Nathan Barker's Blog, page 2

In The Mail: The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer

It seems to be the week for children's books in the mail.  This morning's addition to my 'to-read' shelf is The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer (Yes, the Glee star).  Little, Brown & Company sent me an ARC of Colfer's Juvenile fantasy which is due out in July, 2012.



Synopsis: Alex and Conner
Bailey's world is about to change, in this fast-paced adventure that
uniquely combines our modern day world with the enchanting realm of
classic fairytales.

The Land of Stories tells the tale
of twins Alex and Conner. Through the mysterious powers of a cherished
book of stories, they leave their world behind and find themselves in a
foreign land full of wonder and magic where they come face-to-face with
the fairy tale characters they grew up reading about.

But after a
series of encounters with witches, wolves, goblins, and trolls alike,
getting back home is going to be harder than they thought.



Early reviews are good but at first glance the material seems to rely on fairytale derivative.  The promise of this one is going to rest strongly on Colfer's narrative voice.  I know my daughters are strongly looking forward to getting their hands on this but we'll see if this actor can turn author.

In The Mail: Monument 14 & 2 More

Macmillan's Teen imprint Feiwel and Friends has been publishing some very good teen SF&F for the last couple years and aggressively marketing it via social networking.  Their latest promotion is for their spring 2012 "Fierce Reads.  Booksellers and bloggers (myself included) have been getting shiny red packages with intruiguing ARC's for the last month or so.



The latest to arrive (this morning) is Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne. Synopsis:"Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.

In
Emmy Laybourne’s action-packed debut novel, six high school kids (some
popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six
little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for
themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters,
beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons
spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart."



This one just jumped to the top of my to-read list.



Also in the mail today: An ARC of Deadweather and Sunrise by Geoff Rodkey arrived from G. P.  Putnam's Sons. This is a grade 3+ novel at nearly 300 pages which looks like it's going to be a fun read.  One of my children may get to this one before I do though.  Synopsis: "It's tough to be thirteen, especially when somebody's trying to kill you.

Not
that Egg's life was ever easy, growing up on sweaty, pirate-infested
Deadweather Island with no company except an incompetent tutor and a
pair of unusually violent siblings who hate his guts.

But when
Egg's father hustles their family off on a mysterious errand to
fabulously wealthy Sunrise Island, then disappears with the siblings in a
freak accident, Egg finds himself a long-term guest at the mansion of
the glamorous Pembroke family and their beautiful, sharp-tongued
daughter Millicent. Finally, life seems perfect.

Until someone tries to throw him off a cliff."




Finally, I received an ARC and event kit for Exiled by J. R. Wagner.  - a teen fantasy from a small press receiving mixed reviews.  Early reviewers seem to either love or hate this one.  Stay tuned for my take.  Synopsis: "James has never known an
ordinary life. As long as he can remember, he and his family have been
on the run—moving from place to place, never settling down, never
growing roots. Now, just when he’s on the brink of manhood, the very
thing his family has been trying to prevent tears him from all he has
ever known and thrusts him into a place where he is powerless and alone.


Bent on finding a way back, James must brave a place reserved
for the worst of his kind. He quickly learns that the land itself poses a
greater threat than its inhabitants and if he is to have any chance of
returning, he must work with the very people he’s been raised to fear.

James
has known magic since just after he was born. As a sorcerer, his skills
are exceptional yet when he wakes in The Never, his abilities are gone.
Armed with nothing but determination and the will to survive, he braves
a land wrought with dangers, mysteries and temptations meant to ensnare
both body and mind and prevent escape forever."

R. I. P. Maurice Sendak

Maurice Sendak died last night at age 83 from complications due to a recent stroke. 



Sendak authored and illustrated hundreds of children's titles, most notably, the Caldecott Medal-winning Where The Wild Things Are.



Despite many attempts at censorship over the last 40+ years, Sendak's work inspired generations of young readers and carved him a place as one of the most beloved illustrators of all time.



Rest in Peace, Mr. Sendak.  You are missed already.

British Fantasy Society Releases Shortlist for 2012 British Fantasy Awards

Without further ado, here's the list.


