Giveaway! 'The Judging Eye' - R. Scott Bakker

I really enjoyed Bakker's 'Prince of Nothing' series so 'The Judging Eye' has felt like it's been a long time coming for me. A copy came through the post today and, all of a sudden, it looks like I might just have to do some 're-arranging' of the 'to read' pile... :o)

Thanks to the kindness of Overlook Press, I have three advance copies of 'The Judging Eye' that three lucky readers will be able to get their teeth into a little early (the book won't actually hit the shelves until January '09...)
Do you want to be one of the winners...?

If you do then it's the same old deal as far as entering goes. My email address is at the top right hand side of the screen, simply drop me a line telling me who you are and what your mailing address is. The mailing address bit is really important as I need to know where the book should go to if you win. If you don't give me your address then you don't get entered, simple as that... You also need to make it clear in the email header which competition you are entering.

I'm letting this one run until next Saturday evening (November 15th) and will announce the winners on the Sunday. This competition is open to US and UK residents only...

Good Luck!

News from Dark Horse Comics!

This has been blatantly copied and pasted from the press releases, it's Friday afternoon and some work that I thought I'd done has come back and bitten me in the rear when I wasn't looking...
Pulp comics sound like just my kind of thing (reading Conan right now) and new 'Terminator' comics can only be a good thing (especially if they're like 'Robocop versus Terminator'!)


Dark Horse to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Terminator with all new comics!

In 1990, at the start of the boom of licensed comics, Dark Horse began publishing Terminator. Now, on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the first Terminator film, Dark Horse is excited to announce the return of all new Terminator material for a whole new generation of fans!
With renewed interest in the property in both television and film, Dark Horse announced today its intent to begin creating new comics for release in conjunction with the film's silver anniversary in 2009.
Rand Marlis, President of Creative Licensing Corporation who represents all Terminator tie-ins, said ”I'm thrilled to be once again working with Dark Horse. They are a superb comic book company and really know the Terminator world. Our prior Dark Horse comics are classics and we look forward to more quality stories and art from the Dark Horse team."
Dark Horse president and publisher, Mike Richardson stated "We've had great success with the ongoing saga of Sarah and John Connor in the past, and the worldwide interest in Terminator has us eager to begin a brand new series picking up where we left off."
The publisher went on to say that the storyline is being developed and the creative team will be announced shortly.


ReelArt Studios Mixes It Up With Sequential Pulp Comics and signs Sales, Marketing and Distribution Deal With Dark Horse Comics

ReelArt Studios has carved out a place in the marketplace amongst of the top producers of collectable statues. Now, the company ventures to move into the publishing world, utilizing an already established relationship with one of comics' top brands.
ReelArt president, Michael Hudson came to Dark Horse with a proposal for a new imprint under the Dark Horse umbrella to transition well known pulp properties into traditional American comics. Fredric Brown's Martians Go Home and Otis Adelbert Kline's Swords of Venus will be the first two properties to receive this treatment. Both properties are licensed directly from the author's estates and will feature contribution from such industry stalwarts as Bruce Jones, Martin Powell, Mike Ploog, Eduardo Barreto and Thomas Yeates. Longtime comics writer and editor, Christopher Mills will serve as Sequential Pulp's Editor-in-.Chief.

The books will be released as full color 22 page stories on a bi-monthly basis. "Our plans at this time are to introduce our line in San Diego next year" states Michael Hudson (ReelaArt’s President). The books will be marketed by Dark Horse Comics as a specialty imprint in late 2009. In addition, Dark Horse Entertainment will represent these projects to Hollywood studios for big screen adaptation.

Dark Horse president Mike Richardson states, "Michael Hudson and ReelArt Studios have produced some of the finest products in the business. We've been very pleased with our existing relationship and are excited by the prospect of expanding our partnership to the printed page. Comic fans are going to see a slate of amazing original projects."

‘The Way of Shadows’ – Brent Weeks (Orbit Books)

There’s been a lot of talk recently, on various forums, about certain authors who seem to be taking their time over writing the next book in their series. I’m not going to name any names; I don’t need to as the likelihood is that you are waiting for at least one of these authors to come up with the goods... I’m waiting for three authors to finish writing their next book but I’ve surprised myself with how cool I am about the situation. After all, it’s not as if there isn’t a whole load of other great sci-fi/fantasy etc that I can be reading in the meantime :o) Also, as a Steven Erikson fan I can rest easy in the knowledge that he is as regular as clockwork in turning out the latest instalment in the Malazan series. In fact, Erikson’s writing them quicker than I can read them right now! Anyway...

Orbit appear to played a trump card in that Brent Weeks has given them a completed trilogy that they are releasing in monthly instalments. If you enjoy the first book then you only have four weeks to wait until the next one comes out. If you don’t enjoy it, well... erm... you don’t have to buy the next book when it comes out in four weeks.
Did I enjoy it though? Yes, yes I did...

Durzo Blint is the premier assassin (‘wetboy’ actually, an assassin with the ability to use magic) in Cenaria City; Azoth is a guild rat, one of thousands of orphans whose life on the mean streets is nasty, brutal and above all short. Azoth wants to escape his life and make something of his life, something like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint... Such an unlikely scenario becomes more likely than Azoth realised and he finds himself learning the wetboy’s trade as Kylar Stern. In a city such as Cenaria though, everyone has their own motives and trust should not be given lightly. As Kylar moves through the higher echelons of society he will discover the true purpose he was trained for and how this one thing will have ramifications that spread across an entire continent...

I’ve got to admit that I approached ‘The Way of Shadows’ with mixed feelings. I love stories about assassins but I also feel that I’ve read more than enough stories with assassins in them. ‘The Way of Shadows’ had to bring something new to the table if it was going to pass muster. Here’s the thing though, ‘The Way of Shadows’ didn’t bring anything new to table but it still managed to be a thoroughly entertaining read that has got me moving the sequel up the ‘to be read’ pile.

