Since I missed all the Tuesdays in February I'm going to hit the highlights all at once .... I'm going to break them up by week at least though....
Week 1
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
I have been reading about this upcoming trilogy for months now from one of the best weird fiction writers in the US and it finally hit the shelves the first week of the month. Jeff Vandermeer 's fiction appeals to me for the same reason that the work of China Mieville and Gene Wolfe does, his world building is unique weird and brilliantly solid in its imagining no matter how weird it gets. Here is a bit of synopsis for you....
Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; all the members of the second expedition committed suicide; the third expedition died in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another; the members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within months of their return, all had died of aggressive cancer.
This is the twelfth expedition.
Their group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain and collect specimens; to record all their observations, scientific and otherwise, of their surroundings and of one another; and, above all, to avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.
The book had been optioned for a television series long before it hit the shelves and I can not wait to get home to snatch up my copy finally...
Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
This is another one I have had to wait for with anticipation... Ben's urban fantasy police procedural series is one of those that gets published in the UK first and us in the new world need to wait for us to get a shot at trading it. The first novel in this series grabbed my attention and did not let go till I finished it. If you imagine a blending of the wit and cleverness great British police shows like Morse, Louis and Luthor and the the twisted mythological world building of Joss Whedon you have an idea of what your getting. Here is a bit of synopsis for you... Here is a link to tor.coms article about the book....
Ben Aaronovitch has stormed the bestseller list with his superb London crime series. A unique blend of police procedural, loving detail about the greatest character of all, London, and a dash of the supernatural.
A mutilated body in Crawley. Another killer on the loose. The prime suspect is one Robert Weil; an associate of the twisted magician known as the Faceless Man? Or just a common or garden serial killer?
Before PC Peter Grant can get his head round the case a town planner going under a tube train and a stolen grimoire are adding to his case-load.
So far so London.
But then Peter gets word of something very odd happening in Elephant and Castle, on an housing estate designed by a nutter, built by charlatans and inhabited by the truly desperate.
Is there a connection?
And if there is, why oh why did it have to be South of the River?
Full of warmth, sly humour and a rich cornucopia of things you never knew about London, Aaronovitch's series has swiftly added Grant's magical London to Rebus' Edinburgh and Morse's Oxford as a destination of choice for those who love their crime with something a little extra.
Red Delicious by Caitlín R Kiernan writing as Kathleeen Tierney
Blood Oranges came out last year marking the debute of this urban fantasy satire starring a deliciously twisted heroine who is in addition to being a liar and an unrelyable storyteller is a junkie, a vampire and a werewolf. This series walks the razor edge between satire and loving the fact its urban fantasy. I can see why Caitlín would write under an assumed name if one she is not trying to hide at all some readers might not be up for the grim dark wry humorous take on the genre. I look forward to this one and the further sequel promised....
Here is the synopsis... And a link to the tor article about the book...
Siobhan Quinn is back and working a new case in the dark and satirical sequel to Blood Oranges.
Half-vampire, half-werewolf Siobhan Quinn survived her initiation into the world of demons and monsters. But staying alive as she becomes entangled in underworld politics might prove to be more difficult. When the daughter of a prominent necromancer vanishes, it's up to Quinn to find the girl. But her search will land her directly in the middle of a struggle between competing forces searching for an ancient artifact of almost unimaginable power...
Week 2 (the only week I actually got in... Take a look at my thoughs about The Waking Engine by David Edison a couple posts back....
Week 3
Dead Americans and Other Stories Ben Peek
My favorite Canadian publishers make an appearance this month because of this collection that promises more dark weird fiction and gets some good words via the champion of weird fiction Jeff Vandermeer. Not being familiar with Ben's work I will mearly leave you with the synopsis and the good words of Mr Vandemeer. Also a link ...
A collection of the critically acclaimed surreal short fiction of Ben Peek. Welcome to the dark, weird worlds imagined by one of the finest writers of short fiction in English:
A world where bands are named after the murderer of a dead president, where the work of Octavia E. Butler is turned into an apocalypse meta-narrative, and John Wayne visits a Wal-Mart. A world where a dreaming Mark Twain has visions of Sydney, where a crime that begins in a mosque, and answers are given to a questionnaire you never read. Where a dying sun shines over a broken, bitter landscape, and men and women tattoo their life onto their skin for an absent god.
Reviews of Dead Americans:
Ben Peek is a writer I fully expect to blunder out into the scene like a runaway brontosaurus one of these days. He has titanic talent. . . .
—Jeff VanderMeer, Locus Online
Moth and Spark by Anne Leonard
Women who write epic fantasy often get overlooked in the genre, well with a few notable exceptions, so when there is one out there I want to get that word out. So though I missed the release a few weeks back I am exited there is a new voice out there and I'll give you the synopsis for your reading pleasure.... And a link to the publisher...
Prince Corin has been chosen to free the dragons from their bondage to the Empire, but dragons aren’t big on directions. They have given him some of their power, but none of their knowledge. No one, not the dragons nor their riders, is even sure what keeps the dragons in the Empire’s control. Tam, sensible daughter of a well-respected doctor, had no idea before she arrived in the capital that she is a Seer, gifted with visions. When the two run into each other (quite literally) in the library, sparks fly and Corin impulsively asks Tam to dinner. But it’s not all happily ever after. Never mind that the prince isn’t allowed to marry a commoner: war is coming to Caithen. Torn between Corin’s quest to free the dragons and his duty to his country, the lovers must both figure out how to master their powers in order to save Caithen. With a little help from a village of secret wizards and a rogue dragonrider, they just might pull it off.
I wanted to get to the last week of Feb to prepare for the March releases but I have to post this now... I will be on an international flight tomorrow so I will hit up the last weeks awesome and he first week of March on Monday at latest... And be up an running weekley the second week....
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