This is proving to be the Summer Flood of Many Exciting Books… Although, this installment also contains a fair few books I’ve bought myself.
Featuring: Lauren Beukes, Gwenda Bond, Amanda Carlson, Stephan Eirik Clark, Tony Earley, Joshua Ferris, Tom Fletcher, Bill Granger, Michael Hastings, Emily St. John Mandel, Ann Leckie, Carol O’Connell, Mark Pryor, John Scalzi, Julie Schumacher, Jeremy Spencer, Peter Swanson, Lavie Tidhar, Andy Weir, Django Wexler
I’m a latecomer to the excellence that is Lauren Beukes’s work. Last year, I was quickly sucked into The Shining Girls, and since then I’ve been eagerly awaiting her next novel. Now, BROKEN MONSTERS is on the horizon! Published in the UK on July 31st by Harper.
In the city that’s become a symbol for the death of the American dream, a nightmare killer is unravelling reality…
Broken city, broken dreams
In Detroit, violent death – along with foreclosure and despair – is a regular occurrence. But the part-human, part-animal corpses that have started appearing are more disturbing than anything Detective Gabriella Versado has ever seen.
As Gabriella works the case, her teenage daughter Layla embarks on a secret crime-fighting project of her own – hunting down online paedophiles – but it all goes horribly wrong…
TK has learned how to make being homeless work for him and his friends, but something evil is threatening the fragile world he’s constructed on the streets…
Ambitious blogger Jonno is getting desperate. The big four-oh isn’t that far away, and he’s still struggling to make his mark. But then he stumbles across some unusual and macabre art, which might just be the break he needs to go viral…
Broken Monsters lays bare the decaying corpse of the American Dream, and asks what we’d be prepared to do for fifteen minutes of fame, especially in an online world.
Can’t wait to read this! Broken Monsters is published by Mulholland Books in the US, and Umuzi in South Africa. Here are the other two covers…
So, Harper Collins are running a special competition to celebrate the release of Charles Cumming’s latest international spy thriller, A COLDER WAR. For those of you who don’t know who he is or haven’t read his work (shame on you!), he is an absolutely fantastic author, and one of my favourites (of any genre).
The competition involves a mole hunt. The name of the mole has been hidden amongst blog posts around the internet (see the banner, right).
In each post, there are a couple of questions (mine are below). The first letter in each answer is in the name of the mole. Collect all the answers, and email your answer to killerreads[at]harpercollins.com. The winner gets a Kindle!
*
So, let us get on. Here are the two videos, and their corresponding questions…
1. Who does America have a so-called “Special Relationship” with?
2. What is Charles’ favourite thing about the writing process?
I have some catching up to do, still, but I loved Typhoon and The Trinity Six. On Friday, I started reading A Foreign Country, the first novel to feature A Colder War’s protagonist (Thomas Kell), and will be starting in on the new novel imminently (if I haven’t already)!
Charles Cumming is the author of: A Spy By Nature, The Spanish Game, Typhoon, The Trinity Six, The Hidden Man, A Foreign Country, and A Colder War
Sandman Slim is back on Earth, Averting Apocalypse & causing mischief…
James Stark, aka Sandman Slim, has managed to get out of Hell, renounce his title as the new Lucifer, and settle back into life in LA. But he’s not out of trouble yet. Somewhere along the way he misplaced the Qomrama Om Ya, a weapon from the banished older gods who are also searching for their lost power.
The hunt leads Stark to an abandoned shopping mall – a multi-story copy of LA – infested with Lurkers and wretched bottom-feeding Sub Rosa families, squatters who have formed tight tribes to guard their tiny patches of this fake LA. Somewhere in the kill zone of the former mall is a dead man with the answers Stark needs. All Stark has to do is find the dead man, get back out alive, and outrun some angry old gods-and a few killers-on his tail.
In the fifth Sandman Slim novel, we get more of the same. In both a good and less-good way. Kadrey serves up another dose of gritty, sometimes gnarly, often amusing supernatural urban fantasy. All the hallmarks of the Sandman Slim series are on display – the interesting and inspired twists on classic urban fantasy and horror denizens and creatures. His characters are quippy and interesting, not to mention developing rather nicely. The action is well-written, and doesn’t take over from the plot (of the novel or series’ meta-plot). I still love Kadrey’s version of Hell, God, Lucifer and Samael (former Lucifer). All the characters feel very real, now, even if they are outlandish (Kasabian, for example).
