Hûw Steer's Blog, page 37
August 28, 2019
The Blackbird and the Ghost by Huw Steer
The Blackbird and the Ghost has been featured on Vince Lowry’s E-Author Resources blog!
PRAISE FOR ‘THE BLACKBIRD AND THE GHOST’:
“full of imagination… over far too soon” – Beauty In Ruins
★★★★★ – “a real page-turner” – The Voracious Bibliophile
The Boiling Seas are the mariner’s bane – and the adventurer’s delight. The waters may be hot enough to warp wood and boil a hapless swimmer, but their scalding expanse is full of wonders. Strange islands lurk in the steamy mists, and stranger ruins hold ancient secrets, remnants of forgotten empires waiting for the bold… or lying in wait for the unwary.
On the Corpus Isles, gateway to the Boiling Seas, Tal Wenlock, the Blackbird, seeks a fortune of his own. The treasure he pursues could change the world – but he just wants to change a single life, and it’s not his own. To reach it, he’ll descend into the bowels of the earth and take ship on burning waters, brave dark…
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August 24, 2019
Review: La Belle Sauvage
Given that The Secret Commonwealth, part 2 of The Book of Dust, is coming out on the 3rd of October, I thought I’d probably better get around to reading La Belle Sauvage, and as I’ve done that I thought I should share my thoughts on it. TL:DR; it was bloody good.
I haven’t read His Dark Materials in a while. I have read all three books several times – they were some of me and my sister’s favourites when we were younger, and I reread them a few years ago, but by the time I got to La Belle Sauvage the details of Pullman’s original trilogy had somewhat faded. As I began the book I was sucked once again into a beautifully realised Oxford – it’s very nice to spend a lot longer there than His Dark Materials allowed – pulled along by a beautifully realised protagonist in the form of Malcolm Polstead. He is inquisitive but careful, clever and insightful, and through his eyes the world first set in ink in Northern Lights takes on a new life entirely.
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It’s such a well-realised world, and so well-grounded through Malcolm’s eyes, that the story takes on a very different character to His Dark Materials – at least at first. This is a thriller, a spy story, where Northern Lights began a sprawling fantasy epic. Lyra walked alongside armoured bears and fought evil ghosts and angels – Malcolm evades enemy agents and struggles against a brilliant madman. The fact that I hadn’t read the original trilogy in a while certainly helped reinforce this feeling. Aside from the ever-present daemons and the occasional presence of an alethiometer, Malcolm’s Oxford is so well realised as to feel, well, real. Even when the great flood sweeps the world away, Pullman creates such a realistic disaster and gives Malcolm such true feelings that La Belle Sauvage still feels firmly grounded in reality.
Then the fairies turned up, and the underwater otherworld was entered, guarded by the servants of Father Thames, and I was just as swept away as Malcolm was by the sudden reappearance of the supernatural. I had genuinely forgotten how magical Pullman’s world was, and to be so vividly and suddenly reminded was shocking, but wonderful. I felt just as confused and awestruck as Malcolm and Alice – a real testament to Pullman’s writing.
My sole critique of the novel, really, is its ending. The tale builds to a great crescendo, the climax is reached – and then it is over, without even the slightest scrap of epilogue. I felt cheated by that, especially knowing that The Secret Commonwealth picks up almost twenty years later. I felt robbed of the chance to see what happened to Malcolm in the immediate aftermath, robbed of the chance to see him breathe, return home, to hint at what’s to come for this marvellous protagonist, and for Alice, and their daemons. Obviously the next part of Lyra’s story has been told – but I can’t help but feel that having to learn what happened to eleven year-old Malcolm from thirty year-old Malcolm is going to be immensely dissatisfying. I’m thrilled at the chance to see him again – I just wish that Pullman had written another day in his life, even a few hours. There was no room to breathe at the end. Northern Lights ended abruptly, but The Subtle Knife picks up almost straight afterwards. The Amber Spyglass had a long, slow ending before the jump forwards to The Secret Commonwealth, and I feel that La Belle Sauvage needed the same to be truly complete.
