The 'Monday Lunchtime' Competition Winner's Post!

I'm taking a quick break from my chicken & veg soup to let you all know who won last week's competitions! The two lucky winners were...

'Warriors' Anthology (GRRM & Gardner Dozois

Jeff Timmers, Colorado, USA

'The Edge of Ruin' (Melinda Snodgrass)

Ammon Anderson, Ohio, USA

Nice one guys! Your books are on their way to you even as we speak :o)

Right, back to my soup...

Which Cover Would You Go For? ‘The Rats and the Ruling Sea’ – Robert V.S. Redick

Publishing being the way it is, I’ll sometimes be given the same book from two different publishers. The thing is, I’m only going to read one of them but I do like to give a nod to the other so… the US versus UK cover art posts were born. These only happen when the same book comes through the door twice mind you, only these books get the treatment!

Stepping up to the plate today is Robert V.S. Redick’s ‘The Rats and the Ruling Sea’, sequel to ‘The Red Wolf Conspiracy’ (published by Gollancz in the UK and Del Rey in the US). I still haven’t got round to reading ‘The Red Wolf Conspiracy’ and really need to. Has anyone here read it? If so, what did you think?

Anyway, back to the covers.

Here’s the UK version,



And here’s the US version,



First up, you’ll notice that this isn’t just a post about cover art, it’s also a post about book titles as well. The UK edition wins this round hands down with the more fantasy sounding ‘The Rats and the Ruling Sea’. Who are these rats? And why didn’t I finish the first book earlier so I could find out who they are much more quickly? There’s a lesson for me! Del Rey’s ‘The Ruling Sea’ sounds like, well… pretty much any run of the mill naval novel with nothing there to suggest a fantasy adventure.

As far as the cover art itself goes, I pronounce this another resounding victory for UK cover art with a cover that sets its stall out and does it’s business very well. I’m assuming that the rats are on the ship…? My tip for the Del Rey Cover? If you’ve got the word ‘sea’ in the title then it might be best if the cover art has a boat in it at the very least. Fair enough, this is a compass but what’s with the spear? Better luck next time…

What about you guys though? UK or US cover, what do you think? Comments please!

The Father of Steampunk Signs With Angry Robot.

From the press release...

KW Jeter coined the term Steampunk, but unbelievably his classic novels Infernal Devices and Morlock Night have been out of print since the early 1980s. Angry Robot are delighted to announce that we are bringing them back to a new generation of readers in paperback, audio and eBook formats.

Infernal Devices tells the story of George – a Victorian watchmaker who has inherited his father’s shop, though not his talent. A tale of time travel, music and sexual intrigue, Infernal Devices is a true classic.

Morlock Night, meanwhile, is a wild sequel to Wells’ The Time Machine – having acquired a device for themselves, the brutish Morlocks return to invade sleepy old England…

So, don your brass goggles, wind your mechanisms and sit back with a couple of true classics from a steam-driven Angry Robot.

Look out for both of these books towards the end of 2010. I've never read either of these books and am looking forward to giving them a go. Come to think of it, I don't think I've read anything by K.W. Jeter at all (I may have read one book but I can't for the life of me remember what it was called...) Have any of you guys read his work? Did you think it was any good...?

'Pleasure Model' - Press Release and Book Trailer

After having read Robert's Review of 'Pleasure Model' I knew I'd be reading it for myself sooner rather than later. Not only do I like my pulp and noir fiction but the early morning commute is just made for reading a book that sports a cover like this...



I'm bringing pulp sci-fi to the masses, one train carriage at a time! :o)

I'll be reading/reviewing this just as soon as my copy comes through the door. In the meantime, check out the press release and book trailer...

From the press release,

New York, NY – February 2010 - Tor Books, an imprint of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC—the largest publisher of science fiction in the world—and Heavy Metal magazine are thrilled to announce the on-sale availability of PLEASURE MODEL (Tor Books; ISBN: 0-7653-2388-5; Publication Date: February 2nd, 2010), the first illustrated novel in the Heavy Metal Pulp project. Heavy Metal Pulp aims to partner the top illustrators and designers from Heavy Metal with today’s most talented science fiction writers to create a new series with a 21st century edge, blending the sensuous artistic style and graphic imagery of the iconic fantasy magazine with classic noir storytelling. PLEASURE MODEL will be followed this year by books 2 and 3 of The Netherworld trilogy: The Bloodstained Man (June 2010) and Money Shot (November 2010).

“I grew up reading comics and pulp novels,” says Kevin Eastman, Publisher of Heavy Metal. “Heavy Metal Pulp is the perfect combination of the two genres, the perfect format for science fiction, detective noir, horror, and fantasy. I’m very excited to work with Tor Books, breaking new ground with this hybrid graphic novel concept.”

PLEASURE MODEL stars down-and-out police detective Rook, who gets his break when he's assigned to a bizarre and vicious murder case. The clues are colder than the corpse and the case looks like it'll remain unsolved—until an eyewitness is discovered. But the witness is an illegal gene-grown human with no emotion or empathy—Plesur's only purpose is to provide satisfaction to her owner, in any way. When the murderer targets Plesur in order to eliminate the one witness, Rook takes her into hiding to protect her. Thus begins a descent into the dark world of exotic pleasure bots and their illicit international buyers and manufacturers as Rook frantically looks for clues. But is Rook falling under Plesur's spell . . . ?

