Mindless ones and Z-listers

 

So I know there will be lots of reviews and thoughts on this out there and since I love comics and particularly enjoyed this and the zero issue of Original Sin I thought why not add some reviewey comments to the mix. Jason Aaron pulled some particularly nice bits of storytelling together I. This issue given how crowded it was and managed to move both his story and they mysteries along quite well. He manages to hit most of his cast and throws in the a whole heap of monsters and some little used characters along the way. He writes some great dialogue along the way that winds up being both characterful and funny as well as drives the story along. Some of the "mystery figures" from issue one are revealed and many many more questions are raised. Mike's are is solid pretty much throughout and clear despite the mood lighting in some scenes and the opening scenes following Black Panther, the White Queen and Antman into the monster graveyard (the preview has been up a while that shows this but apologies none the less for spoilers.

It left me quite happily entertained and looking forward to leaning more about what is going on. Just enough was revealed to give me some hints as to the timing of the so called original sin and I'm really interested to see how it all its together. Also seeing some truly obscure seventies characters come out of the woodwork was pretty fun; it made me look again at some of the murkier scenes from issue one. Truely this one is aces if you have a grasp of some marvel history and this makes me want to get some of the pre superhero boom marvels....

So yeah I'd say this is one crossoverey story can reccommend. Though issue one felt a bit crowded and not quite there between the touching zero issue starring the new Nova Sam Alexander and this one I'd so get into Nick's flying car for this ride....

Five stars out of five.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok that's a bit of room just in case

 

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Wanted Dispatch May 6 2014

The Silk Map by Chris Willrich

Ok wow crap... Was so sure I wrote and posted a great review of Chris's first book The Scroll of Years because of how damn much I loved it and I can not seem to find any record of it either saved or on the blog. The book was an absolutely amazing mix of sword and sorcery caper story and mature characterful romance along the lines of my favorite book to reccommend these days Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed. Chris has taked characters from a westernish setting and put the. In a Silk Road fantasy setting. I can't say mucho out the second volume since it so reveals too much about the first. From the memories I have of Scroll of Years I expect more of the touching story revolving around the affection, respect and pain that bonds the cast of fastinating characters together. I must re read it and write a proper review of the first Gaunt and Bone novel....

Here is a link to Chris' site and the synopsis of this volume but a warning totall spoilers follow...

At the end of The Scroll of Years, the poet Persimmon Gaunt and her husband, the thief Imago Bone, had saved their child from evil forces at the price of trapping him within a pocket dimension. Now they will attempt what seems impossible; they will seek a way to recover their son. Allied with Snow Pine, a scrappy bandit who’s also lost her child to the Scroll of Years, Gaunt and Bone awaken the Great Sage, a monkeylike demigod of the East, currently trapped by vaster powers beneath a mountain. The Sage knows of a way to reach the Scroll — but there is a price. The three must seek the world’s greatest treasure and bring it back to him. They must find the worms of the alien Iron Moths, whose cocoons produce the wondrous material ironsilk.

And so the rogues join a grand contest waged along three thousand miles of dangerous and alluring trade routes between East and West. For many parties have simultaneously uncovered fragments of the Silk Map, a document pointing the way toward a nest of the Iron Moths. Our heroes tangle with Western treasure hunters, a blind mystic warrior and his homicidal magic carpet, a nomad princess determined to rebuild her father’s empire, and a secret society obsessed with guarding the lost paradise where the Moths are found — even if paradise must be protected by murder.

The Oversight by Charlie Fletcher

Orbit books has the best luck when it comes to finding talented authors to publish. Oversight almost slipped my notice till I was looking at the books that they have coming out over the next season. This is another book set in what seems to be becoming a very overpopulated Victorian era though this time eschewing the regular steam and gear powered devices for the occult and staring a dwindling group of heroes protecting the normals from magical things. In reading the sample chapters you get a feel for the Charlie's writing which like many British authors assumes readers are able to get the gist without too much exposition. As a fan of alternate histories this one is pretty high on my read it soon list.

Here is a link to a era is from Tor.com and a short synopsis....also why not a link to the excerpt on orbits site too....

"The end always happens faster than you think."

Once there were hundreds of members of the Oversight, the brave souls who guard the borders between the mundane and the magic. Now there are only five.

