A Quick Chat with CARRIE PATEL

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Carrie Patel?

I’m an expatriate Texan living in California where I work as a narrative designer for Obsidian Entertainment. In my free time, I write books!

Your debut novel, The Buried Life, is due to be published by Angry Robot Books in July 2014. How would you introduce the novel to a new reader? Is it part of a series?

It’s the first in a series about a stratified underground society that forms after a world-shaking catastrophe. The Buried Life follows two different characters – an inspector and a laundress – trying to unravel a series of murders surrounding the wealthy and powerful.

(MORE) Books Received…

In what is fast becoming the Book Flood of Summer 2014, even more exciting books have been turning up in the post and as eARCs…

Featuring: Anna Caltabiano, Orson Scott Card & Aaron Johnston, Richard A. Clarke, James S.A. Corey, Ellen Datlow (ed.), Emma Donohue, Daryl Gregory, Elliott Hall, Doug Hulick, Kameron Hurley, Kendra Leighton, D.J. Molles, Edward St. Aubyns, Liesel Schwarz, Graeme Shimmin, Nalini Singh, James Thornton

An Interview with FREYA ROBERTSON

Freya Robertson is the author of Heartstone, the first in the Elemental Wars series. It is her debut novel, and has already started to create some good buzz. After reading this interview, be sure to check out the excerpt from the novel, which I shared yesterday.

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Freya Robertson?

Hi! I’m Freya, and I’m a Kiwi! That’s what New Zealanders call themselves — because this is the homeland of the flightless kiwi bird, and also we grow a lot of kiwi fruit here. I’m 44, married with one son, and a bit of a geek. Okay, a lot of a geek. :-)

I thought we’d start with your fiction: Your debut novel, Heartwood, will be published by Angry Robot in October. How would you introduce the novel to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

Yes, it’s the first in The Elemental Wars series, and the second, Sunstone, comes out in March/April. In one way, it’s very traditional epic fantasy and will hopefully appeal to readers who love that genre, with its quasi-medieval European setting, its high stakes (the end of the world is nigh!), its cast of characters and its length — it’s the biggest book Angry Robot has produced so far, and will be useful for holding up the table once you’ve finished reading it!

Excerpt: HEARTWOOD by Freya Robertson (Angry Robot)

In advance of tomorrow’s interview with Freya Robertson, here is an excerpt (the whole first chapter) from the author’s debut fantasy novel, Heartwood – book one in The Elemental Wars…

CHAPTER ONE

I.

The belt hung from a hook in the doorway of a tent, weighed down by a bulging leather pouch. Gold coins shone at the top where the tie had loosened – an open invitation to the light-fingered.

The boy’s gaze alighted on it like a bird. He paused amidst the busy traffic on the main road into Heartwood, stepping out of the way of the carts and huge battle steeds that threatened to trample him.

He glanced around to make sure no one was looking and sidled over. A blue Wulfengar banner flew from the top of the tent, and he pulled a face at it as he reached out to take the pouch.

A large, strong hand clamped on his shoulder, and he jumped in fright. The hand belonged to a sturdy Wulfengar lord, his bristling face dark as thunderclouds.

“Laxonian.” The Wulfian sneered, and he spat on the page’s red tabard. “I might have guessed.”

Upcoming: “The Cormorant” by Chuck Wendig (Angry Robot)

This is the third book in Chuck Wendig’s critically-acclaimed Urban Fantasy series. One I have yet to read… (Oh, how many series are there now for which I can say that?) I’ve enjoyed some of Wendig’s vampire fiction for Abaddon Books, so I have no idea why I haven’t read this series, yet… I shall have to get that fixed A.S.A.P. Anyway, I spotted the cover for this novel over on Angry Robot’s website, and had to share it. Once again, the piece has been done by the ever-excellent Joey Hi-Fi, and it’s superb. Here’s the synopsis:

Miriam is on the road again, having transitioned from “thief” to “killer”.

Hired by a wealthy businessman, she heads down to Florida to practice the one thing she’s good at, but in her vision she sees him die by another’s hand and on the wall written in blood is a message just for Miriam.