PLEASURE MODEL is a spellbinding combination of hardboiled action and fantastic graphic art, and a perfect showcase for this exciting collaborative project from the two leading publishing partners in their respective fields. Heavy Metal Pulp is a joint venture between Heavy Metal, the world’s foremost brand for science fiction and fantasy art, Red Sky Entertainment, a design/production company focused on innovative publishing content, and Tor Books.


And here's the trailer,



Doesn't seem like there's an awful lot to the plot but... isn't that true of all pulp fiction? Sounds like fun to me anyway :o)

Giveaway! 'Bones of the Dragon' (Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman)

One of my resolutions for this year is to try out more authors that I've never tried before. Having never read anything by Weis & Hickman (I know...) I was quite pleased when an ARC of their latest book, 'Secret of the Dragon', came through the door. That'll be another couple of authors crossed off the list very soon!

I thought a competition for an ARC of 'Secret of the Dragon' would be cool and got in touch with Tor to see what I could do. Tor were up for it but they also happened to have a signed copy of 'Bones of the Dragon' which they were happy to give away.
And so, this competition was born... :o)

If you fancy your chances at winning a signed copy of 'Bones of the Dragon' then all you need to do is drop me an email telling me who you are and what your postal address is. I'll do everything else! This competition is only open to people in the US and Canada though...

I'm leaving this one open until the 14th of February and will announce the winner on the 15th...

Good Luck!

‘Waiting Death’ – Steve Lyons (Black Library)

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while then you’ll know only too well just how much I loathe and despise the London Underground on a daily basis. If there’s anything I truly hate it’s being forced onto a commuter train while everyone else on board is trying their level best not to move up for you. What’s worse is when it’s so packed that you can’t even get a book out of your bag to read…
I’ve beaten this little predicament by listening to audio books on my ipod, mostly from the Black Library Warhammer 40,000 range. The standard has generally been pretty good so far so when I received my copy of ‘Waiting Death’ I was looking forward to a nice distraction from the morning commute.It didn’t work out quite like that though…

Colonel ‘Ironhand’ Straken’s Catachans have a well-deserved reputation as the toughest jungle fighters in the Imperium. On their chosen terrain, no-one can stand against them so a little job like rooting a Chaos cult out of the jungles of Borealis Four shouldn’t even have them breaking a sweat. That’s what you’d have thought but Borealis Four has a surprise in store for Straken and his men… ‘Ironhand’ and his men are about to find out that when the Chaos powers take root in your head, the most dangerous enemy you will face is… yourself.

As with ‘Thunder from Fenris’, ‘Waiting Death’ suffers from a lack of background sound affects that an audio book needs in order to be able to convey the atmosphere of the story to the reader. The only reason I really knew that the story was set in a jungle was because the narrator made that clear right at the beginning. Apart from a few birds whistling I never really got a clear sense of where I was which made it more difficult to engage with the plot.
While any military sci-fi based audio book is only going to have a set number of sound affects to call on, I do draw the line when these effects are clearly lifted from an earlier tale. It might just be me but the sounds of Catachans fighting sounded very suspiciously like the Space Wolves fighting in ‘Thunder from Fenris’. Again, this was detrimental to my being able to engage with the plot at all.

Once I’d got past this, the story itself was ably delivered by Toby Longworth but seemed to signpost its intentions a little too obviously and too early. If you’re a newcomer to the Warhammer 40,000 universe then the narrative may catch you out. If you’re a long term fan (or, like me, have been reading for a short while) then you’ll see what’s coming a mile off. The big problem here is that there isn’t enough time here to flesh a generic plot out with any interesting tangents. What you get is a plot that moves you from A to C via B; not bad if that’s what you’re after but for me it was all bone and no meat...

The Black Library have produced a couple of audio books that give listeners an entertaining tale as well as a window into the turbulent Warhammer universe; ‘Waiting Death’ (to be released in April) isn’t one of them I’m afraid. Check out ‘Heart of Rage’ or ‘Raven’s Flight’ to see how it should be done.

Six and a Half out of Ten

‘Conan!’

It’s been a long time since I posted about the barbarian from whom all other barbarians have sprung; so long in fact that I seem to have mislaid/forgot to buy/used for wrapping paper (I hope not! Although it would look cool…) ‘Conan the Cimmerian #15’. I don’t know what happened there, never mind…
No matter though, I’ve got enough ‘Conan’ goodness to get us through this post at least. I need to get myself some of the collected works…



‘Conan: The Weight of the Crown’ – Darrick Robertson (Dark Horse)

Here’s a comic that I’ve been looking forward to for a while. Not only is it a self contained story in itself (no waiting for my next comic shop trip here!) but it’s also written and drawn by one Darrick Robertson, a guy whose artwork I’d really admired in ‘The Boys’. When I saw this on the shelf there was no question about my not buying it! As you can see from the cover art, Robertson’s artwork is as good as ever and this continues into the story itself. Each page is bold and brash, just like the barbarian himself. Robertson completely gets what it’s like to live a life that depends on where the next sword stroke falls and lavishly illustrates just what this means if you’re on the wrong end… This is what Conan is all about.
Conan’s taking the crown of a small kingdom shows the barbarian’s capacity for original thought as well as his oft-chronicled excesses. There is a touch of the grasshopper playing his fiddle during the summer here and Conan’s warlike excesses have just the kind of affect on the kingdom that you would expect. We get to see Conan’s character develop out of this and you suspect that the final decision that he has to make comes as somewhat of a relief to him. ‘The Weight of the Crown’ is over very quickly but it’s the kind of quickness that leaves you wishing that Robertson will have another crack at Conan in the future; I wouldn’t mind seeing what he comes up with next.



