Wanted Dispatch 26 Oct....

Dream London by Tony Ballantyne

The earlier books by Tony Ballantyne, particularly the robot centric series that started with the book Twisted Metal has been on my to read list quite a while and this one is likely to jump it in line. Dream London sounds like it will have some similarities to one of my favorite nineties movie, Dark City; our hero is a lawman of some sort and is investigating in a city that changes as people dream. Personally I'm hoping for a story that will take my preconceptions and run wild with them and go somewhere unexpected with it. You can go check the Solaris website here for yourself and for your edification here is the synopsis....

Captain Jim Wedderburn has looks, style and courage by the bucketful. He’s adored by women, respected by men and feared by his enemies. He’s the man to find out who has twisted London into this strange new world, and he knows it.

But in Dream London the city changes a little every night and the people change a little every day. the towers are growing taller, the parks have hidden themselves away and the streets form themselves into strange new patterns. there are people sailing in from new lands down the river, new criminals emerging in the east end and a path spiralling down to another world.

Everyone is changing, no one is who they seem to be.

Eidolon by Libby McGugan

So going from one Solaris book to another we change from possible urban fantasy to near future techno thriller with Libby McGugan's first novel The Eidolon. This is the first novel in what is a projected trilogy and that springs out of something that the main character does at the LHC... Here is the synopsis and if you want to read a bit of a cool interview with the author go here...

When physicist Robert Strong loses his job at the Dark Matter research lab and his relationship falls apart, he returns home to Scotland. then the dead start appearing to him, and Robert begins to question his own sanity.

Victor Amos, an enigmatic businessman, arrives and recruits Robert to sabotage CERN’S large Hadron Collider, convincing him the next step in the collider’s research will bring about disaster. everything Robert once understood about reality, and the boundaries between life and death, is about to change forever. and the biggest change will be to Robert himself...

Mixing science, philosophy and espionage, Libby McGugan’s stunning debut is a thriller like no other.

Parasite Mira Grant

Mira Grant's Zombie series was one of those that I did not get on board with till late in the series and I had some of the twists and turns got spoiled for me so I won't be missing out this time. Mira, who is also the wonderful Seanan McGuire, is one of the the most entertaining writers to read these days and is also one of the best people who see in person squee about her and others work. If you like survival horror with a distinctly dark sense of humor Mira's books are totally your thing...so without further adieu some links to Orbit Books site a bit of synopsis and the obligatory link to Seanan/Mira.... And here to see I to he world of the novel itself....

 

A decade in the future, humanity thrives in the absence of sickness and disease.

We owe our good health to a humble parasite - a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by the pioneering SymboGen Corporation. When implanted, the Intestinal Bodyguard worm protects us from illness, boosts our immune system - even secretes designer drugs. It's been successful beyond the scientists' wildest dreams. Now, years on, almost every human being has a SymboGen tapeworm living within them.

But these parasites are getting restless. They want their own lives . . . and will do anything to get them.

Allegiance by Beth Bernobich

 

You can go here for a taste of this epic fantasy story and I can only say it is sad from the standpoint of a bookseller that the earlier books in this series are hard to get. Getting the mass market version of the first volume of Beth's series is at best a trip to a used book shop with a hope to find it... this is where I think ebooks are a godsend. I like the tone and the feeling of this and am so sad that I have yet to read Beth's work. This is the third in the series that began with Passion Play and continued with Queen's Hunt. Here is the synopsis...

King Leos of Károví, the tyrannical despot whose magic made him near immortal and who controlled a tattered empire for centuries through fear and intimidation, is finally dead. Ilse Zhalina watched as the magical jewels that gave him such power reunited into a single essence, a manifestly God-like creature who then disappeared into the cosmic void. Ilse is now free to fulfill her promise to Valara Baussay, the rogue Queen of Morennioù, who wants to return to her kingdom and claim her throne.

Ilse will do all in her power to help Valara if only as a means to get to her home. Home to her lover, Raul Kosenmark, who is gathering forces in their homeland of Veraene now that Leos is dead in order to save them from an ill-advised war. Pulled by duty and honor, Ilse makes this long journey back to where her story began, to complete the journey she attempted lives and centuries before and bring peace between the kingdoms. Along the way she learns some hard truths and finally comes to a crossroads of power and magic. She must decide if duty is stronger than a love that she has sought through countless lifetimes.

