Guest Post: “Pantheon Inspirations” by James Lovegrove

So far my Pantheon series extends to six novels and three novellas. What is it about these military-SF tales of gods and men that I seem to find so fascinating? Why do I keep coming back time and time again to this well of inspiration?

Partly it’s because the ideas embedded in polytheistic religious mythologies are so wonderfully rich and exploitable, like countless mines yielding up different seams of precious ore. I myself do not believe in deities of any kind, but the stories that others have came up with about them over the centuries are pleasingly intricate and complex, full of incident and nuance. Every Pantheon strikes me as being like a dysfunctional family. Their conflicts and passions echo those of their worshippers. Even though they’re gods, they’re eminently relatable. They banter and squabble, have affairs, plays tricks on one another, lose their temper, just as humans do. The aloof, monotheistic gods whose faiths prevail in the world today aren’t anywhere near as interesting. Those guys are like grumpy father figures you can’t get on with and have to tread carefully around but are still supposed to admire. Where’s the fun in that?

Excerpt: AGE OF SHIVA by James Lovegrove (Solaris)

This April, Solaris Books publishes the sixth novel in James Lovegrove’s New York Times-bestselling Pantheon series, Age of Shiva. Below, you will find the first three chapters!

AGE OF SHIVA

This is a confession.

This is an apology.

This is an origin story.

This is the tale of ordinary people who became extraordinary, became heroes, and the price we all paid.

It’s completely true.

I know.

I was there.

Guest Post: And Now For Something a Little Different - James Lovegrove on AGE OF GODPUNK

My latest Pantheon book, Age Of Godpunk, is not like the others. For a start, it’s an omnibus of three novellas, not a novel. But it isn’t military-SF either. If anything, the three tales are urban fantasy. The themes are the same, though: gods and men and the interaction between them; the nature of belief; acceptance of and/or rebellion against divine authority.

I have to say that all three novellas are pretty personal, too.

They have a setting in common: the city of London. Now, London is a place about which I am more than a little ambivalent. On the one hand, I love to visit our capital and avail myself of the many cultural, culinary, retail and social amenities it has to offer. On the other hand, I’ve lived there at various periods of my life and never felt truly at home or comfortable. I’m from East Sussex. I belong near the south coast, in a county with hills and trees. After any trip up to the Big Smoke, I’m always happy – relieved, even – to return to fresh air and vistas.

So the Age Of Godpunk novellas reflect my mixed feelings about London. They also reflect my mixed feelings about belief, faith and religion. Each of them can be read on two levels. You can take the appearance of the various deities in them at face value, the metaphysical manifesting as real, literal beings. Or you can view them rationally and empirically, with the gods existing only in the minds of the protagonists, phantoms, fantasies, delusions.

Coming up in 2013 from Solaris Books

The other day, Solaris released a handful of new cover images on their blog. Being the book magpie that I am, I decided to share them again over here, with any other information on the books I could find.

So, without further ado, here are the covers for Gaie Sebold’s Dangerous Gifts, James Lovegrove’s Age of Voodoo, and Guy Adams’s The Good, The Bad, and the Infernal.

“Age of Anansi” by James Lovegrove (Solaris)

A Pantheon short story

A journey into a dark heart of deceit, lies and ancient gods.

Dion Yeboah leads an orderly life... until the day the spider appears. What this ordinary-looking arachnid turns out to be is Anansi, the trickster god of African legend, and its arrival throws Dion’s life into chaos.

Lawyer Dion’s already impressive legal brain is sharpened. He becomes nimbler-witted and more ruthless than ever before, both in and out of court. Then he discovers the price he has to pay for these newfound skills. He must travel to America and take part in a contest between the avatars of all the trickster gods. In a life-or-death battle of wits, at the end only one person will be left standing.

This was my first Pantheon story – I keep getting distracted from the others, and for a while I laboured under the misconception that they were chronologically linked, when they are actually all stand-alones. I’m really glad I read this, though, as it’s a great introduction to Lovegrove’s writing and also the conceit of the series: what would life be like if these ancient myths, legends and deities were real? In Age of Anansi, the trickster gods are real, and eager as ever to mess with the humans. I enjoyed this.

An Interview with JAMES LOVEGROVE

James Lovegrove is a prolific speculative fiction author, and one who I really need to read. I’ve got three of his books lined up for review in the very near future, but in advance of that, I thought I’d get in touch with him to find out a little more about his various on-going fiction projects. Reading his answers only made me more eager to read his work, so expect a review in the very near future (if I haven’t managed to get one done already…)

Upcoming Novels (or, “Look at the Pretties…”)

Yes, ok, it’s another artwork post, but seriously, these covers are great. This also gives me the opportunity to mention some upcoming titles that have caught my attention from various publishers and authors.

So, without further ado, feast your eyes on these…