Do we really need the whole story?

So I got back from Malta, early this afternoon (yes, it was a lovely hot 'shorts wearing' break from the blog, thanks for asking!) I had a lovely week doing, well... not an awful lot really :o) Lots of lovely walks through Valetta and Mdina as well as time spent happily at the beach. I'm not too impressed at being back in London (ice in the morning and rain in the afternoon) but that's the way it goes. Thanks to Jamie, Jen, David and Lawrence for supplying some great posts while I was away. I find myself in the position of having to up my game to keep the standard as high as they did! That can't be a bad thing though... :o)

Anyway, I got back home to find this book waiting for me on the doorstep...

Darth Plagueis: one of the most brilliant Sith Lords who ever lived. Possessing power is all he desires. Losing it is the only thing he fears. As an apprentice, he embraces the ruthless ways of the Sith. And when the time is right, he destroys his Master - but vows never to suffer the same fate. For like no other disciple of the dark side, Darth Plagueis learns to command the ultimate power...over life and death.


Darth Sidious: Plagueis's chosen apprentice. Under the guidance of his Master, he secretly studies the ways of the Sith, while publicly rising to power in the galactic government, first as Senator, then as Chancellor, and eventually as Emperor.


Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious, Master and acolyte, target the galaxy for domination - and the Jedi Order for annihilation. But can they defy the merciless Sith tradition? Or will the desire of one to rule supreme, and the dream of another to live forever, sow the seeds of their destruction?

I'm not too bothered about Star Wars books these days but I do have a whole load of them on the shelves so they will feature here at some point. 'Darth Plagueis' got me thinking though... Given that 'Revenge of the Sith' basically answers all these questions, is there really any point to this book? A bigger Star Wars fan than I might say otherwise but I'm having trouble seeing that point if there is one...

Looking at that blurb also got me thinking about the franchise's need to fill in every single little gap around each of the films (a gap often chiseled out of the tiniest piece of dialogue). Do we really need to know every single little bit of a story or is it better to leave some of it deliberately vague? I'm in two minds but if I had to make the choice I'd veer towards the latter. I like not knowing everything about a fictional world and its history. If a writer gives it all to me, on a plate, then there's nothing to explore and get into. I like to fill in those gaps myself; I find that it really helps me 'live the book' rather than just read it. Don't tell me what happens in that alleyway behind the pub; I'd much rather go off and work it out for myself. If you tell me everything then it's still a cool story (hopefully) but the mystery isn't there any longer and that's a shame.

How about you? Do you like to have it all or do you like to go away and think about all the stuff that you haven't been told? Comments please and any examples of books that do it (or not) for you would be great as well...

They interviewed me...

I've been really busy today putting up a bed (then taking it down because it was wrong, then putting it back up again, then...) so totally forgot to mention that the very nice people at Jo Fletcher Books let me answer a few questions for a weekly feature that they have going on. If you click Here you can find out exactly what happened to me in that nameless temple under Whitechapel and how I saved Christmas not long afterwards. Actually, those are answers for another day but what you get in the meantime is pretty cool too ;o)

Too many zombies?

I used to love reading 'The Daily Mash' on my lunch break (well, a little bit more than just my lunch break actually...) and I've been trawling through it, again just recently, as I could do with a bit of a laugh to be honest...

Anyway, this article made me laugh but it also reminded about how I've been feeling about the whole 'zombie thing' at the moment. I used to jump right onto anything with zombies in it but these days I'm finding that I'll only pick up a zombie book if it's by a writer that I know, and trust, already. The odds are that by the time you read this I will have picked up a copy of Joe McKinney's 'Mutated' (and I'm waiting to put Brian Keene's 'Entombed' on my phone) but that's about it really. I couldn't really care less about the rest.