Durzo Blint and Kylar Stern are everything you would expect an assassin to be in a city that wouldn’t look too out of place in any other fantasy world. Both do their job extremely well but encounter all the moralising and self doubt that seems to come with the trade. All of this leads to the conclusion that you would expect such questions to bring up.

However, Weeks completely rescues the plot (from falling into a morass of cliché) by infusing it with energy and intrigue while giving us plenty of opportunity to get to know both the city and the people who live there.
The plot is full of twists and turns that reflect the ever changing loyalties of some of the major players. Anything can happen and you’ll find yourself constantly surprised when it does. There’s also a darker edge to proceedings both in what Kylar must do as an assassin (morality is firmly replaced by the necessity of money) and also the conditions that the street orphans (Guild Rats) must live in. Weeks pulls no punches in this regard but the fast pace of the plot can sometimes make it look as if these points are being glossed over and the book becomes a lighter read as a result...

The fast pace (and changes in perspective) can also make it difficult to get to know a city that is rich and varied in its populace and their ways. There were occasions when new pieces of information were dumped on my lap and I was left trying to assimilate these while also trying to stay with the plot! It’s a small price to pay though as the story itself is worth sticking with, especially a couple of twists right at the end...

As I’ve already mentioned, it was the characters that really made ‘The Way of Shadows’ work for me. Weeks goes full out to explore what makes them all tick and how they are affected by the environment they live and work in. Apart from a couple of exceptions, Weeks makes it clear that there is no such thing as absolute evil. Each character has the opportunity for redemption and you would be hard pressed not to feel just a little bit sympathetic for both Durzo Blint and Kylar Stern...

‘The Way of Shadows’ is a light read but also a read that will grip you with its intrigue and swashbuckling exploits. I’ve got a couple of other books on the go right now but I’ll definitely be picking up ‘Shadow’s Edge’ very soon.

Eight and a Quarter out of Ten

'Ender's Exile' and free reading from Marvel Comics!

November looks like it's going to be a great month for fans of Orson Scott Card's 'Ender's Game' series. I'm not a fan but that's only because I've never read any of the books, that could change though as I've been told at least two of the books are heading my way :o)

'Ender in Exile' has been twenty three years in coming but picks up the story as a direct sequel to 'Ender's Game'. Here's the blurb...

At the close of Ender's Game, Andrew Wiggin – called Ender by everyone – is told that he can no longer live on Earth, and he realizes that this is the truth. He has become far more than just a boy who won a game: he is the Savior of Earth, a hero, a military genius whose allegiance is sought by every nation of the newly shattered Earth Hegemony. He is offered the choice of living in isolation on Eros, at one of the Hegemony’s training facilities, but instead the twelve-year-old chooses to leave his home world and begin the long relativistic journey out to the colonies. With him went his sister Valentine, and the core of the artificial intelligence that would become Jane.

The story of those years has never been told… until now.

I've always been into fantasy more than sci-fi but it certainly looks intriguing enough for me to give it a go :o)

If this wasn't cool enough, Marvel Comics have made the first issue of their 'Ender's Game' adapation available to read, for free, online. This will only be for the month of November so have a read while you don't have to pay for it :o) I had a quick read and I liked the look of it...

If you want to read the comic then have a click
Here, if you fancy taking a slightly longer (more scenic) route then click Here for the link as well as information about the book...

The November Reading Pile...

This month's reading pile is brought to you by the evil (yet strangely cute) might of the evil Galactic Empire...!

Happy November everyone! Christmas is still a tinsel wrapped dot on the horizon but the garage, at the end of the road, has already put up all their Christmas decorations and is selling Christmas Cake that will have gone off long before the big day itself... *sigh*

So, it's that time of month when I post a picture of what I intend to be reading this month. If I wasn't already reading it then Stephen Deas' 'The Adamantine Palace' would be on the pile as well and there are other certain 'brick sized tomes' that aren't on the pile this month (we all know what they are....) I still very much intend to read 'Toll the Hounds' and 'Return of the Crimson Guard' but only when I've got time to spare (and when that time isn't spent trying to jam myself into a packed train...) In the meantime I thought you'd all end up bored of seeing the same books over and over again! ;o) I'm also getting an advance copy of R. Scott Bakker's 'The Judging Eye', in the next day or so, so that will certainly be read sooner rather than later!

My camera phone is as dodgy as ever so here's a list of the books I'll be reading...

'Fool Moon' - Jim Butcher
'Heir to Sevenwaters' - Juliet Marillier
'Hidden Moon' & 'Rising Moon' - Lori Handeland
'Busted Flush' - George R.R. Martin (Editor)
'The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard'
'The Well of Ascension' - Brandon Sanderson
'Zoe's Tale' - John Scalzi
'Royal Exile' - Fiona McIntosh
'Shadow's Edge' - Brent Weeks
'Elric, The Stealer of Souls' - Michael Moorcock
'The Gabble' - Neal Asher

Which one(s) do you reckon I should read first? Are there any that you think I should avoid at all costs? Comments please! :o)

‘Caine Black Knife’ – Matthew Stover (Del Rey)

Ever since the day I first discovered that posting on internet forums is a great way to spend a lunch break (it really is, there are people that I talk to online more than I do with the person sat opposite me...) I’ve been hearing great things about Matthew Stover’s ‘Caine’ books. ‘Heroes Die’ and ‘Blade of Tyshalle’ are set in a fantasy world with a unique connection to a future Earth. Earth and ‘Home’ are connected inter-dimensionally and actors from Earth participate in the most ambitious reality show ever; going on quests and fighting monsters while their experiences are recorded and transmitted to billions of viewers back on Earth.
Caine is the greatest star of all and this is his story...

One of Caine’s most renowned exploits was his confrontation with the Black Knife Clan and its bloody aftermath. Thirty years on, a call for help forces Caine to return to where the massacre took place in an attempt to help his adopted brother out of a fix. Life is never that simple for Caine though, not only must he deal with returning to the scene of his greatest triumph (some would say ‘crime’) but he must also confront the ramifications of what he started all those years ago...

I’ve never read ‘Heroes Die’ or ‘Blade of Tyshalle’ so was a little unsure about jumping straight into the third book in a series. I can’t remember what made my mind up but I figured that I’d have a go anyway and I’m glad I did. ‘Caine Black Knife’s’ structure and content means that it functions well as a ‘stand alone’ tale; Caine’s story is told in flashbacks (as well as current events) which tell the reader pretty much everything that they will need to know and Caine’s internal monologue also informs the reader as to what has gone before. This is the third book in a series though so there are references made that will be of greater import to people who have read the previous two books. This had a positive affect for me though as I ended up wanting to read ‘Heroes Die’ and ‘Blade of Tyshalle’ just to get the full picture!

Caine himself is a character both repugnant and yet strangely compelling through his single minded sense of purpose. This is a man who has had to escape a life of brutal oppression in order to attain a life that’s just as brutal but it’s him who is doing the oppressing. I felt sorry for him but only for a short while, Caine’s only motivation is to make his own life easier (and more rewarding) and this leads him to do things that you wouldn’t normally find the hero doing? Is Caine a hero though? He can be heroic but his motives always undermine his deeds... And yet sometimes he will do something purely because it is the right thing to do, whether it is coming to the defence of his adopted brother or simply telling an innkeeper to get the hell out of town as fast as possible. Moments like these serve a dual purpose in that they show Caine’s more human side while, at the same time, highlighting just how much a bastard he can really be!
Caine is relentless in his purpose and this carried me along for the ride (and what a ride but more on that later). This is a man who just does not stop and this relentless drive exerts a magnetic effect on the reader; it did on me anyway, I just had to see where he ended up...

The story itself follows what felt to me like a standard ‘pulp fiction detective’ plot with Caine being handed a mystery that becomes more mysterious as other players get involved and bring their own mysteries to the table. Caine’s character, and the frantic pace of the story, breathes new life into this setting. Plot twist and ensuing mystery snap at each other’s heels while Stover’s ability to write intense (and bone jarring!) scenes of combat made me wince! ‘Caine Black Knife’ is a book that had me gripped the whole way through and the way it ended left me eager for more (apparently Stover takes his time with these books, hopefully I won’t have too long to wait...)

I’d be hard pressed to find a book that I’ve enjoyed more this year (it’s neck and neck with Joe Abercrombie’s ‘Last Argument of Kings’), hopefully the other two books will be just as good...

Nine and Three Quarters out of Ten

‘Living with the Dead’ – Kelley Armstrong (Orbit Books)

Kelley Armstrong’s books are swiftly becoming the book equivalent of eating my favourite chocolate bar (which is ‘Galaxy’ by the way, just in case you were wondering...), there are no surprises but both are good fun to get into :o) Is it comfort reading? I suppose it is but there’s nothing wrong with that in moderation...
Anyway, I’ve had a rough few days just recently and was after something that I knew I’d enjoy but wouldn’t be too taxing. ‘Living with the Dead’ had come through the door in the last few days so I figured that was the book for me! And, despite a couple of flaws, ‘Living with the Dead’ was just the book I was after...

It hasn’t been all that long since Robyn Peltier’s husband was shot dead, in a case of mistaken identity, and relocating to Los Angeles seems like the best way to try and make a fresh start. Robyn couldn’t be more wrong as she suddenly becomes the prime suspect in not only her boss’ murder but also that of two policemen...
Robyn has unwittingly stepped into a supernatural turf war where both sides would be happy to see her take a fall. Luckily for her though (even more so seeing as she doesn’t realise this) Robyn’s best friend is a half demon who happens to be going out with a werewolf...

Without giving too much away, the focus is on Robyn but it’s actually another character that steals the book title and looks like he is being set up to appear in future books. While I liked the approach that Armstrong took here I found myself having an issue with it straight away.
‘Living with the Dead’ may ultimately be about this character but there are three other characters who pretty much steal the show and make the book all about them (which leads me to ask, who is this book all about?) All of the big exciting stuff happens to Robyn while the fact that Hope and Karl have taken centre stage in previous books elevates their presence to the extent where they overshadow others. I guess this must be a common problem when you are writing a book with multiple points of view (which is what this book is)...
The upshot of this, for me, was that I didn’t really get to know the character whom I was most interested in. I didn’t have a lot of time to connect with him and this resulted in me feeling pretty ambivalent towards him as a whole. I will however be interested in seeing how his character develops if we see him in future books.

This niggle was balanced out by the attention that’s paid to other characters and their relationships. We get to see Robyn take a significant step along her grieving process and we also get to see events influence how Hope and Karl’s relationship play out (I’ll admit to some bias here as they are both favourites of mine).

The story itself isn’t too different from Armstrong’s last couple of books. Supernatural gangs face off against each other and it’s a question of how the people caught in the middle will survive... Where Armstrong avoids becoming repetitive though is through the depth and vitality of the world she has built up throughout her series. There is always something going on and Armstrong draws her world so well that it almost felt, to me, that the story could be playing out in real life.
Also, Armstrong isn’t afraid to throw lots of people and groups into the mix and the resulting interactions lead to plenty of plot twists that constantly keep things fresh and interesting. There are plenty of ‘near misses’ (in every sense) and for every time I found myself breathing a sigh of relief there were also times when I found myself saying, “Don’t run! They want to help you...”
The twist right at the end is worth sticking around for as well. How much of this could have been avoided if people had just spoken to one another...?

It may be comfort reading but it’s damn good fun comfort reading nonetheless. ‘Living with the Dead’ is another fine read from Kelley Armstrong and I reckon fans will be pleased with what’s inside this book...

Eight and a Quarter out of Ten

Book Giveaway Winners!

Last Saturday I ran three giveaways to win some pretty cool books. I said I'd be announcing the winners on Sunday so I'd better get to it hadn't I? ;o)
Without further ado the winners are...