Will Isle give up her heart’s desire so that her nation can finally know lasting peace?

Allegiance is the thrilling conclusion to Beth Bernobich's River of Souls trilogy.

Heartwood by Freya Robertson

So this will seem a theme so let's embrace it... women write some truly awesome epic fantasy and science fiction and Heartwood from Angry Robot Books looks to be a continuation of the tradition that includes NK Jemisin, RA MacAvoy, Kate Elliot and Orbit Books Karen Miller. This looks to be more great second world fantasy from a new author to be watched... Here is a link to an excerpt and a synopsis from Angry Robot Books....

Chonrad, Lord of Barle, comes to the fortified temple of Heartwood for the Congressus peace talks, which Heartwood’s holy knights have called in an attempt to stave off war in Anguis. But the Arbor, Heartwood’s holy tree, is failing, and because the land and its people are one, it is imperative the nations try to make peace.

After the Veriditas, or annual Greening Ceremony, the Congressus takes place. The talks do not go well and tempers are rising when an army of warriors emerges from the river. After a fierce battle, the Heartwood knights discover that the water warriors have stolen the Arbor’s heart. For the first time in history, its leaves begin to fall…

The knights divide into seven groups and begin an epic quest to retrieve the Arbor, and save the land.

Prince Of Lies by Anne Lyle

Borrowing from the name of Loki and Lucifer is a dangerous thing but not here because Anne Lyle is telling a old English fantasy tale worth the possible blasphemy. I have tasted a bit of her storytelling and I know this is a book that is well worth the words of Mike Shevdon on the cover, Anne can really tell a good tale. Set solidly in an old English world we think we know this should appeal to fans of the historical fantasies of Mark Chadbourn and the urban fantasy penned by Shevdon and Aaronovitch; language and characterization shine in her stories... I can't wait for this and I've only dipped my toe in volume one... Here is a synopsis and a link to Angry Robot Books for more information...

Elizabethan spy Mal Catlyn has everything he ever wanted – his twin brother Sandy restored to health, his family estate reclaimed and a son to inherit it – but his work is far from over. The renegade skraylings, the guisers, are still plotting – their leader, Jathekkil, has reincarnated as the young Prince Henry Tudor. But while he is still young, Mal has a slim chance of eliminating his enemies whilst they are at their weakest.

With Sandy’s help, Mal learns to harness his own magic in the fight against the guisers, but it may be too late to save England. Schemes set in motion decades ago are at last coming to fruition, and the barrier between the dreamlands and the waking world is wearing thin…

A Study in Darkness by Emma Jane Holloway

Though we slide forward in time but we keep the same theme with the feminine author voice and protagonist. I do not recall if I spotlighted A Study in Silks which introduced her feminine Holmes but I have to say I much want this book to grace my shelves. Emma has been praised by urban fantasy authors like Kevin Hearne and epic writers like Jacqueline Carey for her portrayal of the niece of the great detective. Here is the synopsis fromRandon House books and a link to their site.... Here also is a link to Emma's web presence

When a bomb goes off at 221B Baker Street, Evelina Cooper is thrown into her uncle Sherlock’s world of mystery and murder. But just when she thought it was safe to return to the ballroom, old, new, and even dead enemies are clamoring for a place on her dance card.

Before Evelina’s even unpacked her gowns for a country house party, an indiscretion puts her in the power of the ruthless Gold King, who recruits her as his spy. He knows her disreputable past and exiles her to the rank alleyways of Whitechapel with orders to unmask his foe.

As danger mounts, Evelina struggles between hiding her illegal magic and succumbing to the darker aspects of her power. One path keeps her secure; the other keeps her alive. For rebellion is brewing, a sorcerer wants her soul, and no one can protect her in the hunting grounds of Jack the Ripper.

Dead Set by Richard Kadrey

So we return to the staffed authors but keep the same kind of heroine here. Richard is known for this hard boiled urban fantasy tales that come under the umbrella of Sandman Slim. Here we get a built of a less verbally profane dark adventure but one I know I must read; along with Joe Abercrombie going YA it will be a bit out of place to see Mr Kadrey on the younger shelf but I know I will be recommending this book a lot. Here comes a bit of synopsis and the obligatory link to Random House.....

