Sunday Comics June 30

So this week is a lot of nostalgia for me mixed with a bit of cool storytelling and have to wait for next week when I have the free cash....

 

Ah Journey into Mystery does my heart so good. I've been out of the mix for a while but it is so easy to get back on the marvel soap opera ride that I did not feel out of the loop at all. Beta Ray Bill is totally still my favorite character and though Sif and he still love each other its so much more complicated that the artist along with the history says so much more then the dialogue. I missed the creation of his girlfriend and all that but it matters not because the history of their love shoes through. I will so much miss this comic when it gets canceled in the next coup,e months... At least I got some great action adventure drama comics out of this and I can ever go back to them when I miss the good new days...

Katheryn Immonen deserves another comic in the marvel stable.... I would so buy whatever she writes....

 

 

Wolverine by Paul Cornell is one of the mutant titles I hope gets enough attention. Anyone into Hawkeye should check this out. Paul does not pack as much into an issue but this is the title that wanted to tell the story of Logan and hisnfriends recognizing that he is more then the bloody killing machine that most titles featuring him goes for. Logan here has buds he has a heart and a voice that says that he may be the best there is at what he does but that may not make him happy. As someone who enjoys a good brew, who would love to hang with his old buddies and well has so many regrets tis may just be the Wolverine title for all us old fans who wants more then the claws and the attitude to engage us... Paul I so want this to succeed.... Hell is love to see a Logan as Dredd comic....

 

Hawkeye... What can I say about his title that has not been said... If tour into comics someone must have said check put Matt Fractions Hawkeye. Well if yo have not read anything about how great the writing is on this book here is an issue to check out. Matt writes from the POV of the dog in Clint's Barton's life. The issue touches on the events of the series recently, on the perception of the non human loved ones in our life and treats it with all the seriousness of the first person episode of MASH from back in the early eighties. This issue is such a success in writing and in art by Aja that it better shadows what comics can achieve in storytelling. I feel that though I was paying attention I missed subtitlites in the story that would have been more implicit had an English speaker told the tale.... Check this out if you thins comics have nothing new to say...

 

 

The next two I have yet to get because of the cost of comics this week.... I can only go one 3.99 a week but next week is so minimal for me I can check out Uncanny and Xmen by Bendis if not All-New if I get the chance.... Costs forestall me sometimes and this is one of those weeks.... I was a big fan of Magik and Illyana from the New Mutant days back in the eighties and I so want to read about her these days since another old favorite of mine Doctor Strange is involved. In terms of the Bendis Xmen well I love the leads and giving then a series beyond Scott and Logan well is too awesome to pass over.....

Next week is small so well hope to comment on some of these then....

 

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Wanted Dispatch June 29...

So this week is all about diversity and having a more open mind with my choices about the things I very much would like to read....

 

Forsaken by the Others by Jess Haines

This is a series that is a favorite of a blogger that I really like in terms of her favorites. I have broadened my sphere of reading to include romance of the paranormal type.... Hey I will admit to liking the early Linda Hamiliton books before well to be honest the erotica angle. It was always there but I like it hidden by otherthngs... So what I'm kind of a prude. The blogger at My Bookish Ways appears a couple times this week... I like her tastes and Jess Haines appeared several weeks back promtng this book in her Urban Fantasy Detective series that includes the regulars of werewolves and vampires. This ne takes her heroines to LA and brings out the brain eating zombies... what better place to do it. There are four books in this series before this one and well I like getting in on something when there is a history to delve into...

Here is the synopsis to get you on board

The Others–vampires, werewolves, things that go chomp in the night–don’t just live in nightmares anymore. They’ve joined with the mortal world. And for private investigator Shiarra Waynest, that means mayhem…

Have a one night stand with a vampire, and you can end up paying for it for eternity. P.I. Shiarra Waynest, an expert on the Others, knows that better than most. Yet here she is, waking up beside charismatic vamp Alec Royce with an aching head…and neck. Luckily, Shia has the perfect excuse for getting out of town–namely, a couple of irate East Coast werewolf packs who’d like to turn her into a chew toy.

On Royce’s suggestion, Shia temporarily relocates to Los Angeles. But something is rotten–literally–in the state of California, where local vampires are being attacked by zombies. Who could be powerful enough to control them–and reckless enough to target the immortal? Following the trail will lead Shia to a terrifying truth, and to an ancient enemy with a personal grudge…

 

Here is a link to Jess' website...

