Max Barry is a superb author. I haven’t read as much of his stuff as I would like, and I’m due a re-read of Jennifer Government at some point in the near future. His latest novel, Lexicon, is one of my favourite reads of 2013 so far, and will be reviewed tomorrow. He was kind enough to take some time out of a busy schedule to answer some questions for me…
An intriguing new voice in… well, a number of different genres all at the same time…
Investigator Vissarion Lom has been summoned to the capital in order to catch a terrorist – and ordered to report directly to the head of the secret police. A totalitarian state, worn down by an endless war, must be seen to crush home-grown terrorism with an iron fist.
But Lom discovers Mirgorod to be more corrupted than he imagined: a murky world of secret police and revolutionaries, cabaret clubs and doomed artists. Lom has been chosen because he is an outsider, not involved in the struggle for power within the party. And because of the sliver of angel stone implanted in his head.
I didn’t know what to expect from this novel. I didn’t know a whole lot about it before I read it, either, save for the excellent cover artwork. What I found was a really interesting mélange of genres, mixed together to create an original, compelling and atmospheric whole. Wolfhound Century excellently bridges the gap between a speculative urban fantasy and a crime thriller. With a great Russian-flavor, too, this novel stands out even more. This is a really strong debut novel.
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.