That said, I can’t wait for The Secret Commonwealth – especially as I had the chance to read the first few pages at Penguin the other day…
August 18, 2019
Best of British Fantasy 2018
The other day, a one does upon occasion I Googled my own name. I am blessed (well, maybe) to apparently be the only person with that name on the Internet, so I actually get results relevant to me (hooray!).
But hiding in the usual list of this website, Amazon links, and random job sites on which I’ve made profiles, was a little site called The Best of British Fantasy. And on it was a list. It was (annoyingly) a few months old. It was a list of honourable mentions for their 2018 anthology – not the actual stories included, but a recommended reading list for some of the best fantasy short stories of 2018.
And I was on it.
Specifically, ‘The Vigil of Talos’ was on it (from TFF’s Making Monsters). My story. Not one of the absolute best, in their opinion’s, of last year, but damn close. Close enough to recommend. Close enough to be worth a read.
Just thought that was pretty cool.
August 16, 2019
£0.99 Sale – SPFBO
Great news everyone: I’m in a big o’l £0.99 fantasy novel sale! Over 120 authors, from this year’s SPFBO, all have works available for less than a single pound!
“But Huw!” I hear you cry, “isn’t The Blackbird and the Ghost always priced at £0.99?” Well, you’re right, it is – but it continues to be so, and a load of other excellent books are joining it!
Do take a look – the sale is only running until the 20th of August, so get in there quick!
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August 10, 2019
Actual Real Books II
They’re here, and the cover artwork fits, and the typos are gone, and they’re lovely and I’m very excited!
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August 9, 2019
Review: Episodic Sleep Disorders
I’ve recently had the pleasure of exchanging books with E.L. Haines, a delightful fantasy author (who I ran into on reddit, of all places!) of no little skill. As we both fancied a good read, we swapped our recent releases, read them, and threw together some reviews. We’ve saved the in-depth versions for our respective blogs – therefore, here’s my review of the excellent Episodic Sleep Disorders.
You can read Ethan’s review of The Blackbird and the Ghost here at his blog.
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The enigmatic – and diminutive – storyteller known as Sparrow first graced the printed page in Haines’ earlier Storytelling with Confidence. I made sure to read this too, of course, and it’s a good introduction to the character, grounding him in a fantastical world full of thieves and confidence trickery. He fits there fairly well – but it’s in the murky lands of mystery provided by Episodic Sleep Disorders that Sparrow really thrives.
Sparrow narrates the tale of his visit to the town of Lozère in what begins as a series of vignettes but quickly becomes an ever-more complex and absorbing mystery. The first ‘episode’ sets the tone beautifully: Sparrow walks into town and stumbles upon a bizarre and terrifying funeral service, following Lozère’s silent inhabitants from church to graveside and looking on in bewilderment and horror. Haines captures the sensation of confusion and fear perfectly – I was drawn in immediately to the mystery of the town, of its people. From there the episodes offer up yet more intriguing mysteries: the tragic past of the local barmaid; the terrible, unseen Beast of Lozère; a wagon filled with eyeless masks; the deadly scissors of Isengrim; each one drawing Sparrow and the reader into yet more speculation, and each one coming with its own terrible revelations and solution. The story is genuinely unsettling, as Sparrow stumbles across ever-more disturbing secrets; the action scenes are tense and exciting and his resolution of the cause of the town’s many terrors (no spoilers!) is beautifully conceived.
Haines’ descriptions are sumptuous and rich with detail – I was heavily reminded of the travellers’ tales of Jules Verne and his lavish descriptions of environments and characters. Sparrow often feels like a guide in such a traveller’s tale, relating the mysteries of Lozère with the glee of an experienced and gifted storyteller. It’s a credit to Haines that he, as a writer and teller of stories, is able to craft such a good storytelling character. At no point did I doubt Sparrow’s provenance as a wordsmith.
