Around the Net

BOOK NEWS

R. Scott Bakker

R. Scott Bakker has established a new blog site called Three Pound Brain. The blog does have some interesting news including hints for his new book The Disciple of the Dog and some information on the second book The White-Luck Warrior from the Aspect-Emperor series.


K. J. Parker

Over at Orbit.com you can read a free extract of K J Parker's The Folding Knife. The extract contains the prologue and the first chapter of the novel. While not a huge Parker fan I may be giving this one a shot if I can clear some shelf space.

From Orbit.com:

This extraordinary book was released in the UK this month, and is a powerful tale of politics and war 

“Basso the Magnificent. Basso the Great. Basso the Wise. The First Citizen of the Vesani Republic is an extraordinary man. He is ruthless, cunning and, above all, lucky. He brings wealth, power and prestige to his people. But with power comes unwanted attention, and Basso must defend his nation and himself from threats foreign and domestic. In a lifetime of crucial decisions, he’s only ever made one mistake. One mistake, though, can be enough.”

You can read a free extract of it here and it’s also available in the States and will be out soon in Australia.

Cover Launch and Extract

Gail Z. Martin

From Orbit.com:

The Sworn, book 1 in the Fallen Kings cycle (US I UK I ANZ). This is a new series but has many familiar faces from Gail’s Necromancer series, so will be great for new readers and Gail Martin fans.

We wanted something that would draw you into Gail’s world, that would hint at the action and pure thrill of her writing and I think Steve Stone has delivered something wonderfully atmospheric with this visual. Here be swords, brigands, dark magics and other forms of mayhem aplenty, so those seeking adventure between the pages need look no further.

In addition to saying something about this new book, we were also keen to produce something that would be in sympathy with the cover style of the Necromancer Chronicles, as this book is set in the same world as that series. But at the same time, we had to balance this against not wanting to reproduce the previous style exactly as this book is of course the start of something new. And to find out for yourself just how much excitement is in store, have a look at our first sneak preview of The Sworn with this early extract here.

Magazine News

If you have not checked it out yet now is a great time to head over to Lightspeed Magazine the latest Science Fiction and Fantasy magazine to hit the internet. They have some short stories for you to read or listen to and an spotlight on author David Bar Kirtley. This is the first month for the new periodical so why not get in on the ground floor and check it out. 

Death Star Tweets

Topless Robot was having a fairly humorous contest over the weekend. Each contestant was asked to create 5 made up tweets from Star War's Death Star. They had nearly 2,500 "tweets." nearly every entry had at least one winner. I recommend checking out the comments for a quick laugh. 

Here are a few of the entries:

@Clone7323: @Clone6323 I'm telling you, they looked really similar. They weren't bf/gf. They could have been brother sister for all we know.


@Motti: And they all just sat there. The f*cking guy is choking me with his f*cking mind, and they do NOTHING!!!!

@TK421: Nocked out, yelld at 4 not @ post, and lost uniform to boot. ASSigned 2 garding cell blok 1138. Could this day get ANY worse? FML

@BigPapaPalpintine You sure you don't want to to order a thermal exaust post cover? They are like 20 credit

@Randall: @Dante I told you working here was a bad idea

@Dante: @Randall I'm not even supposed to be here today!

@Clone9376 @Clone7245 You think your job sucks? Big green laser breezes past me and I don't even have a rail to lean against.

@Mark Hamill: The moon is so beautiful tonight

@Alec Guinness: @Mark Hamill That's no moon, it's a space station.

@Gold_5 RT @Gold_5 hey @GoldLeader maybe you should STAY ON TARGET

@CorrellianPimp: I can't believe they bought that. 12 parsecs? Might as well have been 573 wookiemiles. 9384 jawameters. Effing N00bs.

@Master_P: @YoungJedi - you want this? Hmm? Gonna strike me down? Hmm? Use your hate? Hmm? So cute when they're young. #shitmyapprenticesays

RebelAgent1: Boooored in my prison cell. Death Star food sucks. Pretty bummed Leia's gone. Hopeful our comrades will rescue me soon!

@R2D2DaShizit: Why do these MFer's not understand I am telling them Vader is their F'ing DAD! Beep wooo Beep Beep Wooo MFer's!!!!

UFettUrAss: Slave 1 in pursuit of Milennium Falcon, OMG HATE YOU SO MUCH SOLO #followfriday

@LonelyGunner15: It's like no one gets me. But at the same time, everyone IS me. #Confused

@Clone1579: Someone explain why WE don't get laser swords! I mean wtf?