After her father's funeral, Zoe moved to the big city with her mother to start over. But change always brings trials, and life in the city is not so easy. Money is tight, and Zoe's only escape, as has always been the case, is in her dreams—a world apart from her troubled real life where she can spend time with her closest companion: her lost brother, Valentine.

But something or someone has entered their dreamworld uninvited. And a chance encounter at a used record store, where the vinyl holds not music but lost souls, has opened up a portal to the world of the restless dead. It's here that the shop's strange proprietor offers Zoe the chance to commune with her dead father. The price? A lock of hair. Then a tooth. Then . . .

Two Serpent Rise by Max Gladstone

First off here is a link to an excerpt from Tor.com. My favorite podcast the SFSqueecast mentioned Max's first books Three Parts Dead around the time of the Hugo's and I have been waiting for it to be in paperback to grab a copy, can't get everything on hardcover... Well can't get much in hardcover. To me it sounds like a great mix of second world and urban fantasy since an earth with demons and magic will be a decidedly second world kind of setting. Here is a link to Max's site... And here comes a synopsis to hook you all too...

In Two Serpents Rise by Max Gladstone, shadow demons plague the city reservoir, and Red King Consolidated has sent in Caleb Altemoc—casual gambler and professional risk manager—to cleanse the water for the sixteen million people of Dresediel Lex. At the scene of the crime, Caleb finds an alluring and clever cliff runner, Crazy Mal, who easily outpaces him.

But Caleb has more than the demon infestation, Mal, or job security to worry about when he discovers that his father—the last priest of the old gods and leader of the True Quechal terrorists—has broken into his home and is wanted in connection to the attacks on the water supply.

From the beginning, Caleb and Mal are bound by lust, Craft, and chance, as both play a dangerous game where gods and people are pawns. They sleep on water, they dance in fire...and all the while the Twin Serpents slumbering beneath the earth are stirring, and they are hungry.

So I have more to spotlight but this week has been a monetary killer and totally awesome all round.... Let me know what you think....

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The Aftermath....

Earlier this month I was invited to participate in the promotional blog tour for the post apocalyptic vampire YA novel The Lair by Emily McKay. First off a thanks to Rmily and Jessica at Penguin books for the opportunity to share my thoughts about the book and the things I personally liked about it.

The Lair is a sequel to the novel The Farm which introduced this survival horror tale set in a world where vampires live hidden among humans and someone created a virus derived from the one which caused vampirism. The virus thankfully was fatal to most victims because the ones that survive it become mutated more monsterous vampire nicknamed Ticks. The nature of the hungers of this ticks lead to teenagers being corralled in places called farms where they are used as blood doners to keep the horrible things at bay. Emily McKay returns vampires to the things of horror and nightmare and to me this is a good thing. The atmosphere of this novel appealed to me, its claustrophobic, information is sparse and unreliable, the heroes are never sure whom they can really trust. People who like movies like 28 days later, suspense games like Resident Evil and comics like The Walking Dead will probably enjoy this setting... this is not a world where vampires sparkle.

Before I dive into the what kept me hooked to the book I will say I did not read The Farm and don't know how much of the worldbuilding I missed out on and I have some issues with it but the strength of the characterization made The Lair worth reading.

Emily tells this tale through the viewpoints of a pair of twins who escaped the Farm system in the first novel, Lily and her autistic identical twin Mel, and the paramilitary trained "Elite" Carter . As with other multiple viewpoint stories some of the stories are more appealing and some less and for me it was the chapters that follow Mel and Lily that I looked forward to. Melanie, Mel, came out of the previous novel changed, since its on the summary on the back cover I give nothing away by saying she's become a vampire. Her story was e one that I looked forward to the most, her coming to terms with sudden change and struggling with missing her old self and fighting her new one. Her chapters remind me of Hong Kong martial arts training sequences mixed with deep intersection. I really connected with her and her fight with herself. I even liked her vampire sire/master Sebastian who is half Yoda like mentor half creepy maybe boyfriend. Theirs is a complicated compex relationship.