She’s expected…

File Under: Urban Fantasy [ Plying Her Trade | Inevitable | Touch of Death | No More! ]

The Cormorant is due to be published in at the end of December 2013 (eBook and in US), and the beginning of January (UK).

Guest Post: “How Do You make Non-Humans Seem Human?” by Madeline Ashby

Madeline Ashby is the author of the critically-acclaimed vN and iD science fiction novels, the first two books in the Machine Dynasty series (both published by Angry Robot Books). Her protagonist is a “von Neumann machine, a self-replicating humanoid robot”. This made me wonder how one goes about making a non-human character relatable and sympathetic? When I was told Madeline was available for guest posts, I jumped at the chance to ask her about this. So, without further ado…

*

How Do You Make Non-Humans Seem Human?

by Madeline Ashby

How do you make non-humans seem human? Well, with self-replicating humanoids designed to love and serve humans, it’s not that difficult. At least, it's not for me. In vN and iD, the robots love humans enough to spend significant amounts of time with them. They have long-term relationships, both at home and at work. The longer they live, the better they learn to “pass,” as human, or at least to behave in the most human way possible.

But that’s not the real issue. The real issue is making them read as human – making them leap off the page in the way that three-dimensional human characters do in other books. I try to do that in a few different ways.

First, I give them flaws. All of the robots I write make mistakes. It’s pretty easy to think of robots as functioning perfectly all the time, only undone by a single syntax error. That’s how pop culture usually depicts them, anyway. But that’s not the case, because that’s not how technology actually works. We all work with machines every day. It’s pretty rare that only one aspect of them ever fucks up. That’s not the nature of systemic failure, and robots are complex systems just like humans are. So do my robots make stupid decisions? Do they make the wrong assumptions? Do they fail to see the full implications of an issue? Sure. They’re limited, but so are humans.

And that’s the thing I’ve always come back to, in my books. I wanted to write a series of books about robots who didn’t think humans were all that special. There are so many other novels out there about how the vampire/angel/zombie/fae/alien/robot thinks humans are just the most special thing on Earth, and they wish they could be just as special. (In fact, Asimov wrote a whole novelette, and then a novel, about it.) And I was tired of that. I don’t buy it. I don’t think any other highly-developed sentient creature, organic or synthetic, would actually feel that way about us. Because feeling that way only comes as the result of a profound sense of self-loathing for your entire species.

You know who doesn’t experience that kind of self-loathing? Every other life form on this planet. Your dog does not feel bad about not being able to fly. Your cat does not want opposable thumbs. Anyone who’s ever lived with these animals knows that they’re capable of genuine emotions – otherwise, they couldn’t be trained. But that also means that they could feel a yearning to walk like us, talk like us, be like us – just like in that Louis Prima song. Only they don’t. They don’t want more. It’s we who anthropomorphize them, impose human ethics and feelings and customs on them, who teach them how to roll over. We’re the ones who want to be more and do more and live more, despite the evolutionary bounty we’ve grown accustomed to. We’re the ones who hate ourselves.

So I guess I just don’t think that robots would want to become more like us. I think we would build them to look and act and think like us, and then they’d diverge. And I think that the most important divergence in that evolutionary road might just be self-love.

***

Other Blog Tour Links:

This post is part of Madeline’s blog tour supporting the release of her second novel. Prior to this, the author stopped by The Qwillery, My Bookish Ways, Dark Matter Fanzine,Big Shiny Robot, Escapism from Reality, and LeahRhyne.com, but there are more things still to follow (I’m afraid I’m not sure where, though). Madeline has also been interviewed by Cheryl Morgan. If you’re luck enough to live in or near Toronto, not only am I tremendously jealous of you, but you should stop by the novel’s launch, on July 6th!