When a vagabond brings a screaming girl to the Oversight's London headquarters, she could answer their hopes for new recruit, or she could be the instrument of their downfall.

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"This guy.... This #¥<{!^£ guy...

Nominated for two Eisner awards this year Sex Criminals issues one through five get a collected edition April 15/16 just in time for Tax Day at the image first volume low price of $9.99. On to the review...

So "This guy... This ~^.&*!( guy" (yes I'm talking about Matt Fraction and I'm actually borrowing a quote from Matt's character Suzie from this very same book to describe him). This series is a great mixture of relationship tale, caper story, and comedic sexual innuendo and exploration. Sec Criminals is a book not safe for kids and may be embarrassing for adults reading ichoosing to read it in public given its somewhat explicit content but I will say it takes a fairly mature tact towards its subject matter. The artwork by Chip Zdarsky is downright georgeous, expressive and characterful and is well worth any embarrassment it may cause and manages to be fair to Bo sexes where it comes to being explicit. The title has more to say about sex and relationships then one may think and its well worth reading for people with a healthy ability to laugh at themselves and who have a fairly open mind in general.

Matt and Chip are telling several different stories within the comic and manage to do a good job of tackleing a couple per issue but with the collection that does not really stand out. There is the present day caper tale about the heroes Suzie and Jon using their orgasm given ability to freeze time to pull of bank robberies to save the imperiled library Suzie works at; then there are the tales about their first experiences with their a-hem lacking another way to put it well explorations and exploits with their seemingly unique talents. The first dealing with the combined good and back that comes with having someone as a part of your life and as a part of your life that seemed to be uniquely yours; the addition of their ability to stop time for everyone else when they climax serve to magnify the joys and difficulties that come when you have that someone special in your life. The lack of of better term origin stories for both Suzie and Jon reveal things about them how they approach finding out what the hell is going on with them and how they deal with the revelation that sex with others seems to still leave them alone when time stops for them. There is also the story following another group of characters who have the same sex derived power and their apparent attempts to police those who abuse it. All these tales leave me with the feeling there is some interesting things afoot in the world building here.

The really nice thing about reading this title and really anything ive read by by Matt is a his maintaining a "wink wink nudge nudge" sence of humor that is smile inducing and goes just far enough without breaking the tension in the story. In a book that could easily go for the quick gag or the obvious he takes things to a more interesting place then you'd expect. The same I would say for Chip's artwork which is just cartoonish enough to carry off the outlandish ideas in this without it being, well, ewww gross or off colour. Sex Criminals is nothing like anything I'm reading or have really read in comics but my taste runs more towards the more four colour titles so that may be the reason why. I do recall some titles that addressed sexuality in the past but I'm glad to say that this is nothing like the late eighties Black Kiss by Howard Chakyn that though fun for the time I could do without the shock value it had.

The stories in this form several complete story arcs and come to a satisfying climax (ok so I had to....) and conclusion. You get a real good idea about who both Suzie and Jon are good I'll and embarrassing; a pretty delightfully Coen brothers like caper gone pear shaped and the introduction to some characterful and sort of mysterious figures for stories going into the next volume. As I said Chip's art fits the tone well with its thick lined slightly cartoonish character designs and the colours by Becka Kinzie and Christopher Sebela do make his art pop off the page. Sex Criminals also explores the subject of sex with a kind of gentle humor that western particularly American stories usually don't have in them. I mean honestly yes its embarrassing to talk about and ask questions about and the truth and honesty Matt takes towards the outlandish things he introduces into the equation makes the story that much better. The book is clever and fun but most of all beyond the sillyness, crazyness, and even beyond the musical scene that takes over the middle issue that had me in stitches there is a lot of truth in the story he's telling. This book is a success but I've come to expect no less. Well worth it all told....

 

 

 

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Wanted Dispatch (first two weeks of April) plus April 12 edition

 

The Goblin Emperor by Katheine Addison

Since I read a good number of author blogs I read plenty abut this novel well before it came out and was really looking forward to it. Katherine Addison is a pseudo name for a writer I've been wanting to read for a while but I'll leave her real identity secret if not much of one. Writer Jim C Hines who seems to have reading tastes a lot like mine and Elizabeth Bear who's fiction I simply can't resist both have great things to say about this to name just a few so I'll leave you with a bit of synopsis and a link to the excerpt from tor.com.