I liked Lily's chapters for her need to be a force for good in the world and her need to protect those around her. Along with her sister she escaped the Farm in book one along with her best friend McKenna who is pregnant and is kind of a promise for a future. The best parts of her story is the way she does her best to take care of her friend and the people around her. Sure there is the romantic drama and tension in the story between her and Carter the other viewpoint character but it never becomes the center of the story. Everyone is doing their best to made due in this tale.

As for Carter though his tale is one that focuses mostly on the action in the tale I connected with him the least. I felt more for the characters he brought into the story... his memories of being trained by Sebastian, his interactions with his old elite pal Ely who has a Hero's tale all to himself and Zeke who I hope to see in the next volume. Carter's chapters did a lot to explain the setting and showed how the world worked. They also had one of the quotes I'll pull out to show the overall tone of the story.

"After the apocalypse, after you've lost your home and your family, after you've buried friends, you might think it'd be hard to know where rock bottom is. You might think it's hard to know when exactly when you're beaten.

It's not."

Emily McKay has written a story that is centered around the personal conflicts and struggles of the main characters and the people around them. In all honesty I will say I have issues with some aspects of the setting but the connection I had to Mel and Lily as characters overcame any reservations I had. Fans of dystopic fiction should definitely give this book a look wether you've read The Farm or not. The story has plenty of action pathos and romantic drama and surprises to enjoy and looking back a lot of the surprises were pretty well set up. Emily hits some great media touchstones along the way. I do give it a reserved recommendation.... I will be checking out the next volume since it looks like there will be a lot more of Mel to look forward to and I want so much to see what happened to her background characters....

 

 

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Wanted Dispatch Oct 19.....

Just returned from a trip to Seattle for dental work and some great visits.... On to the books for this coming week...

 

Rags and Bones edited by Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt

Some of my favorite modern speculative fiction authors take a sub at recreating and retelling classic fairy tales pulling for the works of Edmund Spencer and EM Forster. It's edited by Tim Pratt who is one of my favorite short fiction authors and Melissa Marr who I much want to read after seeing comments on her work... I will leave you with the contents from macmillians website but I think as with collections from John Joseph Adams I have faith in this one to be great...

The best writers of our generation retell classic tales.

From Sir Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene to E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops," literature is filled with sexy, deadly, and downright twisted tales. In this collection, award-winning and bestselling authors reimagine their favorite classic stories, the ones that have inspired, awed, and enraged them, the ones that have become ingrained in modern culture, and the ones that have been too long overlooked. They take these stories and boil them down to their bones, and reassemble them for a new generation of readers.

Written from a twenty-first century perspective and set within the realms of science fiction, dystopian fiction, fantasy, and realistic fiction, these short stories are as moving and thought provoking as their originators. They pay homage to groundbreaking literary achievements of the past while celebrating each author's unique perception and innovative style.

Today's most acclaimed authors use their own unique styles to rebuild the twelve timeless stories:

Sir Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene - Saladin Ahmed

W. W. Jacobs's "The Monkey's Paw" - Kelley Armstrong

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla" - Holly Black

"Sleeping Beauty" - Neil Gaiman

The Brothers Grimm's "Rumpelstiltskin" - Kami Garcia

Kate Chopin's The Awakening - Melissa Marr

Rudyard Kipling's "The Man Who Would Be King" - Garth Nix

Henry James's "The Jolly Corner" - Tim Pratt

E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops" - Carrie Ryan

Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto - Margaret Stohl

William Seabrook's "The Caged White Werewolf of the Saraban" - Gene Wolfe

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birth-Mark" - Rick Yancey

And six illustrations by Charles Vess - See more at: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/none/rags-bones/9780316212946/#sthash.Bn4ULdaC.dpuf

 

Its a really short week so you can expect some looks back on cool books I missed from earlier in the month...

 

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Wanted Dispatch Oct 12....

Fiendish Schemes by K W Jeter

 

K.W. Jeter is the man who coined the term Steampunk and wrote a couple of the first steam genre books with Morlock Night the sequel to The Time Machine and Infernal Devices which introduced the hapless hero George Dower, bumbling son of a brilliant inventor. Jeter pulls a lot of his style from the fiction of the Victorian era and mixes a dry black humorous tone into the bleak and downtrodden reluctant life of poor George who again is pulled into events beyond his ken. K.W. Back in the day wrote some of the more edgy and experimental of the Cyberpunk and SF genre and its so great to see his work back out there. Morlock Night and Infernal Devices are both available from Angry Robot Books and hold up fictionally not steeped in nineties media references.