A Cursed Embrace by Cecy Robson

This is the second time I will refer to My Bookish Ways (website here) and I really liked the sound of this when I read about it today on the blog. This is the second book in another urban fantasy series that began with the book Sealed by a Curse. Here is what peaked my interest from the blog I mentioned...

A Cursed Embrace (Weird Girls #2) by Cecy Robson (Signet, July 2nd, 2013)-A Cursed Embrace starts about a week after Sealed With a Curse left off, with a dead wereracoon sprawled across the Wird’s doorway. Soon, Aric and his pack are on the way and Celia is dreading a confrontation with Aric, who hasn’t been in touch for a week. She thought they had something, but he seems to be pulling back, and Celia’s own hesitance makes things nearly impossible. We soon find out that there’s a legitimate reason for Aric’s reticence, but that takes a back seat when they find out that demons may be on the loose. Even master vamp Misha is scared, which isn’t an easy feat and his desire for Celia makes for an interesting little triangle, even if her heart is with Aric. After the events of the last book, Celia and Misha have become close, and she has come to value his friendship, even if Aric isn’t too thrilled. She sees the man behind the master vampire and their connection is undeniable, especially after saving each other’s lives. And THAT may be part of the problem. What Celia did for Misha may have smoothed the way for the new menace that they must deal with. Luckily, the Wird sisters have plenty of power at their disposal, and a master vamp and werepack at their backs. What could possibly go wrong?

The Years Best Science Fiction & Fantasy edited by Rick Horton

The short fiction. I've encountered this year again has been excellent and this looks to be a totally worthwhile collection. Of the years more interesting stories. Most of these are available throughout the free electronic magazines like Clarkesworld, Fantasy, Lightspeed, Nightmare, Strange Horizons, Apex et al.

Here is the contents to get you exited.... Check out the venues these one from...

1. “Nahiku West” by Linda Nagata (Analog)
2. “A Murmuration of Starlings” by Joe Pitkin (Analog)
3. “The Black Feminist’s Guide to Science Fiction Film Editing” by Sandra McDonald (Asimov’s)
4. “The Bernoulli War” by Gord Sellar (Asimov’s)
5. “In the House of Aryaman, a Lonely Signal Burns” by Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s)
6. “The Castle That Jack Built” by Emily Gilman (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
7. “The Governess and the Lobster” by Margaret Ronald, (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
8. “Sunshine” by Nina Allan (Black Static)
9. “Scattered Along the River of Heaven” by Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld)
10. “A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight” by Xia Jia (Clarkesworld)
11. “Prayer” by Robert Reed (Clarkesworld)
12. “Honey Bear” by Sofia Samatar (Clarkesworld)
13. “The Contrary Gardener” by Christopher Rowe (Eclipse Online)
14. “Heaven Under Earth” by Aliette de Bodard (Electric Velocipede)
15. “Scrap Dragon” by Naomi Kritzer (F&SF)
16. “Twenty-Two and you” by Michael Blumlein (F&SF)
17. “One Breath, One Stroke” by Catherynne M. Valente (The Future is Japanese)
18. “The Philosophy of Ships” by Caroline Yoachim (Interzone)
19. “Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream” by Maria Dahvana Headley (Lightspeed)
20. “The Gravedigger of Konstan Spring” by Genevieve Valentine (Lightspeed)
21. “Arbeitskraft” by Nick Mamatas (The Mammoth Book of Steampunk)
22. “Fireborn” by Robert Charles Wilson (Rip-Off)
23. “Under the Eaves” by Lavie Tidhar (Robots: The New A.I.)
24. “Four Kinds of Cargo” by Leonard Richardson (Strange Horizons)
25. “The Keats Variation” by K. M. Ferebee Strange Horizons)
26. “Things Greater Than Love” by Kate Bachus (Strange Horizons)
27. “The Weight of History, The Lightness of the Future” by Jay Lake (Subterranean)
28. “Elementals” by Ursula K. Le Guin (Tin House)
29. “Two Houses” by Kelly Link (the Bradbury tribute anthology SHADOW SHOW)
30. “Swift, Brutal Retaliation” by Meghan McCarron (Tor.com)
31. “Uncle Flower’s Homecoming Waltz” by Marissa K. Lingen (Tor.com)
32. “The Magician’s Apprentice” by Tamsyn Muir (Weird Tales)
33. “One Day in Time City” by David Ira Cleary (Interzone)

There are a few more from this week and there will be. Supplementary dispatch... I want to get this out today... I'm a hopeless romantic and maybe that is a good thing since most good stories bring me to tears... Don't tell anyone....

