Wanted Dispatch Sept 7...

Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl by David Barnett

I'm speeding through an e-arc of this today and hope to get a full review of this amazingly fun Victorian steampunk ish weird novel. David's novel opens with a very normal appearing series of events and spirals quickly out into a fantastical series of horrifying events followed by disarmingly funny totally English humor funny ones. I'm thoroughly charmed by this brand new approach to my favortie alternate history era to visit and one that presents the social restrictions and limits of that world starkly and effectively. This novel promises cameos from figures of the era both real and fictional. You can go here to get a taste of David's writing in this TOR novel that I think will fit perfectly on my shelf of favorite alternate histori like the Bookman and the Burton and Swinburne books.

Here is the cover synopsis...

Nineteenth century London is the center of a vast British Empire. Airships ply the skies and Queen Victoria presides over three-quarters of the known world—including the East Coast of America, following the failed revolution of 1775.

London might as well be a world away from Sandsend, a tiny village on the Yorkshire coast. Gideon Smith dreams of the adventure promised him by the lurid tales of Captain Lucian Trigger, the Hero of the Empire, told in Gideon’s favorite “penny dreadful.” When Gideon’s father is lost at sea in highly mysterious circumstances Gideon is convinced that supernatural forces are at work. Deciding only Captain Lucian Trigger himself can aid him, Gideon sets off for London. On the way he rescues the mysterious mechanical girl Maria from a tumbledown house of shadows and iniquities. Together they make for London, where Gideon finally meets Captain Trigger…

 

The Scroll of Years by Chris Willrich

I have great hopes for this what might be called Silk Road fantasy since it is set n a fictionalization version of the continental Far East. Chris has been writing in this setting for a bit now having short fiction appear in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Lightspeed, Beneath Ceasless Skies the latter two of which are free to read and you can click through here to Chris' site where he links to the stories themselves. Several of my favorite people in speculative fiction, namely Saladin Ahmed and Howard Taylor, have written some very intriguing things about this in addition to the fact the the editor of Beneath Ceasless skies and the great Lou Anders choose to print his work. Here is the synopsis from Pyr.com...

Persimmon Gaunt and Imago Bone are a romantic couple and partners in crime. Persimmon is a poet from a well-to-do family, who found herself looking for adventure, while Imago is a thief in his ninth decade who is double-cursed, and his body has not aged in nearly seventy years. Together, their services and wanderlust have taken them into places better left unseen, and against odds best not spoken about. Now, they find themselves looking to get away, to the edge of the world, with Persimmon pregnant with their child, and the most feared duo of assassins hot on their trail. However, all is never what it seems, and a sordid adventure-complete with magic scrolls, gangs of thieves, and dragons both eastern and western-is at hand.

Gods of Earth by Craig De Lancey

I came across this just yesterday while preparing for today's post and was intrigued by the synopsis hat I found on Tor.com. It seems the kind of thing that I should really take a peek at... Not having much time with it I'll give you fantasy fans a link to the authors website here and add the synopsis....

Thousands of years after a war against the gods drove humanity nearly extinct, something divine stirs. It awakens the Guardian, an ancient being pledged to destroy the gods—a task it believes long-accomplished. Through deep caverns, he makes his way to the desolate surface of Earth and stalks toward the last human settlements, seeking the source of this strange power.

Far away, the orphan witch child Chance Kyrien is turning seventeen: today he will be confirmed as a Puriman and learn what stake in the family’s vineyard his adopted father will give him. Ambitious, rebellious, but fiercely devout, Chance dreams only of being a farmer and winemaker, and marrying the girl he loves, the Puriman Ranger Sarah Michaels.

But a shocking cataclysm of violence and destruction turns Chance’s peaceful world upside down. Aided by his loyal friends and the Guardian, Chance must travel through time and space to battle the last remaining god. For the destinies of Chance and this final deity are fatally intertwined, and only one of them can survive.

 

Spirit of the Centure: Khan of Mars by Stephen Blackmoore

Yes I'm totally looking forward to a book based on a role playing game. Yes I love the pulp era game Spirit of the Century and apparently so do a couple of my favorite gritty urban noir authors Chris Wendig who is writing a Triliogy and apparently Stephen Blackmoore who is writing a stand alone spin off. I will say it I want so much to read a novel starring the Gorilla hero Khan on Mars in the pulp age era of non costumed hard hitting heroes. Anyone who has read City of the Lost knows that Stephen can write bloody pulp action and dark edged heroes with the best of them. I have hopes for this to be as much big stupid fun in all the best senses.