‘Conan the Cimmerian: Free Companions (Parts 1 & 2)’ – Timothy Truman & Tomas Giorello (Dark Horse)

Issues sixteen and seventeen of ‘Conan the Cimmerian’ see Conan’s stay in Khoraja come to an end in the manner that you would expect seeing that he had been chafing under the influence of civilised society. The kingdom of Koth holds Khossus of Khoraja hostage and Conan’s plot to rescue him (against Yasmela’s wishes) will see Conan ending up under a pile of his comrade’s bodies, plotting his further escape. ‘Free Companions’ is told as a mixture of flashbacks and their eventual consequences; all coming together to form a tightly plotted story line that I’ll be following further. Truman continues his excellent writing and also finds the time to contribute artwork to both of these episodes. As good as it is though, Truman’s art doesn’t match what Giorello is capable of (another reason why I’m following this series).
I’d recommend this series to anyone looking to get into a Conan comic for the first time. This is the second mini-series that I’ve come across and I’d say that this approach gives the casual reader plenty of places to jump on. Give it a go :o)

‘Star Wars: Crosscurrent’ – Paul S. Kemp (Del Rey)

Having really got into Paul Kemp’s work for ‘Wizards of the Coast’ I was gutted (to say the least) when I found out he was leaving the company and would no longer be writing for them. However, this feeling of ‘Dammit!’ was swiftly replaced by happy thoughts when I heard that he was going to be writing Star Wars fiction instead.
My experience of Star Wars fiction, so far, has been very ‘black and white’. Authors will either really go for it and come out with something outstanding (Timothy Zahn and Karen Traviss for example) or slack off a bit and produce something that just rehashes the ‘lets destroy an Imperial superweapon’ theme that made the first film so watchable. I’m looking at ‘Darksaber’ here in particular...
With this in mind, I’m always a little wary when I approach Star Wars fiction; I’ve loved the franchise since I was a kid but when a book could go either way... it does tend to put you off. ‘Crosscurrent’ isn’t without it’s issues but if it goes on to become a series in it’s own right (which it could, given the ending) then I think it could well be a series worth following...

Five thousand years ago... A covert Jedi mission to destroy a Sith dreadnought takes an unexpected twist when the damaged craft jumps into hyperspace.
The present day... Jedi Knight Jaden Korr flies out to the edge of the Unknown Regions on the strength of a vision that he has had through the Force. With the help of two salvage jocks, Jaden is about to discover a long hidden Imperial secret that could have repercussions not only on the rest of the galaxy but the Jedi Order itself. If that wasn’t bad enough, a five thousand year old Sith Dreadnought has just appeared in the system carrying ore that will make any Sith practically invincible in the Force...

Like I said earlier, I’m starting to get a little tired of reading Star Wars books that are all about yet another galaxy spanning threat that must be defeated by Luke and his friends. The blurb on the back of the book didn’t exactly get my confidence up but, having read the book, I’m in the position of being able to tell you all that it’s not as bad as you might think.

For a start, there’s no Luke, Han Leia etc. You will hear mention of names that sound familiar (and maybe meet a couple) but, on the whole, Kemp has taken a leap into the Star Wars universe with a cast of characters that are fresh and new. This can’t be anything other than a good thing as far as I’m concerned as it really opens things up rather than keeping it about the same characters all the time (which I personally find a little claustrophobic).
The ‘threat to the galaxy’ theme is also handled very well and opens up intriguing possibilities for future books. It may look like the same old theme but what you get is an interesting new twist on certain technology in the Star Wars universe. You will have seen it before, albeit briefly, but not explored in the detail that it is here. I’m looking forward to seeing how this plot is developed in the future.

The story itself starts off a little too slowly for my liking. A mixture of present day and ‘flashbacks’ are used to bring the two strands of the story together and this approach does well at giving the reader everything that they need to know before things can kick off properly. It’s a shame then that I felt this introductory approach dragged out a little longer than it perhaps needed to. Could it have been done in a prologue? I did wonder if a set up that was a little snappier would have benefitted the story by kicking things off with a bang instead of a slow fuse...
I also found that this approach resulted in a story that didn’t flow particularly smoothly, at least to begin with. The switching between past and present felt jerky and maybe that was to be expected given that there’s five thousand years of history between the two narratives. That’s as maybe but I was still left feeling a little sea sick trying to adjust to a pace that didn’t really have a chance to bed itself in...

When the two plot lines converge though... that’s when things settle down and Kemp’s story really has a chance to shine. The pace picks up and the reader is presented with a story that keeps to all the best traditions of Star Wars; high octane adventure where unlikely heroes are pitted against a pitiless foe. You can expect plenty of thrilling ship to ship heroics and light saber combat here! Jedi Knight Jaden Korr’s self doubt is examined in great detail and his subsequent actions tell us a lot, not only about what it is to be a Jedi but also a person living in hard times. The same kind of thing goes for salvager Khedryn Faal whose childhood traumas save him from becoming a ‘Han Solo clone’. At the other end of the scale we have Jedi Master Relin Druur whose battle against the Dark Side of the Force contrasts nicely with that of Jaden Korr; leaving the reader in no doubt as to the line that every Jedi must walk...

While most books are happy with just one finale, Kemp decides to up the ante and give his readers two! Both are worth the price of entry with preceding events speeding up until they reach the point where they can do nothing else but explode. One of the finales offers the reader a potential ongoing storyline that I really want to see published.