'Castaways' (Brian Keene)

Nicola Manning, Canada
Susan Scofield, York, Pennsylvania
Matt Blazi, Pennsylvania
Jeff Heimbuch, New Jersey

'The Mistborn Trilogy' (Brandon Sanderson)

Tiago Rodrigues, London, UK

'The Night Angel Trilogy' (Brent Weeks)

Simone Fueg, Germany
Steven Van Bael, Belgium

Well done to all the winners, I'll be contacting the publishers tomorrow and your books should be with you soon. Better luck next time everyone else...

Have a great weekend!

Graeme's got comics again!

Forbidden Planet will definitely survive the Credit Crunch, given the amount of money that I spend there! :o)
Here's my latest haul...

'Conan the Cimmerian' #4



A surprising issue in that, for once, the cover actually has something to do with the story inside! Conan fights Skrae on the borderlands of Cimmeria while we take a trip into his Grandfather Connacht's past to see the aftermath of his journey to the city of Shem. While the 'split storytelling' approach is still fresh I'm starting to find myself wishing that the writers would just pick one plot to concentrate on. I get into them both and don't want either to stop. I'll be back next month to see what happens next...


'The Walking Dead' #53



I don't want to say too much about this as I think everyone should read this comic and I don't want to spoil it! :o) There are new arrivals at the farm, one of whom has a revelation that will cast a new light on everything. That is, if Kirkman isn't playing a nasty trick... Whatever, I'll still be reading...


'Four Eyes' #1



For once I wanted to be in at the beginning of something but not a lot happens here so it's way too early to tell what I'm in at the beginning of...
It's Depression Era New York and there are dragons in the skies. They're also in illegal fights (run by the Mafia?) as well. The cover tells you where this is going but I find myself ambivalent about this one, not sure that I'll be picking up another...


'Doctor Who: The Forgotten #1'



Just because it's Doctor Who and there's no Doctor Who on the TV at the moment. A clever plot device means that the Doctor will be revisiting his former incarnations in a series that I reckon will be, oh... nine issues long at least ;o) I've got an idea who the mysterious enemy is but I'll be collecting this one anyway, just to make sure...

Giveaway! 'Living with the Dead' (Kelley Armstrong)

I finished reading this last night and enjoyed it as much as I always enjoy Armstrong's stuff (that is to say, quite a lot!) A review will go up on Monday.

In the meantime I thought it would be a cool book to give away on the blog. Orbit agreed and kindly agreed to give away three copies (UK residents only though, sorry about that...)
Here's the blurb,

Robyn Peltier has always lived a normal life. So when her boss is murdered and she is named prime suspect, she is way out of her depth. As the bodies pile up only her friend Hope, and Hope's somewhat spooky boyfriend Karl, are on her side. Hope, meanwhile, has a few secrets of her own. Namely that she is half-demon, and her 'spooky' boyfriend is actually a werewolf. Hope also knows that Robyn has accidentally stumbled into a bloody supernatural turf war. And the only way she can keep her friend alive is by letting her enter a world she's safer knowing nothing about ...

Does this sound like your kind of thing? Do you fancy a go at bagging yourself a free book? Simply send me an email (address at the top right hand side of the screen) telling me who you are and what your mailing address is, I'll do the rest ;o)
Oh yeah, there are other competitions going on right now so you need to make it clear that 'Living with the Dead' is the book you're after!

I'll let this one run until next Saturday night (8th November) and announce the winners on the following Sunday.

Good Luck!

From my bookshelf: ‘They Thirst’ – Robert McCammon.

Because this is the best time of year to ‘talk up’ a book that I find genuinely creepy every time I pick it up...

Years ago, at college, a friend suggested to me that seeing as I liked Stephen King so much I might want to give this book by Robert McCammon a go. Seeing as the alternative was reading up on Russian Formalism I figured that I didn’t have much to lose... ‘They Thirst’ kept me up all night but more about that later. It was years before I could finally find a copy of ‘They Thirst’ to call my own. According to the FAQ Section, on the official website, McCammon ‘retired’ his first four books because...

"I always hear about writers who've written four books that end up in a drawer, and their fifth book is the one that gets published. The first book I ever wrote was published, flaws and all. For better or worse, I was allowed to learn to write in public. I think those books are simply early efforts. You have to take them as they are. I don't think they're very deep or anything; I think they're okay, but they simply represent where I was at that particular time."

Thanks to the wonder of the internet I finally managed to track down a copy of ‘They Thirst’ a couple of years ago. I took it home, read it and got scared all over again...
Here’s some of the blurb,

Evil as old as the centuries has descended upon the City of Angels---it comes as a kiss from the terrifying but seductive immortals. Slowly at first, then by the legions, the ravenous undead choke Los Angeles with bloodthirsty determination---and the hordes of monstrous victims steadily mount each night.
High above glitter city a deadly contest begins. In the decaying castle of a long-dead screen idol, the few remaining human survivors prepare to face the Prince of Evil and his satanic disciples. Whilst the very forces of nature are called into play, isolating the city from the rest of the world and leaving it at the mercy of the blood-hungry vultures of the night....

Vampires take over LA! While McCammon’s early work can be seen as open to charges of plagiarism (‘Swansong’ = ‘The Stand’? ‘They Thirst’=’Salem’s Lot’?) McCammon has taken a well worn concept and ramped it up to a point where it’s all his own. There’s also a vicious and nasty energy driving the plot that marks him out as a horror author riding the crest of a wave in this book.



‘They Thirst’ is the tale of an already tarnished city being marked and tarnished by the forces of darkness. Life in LA is already brutal enough as it is, now things are about to get a lot worse. McCammon builds up tension and expectations through a series of ‘otherworldly incidents’ (the ransacking of a cemetery and mass disappearances amongst others) and it’s anyone’s guess as to whether something will happen or if the anticipation will be agonisingly dragged out just that little bit more.