Read this add copy and blurb by fellow action neo pulp writer Nathan Long.... You can go here to see the order page at Evil Hat games, the makers of the Spirit of the Century, FATE, and Dresden role playing games to name just a few....

When erudite ape Professor Khan and rough-and-tumble cowboy Bulls-Eye Gutierrez are zapped away on a one-way trip to Mars, they are thrown into a world in chaos. Under the malevolent gaze of the Weather Witch, Princess Cyclone, our heroes face the intrigue and war raging across an alien world. Will they survive long enough for the other Centurions to build a way back home, or will they perish upon the shifting sands of the Red Planet, never to be seen again?

A spin-off adventure from the Dinocalypse Trilogy!

“Who would have thought a four hundred pound gorilla could be so agile? Khan of Mars moves with the speed and whiplash reverses of a hunting hawk, yet packs the punch of a rampaging Yeti. Engaging characters, endless invention, and a breakneck plot that never lets you catch your breath—Stephen Blackmoore must have that ape by the short hairs to make him hop around like that.” — Nathan Long, author of Jane Carver of Waar

And now for something totally free... With all the free fiction venues on the Internet I have to start adding these a bit too so a new bit of this weekley feature...

A Rumor of Angles by Dale Bailey

Tor.com has been publishing free short fiction on their website since the first few days of its existence. This one looks like a particularly interesting addition to that stable. Dale Bailey writes about an alternate dust bowl era America with hits of urban fantasy elements. Its enough to get my antenna up and I will be checking it out. It will be hitting on Tuesday the 10th on their site and will be for sale to through all the normal e-channels. Dale has written a good deal of fiction including several novels and short stories, one that won the International Horror Guild award and he's been a Nebula Nominee.... Go to tor.com to take a peek next week...

 

Till next week that a taste of what I would love to have on my bookshelves....take care ...

 

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Two from the Hip... The Dire Earth

A Return to classic Science Fiction..... Action intrigue and social struggle in a vibrantly imagined future hard to classify or pigeon hole.....

 

The Dire earth series that started with The Darwin Elevator back at the end of July harkens back to a time in SF when specific sub-genres were not such a big thing and reminds me of some specific shows and books I particularly loved. Jason writes with a with passion and hunger in my opinion, his characters jumped off the page and have taken up residence in my imagination and heart additionally his richly imagined setting to the gamer in me just begs for deeper exploration. I will tell you this fellow readers though this is great adventure fiction and he does give you plenty of closure on some of the struggles if quick answers to mysteries are your thing you may just get frustrated. I will be honest here I made attempts to review The Darwin Elevator before it hit the shelves but had trouble getting beyond saying and I quote Lynne M. Thomas (in reference to the first Morrison Doom Patrol collection) of the Hugo Award winning SF Squeecast here "Yes This, Yes This, and Yes This..." over and over again; so here it is just once with an exclamation point yes this!

So I have read these comments about The Dire Earth books around the Internet and I'll repeat them because they are apt adding some on my own feelings. Skyler Lukien our scavenger Captain, hard luck hero his crew, friends and enemies remind me in many cool ways of the players in Joss Whedon's Firefly and more so to me my late 90s

early 00's Farscape. Jason includes many personal things to his characters, things they love and relate to in that same way the Farscape writers used John's media touchstones to ground the crazy that was that wild setting. I would compare this series to the space opera of Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space for the deep alien artifact mysteries that underlie the story, I could also bring in various cyberpunk writers because of the social tensions between the polarized portions of the remaining society; its also got plenty of claustrophobic tension of contagion stories like 28days later and zombie tales. If any of those things are a draw for you this is most like your thing.

(Again controlling the urge to squee)

In terms of character and setting as with the novels of China Mieville its hard to separate the two. The Dire Earth world has been his with a one two punch; first an alien artifact arrives and plants a space elevator in Darwin Australia triggering a raft economic, scientific and social changes to be followed years later by a horrid disease that kills most of its hosts and the few it does not it changes into mostly violent subhuman shadows of their selves. Only a few are spared the rare immunes and the people who have been able to flee to the area of Darwin where there is a field that haunts the progression of the SUBS disease. Humanity is either huddled at the base of the elevator or living in the habitats that ring the length of the elevator; its symbiotic and in a razors edge.

Into this cauldron of humanity our characters take what existence they can.We get several different kinds of stories through the various viewpoint characters; from Skyler Lukien and his immune scavenger crew we get survival horror, exploration and action, from Tania a scientist on one of the stations we get theories, mysteries and discovery, from the industrialist Neil and the heads of security Adam and Russell we see the social side and power struggles that everyone lives in the shadow of. Along the way Jason gives us excellent secondary characters from fences to fixers from spies to psychopaths. The struggles of the first book lead to a new normal and more mysteries of the second.