The youngest, half-goblin son of the Emperor has lived his entire life in exile, distant from the Imperial Court and the deadly intrigue that suffuses it. But when his father and three sons in line for the throne are killed in an “accident,” he has no choice but to take his place as the only surviving rightful heir.

Entirely unschooled in the art of court politics, he has no friends, no advisors, and the sure knowledge that whoever assassinated his father and brothers could make an attempt on his life at any moment. Surrounded by sycophants eager to curry favor with the naïve new emperor, and overwhelmed by the burdens of his new life, he can trust nobody.

 

The Revolutions by Felix Gilman

Among the steampunk and western punk writers I have yet to get the time to read Felix is just about at the top. This novel promises to be a mix of elements I really enjoy Victorian setting science fiction and pulp era genre conventions. This may not exactly be your cup of tea but I think it is tea time in this here readers day. Here is the synopsis that tor.com posted a while back along with the article about the cover design.

In 1893 a storm sweeps through London, while Arthur Shaw—a young astronomer with a side career writing fiction—is at work in British Museum Reading Room. The storm wreaks unprecedented damage throughout London. Its aftermath of the storm Arthur’s prime literary market closes, owing him money, and all his debts come due at once. His fiance Jo takes a job as a stenographer for some of the fashionable spiritualist and occult societies of fin de siècle London society. Meanwhile, Arthur deciphers an encoded newspaper ad seeking able young men. It seems to be a clerking job doing accounting work, but the mysterious head man Mr. Gacewell offers Arthur a starting position at a salary many times what any clerk could expect. The work is long and peculiar, and the men spend all day performing unnerving calculations that make them hallucinate or even go mad...but the salary is compelling.

Things are beginning to look up when the wages of dabbling in the esoteric suddenly come due: a war breaks out between competing magical societies, and Arthur interrupts Jo in the middle of an elaborate occult exploration. This rash move turns out to be dire, as Jo’s consciousness is stranded at the outer limits of the occultists’ psychic day trip. Which, Arthur is chagrinned…

Operation Shield by Joel Shepherd

In this fifth book Joel returns to his part military SF part cyberpunk part part space opera creation that started years ago with the novel Crossover. Like Revolutions above when authors mix genre conventions into a new beast it often adds up to be something I particularly enjoy. Joel's earlier books read a bit like thrillers to me and though I don't read them much I think he does them pretty handily. Here is the synopsis from one of my favorite publishers Pyr...

In 23 Years on Fire, Cassandra discovered that the technology that created her has been misused in her former home and now threatens all humanity with catastrophe. Returning home to Callay, she finds that Federation member worlds, exhausted by the previous thirty-year-war against the League, are unwilling to risk the confrontation that a solution may require. Some of these forces will go to any lengths to avoid a new conflict, including taking a sledgehammer to the Federation Constitution and threatening the removal by force of Cassandra's own branch of the Federal Security Agency.

More frighteningly for Sandy, she has brought back to Callay three young children, whom she met on the mean streets of Droze, discovering maternal feelings she had not known she possessed. Can she reconcile her duty as a soldier, including what she must do as a tactician, with the dangers that those decisions will place upon her family-the one thing that has come to mean more to her than any cause she now believes in?

 

Steles in the Sky by Elizabeth Bear

And speaking of Elizabeth Bear here is the last volume of her Silk Road fantasy series that has been heaped with praise from so many quarters. I didn't plan it this way but it seems that this will be one of the fantasy series that I will be able to read in its entirety once this is out. I know Elizabeth for her first series of science fiction novels but have every expectation that these will be equally as entertaining given her imagination and creativity. Tor.com has an excerpt here and for your reading pleasure a bit of synopsis action as always...

Re Temur, legitimate heir to his grandfather’s Khaganate, has finally raised his banner and declared himself at war with his usurping uncle. With his companions—the Wizard Samarkar, the Cho-tse Hrahima, and the silent monk Brother Hsiung—he must make his way to Dragon Lake to gather in his army of followers.

