing The Pilgrim’s Progress.  I stand by that statement.  Review here.

Feyland by Anthea Sharp  An entertaining and well-written young adult novel about what happens when the immersive computer game becomes a little too real.  Review here. 

Giant Thief by David Tallerman  So this kleptomaniac steals this giant, see?  Then he gets roped into being the hero against this warlord.  The only problem is his sticky fingers keep getting him in trouble.  Review here.


Hunter and Fox by Philippa Ballantine  An emotionally wounded woman serves as a hunter for a tyrant in a world in which the landscape changes on a regular basis.  Review here.

The Hammer and the Blade by Paul S. Kemp  Two thieves kill a demon while robbing a tomb.  Only the demon has powerful friends…A great adventure that reminded me of why I read sword and sorcery in the first place.  Review here.


Rise and Fall by Joshua P. Simon  An epic fantasy about duty, honor, family, and the ties that bind.  An impressive debut.  Review here.


Shadow Ops:  Control Point by Myke Cole  A world in which those with magical abilities are either drafted into covert military teams or exterminated and what happens when one man says, “Enough is enough.”  Review here.

Shadow’s Master by Jon Sprunk  The conclusion of a dark trilogy about a man who is heir to the shadows seeking to learn who he is.  Review here.


The Straits of Galahesh by Bradley P. Beaulieu Flying ships, astral projection, Machiavellian politics, an invading army, and a doomsday cult trying to bring about the end of the world.  In the midst of this, can two crazy kids find true love?  Review here.


Thief’s Covenant by Ari Marmell  Another YA, but with a dark edge.  Widdershins is a thief who has minor deity living in her head.  One of the most fun books I’ve read in a while in spite of the dark content.  Review here.

Vampires of the Carribean

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Cast in Dark Waters
Ed Gorman and Tom Piccirilli
various ebook formats, $2.99
Kindle  Nook Smashwords

In spite of the fact that this is a fairly short piece of fiction (less than 19,000 words), Cast in Dark Waters is one of the best weird pirate stories I’ve ever read.  The characters, particularly the protagonist, Crimson, seemed to almost walk off the page, they came across so real.

Crimson is a lady pirate, widowed, who is the toughest, most dangerous buccaneer in the Carribean.  The plot is straightforward.  An Englishman, having taken up the life of a Virginia tobacco farmer, has found out that his daughter has run away from finishing school in England with a notorious pirate.  He and his wife have come seeking Crimson’s help in finding her.  The pair of lovers are rumored to be staying on an island with a dark reputation.  Supposedly the undead also inhabit the island.

And Crimson’s former husband may be among them.

That’s all I’ll say about the plot.  This story could have come from Weird Tales, a collaboration of Henry S.Whitehead and Robert E. Howard.  There are elements of both in this tale.  The creepiness factor is about an 11.5 on a scale of 1 to 10.  There’s plenty of swordplay, and if you listen carefully, you can almost hear the mast creaking in the breeze and smell the spray of the ocean as it breaks over the fo’c’sle.

Crimson is a wonderfully wounded heroine, and it’s amazing how much depth Gorman and Piccirilli bring to what would be a stock character in the hands of lesser writers, a woman buccaneer who’s as tough as a man.  That’s almost become as much of a cliche in some circles as the maiden needing rescue.  And they do it in far fewer pages than most writers would use.

All of the characters are well drawn.  Their relationships are real, and they defy expectations.  In fact, the whole thing defies expectations.  You think you know what is going to happen once they reach the island, but Gorman and Piccirilli sidestep the obvious approach and go for the unexpected.

I rushed through this one in a single sitting.  Gorman has long been a favorite of mine, but this is AFAIK the first work I’ve read by Piccirilli.  I’ll need to read more of his stuff.  I hope they write a sequel; I want to read more about  Crimson.

Cast in Dark Waters, for all its grimness, was some of the most fun I’ve had in a great while.  I highly recommend it.