Despite issues with the structure of the book (which in turn affects the pacing), ‘Crosscurrent’ overcomes it’s initial problems to become a fine Star Wars debut for Paul Kemp. Hopefully there’ll be more to come.

Eight and a Half out of Ten

‘Death & Dishonour’ – Edited by Alex Davis, Nick Kyme and Lindsey Priestley (Black Library)

I’ll freely admit to throwing myself headlong into the universe of ‘Warhammer 40,000’ at the expense of its fantasy counterpart. I’m a fan of both the setting and the story arcs that I can see slowly coming out of it; the ‘Warhammer’ (fantasy) world just hasn’t caught my eye in the same way... yet (although I have read a few of the books). Fantasy fiction has always been my first love so it was inevitable that I’d be getting into ‘Warhammer’ sooner rather than later.

I thought I’d give the ‘Death & Dishonour’ collection a go as it’s format seemed like a good way to get into the ‘Warhammer’ swing of things. No coming in halfway through a series or having to deal with loads of background history; ‘Death & Dishonour’ is a series of snapshots from the ‘Warhammer’ world that combine well to give the first time reader a clear picture of what this world is all about. The clue is definitely in the title; life is brutal, cheap and very often short if these stories are anything to go by. Honour is sought but very often proves to be just out of reach; in a land where damnation is all to easy to fall into, would you go out fighting or surrender to the insidious lure of chaos...?

‘Death & Dishonour’ is also an introduction to several of the Warhammer world’s most notable characters. If you’ve ever wondered who Gotrek and Felix, Florin and Lorenzo or Brunner the Bounty Hunter are then this is the book to answer that question. I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for Florin and Lorenzo if ‘Noblesse Oblige’ is anything to go by (actually, I have one of the books on my shelf...). These stories in particular are not connected to other series and this makes them ideal points to find out about the characters themselves without getting bogged down in detail that only a long term fan would appreciate.

Not all of the stories worked for me and I’ll go into that more a little later. What I would say though is that ‘Death & Dishonour’ achieves what it sets out to do which is to provide an accessible entry point into a dark and dangerous fantasy world...

‘Red Snow’ – Nathan Long
If you’re going to kick off a collection of Warhammer fantasy stories then it has to be with a short story featuring two of the world’s greatest heroes, the trollslayer Gotrek and his reluctant scribe Felix. This adventure sees the pair working as caravan guards in the Mountains of Morn where they will come up against a beast that holds an entire village in thrall. Gotrek seeks a heroic death so if you’ve read any of the other books then you’ll know that he won’t be doing anything new here. He doesn’t do anything new really but what the reader does get is a tense and taut tale leading up to an explosive finale. It’s also interesting to see the conflict between the old ways of the village and the advent of organised religion, going some way to proving that this is a well drawn world that doesn’t just rely on sword fights to drive its plots.

‘The Assassin’s Dilemma’ – David Earle
What do you do when you take on two jobs that you can’t refuse only to find out that completion of either will mean the failure of the latter...? David Earle answers this question in style with a gripping tale that had me reading right to the end. Some things just shouldn’t work out but they do, Sneeq’s tale is well worth the read.

‘Rest Eternal’ – Anthony Reynolds
I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the chivalrous Bretonnian knights so was looking forward to reading of a questing knight and a wyvern that just won’t stay dead... This was another tale that I enjoyed but couldn’t help thinking that it wasn’t as self contained as the others in the collection. ‘Rest Eternal’ felt like it wanted to be a part of something much larger and the resulting feeling of disassociation stopped me getting into it as much as I could have done.

‘The Miracle at Berlau’ – Darius Hinks
Redemption can come at the most unlikely of times to the most unlikely of people. A priest with a dark secret finds himself with a chance to make amends in the middle of a war... The ending was a bit of a foregone conclusion but on the whole I thought Hinks’ tale was excellent. Not only did he tap excellently into a tortured psyche but his fight sequences rock! The moment of revelation, that turns the story, was also handled brilliantly.

‘Noblesse Oblige’ – Robert Earl
I have a ‘Florin & Lorenzo’ collection sitting on my shelf waiting to be read; if this short story is anything to go by then you can count on my finally getting round to picking it up. Our erstwhile heroes find themselves in the middle of a town under siege by Skaven (rat men) with a ruling class that’s more interested in grabbing power. Florin and Lorenzo are great fun to spend time with, they have a fine line in witty banter that can cut to ferocious violence in a second. The intrigue that surrounds these two chancers is also worth the price of admission.

‘The Last Ride of Heiner Rothstein’ – Ross O’Brien
Here’s a weird tale that won’t be quite what you expect... and that’s what ultimately soured it for me. Returning home with your dead father, and leading his men, is hard enough on it’s own but something else doesn’t feel right and everyone knows it...
O’Brien paints a vivid picture of the aftermath of war and the effect that is has on the weary mind; where things went wrong though is the change in perspective and the realisation that the story is about something completely different. The dreamlike quality of the last few pages was good in terms of atmosphere but also lent a vagueness to the piece which had me questioning how things reached the point that they did. I’ll have to reread this one and see if it makes any more sense second time round.

‘Broken Blood’ – Paul Kearney
This was perhaps the story that I was looking forward to reading the most. I loved Kearney’s ‘The Ten Thousand’ and was looking forward to seeing how he tackled the ‘Warhammer’ world. As it turned out, I wasn’t disappointed. This tale of two brothers fighting on different sides (and the demands that honour places upon one of them) is the ideal showcase for Kearney’s ability to draw a battle so vivid that you could almost be there. His raw uncompromising style makes it look as if he’s been writing in this setting forever, hopefully we’ll see more from him.