With The Exodus Towers he gets to expand the cast showing that different areas of the planet spawned different reactions to the new world. Some of these are heart rending and others are infuriating because they are ways I can definitely see people acting in this place. The survivors are all stripes of humanity from the most caring and altruistic to the most selfish and psychopathic. The second novel expands the moral range through all the zones of gray and darker. The antagonist of book one does not turn over a new leaf but somewhat like the villains of Farscape and Jamie Lannister of Game of Thrones having more perspective on things he become a lighter shade of grey. We also see some of the more human sides of the heroes, choices are made that alters relationships just like in life; people are people what can you say other the I applaud Jason for letting his characters be more real no matter which side they fall on.

Both the books deliver in ways character wise that the constant buildup of the mysteries of the so called Builders is not a worry and I have a feeling that the final reveal on that will be much like many from the new wave of Space Opera from the likes of the aforementioned Alastair Reynolds and the late great Ian Banks. Personally I hope I'm not laying it on too thick; these novels are great fun, very intriguing and to me oddly touching... I'm only glad for Jason that the third is coming out the end of this month because with the season ender like cliff hanger Exodus Towers concludes with he might just have fans tracking him down to wring the next volume out of him if they has to wait a year or five...

Here is a link to Tor.com's excerpt from The Darwin Towers... Both of these are out now and I think any Science Fiction lover will truly enjoy these to the depths of their geek hearts.

The Darwin Elevator was featured on NPR here and hit the extended New York Times Bestseller List as mentioned on Jason's website.

Go here for Jason M Hough' s personal website

Again here since I mentioned it above is a link to the SF Squeecast they have not talked about The Dire Earth books but I link to them because I was pretty much Squeeing about this book series and I love those guys...

And for your viewing pleasure the cover of book three coming the end of this month....

 

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Hugo Awards 2013....

So its the day after the Hugo's and this list cribbed from Tor.com and variations of it are appearing all over the Internet. So I kinda called some of these and congratulate all the nominees and winners. I happened to watch the show on ustream well most of it anyhow before my feed quit and I could not get it to relaunch. Paul Cornell was a magnificent master of ceremonies and I cheered myself horse and clapped till me hands stung though I was not even there.... Yeah I'm kinda silly that way about fantasy and science fiction....

Here is the actual link to the tor.com post for you...

The winners of the 2013 Hugo Awards have been announced. Congratulations to all!

The Hugo Awards have been given since 1953, and every year since 1955, by the annual World Science Fiction Convention (the “Worldcon”). The first Worldcon occurred in New York City in 1939, and Worldcons have been held annually since then except during World War II. This year’s Worldcon is LoneStarCon 3, held in San Antonio, Texas from August 29 through September 2.

Winners for each category appear in bold:

Best Novel

Winner: Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas by John Scalzi (Tor)

2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)

Blackout by Mira Grant (Orbit)

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)

Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas by John Scalzi (Tor)

Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed (DAW)

Best Novella

Winner: The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson (Tachyon Publications)

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress (Tachyon Publications)

On a Red Station, Drifting by Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)

San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats by Mira Grant (Orbit)

“The Stars Do Not Lie” by Jay Lake (Asimov's, Oct-Nov 2012)

Best Novelette

Winner: “The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi” by Pat Cadigan (Edge of Infinity, Solaris)

“The Boy Who Cast No Shadow” by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Postscripts: Unfit For Eden, PS Publications)

“Fade To White” by Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld, August 2012)

“In Sea-Salt Tears” by Seanan McGuire (Self-published)

“Rat-Catcher” by Seanan McGuire (A Fantasy Medley 2, Subterranean)

Best Short Story

Winner: “Mono no Aware” by Ken Liu (The Future is Japanese, VIZ Media LLC)

“Immersion” by Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld, June 2012)

“Mantis Wives” by Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld, August 2012)

Note: category has 3 nominees due to a 5% requirement under Section 3.8.5 of the WSFS constitution.

