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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Wanted Dispatch June 1

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

Thus far I have been remiss in not sharing my thoughts on Lauren's previous novels Moxy Land and Zoo City so I'll start with pointing out this novel that will be out in the US this next Tuesday. I have an ARC of the book that I am reading and quite enjoying so you can look forward to a full review soonish once I get the others I promised edited and posted. Here is a link to a website devoted to the novel with all kinds of kitschy content including trailers interviews and all kinds of images to give you hints as to what you'll be in for with this one. Lauren is a unique voice not being native to either the US nor The UK or Australia. Here is the synopsis from her website...

A time-traveling serial killer is impossible to trace – until one of his victims survives.

In Depression-era Chicago, Harper Curtis finds a key to a house that opens on to other times. But it comes at a cost. He has to kill the shining girls: bright young women, burning with potential. He stalks them through their lives across different eras, leaving anachronistic clues on their bodies, until, in 1989, one of his victims, Kirby Mazrachi, survives and starts hunting him back.

Here is the link to. The Shining Girls on Lauren's website...

Trail of Dead by Melissa F. Olson

This book is the second in a urban fantasy series that sound very much like what the world Souless by Gail Carriager might have been if it was brought to the present without all the Steampunk tropes included. This is more along the general lines of police procedural or detective novel but with the protagonist being one that scrubs the crime scenes of supernatural traces. I do not know why this makes me think X-files maybe its the coverup angle but this is one of the reasons I like doing this particular column I find writers I've never heard of that I now need to check out. Here is a link to Melissa's website about this novel and so you can read what hooked me here is the synopsis.

As a null, Scarlett Bernard possesses a rare ability to counteract the supernatural by instantly neutralizing spells and magical forces. For years she has used her gift to scrub crime scenes of any magical traces, helping the powerful paranormal communities of Los Angeles stay hidden. But after LAPD detective Jesse Cruz discovered Scarlett’s secret, he made a bargain with her: solve a particularly grisly murder case, and he would stay silent about the city’s unearthly underworld.

Now two dead witches are found a few days before Christmas, and Scarlett is once again strong-armed into assisting the investigation. She soon finds a connection between the murders and her own former mentor, Olivia, a null who mysteriously turned into a vampire and who harbors her own sinister agenda. Now Scarlett must revisit her painful past to find Olivia—unless the blood-drenched present claims her life first.

 

Eight Million Gods by Wen Spencer

Seems the call of urban fantasy will continue into June so I have to mention something that sounds to be right up that alley by way of Japan. I have been a fan of myths and media Japanese since I was a kid seeing Godzilla movies in Drive ins and early imports on TV like Speed Racer, Gatchaman, Yamatto and Space Pirate Captain Harlock so the inspiration being Japanese gods and monsters is definitely a draw. Here is the summary from the Baen website:

A contemporary fantasy of mystery and death as American expats battle Japanese gods and monsters to retrieve an ancient artifact that can destroy the world.

On Saturday afternoon, Nikki Delany thought, "George Wilson, in the kitchen, with a blender." By dinner, she had killed George and posted his gory murder to her blog. The next day, she put on her mourning clothes and went out to meet her best friend for lunch to discuss finding a replacement for her love interest.

Nikki is a horror novelist. Her choice of career is dictated by an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder that forces her to write stories of death and destruction. She can't control it, doesn't understand it, but can use it to make money anywhere in the world. Currently "anywhere" is in Japan, hiding from her mother who sees Nikki's OCD as proof she's mentally unstable. Nikki's fragile peace starts to fall apart when the police arrest her for the murder of an American expatriate. Someone killed him with a blender.

Reality starts to unravel around Nikki. She's attacked by a raccoon in a business suit. After a series of blackouts, she’s accompanied by a boy that no one else can see, a boy who claims to be a god. Is she really being pursued by Japanese myths—or is she simply going insane?

What Nikki does know for sure is that the bodies are piling up, her mother has arrived in Japan to lock her up for the rest of her life—and her novels always end with everyone dead.

Abaddon Gate by James SA Corey

So I am pretty sure I have mentioned the name Daniel Abraham here in my wanted list or in other lists on the deadwood blog. I know sadly I have not yet reviewed about the novel Leviathan Wakes so guess I will mention the third volume in the series first. People who have the Dragons Road eBook most likely have a copy of the first James SA Corey novel Leviathan Wakes available to them and this is great cop story inspired space opera and Abaddons Gate is the third in this series. These navels remind me of the action and plot packed space operas of Alastair Reynolds and Ian Banks and should be on any Sci Fi readers list. The weird factor is right up the with M John Harrison so fans of his space operas should take a look at this one too; creepy, claustrophobic, and tightly plotted mysteries. Excellent reading.