At the same time, Kill City Blues felt somehow… less substantial and satisfying than the previous four novels (and novella – which was actually superb). Certainly, it’s tricky to sustain such high quality over five novels and a novella in a relatively short period of time, and this is not exactly a “dud”. It’s perhaps not surprising that Kadrey’s latest novel, Dead Set, is not a Sandman Slim novel. I get the feeling he needed to clear his head and take a break.
Reading this never quite felt like the author may have been going through the motions. It is probably just a case of this being a transition novel. We get some important character and plot developments, and (not wanting to spoil anything) it felt like pieces were being moved into place for what should shape up to be quite a sixth novel.
I would say this is still a must-read novel, but I would caution readers that this should be approached as part of a larger whole, rather than a possible stand-alone. It’s dark, it’s wonderfully dark and irreverent. It’s snarky and twisted fun. But it didn’t quite light all the same fires are the previous novels.
The Series: Sandman Slim, Kill the Dead, Aloha From Hell, Devil in the Dollhouse (novella), Devil Said Bang, Kill City Blues
Dean Koontz is an author who I have been familiar with for years (it’s hard to miss his novels in the SFF and Crime sections of any bookstore in – at least – the English-speaking world). And yet, I have never read anything by him. I think this novel, though, could change that. It sounds great. And, I’ll admit, the UK cover caught my eye – well played, Harper Collins Design Team. Well played. Then I saw the US cover (on the right), and I was even more smitten. Here’s the synopsis:
Addison Goodheart is not like other people…
Addison Goodheart lives in solitude beneath the city, an exile from a society which will destroy him if he is ever seen.
Books are his refuge and his escape: he embraces the riches they have to offer. By night he leaves his hidden chambers and, through a network of storm drains and service tunnels, makes his way into the central library.
And that is where he meets Gwyneth, who, like Addison, also hides her true appearance and struggles to trust anyone.
But the bond between them runs deeper than the tragedies that have scarred their lives. Something more than chance − and nothing less than destiny − has brought them together in a world whose hour of reckoning is fast approaching.
Innocence is due to be published in the UK December 10th 2013 (eBook), and on January 2nd 2014 (Hardcover) – according to Amazon UK. The novel is due to be published in the US by Bantam, also on December 10th 2013.
In the meantime – and, if like me, you’ve never read anything by Koontz – the author has written a prequel novella! It’s called The Wilderness, and is published on October 29th 2013 in both the UK and US. Here’s the synopsis for the novella:
Addison Goodheart is a mystery even to himself. He was born in an isolated home surrounded by a deep forest, never known to his father, kept secret from everyone but his mother, who barely accepts him. She is haunted by private demons and keeps many secrets—none of which she dreads more than the young son who adores her.
Only in the woods, among the wildlife, is Addison truly welcome. Only there can he be at peace. Until the day he first knows terror, the day when his life changes radically and forever...
A superb, unusual thriller.
The girl who wouldn’t die, hunting a killer who shouldn’t exist…
A terrifying and original serial-killer thriller from award-winning author, Lauren Beukes.
1930’s America: Lee Curtis Harper is a delusional, violent drifter who stumbles on a house that opens onto other times.
Driven by visions, he begins a killing spree over the next 60 years, using an undetectable MO and leaving anachronistic clues on his victims’ bodies.
But when one of his intended ‘shining girls’, Kirby Mazrachi, survives a brutal stabbing, she becomes determined to unravel the mystery behind her would-be killer. While the authorities are trying to discredit her, Kirby is getting closer to the truth, as Harper returns again and again...
This has been one of the most anticipated novels of 2013. There are ads in many publications, and plenty of posters in the London Underground. I’m very happy to report, then, that it absolutely deserves the hype it has enjoyed. The Shining Girls is a superb novel, and one of the most interesting thrillers I’ve read in a long while. Easily one of the best reads of the year so far.
Anyone who’s been reading CR for the past year will know that I’m a huge fan of Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim series. I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed the first four, and I am impatient to get my hands on the fifth in the series, Kill City Blues, to be published in hardcover this August in the UK (artwork above), and July in the US (artwork below).