Best Related Work

Winner: Writing Excuses Season Seven by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler and Jordan Sanderson

The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature Edited by Edward James & Farah Mendlesohn (Cambridge UP)

Chicks Dig Comics: A Celebration of Comic Books by the Women Who Love Them Edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Sigrid Ellis (Mad Norwegian Press)

Chicks Unravel Time: Women Journey Through Every Season of Doctor Who Edited by Deborah Stanish & L.M. Myles (Mad Norwegian Press)

I Have an Idea for a Book… The Bibliography of Martin H. Greenberg Compiled by Martin H. Greenberg, edited by John Helfers (The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box)

Best Graphic Story

Winner: Saga, Volume One written by Brian K. Vaughn, illustrated by Fiona Staples (Image Comics)

Grandville Bête Noire written and illustrated by Bryan Talbot (Dark Horse Comics, Jonathan Cape)

Locke & Key Volume 5: Clockworks written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW)

Schlock Mercenary: Random Access Memorabilia by Howard Tayler, colors by Travis Walton (Hypernode Media)

Saucer Country, Volume 1: Run written by Paul Cornell, illustrated by Ryan Kelly, Jimmy Broxton and Goran Sudžuka (Vertigo)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

Winner: The Avengers Screenplay & Directed by Joss Whedon (Marvel Studios, Disney, Paramount)

The Cabin in the Woods Screenplay by Drew Goddard & Joss Whedon; Directed by Drew Goddard (Mutant Enemy, Lionsgate)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro, Directed by Peter Jackson (WingNut Films, New Line Cinema, MGM, Warner Bros)

The Hunger Games Screenplay by Gary Ross & Suzanne Collins, Directed by Gary Ross (Lionsgate, Color Force)

Looper Screenplay and Directed by Rian Johnson (FilmDistrict, EndGame Entertainment)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

Winner: Game of Thrones: “Blackwater” Written by George R.R. Martin, Directed by Neil Marshall. Created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (HBO)

Doctor Who: “The Angels Take Manhattan” Written by Steven Moffat, Directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Wales)

Doctor Who: “Asylum of the Daleks” Written by Steven Moffat; Directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Wales)

Doctor Who: “The Snowmen” Written by Steven Moffat, Directed by Saul Metzstein (BBC Wales)

Fringe: “Letters of Transit” Written by J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Akiva Goldsman, J.H.Wyman, Jeff Pinkner. Directed by Joe Chappelle (Fox)

Best Editor, Short Form

Winner: Stanley Schmidt

John Joseph Adams

Neil Clarke

Jonathan Strahan

Sheila Williams

Best Editor, Long Form

Winner: Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Lou Anders

Sheila Gilbert

Liz Gorinsky

Toni Weisskopf

Best Professional Artist

Winner: John Picacio

Vincent Chong

Julie Dillon

Dan Dos Santos

Chris McGrath

Best Semiprozine

Winner: Clarkesworld edited by Neil Clarke, Jason Heller, Sean Wallace and Kate Baker

Apex Magazine edited by Lynne M. Thomas, Jason Sizemore and Michael Damian Thomas

Beneath Ceaseless Skies edited by Scott H. Andrews

Lightspeed edited by John Joseph Adams and Stefan Rudnicki

Strange Horizons edited by Niall Harrison, Jed Hartman, Brit Mandelo, An Owomoyela, Julia Rios, Abigail Nussbaum, Sonya Taaffe, Dave Nagdeman and Rebecca Cross

Best Fanzine

Winner: SF Signal edited by John DeNardo, JP Frantz, and Patrick Hester

Banana Wings edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer

The Drink Tank edited by Chris Garcia and James Bacon

Elitist Book Reviews edited by Steven Diamond

Journey Planet edited by James Bacon, Chris Garcia, Emma J. King, Helen J. Montgomery and Pete Young

Best Fan Writer

Winner: Tansy Rayner Roberts

James Bacon

Christopher J Garcia

Mark Oshiro

Steven H Silver

Best Fan Artist

Winner: Galen Dara

Brad W. Foster

Spring Schoenhuth

Maurine Starkey

Steve Stiles

Best Fancast

Winner: SF Squeecast, Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Seanan McGuire, Lynne M. Thomas, Catherynne M. Valente (Presenters) and David McHone-Chase (Technical Producer)

The Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe

Galactic Suburbia Podcast, Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Presenters) and Andrew Finch (Producer)

SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester, John DeNardo, and JP Frantz

StarShipSofa, Tony C. Smith

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Winner: Mur Lafferty

Zen Cho

Max Gladstone

Stina Leicht

Chuck Wendig

 

 

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Sunday Comics Sept 1

 

You could probably have guessed I'd be posting about the last issue of Journey into Mystery with how often I have mentioned it over the course Kathryn Immonen and Valerio Schitis' run on the title. Along with Captain Marvel this was the title that take the concept of female lead comics to a new fun storytelling level that we so need more of these days. As lead character Sif is much more then just a feminine Thor she was at times a very violent woman berserker, a leader of men and women, a storyteller and a devoted friend and protector. The final storyline brought back her old friend and one time love Beta Ray Bill in a story where we got a good deal in terms of interaction between them and a look into how both of them have changed. The art by Schiti was as wild and playful as the storytelling. This is a comic that like so many I enjoy had a great short run that developed many stories for the great background players in the Marvel picture. Kathryn gave us some fun Viking adventures with blood, mayhem and honor a plenty. Get the trade when it comes out if you missed these and fondly recall the Walt Simonson era of Thor. Short runs like this though sad often are better for not becoming tired after several years of issues. I will be looking forward Mrs. Immonen writing something else soon.

