I kind of dropped the ball with my Gift Guides at the end of 2013. I would apologise, but that’s the beauty of running your own blog: you don’t answer to anyone. Nevertheless, there are still plenty of novels coming up in the first few months of 2014 that deserve some advance warning/notice, and I intend to share with you cover art and synopses (and anything else that might be of interest) as and when I can. Today, I highlight just a few of the novels coming up from Gollancz, that bastion of SFF quality and excellence.
Joanne M. Harris, The Gospel of Loki
With his notorious reputation for trickery and deception, and an ability to cause as many problems as he solves, Loki is a Norse god like no other. Demon-born, he is viewed with deepest suspicion by his fellow gods who will never accept him as one of their own and for this he vows to take his revenge.
But while Loki is planning the downfall of Asgard and the humiliation of his tormentors, greater powers are conspiring against the gods and a battle is brewing that will change the fate of the Worlds.
From his recruitment by Odin from the realm of Chaos, through his years as the go-to man of Asgard, to his fall from grace in the build-up to Ragnarok, this is the unofficial history of the world’s ultimate trickster.
I shared this on Tumblr earlier today, but damn I love that cover, and I love the premise. In fact, I love it so much, that I also have another post coming up later this month that includes the cover again. I love Norse Mythology, and I have a feeling that Harris is going to do the source material proud and do something wonderful with it. Easily one of my most highly-anticipated novels of 2014.
Can. Not. Wait. Due to be published in February 2014.
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John Hornor Jacobs, The Incorruptibles
In the contested and unexplored territories at the edge of the Empire, a boat is making its laborious way upstream. Riding along the banks are the mercenaries hired to protect it – from raiders, bandits and, most of all, the stretchers, elf-like natives who kill any intruders into their territory. The mercenaries know this is dangerous, deadly work. But it is what they do.
In the boat the drunk governor of the territories and his sons and daughters make merry. They believe that their status makes them untouchable. They are wrong. And with them is a mysterious, beautiful young woman, who is the key to peace between warring nations and survival for the Empire. When a callow mercenary saves the life of the Governor on an ill-fated hunting party, the two groups are thrown together.
For Fisk and Shoe – two tough, honourable mercenaries surrounded by corruption, who know they can always and only rely on each other – their young companion appears to be playing with fire. The nobles have the power, and crossing them is always risky. And although love is a wonderful thing, sometimes the best decision is to walk away. Because no matter how untouchable or deadly you may be, the stretchers have other plans.
Heard about this a little while ago, and I believe Mark Lawrence (Prince of Thorns) mentioned that he really enjoyed it. This is due to be published in June 2014.
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Den Patrick, The Boy With the Porcelain Blade
A world of betrayals and deceit. A hero alone. A delicate sword. A thrilling new fantasy from an exciting new voice.
An ornate yet dark fantasy, with echoes of Mervyn Peake, Robin Hobb and Jon Courtenay Grimwood. An original and beautifully imagined world, populated by unforgettable characters.
Lucien de Fontein has grown up different. One of the mysterious and misshapen Orfano who appear around the Kingdom of Landfall, he is a talented fighter yet constantly lonely, tormented by his deformity, and well aware that he is a mere pawn in a political game. Ruled by an insane King and the venomous Majordomo, it is a world where corruption and decay are deeply rooted – but to a degree Lucien never dreams possible when he first discovers the plight of the 'insane' women kept in the haunting Sanatoria.
Told in a continuous narrative interspersed with flashbacks we see Lucien grow up under the care of his tutors. We watch him forced through rigorous Testings, and fall in love, set against his yearning to discover where he comes from, and how his fate is tied to that of every one of the deformed Orfano in the Kingdom, and of the eerie Sanatoria itself.
That’s a really nice cover. Aside from that, it also sounds like a really interesting novel. I’ve met Den, and he was a very nice fellow. His Elf/Orc/Dwarf war manuals were quite fun, and it’ll be interesting to see what his fiction is like. I have high hopes for this. Due to be published in March 2014.
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These are three of the novels I most want to have read and on my shelves by the end of the year. There are, of course, more titles coming from Gollancz that I have my eye on, but these are just the ones I chose to highlight today. More to come over the year.
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