When the hammer does fall it falls hard. LA gangs are taken out by their vampire counterparts, a doctor finds herself alone on a ward full of the undead and if that wasn’t enough there’s a serial killer on the streets who is aspiring to ‘vampirehood’ himself. All of that is just the precursor to a finale that reeks of evil yet is also a testament to the nicer bits of humanity at the same time.
Talking of which, McCammon also does a good job of showing that LA is a hotbed of evil before the vampires even show up. I’ve already mentioned the serial killer but keep an eye out for the Hell’s Angels as well... At the same time McCammon does well to show how delicate hope can be but also how it can thrive in the darkest hour...

I may just have to get my copy of ‘They Thirst’ off the shelf and have a read tonight as its ideal Halloween reading. It may be difficult to track down these days but it’s worth it.

Would you survive the Zombie Apocalypse?

I did but it took me a few goes of being torn limb from limb, and devoured, first! Have a click right Here and let me know how you get on...

Happy Halloween!

‘The Pilo Family Circus’ – Will Elliott (Underland Press)

Stephen King’s ‘It’ is a book that could have been half the size and a film that was badly let down by a dodgy fake spider. What both formats have in common though is that Pennywise the Clown scared the crap out of me! Ever since then I’ve been more than a little wary of clowns, what’s really behind all that face paint and why do they seem to take such vicious glee in inflicting humiliation on each other?
There’s something about clowns that has struck a spark in my imagination, I don’t know quite what happened but when an advance copy of ‘The Pilo Family Circus’ came through the door, a while ago, I knew that it wouldn’t be long until I was getting my clown fix again. I read the book over a day of jumping from train to train on the underground (why is everything so busy at the moment?) and I’m pretty certain that I missed a couple of stops so I could finish it. ‘The Pilo Family Circus’ is that good…

“You have two days to pass your audition. You better pass it, feller. You’re joining the circus. Ain’t that the best news you ever got?”

Not only is Jamie seeing clowns, where there shouldn’t be any, but these clowns have bundled him through an ‘audition’ and into the Pilo Family Circus; a world that straddles the border between Hell and Earth, a world which has spawned mankind’s greatest tragedies. Life in the Circus is brutal and can be very short depending on whom you cross but Jamie is about to find that his worst enemy there is himself. For when Jamie puts on the white face paint he becomes JJ, the most vicious clown of all, and there is nothing JJ would like better than to see Jamie dead…

Without going too much into what I do (you would probably end up turning the computer off, seriously) my job isn’t that exciting but today that wasn’t a problem. When I wasn’t working I was reading ‘The Pilo Family Circus’ and while I was working I was still in the book; breathing in the carnival air, minding my step around certain alleyways and wondering just what this cast of weird and wonderful characters would do next.

‘The Pilo Family Circus’ is an amazingly drawn world based on a concept that sounds intriguing although the way that it is outlined could perhaps have been a little more detailed. Hurried times call for hurried explanations but it seemed a little too hurried if you know what I mean... I was left wondering if perhaps the author needed to explain things at all. Sometimes it’s better to leave things unsaid and let the imagination work that little bit harder...

The ‘circus setting’ is gorgeous though, all the fun of the fair with a dark and vicious edge in the background. For every sight and marvel there are also dwarves who glare suspiciously from dark alleyways and a funhouse where the screams are certainly not those of delight...
This setting certainly captures the mood of the book (dark, very dark) and this is further enhanced by the characters that Elliott employs.

For a main character, Jamie is surprisingly one dimensional. The only thing that we really get to know about him is that he is scared and wants to get back to a normal life. This is ok though as ‘The Pilo Family Circus’ isn’t so much about Jamie as it about what he becomes and the people that he interacts with.
As Winston says, ‘the nicer the person, the nastier the clown.’ Jamie seems to have no negative features at all and this translates into JJ who is possibly the nastiest clown you will ever meet. The ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ scenario is played out at great length and it is interesting to see how Jamie takes on his murderous alter-ego.

I had great fun getting to know the other characters and watching them scheme and fight one another. The clowns hate the acrobats, the fortune teller hates the woodcutters and the regular carnival folk try and stay the hell out of the way! Getting as much ‘book time’ as they do the clowns swiftly became my favourites, even though they are as surly and mean a bunch as you are ever likely to meet. Gonko rules the roost with a rod of iron, and whatever weapons happen to appear in his trouser pockets, but it’s Goshy who appeals the most. Elliott’s masterstroke is not to explain Goshy’s behaviour at all and this enigmatic air of his had me hooked. It’s a shame that his marriage (to a pot plant) had to end the way it did though...

Events play out in the only way they possibly could in this twisted and vaguely dreamlike setting and it’s great watching events bounce off one another and lead up to the inevitable ending. Every action has a reaction and it’s refreshing to see it all happen in such a chaotic manner with no regard for order...

‘The Pilo Family Circus’ is a book that you should definitely pick up if you like your fiction deeply unsettling and hilarious all at the same time. Look out for this one, from Underland Press, in March next year...


Nine and a Half out of Ten

‘Jake’s Wake’ – John Skipp and Cody Goodfellow

Back in August, Leisure Fiction sent me an email about this new book by John Skipp and Cody Goodfellow called ‘Jake’s Wake’. Not only did the blurb sound right up my street but someone had also produced a short video ‘trailer’ that whetted my appetite still further. A link can be found in the post I made Here.
There have been so many good books to read just recently (and some not so good ones...) that I completely forgot about ‘Jake’s Wake’ until it came through the door a couple of days ago. It won’t be in the shops until January next year but I’ve got this Halloween thing going on so I thought I’d give it a go now. I have to say that I’m very glad I did, ‘Jake’s Wake’ could well be my ‘horror read of the year’...

Pastor Jake uses his status as a small town televangelist to pretty much do whatever (and whoever) he wants right up until the point he takes a knife in the back from an extremely disgruntled boyfriend. The wake is a strange affair with various people there either to mourn or celebrate his passing. If the resulting confrontations weren’t bad enough things are about to get even worse when Jake climbs out of his coffin to pick up where he left off...
It’s going to be a long night for the mourners at Jake’s wake and who knows what will be left of them by the time morning comes round...

