Free eBook: “Some of the best from Tor.com 2012”

Tor.com, that great hub for all things SFF, has released a free eBook anthology! The book collects (as the name should suggest) some of the best short stories from the past year (10 of them, to be exact).

Now, these stories are still available for free on the website itself, but if you find yourself wanting to read them while away from your computer or internet connection, then this eBook will help you out.

The roster of authors is impressive, too: Gene Wolfe, Rachel Swirsky, Michael Swanwick, Charles Stross, Paul Cornell, Brit Mandelo, Katheryn Cramer, Pat Murphy, Adam-Troy Castro, Elizabeth Bear.

Kindle US | Kindle UK | Apple | Nook

Great Art: “I Love Trouble” #1, p.6 (Image)

I just stumbled across this series by accident, when I spotted a preview for the second issue on Comic Book Resources. I liked what I saw of the art, but couldn’t really tell much about the story. I did a bit more digging (including checking out the preview for the first issue), and eventually found some more information about the series. I Love Trouble, by  Kel Symons and Mark Robinson debuted in December, and follows the story of Felicia Castillo, a New Orleans grifter, who is on the run from mobsters. In the first issue, she discovers she possesses an unusual superpower in the middle of a plane crash. This is page six from that issue, in which Felicia realizes her strange new power. The page made me chuckle, so I thought I’d share it on here:

Excerpt: “Blood Riders” by Michael P. Spradlin (Voyager)

Following on from yesterday’s interview with Michael Spradlin, today I bring you an excerpt from his latest Wild Western Fantasy, Blood Riders.

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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.

“Indestructible Hulk” & “Uncanny Avengers” (Marvel NOW)

Managed to get my hands on a couple more issues from Marvel’s latest re-launch/-boot/-branding: Mark Waid’s Indestructible Hulk and Rick Remender’s Uncanny Avengers. Two pretty noteworthy titles, one was excellent while the other has some way to go before I’m fully convinced.

Caution: If you haven’t read Avengers vs. X-Men and don’t want certain moments of that Event spoiled, I strongly advise that you do not read the review of Uncanny Avengers. Just sayin’.

Interview with MICHAEL P. SPRADLIN

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…

“Batman Incorporated” (DC)

Writer: Grant Morrison | Artists: Yanick Paquette (#1-3,5), Chris Burnham (#4,6,7, Leviathan Strikes #2), Scott Clark & Dave Beaty (#8), Cameron Stewart (Leviathan Strikes #1), & Pere Perez | Inks: Michel Lacombe (#1) | Colors: Nathan Fairbairn, Scott Clark & Dave Beaty

The next stage of evolution of the Dark Knight. Bruce Wayne publicly announces that he is the financial backer of Batman and establishes a worldwide franchise of Batmen that will protect the entire globe.

This is the beginning of a stunning new direction for the world’s greatest detective that will team him with Catwoman, Batwoman and Batman Inc. representatives on international crime fighting missions against Lord Death Man in Japan, South America and Argentina.

So, Grant Morrison. We meet again... I honestly don’t know what to make of him. I can’t tell if he’s taking the piss and just falling flat, or if he’s a subpar writer who happens to have a massive following that allows him to write this drivel.

“Saga” Vol.1 (Image)

Writer: Brian K. Vaughan | Artist: Fiona Staples

When two soldiers from opposite sides of a never-ending galactic war fall in love, they risk everything to bring a fragile new life into a dangerous old universe. Saga is the sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the worlds. Fantasy and science fiction are wed like never before in this sexy, subversive drama for adults.

I’d read the first two issues of Saga before getting this book, and I’ve been looking forward to getting caught up. Saga is a brilliant, weird and twisty sci-fi tale of war, family, and survival. It is easily one of the best new comics of 2012, and this is a superb opening collection.

2013: New Year’s (Reading) Resolutions – Fantasy

Last year, I promised myself that I would read at least one of Joe Abercrombie’s novels. Thankfully, I just managed it. For 2013, I’ve decided to come up with a similar resolution, to address a few more gaps in my SFF reading. In this post, I give you the four fantasy series I hope to read at least one novel from in 2013:

Robin Hobb – Farseer Trilogy

James Barclay – Chronicles of the Raven

Brandon Sanderson – Mistborn

Tom Lloyd – Twilight Reign

There are, of course, many other established and completed series I wish I had tried by now. These are just four of the fantasy series I’ve decided to single out for this year. Allow me to share some details about these series, in case you haven’t managed to get around to them yourself. If you have already read any of these series, please do share your own thoughts and impressions, in the comments. (Or, alternatively, share suggestions for other fantasy series you think I and other readers need to try out.)

Guest Post: “The Worldbuilding of the Four Realms” by Adrian Faulkner

Hot on the heels of last week’s interview, Adrian Faulkner has written a guest post on how he went about creating the setting for his debut urban fantasy novel, The Four Realms.

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In The Four Realms, we spend some time in the world of Venefasia and the city of New Salisbury that lays within it. Connected to our world through various gateways, black market goods and elements of our commerce have found their way in. New Salisbury has a Starbucks and the streets are filled with diesel-chugging lorries and Tuk Tuks. It’s a fun and complex world to write but it started with a very simple image.

I was watching the news or something like the Discovery channel when they were reporting on an Amazon tribe. Apparently this was one of the most remote tribes in the world, with next to no human contact. The report was making a very big deal out of this. And yet, there in the background a small child was running around in a Nike T-Shirt.

Happy New Year!

Wishing everybody a very Happy New Year. I hope 2013 will bring you plenty of happiness (in the shape of books or otherwise) and success.

I shamelessly pinched this from Scott Snyder’s Twitter feed.
Unfortunately, I don’t know who it’s by…

If you will permit me a bit of a digression, I also wanted to take this opportunity to say a huge, heartfelt thank you to Alyssa: without her, I would be a very miserable curmudgeon. She has helped me edit and improve so many of my reviews (if you find a typo, garbled sentence or any other flaw, it is my mistake alone). In other words, she makes me look good.

Alyssa has brightened up my life in every way. We met when I had been ill for many years, but she looked after me and didn’t run away. She enables and at least looks fondly upon my many geeky passions and obsessions, and has never judged me for my tastes. Here is to many more years together. I love you, and hope I make you as happy as you make me.

Farewell, 2012

After 552 posts and 182 books read in 2012, I want to also thank everyone for reading Civilian Reader – site traffic has exploded this year, with many more new and returning readers and subscribers. I’ve added comic and graphic novel reviews, expanded the range of publishers covered, and continued the near-weekly series of author interviews.

I hope you have discovered many new authors, novels and comics to enjoy. And so 2012, we bid you good night…