Cover Reveal: THE WOKEN GODS by Gwenda Bond (Strange Chemistry)

I haven’t managed to keep on top of my Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry reviewing – certainly not as much as I would like. (They have had a considerable number of awesome-sounding titles coming out recently… I really should get my act together and read more of them…)

Nevertheless, one of my favourite debut reads last year was Gwenda Bond’s Blackwood. I was very intrigued, therefore, to learn about Bond’s next novel, The Woken Gods. I didn’t know much about it, but the cover certainly nabbed my interesting…

The US Congress, the All-Seeing Eye, Egyptian Gods…? Colour me intrigued. The Woken Gods will be published by Strange Chemistry in September 2013. Here’s the synopsis…

Five years ago, the gods of ancient mythology awoke around the world.

This morning, Kyra Locke is late for school.

Seventeen-year-old Kyra lives in a transformed Washington, D.C., home to the embassies of divine pantheons and the mysterious Society of the Sun. But when rebellious Kyra encounters two trickster gods on her way back from school, one offering a threat and the other a warning, it turns out her life isn’t what it seems. She escapes with the aid of Osborne “Oz” Spencer, an intriguing Society field operative, only to discover that her scholar father has disappeared with a dangerous relic. The Society needs it, and they don’t care that she knows nothing about her father’s secrets.

Now Kyra must depend on her wits and the suspect help of scary gods, her estranged oracle mother, and, of course, Oz–whose first allegiance is to the Society. She has no choice if she’s going to recover the missing relic and save her father. And if she doesn’t? Well, that may just mean the end of the world as she knows it.

I’m certainly looking forward to this.

Interview with WESLEY CHU

Wesley Chu’s debut, recently published by Angry Robot Books, has been taking critics by storm. It was, I thought, a great time to pester him for an interview. Luckily, it didn’t take too much convincing and I grilled him about his novels, writing, and more…

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Wesley Chu?

Wesley Chu is a scotch drinking actor and former stuntman, specializing in niche token Asian roles where companies want to prove to consumers that they love diversity. You can also find Wesley playing roles such as security guard #4, gangster #9, businessman sitting on a designer couch, or human prop in background.

Oh, and Wesley wrote a book. His debut, The Lives of Tao is out now.

I thought we’d start with your fiction: Your latest novel, The Lives of Tao, was recently published by Angry Robot. How would you introduce the novel to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

The Lives of Tao, the first in a planned trilogy, is a modern day science fiction about an alien, Tao, who inhabits an overweight loser and convinces him, kicking and screaming, to train and fight in a war over humanity’s evolution.

Along the way, Roen Tan, the said tubby loser, has his work cut out for him. He needs to lose weight, develop a stiff jab, find love, and stay alive while being hunted by a very powerful shadow organization that is bent on killing Tao, which unfortunately, requires Roen to die as well.

What inspired you to write the novel? And where do you draw your inspiration from in general?

I’m a sucker for the overachieving loser plot, except my losers don’t have fate or prophecy backing them up. I like real losers that weren’t tabbed thousands of years ago by some legend to be the special ray of sunshine the world has been waiting for.

I often use Rand and Harry as examples, but this time, I’m going to add a few more to the list. Little precious snowflakes like Luke, Frodo, Ender, and even Kirk aren’t my kind of heroes. If I had to choose a character that reminds me of Roen, I would say… Chunk from The Goonies.

I draw a lot of my inspiration from many aspects of my life. I’d like to think a person can get a good sense of who I am and what I’ve been through from reading the book. And in case you’re wondering, the answer is yes.

The Lives of Tao is not so much a science fiction novel but a manifesto on the eventual alien takeover of humanity. There are aliens afoot and if we don’t do something about it fast, we’re all in deep shit!

How were you introduced to genre fiction?

My English professor father brought me to a bookstore when I was kid. He took me to the literary section and said he’d buy any book I wanted. I’m sure he secretly hoped I’d pick up Machiavelli, Macbeth, Portnoy’s Complaint, or something equally literary.

I made a beeline toward the section of the bookstore with the pretty pictures and picked out The Misenchanted Sword by Lawrence Watt-Evans and A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony. English Professor dad was very disapproving, but after a lot of crying and pouting (and book throwing I’m ashamed to add), I got my way. That’s basically when my love affair with SFF began.