There are just too many zombie books out there now and it feels like people will do anything to jump on a bandwagon that's already groaning under the weight of an overloaded genre (I mean, 'My Life as a White Trash Zombie', seriously?) Even established writers are having to do more and more now just to stay afloat; I stopped reading 'The Walking Dead' when spectacle became more important than plot. I don't think it's any coincidence that I haven't seen a 'Tomes of the Dead' book from Abaddon in a while; I reckon the more savvy publishers are staying ahead of the game and quietly looking for what could be the next big thing. The quality is still there but it's being drowned under the weight of the rest; just like those plucky survivors in the mall with thousands of zombies trying to get in...

What will that be though? Vampires were quietly moved to one side for zombies, there are already a few books about angels and werewolves have been around for what seems like forever. Are there any monsters left that would sell books in the same way as the big hitters? I don't know...

I guess then that my questions are...

1) Do you think the whole zombie thing has been done to (un)death?
2) If it has, what monster would you like to see take its place as the 'next big scary thing'?
3) I'm clearly having a little rant as I've run out of good zombie fiction to read (I'm big enough to admit it), any recommendations?

Comments in the usual place please :o)

What the Birthday Fairy bought me...

Today was meant to be all about a review (more than likely S.L. Grey's 'The Ward') until it became all about preparing for a job interview that I need to be at for 9am. Wish me luck! :o)

What today will be about instead then is a quick look at what I spent my ill-gotten birthday money on (in an hour at Forbidden Planet that was mostly spent trying to stop Hope eating chicken nuggets in front of the security cameras). Check it out...

It's going to be a long time before I get to see 'Dredd' (probably when it comes out on DVD knowing me...) so I thought I'd stock up with some 2000AD comic books in the meantime. Forbidden Planet didn't actually have a great selection but I did come away with the following...

'Insurrection' was recommended by a friend of mine (and Dan Abnett is the writer so that bodes well too) and 'The Complete Case Files 09' has Chopper, 'The Midnight Surfer', in it so that makes it officially cool before I've even started reading :o) I'm looking forward to spending some time with both of these books.

My mission to collect the complete(ish) 'Fantasy Masterworks' series has somehow grown to encompass the 'Sci-Fi Masterworks' series as well; I don't know how that happened but I'm going with it anyway. I'm bending my own rules slightly here (second hand purchases only, no exceptions) but it was my birthday so...

Ill luck made Roger Torraway the subject of the Man Plus Programe, but it was deliberate biological engineering which turned him into a monster -- a machine perfectly adapted to survive on Mars. For according to computer predictions, Mars is humankind's only alternative to extinction. But beneath his monstrous exterior, Torraway still carries a man's capacity for suffering.

The blurb has intrigued me for a long time and I thought it was long past time I gave it a go. Anyone here read this book?

First Impressions and all that... 'Tears in Rain' (Rosa Montero)

I'm not talking about those impressions that start to form after you've read five pages of a book (or even just the first page). I'm talking about a book that you see on the shelf (or in my case, one that turns up on the doorstep) that you know nothing about about at all. In those first few seconds all you see is the cover and the blurb, maybe a quote if you're lucky. You can't get a lot more 'first impressions' than that :o)

That's what happened to me, yesterday, when a copy of Montero's 'Tears in rain' arrived. To be fair, I'd asked for a copy (having skimmed the blurb in an email about something else entirely) but I'd forgotten about it until the book turned up. And there's something a little more real about having a book in your hands that really concentrates the mind and gets you thinking about what you're holding.

So, you're going to get exactly what I got. The cover, the blurb and a little quote. I'll give you my first impressions and I'd be interested to see what yours are. The plan is then for me to read it and see just how much (if at all) my impressions change. Here goes,

I have to say the cover left me feeling pretty cold. If you've seen one alien cityscape you've seen them all (that's how I feel anyway) and the lady's eye aren't nearly as striking as the artist wanted them to be.