@OB1KENOBI @LukeSky NOT DEAD! QUIT SHOOTING AND GET IN THE FALCON!

WaxOnWaxMoff: Terrorist attack a government structure, and WE'RE the bad guys?! #NVR4GET

@Dianoga: You know what would be great? If you guys threw something other than random scraps of metal down here.

@DeathStarPR: Don't think of us as a "Death" Star, think of us as an "Opportunity" Star. #deathstarcares

StormTrooper3482: I'm supposed to guarding the exhaust, but I'm on Twitter, LOL!

MOVIE NEWS

Green Hornet

New official pictures from the Seth Rogan film Green Hornet have been released. Thanks to SciFi Wire for the images. Green Hornet will hit theaters 14 January 2011.

City of Scars

For a limited time (30 days) you can catch the 30 minute Batman fan film City of Scars. The movie was made for $27,000 by Aaron Schoenke.

David Gemmell Legend Award Winners

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OUR WINNERS!

RAVENHEART - 'Best Served Cold' cover art: Artists- Didier Graffet, Dave Senior & Laura Brett.

MORNINGSTAR - Pierre Pevel - 'The Cardinal's Blades'

LEGEND - Graham McNeill - 'Empire'

REVIEW: Stone Spring by Stephen Baxter

Stone Spring by Stephen Baxter
Paperback: 512 pages
Publisher: Gollancz (3 Jun 2010)
ISBN-10: 0575089199
ISBN-13: 978-0575089198
Copy: Bought online
Reviewer: Cara

From the back cover:
Ana is fourteen. Her father is missing, her mother dead. Ana herself has perhaps another twenty years of life left to her. But in that time she is destined to change the shape of our world.

Ana lives on the North coast of Doggerland, a vast and fertile plain that 10,000 years ago linked the British Isles to mainland Europe. Life is short for Ana's people but they live in an Eden-like world teeming with wildlife, a world yet to feel the impact of man. But their world is changing. The ice has melted, the seas are rising and one fateful year a Tsunami sweeps inland and scatters Ana's people. But if the people of distant Jericho could build a wall to keep the world out, surely Ana's people could build a wall to keep the sea out?

Stephen Baxter's new imaginative epic is the story of life in the Mesolithic, a rich world of alien cultures, a world where death comes swiflty, a world about to be sewpt away. A world that will become our world.

Unless one girl can change it forever.

I have long been a fan of Stephen Baxter’s writing, so when I heard about the release of Stone Spring I immediately pre-ordered the large paperback version. The promise of a trilogy that begins in the prehistoric Stone Age and carries through to around 1500AD (in our calendar), revealing a world where the Roman Empire, Christianity and Islam never happened, was too much for me to resist. A review on www.sfx.co.uk described the trilogy as

a series that’s close to being a prehistoric companion piece to Flood, his ecological disaster novel of 2008.

The first book in the trilogy, Stone Spring tells the story of Ana, a 14 year old girl living in Northland, an area now covered by the North Sea and referred to as Doggerland in our world. She is a strong character, worthy of the lead role as she carries the book well, being determined and innovative as well as having the respect of her people. These traits serve her well throughout the events of the book. While Ana is the focal point, other points of view appear along the way, most significantly that of Novu, a young man sold to a trader by his father in Jericho, whose expertise lies in brick-making. We are introduced to each of the principle players and follow them as their circumstances lead them to Northland and to Ana.

Anyone familiar with Baxter’s work will recognise his style. There is a lot of well-researched detail about life and culture in the Mesolithic; religious beliefs and ceremonies, hunting, tool use, the exchange of ideas with other peoples etc. are all beautifully described without being overly factual. This is one area where Stephen Baxter is particularly strong, as anyone who has read his other novels, such as Evolution or the Time’s Tapestry trilogy will testify. Stone Spring sets the scene for the rest of the books in the series, being wholly concerned with saving Northland/Doggerland from drowning under the rising seas.