Here is a link to an exerpt from Orbit Books website... Read at your own risk...

 

 

The City by Stella Gemmell

I may have never mentioned my love of the books of David Gemmel, particularly Legend, I'll do that now along with my desire to read the books he wrote with Stella retelling the Trojan war. Tor.com has posted a very very positive review of this novel and I so want a hard cover copy of this one. Here is the link to that review; now I have to tell you I was on board for this with just th name Gemmell and knowing that Stella helped with the writing of the Troy books, there is a trailer available here. Gemmell is a name well known in the realm of epic fantasy and sword and sorcery and from the sounds of advanced reviews Stella will be a name remembered right up there with David for Epic fantasy in her own right. Here is the synopsis from the trailer...

Built up over the millennia, layer upon layer, the City is ancient and vast. Over the centuries, it has sprawled beyond its walls, the cause of constant war with neighbouring peoples and kingdoms, laying waste to what was once green and fertile.

And at the heart of the City resides the emperor. Few have ever seen him. Those who have remember a man in his prime and yet he should be very old. Some speculate that he is no longer human, others wonder if indeed he ever truly was. And a small number have come to a desperate conclusion: that the only way to stop the ceaseless slaughter is to end the emperor's unnaturally long life.

From the rotting, flood-ruined catacombs beneath the City where the poor struggle to stay alive to the blood-soaked fields of battle where so few heroes survive, these rebels pin their hopes on one man. A man who was once the emperor's foremost gene...

 

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Sunday Comics May 26

Ok this first one is a bit of a surprise to me I am mentioning it. I have never been a big Scott Summers fan, hell I always kinda disliked him but the art in this book and the fact that the are a couple of x-women in it I like got me to pick this up. The art in Uncanny Xmen by Frazer Irving is so bloody good, creating both a truly otherworldly atmosphere for the real of Dread Dormammu, giving even deactivated Sentinels a sense of gravity to them. Between his portrayals of the characters artistically and Bendis' writing. Think I have been missing out on something good here.

I was a big fan of the old New Mutants title and Illyana, Macik, was one of my favorites, I dig the White Queen, Magneto and the now turncoat Angel (old School version) to me almost hooked with the preview pages last month. The developments with the Shield side of this story with Maria Hill are particularly interesting.... the fact that SHIELD are showing up in so many comics makes the marvel universe feel a lot more interconnected.

Guess you could tell I liked it... Oh and big reveal for fans of Dazzler....

I gave you a warning last week and here is the follow through... Katheryn Immonen delivers again with Journey Into Mystery with her Sif centric comic. Now the majority of this book focuses on the fallout of last months Fenris romp through the forests of Asgaurdia. So as not to ruin anything about the plot there are developments that take Sif into the outer reaches of the solar system, we get a cameo by Iron Man along with some gratuitous property damage. My horse headed space bound hero does not appear much but what we get of him is beautifully illustrated and filled with the innocence I associate with him. Next months issue can't come too soon since I have to see the payoff on the bomb dropped in this issue....

 

 

 

In addition I snatched a copy of the extra sized Daredevil by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee too see if all the praise for the book was well placed and I was not disappointed. If you like street level adventure, realistic art and real character stories this is your beast. Matt Murdock and Foggy have not had a better writer in a long long time and this is so much more real then the old dated and (anti occupy wallstreet) Frank Miller days.

This issue progresses the story built up out of the last issue introducing Ilari and let's us know who is behind Matt's current troubles. I missed out on the stories leading to this but it stands on its own very well. There is a backup focusing of Foggy as he is dealing with some very real world issues..... Loved the whole thing....

May have to add this for a while....

 

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Wanted Dispatch May 25

This is a biggish week compared to the rest of the month... I've also got two reviews coming for a couple of these....

The Eighth Court by Mike Shevdon

Years ago I did one of my early reviews of Mike's first real history inspired urban fantasy pulling from Britian's rich fae traditions. He presented characters that we both grounded and real yet very magical and complex. The series now has three books with The Eightfold Court coming out. Here is a link to Argry Robot Books website where you can find an exerpt. And though it tells you little here is the synopsis...

The Eighth Court has been established, but petty rivalries and old disputes threaten its stability. The mongrels that make up the court are not helping, and Blackbird enlists the help of the warders to keep the peace.

Has Blackbird bitten off more than she can chew, and can the uneasy peace between the courts continue under such tension and rivalry?

 

Ghost Spin by Chris Moriarty

Since I write this so often I think I need to start keeping a " I really need to read this girl/guy's work" list. I recall having paid attention to the fact that Chris won the P.K. Dick award and I tend to really enjoy the books that that panel tends to pick both for their short list and the overall winners. I now next to nothing other then the coming synopsis so I'll let it speak for itself...