 

Though I'm not following all the Infinity issues across the marvel titles New Avengers by John Hickman is the one I choose to get with my limited comics dollar. Though this title is of the Avengers family I often love the title most for characters who are not traditionally Avengers and for ones for whom the stakes seem very very personal. This issue "introduces" Thanos' little band of generals and advisors and gives a few pages of their battles with the characters in this title across the world. I particularly loved the stories surrounding Black Bolt and Namor, neither characters are easy one being effectively mute and the other well kind of an ass but they are so much fun to read about. I think in many ways compared to the other infinity issue I read this one well stands alone and is much more a part of its own story. With such a big cast on stage in this issue I particularly enjoyed seeing Doctor Strange and miss him having his own title. Two pages in particular near the end of the issue seal the deal in terms of enjoyment level and OMG kind of reveals and added mystery; sure that is what serial fiction is good for and Hickman really gets that. Mike Deodato shines here too but with the amount of story in the issue you kind of have to go back and pay attention to his art just for how much he does in terms of storytelling too. A winner of a book even at 3.99.

 

Though I am still sorely missing the old DCU Secret Six and its over the top super villain capers I'm ever so glad that I gave Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber's Superior Foes of Spider-Man a couple weeks back. Where as Gail Simone's title was the Inception/Oceans 11 version of the villain super book this is the Cohen Brothers look at caper stories. Taking the same approach to the story as Matt Fraction does with Hawkeye SFoS focuses on the normal lives of the Sinister Six including Boomerang, Shocker, Speed Demon, the new Beetle and their getaway driver Overdrive. I have to ask you what other super villain group include a getaway driver who is a major player in the story. This book gives you their planning sessions ala Tarantino and the aforementioned Cohen's, Boomerangs meeting with bosses, lawyers, and judges; it also includes their personal attempts at robberies that don't really go as planned or expected. The title is sarcastically fun in its look at being a criminal in the Marvel universe and fans of Hawkeye should really take a look at ta book before it goes the way of Venom and Journey into Mystery...

 

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Wanted Dispatch Aug 31 And a look back in shame....

First will come a reprise of what should have been posted last week ... No technical problems just honest me problems and it was a pretty great week of books to get overlooked so here is my look back in shame...

 

The Exodus Towers by Jason M. Hough

This is the second book is the pretty marvelous Dire Earth Cycle. Jason writes with all the vigor and hunger as a Old Man's War era Scalzi in this story about a decimated earth where an mysterious alien artifact arrives in out near future giving us both apparently an elevator to the stars and soon there after a potently virulent 28days later for lack of a better word zombie like plague that gets called SUBS. The first book in this series, The Darwin Elevator came out in July and the third, The Plague Forge, is due out in September and if the first third of this novel is any indication things have gone way beyond the fire for the characters that thought they have gotten out of the frying pan only mostly scorched. These stories are so well told I really want to go back and read sci fi that does not fall into a sub genre category again because Mr. Hough has mixed and matched things so well that I can compare this to so much, the heroes are akin to those hard puckers written about by Joss Whedon you know the ones on that firefly class ship, the setting has both a corrupt corporate cyberpunk feel and a what is really going on here mystery akin to Alastair Reynolds, Asimov and Bradbury. I may be giving this too hard a sell but I am enjoying these books too much to not.

Here is a short story set in this univers to give you a taste... The story has action adventure to spare but his characters at the heart of it are relateable ... even the ones you hate... And here is a link to an excerpt of The Darwin Elevator... Enjoy

 

Crux by Ramez Naam

This is another sequel to a previously well recieved book; I do not recall who on the SF Squeecast talked about Nexus last year but my handy look up skills (yeah right google did all the work) tell me it was none other then one of my favorite writers Elizabeth Bear. Having yet to read the first one from my recollection this was a near future thriller that is what cyberpunk may have become if it had not disappeared in the early nineties. This is a novel written by a computer scientist who has written on the reality of biological enhancement and has recieved awards for his exploration of real Transhumanism. His fictional work has been praised by Elizabeth Bear who I think has written the definitive modern Bionic Woman story ( Hammered), by Cory Doctorow, Hannu Rajaniemi, and Scientific American. To me this looks like again a return to a fiction style abandoned before its time and updated... I have to read Nexus first but Crux is high on my list of to reads..... Here is a link to the Angry Robot Books site so you can check it out too... And here is a link to the amazing SF Squeecast where you can check out the books they Squeed about including Nexus... Hopefully Crux will be among the cast choices next year....