It seems such a simple idea, that of building walls or dykes to keep out the encroaching sea, but one that is so powerful that is has the ability to change the progress of European human history. Ana’s strength lies in her open-minded attitude and willingness to adapt ideas from other parts of the known world, brought to her by travellers from outside Northland. She is the catalyst that drives the wall-building to save her homeland after a Tsunami-type event causes death and destruction. This is a time when the ice age is ending rapidly, changing the traditional lives of the Stone Age people and hastening the demise of the creatures they depend upon e.g. aurochs, mammoths. Stone Spring gives us insight into how our ancient ancestors lived and died and shows how the interchange of ideas between different cultures can enhance the survival chances of a tribe of people threatened by changes in the natural world. There are parallels here with our own world where climate change has the potential to destroy civilisation as we know it.

Being the first book in a trilogy, Stone Spring sets the scene for a new European history and promises an intriguing alternate history where the main elements that form the basis of our own society – the influence of the Roman Empire, Christianity and Islam – do not arise. While this is not dealt with here; this is Ana’s story set in her world, one which is slowly being revealed as the North Sea throws up artifacts in the nets of trawlers (see the Afterword); the reader is left wondering how the saving of Northland will impact on human history as we know it. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Stone Spring and eagerly await the next book in the trilogy where the consequences of Ana’s actions change the path of history. Will this have a positive effect on human development? I am looking forward to finding out!

Plot: 8
Characters: 8
Style: 8

Overall rating 8/10

REVIEW: Shadow's Son by Jon Sprunk

Shadow's Son by Jon Sprunk
Publishing Information: Paperback; 279 pages
Publisher: Pyr 8 June 2010
ISBN 10: 1616142014
ISBN 13: 978-1616142018
Series- Book 1
Copy: Out of Pocket
Reviewer: Tyson

Back of Book "In the holy city of Othir, treachery and corruption lurk at the end of every street, just the place for a freelance assassin with no loyalties and few scruples. 

Caim makes his living on the edge of a blade, but when a routine job goes south, he is thrust into the middle of an insidious plot. Pitted against crooked lawmen, rival killers, and sorcery from the Other Side, his only allies are Josephine, the socialite daughter of his last victim, and Kit, a guardian spirit no one else can see. But in this fight for his life, Caim only trusts his knives and his instincts, but they won't be enough when his quest for justice leads him from Othir's hazardous back alleys to its shining corridors of power. To unmask a conspiracy at the heart of the empire, he must claim his birthright as the Shadow's Son...."

I am a sucker for a great assassin story and Shadow's Son delivers. Lots of great action with some well-developed characters in a believable society made for a very fast and entertaining read.

When we first are introduced to Caim, we see a very skilled assassin and quickly learn that he is unlike other people or other assassins for that matter. Caim has a guardian spirit named Kit, who comes and goes as she sees fit or when she is having a tantrum (which is often). He also seems to be able to call upon the shadows when the need arises. The character of Caim is interesting and by the end of the novel we still do not know the extent of Caim's abilities. 

The supporting characters and villains are also well developed. At first, Josephine was a little to much to handle as she came off as a brat but through the story she develops into a very strong woman. The villains (which I will not spoil who they are) are also well thought out and even their goals switch and are hidden from the reader until just the right time. 

The world of Shadow's Son is similar to ours, only trapped in between  a Victorian and Middle Ages era. The majority of people do not believe in fairies or the Other Side, while a few do believe in its existence. We are led to believe that there are sorcerers and magicians but the magic is kept at a minimum. In fact, only two characters show any ability. There is a bit of political intrigue but not a whole lot.

My one complaint with Shadow's Son was that late in the book there is a rape scene and while it is very short (only a few sentences and later one line that refers back to it), I thought it was unnecessary and did not do anything to advance the story. While I realise that life in the world Sprunk has created is not always fair this particular scene could have been removed or edited and it would not have affected the overall story. But I do have to say that this is a very minor issue.

Shadow's Son is just under 280 pages and Sprunk does a great job of world and character building while not bogging you down with infodumps. The action is well done and the story moves at a break-neck speed. Sprunk shows you write a great debut novel and comes out swinging with a great story of love, death, and magic.

If you are looking for a book dealing with assassins look no further than Shadow's Son. The character of Caim reminds me of Brent Weeks' Night Angel Trilogy or David Gemmell, if he wrote about assassins. Jon Sprunk is now on my must read list. Great debut novel.

Plot  8

Characters  8

Style  8.5

Overall  8.5/10

Cover Art: Shadow's Son by Jon Sprunk

Recently, I read Shadow's Son and loved it (review to come soon). However, Gollancz has recently announced the cover art for the UK release. I really like the colors in the UK edition. The UK edition will go on sale on 8 July 2010.