Novel:

The Heroes; Joe Abercrombie (Gollancz)
11.22.63; Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton)
Cyber Circus; Kim Lakin-Smith (NewCon Press)
A Dance with Dragons; George RR Martin (Harper Voyager)
The Ritual; Adam Nevill (Pan)
Among Others; Jo Walton (Tor Books)

There will be two awards in the best Novel category: The August Derleth Award for best horror novel and The Robert Holdstock Award for best fantasy novel.

Novella:

Terra Damnata; James Cooper (PS Publishing)
Ghosts with Teeth; Peter Crowther (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books)
King Death; Paul Finch (Spectral Press)
Near Zennor; Elizabeth Hand (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books)
The Music of Bengt Karlsson, Murderer; John Ajvide Lindqvist (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books)
Gorel and the Pot Bellied God; Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing)


Short Fiction:

Dermot; Simon Bestwick (Black Static)
Sad, Dark Thing; Michael Marshall Smith (A Book of Horrors)
Florrie; Adam Nevill (House of Fear)
Alice Through the Plastic Sheet; Robert Shearman (A Book of Horrors)
The Coffin-Maker’s Daughter; Angela Slatter (A Book of Horrors)

Anthology:

A Book of Horrors; editor Stephen Jones (Jo Fletcher Books)
House of Fear; editor Jonathan Oliver (Solaris Books)
The Weird; editors Jeff and Ann Vandermeer (Corvus Books)
Gutshot; editor Conrad Williams (PS Publishing)

Collection:

Rumours of the Marvellous; Peter Atkins (Alchemy Press)
Mrs Midnight; Reggie Oliver (Tartarus Press)
Everyone’s Just So So Special; Robert Shearman (Big Finish)
A Glass of Shadow; Liz Williams (NewCon Press)

Screenplay:

Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen
Attack the Block by Joe Cornish
The Awakening by Stephen Volk and Nick Murphy
Melancholia by Lars Von Trier
Kill List by Ben Wheatley and Amy Jump

Magazine/Periodical:

Black Static; ed. Andy Cox TTA Press
Interzone; ed. Andy Cox TTA Press
SFX, ed. Dave Bradley Future Publishing
The Horror Zine, ed. Jeani Rector

Comic/Graphic Novel:

Animal Man; Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman (DC Comics)
Batwoman; JH Williams III and W Haden Blackman (DC Comics)
Locke and Key; Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW Publishing)
The Unwritten; Mike Carey and Peter Gross (Vertigo)
The Walking Dead; Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard (Image)

In the Mail: Hogarth Press & Fifty Shades of Grey

Hogarth is a new literary imprint from Crown Publishing Group that is publishing "Contemporary, voice-driven, character-rich books that entertain, inform, and move readers" according to their masthead. The initial selection looks intriguing.  Hogarth sent me a Limited Edition "Hogarth Launch Edition" containing their first four titles and a nice Hogarth tote bag.



The four launch titles contained therein are:



The Kissing List by Stephanie Reents

I Am Forbidden by Anouk Markovitz

The Watch by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya

The Dead Do Not Improve by Jay Caspian Kang



I'll be reviewing some or all of them in the near future.



Also delivered today was a(nother) box of Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James.  Cannot keep this book in stock!  Mommy-porn @ #1 on the NYTimes Bestseller list - who'd have thunk it?

Review: The Hammer and the Blade by Paul S. Kemp

The Hammer and the Blade by Paul S. Kemp





ISBN: 9780857662460 | Cover Price $7.99 | 416 pp.

Check for Availability Here







Overall Rating: 9 out of 10 | Classic Sword & Sorcery!





Overview: A Tale of Egil and Nix
Kill the demon.


Steal the treasure.


Retire to a life of luxury.


Sounds easy when you put it like that.


Unfortunately for Egil and Nix, when the demon they kill has friends in high places, retirement is not an option.




File Under: Fantasy [Derring Don't | Hammer Time | Family Affair | Hell Spawn] 



Review:  I grew up reading classic sword & sorcery fantasy.  Lin Carter, Fritz Leiber, Michael Moorcock, Robert E. Howard.  Sword and Sorcery was by no means the only thing I read but one of my favorite subgenres. In later years, I read R. A. Salvatore, Weis & Hickman's Dragonlance, Gygax's Gord The Rogue series and many more.