When a growing number of replicants die suspiciously before their ten year expiration dates, detective Bruna Husky answers the call to investigate. Built for grueling jobs and given false memories to help them interact with humans, replicants have long been engaged in a bitter struggle over the rules that govern their existence. Probing this minefield of of political and moral intrigue, Bruna - a combat replicant - soon realizes she can no longer tell her allies from her enemies. Yet she must somehow survive the most terrifying fight of her life and stop an insidious plot that could rewrite history itself.

So far so 'Bladerunner' (they're even using the word 'replicant') but what had me intrigued was the promise of the examination of 'replicant rights', something I haven't come across much in my reading (apart from Joel Shepherd's 'Cassandra Kresnov' books, I really don't read enough sci-fi). This has actually got me more interested, in reading the book, than the promise of the 'insidious plot'.

'It was called Blade Runner. It was a strange, well meaning film as far as the reps were concerned, although Bruna found it somewhat irritating. The androids bore little resemblance to real ones... Even so, there was something profoundly moving about the film.'

What do you do when you've clearly been inspired by some classic sci-fi but also want to make it clear that you're doing your own thing? You tell everyone right there on the page, it's a risky step to take (could be interpreted in other ways) but fair play to Montero for coming out and saying it. At least, that's how I read it.

Those were my first impressions then, what were yours? Like I said, I'll be reading 'Tears in Rain' (there's a little time before the publication date) and I'm interested to see how I feel afterwards.

This book looks like it could be interesting...

Do you remember my having a tiny rant, way back in January last year, about the Suvudu Writing Contest? I wouldn't blame you if you didn't, it really wasn't much of a rant by internet standards, I'm still more hacked off about not being able to find a decent Pretzel over here *pauses for a wistful moment to remember that Pretzel I had in New York*...

Where was I? Oh yes, I'd forgotten all about the contest until an Advance Copy of 'Bad Glass' arrived in the post a few days ago. Even then, it was only when I read the blurb (last night) that the whole thing clicked for me. Check it out,

 

One of the most hauntingly original dark fantasy debuts in years—perfect for fans of Lost and Mark Danielewski’s cult classic, House of Leaves.

Something has happened in Spokane. The military has evacuated the city and locked it down. Even so, disturbing rumors and images seep out, finding their way onto the Internet, spreading curiosity, skepticism, and panic. For what they show is—or should be—impossible: strange creatures that cannot exist, sudden disappearances that violate the laws of physics, human bodies fused with inanimate objects, trapped yet still half alive. . . .

Dean Walker, an aspiring photographer, sneaks into the quarantined city in search of fame. What he finds will change him in unimaginable ways. Hooking up with a group of outcasts led by a beautiful young woman named Taylor, Dean embarks on a journey into the heart of a mystery whose philosophical implications are as terrifying as its physical manifestations. Even as he falls in love with Taylor—a woman as damaged and seductive as the city itself—his already tenuous hold on reality starts to come loose. Or perhaps it is Spokane’s grip on the world that is coming undone.

Now, caught up in a web of interlacing secrets and betrayals, Dean, Taylor, and their friends must make their way through this ever-shifting maze of a city, a city that is actively hunting them down, herding them toward a shocking destiny.

I've never read 'House of Leaves' although my little brother swears by it. Or at it, I'm never too sure... I've never seen 'Lost' either but there's something about the premise here that really intrigues to me. There also seems to be loads of these 'Cut the Agent out of the loop and send us your manuscripts' competition and I find myself really keen, all of a sudden, to see what the results are like. 'Bad Glass' is as good a place as any to start :o)

'Bad Glass' has a tentative release date of late September, and it's August now, so... I reckon I'll be into this one as soon as I've finished 'Blood and Feathers' (which is getting better with each page, in a good way). Has anyone else read 'Bad Glass' yet?

Subliminal Cover Art...? 'The Butcher of Anderson Station' (James S.A. Corey)

I was browsing one of my favourite blogs when I came across this cover art...