                                                         UK Cover                                                           US Cover


I am torn between which cover I like more as the US edition has a nice blend of colors as well. The dark colors are perfect for a book about an assassin. What you think? Which cover do you prefer?

Lou Anders News

Lou Anders the Editorial Director at Pyr has an interesting interview over at BSC. In the interview he has some interesting thoughts on the genre and an interesting view of Science Fiction and Fantasy's current state.

A quick blurb from the interview:

What, to you, makes a good cover for a book?  Including what makes a good base piece of art?

I’ve thought a lot about this recently, as a guest spot I did at IlluXcon doing portfolio reviews forced me to quantify a lot of what was previously intuitive, and I’d say that a good cover contains a sense of narrative; it draws you into the scene and suggests what might have happened seconds before the image and what might be happening seconds after. (For a wonderful example, see David Palumbo’s cover for Joel Shepherd’s Petrodor.) This is true even of the more abstract covers. Books are judged on covers, despite the saying against it, and it is all-important that the cover communicate the excitement within in an enticing, professional, dignified, and compelling way.  I say dignified because I think the best SF&F covers find a way to represent the tropes of SF&F in a mature, 21^st century manner. They are inclusive not exclusive.  Stephan Martiniere and John Picacio are masters of this.

REVIEW: Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis

Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis
Publishing information: Hardback; 356 pages
Publisher: Tor Books; 01 May 2010
ISBN 10: 0765321505
ISBN 13: 9780765321503
Book 1 in the Milkweed Triptych
Copy: Out of pocket

Inside of the Book: "Raybould Marsh is a British secret agent in the early days of the Second World War, haunted by something strange he saw on a mission during the Spanish Civil War: a German woman with wires going into her head who looked at him as if she knew him. When the Nazis start running missions with people who have unnatural abilities - a woman who can turn invisible, a man who can walk through walls, and the woman Marsh saw in Spain who can use her knowledge of the future to twist the present - Marsh is the man who has to face them. He rallies the secret warlocks of Britain to hold the impending invasion at bay. But magic always exacts a price. Eventually, the sacrifice necessary to defeat the enemy will be as terrible as outright loss would be."


The premise of Bitter Seeds is simple, the Nazi's of World War II have devised a way to create supermen (and women) through the use of science and innovation. Each individual has a unique ability or power. Some are powerful juggernauts, some walk through walls, and one special woman can see the future and its outcomes. the British on the other hand, must rely on ancient means to protect themselves from the Nazi incursion. They turn to a small secret sect of warlocks who can call upon a powerful race that gifts them with power for a price, sometimes it is meager, other times it is a too much to consider. Either way it is always paid in blood.


The setting of Bitter Seeds mainly focuses in England and Germany, but our secret agent goes all around Europe to gain bits of information and so we see parts of Spain and France as well. Tregillis does a great job of transporting the reader to the various battlefronts and locations and gives you a clear picture of what it could have been like had you actually been there. In one scene I read, I could see and feel the bitter cold as the two forces clashed. Tregillis has excellent prose and a way with words which made the book all that more enjoyable.


The characters in Bitter Seeds are also top notch. Our hero, Marsh, does a fairly decent job of juggling his family life and the demands of his job as he attempts to catch up the the German war machine and find a way to negate the new soldiers in Hitler's army. The Supermen (and women) also have a great deal of personality and at times you can't help but feel for the way they have been treated and the cost they have paid for their powers. It takes a special kind of author to find a way to sway you emotionally to want to see a Nazi win their freedom and move away from the High Command's plans. Along the way every character grows and some experience personal pains that makes their character more than just the stereotypical two dimensional hero or villain.


The plot and pacing are excellent. I can not recall a single moment in Bitter Seeds where you are allowed to take a breather, even when the characters are at home and away from their various assignments there is tension and the feel of urgency in their actions. I really enjoyed the idea that even though both sides have found a great power that can turn the tide of war or stave off a brutal attack, there is a cost and the cost may be far worse than the actual engagement between the two military powers.


By the end of Bitter Seeds we have a cliff hanger and the good news is that Tregillis plans to release the next book in the series, The Coldest War, later this year so, we do not have to wait long to see what happens next. This is one of my favorite reads of the year. If you like flawed characters attempting to do all they can to do what is right and you have a need for alternate history with some magic thrown in for good measure then Bitter Seeds will fill your niche. An impressive release for 2010 that everyone should read.


Plot  9
Characters  8.5
Style  9


Overall 9.5/10