 

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RIP Richard Matheson

Sadly Speculative fiction lost another voice today as Richard Matheson the author of many tales of suspense and horror including I Am Legend has died. This will be posted about in many places as the day goes on Brian Keene posted about it here on his Tumblr feed and Tor.com posted about it here. For me its a time to go back and read I Am Legend again seek out more of his work. Sorry for his passing and for my slight knowledge of his fuller body of work....

 

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Personal apology...

Hey everyone... I don't have a Sunday Comics column this week... I will try to make it up to you this week....

I got no votes on the review so this week in addition to my planned review I will be doing a review of Lexicon by Max Barry...

One of the post Age of Ultron books I most want is Mighty Avengers.... It includes some of my most favorite characters... The old Captian Marvel from the late eighties, Luke Cage the man once known as Poweman hero for hire, Falcon my favorite part of the seventies Captain America and Jennifer Walters The Sensational She-Hulk.... Its also written by Judge Dredd Al Ewing.....

 

 

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Wanted Dispatch June 22....

Blade Reforged by Kelly McCullough (Ace)

I knew nothing about this series and I wish I had a while back when it started. The descriptions from Kelly's website (here) put me in mind of the assassin/thief centric series like Brent Weeks' Way of Shadow and Jon Sprunk's Shadow's Son both of which are quite good reads and I heartily recommend. The series starts with the hero discredited and hunted in a place where he once was respected. Aral and his companion a ghost like being hat takes a dragon like form apparently have a buddy cop like relationship and I like the mixing of tropes of the police procedural and fantasy so this is a draw for me. Like I said I know only what I found on the website and the fact writers I like give it good electronic word of mouth...

Here is the synopsis of this volume...

After the fall of the goddess of justice, temple assassin Aral Kingslayer lost his purpose in life and turned to the bottle. That might have been the end of him if luck hadn’t given him a few people to help him get back on his feet—notably the irresistible Baroness Maylien Dan Marchon, who once sought his aid in claiming the throne that’s rightfully hers. Reluctant to resume the role of an assassin, he turned her down.

But now Aral has learned that one of the few people willing to help him in his darkest days has been imprisoned by Maylien’s uncle, King Thauvik. Aral knows he can’t let an old friend die, but the alternative is to return to the life he left years ago. It was the death of Thauvik’s half brother that earned Aral the name Kingslayer, and now he is thrust into a war that will see no end until he lives up to his name…

here is a link to the synopsis to the first book...

 

Crash by Guy Haley (Solaris Books)

Champion of Mars was a book I wanted to read and Guy Haley's first novel for Solaris its a book called Kim Stanley Robinson meets Edgar Rice Burroughs. I read about Crash here on Chuck Wendig's blog and I'm very intrigued and want to get a copy of this next week. I read mainly fantasy and steampunk but I miss good hard SF and Crash certainly would fill that need. Guy's story this time around is a colonization story one that thankfully goes arwy because that always makes for a good tale. In his interview with Chuck he talks about the bigger picture that is is a glimps of ; I love the idea of colonies separated by some catastrophe.

Here is the synopsis from Solaris..

The Market rules all, an Al that plots the rise and fall of fortunes without human intervention. Mankind, trapped by a rigid hierarchy of wealth, bends to its every whim. to function, the Market must expand without end. The earth is finite, and cannot hold it, and so a bold venture to the stars is embarked upon, offering a rare chance for freedom to a select few people.

But when the colony fleet is sabotaged, a small group finds itself marooned upon the tidally-locked world of Nychthemeron, a world where one hemisphere is bathed in perpetual daylight, the other hidden by eternal night. Isolated and beset, the stricken colony members must fight for survival on the hostile planet, while secrets about both the cause of their shipwreck and the nature of Nychthemeron itself threaten to tear their fragile society apart...

Here is the link to Chuck Wendig's blog I encourage you to go check it out....

 

Cold Steel by Kate Elliot (Orbit Books)

I have a couple of Kate's books in my to be read pile including the first in this series Cold Magic. I began reading it while I was living in Vancouver Canada and had to put it aside as we planned a move back to Oregon and got involved in reading ARC's I needed to review so have not gotten back to it. The series seemed a mix of epic fantasy, steampunk and the magical school kinda thing like oh those books about the young put upon guy named Harry something. Kate's writing style really appealed to me and I really have to go back and read through it since it was quite good as I recall. Here is a link to a sample from this volume...

Here is the synopsis from Kate's site here

When the cold mages come for her, who can she trust?