Jo Anderton’s Latest Suited Me Just Fine

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Suited
Jo Anderton
Angry Robot Books
UK/RoW
432pp B-format paperback
£7.99 UK
ISBN 9780857661562
US/CAN
416pp mass-market paperback
$7.99 US $8.99 CAN
ISBN 9780857661579
eBook
£5.49
ePub ISBN 9780857661586

I liked the premier novel in this series, Debris, although I took issue with the publisher’s classification of it as science fiction; as a scientist, I have to regard the way some things happened in the book as fantasy.   Either way, it was a great read.  Suited is even better, in my not-so-humble opinion. It’s easy to see why she won the Ditmar Award for Best New Talent.  Congratulations, Jo!

The story picks up shortly after the events in Debris.  The Puppet Men are still out there, and they have plans for Tanyana and her collecting team.  Starting by splitting them up.  Lad and Tanyana end up in the same team, while Lad’s brother and protector Kichlan goes to a different team.

Right from the start, things begin to go wrong.  Debris is hard to find, making quota difficult to achieve.  Ordinary debris, that is.  The half alive stuff keeps popping up, and in the worst places.  Tanyana’s suit is getting stronger, not to mention developing a mind of its own.  The Keeper is talking to Lad, although Tanyana is the only one who can see him, and then only when fully encased in her suit.  The Keeper insists they help him rather than trying to meet their quota, and what he asks can be chilling.

There’s a member of Tanyana’s new team who has a suit like hers.  He may or may not be what he seems.  But he’s not the only one with secrets.  Tanyana has a few of her own, such is she pregnant?  Some of the team members she’s been working with are hiding things as well.  As is the Keeper.

The relationships between Tanyana, Lad, and Kichlan continue to grow and deepen.  This is one of the places where Anderton shows her strengths.  Her friendship with Lad and deepening love for Kichlan are complex, multifaceted, and believable.  Which makes the impact of the second half of the book so devastating.

All hell breaks loose.  Things move along at a breakneck pace, and Anderton handles the action like an author with more than just two published novels under her belt.  I finished the last third of the book in almost a single sitting and barely noticed the passage of time.  By the time you turn the last page, everything will have changed.  Where Anderton is going to go with the next book, I’m not about to try and guess.  I’m just going to go along for the ride.

Suited is a dizzying tour de force that’s not really like anything out there.  And that suits me just fine.  Both Debris and Suited are featured books at Adventures Fantastic Books.

Here’s an excerpt:

Thank You

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I’m not really getting into all the celebrating today, I guess because I’ve been out of sorts for the last few days.  (Don’t ask; I’m not sure I completely understand why myself.)  One of those times when I just want to be left alone and have little to nothing to do with people.  I do want to take a minute, though, to say Thank You to everyone who follows, looks in occasionally, or stumbles across either this blog or the other one who has served in the military.  That extends to anyone who has lost a spouse, parent, sibling, child, or other loved one. 

As I’ve grown older, I’ve noticed that my collection of regrets tends to increase.  One of the main ones is that I never served in the military.  Part of it was my aversion to authority, but part of it was that I never felt the need to do so.  I doubt I would have that attitude today.  Of course I’m past the age they’ll take me.

But I digress.  I want to thank everyone who has served and sacrificed for our freedoms.  Without you and those who came before you, I wouldn’t be able to do so many of the things I enjoy.

So Thank You.  Very Much.

Hunter and Fox is Full of Surprises

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Hunter and Fox
Philipa Ballantine
Pyr Books
trade paper $17.32
ebook $10.31 Kindle  Nook

I enjoyed Philipa Ballantine’s Geist very much (reviewed here) and have the sequel Spectyr in the TBR pile, so when an opportunity to get a review copy of her latest book arose, I took advantage of it.  I’m glad I did.

This is different than any of Ms. Ballantine’s work I’ve seen to this point.  I think it’s safe to say Hunter and Fox is different than most fantasy that’s currently out there.  This is a good thing, although trying to pull off a book like this is a challenge for most writers.  By and large, Ms. Ballantine is up for the challenge.

This is a hard book to describe because there are multiple story arcs that intertwine.  I’m only going to give you an idea of the initial set up to avoid spoilers because there are plenty of surprises.  The story takes place in a world where Chaos reigns, with mountains becoming plains or shallow seas, forests turning into deserts, a constantly changing topography, with the flora changing with it.  Or at least it did until a despot known as the Caisah conquered everything and brought stability to large portions of the world.

