Upcoming: “Fearsome Journeys” ed. Jonathan Strahan (Solaris)

A very exciting new anthology will be landing in May 2013 from Solaris. The collection, edited by super-editor Jonathan Strahan, brings together some of the best and most exciting new and established authors in fantasy. Here’s the proposed line-up:

“The Effigy Engine: A Tale of the Red Hats” by Scott Lynch

“Amethyst, Shadow, and Light” by Saladin Ahmed

“Camp Follower” by Trudi Canavan

“The Dragonslayer of Merebarton” by K.J. Parker

“Leaf and Branch and Grass and Vine” by Kate Elliott

“Spirits of Salt: A Tale of the Coral Sword” by Jeffrey Ford

“Forever People” by Robert V.S. Redick

“Sponda the Suet Girl and the Secret of the French Pearl” by Ellen Klages

“Shaggy Dog Bridge: A Black Company Story” by Glen Cook

“The Ghost Makers” by Elizabeth Bear

“One Last, Great Adventure” by Ellen Kushner & Ysabeau Wilce

“The High King Dreaming” by Daniel Abraham

Can not wait to read this anthology. Fearsome Journeys is already available for pre-order from Amazon US & UK.

UK Release: “Throne of the Crescent Moon” by Saladin Ahmed (Gollancz)

A new voice in adventure sword & sorcery, finally gets a UK release

The Crescent Moon Kingdoms, home to djenn and ghuls, holy warriors and heretics, are at the boiling point of a power struggle between the iron-fisted Khalif and the mysterious master thief known as the Falcon Prince. In the midst of this brewing rebellion a series of brutal supernatural murders strikes at the heart of the Kingdoms. It is up to a handful of heroes to learn the truth behind these killings.

Doctor Adoulla Makhslood, “the last real ghul hunter in the great city of Dhamsawaat,” just wants a quiet cup of tea. Three score and more years old, he has grown weary of hunting monsters and saving lives, and is more than ready to retire from his dangerous and demanding vocation. But when an old flame’s family is murdered, Adoulla is drawn back to the hunter’s path.

Raseed bas Raseed, Adoulla’s young assistant, is a hidebound holy warrior whose prowess is matched only by his piety. But even as Raseed’s sword is tested by ghuls and manjackals, his soul is tested when he and Adoulla cross paths with the tribeswoman Zamia.

Zamia Badawi, Protector of the Band, has been gifted with the near-mythical power of the lion-shape, but shunned by her people for daring to take up a man’s title. She lives only to avenge her father’s death. Until she learns that Adoulla and his allies also hunt her father’s killer. Until she meets Raseed.

When they learn that the murders and the Falcon Prince’s brewing revolution are connected, the companions must race against time—and struggle against their own misgivings—to save the life of a vicious despot. In so doing they discover a plot for the Throne of the Crescent Moon that threatens to turn Dhamsawaat, and the world itself, into a blood-soaked ruin.

I’ve already written a review of Ahmed’s Throne of the Crescent Moon, so I won’t reproduce the whole thing here again. But, I thought I’d offer a compressed version of my earlier review, picking up on a couple of important things (in my opinion) – mainly Ahmed’s style and the world. I didn’t find the novel perfect (as is often the case with me, the issues lay in some pacing anomalies). Overall, though, this is a very strong debut novel, set in an interesting world populated by three-dimensional characters.

Week in Review (Mar.31-Apr.7)

You know what this is all about…

Slate: “Is Game of Thrones too white?” by Saladin Ahmed [Article]

An interesting article. Some of the commenters… *disagree*… Because they’ve misunderstood the point of the article. So, read the article but not the comments. (Which is a good approach to the internet in general – especially on Rolling Stone, Slate, and HuffPost, to name but three…). While on the subject of Saladin Ahmed, check out my review of Throne of the Crescent Moon.

Mouseferatu: In Which Ari Gets Fed Up and Dives Into the Discussion” by Ari Marmell [Response]

Author Ari Marmell responds to some of the particular, ridiculous reactions to Saladin Ahmed’s article for Slate. Not the blatantly, obviously “plain stupid” response. Rather, he addresses “some of the responses that sound a lot more reasonable – and that the people who espouse them probably believe are more reasonable – but which are just as problematic.”

On an un-serious note, points for getting “rare as a bald wookiee” into the article. Ari Marmell is a favourite author of mine, so expect a lot more reviews coming up in the future (new and ‘old’ work). You can also check out my interview with him (the second on the blog).

Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf & Book Review: “Growing Pains: Lessons in Writing the Sequel” by Bradley P. Beaulieu [Article]

A good article from Brad Beaulieu about moving on from one’s debut and tackling the second book in a series.

The Big Idea: “The Boxer Rebellion & the Great Game in China” by David J. Silbey [Article]

A rare moment of cross-over of two of my favourite things, in this article Silbey talks about the challenge he faced when writing his book: “The famous maxim says that history is written by the winners. But happens when the other side not only doesn’t write a history, but can’t?”

The Passionate Foodie: “Authors, Alcohol & Accolades: Volume 6” [Article]

Ok, this is cheating a little bit, as I wrote some of this post – it’s about readers and our favourite authors and tipple. Also contributing are Justin Landon of Staffer’s Musings, Sally Janin of The Qwillery, and Bastard Books.