Cat Barahal was the only survivor of the flood that took her parents. Now, betrayed by her family and forced to marry a powerful cold mage, Cat will be drawn into a labyrinth of politics. There she will learn the full ruthlessness of their rule. For it is the dawn of a new age, with industry and revolution transforming the land. There’s just one problem: the cold mages don’t want things to change.

iD by Madeline Ashby

This is the sequel to the well received vN last year and a book I much want to have the time to get to. It was up for awards and got great e word of mouth from the likes of a favorite of mine Rudy Rucker which said it combined the best if cyberpunk with that of urban fantasy. I expect this to be a dark and moody book with lost of character development and awesome action given the tags I have read about it. Here is the link to the Angry Robot site page for it. There are links there to Madeline's site and to an extract from the novel.

This is the synopsis for the first volume to wet your appetite...

Amy Peterson is a von Neumann machine, a self-replicating humanoid robot.

For the past five years, she has been grown slowly as part of a mixed organic/synthetic family. She knows very little about her android mother’s past, so when her grandmother arrives and attacks her mother, little Amy wastes no time: she eats her alive.

Now she carries her malfunctioning granny as a partition on her memory drive, and she’s learning impossible things about her clade’s history – like the fact that the failsafe that stops all robots from harming humans has failed… Which means that everyone wants a piece of her, some to use her as a weapon, others to destroy her.

Hunted by Kevin Hearne

 

I just finished reading Kevin's short story that appears in Carniepunk later this year and am sad I have yet to encounter his Iron Druid Chronicles. The story I read had a bit of the wry wit that would be familiar to fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Though his main character is several thousand years old, and I have to know how that comes about, he drops cultural references worthy of John Creighton so Farscape. Atticus is a character that is appealing and not above making mistakes, he may be a Druid but he is human, he has a brilliant sidekick and a cool apprentice from my reading. Looking around Kevin's website there are a total of six novels and several shorter works to date... As I said above I liked the short piece that mixed folklore with Christian mythology coming out with something unique in tone. Here is the synopsis from Hunted...(looks like my to read pile will be getting just that little bit bigger....)

For a two-thousand-year-old Druid, Atticus O’Sullivan is a pretty fast runner. Good thing, because he’s being chased by not one but two goddesses of the hunt—Artemis and Diana—for messing with one of their own. Dodging their slings and arrows, Atticus, Granuaile, and his wolfhound Oberon are making a mad dash across modern-day Europe to seek help from a friend of the Tuatha Dé Danann. His usual magical option of shifting planes is blocked, so instead of playing hide-and-seek, the game plan is . . . run like hell.

Crashing the pantheon marathon is the Norse god Loki. Killing Atticus is the only loose end he needs to tie up before unleashing Ragnarok—AKA the Apocalypse. Atticus and Granuaile have to outfox the Olympians and contain the god of mischief if they want to go on living—and still have a world to live in.

Here is a link to Kevin's site where you can check his work out.... I think as a fan of urban fantasy its something fellow fans should give a look...

 

So seems a goodly haul for the coming week... A little bit of this and a little of that ....cheers, reviews to come...

 

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What would you like to see me review....

So since I'd like to get some interaction going on... I have a list of some of my recent reads that I'll be reviewing... In addition to the one I plan to do which of these would you like to seen next Saturday...

 

Lexicon by Max Barry

 

Fade to Black by Francis Knight

(First novel by Francis Knight who I posted about on Saturday)

 

American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Jackson

 

The Drowning Girl by Caitlín R Kiernan

(Winner of the Bram Stoker and Tiptree Awards)

Please comment if you have any desire to see one of these sooner then the others...

 

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Happy Blooms' Day.....

Today there are two sort of holidays to celebrate.... I always think about my grandfather Clyde on Father's Day because he was more my dad then my biological father. The holiday I would like to bring up is this ... Today is the day that James Joyce set his epic novel of a day in the life of Stephen Dadaus and Leopold Bloom in Dublin. Good Bloom's day to you.... damn should have gotten some Guinness when I was shopping.....

 

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Wanted Dispatch June 15...

Before the Fall by Francis Knight

Fade to Black was an unexpectedly cool surprise early this year. Francis Knight created a very cool urban punk fantasy noir second world story. Rojan, her private eye like hero, is a man on the fringes of society in the first novel somewhere between the haves that live in the upper reaches of the city and the have nots that struggle in the depths of this very vertical society. In Fade to Balck he learns a lot, makes some improbable friends and gets involved in something that may just shake up e status quo. I loved it and am glad that the follow up is so close. It reads like the best cyberpunk of the late eighties. Francis is a great new voice in urban style fantasy. Here is the synopsis...