‘The Judgement of Crows’ – Chris Wraight
I’ve always preferred the crash of sword against shield to the use of magic (unless it’s Bakker or Erikson behind the wheel, they write great magic scenes!) and I think it’s this preference that meant I didn’t enjoy ‘The Judgement of Crows’ as much as I should have done. A wizard is hired to protect a village from the ravening undead but will find that the root of the problem might be more than she can handle... A suitably atmospheric beginning (zombies staggering out of the swamp...) promises good things but it soon degenerates into a ‘whose magic is the best?’ competition that doesn’t do much else than paint pretty patterns on the page. There are a couple of twists that give the story fresh impetus but not enough for this reader...

‘Wolfshead’ – C.L. Werner
C.L. Werner’s ‘Warhammer’ fantasy work hasn’t really done it for me so far and, as a result, I wasn’t too sure what to expect from Brunner. What I got was a tale of intrigue, and full on monster fighting, with one of the most vicious underhanded characters that I’ve ever met! Needless to say, I had a lot of fun with this one although I could see the twist coming from a way off. I reckon I’ll have to find more books with Brunner in them...

I don’t think I’ve ever read an anthology where all the stories have hit the spot and ‘Death & Dishonour’ hasn’t bucked the trend. If you’re looking to get into ‘Warhammer’ fantasy fiction however, you could do a lot worse than give this one a look...

Eight and a Quarter out of Ten

'The Wicker Man'

I finally got round to watching ‘The Wicker Man’ and have successfully completed my ‘Horror Film Required Viewing’ before the wife gets home on Thursday! I’m assuming that you all know the plot for ‘The Wicker Man’, I feel like I must be the last person to have seen it! I knew how it was going to end (being one those films that people know all about even if they haven’t seen it) but couldn’t help but be carried away by the intensity and sheer weirdness of the plot. I don’t think I’ve ever watched a horror film with so much singing...

The setting is beautiful yet very disturbing at the same time (almost too beautiful...) while the tension is racked up to unbelievable levels. Sergeant Neil Howie knows that something isn’t quite right on Summerisle but he has no idea just how wrong it’s all going to turn out to be. The twist in the tale is brilliant and comes at just the right moment. The look on Howie’s face right at the end (when it all hits home) has to be seen to be believed. I sat there shivering as the end credits rolled and then spent the next few minutes walking round the house saying, “what the f...” over and over again.

I’m glad I finally got to watch ‘The Wicker Man’. Apparently, the 2006 remake is to be avoided at all costs...

‘The Walking Dead: Fear the Hunters’ – Robert Kirkman & Charlie Adlard (Image Comics)

Now that I’ve caught up with ‘The Goon’ (and that’s all finished for the time being), ‘The Walking Dead’ has got a chance to make swift inroads into being my favourite comic book read. ‘What We Become’ went a long way towards this with Kirkman’s willingness to shock (without overplaying it) working well with Adlard’s artwork capturing the raw emotion and savagery in black and white. While it wasn’t the best collection so far (which has to be ‘Made to Suffer’), ‘What We Become’ certainly set a tough act to follow for the next collection in the series. The good news for fans is that ‘Fear the Hunters’ exceeds those expectations and then some! If you haven’t checked these books out, you really should…

The journey to Washington continues (give em’ a break, they’re going as fast as they can!) with Rick and his band doing whatever they must to stay alive. The land is suspiciously zombie free but is more dangerous than ever before. Rick and his friends must cope with a horrifying revelation within the group as well as the fact that another group is following them with murderous intentions on their minds. Everyone has to eat…

Every time I think that Kirkman can’t possibly top the last book he comes right out and smacks me dead in the eyes with some seriously messed up behaviour in this post apocalyptic world. The zombies are almost superfluous to what’s going on here, Rick and his friends (along with others) are more than capable of plumbing the depths of human savagery all by themselves.

Living in the middle of a zombie holocaust as a child (who probably can’t remember what it was like before it all kicked off) is the theme of the day here and Kirkman looks at this through the eyes of two of the children in the group. One is mad (or at the very least not thinking straight at all), the other…? Well, you never really know but one thing you can be sure of is that the pressure is beginning to show. There’s a bittersweet ‘innocence lost’ vibe that runs along the slightly insane ‘innocence that adjusts to its surroundings’ and the result will have you really feeling for those of us who have to grow up too fast. ‘Intense’ is not the word for what goes on around this subplot as we see people having to confront hard choices that they wouldn’t have even dreamed of in the past. After the first death, I was surprised that none of the characters thought to stop the corpse reanimating though. Did this happen ‘offscreen’ or have we found something that Kirkman won’t show…? I don’t know…

If that wasn’t enough, the ‘hunter’ sub-plot sees us say goodbye to one of the longer term characters in a way that tugs at the heartstrings as well as making you laugh as you see him have the last laugh on the people who put him in that spot. Again you get to see just how low people will go in order to survive and it leaves you wondering just how far you would go to do the same thing. Cold logic papers over the cracks of insanity while giving in to your rage only hastens that particular journey. At the same time, you also get to spend time with characters that fight to keep their humanity no matter what and this shows the reader that there is hope yet. The downward spiral may seem inevitable but it’s not a path that you have to take.
The final showdown is brutal, just as brutal as you would have come to expect from both Kirkman and Rick Grimes himself. These are desperate times and you know what they call for… Adlard’s art though, as excellent as it is, failed to keep up with what Kirkman was trying to get over to the reader. It’s good but the ‘aftermath shots’ didn’t quite capture just how apocalyptic things just got…

That’s such a small niggle though, so small that I’m almost ashamed to have it there (although it’s staying!) ‘Fear the Hunters’ is a marked step on in quality from ‘What We Become’ (you know how good I thought that was!) and it promises great things for the next collection. The very last pages, in particular, just encapsulate what’s great about this series.
Almost perfect.