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On CR this week, we’ve had two interviews: with Helen Lowe (with giveaway – still time to enter!) and Lyndsay Faye. On the reviews side, we’ve had Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s superb Void Stalker and Lyndsay Faye’s Gods of Gotham.

This coming week I’ll be travelling a bit, so not sure how much I’ll be able to get posted, but Alyssa reviews Timeless by Gail Carriger on Monday; I have a review over on Speculative Scotsman also on Monday (Tobias S. Buckell’s The Executioness); I hope to get the Felix & Gotrek Anthology reviewed for the latter half of the week, too. There will be the usual comics reviews and maybe a graphic novel or two featured as well. And, of course, Wednesday’s interview – this week’s with Gini Koch.

The Week in Review (Mar.4-10)

Here we go with the week’s links round-up… (Although, I must apologise for not paying too much attention to things in the second half of the week.)

“Locke Lamora Read-Along Bonus #1: It Came From Burger King” by Scott Lynch

This is a blog-post that I actually caught same day I posted the previous Week in Review, but I wanted to share it nevertheless. After Lynch discovered that some blogs are doing Lies of Locke Lamora read-alongs, he decided to put together some bonuses as a thank you. This is the first. Locke Lamora was the novel that got me back into fantasy, and I really must read it again sometime. If you haven’t read it yet, then I STRONGLY recommend you do so. It’s fantastic, as is its sequel, Red Seas Under Red Skies.

Iceberg Ink: “Interview with Dave Duncan”

An author I’ve not managed to read anything by, but I enjoyed the interview, so I think I’ll have to try to pick something up at some point.

Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf & Book Review: An Interview with Martha Wells

An interesting interview with an author I really wish I had the time to read! I’ll do my best to check out her novels.

Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf & Book Review: “A. Lee Martinez on Supervillains”

Another great post from Michael’s blog this week. The title’s pretty self-explanatory, so I recommend you just go over there and read it. Go on! Git!

Wired: “Michael Chabon Attacks Prejudice Against Science Fiction”

Thanks to Ellen Wright for tweeting the link to this (would probably have missed it otherwise). Chabon is one of those authors on my “Why the hell haven’t I read them yet?” – in particular, his novel Kavalier & Clay, which Alyssa and Emma both have badgered me about reading. I may well get around to it in the next month-or-so, as I’ve been intentionally reading beyond SF/F just to keep things fresh (for me and the blog). Chabon also wrote a number of nice pieces about super-heroes, which I’d recommend as well: for example, in the New Yorker.

Far Beyond Reality: “Throne of the Crescent Moon” by Saladin Ahmed (Review)

Great, in-depth review. Read my own, here.

I know I missed some, so feel free to share in the comments.

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And this week’s content from Civilian Reader: a review of Kill Alex Cross by James Patterson (a good return to form for the insanely successful author), a video interview with Adam Baker, a review of Paul S. Kemp’s Hammer & the Blade (maybe the first? Not really sure about that…), guest post on the Soulborn Saga by Kevin Breaux. Overall, a pretty good week.

Next week, I’ve got at least one review (Stuart Woods’s 2000 novel, The Run), two interviews (Gail Carriger and Gaie Sebold), more comics reviews, and hopefully a couple of graphic novel reviews.

“Throne of the Crescent Moon” by Saladin Ahmed (DAW)

An intriguing debut, from a great new voice in fantasy

The Crescent Moon Kingdoms, land of djenn and ghuls, holy warriors and heretics, Khalifs and killers, is at the boiling point of a power struggle between the iron-fisted Khalif and the mysterious master thief known as the Falcon Prince. In the midst of this brewing rebellion a series of brutal supernatural murders strikes at the heart of the Kingdoms. It is up to a handful of heroes to learn the truth behind these killings: Doctor Adoulla Makhslood, Raseed bas Raseed, Zamia Badawi.

Together with a handful of allies, they learn that the murders and the Falcon Prince’s brewing revolution are connected. The companions must race against time – and struggle against their own misgivings – to save the life of a vicious despot. In so doing they discover a plot for the Throne of the Crescent Moon that threatens to turn Dhamsawaat, and the world itself, into a blood-soaked ruin.

The buzz surrounding Throne of the Cresent Moon has been going on for quite some time. I had planned on reading and reviewing the novel much sooner than now, but I accidentally forgot it at home when I went on holiday. Needless to say, it was the first book I read upon my return, and I found it to be quite satisfying. It’s a different type of fantasy, with a different focus and style to what you might be used to. It remains, however, very well-written and engaging throughout.

February 2012 Top Picks

The first half of this year alone sees a high number of highly anticipated titles coming out, and February is a particularly bumper month for the genre fan. So, here’s my top eight for this month. I doubt I’ll be able to read even half of them in February (the best laid plans, etc.), but I thought I’d offer at least a hat-tip for those I may not be able to get around to.

Interesting Upcoming Novels (Artwork Excuse)

I know some other sites have featured these covers in the not-too-distant past, but I decided I was going to get over my damn-I’ve-been-scooped again issues, and share them anyway, because I think they’re damned great.