But Temur’s enemies are not idle; the leader of the Nameless Assassins, who has shattered the peace of the Steppe, has struck at Temur’s uncle already. To the south, in the Rasan empire, plague rages. To the east, the great city of Asmaracanda has burned, and the Uthman Caliph is deposed. All the world seems to be on fire, and who knows if even the beloved son of the Eternal Sky can save it?

Hollow World by Michael J Sullivan

Known for the epic/sword and sorcery Riyria Revelation series that he self published as ebooks and was more recently picked up for publication by Orbit Books is expanding out from his beginnings with Hollow World. A time travel novel that Michael says he never intended to write certainly is a draw for me, one of my favorite novels from last year The Shining Girls was an unconventional sci fi time travel yearn and I'm up for more explorations of this oft mishandled trope. Here is a link to Michael's website for the novel coming from Tachyon books and a short synopsis hook.

Ellis Rogers is an ordinary man who is about to embark on an extraordinary journey. All his life he has played it safe and done the right thing, but faced with a terminal illness he’s willing to take an insane gamble. He’s built a time machine in his garage, and if it works, he’ll face a world that challenges his understanding of what it means to be human, what it takes to love, and the cost of paradise. Ellis could find more than a cure for his illness; he might find what everyone has been searching for since time began…but only if he can survive Hollow World.

 

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Wanted Dispatch March 22-23

Truth and Fear by Peter Higgins

Last year I had the pleasure to read the first book, Wolfhound Century, and you can find my full review along with some handy links here. I have been looking forward to reading the follow up volume of Peter's weird alternate Russia where stone angels, sentient rain, strange powers and Russian myths blend with a Stalinist police state where paranoia is and important life skill. Wolfhound Century was one of my favorite new reads from last year and to me was reminiscent of encountering China Mieville's Perdido Street Station or the more stranger works of PK Dick.

Here is the synopsis from Orion books (his UK publisher)

Peter Higgins' Vlast is a superbly imagined 'other' Russia, an epic land of trackless forest, sentient rain and deep powers in the Earth. Its capital Mirgorod is home both to a brutal dictatorship centuries old and fleeting glimpses of the houses and streets of another city. Compared to the works of both China Mieville and John Le Carre WOLFHOUND CENTURY was a hugely original creation. Now Peter Higgins returns to that world.

Investigator Lom returns to Mirgorod and finds the city in the throes of a crisis. The war against the Archipelago is not going well. Enemy divisions are massing outside the city, air-raids are a daily occurrance and the citizens are being conscripted into the desperate defence of the city.

But Lom has other concerns. The police are after him, the mystery of the otherworldly Pollandore remains and the vast Angel is moving, turning all of nature against the city.

But will the horrors of war overtake all their plans?

Burning Dark by Adam Christopher

Adam is having a pretty good year he's got one novel out not long ago from Angry Robot and now a completely different type of story from TOR books here in the US. Taking a break from his explorations of superhero esque stories Adam tries his hand at straight up sci if and from the sounds of the reviewers from fellow writers he's written a ripping yarn here. Here is a link to some of those thoughts and the synopsis....

Back in the day, Captain Abraham Idaho Cleveland had led the Fleet into battle against an implacable machine intelligence capable of devouring entire worlds. But after saving a planet, and getting a bum robot knee in the process, he finds himself relegated to one of the most remote backwaters in Fleetspace to oversee the decommissioning of a semi-deserted space station well past its use-by date.

But all is not well aboard the U-Star Coast City. The station’s reclusive Commandant is nowhere to be seen, leaving Cleveland to deal with a hostile crew on his own. Persistent malfunctions plague the station’s systems while interference from a toxic purple star makes even ordinary communications problematic. Alien shadows and whispers seem to haunt the lonely corridors and airlocks, fraying the nerves of everyone aboard.

Isolated and friendless, Cleveland reaches out to the universe via an old-fashioned subspace radio, only to tune into a strange, enigmatic signal: a woman’s voice that seems to echo across a thousand light-years of space. But is the transmission just a random bit of static from the past—or a warning of an undying menace beyond mortal comprehension?

 

Code Zero by Jonathan Mayberry

Jonathan has been writing the adventures of Joe Ledger and the Department of Military Sciences for a good few years now beginning with the amazingly fun Patient Zero and its play on zombies and terrorism. The subsequent volumes have been tales on genetic engineering and fears of robots and such so its strange to be just now hitting a direct sequel to the horror that started in that first story. I recall the truly creepy ending of the book and the story kernels it left me with so I have great hopes for this one.... Here is the synopsis from Macmillan and a link to their site where you can peruse ass the missions Joe and his crew have have seen to date.

 

For years the Department of Military Sciences has fought to stop terrorists from using radical bioweapons—designer plagues, weaponized pathogens, genetically modified viruses, and even the zombie plague that first brought Ledger into the DMS. These terrible weapons have been locked away in the world’s most secure facility. Until now. Joe Ledger and Echo Team are scrambled when a highly elite team of killers breaks the unbreakable security and steals the world’s most dangerous weapons. Within days there are outbreaks of mass slaughter and murderous insanity across the American heartland. Can Joe Ledger stop a brilliant and devious master criminal from turning the Land of the Free into a land of the dead?

 

Dawns Early Light by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris

Well it's been a good while since I've signal boosted for a bit of the good old steampunk but here is something not to miss. Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine are a few of my favorite podcast writers from several years ago who have worked tooth separately and together on multiple projects ranging from Scifi fantasy to erotica. I've been reading great things about this Victorian era secret agent series and backed a kickstarter for an RPG based in this storyline and am glad to see it getting noticed among other writers who blog regularly like Chuck Wendig.

Here's a bit of synopsis and a link to the Ministry of Peculiar Occurances site online where there is free audio fiction and such...

After being ignominiously shipped out of England following their participation in the Janus affair, Braun and Books are ready to prove their worth as agents. But what starts as a simple mission in the States—intended to keep them out of trouble—suddenly turns into a scandalous and convoluted case that has connections reaching as far as Her Majesty the Queen.

Even with the help of two American agents from the Office of the Supernatural and the Metaphysical, Braun and Books have their work cut out for them as their chief suspect in a rash of nautical and aerial disasters is none other than Thomas Edison. Between the fantastic electric machines of Edison, the eccentricities of MoPO consultant Nikola Tesla, and the mysterious machinations of a new threat known only as the Maestro, they may find themselves in far worse danger than they ever have been in before…

 

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Wanted Dispatch March 15-16

Rising Steam by Terry Pratchett

To those who know Mr. Pratchett I think this needs little prompting but even though I am a fan I did not know it was coming out till last month so ... here's a warning there's a new Diskworld book about to be out. Sir Terry is one of the best satirists writing today and knowing there is more of his work out the brings joy to me in that I know it will bring mirth to my days while reading it. This is one of the stories that follows the industrialization of the magic and pun rich world of his and uses the con man protagonist from Going Postal and Making Money. Though tongue in cheek and punnish these fantasy stories are no less epic then some of the doorstops filling the shelves. Everyone needs a good laugh now and again.

 

A brash new invention brings social upheaval, deadly intrigues, and plenty of wry humor to the 40th installment of Pratchett's best-selling Discworld fantasy series. When intrepid inventor Dick Simnel comes to Ankh-Morpork looking for a backer for his revolutionary steam engine, the Iron Girder, entrepreneur Sir Harry King is quick to grasp the possibilities. So is Ankh-Morpork's ruler, Lord Vetinari, who immediately puts master facilitator (and former con artist) Moist von Lipwig in charge of the Discworld's first railway. But while the would-be railway tycoons are busy cutting deals for right-of-ways, supplies, and second class coach service, a group of radically conservative dwarf extremists are determined to stop the railroad, along with anything else that threatens "the truth of pure dwarfishness." In a realm where "even the factions had factions," Moist finds himself cast as Vetinari's agent to help defeat a political coup that could re-ignite ancient hostilities between dwarves and trolls. As always, Pratchett's unforgettable characters and lively story mirror the best, the worst, and the oddest bits of our own world, entertaining readers while skewering social and political foibles in a melting pot of humanity, dwarfs, trolls, goblins, vampires, and a werewolf or two. (Mar.)

