The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi by Mark Hodder
It is no secret that the Adventures of Burton and Swinburne series tops my favorite list for speculative fiction since I started my blog back in mid/late 2009. Mark pulls people and events from the history that gave rise to the feel of Steampunk and turns his wild imagination loose on them; the product is often wry irreverent look at historical figures in a fantastic familiar setting with characters you wish were that way in reality. His Burton is a man who dislikes the mores and limits of his time and Swinburne, the short, red headed, poet of the era, is a man who pushes the limits of nearly everything. Mark in this volume picks up his story after the revelations and battles of the third and climactic book Expedition to the Mountians of the Moon and does what he is best at, surprising us with something unexpected and courageous in storytelling (yeah I already had a chance to read this and it does not disappoint.). "Secret" pulls on the fiction of Wells, Verne, Shelly and Stoker to create something new and wonderful. I got a chance to read an ARC and I think its a brilliant and mayhaps could stand alone from the other series. Yup I'm a fanboy but I'm not embarassed at all.
Here is a link to the wonderful PYR website....
The Executioner's Heart George Mann
I'm contuining the theme here. This is likewise the fourth in a series as with Secret of Abdu El Yezdi but sadly in this case I can't say much about the story or characters having yet to read the previous three books. I have read his neo-pulp books from PYR, Ghosts of Manhattan and Ghosts of War, which were both showed his love of genre fiction, history and of fiction in general. As I am fairly shallow this cover is pretty irresistible the things I have read about the series and this book in particular have me thinking about getting the hardcover... who knows they just might change the cover art for the trade. This is also a buddy consulting detective like series that has a mixed gender protagonist pair and though I love Burton and Swinbrurne and Hodder's women are great characters he spends little time with them (as would be right for the adventuring period)
Here is a link to the TOR.com site excerpt to give you a peek....
Blood and Feathers: Rebellion by Lou Morgan
As a fan of the oft irreverent to the western mythos series Supernatureal this urban fantasy that focuses on the war between the Angels of heaven and the forces of Lucifer is probably a natural. I have been reading reviews and comments about the first book Blood and Feathers as well as the preview chapters via e book and this one seems to be up the UF thriller ally I like.
Lou Morgan seems to take a view of angels akin to that of various writers of the comic series' Hellblazer and Preacher as well as the jaded approach of Supernatural; being effectively gods bagmen or hit men makes them and their motives suspect at best. The first Book apparently includes a trip into hell itself, the frozen version of Dante with the circles of the damned and Lusifer entombed in ice and all. The protagonist is a halfbreed human woman pulled quite way out of her depth with her intorduction to the reality of her world.
Here is a link to th synopsis on the Solaris website and here is a link to the authors blog where there are some excerpts....
The Glass God by Kate Griffin
Everyone has their favorite setting when it comes to urban fantasy and though I never have been to London other then passing through Heathrow airport its a draw for me as with Ben Aaronovitch and Paul Cornell's UF novels. Kate Griffin's Michael Swift (Midnight Mayor ) series is one that I was interested in reading but have yet pick up has gotten a lot of good reviews ( check here on goodreads ); these books involve angels so I guess I'm continuing yet another theme on this Wanted Post.
Looking at the early reviews of this one people are missing her other series a bit but like getting a different set of eyes on the same setting. This is the second book in this series.... it starts with the volume called Stray Souls.... Here is the synopsis for this one from the Kate Griffin's web page (from Orbit Books)
The second novel in a new urban magic series, Magicals Anonymous, from the author of the Matthew Swift novels set in London’s hidden otherworld.
Sharon Li: apprentice shaman and community support officer for the magically inclined.
It wasn’t the career Sharon had in mind, but she’s getting used to running Magicals Anonymous and learning how to Be One With The City.
When the Midnight Mayor goes missing, leaving only a suspiciously innocent-looking umbrella behind him, Sharon finds herself promoted. Her first task: find the Midnight Mayor. The only clues she has are a city dryad’s cryptic warning and several pairs of abandoned shoes…
Suddenly, Sharon’s job feels a whole lot harder.
Here is a link to her blog also...
I've also got two best of collections to mention... The first is the best of Connie Willis... so many times I miss great short works of fiction hat anthologies like this are my only way to find it... Here is the table of contents from the SF Signal blog.
and the last for this week may or not be on schedule because of the Nigh Shade Books debacle but Ellen Datlow's Best Horror of the volume 5 should be out next week... Dark Wolf reviews published the table of contents here. I love these because there is no way I'd ever get a chance to see all these where they were originally published....
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