Rojan Dizon just wants to keep his head down. But his worst nightmare is around the corner. With the destruction of their power source, his city is in crisis: riots are breaking out, mages are being murdered, and the city is divided. But Rojan’s hunt for the killers will make him responsible for all-out anarchy. Either that, or an all-out war. And there’s nothing Rojan hates more than being responsible.

 

Requiem by Ken Scholes

To me Ken's name goes along with the excellent Jay Lake when it comes to fiction. Ken has written some excellent short fiction including a great alternate history of Hitler that really made me think about the power of alternate history as a genre. A few years back Ken published his first novel Lamentation that was a mixture of steampunk tropes and my favorite of settings the far future of the near Dying Earth. I need to go back and read it again because I want to give it a full review and I need to read it again with a new fourth volume on the horizon. It is a setting that could well be fully science fiction or fully fantasy like The Book of the New Sun of Gene Wolfe or The Dying Earth by Jack Vance and it has more in common with sword and sorcery then is does with epic fantasy. It is a story that is highly personal no matter the viewpoint character and it is something I am very tempted to grab in hardcover.

Here is the link to the exerpt from Tor.com and he is a consummate storyteller much n need of being read.

 

 

Wisp of a Thing by Alex Bledsoe

I do nat have much to say about Alex Bledsoe, well I do but it is mainly inspired by my listening to the SF Squeecast and their love of the novel Hum and the Shiver. I recently got a copy of this modern rural fantasy he wrote a little while ago. If you have heard of Alex you might know of the noir sword and sorcery series following Eddie LaCrosse which is great alternate fantasy but with he made a great urban fantasy with Hum and the Shiver. Wisp of a Thing revisits the setting in the Appalachians and the odd secret American fae of the hills but I so want to read this.

Here is the synopsis from the Tor.com website... Alex has his own presence here

Rob Quillen comes to Cloud County, Tennessee, in search of a song that might ease his aching heart. All he knows of the mysterious and reclusive Tufa is what he has read on the internet: they are an enigmatic clan of swarthy, black-haired mountain people whose historical roots are lost in myth and controversy. Close-lipped locals guard their secrets, even as Rob gets caught up in a subtle power struggle he can’t begin to comprehend. A vacationing wife goes missing, raising suspicions of foul play, and a strange feral girl runs wild in the woods, howling in the night like a lost spirit. Change is coming to Cloud County, and only the night wind knows what part Rob will play when the last leaf falls from the Widow’s Tree, and a timeless curse must be broken at last.

 

The 'Geisters by David Nickle

Now here is a title I know little about and an author I equally know little about. Why is it on my Wanted sheet well its because of the publisher. As with Pyr ChiZine is a company hat I have total faith in the editorial staff of and heartily recommend that fans of weird fiction and horror check out. Here is the synopsis for the book. Hopefully this and the cover will hook you as much as it did me

When Ann LeSage was a little girl, she had an invisible friend, a poltergeist, that spoke to her with flying knives and howling winds. She called it the Insect. With a little professional help, she contained it. The nightmare was over, at least for a time. The nightmare never truly ended. As Ann grew from girl into young woman, the Insect grew with her. It became a thing of murder. As she embarks on a new life married to Michael Voors, a successful young lawyer, Ann believes that she finally has the Insect under control. There are others vying to take that control away from her. They are the ’Geisters. And in pursuing their own perverse dream, they risk spawning the most terrible nightmare of all.

 

Sea Change by S M Wheeler

This is another author I know little about so its all about the synopsis and the potential the book has. Seems the main character comes into contact with some intelligent sealife that gets captured later in the novel... I know it is not totally kid goes to save Cthulhu but that is how it makes me think...

Here is the link to the Tor.com exerpt... It seems so appealing I have to include it here

I have one last one for the week and I'm just goin to post e cover image.... The name alone it draw enough for me...

Look to my blog tomorrow for my poll as tomwhat you want to see me review including an author from this list....

 

 

That's all see you tomorrow...