In addition to book five, the first four are getting released in paperback in the UK as well. Voyager has commissioned some pretty cool, retro, quite ‘LA-punk’ covers for the books. The first two, Sandman Slim and Kill the Dead, will be published June 20th…
These will be followed by Aloha From Hell and Devil Said Bang, on July 5th and July 18th, respectively…
If you haven’t already tried this series, I highly recommend that you do. With the new editions, I can’t think of a better time, either. Even better, if you’re a UK Kindle owner, they’re currently discounted on Amazon…
This is one of my favourite series, which has also managed to maintain its high quality (something that seems rather rare, these days…). Deliciously dark, original, well-crafted, and often surprising.
How do you rule the unruly? Sandman Slim in Hell! Again…
While ruling the denizens of darkness does have a few perks, James Stark isn’t exactly thrilled at the course his career (not to mention his soul) has taken. Breaking out of Hell once was a miraculous trick. But twice? If anyone can do it, it’s Sandman Slim. While he’s working out the details of his latest escape plan, Slim has to figure out how to run his new domain and hold off a host of trigger-happy killers mesmerized by that bulls-eye on his back. Everyone in Heaven, Hell, and in between wants to be the fastest gun in the universe, and the best way to prove it is to take down the new Lucifer, aka Sandman Slim aka James Stark.
Then again, LA isn’t quite the paradise it once was since he headed south. A serial killer ghost is running wild and his angelic alter-ago is hiding somewhere in the lost days of time with a secret cabal who can rewrite reality. And starting to care about people and life again is a real bitch for a stone-cold killer
Ah, Sandman Slim… One of the best Urban Fantasy series on the market reaches its fourth volume. If you’re looking for a gritty tale of Heaven, Hell, Nephilim, batshit crazy supernatural people and creatures, weird hoodoo, and weird shenanigans, there’s really no better series or author to turn to. This series is a must-read.
[Disclaimer: There are some minor spoilers for the previous books in the series, but I’ve tried to keep the review short and to-the-point.]
A genre classic. A very disappointed first-time reader.
Young Fitz is the bastard son of the noble Prince Chivalry, raised in the shadow of the royal court by his father’s gruff stableman. He is treated like an outcast by all the royalty except the devious King Shrewd, who has him secretly tutored in the arts of the assassin. For in Fitz’s blood runs the magic Skill – and the darker knowledge of a child raised with the stable hounds and rejected by his family. As barbarous raiders ravage the coasts, Fitz is growing to manhood. Soon he will face his first dangerous, soul-shattering mission. And though some regard him as a threat to the throne, he may just be the key to the survival of the kingdom.
I bought Assassin’s Apprentice for my Kindle quite a while ago. But, whenever I’ve thought about reading the first book in Hobb’s Farseer trilogy, I have been distracted by some newer, shinier book. After reading the first chapter at work last year (I was allowed! It was for work!), I finally got on with it, and started reading it properly. What I found left me cold and unimpressed. In the end, after a particularly bad chapter, I had to quit. In the end, I only managed to read the first 20% of the novel.
The Epic sequel to The Painted Man
The sun is setting on humanity. The night now belongs to voracious demons that arise as the sun sets, preying upon a dwindling population forced to cower behind ancient and half-forgotten symbols of power. These wards alone can keep the demons at bay, but legends tell of a Deliverer: a general-some would say prophet-who once bound all mankind into a single force that defeated the demons. The Deliverer has returned, but who is he?
Arlen Bales, formerly of the small hamlet of Tibbet’s Brook, learnt harsh lessons about life as he grew up in a world where hungry demons stalk the night and humanity is trapped by its own fear. He chose a different path; chose to fight inherited apathy and the corelings, and eventually he became the Painted Man, a reluctant saviour.
But the figure emerging from the desert, calling himself the Deliverer, is not Arlen. He is a friend and betrayer, and though he carries the spear from the Deliverer’s tomb, he also heads a vast army intent on a holy war against the demon plague… and anyone else who stands in his way.
