“Fortress Frontier” by Myke Cole (Ace/Headline)

The Second Shadow Ops novel: Improves on the first

The Great Reawakening did not come quietly. Across the country and in every nation, people began to develop terrifying powers — summoning storms, raising the dead, and setting everything they touch ablaze. Overnight the rules changed…but not for everyone.

Colonel Alan Bookbinder is an army bureaucrat whose worst war wound is a paper-cut. But after he develops magical powers, he is torn from everything he knows and thrown onto the front-lines.

Drafted into the Supernatural Operations Corps in a new and dangerous world, Bookbinder finds himself in command of Forward Operating Base Frontier — cut off, surrounded by monsters, and on the brink of being overrun.

Now, he must find the will to lead the people of FOB Frontier out of hell, even if the one hope of salvation lies in teaming up with the man whose own magical powers put the base in such grave danger in the first place — Oscar Britton, public enemy number one...

If you’ve been reading CR for a while, you may have noticed that I am very much a fan of Cole’s debut, Control Point. When I read that, it fit my tastes perfectly and just worked on pretty much every level. A year later, and its sequel Fortress Frontier drops. And, I am happy to report, Cole has done a tremendous job of improving on Control Point in almost every way. This is, all-round, a better novel than its predecessor.

Covers: “Fortress Frontier” gets a British Jacket

It should be no secret by this point that I’m a fan of Myke Cole’s Shadow Ops series. The second in the series, Fortress Frontier, will be published in the US in a couple months, to follow a little afterwards in the UK. This means we get a new cover, too…

I really like this, and I think it matches the style of the UK edition of Control Point very well. It’s another great job by Larry Rostant.

Here’s the synopsis:

The Great Reawakening did not come quietly. Across the country and in every nation, people began to develop terrifying powers — summoning storms, raising the dead, and setting everything they touch ablaze. Overnight the rules changed... but not for everyone.

Colonel Alan Bookbinder is an army bureaucrat whose worst war wound is a paper-cut. But after he develops magical powers, he is torn from everything he knows and thrown onto the front-lines.

Drafted into the Supernatural Operations Corps in a new and dangerous world, Bookbinder finds himself in command of Forward Operating Base Frontier — cut off, surrounded by monsters, and on the brink of being overrun.

Now, he must find the will to lead the people of FOB Frontier out of hell, even if the one hope of salvation lies in teaming up with the man whose own magical powers put the base in such grave danger in the first place — Oscar Britton, public enemy number one...

Fortress Frontier will be published in January 2013 in both the US (Ace Book) and the UK (Headline).

More on CR: Control Point Review, Author Interview & Guest Post

Artwork: Myke Cole’s FORTRESS FRONTIER (Ace)

The new cover for Myke Cole’s second novel, Fortress Frontier, was revealed yesterday. And it’s a doozy:

I think I may prefer this to the original US cover for Control Point, but more because of the colour palette – I like the colder blues. This also does a great job of showing us the change in perspective (something Cole’s been keen to let people know, this isn’t the Oscar Britton Series, but the Shadow Ops series – if I remember correctly, each novel will add POVs, but Oscar will be kicking around).

Here’s the synopsis:

The Great Reawakening did not come quietly. Across the country and in every nation, people began to develop terrifying powers – summoning storms, raising the dead, and setting everything they touch ablaze. Overnight the rules changed... but not for everyone.

Colonel Alan Bookbinder is an army bureaucrat whose worst war wound is a paper-cut. But after he develops magical powers, he is torn from everything he knows and thrown onto the front-lines.

Drafted into the Supernatural Operations Corps in a new and dangerous world, Bookbinder finds himself in command of Forward Operating Base Frontier – cut off, surrounded by monsters, and on the brink of being overrun.

Now, he must find the will to lead the people of FOB Frontier out of hell, even if the one hope of salvation lies in teaming up with the man whose own magical powers put the base in such grave danger in the first place – Oscar Britton, public enemy number one...

Fortress Frontier will be published in the US in January 2013.

In related news, the first in the series, Control Point, will be published in the UK this week (Headline). I really enjoyed the novel, and you can check out my review here. There’s also an interview with and guest post by Myke Cole up on the site. And, because it’s fantastic, here’s the UK cover for Control Point once again: