Cover Reveal: “The Flames of Shadam Khoreh” by Bradley Beaulieu (Night Shade)

The Winds of Khalakovo, the first novel in Brad Beaulieu’s Lays of Anuskaya fantasy series, was one of the stand-out novels from 2011, for me. It was original, expansive, and excellently written. It was a very find debut. Its sequel, The Straits of Galahesh, is sadly one of this year’s Ones That Got Away – but, as I do own a copy of the book, I will remedy this ASAP (it will be read in 2013!).

Brad recently revealed the artwork on his website, and I thought it would be nice to share it here, too. It’s not the final cover (as you can see, there’s no text), but it’s a great piece of art…

The piece is by Aaron J. Riley. Here’s how Brad explained how the image ties in with the series chronology:

“The illustration is of Nasim. He’s aged a few years from The Straits of Galahesh (he’s about 18 here), and he’s deep in the fabled valley of Shadam Khoreh, invading a crypt where he finds some unexpected things.”

And finally, the synopsis from Brad’s website for this third novel:

The Flames of Shadam Khoreh begins nearly two years after the events of The Straits of Galahesh. In it, Atiana and Nikandr continue their long search for Nasim, which has taken them to the desert wastes of the Gaji, where the fabled valley of Shadam Khoreh lies. But all is not well. War has moved from the islands to the mainland, and the Grand Duchy knows its time may be limited if Yrstanla rallies its forces. And the wasting disease and the rifts grow ever wider, threatening places that once thought themselves safe. The Dukes believe that their only hope may be to treat with the Haelish warriors to the west of Yrstanla, but Nikandr knows that the key is to find Nasim and a lost artifact known as the Atalayina.

Will Nikandr succeed and close the rifts once and for all? The answer lies deep within the Flames of Shadam Khoreh.

Also on CR: Interview with Brad Beaulieu, Guest Post by Brad Beaulieu & Stephen Gaskell

For more information about his novels, writing and more, visit Brad’s website and be sure to follow him on Twitter.

Upcoming: “TRIUMPH OVER TRAGEDY” SFF Charity Anthology

Living in New York, it’s been impossible to miss the devastation left in the wake of Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Cyclone Sandy. With the Red Cross, Project Rubicon, Occupy Sandy and a considerable number of other official and crowd-sourced groups pulling together to help on the ground, author R.T. Kaelin decided to pull together contributions for a charity SFF anthology. The speculative genre has a history of pulling together to help worthy causes (I’m sure many of you will remember the hugely successful Genre for Japan initiative kicked off by now-Strange Chemistry editor, Amanda Rutter. To bring you more information about the Triumph Over Tragedy anthology, I asked Kaelin to write a few words, and also contacted a number of the authors involved to write a little intro to their stories (I’ll add more as and when they come in).

Over to Ryan …

by R.T. Kaelin

So, like many of you over recent weeks, I’ve been watching the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy after it ripped through the northeastern US. The images coming out from the region are astounding.

In past tragedies, I’ve donated some money to the Red Cross, but I’ve always felt like it was inadequate.

“Hey, you lost your home? Man, that stinks. Here’s fifty bucks. I gotta hop in my car now, get a cup of coffee and go off to work. What’s that? Your car and job are gone? Ooohh…”

This time, I had the idea to do more.

The idea was simple, really. Reach out to fellow authors and see if we could get some to write and donate some stories for an anthology. We would sell it and donate the full proceeds to the American Red Cross to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy (many of whom STILL do not have power).

The response was astounding. And thus, Triumph Over Tragedy was born.

The Rise of “Mini-eBooks” (or “Short Stories”, as we usually call them…)

On USA Today yesterday, Craig Wilson published a story about “mini ebooks”, which are “being served up this summer as bite-size appetizers for the main course to follow”. I wasn’t aware that this was particularly news-worthy, having seen plenty of these short stories and prequel minis released over the past couple of years. Also, Amazon’s been releasing it’s Kindle Singles for a long time, so there’s more evidence that it’s not a new idea.

They are, however, clearly on the rise. Wilson picks up on three – a new Rizzoli & Isles short from Tess Gerritsen (John Doe UK/US), an early Jack Reacher story from Lee Child (Deep Down UK/US) and a new Walt Longmire story from Craig Johnson (Divorce Horse).

I am entirely in agreement with Johnson, who said these eBook shorts were “a good way of providing a bridge between books,” and also Wilson’s support for them:

“[They are] an opportunity to feed a voracious, digitally savvy public no longer willing to wait between books. The public appears willing to plop down a couple of bucks for a teaser before paying $25 for the real deal.”

Even excusing the impatience-born appeal, I think they really serve best as tasters for new readers – which is why I’ve bought both of Child’s eBook short stories – Deep Down and last year’s Second Son (I’ve never read a Reacher novel, and to this day I have no idea why not…). I’m not sure if I’ll buy Gerritsen’s, as I have the first full-length novel in the Rizzoli & Isles series, and John Doe isn’t a prequel.

In the SFF genre, I’m not aware of too many examples, but off the top of my head T.C. McCarthy’s Somewhere it Snows, Brad Beaulieu & Steve Gaskell’s Strata, Nick Harkaway’s Edie Investigates, Brent Weeks’s Perfect Shadow, and Orbit Books’s Short Fiction initiative, which now has 22 titles (sadly still only available in the US, except for Perfect Shadow).

I would certainly be interested to read more short stories from other authors I already know and like, so I definitely see this as a win-win for eReading fans.

The real issue, I suppose, would be more about whether or not the short fiction should be series prequel, a continuation, or something entirely unrelated to the author’s next full-length release. I personally would like a mix of all three.

How do other people feel about this?

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CORRECTION: Orbit Short Fiction initiative HAS rolled out for UK customers! Just go to the website, and each title has a handy list of vendors. Hurrah! This is great news! I really want seven of them…

Week in Review (Apr.14-21)

A very busy week around the book-related regions of the internet, with a bundle of interesting articles. I’ve included a couple of older articles, because I was slow and didn’t get around to them until after I posted last week’s links round-up. One is a particularly good comment from John Scalzi.

Herein: Aidan Moher on Women in Fantasy, Elspeth Cooper on Disabilities in Fantasy, Jeff Salyards on being Embedded with the Enemy, an interview with Amanda Carlson, Brad Beaulieu on how he likes shades of grey, John Scalzi on eBooks Drama, The Atlantic on the eBooks Drama, The New Republic on the Dept of Justice & Monopolies (related to eBooks drama)

Week in Review (Mar.31-Apr.7)

You know what this is all about…

Slate: “Is Game of Thrones too white?” by Saladin Ahmed [Article]

An interesting article. Some of the commenters… *disagree*… Because they’ve misunderstood the point of the article. So, read the article but not the comments. (Which is a good approach to the internet in general – especially on Rolling Stone, Slate, and HuffPost, to name but three…). While on the subject of Saladin Ahmed, check out my review of Throne of the Crescent Moon.

Mouseferatu: In Which Ari Gets Fed Up and Dives Into the Discussion” by Ari Marmell [Response]

Author Ari Marmell responds to some of the particular, ridiculous reactions to Saladin Ahmed’s article for Slate. Not the blatantly, obviously “plain stupid” response. Rather, he addresses “some of the responses that sound a lot more reasonable – and that the people who espouse them probably believe are more reasonable – but which are just as problematic.”

On an un-serious note, points for getting “rare as a bald wookiee” into the article. Ari Marmell is a favourite author of mine, so expect a lot more reviews coming up in the future (new and ‘old’ work). You can also check out my interview with him (the second on the blog).

Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf & Book Review: “Growing Pains: Lessons in Writing the Sequel” by Bradley P. Beaulieu [Article]

A good article from Brad Beaulieu about moving on from one’s debut and tackling the second book in a series.

The Big Idea: “The Boxer Rebellion & the Great Game in China” by David J. Silbey [Article]

A rare moment of cross-over of two of my favourite things, in this article Silbey talks about the challenge he faced when writing his book: “The famous maxim says that history is written by the winners. But happens when the other side not only doesn’t write a history, but can’t?”

The Passionate Foodie: “Authors, Alcohol & Accolades: Volume 6” [Article]

Ok, this is cheating a little bit, as I wrote some of this post – it’s about readers and our favourite authors and tipple. Also contributing are Justin Landon of Staffer’s Musings, Sally Janin of The Qwillery, and Bastard Books.

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On CR this week, we’ve had two interviews: with Helen Lowe (with giveaway – still time to enter!) and Lyndsay Faye. On the reviews side, we’ve had Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s superb Void Stalker and Lyndsay Faye’s Gods of Gotham.