The sequel to excellent The Painted Man is another epic instalment in Brett’s highly-successful Demon Cycle series. With the third novel in the series just released, I decided to finally catch up. The Desert Spear is a tour-de-force fantasy epic – brilliantly written, wonderfully realised, and highly addictive. I loved this.
The Departed have arrived
The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen, and the living are under attack. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased.
Consequently, there are many false claims of hauntings from those hoping to profit. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully-tattooed witch, freewheeling Debunker, and ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for nailing human liars and banishing the wicked dead. But she’s keeping a dark secret from the Church: a little drug problem that’s landed her in hot and dangerous water.
Chess owes a lot of money to a murderous drug lord named Bump. And Bump wants immediate payback. All Chess has to do is dispatch a very nasty species of undead from an old airport. But the job involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and crossing swords with enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in lust for a rival gang leader and a dangerous attraction to Bump’s ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it.
Hell, yeah.
I tried this on the recommendation of someone I know has exceptional taste (she works in publishing), and I am very glad I took the chance with the series. It’s original, engaging, well-written, and has a great, well-rounded and interesting heroine. I’ll definitely be reading the rest of the series.
A Sandman Slim Short Story
James Stark, a.k.a. Sandman Slim, has a new job, but being the new Lucifer in town gives fresh meaning to the word “Hell”. Especially when he hears of hideous massacres near a haunted fortress out on Hell’s frontier. As far as Stark’s concerned, the more dead Hellions, the better, but he still has to prove that no one screws with Sandman Slim. And facing creatures so terrible even Hell does not want them is no cakewalk, even for Lucifer.
It should be no surprise by this point that I’m a fan of Kadrey’s Sandman Slim novels, having reviewed the first three novels of the series in quick succession. Devil in the Dollhouse is a stop-gap short story that was released before the now-published fourth novel, Devil Said Bang. Unsurprisingly, this is a short, sharp taste of Kadrey’s take on the eternal battle between Heaven, Hell and the humans caught in the middle. Superb.
[Warning: Minor spoilers for the first three Sandman Slim series follow, but I have kept them to an absolute minimum and referencing bigger-picture things, rather than specifics.]
It’s not out until August, but I thought I’d feature Earth Star in one of this week’s Upcoming posts, because the first book in the series, Earth Girl, is one I wish I’d had time to read last year. It slipped by the wayside, sadly. I’ll try to get to it before Earth Star is published, but in the meantime, here’s the synopsis for Edwards’s second novel featuring Jarra in this dystopian future Earth:
18-year-old Jarra has a lot to prove. After being awarded one of the military’s highest honours for her role in a daring rescue attempt, Jarra finds herself – and her Ape status – in the spotlight. Jarra is one of the unlucky few born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Derided as an ‘ape’ – a ‘throwback’ – by the rest of the universe, Jarra is on a mission to prove that Earth Girls are just as good as anyone else.
Except now the planet she loves is under threat by what could be humanity’s first ever alien contact. Jarra’s bravery – and specialist knowledge – will once again be at the centre of the maelstrom, but will the rest of the universe consider Earth worth fighting for?
Earth Star will be published by Harper Voyager UK in August 2013.
Sandman Slim’s Third Outing
In Sandman Slim Stark came back from hell for revenge.
In Kill the Dead he tackled both a zombie plague and being Lucifer’s bodyguard.
And once again all is not right in L.A. Lucifer is back in Heaven, God’s on vacation, and an insane killer mounts a war against both Heaven and Hell.
Stark must head back down to his old stomping grounds to rescue his long-lost love, stop an insane serial killer, prevent both Good and Evil from completely destroying each other, and stop the demonic Kissi from ruining the party for everyone.
Even for Sandman Slim, that’s a tall order. And it’s only the beginning.
I’ve been catching up with Kadrey’s Sandman Slim novels, and I’ve been having a blast doing so. I love his visceral no-nonsense prose style, his just-on-the-right-side-of-anti-hero characters, and the stories themselves. Aloha From Hell, the third in the series, does not quite match the quality of the first two, but it is nevertheless one hell of a novel. [Yes, I went there. Deal with the punning!]
Following on from yesterday’s interview with Michael Spradlin, today I bring you an excerpt from his latest Wild Western Fantasy, Blood Riders.