Paul S. Kemp's upcoming novel The Hammer and the Blade owes much to Leiber's Fafhrd & The Grey Mouser stories but stands up against them nicely.  This is classic Sword & Sorcery at its best.  The duo of Egil and Nix (a priest of a dead god and a thief) are a memorable pair.  They are accomplished tomb robbers and staunch friends. Their witty banter adds a wonderfully humorous element to a grand adventure. 



This is fantasy for pure fun and adventure.  No epic political intrigue or confusing magic systems, no elements of science fiction thrown in.  Egil and Nix are great characters on quest - battling horrendous demons, diabolical traps, cunning sorcerers, and evil hordes. Their goal is simple - get out alive and try (again) to retire to a life of luxury with their ill-gotten gains. Of course, it's never that simple.

I wholeheartedly recommend this novel to anyone with a love for Sword & Sorcery novels.  Kemp does it right!  You'll love this pair of ne'er do wells and their first adventure in print form.  Mr. Kemp assures me that it will not be the last - there are more Egil and Nix stories on the way - and I can't wait to read them.

Added Today: Philip Wylie, Leigh Brackett, Samuel R. Delaney, Larry Niven, Ron Goulart & more...

[image error] More great vintage-ish SF added to the site today - including this copy of Dell's Binary Star #3 - Dell's version of an Ace Double....



Binary Star #3: Dr. Scofflaw / Outerworld  by Ron Goulart and Isidore Haiblum - Two complete novels in one volume:



Dr. Scofflaw by Ron Goulart: The master criminal was spread all over the place--an arm here, a leg there--and Silvera was obsessed with reassembling Scofflaw. After all, a scattered collection of spare parts can't pay off a ten-grand debt!



Outerworld by Isidore Haiblum: They framed Dunjer as professionally as if he'd been a Picasso original--the dead gang boss, the looted safe--and the evidence that could clear him was long gone, into the enemy-states of the Outerworld.



Flash Gordon by Arthur Byron Cover - MING THE MERCILESS! He rules the planet Mongo with cold terror--and if he has his Imperial way, will conquer the entire universe! But first the King of Mongo must destroy Flash Gordon, the fair-haired earthling and Superbowl Star, destined to challenge his sinister mental forces... Together with Doctor Zarkov and the beautiful Dale Arden, Flash is sent hurtling through interstellar space to the Towers of Mingo City, the heartless armies of the all-seeing secret police, and the deadly creatures and half-human beings lurking in Ming's domains.   There, the space hero has a triple task: survive Ming's onslaught, free his own friends, and save--billions of light-years away--the planet Earth!



When Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer - A runaway planet hurtles toward the earth. As it draws near, massive tidal waves, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions wrack our planet, devastating continents, drowning cities, and wiping out millions. In central North America, a team of scientists race to build a spacecraft powerful enough to escape the doomed earth. Their greatest threat, they soon discover, comes not from the skies but from other humans. A crackling plot and sizzling, cataclysmic vision have made When Worlds Collide one of the most popular and influential end-of-the-world novels of all time.



[image error] Khi to Freedom by Ardath Mayhar - For Hale Enbo, servitude promised freedom!  He loved his life as planetary scout, indentured to the alien Ginli, traveling throughout the universe, finding and befriending the myriads of intelligent life forms.  Until he discovered what his masters were really after.  Until he found one of his new friends staked out on the Ginli's vivisection table...



The Light Bearer by Sam Nicholson - Harems and treasure palaces, pirate hordes and gilded barges...the splendors of Mus-al-ram were typical of a Bronze Age world, with one slight difference: a spaceship hovered above its clouds, observing, planning...   Prince Zeid, whose subjects called him Light-Bearer, lusted after the Space Givers'knowledge. Prince Rustard lusted after the moonship's jewels and gold. And then there was the pirate girl, Coral Bud, who lusted after the Light-Bearer himself!



The Practice Effect by David Brin - Dennis Nuel is a physicist who, during his research, develops a machine that allows him to explore alternate realities, each of which sport some very strange scientific properties.