This world is inhabited by a number of races, all of whom came there through the White Void at different times.  The older races are the more powerful, and the oldest of all is the Vaerli.  When the Caisah came to power, he performed a magical attack against the Vaerli called the Harrowing, which took away most of their abilities.  It also caused any two Vaerli who happen to find themselves in each other’s presence to burst into flame.  This was 300 years ago.  Some of the races, including the Vaerli and the Casisah (whose race is a mystery), are effectively immortal.  They can be killed, but they don’t age.

Talyn is one of the Vaerli.  She is the Caisah’s Hunter, charged with tracking down and killing any enemies he decides need to die.  There have been quite a few such individuals through the years.  Talyn tells herself she’s doing this to help her people.

Finnbarr the Fox is a storyteller who happens to have some small magical abilities.  He loves Talyn.  At one time she loved him, but she’s discarded those memories.  Being immortal, the Vaerli have the ability to excise memories to preserve their sanity.  He’s come to find her.  He’s also fomenting rebellion against the Caisah.

Finnbarr has three companions who are more (and less) than they seem.  Talyn’s brother is out there somewhere.  He’s been given a quest that will have major repercussions.  Before the book is done the players will learn that there are greater things to fear than the Caisah.

This is an ambitious book, original and full of surprises.  My understanding of what was happening changed throughout.  Ballantine doesn’t foreshadow much.  She simply drops information and revelations as she goes along.  You need to be paying attention when you read this one because what you think is happening isn’t necessarily what’s really happening.  There are a number of plot threads hanging and questions unanswered when you close the book.  Who is the boy Finn communicates with through a cat’s cradle?  What’s the story about a group of Vaerli sacrificing their children?  I could go on, but that would be teasing.  Also, many of the questions involve spoilers.

Don’t look for a happy ending in this one.  The last line has to be one of the bleakest and most effective I’ve ever seen.  It’s not so much that the ending is tragic or a cliffhanger, although the end contains aspects of both.  This is a story that isn’t fully told, and I’m not sure wrapping things up in neat resolutions would have been the best way to tell this portion.  There will definitely be another volume, and I hope sales are good enough that Pyr publishes it soon.  I want to know how things get wrapped up.

The only complaint I have is the cover, for two reasons.  First, it implies there’s a greater romance element to the story than there actually is.  Second, Talyn is described more than once as being shorter than the average Vaerli woman, or any woman for that matter, with an olive complexion.  The woman on the cover (that’s not a horse she’s riding, BTW) looks tall and pale. 

My issues with the cover aside, this was a good book, one I recommend.  I’m looking forward to the sequel.  Hunter and Fox is a featured book at Adventures Fantastic Books.

Congratulations to the Campbell and Sturgeon Award Winners

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The winners of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award have been announced. 

The Campbell Award is given for the best novel, and this year it’s a tie.  Christopher Priest (The Islanders) and Joan Slonczewski (The Highest Frontier) will share the award.  The Sturgeon Award is given for the best short fiction and goes to Paul McCAuley for “The Choice”, published in Asimov’s 2/11.

Locus has a complete list of the nominees here. 

Adventures Fantastic congratulates all the nominees and especially the winners. 

The Authors Guild Shows Where its Loyalties Lie

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Paul Aiken, the Executive Director of the Authors Guild sent a letter to John Read of the DOJ addressing the DOJ’s suit against Apple and five publishers.  It’s rather lengthy, but if you wade through it, as I’ve been doing from time to time (when my blood pressure drops to dangerously low levels and I need something to raise it), you’ll find the following quote:

“Amazon’s vertical integration of on-demand printing eliminated the ability of iUniverse, PublishAmerica, XLibris and others to offer authors better royalties when selling through Amazon.  CreateSpace appears to have thrived ever since.”

Now what’s interesting about this is the list of publishers named.  I’m not familiar with all of them, but PublishAmerica has been shown to be a vanity press with little to no editorial oversight.  If you aren’t familiar with the hoax manuscript some members of SFWA submitted, start reading here.

To put it bluntly, what we have here is an organization that purports to speak for authors attacking an organization which has made it possible for numerous authors to publish, some quite successfully, their own work while defending other “publishers” at least some of whom have documented records of mistreating and scamming authors.  Publishers whose authors don’t meet the Authors Guild’s standard for membership, i.e., an author who is published by these publishers won’t be accepted into the AG. 