 

Has it been just a bit too long since I quit smoking (eight years since my last cigarette, three since my last cigar...) or is 'The Butcher of Anderson Station' a tale of tobacco companies rampaging through space in cigarette shaped spacecraft...? Did I miss the press release about the Orbit/Marlboro merger...? ;o)

On a slightly more serious note, I'll be downloading this the first chance I get. I thoroughly enjoyed 'Leviathan Wakes' and 'The Butcher of Anderson Station' should keep me ticking along just nicely until the next book.

In case you were wondering, reviews have been thin on the ground recently as my current contract ends today and things have been mad. There will be something up later though... :o)

A Quick Question About M. John Harrison

No, not that question... And not that other question either ;o)

There's a lot of other stuff going on right now and I totally missed the publication of Harrison's 'Empty Space: A Haunting'. If it hadn't come through the door yesterday morning I would have probably missed it completely...

An alien research tool the size of a brown dwarf star hangs in the middle of nowhere, as a result of an attempt to place it equidistant from everything else in every possible universe. Somewhere in the fractal labyrinth beneath its surface, a woman lies on an allotropic carbon deck, a white paste of nanomachines oozing from the corner of her mouth. She is neither conscious nor unconscious, dead nor alive. There is something wrong with her cheekbones. At first you think she is changing from one thing into another -- perhaps it's a cat, perhaps it's something that only looks like one -- then you see that she is actually trying to be both things at once. She is waiting for you, she has been waiting for you for perhaps 10,000 years. She comes from the past, she comes from the future. She is about to speak...

I was about to get stuck in (despite everything else) when I realised that 'Empty Space' is actually the third book in a trilogy, 'Light' and 'Nova Swing' being the previous two. So my question is... Have any of you guys read 'Light' or 'Nova Swing'? I'm trying to get a feel for how well 'Empty Space' might stand on its own as I don't really have the time to go back and get caught up.

All comments welcome :o)

A couple of books arrived in the post...

And I just wanted to quickly mention them before I run off and start getting ready for work tomorrow.

Arrested by the Ald, scholar Bon Ugane and merwoman Leki Borle find themselves on a prison ship bound for the island of Skythe - a barren land and the site of long-ago wars.
Warped and ruined by the ancient conflict, survival on the island is tough and its original inhabitants are neither friendly nor entirely still human. But something else waits on the island, a living weapon whose very existence is a heresy. Destroyed many years ago, it silently begins to clutch at life once more.

For my money, Tim Lebbon doesn't get the attention he deserves as a very fine writer of... well, whatever he turns his hand to really. Check out a few of my reviews and you'll see what I mean. Give 'Echo City' a go if nothing else. 'The Heretic Lands' has muscled its way into the top end of the reading pile so you can expect a review soon(ish).

The game is afoot!


London's geniuses are being picked off by a vicious killer, and Emma Bannon, a sorceress in the service of the Empire, must protect the next target, Archibald Clare. Unfortunately he's more interested in solving the mystery of the murders than staying alive . . .

In a world where illogical magic has turned the Industrial Revolution on its head, Bannon and Clare will face dark sorcery, cannon fire, high treason and the vexing problem of reliably finding hansom cabs in the city.

Is Steampunk the new Urban Fantasy? I for one hope so, I really do (but I'm pretty much indifferent to nine tenths of Urban Fantasy so there you go). It would be refreshing to see something else on the shelves I have to say. I will give 'The Iron Wyrm Affair' a go but 'The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities' is a slice of Steampunk that looks far more appealing right now. Look out for a review of that instead.

They don't do covers like this anymore (and that's got to be a good thing)...

I found this, a couple of days ago, and it won't be read for a little while yet. Doesn't mean we can't all have a little chuckle at the cover though, does it? I was going to write something about the cover but I really don't need to. It says everything it needs to say all by itself :o) I can imagine the conversation...

Artist: "So we've got this science fiction tale with some politics thrown in. What sort of thing do you want for the cover? Are we talking the revolution of the masses? Do you want a picture of the Fireclown delivering his oratory?"