How do you enjoy being a writer and working within the publishing industry? Do you have any specific working, writing, researching practices?

Joining the writing community has been the most fulfilling experience of my life. For the first time in my professional career, I love my job. I mean, let’s face it. No little kid grows up thinking “I’m gonna work in corporate America and sit in a cubicle with red rugged walls all day staring at a computer screen. Yeah!”

As for writing practices, I used to be one of those trendy authors who went to cafés as if I was J.D. Salinger, trying to look cool and practice my “art”. These days, I sit at home in my bathrobe with a gallon of French pressed coffee and write. Once in a while, Eva Da Terrordale will drag my pasty ass out for a walk. It’s the only time my vampire white skin sees the sun.

When did you realize you wanted to be an author, and what was your first foray into writing? Do you still look back on it fondly?

I realized I wanted to be an author at a pretty young age. I remember reading The 101 Dalmatians once a day every day for a summer. You know, that’s a super hero level of OCD to be able to read the same damn book every day for three months. That was when I first fell in love with reading and became the super geek I am today.

The first short story I wrote was about the planets in the solar system running into each other, thus creating all the pock marks on their surfaces. The planets kept getting into fights until finally, King Sun got pissed off and enforced gravity on all of them. English Professor Father read it and said that the story “didn’t suck.” When an Asian parent says that you don’t suck at something, that usually means you’re actually might be pretty good. Thus, a writing career was born.

What’s your opinion of the genre today, and where do you see your work fitting into it?

Wow, that’s such an open ended question. It’s a great time to be a reader. There’s a lot of talent in speculative fiction right now and everyone has their own little style and niche. I do think there’s a tendency to chase trends, but the trends tend to be cyclical. Funny, I keep saying that but like the vampire and zombie thing won’t go away.

On the other hand, it’s tough to be a full time writer. It was never easy to begin with but it’s much harder now than say, back in the seventies. I think it’s a little sad that there are so many talented authors that can’t make a living on writing alone.

What other projects are you working on, and what do you have currently in the pipeline?

Well, The Deaths of Tao is dropping Oct 29^th during World Fantasy in Brighton so I’m hoping for a little party on my first trip across the pond. If you’re within two hundred kilometer of Brighton, please come party with me. As for the third book, it’s up to the robot overlords and the fans.

On top of the Tao books, I have a series in the works that I’m very excited about. I’m keeping it under wraps for now but the idea came to me in a dream. I woke up and was like “WTF! I need to write this down immediately.”

What are you reading at the moment (fiction, non-fiction)?

I used to be a single threaded reader, as in I would read a book from beginning to end before I started another. No exceptions. Now, as an author, I no longer have that luxury to read to the very end if the book doesn’t grab me right away. I’ve started abandoning books at an alarming rate.

I just finished up a blurb request for an excellent book called Three by Jay Posey which should be out this fall. Next up will be either 2312, American Elsewhere, or um… The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I was recently informed at Wiscon that the world needs a better Wesley Chu.

What’s something readers might be surprised to learn about you?

One of the scenes in the book is based on real events. I was the victim of an attempted mugging. Back then, I was young, overly confident, and a bit of an idiot. I was also a Kung Fu master (BTW, I use that master term very loosely). Or was it my Quasing who goaded me?

The mugger pulled a knife and wanted my stuff. The smart thing to do was to just give it to him and be on my way. But you know what? Kung Fu masters and vessels don’t give up their shit so easily, so I picked up these two wine bottles near the dumpster and tried to mug him. And yes, wine bottles are hard to break. The sad part of all this was that, in the moment, all that Kung Fu training went right out the window. I turned my inner caveman on and chased him for about ten or so yards before taking an adrenaline dump and nearly passing out.

What are you most looking forward to in the next twelve months?

This is my debut year so I told myself I’d debut right. That means I went ahead and had a big release party and planned to go to as many cons as possible. This year will be nine cons, including my first trip to the UK. I am pumped!