 

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The Return of the Master(s)

Mike Mignola and John Arcudi spin a great apocalyptic tale; in fact they are so good at it that BPRD Hell on Earth The Return of the Master (a title worthy of Mark Hodder) overcomes any apocalypse fatigue you may have. As a horror story fan I have to say Mike and John create a great mood of foreboding in this volume foreshadowing a horrible event on the horizon. I am an on again off again reader of BPRD and have only passing familiarity with some of the characters and I'd say this is a bad place to start but I thoroughly enjoyed this book and its got me hooked back into the story. Hell on Earth pulles storylines from the early volumes of Hellboy and talks about recent events like the horrors that affected the UK, Canada and lead to the shooting of favorite Abe Sapien and the suspension of another long term BPRD agent.

This volume in the long running story of the B.P.R.D fight against the supernatural brings back a long though defeated antagonist who has a real desire to bring hell to earth. The all too mortal agents sent to Scotland to deal with the threat have no clue of the magnitude of the danger to them. The story brings in elements of the world created by Mike and John Arcudi from as far away as the old Soviet Union and from stories dating back to the days of World War Two. Though I have read the series sparingly their handling of the history is so deft that I never really felt that lost or out of the loop.

This story has a newbie coming into the department, one who gives a different perspective on the agency. She is a percognitive and has disturbing visions of a blood soaked future. Given her fresh eyes on the story as well as the perspectives of the leader of the Russian paranormal agency, the veteran BPRD agent Johann as well as the mortal operatives I could really see just how serious the situation is. Without the essentially super powered heavy hitters of the agency things look terrifying bleak given the events in Return of the Master. It ends I warn you on a cliffhanger and I need to see the next issue now. NOW I say.

John Arcudi is a perfect artist for this story and he has been Mike's creative companion on so much of this series he really has defined the world visually. His characters are very human looking blemishes and all, this is not the supermodel/bodybuilder kind of books. The people look like people and their expression through his art give gravity to the storylines. This time out he gets to create giants and ogres and mythological things left best unnamed lest they be summoned. Some of the things in this story get decisively into the Kaiju range of things. If you are like me and enjoy seeing people trying to contend with situations far beyond their pay grade this is one you need to get. The sketchbook alone that accompanies the five issues collected in the volume is worth having as a springboard for creativity.

 

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A Plan...

Alright all you readers out there who check into this blog weekly for my wanted sections and my Sunday comics I have a plan in these there digital hills. I will be posting my schedule of reviews for the following week on Fridays long with a poll as to what you all would like to see reviewed the next week... I want some participation to be honest... So by Saturday morning before you see the Wanted Dispatch you should have a poll as to what you want next week and possibly a review of a recent read of mine...

Let me know here what your thoughts are... Mayhaps you have a better suggestion but I know what I want to write about maybe you have some other needs you want to have met....

Its a sing along kiddies...quote The Ramones....

 

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Sunday Comics

I have precious little for you...though I did buy a good load of comics this week I will be mentioning one... I love Loche and Key and picked it up but have yet to read it, same goes for Winter Soldier and Fearless Defenders I read just one that I will note ... With personal issues and a speculative fiction death and reviews pending this week I've only got a single book to spotlight...

Avengers Arena proves again with issue 10 Hopeless is I afraid to hurt readers yeat leave them with a shred of hope... This issue focuses on a Runaway favorite of mine and its hurt from beginning to end... I don't know how I'll feel is the end is a nightmare kind of Dallas kind of denial of the entire story.... I like to think a writer named Hopeless will not deny us change... Its a great book people should really be reading ... just in case it makes big changes......

 

 

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R.I.P. Iain M Banks

Though this has been posted on various places around the web starting with the BBC I believe I felt the need to respect one of the best writers in speculative fiction who is now no longer around. It was announced this morning here that Iain M Banks died. He did not live to see the publication of his final novel which will be out later this month in the UK. I never had the opportunity to meet him in person but I have had the pleasure to read his novels and have more that I have not yet read. Wildly imaginative and wonderfully Scottish his writing wether it be crime or speculative fiction is something you should really try if you have not. He is survived by family, loved ones and friends who I hope got to spend time with him since his announcement of his illness weeks ago. He and his worlds will be missed but hopefully remembered for a long time.

 As an addendum below is a link to Charlie Stross' cogent comments on the loss to the fiction community...were I in charge of ordering at the shop I work at I'd have all Iain Banks' books on our shelves....

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/06/fuck-every-cause-that-ends-in-.html

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Wanted Dispatch June 8

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

This one sound like a very different approach to a mermaid falling in love with a human story. Anne is telling a tale of a complicated plot to murder someone out of vengeance and it involves a male mermaid seducing a woman to lure her after to his death. It sounds like a plan that could go awry and sounds like it does in an expected way. The novel is getting good reviews from readers on net galley and has my curiosity peaked. Maybe its the inverting of the little mermaid fairy tale or its the siren song of the mermaids themselves but I will be taking a look at this one. Here is a link to Anne's website where you can check out the reviews, see the book trailer and take a look at the fun looking playlist for the book. Here is the book summary...

Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of merpeople obsessed with killing Jason Hancock, the man they blame for their mother’s death. To lure the aquaphobic Hancock onto the lake, the mermaids charge Calder with the task of seducing the man’s daughter, seventeen-year-old Lily Hancock. “Get close to the daughter,” they tell him, “and you’ll get close to the family. Get close to the family, and you’ll get close to the man. Get him out on the water. We’ll take care of the rest.”

But Calder screws everything up by falling in love. Now he’s in the unenviable position of trying to love the girl while simultaneously plotting her father’s murder. Suffice it to say, his sisters aren’t pleased with his effort, and Calder’s running out of time (and excuses).

A Private Little War by Jason Sheehan

Ok so this novel has a totally engaging cover looking like the best of World War propaganda and has a plot that includes invading an alien planet and elimating the native inhabitants. This sounds like the kind of book where there will be a lot of good action and conflicted motivations and that I usually find very engaging. I'll add that as a steampunk fan the call of goggles and biplanes is pretty irresistible. Tor.com has an exerpt of the novel that you can read here.. And here is the synopsis from the same link..

Private “security” firm Flyboy, Inc., landed on the alien planet of Iaxo with a mission: In one year, they must quash an insurrection; exploit the ancient enmities of an indigenous, tribal society; and kill the hell out of one group of natives to facilitate negotiations with the surviving group—all over 110 million acres of mixed terrain.

At first, the double-hush, back-burner project seemed to be going well. With all the advantages they had going for them—a ten-century technological lead on the locals, the logistical support of a shadowy and powerful private military company, and aid from similar outfits already on the ground—a quick combat victory seemed reasonable. An easy-in, easy-out mission that would make them very, very rich.

But the ancient tribal natives of Iaxo refuse to roll over and give up their planet. What was once a strategic coup has become a quagmire of cost over-runs and blown deadlines, leaving the pilots of Flyboy, Inc., on an embattled distant planet, waiting for support and a ride home that may never come….

 

This is a small week when it comes to the things that are saying buy me.... I will be back with a bigger post next Saturday and I'll have some real reviews for you during the week

 

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Shambling Fantasy

Mur Lafferty has been telling great stories for years as a podcaster, with projects like Playing for Keeps her superhero story and The Afterlife series, and as a role player in the pen and paper gaming industry. This, her first novel to get a big publishing contract, falls somewhere between the topical geeky humor of Joss Whedon's Buffy and the dry wit of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. Her jokes feel more like asides to a hip audience then meer slapstick and the horror, or well the horrific bits of the story, hit more like that of Shawn of the Dead because of the juxtaposed humor. I for one loved this book with its real mix of serious moments along with its laughs and OMG events too. Its a great start for a unique urban fantasy concerned more with the interpersonal relationships and the missteps there in then the fact that some the heores are the things that go bump in the night.

The horror and the humor in The Shambling Guide to New York work so well because she gives them equal weight, screen time and seriousness as her characters takes their lives or un-lives as the case may be seriously enough to have a laugh about themselves once and a while. Though Zoe is clearly the protagonist and our viewpoint into a world where vampires, zombies, sprites, succubi, incubi and lots more live alongside humanity unseen sometimes the real stars of the story are her complex and wonderful coworkers and the colorful demonic characters she meets along the way.

There are millions of stories in the big apple this is the one that no one sees. Humans have a way of only noticing what is comfortable for them to see and Mur's heroine Zoe steps outside the normal to see her home town, New York, from a whole new perspective. She's a woman who's honest mistakes have landed her in the unemployment lines and a chance visit to a really odd bookshop followed by a coffee around the corner opens the door to a world that only exists in urban fantasy. Taking a page from her favorite writers, Douglas Adams, Mur's first big market novel is one filled with serious storytelling with a comic edge to it much like Shawn of the Dead and the witty fantasy novels of Terry Pratchett her story takes itself serious but is not at all adverse to make the smirking aside to the reading audience. The Shambling Guide to New York takes the UF or Paranormal Romance tropes to a new place not to the grim and noir or to the zany and slapstick this is more what happens when UF gets a home and tries to figure out what a life is. Personal foibles and foul ups, bad choices and even good ones can lead to wry unexpectedly laughable outcomes. The best bits are the nes you can see coming as are some of the creepiest bits. [one where everyday concerns and foul ups play a bigger role then reality threatening villains and really Zoe and her coworkers have enough issues to explore in a city and world as messed up as the one right outside our windows.]

Interspersed with excerpts from the Shamling Guide that reveal funny travel guidey factoids about this New York the story of Zoe Norris, her fight to get and the deal with her job with coworkers who may just see her as food is pretty relateable even given its monsterous elements. Mur Laffery has taken the urban fantasy idea of vampires, lycanthropes, zombies, demons, minor gods and fae living side by side with and hidden from most of humanity to a pretty new place. She created a society that could hide in our midst despite their differences with a little effort because for the most part people are pretty unobservant made even worse by smart phones and the like.

What makes Zoe's story compelling is her interactions with the characters around her. We all kind of get to know our co workers a bit, see their sometimes bizarre lunches, meet them outside work for coffee and wonder if we know them that well once we talk away from the job and sort of know the people at out coffee shop and cafe's but

 

Mur Lafferty is the kind of writer that will surprise you and make you think as a reader is she really going there. The Shambling Guide to New York introduces us to Zoe Norris who is totally no Mary Sue; her past mistakes, no matter who's fault they really were, land her in a position where she fights tooth and nail to get a editing job that several total strangers do everything to talk her the hell out of trying to get. Her dogged determination lands her in a world she did not know existed; where vampires, fae, zombies, golems, demons and more unclassifyables live alongside people who are pretty much their natural food source. Mur takes these urban fantasy conventions and plays a very different game with the story making it much more about the everyday troubles then the "oh my god world crisis" stuff of the Buffy type stories. The Shambling Guide book takes a lot of its comedic tone and inspiration from the wit of authors like Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett gong more for the bizarre asides and wink winks to the audience of the absurdity of life rather then slapstick making for a more solid story. In the same way that Shawn of the Dead succeded as a horror movie and comedy both because of the gravity with which some story elements were given Mur takes the story seriously which allows the wit and whimsey to be actually funny rather the a canned laugh track.

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Something is truly not right in the city that is her home and its not that demons drive taxis, vampires run a publishing house zombies and farie abound in the place; someone is playing games with Zoe's new friends if she can call them that and messing with the job security she's not sure she even has. Mur created a fascinating landscape to play in and as of yet we have seen only New York and there is a whole world of possibilities when it comes to guidebooks. This was a great place to start and has a satisfyingly New York Ghostbusters-esque conclusion. Mur will be podcasting chapters of this book weekly at Murverse.com and with it being free and all you'd be silly not to go give it a listen. She deserves all the success we can muster for her she's been entertaining people for too long for her not to succeed. Shambling Guide to New York is the kind of book UF fans will love because it is so much more then the usual fare and is the light paring to the crime noir brother Blue Blazes by Chuck Wendig....

 

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Sunday Comics June 2

 

(Un-adjective) X-men number 1 starring all the women of the team is a 3.99 book you all need to read. I'm a old comic collector; I recall the days of Kitty's unending costume changes, pre and post mohawk Storm, pre and post asian Psylock and the advent of Rachel Summers so I have a history with these women and Bendis does the legacy proud. He manages to overcome being a guy to present women as more then damsels in distress and presents them as powers in and of themselves... I for one am happy with this book, happy e nought to tell me local shop owner to add it to my list as my second 3.99 title after Paul Cornell's Wolverine. I don't do this lightly... Hell I don't do that with Hickman's Avengers just yet and I love the New Avengers title...

This is the real deal guys... I have long looked for a writer who loved these characters enough to test them like this ... I don't know much about the antagonist but Storm, Psylock, Kitty, Jubliee and Rachel are the heroes here and I am so on board... after Avengers Arena This one is on my list... Awesome...

 

With my comments about Hickman in the post about Xmen I have to be honest with myself because New Avengers has hooked me too into the long haul. I like Tony, Namor, Black Swan and the rest here. This book hooks in the big man Doom who is my bête noir. Doom is the shadow that keeps me engaged with FF, he is the character the has lured me into story after story and though I'm a fan of Strange and Stark its the shadow of the man named Victor Von Doom that reels me in. A good Namor tale is great but its the lure of Victor after all that is the hook. New Avengers is the title that people may regret passing over... Jonathan is telling a tale like the long con here and I know I'll be sorry missing any of the goodness between Avengers and New Avengers.... Tale a look there is good story telling going on here... Ignore at your own risk as I did with the pre Fraction FF...

 

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