The Age of Man is ending. The UN’s sprawling interstellar empire is failing as its quantum teleportation network collapses, turning once-viable colonies into doomed island outposts. Humanity’s only hope of survival is the Drift: a mysterious region of space where faster-than-light travel—or something far stranger—seems possible. As mercenaries and pirates flock to the Drift, the cold war between the human-led UN and the clone-dominated Syndicates heats up. Whoever controls the Drift will chart the future course of human evolution—and no one wants to be left behind in a universe where the price of failure is extinction.

When the AI called Cohen ventures into the Drift, he dies—allegedly by his own hand—and his consciousness is scattered across the cosmos. Some of his ghosts are still self-aware. Some are insane. And one of them hides a secret worth killing for. Enter Major Catherine Li, Cohen’s human (well, partly human) lover, who embarks on a desperate search to solve the mystery of Cohen’s death—and put him back together. But Li isn’t the only one interested in Cohen’s ghosts. Astrid Avery, a by-the-book UN navy captain, is on the hunt. So is William Llewellyn, a pirate who has one of the ghosts in his head, which is slowly eating him alive. Even the ghosts have their own agendas. And lurking behind them all is a pitiless enemy who will stop at nothing to make sure the dead don’t walk again.

Fearsome Journeys edited by Jonathan Strahan

This is the fantasy companion to the Solaris Rising anthology of original science fiction. I for one really look forward to seeing the mini epics that these storytellers can come up with and how it may just relate to their novels. This one has so many of my current favorites including: Saladin Ahmed, Elizabeth Bear, Daniel Abraham and a new Coral Sword story from Jeffrey Ford. You can go here to see the full table of contents and get a hint as to the offerings; personally I like getting the fun little sword and sorcery gems that come from books like this.

 

 

 

 

Life on the Preservation Jack Skillingstead

Here is another list I could start to keep the "I know this author for their free short stories I read or heard via podcast". Jack here falls into the podcast category and I recall liking his sense of the odd or offbeat. Here is the synopsis from Solaris Books:

Inside the Seattle Preservation Dome it’s always the Fifth of October, the city caught in an endless time loop. ‘Reformed’ graffiti artist Ian Palmer is the only one who knows the truth, and he is desperate to wake up the rest of the city before the alien Curator of the human museum erases Ian’s identity forever. Outside the Dome, the world lies in apocalyptic ruin.

Small town teenager Kylie is the only survivor to escape both the initial shock wave and the effects of the poison rains that follow. Now she must make her way across the lasted lands pursued by a mad priest and menaced by skin-and-bone things that might once have been human. Her destination is the Preservation, and her mission is t o destroy it. But once inside, she meets Ian, and together they discover that Preservation reality is even stranger than it already appears.

Any Other Name Emma Newman

Emma has been leaking out tidbits of this world (The Split Worlds) for a couple of months or at least weeks in preparation for this volume to come out. Here is a link where you can read an exerpt of this novel. I have an ARC that I hope to get through and have a review out for this one next week on the heels of the two urban fantasy reviews I have for you this week. Here is a bit of synopsis from Angry Robot Books....

It’s been an interesting year…

Cat has been forced into an arranged marriage with William – a situation that comes with far more strings than even she could have anticipated, especially when she learns of his family’s intentions for them both.

Meanwhile, Max and the gargoyle investigate The Agency – a mysterious organisation that appears to play by its own rules – and none of them favourable to Society.

Over in Mundanus, Sam has discovered something very peculiar about his wife’s employer – something that could herald a change for everyone in both sides of the Split Worlds.

 

The Blue Blazes by Chuck Wendig

Ok here is the other Chuck Wendig book I mentioned earlier this month. This one I have a review brewing for and I will say I quite loved the book in short. This is the kind of urban fantasy that borrows from the noir crime fiction tradition much like one of my favorite UF reads of last year City of the Lost. Here is a link to a bit of exerpt from Angry Robot (you have to scroll down a bit to see the exerpt.

The world Chuck envisions is pretty twisted but its so compelling, I want to write more and more about it here but I'll keep that for the review... Here is a brief synopsis

Meet Mookie Pearl.

Criminal underworld? He runs in it.

Supernatural underworld? He hunts in it.

Nothing stops Mookie when he’s on the job.

But when his daughter takes up arms and opposes him, something’s gotta give…

The Shambling Guide to New York City by Mur Lafferty

Mur is another one of the writers I now of from the world of podcasting; she has been doing free speculative fiction for as long as just about anyone so its absolutely fabulous she finally has a big publisher contract. This urban fantasy is some thing completely different, you can hear herself reading the book for free from her website here and fans of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett should really take a peek here because Mur has that kind of approach to humor.... Oh and this is the other books that will get the review treatment this week....

 

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