Before reading ‘Jake’s Wake’ I’d never read anything by either John Skipp or Cody Goodfellow but had heard plenty of praise for them both. Having read ‘Jake’s Wake’ I can feel pretty safe in saying that the praise is justified. After the explosive opening I knew this was a book that I just had to finish.

Skipp and Goodfellow combine to create a book where I had trouble telling that it had been written by two authors, the writing is seamless in this respect and is a great platform for what is to come.
I knew what was coming (it said what was going to happen on the blurb!) but Skipp and Goodfellow do a great job of reining things back, after what happens in the first chapter, and starting from square one; building the tension up until Jake makes his entrance. This is where the real fun begins as Jake works his way around the guests and has his way...

Jake himself is a cartoonish character, whose relative invincibility and excessive wisecracks prevent any kind of empathy on the part of the reader (apart from one flashback to a scene with his mother) so it’s with the other characters where Skipp and Goodfellow shine and drive the story forwards.
A great effort is made to get inside the heads of the mourners, and other ‘wake crashers’, establishing who they are and their connection to Jake. This approach really paid off for me as I’d got to know the characters so well that it really hurt when Jake...

This is another area where Skipp and Goodfellow excel; they don’t pull any punches at all when Jake indulges in torture, rape and generally being thoroughly evil. Apparently John Skipp helped kick-start the ‘splatter punk’ genre and if ‘Jake’s Wake’ is anything to go by then I can totally believe it! Not only was I freaked out by Jake’s relentless menace but I was left feeling a little nauseous by what he was capable of doing. This is another book that those who are squeamish might want to steer clear of!

If all this wasn’t good enough then the ending has to be seen to be believed. One incident literally turns everything on its head; shedding new light on everyone’s actions and leaving things deliciously open ended...

‘Jake’s Wake’ is a book that you really need to pick up if you have any interest in horror fiction that grabs you by the scruff of the neck and shakes you until you can barely breathe. I can see myself finding more of Skipp and Goodfellow’s work if this is anything to go by...

Nine and a Half out of Ten

‘Black Cathedral’ – L.H. Maynard & M.P.N. Sims

You know what they say, if you fall off your bike then the best thing to do is to get straight back on and try again... Last year, I thought that L.H. Maynard & M.P.N. Sims’ ‘Demon Eyes’ sounded like just the thing for a spooky Halloween read. I couldn’t have been more wrong as it turned out for reasons that are best gone into over Here.
It’s Halloween time once again and an advance copy of Maynard & Sims’ latest book came through the door a couple of days ago. Once I recognised the names on the cover I had some misgivings about picking the book up but I figured I’d give them another chance. After all, ‘Demon Eyes’ wasn’t so bad that it put me off giving their other books a go.
I finished ‘Black Cathedral’ last night and am pleased to say that it doesn’t suffer from any of the problems that plagued ‘Demon Eyes’, in fact it’s rather good up to a point. Unfortunately that ‘point’ is the very end of the book where I felt that things took a rather large dive...

Six managerial types, on a week long course, disappear days after taking up residence in a manor house on a remote Scottish island. If this wasn’t bad enough, the helicopter (and pilot) assigned to pick them up disappears as well. In fact, the island has a history of people disappearing in mysterious circumstances...
The British Government assigns this case to Department 18, a special unit assigned to investigate supernatural and paranormal occurrences. However, the manor on Kulsay Island is no mere haunted house but the home of an evil that is centuries old. The time has come for this evil to strike in the worst way possible and the members of Department 18 must race to uncover Kulsay’s secrets before this happens...

‘Black Cathedral’ opens with a haunted house in suburbia and an unexpected tragedy, cleverly linking these to events to what’s building up on Kulsay Island. Characters are introduced and relationships are both hinted at and explored. This is done in such depth to suggest that ‘Department 18’ may end up as a series of books; the concept and the characters that flesh it out certainly make this an appealing prospect.

Maynard and Sims have gone all out to make ‘Black Cathedral’ a very scary read and for the most part they succeeded as far as I was concerned. The tension is racked up throughout the book and is accompanied by generic ‘ghostly images’ (statues suddenly moving etc) that the authors make their own. The communion scene and Robert’s encounter at the fountain were key moments for me and the ‘Ley Line’ plot underpins these moments very well.
I was less convinced by the introduction of the ‘evil behind the evil’ though, not so much with what it was but more by the amount of explanation it was given (especially when certain characters had to get people to repeat themselves as they didn’t understand...) The dark atmosphere and ghostly happenings more than balanced this out though.

And then we get to the end of the book. An ending where events have been built up into a soaring crescendo of fear and terror. An ending where our heroes must face near insurmountable odds in a confrontation where it has been predicted that they will more than likely not survive...

An ending where one character discovers she is a powerful psychic ‘just in the nick of time’ and our heroes are bailed out by a secret religious order at the very last second...

Now, this could simply be a case of Maynard & Sims pulling the wool over the reader’s eyes and springing a surprise on us. If this is the case then they did the job almost too well, hiding certain players motives so well that the ending came across (to me) as an acknowledgement that the stakes were too high for the heroes to deal with and that something had to be done to get them out of a fix...
After such an impressive build up this manoeuvre just spoilt the whole book for me....

‘Black Cathedral’ is a marked improvement on ‘Demon Eyes’ but suffers from a complete let down of an ending. There’s enough potential though, in the concept of Department 18, to persuade me to look out for future books and see if there’s any improvement...

Six out of Ten

‘The Walking Dead – The Calm Before’ (Robert Kirkman)

I’m slowly catching up with my collection of the ‘Walking Dead’ trade paperbacks and half the reason I’ve been so slow about it is because I’ve read the last few issues and I know what’s on the horizon (and it’s not pretty...)
My obsessive compulsive ‘got to get the whole set’ side won out again though and I’m back in the driving seat for ‘The Calm Before’...