Here is a link to an excerpt from Tor.com and the synopsis from publishers weekley...

Hapless hero George Dower is swept up in plots and schemes beyond his ken in this rollicking sequel to the steampunk classic Infernal Devices. Broke and living in an isolated rural village, George has done his best to avoid the world that has been transformed by his father’s incredible inventions. Unfortunately, the world hasn’t forgotten about him. Hamuel Stonebrake, senior vicar in a church dedicated to spreading Christianity to whales, wants George to help him find the Vox Universalis, a legendary universal translator machine built by George’s dad. Soon George is caught between Prime Minister Agatha “Iron Lady” Fletcher, who is “more steam engine than woman,” and a ruthless cabal of wealthy London steam barons, “ferric sex” entrepreneurs, and stock speculators. Jeter’s vision of a Victorian world transformed by steam power is fascinating and funny, populated by ambulatory lighthouses, grain-disdaining meatpunks, anarchist coalpunks, and depraved “fex” addicts obsessed with “valve girls.” He thoroughly entertains readers with brilliant speculation and a charmingly reluctant hero. (Oct.)

The Osiris Curse by Paul Crilley

Jumping from Mr Jeter to one of the current steampunk writers makes a good bit of thematic sense. The Adventures of Tweed and Nightingale are for me a bit of a YA version of my favorite current steampunk series starring Burton and Swinburne that lose little in being reworked for a younger but no less sophisticated audience.

Here is the synopsis from Pry books...

When Nikola Tesla is murdered and blueprints for his super weapons are stolen, Tweed and Nightingale are drawn into a global cat and mouse chase with his killers. What's more, it seems that the people who shot Nikola Tesla are the same people responsible for Octavia's mother's disappearance. As the two cases intertwine, Tweed and Nightingale's investigations lead them to a murdered archeologist and a secret society called The Hermetic Order of Osiris. Fleeing the cult's wrath, they go undercover on the luxury airship, The Albion, setting out on her maiden voyage to Tutankhamen's View, a five star hotel built in the hollowed-out and refurbished Great Pyramid of Giza.

In Egypt, the duo begin to unravel the terrible truth behind Tesla's death, a secret so earth-shattering that if revealed it would mean rewriting the entire history of the world. But if the cult's plans aren't stopped, Britain may lose the future.

The N Body Problem by Tony Burgess

Tony Burgess has a history for writing distinctly different zombie novels and this one seems to continue the trend. The premise here us that to keep the living safe from the zombie threat the undead are exiled into space... its a cracked concept but the novel synopsis sounds just too great and creepy that I have to give this a try.... and I do so love the ChiZine editors choices of what to publish...

In the end, the zombie apocalypse was nothing more than a waste disposal problem. Burn them in giant ovens? Bad optics. Bury them in landfill sites? The first attempt created acres of twitching, roiling mud. The acceptable answer is to jettison the millions of immortal automatons into orbit. Soon Earth’s near space is a mesh of bodies interfering with the sunlight and having an effect on our minds that we never saw coming. aggressive hypochondria, rampant depressive disorders, irresistible suicidal thought—resulting in teenage suicide cults, who want nothing more than to orbit the Earth as living dead. Life on Earth has slowly become not worth living. and death is no longer an escape.

Here too is a link to the publishers website...

 

Wonderbook edited and written by Jeff Vandermeer

Jeff Vandermeer is a champion for Weird fiction both writing it and promoting it along with teaching fiction writing to teens and kids and inspiring modern writers to explore the outer reaches of their imagination. This is a book I knew I have to have; it is a collection of thoughts interviews essays and articles on the craft of writing from many of the writers I love these days. This book includes writing prompts, inspiration artwork, and everything except the bit where you put your but in the chair and do the work... that is all on you but this seems just the kind of thing that may put me on the path to actually writing again.

Here is a link to an excerpt from Tor .com

(I ordered one of these and it actually showed up early so I do have it in my greedy hands already and it is a pretty gorgeous thing....

 

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