Not gonna lie; I love conventions. Chicon was my very first conn ever and I’m hooked. There’s no other place where a guy can hobnob with all these awesome and talented writers. Every time I’m at a con, it’s like I’m a hobbit back in the shire.

HOODS! MOAR HOODS! (Upcoming Books)

Ok, keeping with the Angry Robot theme, here are two more covers for upcoming books, both of which share a feature with each other and so many other fantasy and sci-fi books of late: the Hooded Man on the cover. Personally, I find the conformity rather amusing, and some of the covers are pretty great. These two are two of the better examples of Hooded Men Covers. Here are the synopses and details for the novels…

Jay Posey’s THREE, book one in the Legends of the Duskwalker, published in August 2013 (cover by Steven Meyer-Rassow):

The world has collapsed, and there are no heroes any more.

But when a lone gunman reluctantly accepts the mantle of protector to a young boy and his dying mother against the forces that pursue them, a hero may yet arise.

File Under: Science Fiction [ Three For All | Apocalyptic Wasteland | A Journey Home | Fear the Weir ]

I like the rain-effects on this one.

James A. Moore’s SEVEN FORGES, published in October 2013 (cover by Alejandro Colucci):

The people of Fellein have lived with legends for many centuries. To their far north, the Blasted Lands, a legacy of an ancient time of cataclysm, are vast, desolate and impassable, but that doesn’t stop the occasional expedition into their fringes in search of any trace of the ancients who once lived there… and oft-rumoured riches.

Captain Merros Dulver is the first in many lifetimes to find a path beyond the great mountains known as the Seven Forges and encounter, at last, the half‐forgotten race who live there. And it would appear that they were expecting him.

As he returns home, bringing an entourage of the strangers with him, he starts to wonder whether his discovery has been such a good thing. For the gods of this lost race are the gods of war, and their memories of that far-off cataclysm have not faded.

File Under: Fantasy [Savage Lands | Vengeful Gods | An Expected Journey | Battalions at War]

A brighter cover, less brooding. There’s something about it that reminds me of the cover for Gail Z. Martin’s Ice Forged. Maybe it’s just a connection made by the cold climate and snowy mountains in the background portrayed… Colucci also did the cover for The Red Knight by Miles Cameron (Orbit US).

Upcoming: “The Prince of Lies” by Anne Lyle (Angry Robot)

This was unveiled earlier today on Fantasy Faction (curses for beating me to the scoop! Curses, I say!!). But, as a fan of Anne Lyle’s writing, I wanted to share it here again. The new, very green cover for the author’s third Night’s Masque novel…

I have been remiss, to be honest, as I have not yet read the second novel in the series, The Merchant of Venice. BUT I WILL! (Oh, those fateful words of mine…) Here’s the synopsis for book three, to be published in October (US) and November (UK) 2013…

Elizabethan spy Mal Catlyn has everything he ever wanted – his twin brother Sandy restored to health, his family estate reclaimed and a son to inherit it – but his work is far from over. The renegade skraylings, the guisers, are still plotting – their leader, Jathekkil, has reincarnated as the young Prince Henry Tudor. But while he is still young, Mal has a slim chance of eliminating his enemies whilst they are at their weakest.

With Sandy’s help, Mal learns to harness his own magic in the fight against the guisers, but it may be too late to save England. Schemes set in motion decades ago are at last coming to fruition, and the barrier between the dreamlands and the waking world is wearing thin…

File Under: Fantasy [ Princes in the Tower | Revenger's Tragedy | Much Ado | Boys Will Be Boys ]

Upcoming: “The Cambodian Book of the Dead” by Tom Vater (Exhibit A)

Exhibit A, the crime/thriller imprint under the Angry Robot banner, is still relative new (only three titles published so far, I believe). They seem to have a pretty good eye for stories, though. I haven’t had a chance to read any of the new novels, but I think that lapse is going to change, and soon. Today, I nabbed an eARC for Tom Vater’s intriguing-looking novel, The Cambodian Book of the Dead, which has the pitch, “where Apocalypse Now meets The Beach”…

Was I swayed by the cover? Well… yes, I admit I was a little bit. It certainly helped grab my attention. Then I read the synopsis, and my interest was well-and-truly piqued. I been meaning to read more thrillers, too… Here’s the synopsis:

Private eye and former war reporter, Maier is sent to Cambodia to track down the missing heir to a Hamburg coffee empire.