The Neutral Stars by Dan Morgan and John Kippax - United Earth Government couldn't get past the vast appropriations needed to commandeer an entire planet-necessary to experiment with the titanic forces that would be unleashed while doing research on a warp-drive. And meanwhile, Venturer Twelve and her sister ships continued to protect Earth Sector as best they could, knowing aliens must already have the drive. But their worst enemy was right here on Earth.



The Hounds of Skath by Leigh Brackett - Leigh Brackett's unforgettable science-fantasy hero of The Secret of Sinharat and The Ginger Star cuts a red swath across the brutal planet Skaith Having killed the king-dog Flay in his quest to save an old friend and mentor, Stark now wanders the Worldheart in the company of nine ferocious canines that respond to his every command. Ruling the hounds of Skaith means tapping into the savagery of Stark's own mysterious past, and even a moment's hesitation could turn the pack against him!



The Descent of Anansi by Larry Niven and Stephen Barnes - It's the American Revolution all over again. But this time it's a ragtag band of space colonists vs. the United States. And the fate of the world hangs by a thread--200 miles above the earth.



Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delaney - The story of a truly galactic civilization with over 6,000 inhabited worlds.



Face of the Enemy by Richard Fawkes - The Interstellar Defense League is claiming rights to a string of rich colonies, and the Pan-Stellar Combine and the Mercantile Union are squabbling over wormhole transit routes. Remor is bent on eradicating all trace of humankind from space. In a pitched galaxy-wide battle for survival, the crucial conflict may come on an out-of-the-way jungle planet called Chugen.



Flameweaver by Margaret Ball - After her expulsion from the priesthood, Tamai is sent to obtain fabled rifles for her people and comes under the protection of a British Officer's Lady. Becoming friends, Tamai and Louisa Westbrook head to Tamai's homeland, Gandhara, where Louisa becomes a full-fledged priestess gifted with occult powers unseen in Gandhara since the glory days.



PLUS: Just cataloged a beautiful copy of the Special Illustrated Edition of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown - The murder of an elderly curator at the Louvre soon entangles Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon in a race against time to decipher a labyrinthine puzzle before an ancient secret--and an explosive historical truth--are lost forever.



Special illustrated edition is packed with over 160 images of artwork, symbols, architecture and historic locations associated with the text.

[image error]

First Trailer released for Dr. Seuss's THE LORAX

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/universal/thelorax/



Incredible animation, great cast, and what seems to be a creatively fleshed-out back-story to bring it up to movie length.



I'm definitely eager to see this.  The Lorax has always been one of my favorite Seuss stories.



Cast includes:



Danny DeVito

Betty White

Zac Efron

Taylor Swift

Willow Smith

Ed Helms

And the bestselling Science Fiction series of all time? .....

Perry Rhodan!



In the most part due to the German pulp magazine Perry Rhodans, this series has sold more than 1 Billion copies worldwide.  The weekly serial began in 1961 and is still issuing weekly today in Germany.



Ace Books and Forest J. Ackerman published some 117 translated issues in novel format during the 1970s but, primarily due to marketing difficulties, the series has never been as popular here as it is overseas.



Several years ago kept most all of the series in stock at all times, letting that stock lapse without replacement about 8 years ago.  Those copies I had have since sold out and I hadn't seen any for some time - until excavating a box of vintage SF&F from one of our storage areas this morning.  Inside, among some other gems of 60s and 70s SF&F, was 1 1/2 dozen or so Perry Rhodans.



Unfortunately, many of them had some damage - likely why I never shelved them for sale years ago.  Several are moisture-stained - a flaw that will typically consign a book to my woodstove during the winter. The scarcity of the long out-of-print Rhodans has saved these few though.  Most of these are reading copies.. not for display - and are priced accordingly.



Perry Rhodans available today:



#13: The Immortal Unknown

#28: The Plague of Oblivion

#50: Attack From The Unseen

#57: A Touch of Eternity

#59: Interlude on Siliko 5

#70 Thora's Sacrifice

#73: Spaceship of Ancestors

#79: The Sleepers

#96: Horn: Green

#101: Blockade: Lepso

More vintage SF&F added today....

Second batch today of vintage science fiction and fantasy.. including a couple scarce titles.



Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis - The first novel in C.S. Lewis's classic sci-fi trilogy which tells the adventure of Dr Ransom who was kidnapped and transported to another planet. Dr Ransom is a Cambridge academic who is captured whilst on a walking tour and forced into a spaceship by two men. With them he flies to Malacandra (Mars) . There he escapes his captors and discovers an amazing range of rational creatures on the planet, and in addition, spiritual creatures. Through the story of the Malacandrans, spiritual truths concerning the planet Earth are uncovered. Lewis tells the tale with a wealth of imagination and sense of adventure, drawing out the realities of good and evil, God and the devil from the fantasy.



Tide by Zach Hughes - An experiment in radiation treatment of fish produces mutations in the microscopic dino-flagellates the fish feed on. The result in the fish is horrifyingly abnormal aggressiveness - toward other fish and even against man.



Mindmix by Leo P. Kelley - A strange virus was creeping slowly over the earth like a monster, wiping out millions of lives. The finest scientific minds. The greatest geniuses of art and literature. The rich. The poor. All were doomed.



[image error] The Towers of Melnon [Richard Blade #15] by Jeffrey Lord - After fourteen successive trips to Dimension X, Blade is still the most nearly perfect physical and mental specimen on planet Earth.  But on this, his fifteenth journey, all his faculties as both a warrior and a man are stretched to their outermost limits.



Other Richard Blade titles in stock:

#6: Monster of the Maze

#7: Pearl of Patmos

#10: The Ice Dragon

#13: The Golden Steed

#17: The Mountains of Brega

#24: The Dragons of Englor



The Nets of Space by Emil Petaja - The Centaur expedition to the far stars had vanished - no trace, no clue.  But, back on Earth, Centaur project worker Don Quick, under an overdose of time-space gas, had strange dreams - dreams of a monstrous race of beings that spread their nets across the galactic wastes, and lovingly prepared and ate their catch!



It was too terrible to believe - but then one weak signal came through from space: "The Nets - The Nets!"



Seven Trips Through Time and Space edited by Groff Conklin - an awesome anthology of SF from the masters containing: "Flatlander" by Larry Niven; "The Crime and Glory of Commander Suzdal" by Cordwainer Smith; "Overproof" by Jonathan Blake Mackenzie; "Poor Planet" by J. T. McIntosh; "Shamar's War" by Kris Neville; "The Tactful Saboteur" by Frank Herbert; and "Ministry of Disturbance" by H. Beam Piper.



Beachhead Planet by Robert Moore Williams - From a far galaxy the Narks had come, hungering for the tempting green planet called Earth. First they invaded the mind of the world's greatest scientist, Erasmus Brockner. Then they had him build them an impregnable fortress deep in the Nevada mountains. From this lair went out their human slaves, fanning out like a contagion across the globe. The Narks were ready for the final step in their monstrous design, when a man named Valthor stumbled onto the truth-and swore to defeat them or die...



Ability Quotient by Mack Reynolds - When the Asian Wars were over Major Bert Alshuler had few prospects, until Mid-West University asked him to take part in an "educational experiment" that would test the effect of certain drugs on his I.Q.



The project was top secret, but it looked like an easy way to make money and get an education, so Bert saw no reason to worry - until his girlfriend was kidnapped...and someone tried to kill him.



And then he discovered just what the drugs were doing to him - he was more than an educational experiment...HE WAS THE FIRST MAN OF THE NEW HUMAN RACE.



The Journey of Joenes by Robert Sheckley - Joenes set out on his great Journey, venturing to the legendary land of America.  There he encountered mysteries of yore, beings of legend: for he saw New York, the great city of the walking dead; he stood before the dreaded warlocks of the Congressional Committee and was given justice by the computer priests of the Sperry Oracle; he even witnessed the High Security measures of the Octagon, until at last he discovered the secret at the center of its forbidden maze.



Robert Sheckley has always been one of my favorite old-school SF authors.  Spider Robinson said once "I don't know of anyone else in SF who has written so many really classic stories... wittier than Pohl, blacker than Lenny Bruce, subtler and more bent than the Firesigns and Monty Python put together."



This particular title has been out of print for some time and is rather scarce in any condition.  This copy is in good condition but priced low... grab it before it's gone!

[image error]