Publisher: "Dude, just have a smoke of this and go with whatever feels right. We'll put it on the cover."

It did get me thinking though. Bloggers, and the lovely people who comment, do love to have a good moan about the generic covers we get these days; hooded warriors/assassins and the like. The next time you do that, have a look at this cover again. That's the alternative.

A hooded guy may be generic but at least it's vaguely relevant to what's in the book. Moan too much and we could be looking at a descent back into cover art anarchy. Just saying... ;o)

A Couple of Odds and Ends...

A bit of a short and sweet one today, what with being away for the weekend and generally preoccupied about a whole load of stuff. Life can throw up all sorts of stuff when you least expect it but more on that another time (maybe). In the meantime...

I generally try not to plug books unless I've actually read them but, after going on about how you can't find anything by Karl Edward Wagner these days (not cheap anyway), I've recently seen that you can get hold of Wagner's short story 'Undertow' in Tachyon Press' 'Sword & Sorcery Anthology'. I briefly mentioned 'Undertow' in my review of 'Night Winds' but it's a story that has taken on greater significance to me the more I think about it. There's about a hundred other good reasons to buy 'The Sword & Sorcery Anthology' but don't skip over 'Undertow' in order to get to them, you'll be missing out on a dark treat indeed.

And for those of you are interested, here's what I bought for myself on a trip into town this afternoon...

'The Ark in Space' originally aired about seven months before I was born (I feel old) but I had this out of the library, when I was a kid, and I'm looking forward to a little nostalgic reading about five minutes after I finish this post :o) The reissuing of the original Target novels is more than welcome as far as I'm concerned (having lost several 'Doctor Who' books that I now have the chance to recollect).

Did anyone read 'Glimmering' last time round?

A copy of Elizabeth Hand's 'Glimmering' arrived the other day courtesy of Underland Press; not something that I'd normally devote a whole post to (apart from the occasional 'book haul' posts) but the fact that it had already been published, back in 1997, caught my eye. Apparently, this edition has been newly revised by the author but I've still got to ask... Did anyone read 'Glimmering' last time round? What did you think?

For those of you who haven't here's the cover art and blurb...

It’s 1999 and the world is falling apart at the seams. The sky is afire, the oceans are rising—and mankind is to blame. While the spoils of the 20th Century dwindle, Jack Finnegan lives on the fringes in his decaying mansion, struggling to keep his life afloat and his loved ones safe while battling that most modern of diseases—AIDS.

As the New Millennium approaches, Jack’s former lover, a famous photographer reveling in the world's decay, gifts him with a mysterious elixir called Fusax, a medicine rumored to cure the incurable AIDS. But soon, the "side effects" of Fusax become more apparent, and Jack gets mixed up with a bizarre entourage of rock stars, Japanese scientists, corporate executives, AIDS victims, and religious terrorists. While these larger players compete to control mankind's fate in the 21st Century, Jack is forced to choose his own role in the World's End, and how to live with it.

Same kind of question then. If you haven't already read 'Glimmering' would you read it based on the blurb? Underland Press hasn't let me down yet so I'll be reading 'Glimmering' at some point soon.

So I was thinking...

Because I was trying to blank out the sound of Hope screaming at the dentist, the other day, and my mind went down some strange paths...

Rhiannon Frater, Madeleine Roux, Amanda Hocking and Michael J. Sullivan; what do these three ladies and one chap have in common? All four of them originally self-published their work in one form or another (Kindle, serialising it on a web site, setting up their own publishing company and so on) and did so well off the back of it that a big publisher came round and offered them a contract. Not for something new though (although I think Amanda Hocking is writing new stuff for St. Martins), I'm talking about stuff that was already available to the book reading public in the first place. And that's what I don't get.

Before we get started, I've got no access to book sales figures and the self-published sales figures I'll be mentioning are ones that I half remember hearing a long time ago, probably while I was doing something else. Reading, most likely :o) I think what I'm saying should stand though, bear with me...