This coming week I’ll be travelling a bit, so not sure how much I’ll be able to get posted, but Alyssa reviews Timeless by Gail Carriger on Monday; I have a review over on Speculative Scotsman also on Monday (Tobias S. Buckell’s The Executioness); I hope to get the Felix & Gotrek Anthology reviewed for the latter half of the week, too. There will be the usual comics reviews and maybe a graphic novel or two featured as well. And, of course, Wednesday’s interview – this week’s with Gini Koch.

Top Picks for April 2012

Like pretty much every month this year, there are a great number of interesting and exciting titles released. Nobody has time to read them all, however, so one has to make the hard choices as to what to read. With that in mind, here are my (much-delayed) selections for my most-anticipated six novels published this April.

“Strata” by Brad Beaulieu & Stephen Gaskell

Sci-Fi Novella

It’s the middle of the twenty-second century. Earth’s oil and gas reserves have been spent, but humankind’s thirst for energy remains unquenched. Vast solar mining platforms circle the upper atmosphere of the sun, drawing power lines up from the stellar interior and tight-beaming the energy back to Earth. For most of the platforms’ teeming masses, life is hard, cramped — and hot. Most dream of a return Earthside, but a two-way ticket wasn’t part of the benefits package, and a Sun-Earth trip doesn’t come cheap.

Kawe Ndechi is luckier than most. He’s a gifted rider — a skimmer pilot who races the surface of the sun’s convection zone — and he needs only two more wins before he lands a ticket home. The only trouble is, Kawe’s spent most of his life on the platforms. He’s seen the misery, and he’s not sure he’s the only one who deserves a chance at returning home.

That makes Smith Pouslon nervous. Smith once raced the tunnels of fire himself, but now he’s a handler, and his rider, Kawe, is proving anything but easy to handle. Kawe’s slipping deeper and deeper into the Movement, but Smith knows that’s a fool’s game. His own foray into the Movement cost him his racing career — and nearly his life — and he doesn’t want Kawe to throw everything away for a revolt that will never succeed.

One sun. Two men. The fate of a million souls.

In this novella, Beaulieu and Gaskell introduce us to a dystopian, corporate-dominated far future, in which workers struggle for their rights while slaving away on the energy harvesting platforms that orbit the Sun. With echoes of many of today’s political issues, Strata is an intelligent, well-written, and character-driven story of personal and political struggle.

Guest Post: On Co-Authoring STRATA, by Brad Beaulieu & Steve Gaskell

First of all, thanks to Stefan for inviting us to stop by and talk a bit about Strata, our new dystopian sci-fi thriller. When Stefan first asked us over, we thought a bit about what would make for a good post, and it seemed as though discussing the characters we initially developed and how they changed would make for some interesting reading, especially for those that have wondered how collaborations work.

“The Winds of Khalakovo” by Brad Beaulieu (Night Shade Books)

An unusual, intriguing and original start to a new fantasy series

Among inhospitable and unforgiving seas stands Khalakovo, a mountainous archipelago of seven islands, it’s prominent eyrie stretching a thousand feet into the sky.

Serviced by windships bearing goods and dignitaries, Khalakovo’s eyrie stands at the crossroads of world trade. But all is not well in Khalakovo. Conflict has erupted between the ruling Landed, the indigenous Aramahn, and the fanatical Maharraht, and a wasting disease has grown rampant over the past decade. Now, Khalakovo is to play host to the Nine Dukes, a meeting which will weigh heavily upon Khalakovo’s future.

When an elemental spirit attacks an incoming warship, murdering the Grand Duke and his retinue, Prince Nikandr, heir to the scepter of Khalakovo, is tasked with finding the child prodigy believed to be behind the summoning. However, Nikandr discovers that the boy is an autistic savant who may hold the key to lifting the blight that has been sweeping the islands. Can the Dukes, thirsty for revenge, be held at bay? Can Khalakovo be saved? The elusive answer drifts upon the Winds of Khalakovo…

In this highly imaginative and original fantasy, debut novelist Bradley Beaulieu has created something special. The author’s imagination is impressive, and the world he has created – not to mention the characters and politics that comprise it – intriguing and engaging. I really enjoyed this.

An Interview with Bradley Beaulieu, Author of “The Winds of Khalakovo”

Last month, Kevin J Anderson mentioned debut author Bradley Beaulieu in an interview with CR. This was the second reference to this new author I’d heard in a short while (the other one was on LEC Book Reviews), so I thought I’d see if I could learn some more about his work. With The Winds of Khalakovo published in April, it seemed like a perfect time. Luckily, Bradley had some time to answer a few questions about his novels, work, and genre fiction.