His search leads him into the darkest corners of the country’s history, through the Killing Fields of the communist revolution, to the White Spider, a Nazi war criminal who reigns over an ancient Khmer temple deep in the jungle.

But the terrifying tale of mass murder that Maier uncovers is far from over. And soon Maier realises that, if he is to prevent more innocent lives from being destroyed, he will have to write the last horrific chapter himself.

The Cambodian Book of the Dead will be published by Exhibit A at the end of June (North America & eBook) and the beginning of July (UK).

Upcoming: “The Blue Blazes” by Chuck Wendig (Angry Robot)

The latest from the rather excellent Chuck Wendig, THE BLUE BLAZES, has finally got a jacket. Designed by Joey Hi-Fi (who also handled the covers for Wendig’s Blackbirds and Mockingbird), it’s pretty good:

As I told Abhinav over on The Founding Fields (who had the first reveal), it reminds me a bit of the covers for Chris F. Holm’s Collectors series (also published by Angry Robot): the two-tone background with a central device is certainly reminiscent. However, The Blue Blazes get a much busier, detailed central piece. It’s eye-catching (with the skull-like overall shape), which should catch people’s eyes as they browse bookstore shelves (or online sites). At the same time, it’s detailed enough to justify long, lingering looks to admire the many elements that have gone into the design.

Here’s the synopsis (in typically brief Angry Robot-style):

Meet Mookie Pearl.

Criminal underworld? He runs in it.

Supernatural underworld? He hunts in it.

Nothing stops Mookie when he’s on the job.

But when his daughter takes up arms and opposes him, something’s gotta give…

File Under: Urban Fantasy [ Family Matters | When Underworlds Collide | Thrill of the Hunt | Chips and Old Blocks ]

Want to learn more? Check out Wendig’s excellent website, Terrible Minds, and be sure to follow him on Twitter & Facebook.

Upcoming: “The Age Atomic” by Adam Christopher (Angry Robot)

Adam Christopher’s already-published novels remain two of the 2012 releases I really need to get to. I’m particularly interested in Seven Wonders (which will feature as part of a series of super-hero-related reviews going up in the next month or so), but his debut Empire State is also high on my TBR pile. I hope to get to it before The Age Atomic, its sequel, is released in April 2013. Here’s the wonderfully garish and retro artwork, and also the synopsis:

The Empire State is dying. The Fissure connecting the pocket universe to New York has vanished, plunging the city into a deep freeze and the populace are demanding a return to Prohibition and rationing as energy supplies dwindle.

Meanwhile, in 1954 New York, the political dynamic has changed and Nimrod finds his department subsumed by a new group, Atoms For Peace, led by the mysterious Evelyn McHale.

As Rad uncovers a new threat to his city, Atoms For Peace prepare their army for a transdimensional invasion. Their goal: total conquest – or destruction – of the Empire State.

File Under: Science Fiction [ Splitting the Atoms | Science Pirate at Large | Crossing | Universal Destruction ]

Also on CR: Interview with Adam Christopher

Upcoming: “Black Feathers” by Joseph D’Lacey (Angry Robot)

I only just spotted this title, while perusing Angry Robot’s website for info I needed for a different post. That cover really caught my eye, and I had to feature it on here. Speaking of the cover, I particularly like that the design was done by a company called “ARGH! Oxford”…

Black Feathers is the first novel in D’Lacey’s Black Dawn duology.

A modern fantasy set in two epochs: the Black Dawn, a time of environmental apocalypse, and generations into the future in its aftermath, the Bright Day.