Nine and Three Quarters out of Ten

Kage Baker - RIP

I found out last night that Kage Baker passed away on the 31st of January. I'd only discovered her work very recently (and have only read a couple of her books) but what I did read was superb and leaves me in no doubt that the world of speculative fiction just got a tiny bit darker now she's gone.

Like I said, I only read a couple of Kage's books but would thoroughly recommend 'The House of the Stag' and 'The Empress of Mars' to anyone looking for a good read.

RIP

Graeme’s Horror Movie Weekend!

After what I like to call ‘The Chucky Incident' I really have to be careful what horror films I show my wife. My ‘Oh that’s funny’ is her ‘Nosebleed inducing terror’ after all… Because of that I haven’t really watched a lot of horror recently, until this weekend that is. When the wife is away… I get out all the horror movies I need to watch and get busy! I still didn’t manage to get round to watching ‘The Wicker Man’ (the original one, not the one with Nicolas Cage which should be avoided apparently!) but I think I acquitted myself well. Here’s what I managed to watch over the weekend…



‘Night of the Living Dead’

If you’re thinking that I’ve posted about this one before then you’re kinda right. What we’re talking about here is the 1990 remake of the 1968 classic and I have to say… I think this might just be the better version. Everything’s the same as the original (with the notable exception of Barbara who actually gets to talk here and do stuff) but the fear and paranoia is hyped up just that little bit more and the end result benefits from this. There is also a world of difference in the special effects, which always makes for a better viewing experience. Patricia Tallman and Tony Todd are great as Ben and Barbara. Like I said, it’s great to see what would have happened if Barbara hadn’t gone catatonic right at the start. It’s been years since I saw this last and I’d forgotten just how good it was.



‘Brain Dead’

Or ‘Dead Alive’, depending on where you live. Before Peter Jackson got all serious with films like ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘King Kong’ etc, he was all about gory zombie films and exploding sheep. There are no exploding sheep here (they’re in ‘Bad Taste’, watch it if you haven’t already) but there is plenty to make up for that. If you’re a fan of the gore then this cautionary tale of Lionel’s mother is nothing but sheer fun the whole way through. Never, ever get too close to a Sumatran Rat Monkey; your life won’t be worth living! Lionel tries to do the right thing by his mother, even after she becomes a ravening zombie that wants to eat him, but it never quite works for the poor guy. If you’ve ever wondered if a zombie can get pregnant then this film will answer that question for you! I was left wondering though… What is it about me that can laugh all the way through the massacre in the house (it is funny…) but retched slightly at the scene with the custard?



‘Trailer Park of Terror’

I won this in a competition and, having never heard of it, came to the film with no expectations at all. Good thing really as this tale of red neck zombies preying on unwitting travellers was ok but didn’t quite do it for me. There were some genuinely scary/icky moments (boy being made into fried jerky was possibly the highlight here) that were a lot of fun but these were spoiled by the wise cracking demon lady and the gradual decline into stereotypical ‘killing teenagers by numbers’ plot. There was enough to keep me going until the end though and now I come to think of it, the bit with the fat zombie and the junkie made me laugh as well… :o)



‘Mum & Dad’

This was another film where I had no expectations. The difference here was that this film scared the… you know… out of me. A Polish cleaner, working at Heathrow Airport, learns a hard lesson when she accepts an invitation to a new friend’s house. When our heroine regains consciousness, she finds herself a prisoner of the sadistic Mum and Dad in a house where torture and abuse are a fact of everyday life…
I like my gore to be a little bit overdone (in a ‘Brain Dead’ kind of way) and I like my horror to come with a large dose of suspense. ‘Mum and Dad’ is brimming with suspense (I was yelling at the TV on more than one occasion) and while the torture, and various fetishes, are frighteningly realistic that just means you can’t keep your eyes off it. ‘Mum and Dad’ is one of those films where it ends and you realise that you've been sat in the exact same position for eighty-five minutes and you can only just feel the pins and needles in your legs. Well, that’s what happened to me.
One word describes this film and that’s ‘brilliant’. Just don't watch if you have a weak stomach!

That was as many films as I had time to get through this weekend, I’ll let you know how ‘The Wicker Man’ goes…

The 'I really ought to get some sleep' Competition Winners Post!

I've got one hell of a busy week at work coming up and I should be sleeping the sleep of the just right now. Instead, I'm coming at you from a cold bedroom (somewhere in London...) ready to give you a list of those lucky people who won last week's competitions. Am I far too committed to this blog or do I just not want to go to work in the morning...? :o)

Anyway, the following folks will be getting a book through their door really soon...

'Original Sin' (Allison Brennan)

Becca Hirschman, California, US

'Death & Dishonour'

Grzegorz Nowak, Krakow, Poland
Anthony Allen, Sydney, Australia
Andrew Perry, Kirkcudbright, Scotland
William van Dyke, Walla Walla, US
Victor Garrison, New Jersey, US

Well done guys, your books should hopefully be with you very soon!
I'm off to bed now, see you in the morning...