While the threat of the ‘storm’ builds up throughout the story, culminating in some powerful scenes right at the end, there’s plenty of eventful moments throughout the rest of the book. ‘The Calm’ doesn’t just refer to what’s going to happen in the in the next collection, it also encompasses all those little moments of relative peace that the survivors get in the prison and contrasts these with the tribulations that must be faced.
The smallest things can prove disastrous in this post apocalyptic world; another confrontation with Woodbury is looming and something as simple as a shopping trip can turn into a gunfight. There are signs of hope though in the birth of Judith, Lori’s child that might not be Rick’s (this issue was sidestepped rather neatly, a little too neatly if you ask me...) Even here though, a generator black out almost proves fatal.

The characters in the prison also go through their own ‘calm/storm’ moments as tensions rise and relationships play out to their natural conclusions. Carol’s plot arc comes to an end in a particularly bloody way, I knew she was cracking up but I never saw that coming at all! Other relationships get into trouble but people manage to muddle through. Another relationship appears to go from strength to strength and I’m left wondering if things are a little too good to be true there and how hard things are going to hit when Kirkman inevitably pulls the rug from under them...

While it’s clear that the story needs to move out of the prison to stay fresh, Kirkman still does a great job in showing the reader that life does go on and will always throw up some nasty surprises when least expected. The last panel in the book makes it clear that the next collection is an essential purchase...

Eight and a Half out of Ten

'Prador Moon'/'The Gabble' and 'Agent to the Stars' - Winners!

Sorry about the slight delay here, I couldn't access my email until about two minutes ago when I got through the door (I've been away this weekend)!

Anyways, without further ado the lucky winners are...

'Prador Moon' and 'The Gabble' (Neal Asher)

James Yarker, London, UK
Ken Reid, Nairn, Scotland
Jonathan Laidlow, Birmingham, UK


'Agent to the Stars' (John Scalzi)

William Leung, Arlington, Texas
Joseph Fries, Tacoma, US
David Wyatt, Fulton, US

Well done everyone, hope you enjoy your books!
If you didn't win this time around... er... look at the post below this one and see if anything takes your fancy ;o)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

The Saturday Book Giveaway Spectacular!

Thanks to the 'miracle' of scheduled posting I'm coming at you live from Thursday afternoon! :o) While you're reading this I'm in Plymouth being polite to my in-laws (who are lovely just in case they happen to read this...) and I thought I'd leave you with some giveaways until I get back tomorrow. Here they are (they're all good)...


'Castaways' - Brian Keene



I reviewed this yesterday (scroll down for a look) and thanks to Leisure Fiction four lucky people can now bag themselves an advance copy of a terrifying tale of reality TV and cannibal apemen... This giveaway is only open to residents of the US and Canada (sorry about that)

'The Mistborn Trilogy' - Brandon Sanderson



To mark the release of 'The Hero of Ages', Tor have kindly agreed to give away one full set of the 'Mistborn' trilogy ('Mistborn' and 'The Well of Ascension' in paperback, 'The Hero of Ages' in hardback). Have a look at my review of 'Mistborn' over Here, I've got issues with the series but I'm looking forward to reading more...
This giveaway is only open to US and UK residents I'm afraid...


'The Night Angel Trilogy' - Brent Weeks



This trilogy has come up in discussion in plenty of forums just recently, not least because the books are being released very quickly! No hanging around to see how this one ends :o) I'm reading 'The Way of Shadows' and it's looking good so far. Thanks to Orbit I have two sets of the trilogy to give away. This competition is open to everyone, it doesn't matter where you live!


If you want to get your hands on any of these books then all you need to do is send me an email (address at the top right hand side of the screen) telling me who you are and where you live. I'll do the rest ;o)

To make it easier for me to track this, please send an individual email for each competition that you are entering (you can enter all the giveaways you are allowed to but only once for each one). As there are three competitions going on you need to make it really clear, in your email, which competition you are entering.
I'll let all three competitions run until next Saturday night (November 1st) and then annouce the winners on the following Sunday.

Good Luck!

‘Castaways’ – Brian Keene

‘Castaways’ won’t actually be available until February next year but I figured it’s Halloween and February isn’t all that far away so now is just as good a time to get reading :o) Also, I love Brian Keene’s work so why should I wait until next February when I have the book right in front of me? (Note: Like I said, I’m a fan so objectivity might just go straight out of the window during the course of this review. I will try and keep things on the straight and narrow though...)

Before I got rid of my TV I was one of those reality TV viewers who would only tune in when there was the promise of a big fight or argument. Who wants to spend hours watching people sit around talking or doing silly little ‘tasks’? Not me... I’m the kind of guy who wants the contestants to have to find their way across a minefield while being shot at with live ammunition! Seriously... the contestants might not like it but it would add that element of danger to a TV format that is starting to grow stale.
Brian Keene hasn’t gone to those lengths. Instead, he has gone in a different direction where the element of danger is all too apparent and it comes along with chills that grip your spine...

The reality show ‘Castaways’ sees competitors marooned on a deserted island and carrying out tasks to see who will end up winning a million dollars. There’s all the bitching and backstabbing that you would expect from one of these shows but one of the contestants has their own agenda that will cast the show in an entirely new light... If this wasn’t enough it turns out that the island isn’t deserted after all. A tribe of monstrous half human creatures live in the jungle and not only are they hungry but they also need breeding stock to ensure that the tribe doesn’t die out. None of the competitors are safe on what’s going to be the longest night of their lives...

‘Castaways’ is two hundred and eighty five pages of streamlined and action packed horror that had me gasping at how raw and visceral it is. If you’re squeamish in any way then several parts of this book will not be for you! Keene draws the reader into the jungle, strings them along a little bit and then... strings them along a little more... Just when the tension can’t get any worse, Keene throws you straight into a struggle for survival at its most primal (from both sides, monstrous mutant tribesmen have to eat as well!) where the only thing that is certain is the promise of a horrible death on the horizon.