I guess what I don't get is how publishers think they can turn a profit on a series of books that were already successful when they were self-published. Amanda Hocking has, by all accounts, sold millions of books on Kindle and this includes her 'Trylle Trilogy' which has been snapped up by Tor in the UK. Erm... Isn't that rather like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted? That’s X number of people who already have the 'Trylle' books on Kindle and presumably won't be bothering with a physical copy (I guess, I don't know).

Frater and Roux built up a large online following with zombie tales published on their websites (Frater went on to self-publish her books further before being published by Tor in the US). I guess this makes a little more sense (publishing wise) if the original stories were then taken down but there must be more than a few people who read the books online and decided that was enough for them (maybe they even printed off their own copies to keep and read). That's got to put a dent in future sales doesn't it?

And Michael J. Sullivan, here's a man who sold something like 60,000 copies of his 'Riyria Revelations' books before Orbit stopped by to lend a hand. So, that's 60,000 copies that Orbit won't be selling then.

You're probably thinking 'What the hell is Graeme on about? The publishers know what they're doing and those new copies in the shops will find their way to people who hadn't come across the books online. Graeme obviously hasn't had his morning coffee yet.'

Well, I haven't had my coffee yet. Can you tell? :o) I'm also sure that the publishers know what they're on about (it's their job), it just doesn't quite add up for me.

I'm wondering if our lovely community of fantasy, sci-fi and horror loving geeks is so large that bunging extra hard copies of books on the shelves is going to make a huge difference. I mean, we're all online already aren't we? If I'm actually in a bookshop it's because I've heard something a book online. That's where we find out about what books we'll be picking up next. That's where we download the free excerpts and then go on forums to rave about this cool lady writing about zombies on her website, or that guy who is publishing 'sword and sorcery' books that we should all be supporting. Hasn't everyone who is going to read these books already read them?

If this is the case, those physical copies (published by the big hitters) are on the shelves to draw in random shoppers who are there to buy something although they're not sure what it is they're after. Which has got to be a bit of a gamble for the publisher doesn't it? Especially if the established fanbase already owns the books and are raving about them online...

Like I said, I've got no idea about how many of these books have actually been sold, by the big publishers, I'm hoping at least one of them will chip in here and set me straight :o) It just doesn't feel right, not if you're looking to turn a profit. Can you turn a further profit on something that has already turned a profit? I don't know...
So, I've got some questions for you guys.

Regular readers - If you already read the books above, in their self-published form, did you go out and buy another copy when they were re-published? I'd be interested to know.

Publishers - Don't you wish you'd taken a chance on these books before they were incredibly succesful self-published phenomena?

If I've missed something really obvious, go easy on me? Like I said, I haven't had that coffee yet ;o)

A Slightly Bemused Book Haul Post...

Because sometimes something happens and the schedule has to take a back seat for a day.

I never comment on big internet hoo-hahs, as I'm always really late to them, but I have been following the misadventures of the self published small press guy who has 92K Twitter followers and outsells big name authors on a regular basis, or something like that. I won't say too much there other than if you listen really carefully to the gales of laughter, still floating around the internet, you'll hear my chuckles there too :o)

There's been a lot of interesting discussion arising out of all this, namely what self-pubbers can do to get their books reviewed by the likes of us (not something that I do as it happens, read my Review Policy). The comment that really struck a chord with me was from a blogger (sorry, I've forgotten your name...) who gets review requests from self-pubbers who clearly haven't bothered to check what this guy actually reviews. I get those emails too and they get deleted without a reply.
It's not just the self-pubbers though, look what was waiting for me when I got home last night (sent by a publisher who shall remain nameless but who has dealt with me in the past and really ought to know better...)

...