Giveaway! 'The Edge of Ruin' (Melinda Snodgrass)

I Loved 'The Edge of Reason' when I read it back in 2008 so I was more than pleased when the sequel came through the door. I wanted to spread the love and Tor were happy to help me spread that love so here goes...

I have one advance copy of 'The Edge of Ruin' to give away to one lucky reader (but only if they live in the US or Canada...) Do you want to be that lucky reader?

If you want in then simply drop me an email telling me who you are and what your postal address is. I'll do everything else :o)

I'll be leaving this one open until the 7th of February and will announce the winner on the 8th...

Good Luck!

Giveaway! 'Warriors' (George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois)

Thanks to those wonderful folk at Tor, I have one ARC of 'Warriors' to give away to one lucky reader of this here blog (only if they're in the US or Canada though...)

There is a new GRRM 'Westeros' tale in the book but there is also plenty more in what looks like it could be a very tasty collection indeed. I'm looking forward to the Tad Williams, Naomi Novik and Carrie Vaughn offerings in particular. How does that grab you? :o)

All you need to do to enter is just drop me an email (address at the top right hand side of the screen) telling me who you are and what your postal address is. That's all I need and I'll take care of the rest...

I'll leave this one open until the 7th of February and will announce the winner on the 8th...

Good Luck!

P.S. As ever, comments next to competition posts do not count as entries, just so you know ;o)

‘Feast of Souls’ – Celia Friedman (Orbit)

The world is made up of many things; my own personal viewpoint sees it as being made up of ‘authors I really should get round to checking out at some point’. Guy Gavriel Kay is one such author and Tim Powers is another (although I do have a copy of ‘The Anubis Gates’ waiting to be read). They’re names that I hear and think that I must pick up one of their books... and then I end up doing something else and forget all about it until the next time. Do you have the same kind of problem or are you made of sterner stuff and go straight out to pick these books up?

Celia Friedman is one of those authors that I’ve always meant to check out, particularly as her ‘Coldfire Trilogy’ is one of those series that everyone seems to rave about online. The beginning of a new trilogy is always a good place to start so I made it my mission to read ‘Feast of Souls’. Celia Friedman can now sit firmly on my list of ‘authors I’ve finally got round to reading’ and I will be making it my business to read the rest of this trilogy at least. ‘Feast of Souls’ is rather good...

The son of King Aurelius is dying, laid low by a mysterious wasting disease that strips him of his life daily. The King demands an explanation from the magical community and Magisters from across the land are summoned in an attempt to solve the mystery. The answer will strike at the very heart of their secret order, a magister is involved and must be silenced before certain unpalatable truths become known to the world...
But all of this merely serves to distract both men and Magisters from the danger that is arising to the north. An evil long forgotten is stirring and defences that once stood strong are weaker than ever before. The world is about to become an even more dangerous place than it is already...

‘Feast of Souls’ is one of those clever books that gets it’s hooks into the reader and ties them to the story without their even knowing it. That’s what happened to me. Despite some misgivings (more on those in a bit), ‘Feast of Souls’ was a book that I couldn’t stop reading. On the few occasions when I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about what might happen next in the book, there aren’t many books that do this to me!

Friedman has painted an incredibly bleak world for her story to play out against, a bleakness that did it’s best to drive me away from the page whilst keeping me going at the same time. This is a truly joyless place to spend time in with none of that joyful spark you get when you’re transported into another world for the first time. Everything is too downtrodden for that; the Magister’s dark secret holds an entire world in oppression without their even realising it and Friedman pulls no punches in her depictions of the life of the lower classes. Friedman also adopts the same approach to interactions between the ruling classes with certain scenes in particular making me wince! Life is truly cheap, especially if you’re a Magister.

A world so bleak and seemingly bereft of hope like this one is astonishingly hard to get into. You almost find yourself asking what the point is; everything is obviously going to hell in a handcart anyway. Friedman rescued the book from my putting it down by showing her readers that even in a world like this there can still be hope for the future. It’s actually the whole point of the book.
No matter how bad your situation, there is always a way onwards and upwards for those who wish to take it. The way out may lead you somewhere even worse but that isn’t really the point. It’s all about not giving up, learning to live with your mistakes and keep pushing on. Through the characters of Kamala and Andovan, Friedman celebrates humanity’s refusal to break under pressure and that is ultimately what kept me reading.

Here are two characters who have both been dealt a poor hand by fate although one of them had more influence over that hand than the other. What makes for compelling reading is watching their attempts to either make the best of their situation or change it entirely. Hard decisions have to be made and you will question the morality of these. Underneath it all though is an all consuming desire to live and that’s something that we can all identify with. Once I made that connection with the characters I knew that I wanted to see how it all ended.

As the opening book in a trilogy, ‘Feast of Souls’ is primarily about setting events up for future books as well as introducing the setting and characters within it. As such, the focus is more on politicking and world building and this does affect the pace of the book, slowing things down when I wanted them to speed up. The politicking is enthralling though (especially as the larger picture becomes apparent) and the world is beautifully drawn (albeit bleak...) As a payoff I found that this more than made up for the lack of pace in areas of the book. When events flare into life Friedman has her hands firmly on the reins and delivers scenes that are tightly controlled while sparkling with vitality.

‘Feast of Souls’ is a tough one to get into (maybe a little too tough for a opening book in a trilogy) but I found that the effort paid off in style. Like I said earlier, I’m glad that I finally got round to reading something by Celia Friedman. If this is anything to go by then I’m looking forward to reading ‘Wings of Wrath’.

Eight and a Half out of Ten

Book Trailer for 'A Dark Matter' Peter Straub

Just had this emailed to me and I thought I'd share :o) It's short but pretty spooky...