For the most part, Keene doesn’t hold anything back and the introduction of a certain characters ‘hidden agenda’ gives the reader an interesting contrast in the many forms that evil and terror can take. When you see what mankind is capable of, it makes you look at the tribe in a slightly different way...
Don’t get too sympathetic though, Keene leaves the reader in no doubt as to the more supernatural elements by linking the tribe to his ongoing ‘Labyrinth’ mythos although it doesn’t matter if you haven’t read the other books and can’t see the links, ‘Castaways’ can be read perfectly well on it’s own.
Keene also sets out to shock by showing the ultimate fate of the female contestants in scenes that are particularly graphic. Having gone to these lengths though, I was surprised that Keene didn’t take this plot strand to its logical conclusion, instead preferring to kill certain characters off. ‘Dark Hollow’ deals with a similar issue so maybe Keene didn’t want to go over old ground. I don’t know...

I was sad to finish ‘Castaways’ but I’d also got to know the characters so well that it was good to see where it all finished for them. The ‘last person on the island’ bit, right at the end was particularly funny yet hard hitting at the same time... I’d love to see this book as a film with moments like that!
Fans of Brian Keene’s work are going to love ‘Castaways’ and it’s also as good a place as any of his other books for the casual reader to pick him up and give him a go. It’s pulp horror at it’s best.

Nine and a quarter out of ten.

‘Agent to the Stars’ – John Scalzi (Tor Books)

I’ve been trying to get into ‘Zoe’s Tale’ just recently but keep putting it down. This is mostly due to the fact that (despite a different viewpoint) it basically retells the events of ‘The Last Colony’ and I finished that book not so long ago...
I’ve really enjoyed the ‘Old Man’s War’ books and will certainly be back for another look at ‘Zoe’s Tale’ in the near future. In the meantime I realised that I had another Scalzi book, ‘Agent to the Stars’, and I thought I’d give that a go instead.
I’m glad I did because I can’t remember the last time I laughed so much at a book and I was a little bit sad when the time came to put it down...
In the foreword, Scalzi describes ‘Agent to the Stars’ as “the book which just won’t quit”. It began life as Scalzi’s ‘practice novel’ and then became part of an experiment in internet marketing. If that wasn’t enough for it ‘Agent to the Stars’ then found itself being published as a Subterranean Press limited edition and now finds itself due to be published by Tor at the beginning of next month. What next? Well, I’m hoping that its next incarnation will be on the big screen. I reckon it would be worth seeing...

The space faring Yherajk have come to planet Earth to meet humanity and offer their hand in friendship. There’s a pretty big problem with that though, for ‘hand’ read ‘gelatinous tentacle’ and if that wasn’t bad enough the Yherajk have a horrendous odour problem... Getting humanity’s trust is going to be a tall order, the Yherajk need someone to smooth the process and close the deal. Enter Thomas Stein, one of Hollywood’s hottest young agents... Thomas has just closed a twelve million dollar deal for his top client, now he has to negotiate a deal for an entire alien race...

Any ‘first contact’ novel that quotes Yoda (‘away put your weapon, I mean you no harm’) immediately scores bonus points as far as I’m concerned! It also raises a pretty good point for those of us who are wondering why the aliens haven’t landed just yet, why should they? As the Yherajk point out, our SETI project spreads the word that we want to make friends with alien races but the TV signals that we bounce into space show a human race that’s scared of aliens and liable to nuke any visitors! I for one can understand why the skies are relatively clear at the moment...

‘Agent to the Stars’ starts out with a shot of life in the Hollywood entertainment industry and with no clue (other than the blurb on the back of the book) as to what is coming next. We’re introduced to the main players and their relationships with each other which makes for some pretty funny reading all by itself. Arrogant ‘stars’ such as Tea Reader provide the spark, that lights things up, and the circuitous routes that Tom has to take (to placate certain people while scamming money out of others) never fails to be entertaining. Reading this had me in mind of a P.G. Wodehouse plot where everything gets tangled up in a huge comedy of errors.

And then you add an alien race to the mix...

In some ways this shakes up the plot less than you would think, merely adding another potential crisis to the pile of potential crisis’ that are constantly bubbling under. As the story goes on though, this changes as things start to happen that could only take place as a result of alien influences...
Having monitored Earth’s media output, the alien Yherajk are able to communicate with Tom very easily, to the point where I sometimes forgot that they were actually alien. This didn’t happen very often as Scalzi not only has them saying a lot of stuff that marks them out as very definitely alien but also places Tom in awkward (but quite funny) situations where he is the only thing stopping the Yherajk from being discovered prematurely. For example, how do you get a predominantly liquid based alien life form from your boss’ office to your car? What do you do when your alien housemate takes the dog out for a walk and then doesn’t answer his mobile phone? Throw in some special effects that could have come straight from ‘The Thing’, and an investigative reporter that just won’t quit, and you have a story that made me laugh and just wouldn’t let go for a second.

It’s not all laughs though as a client’s desire to act in a film about the Holocaust leads the Yherajk to learn some unpleasant truths about Earth history. Why is it that whenever aliens come to Earth (to make friends) they always end up going through a phase where they find out about humanity’s nastier tendencies and wonder if they still want to be friends with us? I can understand their reasoning but it’s starting to feel like this ‘twist’ is just being rehashed over and over...
Luckily, in this case, Scalzi wings it by proving once again that he can switch gears really smoothly with the scene where the Yherajk Joshua meets Tom’s Jewish Grandmother. This was really sombre stuff...

The story ends just how you would expect which would be anti-climatic except for the fact that I was enjoying it so much that I would have been disappointed if it had ended any other way. If you’re a fan of John Scalzi, and you haven’t already read ‘Agent to the Stars’, then you could a lot worse than seek this book out. If you haven’t read anything by John Scalzi then ‘Old Man’s War’ is still the place to start but you should really give this book a go as well.

Nine out of Ten