I love Paris (and the 'Hidden Gardens' book will come with me next time I visit) but I've got no idea why I was sent these books for the blog. The big clue about what I cover here is in the title (with some sci-fi and horror too)... ;o)



Cover Art (Old School Edition)! 'The King of Elfland's Daughter' - Lord Dunsany

It took some tracking down but I finally got there in the end :o) I now own my own copy of 'The King of Elfland's Daughter. It's not the Fantasy Masterworks Edition (I'm trying to collect a few of these where I can) but beggars can't be choosers. Now I need to settle down and read it but the cover art makes for a nice post in the meantime; check it out...

If you're after a copy of 'The King of Elfland's Daughter' (or are trying to track down another 'hard to find' book) then you could do a lot worse than check out www.greenmetropolis.com where I found my copy. Everything costs £3.75 but that's including postage (not sure if this is overseas actually) so you can find some pretty good deals there if you look.

A quick look inside the book told me that it was a Ballantine First Edition from 1969 and that got me thinking... What is the oldest book on your shelves? I'm talking publication date, not when it was actually written (unless you have a first edition Shakespeare or something like that, that counts).
I thought my First Edition (Fourth Impression) of 'The Two Towers' would be a clear winner, having been published in 1956, but there's also a copy of Jules Verne's 'From Earth To Moon And A Trip Round It' that might be even older. I just need to find a publication date for that edition.

How about you? What's on your shelves?

A few books that have caught my eye.

Yep, today was meant to be about a review of some book or another. What today ended up being about though was being told that I didn't get another job that I interviewed for (dammit) and then saying the hell with it and catching newts with Hope/watching some Doctor Who. I was not in the mood for thinking too hard about what I've been reading, hopefully tomorrow will be different :o)

In the meantime, a few books have been coming through the door and I thought a quick post was in order about some of the ones that have caught my eye. Check em' out...

Ashley was just trying to get through a tough day when the world turned upside down.
A terrifying virus appears, quickly becoming a pandemic that leaves its victims, not dead, but far worse. Attacked by zombies, Ashley discovers that she is a 'Wild-Card' -- immune to the virus -- and she is recruited to fight back and try to control the outbreak.

My first thought, when I saw the cover, was 'has Urban Fantasy just stormed the last bastion of monsters actually being scary instead of the object of a feisty heroines affection?' The answer is that I'm about a hundred, or so, pages in and the jury is still out on that one. 'Plague Town' is a lot of fun though. Don't let the cover put you off (too much)...

I've never read 'Hyperion', didn't even realise that there was such a book until I went looking for some cover art for this post (I know nothing about sci-fi sometimes) Perhaps a visit to 'Amazon New & Used' is in order. I asked for a copy of 'Fall of Hyperion' as I don't think I've heard a bad word said about it and wanted to see what the fuss was about. Have any of you read it?

You all know that I'm a fan of Alex Bledsoe and his 'Eddie LaCrosse' books don't you...? Just do a search on the blog if you didn't know already. I've been waiting to get my hands on this for a while now and today was the day that an advance copy chose to come through the door. As soon as 'Plague Town', and a couple of others, are done then I'll be getting into 'Wake'.

Any of these three books grab your eye? Anyone want to tell me that I really need to read 'Hyperion' first? Anyone want to tell me that the job wasn't right for me...? ;o) All comments welcome :o)

Happy Easter!

I hope you have a good one :o)

I don't really have the time to post about what I'm reading right now as there's all sorts of cooking and cleaning to be done before friends arrive this afternoon. I've also just about had it with cover art posts here (feel like I've done too many recently) and wanted to try something different so...

You tell me, what are you reading right now and why should I give it a go if I haven't already? It's easy for me to get enthusiastic about what I've got on the go; now I want to get all enthusiastic about what you're reading (and maybe even check it out myself). Sell it to me people! :o)

Extra points go to anyone who can get me to pick up a paranormal romance, generic urban fantasy or... erm... one of the 'Eragon' books ;o)

Comments in the usual place please...