Having seen the blurb and the trailer I'm going to go for it and read 'A Dark Matter'. I haven't actually read anything by Peter Straub so it will be good to check him out and see what he's all about. Has anyone else read any of his books? If you have, what did you think?

‘Heart of Veridon’ – Tim Akers (Solaris)

I generally pick the next book I’ll be reading via a mixture of genre, cover art/blurb and sheer pot luck. Picking a book to read when you’re stumbling around in the dark never fails to bring up an interesting and unexpected choice!
I also base a lot of my reading choices around certain blogs that I respect either for well thought out reviews or their ability to throw something my way that I wouldn’t normally consider picking up. Tim Akers’ ‘Heart of Veridon’ was a ‘Book of the Year for 2009’ over at Fantasy Book Critic and the accompanying Review more than piqued my interest. When the book itself came through the door I knew it wouldn’t be long before I gave it a go.
Finishing the book, I have to say that I didn’t enjoy ‘Heart of Veridon’ as much as Liviu did (for reasons that I will go into later). At the same time though, I’m glad I took the time to give this one a go...

Jacob Burn is not the kind of person you want to be standing next to on an airship; having crashed the only one he ever piloted and been involved in the crash landing of another. These days he uses his connections with the nobility to make a living in the underworld of the ancient city of Veridon. That last crash landing is about to become a lot more painful than the injuries he sustained however. A strange artefact came into Burn’s possession just before the crash and it seems like the whole of Veridon now wants to get their hands on it. It’s not just the citizens of Veridon either; something strange is stalking Burn through the streets, something that will make Jacob question everything that he thought he knew about himself and the city he has always lived in...

One thing that I’ve discovered about myself is that I love immersing myself in cityscapes when I’m reading fantasy or science fiction. I love walking along the streets of places like Viriconium (I know I’ve still got read the rest of that one!), New Crobuzon or Unta, catching furtive glimpses of dark alleyways and wondering what’s happening in them. The promise of a new city to explore got me really excited; for someone who isn’t really into travelling I do like to visit new places!
Veridon is an intriguing mix of steam-punk that’s been kicked up a couple of levels with the introduction of living metal and a religion founded on scraps of technology that drift downriver. Not only that but it hides a secret at it’s heart that makes it thoroughly worth while following the story that flows through its streets and alleys. It’s a bit of a shame then that ‘Heart of Veridon’ didn’t really give me much of a feel for the city itself. While it’s always in the background, it’s deliberately cast in a vague light that keeps the focus wholly on the plot itself. While I understand the reasons behind this, the plot is one that demands your attention, it was frustrating to have these tempting glimpses of the city that weren’t elaborated upon. What you get as a result is a plot that feels like it isn’t grounded in anything. I’m hoping for further works, in this setting, that cast more light on the city itself.

The plot itself is compelling with elements of mystery and pursuit thrown together at breakneck pace. Maybe the plot runs too quickly for the reader to get any sense of where they are? Burns is presented with a mystery that seemingly has no connections to him even though he is fully involved. Watching the pieces of the puzzle slowly come together is a joy (although slightly bewildering, I might need to re-read this one just to completely ‘get it’). Absolutely no-one can be trusted and a double cross can easily become a ‘triple cross’ or even more; this inevitably results in gunfire and fights with a creature that has to be seen to be believed. The uncertainty surrounding the plot certainly kept me on my toes and kept me reading. Jacob Burn is a character that I was more than happy to follow on his journey. Although he can sometimes verge on being the stereotypical ‘thug with a heart of gold’, Burn is a character who demands your attention by using his wits to get out of trouble in increasingly ingenious ways; definitely one to keep an eye and I hope we see more of him soon.

I don’t think I’ve ever come across a book that ends as abruptly as ‘Heart of Veridon’ and this wasn’t good as far as I was concerned. You can usually tell if a book is about to spawn a sequel or not and it’s good for the reader to have some clue in this regard. ‘Heart of Veridon’ isn’t obliging and left me wondering, ‘what now?’ A great way to have the book make a lasting impression; not so great if the reader is left wondering whether the story has ended or not...

‘Heart of Veridon’ is a book that suffers from a lack of background for the plot to ground itself on; sometimes I found myself thinking that this book could be set anywhere... There are enough hints to keep you going though and the plot is ultimately rewarding although a little too abrupt in it’s end. If there is another book in this setting I would pick it up.

Seven and Three Quarters out of Ten

Cover Art! 'Flesh and Iron' (Henry Zou)

I don't tend to post a lot of cover art here (except when I get the same book from two different publishers...) but sometimes I just see the cover for a book and have to post it! Check this out...



Vicious men in a vicious jungle... with big guns! It doesn't get too much better than that, a cover that's almost aimed at me personally... (how do they do that?)
The blurb doesn't look bad either...

There are reports of an uprising on the planet of Solo-Baston. Indigenous forces are rebelling against Imperial rule, led by the mysterious 'Dos Pares'. Amidst the conflict, the 31st Riverine Imperial Guard are dispatched to seek and destroy a vital battery of siege guns, but find themselves beset on all sides by hostile forces. And what they originally thought was simple tribal warfare soon reveals a much more sinister activity. Henry Zou's latest novel serves as a prequel to Emperor's Mercy and delivers non-stop action and mystery in the grim world of Warhammer 40,000.

I wasn't too keen on 'Emperor's Mercy' but I did say that I thought his next book could be worth picking up. I guess we'll soon see :o)