Sherlock Holmes The Stuff of Nightmares by James Lovegrove

James Lovegrove has been on my reading radar since before his highly popular Godpunk series of novels from Solaris books; I still have my yet to be cracked copy of Escardy Gap by James Lovegrove and Peter Crowther from back in 1996... um maybe that is not such a good thing to reveal about me but James has been a successful author for a good while. The Godpunk books his is recently gained notoriety for have drowned my attention but as a fan of interpretations of the redoubtable Holmes this book has my full attention. The really sad thing is or the really happy thing is depending on how you look at it is that I read Chuck Wendig's blog like an addict and this showed up this week... Titan publishing is below "some people's" radar (read my usual source) but thankfully not below Chuck. Here is a link for you to check out the interview with James and hopefully it hooks you as it does me.

For those of you wanting a synopsis here it is from Titan books...

It’s the autumn of 1890, and a spate of bombings has hit London. The newspapers are full of fevered speculation about anarchists, anti-monarchists and Fenians. But one man suspects an even more sinister hand behind the violence. Sherlock Holmes believes Professor Moriarty is orchestrating a nationwide campaign of terror, but to what end? At the same time, a bizarrely garbed figure has been spotted on the rooftops and in the grimy back alleys of the capital. He moves with the extraordinary agility of a latter-day Spring-heeled Jack. He possesses weaponry and armour of unprecedented sophistication. He is known only by the name Baron Cauchemar, and he appears to be a scourge of crime and villainy. But is this masked man truly the force for good that he seems? Is he connected somehow to the bombings? Holmes and his faithful companion Dr Watson are about to embark on one of their strangest and most exhilarating adventures yet.

 

Time of Contempt by AndrzejSapkowsk

Ok, wow I wish I had tied to find all the promotional work for this last week when it was about to come out. People were at least talking about the first two I was spotlighting but this one is kind of hard to find. It is a sword and sorcery series from Eastern Europe that has spawned several game franchises and has several novels that can be found in multiple languages around the globe. Ok yes it fits the white haired amoral swordsman archetype to a tee but based on my reading of the books I picked up in the Netherlands a couple years ago its pretty good Sword and Sorcery all gaming hype aside. I would hope that grim dark fantasy fans might give this series a go because its a good deal of fun and its well told.

 

 

 

On to the week of the 3rd of September ...

 

The Grim Company by Luke Scull

This is a book that has been getting a bit of buzz and having read the prologue and a bit more I can understand it. The feel of the bits I have gotten through remind me of my first excursions into the world of Erikson's Malazan; this is a world where there is great magical potential but it has come at a great price. Some reviewers have been critical of this work because of its grim tone but others have said that if its the last hurrah of the Joe Abercrombie's its a worthy read so I'm totally onboard and Penguin were nice enought to gift me a copy so you all can expect a review shortly. Its written by a video game plotter and that is what it may be but taking the prologue as a guide I think this looks like a very good first novel... I have hopes...

Here is the book synopsis...

The Gods are dead. The Magelord Salazar and his magically enhanced troops, the Augmentors, crush any dissent they find in the minds of the populace. On the other side of the Broken Sea, the White Lady plots the liberation of Dorminia, with her spymistresses, the Pale Women. Demons and abominations plague the Highlands.

The world is desperately in need of heroes. But what they get instead are a ragtag band of old warriors, a crippled Halfmage, two orphans and an oddly capable manservant: the Grim Company.

23 Years on Fire by Joel Shepherd

This is another series of novels that take up the mantle of cyberpunk nd run with it in the same vein as Elizabeth Bear's Hammered series. Joel has written three previous novels in this series that are all available from the great PYR books and I am so glad that he has written a fourth one. To me the novels have a bit of a Eastern European overtone but that may just be me... I love Cassandra Kresnova in the same way I love the Black Widow from Marvel comics... there is small comparison but where the characters is written well she is great...

Here is a link to the PYR page for it and a bit of the synopsis...

Cassandra Kresnov-a highly advanced hunter-killer android-returns to face down a rogue government's plot to eliminate free will.