* * *
Chapter One
Eastern Wyoming Territory
August, 1876
It wasn’t right, that’s all Hollister could tell himself. Three hundred yards away two wagons were overturned and smoldering with arrow riddled bodies strewn about. Not far away from the still smoking campfire, a horse lay dead in the dust. He couldn’t tell if the dead people had been shot or scalped from this distance, but something was wrong.
I stumbled across Michael P. Spradlin’s latest novel, Blood Riders. This is not entirely surprising, given that this is his first book for adults (he has been writing books for children for a while). I’m pretty interested in the wave of Wild West-meets-Urban Fantasy novels that have been cropping up over the last year or so, and therefore became very interested in Blood Riders. In advance of a planned series of reviews and posts on this sub-genre, I get in touch with Michael to ask him about the novel…
I started reading Bernard Cornwell’s novels in the Summer of 2001 – it was the end of my first year at university, and I picked up Harlequin. Being the author-obsessive that I was at the time (I would find an established author, read everything he/she wrote), I picked up Sharpe’s Tiger. And was hooked. I proceeded to read every Sharpe book that was published at the time and, after moving there for a year, even ordered them to Japan. (Oh, the postage charge!)
Harper have just re-released the entire series with some very nice, vintage-look jackets. As I’m probably not going to be re-reading them and reviewing them any time soon, I thought I would nevertheless share some of the new covers.
Review by Abhinav
“Before the thorns taught me their sharp lessons and bled weakness from me, I had but one brother, and I loved him well. But those days are gone and what is left of them lies in my mother’s tomb. Now I have many brothers, quick with knife and sword, and as evil as you please. We ride this broken empire and loot its corpse. They say these are violent times, the end of days when the dead roam and monsters haunt the night. All that’s true enough, but there’s something worse out there, in the dark. Much worse.”
From being a privileged royal child, raised by a loving mother, Jorg Ancrath has become the Prince of Thorns, a charming, immoral boy leading a grim band of outlaws in a series of raids and atrocities. The world is in chaos: violence is rife, nightmares everywhere. Jorg has the ability to master the living and the dead, but there is still one thing that puts a chill in him. Returning to his father’s castle, Jorg must confront horrors from his childhood and carve himself a future with all hands turned against him.
As I remarked in my review of Mazarkis Williams' The Emperor's Knife, I rarely do negative reviews. I fully support doing negative reviews, but I try and do as few of them as possible, since I’m far more interested in telling my readers about the great books that I’ve enjoyed reading. Mark Lawrence’s debut novel from last year, Prince of Thorns, unfortunately falls in the category of novels that I did not enjoy reading at all. It wasn’t as tough a read as The Emperor's Knife, but it was quite close.
It’s been a good week for cover-reveals. Yesterday, there was Chris F. Holm’s excellent The Big Reap (Angry Robot), and today it was Peter V. Brett’s highly anticipated The Daylight War. The third book in the Demon Cycle, its US cover was revealed a short while ago,and I really liked that cover – it was bold, with striking colouring and an excellent composition.
Now, revealed first on the great Fantasy Faction, we have the UK cover art (to be published by Voyager also in February 2013), done by the great Larry Rostant:
Do I prefer it to the US edition…? Well, maybe. I think it will match the first two novels better on the shelf, but I think they are both very good. Hopefully I’ll catch up with the series (I loved The Painted Man and the two novellas – The Great Bazaar & Brayan’s Gold), so I can read this third novel relatively close to its release.
I shamelessly pinch this from A Dribble of Ink, who got it after Entertainment Weekly was given the exclusive (as well as an extract).
I loved The Great Bazaar, Brayan’s Gold and The Painted Man. As with many novels I have on my Kindle, I seem to keep forgetting about The Desert Spear, though. At the same time, that was a novel that came out and was not as eagerly embraced as the first by the fantasy blogosphere. So maybe I’ve been hesitant because of that?
Needless to say, with book three now on the horizon (it’s published February 2013 in both the UK and US), it seems like a good time to get my ass in gear. Here’s the very red cover:
The one thing I don’t know, is if this is the cover for both the UK and US editions – certainly the American cover. When I saw early mock-ups (two versions, actually), they had chosen a blue palette. It was a very nice blue, I thought… The woman’s pose is way better in this version, and is certainly more suitable for Inevera.