This double standard flies in the face of how things should be to the extent that I keep expecting Rod Serling to show up at some point.  It’s been suggested by numerous people that AG authors who are so offended by Amazon’s efficient business model pull their titles from Amazon.  Or at least give the royalties from Amazon sales to charity.  Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but as far as I know, that hasn’t happened yet.

What little credibility the AG had up to this point it seems to have jettisoned out the window.  Not surprising, since the AG tends towards the writers who have the most to lose with a level playing field and is a pretty elitist organization.  One that is opposed to indie authors.  If you’ve been paying attention over the last few months, it’s obvious that the AG’s lyalties don’t lie with the majority of authors.

I’d suggest a boycott of AG authors except I doubt there are any I read.  I gave up on Turow years ago.  In the meantime, I’m going to order some books from Amazon and wait to see what Konrath has to say about this. 

The Hammer and the Blade are a Fantastic Combination

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The Hammer and the Blade
Paul S. Kemp
Angry Robot Books
US/CAN
26 Jun 2012
432pp mass-market paperback
$7.99 US $8.99 CAN
UK/RoW
5 Jul 2012
432pp B-format paperback
£7.99 UK
eBook
26 Jun 2012
£5.49

In addition to the people who supported him while writing the book, in the dedication Paul Kemp mentions the names of four people who inspired him while writing The Hammer and the Blade:  Leiber, Howard, Brackett, and Moorcock.  ‘Nuff said.

But in case you’re one of those people who want to know a little more about a book, here’s what  you should know.  In naming the four authors he does, Kemp sets himself a very high bar to try and meet.

He succeeds.  In fantasy there are a number of tropes which are used often enough that they become cliched.  Sometimes that results from a work that has such a impact that many of the writers who follow churn out imitations, some good, some less than good, until the situations and characters in the original work become archetypes to a greater or lesser degree.  Tolkien and Howard are two of the most prominent examples.  And sometimes a book comes along which breathes new life into those tired and heavily used tropes and reminds us why we love them in the first place.

The Hammer and the Blade is clearly in the latter category.  Whether it will become a book that is widely imitated remains to be seen, but if it does, I won’t be surprised.  Paul Kemp is now on my must read list. 

Here’s the basis of the book.  Egil and Nix are thieves, grave robbers to be precise, and they’re quite good at what they do.  While robbing a tomb in a distant desert, they end up killing a demon guarding the treasure.  Thinking they have enough wealth to retire, they buy their favorite inn/brothel and prepare to enjoy the fruits of their labors.

Their enjoyment is short-lived.  Rakon is a powerful sorcerer in the city of Dur Follin.  He’s the head of the house of Norristru.  Centuries ago, House Norristru made a pact with one of the Houses of Hell.  It’s almost time to renew the pact.  The demon Rakon is expecting to come and renew the pact is now dead, killed by Egil and Nix.  Rakon is not pleased.  Our heroes don’t even get to enjoy one evening of their new establishment.

This is a sword and sorcery novel that reminds you why sword and sorcery is fun in the first place.  In many ways it’s a breath of fresh air.  It’s fast paced, smart, funny, and at times extremely dark.   The action and tomb robbing sequences are well done, and the conflict between Rakon and Egil and Nix is riveting.  The supporting characters are well drawn; their relationships with Egil and Nix change and grow.

I’ll let you discover the exact nature Rakon’s pact with Hell.  The best way to describe it is that it’s twisted and insidious.  But Rakon is more than just a Saturday matinee villain who is evil simply for the sake of being evil.  He has believable motives, twisted, yes, but believable.  And despite their flaws, Egil and Nix are honorable men, each with his own moral code.  Those moral codes will be tested, and tested severely, before all is said and done.

Some people, whose opinions really aren’t worth paying attention to, criticize sword and sorcery as mindless entertainment.  They should read The Hammer and the Blade.  There’s depth to this novel, especially near the end when the heroes face a choice about what type of men they really are.  And while I thought the sun took an awful long time to set in one sequence, I love the poetic justice of the conclusion.

I can’t wait to read the next volume.

This book hits shelves here in the States and Canada in a few days, the rest of the world early next month.  Below is an excerpt.  If you like what you read, The Hammer and the Blade is currently the Featured Book at the Adventures Fantastic Bookstore.