Commander Cassandra Kresnov has her hands full. She must lead an assault against the Federation world of Pyeongwha, where a terrible sociological phenomenon has unleashed hell against the civilian population. Then she faces the threat from a portion of League space known as New Torah, in which a ruthless regime of surviving corporations are building new synthetic soldiers but taking the technology in alarming directions.

On the Torahn world of Pantala, Sandy encounters betrayal, crisis, and conspiracy on a scale previously unimaginable. Most challenging of all, she also meets three young street kids who stir emotions in her she didn't think she was capable of. Can the Federation's most lethal killer afford unexpected sentiment? What will be the cost if she is forced to choose between them and her mission, not only to her cause, but to her soul?

Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire

For fans of Urban Fantasy I would hope that mentioning Seanan McGuire and her new novel but as a fan myself of her, her fiction and her podcast I have to gush and squee a bit. I have been a fan of her Toby stories for a couple of years and think she is one of the most entertaining writers in the genre right now, no offence to Chuck Wendig and Stephen Blackmoore whom I consider Noir fantasy and well there is always Brn Aaronovitch too but really I do really enjoy the fae worlds of Seanan McGuire. To be honest I'm a couple books behind but Chimes at Kidnight is on my buy the week of release list. Seanan is one of the creators of the SF Squeecast and a super sweet woman who talks a lot about ending the world...

Here is the book synopsis for this volume

Things are starting to look up for October "Toby" Daye. She's training her squire, doing her job, and has finally allowed herself to grow closer to the local King of Cats. It seems like her life may finally be settling down...at least until dead changelings start appearing in the alleys of San Francisco, killed by an overdose of goblin fruit.

Toby's efforts to take the problem to the Queen of the Mists are met with harsh reprisals, leaving her under sentence of exile from her home and everyone she loves. Now Toby must find a way to reverse the Queens decree, get the goblin fruit off the streets--and, oh, yes, save her own life, since more than a few of her problems have once again followed her home. And then there's the question of the Queen herself, who seems increasingly unlikely to have a valid claim to the throne....

To find the answers, October and her friends will have to travel from the legendary Library of Stars into the hidden depths of the Kingdom of the Mists--and they'll have to do it fast, because time is running out. In faerie, some fates are worse than death.

Seanan is up for the Hugo this year for her novel Blackout written under the pen name Mira Grant.... Go Sea... Um Mira.... Ok so yes I want Saladin to win I Loved Throne of the Crescent Moon forgive me... Or at least kill me fast....

 

Happy Hour in Hell by Tad Williams

I'm so exited about this book for all the wrong freaking reasons... I have yet to read the first book Dirty Streets of Heaven and am stupidly basing much of my excitement on this on my love of the Castiel character on Supernatural but in all my reading of synopsis and reviews this is the book out there for those of us who like him. Ok yes it silly and such but I really want this to be the print version of the dark angel story without all the gods assassin thing I liked so much in Hellblazer. Anyhow all my silly thoughts aside the people who have written about the Bobby Dollar series have said great things and I will be reading it as soon as I can get time... With all the other great things out there these days...

Here is a bit of add copy to egg you on too... Till the next season of Supernatural... I hope Meg made it somehow....

I’ve been told to go to Hell more times than I can count. But this time I’m actually going.

My name’s Bobby Dollar, sometimes known as Doloriel, and of course, Hell isn’t a great place for someone like me — I’m an angel. They don’t like my kind down there, not even the slightly fallen variety. But they have my girlfriend, who happens to be a beautiful demon named Casimira, Countess of Cold Hands. Why does an angel have a demon girlfriend? Well, certainly not because it helps my career.

She’s being held hostage by one of the nastiest, most powerful demons in all of the netherworld — Eligor, Grand Duke of Hell. He already hates me, and he’d like nothing better than to get his hands on me and rip my immortal soul right out of my borrowed but oh-so-mortal body.

But wait, it gets better! Not only do I have to sneak into Hell, make my way across thousands of miles of terror and suffering to reach Pandemonium, capital of the fiery depths, but then I have to steal Caz right out from under Eligor’s burning eyes and smuggle her out again, past demon soldiers, hellhounds, and all the murderous creatures imprisoned there for eternity. And even if I somehow manage to escape Hell, I’m also being stalked by an undead psychopath named Smyler who’s been following me for weeks. Oh, and did I mention that he can’t be killed?

So if I somehow survive Hell, elude the Grand Duke and all his hideous minions and make it back to the real world, I’ll still be the most hunted soul in Creation. But at least I’ll have Caz. Gotta have something to look forward to, right?

So just pour me that damn drink, will you? I’ve got somewhere to go.