The Simpsons - 'Game Of Thrones Intro'

I'm not a big fan of The Simpsons these days but I do like this :o)



Apologies if you can't make out all the detail, blogger seems to hate me posting videos here...
Would you believe that it's this video that has made me want to re-read 'ASOIAF' all over again? It's like the final piece of 'Game of Thrones' media that broke the camel's back :o) I've got no idea where I'll find the time (you should see some of the other books that I want to read as well) but I want to give it a shot. Oh well, and it's back to the Stephen King review that I'm working on (didn't enjoy the book as much as I thought I would)... See you all later!

Robert Kirkman to publish 'Walking Dead Michonne Origin Story'... In Playboy...

I'm not going to lie, I'm a big fan of 'The Walking Dead' (the comic books, way behind on the films) so when I read the first part of the headline (that Michonne's tale would finally be told, link Here) I was really excited. There's a lot of mystery around Michonne and I'd love to see her tale told. Great news... or was it?

Then I read the second part of the headline and thought to myself, 'how the hell would I explain to my wife that I wanted to buy a copy of 'Playboy' so I can read a zombie story?' It's the truth but there's no way that she'd buy it... Great way to reach a wider audience, also possibly a great way to alienate the audience that you already have. I'll be waiting for this story's inevitable inclusion in one of the later trade collections.

And then I thought, 'Michonne, Playboy, really...?' There is a pretty big spoiler ahead so you be careful... ;o)

Michonne being a victim of sexual abuse makes for an odd choice of character (to say the least) to showcase in an adult magazine, doesn't it? It may be her 'origin tale' but we all know what's coming so it's an origin tale that's sending the lead character down a path that will eventually lead to her being raped. And this is in an adult magazine.

Shit really does happen in the world of the 'Walking Dead' and that's how the readers like it. I certainly do, you never know what will happen next and it keeps me reading. It only really works within the confines of the series itself though (and I'm applying this to what I've seen of the TV show as well). Step outside that venue though and you need to be very careful about where you continue to tell the story. I'm not sure what happened here but, like I said, an odd move to say the least...

Dear Del Rey...

Just wanted to say hi and thanks for sending me an advance copy of ‘Caine’s Law’. I read ‘Caine Black Knife’ way back at the end of 2008 and enjoyed the hell out of it so I’m really looking forward to what should hopefully be more of the same.

I still have a copy of ‘Heroes Die’ that I need to read but I was saving it until I could get hold of a copy of ‘Blade of Tyshalle’. You know, read the whole lot at once kind of thing? But here’s the thing… I can’t for the life of me find a copy of ‘Blade of Tyshalle’ that isn’t an ebook and doesn’t cost upwards of silly money for a physical copy. What’s up with that?

I know you’ll probably turn round and say that the ebook is there for anyone who wants it and that’s fine. What about those people who don’t have a Kindle or a Nook or whatever else? People like, erm… me for example. People like me who might enjoy ‘Caine’s Law’ and ‘Caine Black Knife’ and then want to go back and read the rest in order? Except… Oh, they can’t. It’s a shame really…

I guess I’m wondering why you’re releasing the most recent ‘Caine’ book (and I’d imagine any future books as well) as a hard copy but you don’t seem too keen on going back a couple of books and plugging in that gap? Even an omnibus edition, collecting the first two books, would work for me and quite possibly a whole bunch of others.

The ‘Caine’ series is one of those series that has critical acclaim thrown at it on a regular basis. Is there any chance that you could make the whole series accessible to everyone who wants to read it? If not then the only way I’ll ever read ‘Blade of Tyshalle’ is if I spend eighty nine pounds on a Kindle first…

Cheers,

Graeme

(Edited To Add) P.S. In a move that I never saw coming, my Mum rung me five minutes after the post went up to let me know that she had found a copy of 'Blade of Tyshalle' really cheap online and would get it for me. I'm sitting pretty now but don't think that lets you off the hook Del Rey. What about all those other people that don't have an ebook reader and can't afford a second hand copy...?