Fearful Symmetries edited by Ellen Datlow

Ok I'm kinda an anthology fan and Ellen Datlow is the queen of the horror anthology so I'm pretty much required to signal boost this but in addition it happens to be the product of a kickstarter I put my money where my blogging mouth is. ChiZine happens to be the publisher of this one so that also places it pretty high on my must recommend list of books. Quite a few of my favorite authors are part of the anthology and though I missed the deadline there was an open call for short stories for the collection so hopefully there will be some great new voices here too.... Here is the table of contents....

Table of Contents

Introduction by Ellen Datlow

A Wish From a Bone by Gemma Files

The Atlas of Hell by Nathan Ballingrud

The Witch Moth by Bruce McAllister

Kaiju by Gary McMahon

Will The Real Psycho In This Story Please Stand Up? by Pat Cadigan

In the Year of Omens by Helen Marshall

The Four Darks by Terry Dowling

The Spindly Man by Stephen Graham Jones

The Window by Brian Evenson

Mount Chary Galore by Jeffrey Ford

Ballad of An Echo Whisperer by Caitlín R. Kiernan

Suffer Little Children by Robert Shearman

Power by Michael Marshall Smith

Bridge of Sighs by Kaaron Warren

the worms crawl in, by Laird Barron

The Attic by Catherine MacLeod

Wendigo Nights by Siobhan Carroll

Episode Three: On the Great Plains, In the Snow by John Langan

Catching Flies by Carole Johnstone

Shay Corsham Worsted by Garth Nix

The Time Traveler's Almanac edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer

Did I say that Ellen was the queen of the anthology well this couple is right up there with her and the breadth and quality of the stories they choose for their anthologies wether it be Weird fiction, Steampunk or ailments, kosher animals and curiosities. This time out they pull time travel stories for the past and present that cover the staggering genre that is time travel. Coming in at eight hundred pages I'm including the table of contents for those interested but its bound to be worth the price of admission ... It even boasts nonfiction that is a common staple of their collections.....

 

In addition to collecting some of the best time travel fiction from over the past 100 years, the VanderMeers have commissioned original non-fiction, including an introduction by Rian Johnson, the writer and director of the recent Bruce Willis time travel movie Looper as well as an essay on the science of time travel by Stan Love, an astronaut from NASA. Other contributors are Charles Yu, Genevieve Valentine and Jason Heller.

Here’s the HUGE (alphabetical) table of contents:

FICTION

“Young Zaphod Plays It Safe” by Douglas Adams

“Terminós” by Dean Francis Alfar

“What If?” by Issac Asimov

“Noble Mold” by Kage Baker

“A Night on the Barbary Coast” by Kage Baker

“Life Trap” by Barrington J Bayley

“This Tragic Glass” by Elizabeth Bear

“Enoch Soames” by Max Beerbohn

“The Most Important Thing in the World” by Steve Bein

“In The Tube” by E.F. Benson

“The Mask of the Rex” by Richard Bowes

“A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury

“Bad Timing” by Molly Brown

“The Gulf of the Years” by George-Olivier Châteaureynaud

“The Threads of Time” by C.J. Cherryh

“Thirty Seconds From Now” by John Chu

“Palindromic” by Peter Crowther

“Domine” by Rjurik Davidson

“The Lost Continent” by Greg Egan

“The Gernsback Continuum” by William Gibson

“3 RMS, Good View” by Karen Haber

“Message in a Bottle” by Nalo Hopkinson

“The Great Clock” by Langdon Jones

“Hwang’s Billion Brilliant Daughters” by Alice Sola Kim

“On the Watchtower at Plataea” by Garry Kilworth

“Time Gypsies” by Ellen Klages

“Vintage Seasons” by Henry & C.L. Moore Kuttner

“At Dorado” by Geoffrey Landis

“Ripples in the Dirac Sea” by Geoffrey Landis

“The Final Days” by David Langford

“Fish Night” by Joe Lansdale

“As Time Goes By” by Tanith Lee

“Another Story” by Ursula K. LeGuin

“Loob” by Bob Leman

“Alexia and Graham Bell” by Rosaleen Love

“Traveller’s Rest” by David Masson

“Death Ship” by Richard Matheson

“Under Siege” by George R.R. Martin

“The Clock That Went Backwards” by Edward Page Mitchell

“Pale Rose” by Michael Moorcock

“The House that Made the Sixteen Loops of Time” by Tamsyn Muir

“Is There Anybody There?” by Kim Newman

“Come-From-Aways” by Tony Pi

“The Time Telephone” by Adam Roberts

“Red Letter Day” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

“The Waitabits” by Eric Frank Russell

“If Ever I Should Leave You” by Pamela Sargent

“How the Future Got Better” by Eric Schaller

“Needle in a Timestack” by Robert Silverberg

“Delhi” by Vandana Singh

“Himself in Anachron” by Cordwainer Smith

“The Weed of Time” by Norman Spinrad

“Palimpsest” by Charlie Stross

“Yesterday Was Monday” by Theodore Sturgeon

“Triceratops Summer” by Michael Swanwick

“The Mouse Ran Down” by Adrian Tchaikovsky

“Augusta Prima” by Karin Tidbeck

“Twenty-One and Counting Up” by Harry Turtledove

“Forty, Counting Down” by Harry Turtledove

“Where or When” by Steve Utley

“Swing Time” by Carrie Vaughn

“(excerpt from) The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells

“Fire Watch” by Connie Willis

“Against the Lafayette Escadrille” by Gene Wolfe

“The Lost Pilgrim” by Gene Wolfe

NON-FICTION

Introduction by Rian Johnson

Music for Time Travelers by Jason Heller

The Science of Time Travel by Stan Love

Trousseau, Fashion for Time Travelers by Genevieve Valentine

Top Ten Tips for Time Travelers by Charles Yu

 

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Wanted Dispatch Mar 8-9

Blood and Iron by John Sprunk

I'm reading the ARC for this gem right now that PYR kindly sent to me; like The Dahger and The Coin series by Daniel Abraham its a mix of great elements from disparate fantasy novels making a very interesting whole. The main viewpoint characters tale reminds me in ways of Raymond Fiest's Daughter of the Empire with its fish out of water man in a foreign land alone tale who goes from prisoner to another more gilded kind of captive. In a way wether literal or more psychological all the players in this tale of intrigue, intimidation and violence are captives to their fates. I'm anxious to get to the crux of this story to see where it may be heading, A bit high fantasy a bit Game of Thrones politics and a bit Spartacus The Books of the Black Earth has a lot going for it and will have something for many if not all fantasy fans to sink their teeth into.

Tor.com put up an excerpt here and a bit of synopsis to get you started....

It starts with a shipwreck following a magical storm at sea. Horace, a soldier from the west, had joined the Great Crusade against the heathens of Akeshia after the deaths of his wife and son from plague. When he washes ashore, he finds himself at the mercy of the very people he was sent to kill, who speak a language and have a culture and customs he doesn’t even begin to understand.

Not long after, Horace is pressed into service as a house slave. But this doesn’t last. The Akeshians discover that Horace was a latent sorcerer, and he is catapulted from the chains of a slave to the halls of power in the queen’s court. Together with Jirom, an ex-mercenary and gladiator, and Alyra, a spy in the court, he will seek a path to free himself and the empire’s caste of slaves from a system where every man and woman must pay the price of blood or iron. Before the end, Horace will have paid dearly in both.

 

The Fell Sword by Miles Cameron

Sequel to The Red Knight Miles continues the grim monster hunting medieval European fantasy tale of the Traitor Son cycle. The first book proved to me that though I love non European fantasies these days there is plenty of life left in the Arthurian western fantasy setting. Miles plays with the ideas of mercenarie companies, hermetic magic and corrupting influences and creatures making something complex and conflicted on multiple levels. Loved reading The Red Knight last year and sad I didn't recall this was coming out till just this week....

Here is a link to Mr Cameron's website for the series and the story synopsis....

Loyalty costs money.

Betrayal, on the other hand, is free.

When the Emperor is taken hostage, the Red Knight and his men find their services in high demand -- and themselves surrounded by enemies. The country is in revolt, the capital city is besieged and any victory will be hard won. But the Red Knight has a plan.

The question is, can he negotiate the political, magical, real and romantic battlefields at the same time -- especially when he intends to be victorious on them all?

Lastly fans of magical fiction should watch Tor.com this Tuesday for a new and free short fiction piece from the amazing Kelly Link....

 

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