In each era, a child undertakes a perilous journey to find a dark messiah known as The Crowman. In their hands lies the fate of the planet as they attempt to discover whether The Crowman is our saviour… or the final incarnation of evil.

File Under: Fantasy

Black Feathers will be published in March/April 2013. Find out more on D’Lacey’s website.

Upcoming: “The Big Reap” by Chris F. Holm (Angry Robot)

The Founding Fields got the exclusive scoop of this cover (alongside an interview), but I thought I’d share it on here as well, as an excuse to tell everyone about this great author. The Big Reap is the third book in Holm’s The Collector series, and the cover’s superb:

I really like the ‘vintage’ feel they’ve given all three books in the series (see below), and can’t wait to actually read them – sadly, they have been one of the series to have slipped by the wayside. I’ll be sure to make a better effort at getting caught up. In the meantime, here’s the synopsis for book three:

Sam Thornton has had many run-ins with his celestial masters, but he’s always been sure of his own actions.

However, when he’s tasked with dispatching the mythical Brethren – a group of former Collectors who have cast off their ties to Hell – is he still working on the side of right?

The Big Reap will be published in July (US) and August (UK) 2013.

Also on CR: Interview with Chris F. Holm

Interview with CASSANDRA ROSE CLARKE

An author who looks like she’s going to have a very good year – with a well-received YA novel already out (The Assassin’s Curse) and an upcoming adult novel (The Mad Scientist’s Daughter) that has also caught bloggers’ notice, Clarke’s work is generating a lot of interest and discussion online. It was, therefore, a perfect time to get in touch, and ask her about her novels, writing, genre-blending, and more.

Interview with LEE BATTERSBY

A few months ago, I caught sight of the cover artwork for The Corpse-Rat King, Lee Battersby’s debut for Angry Robot Books. It looked dark and weird, so I was naturally intrigued. With the book now available, I thought I’d get in touch with Lee and grill him about his thoughts on writing, reading and much more besides.

Exclusive Excerpt: THE WRONG GOODBYE by Chris F. Holm

Following hot on the heels of our interview with Chris F Holm yesterday (which was very well received), I’m very happy to share an exclusive excerpt from The Wrong Goodbye [after the break]. This is Chris’s second novel in his Collector series (coming very soon from Angry Robot Books). Here’s the synopsis:

Meet Sam Thornton, Collector of Souls.

Because of his efforts to avert the Apocalypse, Sam Thornton has been given a second chance – provided he can stick to the straight-and-narrow.

Which sounds all well and good, but when the soul Sam’s sent to collect goes missing, Sam finds himself off the straight-and-narrow pretty quick.

File Under: Urban Fantasy [ Missing | Soul Provider | Call Collect | Demon Child ]

[Also, before you move on to the extract – how cool is that cover?]

An Interview with CHRIS F. HOLM

Chris F. Holm is one of Angry Robot’s best finds, and with his Collector series has amassed an ever-growing number of fans. With the imminent release of The Wrong Goodbye (25th September in the US, 4th October in the UK and rest of the world), I thought it was a perfect time to ask him about his writing and novels.

Cover Reveal: “The Mad Scientist’s Daughter” by Cassandra Rose Clarke (Angry Robot)

This is just a very quick post to share this new piece of cover art. This time, it’s for Cassandra Rose Clarke’s second novel, The Mad Scientist’s Daughter:

The novel will be published by Angry Robot Books in February 2013. Here’s the synopsis:

There’s never been anyone – or anything – quite like Finn.

He looks, and acts human, though he has no desire to be. He was programmed to assist his owners, and performs his duties to perfection. A billion-dollar construct, his primary task is to tutor Cat.

When the government grants rights to the ever-increasing robot population, however, Finn struggles to find his place in the world.

The Mad Scientist’s Daughter will follow hotly on the heels of Clarke’s first novel, The Assassin’s Curse, which will be published in October 2012 by Strange Chemistry (Angry Robot’s YA imprint).

Readers may remember that The Assassin’s Curse was the subject of an earlier cover art post. Clarke is certainly having great luck with book jackets.