“Cataveiro” by E.J. Swift (Del Rey UK)

Reviewed by H.

Swift nimbly avoids the sophomore slump, with another solid novel.

A shipwreck.

And one lone survivor.

For political exile Taeo Ybanez, this could be his ticket home. Relations between the Antarcticans and the Patagonians are worse than ever, and to be caught on the wrong side could prove deadly.

For pilot and cartographer Ramona Callejas, the presence of the mysterious stranger is one more thing in the way of her saving her mother from a deadly disease.

All roads lead to Cataveiro, the city of fate and fortune, where their destinies will become intertwined and their futures cemented for ever...

Cataveiro is the sequel to Swift’s beautifully-written debut, Osiris. Continuing the story of the world, this is a very good follow up, improving on the first in pretty much every way.

Guest Post: “Inspiration in Translation” by E.J. Swift

The second book in my Osiris Project trilogy, Cataveiro, moves the action from an ocean city cut off from the rest of the world, to a South American continent which has been radically altered by climate change. I’ve always been drawn by the beauty of the South American landscape, but in writing Cataveiro I also wanted to explore something of the continent’s literary heritage. For inspiration, and in the hope that some of their flair might rub off, I started reading Latin American writers in translation.

The obvious place to start was with magical realism, although I was interested to discover a podcast on Latin American literature debating a move away from the form. I’d previously read Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, but while I admired the novel greatly, Marquez turned out to be my least favourite of the writers I discovered.

WE SURVIVED! So here’s a Giveaway from Night Shade Books…

So, we all made it through the Mayan Apocalypse that wasn’t. I won’t lie, I’m a little disappointed nothing happened (it could have been interesting…), but whatyagonnado? There is, however, one reason to be very thankful that we all made it, and that’s this new giveaway from Night Shade Books! The directions are really very simple:

1). Send an email to stillhere@nightshadebooks.com

2). You’ll receive an auto response with a username, password and link to our download site

3). Visit the site.

4). You’ll then be able to download the .epub or .mobi files of three of Night Shade’s most exciting and appropriately apocalyptic titles:

That’s a pretty awesome selection.

Upcoming UK Edition: E.J. Swift’s OSIRIS (Del Rey/Ebury)

A very quick cover post, this time for the upcoming UK edition of E.J. Swift’s dystopian Osiris. The book will be published under Ebury’s SFF imprint, Del Rey, in February 2013. Here’s the artwork:

Osiris is a lost city. She has lost the world and the world has lost her…

Adelaide Rechnov, wealthy socialite and granddaughter of the Architect, spends her time in pointless luxury, rebelling against her family in a series of jaded social extravagances and scandals until her twin brother disappears in mysterious circumstances.

Vikram Bai lives in the Western Quarter, home to the poor descendants of storm refugees and effectively quarantined from the wealthy elite. His people live with cold and starvation, but the brutal winter coming promises civil unrest, and a return to the riots of previous years.

Brought together by circumstance and fate, these two very different people attempt to bridge the divide lurking at the heart of Osiris, but who is using whom, and what secrets will they uncover?

Find out more about Osiris in my interview with E.J. Swift and also on the author’s website.

An Interview with E.J. SWIFT

E.J. Swift is another of Night Shade Books’ highly anticipated 2012 debut authors. Her first novel, Osiris, is a sci-fi novel set in a post-environmental-disaster world. As one of my most-anticipated reads of the year, I decided to get in touch with Ms Swift, and ask her to tell us a little more about her novel, writing, the genre, and her sword-fighting skills…