 

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Wanted dispatch...d

As I worked a full day on Saturday and I need a day to pull the cool that is next tuesday together I will post my dispatch Monday... I will apologize for the delay... There is good stuff a coming and I would ask forgiveness for my lateness.. Its a good week a coming...

 

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Sunday Comics Aug 25 2013...

This week's Sunday comics choices are both written by Cullen Bunn and one sadly is on the soon to be gone list.

Venom which stars one time bully and long time Spiderman fan Flash Thompson as the symbiot host and darker edged hero trying to do the right thing, fighting his deep personal demons and the influence of Venom. The book goes from self seraching personal drama to frenetic action featuring webs, guns and bombs with repercussions for both the personal and superhero conflicts in Flash's life. The recent storyline has him setting up himself in the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia, where heroes are scarce and a villain named Lord Ogre has free reign. Starting a new life after his failures in the big apple Flash takes up residence and to the streets as a hero for the people who have no spandex wearing defender.

Flash was crippled in the war on terror and lives life in a wheel chair when not sharing his body with the alien symbiot, he's a coach for a local highschool and seems a man trying to make up for a past he regrets. He's the kind of character I particularly love, much like Jamie Lannister of Game of Thrones he is a man though we know has done bad things he has a code of morals when seen from his point of view as readers we can get. Like so many of the heroes in Marvel that I love he is not a first stringer, he is a character who's past informs his present and will shape his future; he is not Peter Parker who carries the weight of being an icon, Flash gets to be a person beyond the brand of being a brand like Spider-Man or X-men.

The the most recent run of issues have culminated in paranoia on Flash's part, superpowered mercenaries and assassins running roughshod over Phliiy looking for the bounty on Agent Venom's head and his contactes in Philly as Venom are seeking information on the new hero. In his many attempts to be the hero he idolizes Flash inadvertently has created another spawn of the Venom symbiot and gained a "sidekick" in the teen girl now called Mania. The art by Declan Shalvey is unique, dynamic and characterful and may not be to everyone's tastes but I personally love the fresh approach to action. His strengths lie in the expressiveness of the characters faces and when the symbiots are out and in action its a whole new SFX ball game much like Cameron's The Thing for the eighties. Vemon is a book that has action adventure and drama in spades and I'm sad that it will be a memory come November... Both Rick Remender's and Cullen Bunn's runs on this unappreciated book are available to Marvel Ultimate subscribers but if you do check it out get it from a local friendly comic shop.

 

I've mentioned Fearless Defeneders before but since I want this all "life on the d list" marvel women title to survive the current cull that seems to be going on in the second stringer title family at the new excellent house of ideas. This is a superhero comic that is part Big Trouble in Little China with its crazy Hong Kong cinema approach to action and fast forward adventure and part Farscape with its modern media reference points and snappy sarcastic dialogue. Cullen pulls on the whole catalogue of Marvel heroines with this bringing back long sadly ignored characters like the onetime apprentice of Dr Strange Clea and the one time Nextwave monster hunter Elisa Bloodstone. Issue seven was a Valkerie centric episode that used a trip to the Viking afterlife to bring home the perils of the afterlife and reintroduce Clea who I forgot I totally missed and issue eight was a Big Trouble in Marvel little China with a Brood influenced twist.

Fearless defenders spotlights characters that need more so called screen time. Misty Knight has been knocking around the Marvel universe for so long as their version of the bionic woman its great to see her shining as well as seeing Danille Moonstar being more then just another mutant and Brunhild just as a female Thor replacement. These issues are at their best when Cullen is giving us their everyday non-fighting lives. With Journey into Mystery ending next month I need a title like this to get a bit more fan love.

I love these kinds of titles; the Hero's for Hire, the Defenders, the thrid stringers, the d listers; their stories usually involve change that remains with them. Marvel carries stories forward... I say this because of the so called new 52. DC has long been known to push the reset button on stories for the time of the end of the first Crisis in 1985. I loved Crisis and what came after bit as time has gone on their predilection to push the rest button has become a crutch for DC editorial see the recent posts about the new Lobo ideas. Marvel has committed lots of bad summer and yearly events and summer crossovers and the debacle of the clone saga... What I will commend Marvel for the their embracing the past stories and create lemon aid from lemons. I would love the opportunity to read stories I could not afford to own and these days with Marvel Unlimited I can read them... History matters to Marvel so far and this I respect. I know someday Cyclopse will be the golden boy of Xavier and Magneto will be the enemy but there will hopefully be someone who recalles when he was the bad guy... Checkout Venom and Fearless Defenders... They are in sore need of fans... And Marvel loves telling stories these days....

 

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