Episodic Sleep Disorders is not perfect, however. Unfortunately Haines follows Verne in more than one aspect; there is a point at which a lavish description becomes excessive, and the chapters devoted almost wholly to Sparrow’s breakfast and the anatomy of a local brewery are prime examples of this. The fact that these chapters come in the middle of the narrative serves to break the flow of the mystery, interrupting its steady build. On the whole, the extravagant descriptions are entirely in-character for the verbose Sparrow – but several times they veer into detail for detail’s sake.
There are also some odd anachronisms scattered throughout the text. Often, they serve to enhance the liminal feel of Sparrow’s world – it’s never quite clear where and when the book is set, with swords and daggers sharing space with gas-lanterns and industrial breweries – and this is entirely fine. I love the way that Sparrow’s world is undefined, nebulous; it only enhances the mysterious atmosphere of Lozère. But sometimes, like the extravagant descriptions, the anachronisms go too far, breaking the reader’s immersion. An extract from Sir Walter Scott fits just fine, but a reference to a “polyester suit”, or to a “cinematic” sight, just seem out of place in such a fantastical environment, as do the frequent (yet inconsistent) use of terms like ‘guys’ or ‘kids’ by characters who are otherwise well-spoken to the extreme. Haines’ overall tone is rich and verbose – but there are moments when it’s much less eloquent.
But this is, frankly, nit-picking. Overall, Episodic Sleep Disorders is a great book; an enthralling mystery that I couldn’t put down, with a likeable protagonist who is only outmatched in his compelling storytelling by his author. The mystery of Lozère is captivating, and Sparrow is the perfect man to unravel it. Read the book, follow him as he does – and listen to Haines’ advice at the start! This is a perfect story with which to unsettle yourself, chapter by chapter, before you sleep. I’ve done so once, and I’ll definitely do so again.
August 8, 2019
Paperback Writer
Dear Sir or Madam won’t you read my book
It took a year to write, won’t you take a look
It’s on Amazon now for £7.99
You can buy it now, so I guess I’m now a paperback writer
Paperback Writer…
(The Blackbird and the Ghost is now available in paperback. If you like physical objects made of paper this is the object for you.)
Buy the actual real book here!
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July 31, 2019
Update – Actual Real Books!
I’ve been rather busy lately (as evidenced by my absence from this blog), but it’s for literary reasons so please forgive me.
For the last two weeks I’ve been on work experience at Penguin Children’s doing Marketing and Publicity. It’s been a lot of fun – even all the mailing. And there’s been a lot of mailing. I have learned some of the mysteries of press releases and social media, written copy, realised I’m better at Photoshop than I thought and generally made myself as useful as possible! I’m just sad I’m leaving on Friday…
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In other news, I hold in my hands a malformed lump of paper. It has many typos, and the cover is all kinds of wrong, but it exists. And that’s pretty cool.
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I’ve spent a lot of this week correcting the various issues, and I should have proper proofs in my hands by next weekend – and then I shall unleash the physical Blackbird and the Ghost on the unsuspecting world! Or maybe a bit sooner. Soon, anyhow!
July 21, 2019
One Small Step
Fifty years ago, at four in the morning, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the Moon.
On the Moon!
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Three men rode the biggest bomb ever constructed into space. One of them (Michael Collins) sat in a tin can flying through the void at thousands of miles an hour while the other two performed a controlled crash onto a big rock with no air, no life, no nothing.
They survived. They brought bits of it home. In 1969 Apollo 11 finally did what humans had been dreaming of doing since Cicero and Lucian.
It was a giant leap. But we haven’t leapt any further, at least not ourselves. High time we changed that.
One small step…
July 18, 2019
Review – Beauty in Ruins
“full of imagination… over far too soon”
A positively glowing review of The Blackbird and the Ghost by Bob Milne at Beauty in Ruins! Check it out!
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