Sarah Chorn's Blog, page 82

My Invitation Was Accepted (AKA: The Epic SQUEE)

This week has been absolutely amazing, but a lot of what is so amazing about it is something I can’t talk about right now. The other part of what is so awesome happened last night, and I CAN talk about that.

I have an open invitation to authors: If you people ever travel through this area where I live, I want to meet you and I will take you out to lunch/dinner. I never really expected anyone to take me up on it, but I guess if you bother someone often enough, they finally relent and take pity on this bookworm’s soul.

Such was last night, with Peter Orullian.

Peter comes in town each year for a small conference called LTUE. I haven’t ever been able to go before, because I’ve been way too sick for years to do anything. This year is the first year I’m not too sick to get involved in stuff like that, to think outside of my sphere of existence, and really engage in the genre I love so much. So I bothered our friend Peter until he decided to meet me for dinner, which happened last night between a panel he was on, and the mass autograph session.

We met at the hotel and ate at the restaurant there (which served surprisingly good food) and talked for long enough to make him late to the autograph session (oops). Probably a little over an hour. The sad thing is, I think I could have talked to him for a lot longer than that because he is genuinely fascinating, and it is absolutely wonderful to talk to someone who is in the genre like that, about things from his point of view.

And talk about things, we did. We discussed a lot of different aspects of the SFF community, like websites, and the qualities of the websites we frequently visit that we like so much. I asked him about PR and how that whole thing works through Tor, how he thinks his PR went with the release of The Unremembered. I talked to him a bit about the factors that have delayed the release of his second book. We talked about the magic system and he hinted at some AMAZING things happening in book two that I CANNOT WAIT TO READ. He also talked about how the gap between book one and book two has made him really approach the writing of book two differently. He told me about a friend of his who is writing an urban fantasy series that sounds absolutely amazing and I really, really want to read it (but I forgot to ask what it was called).

Then L.E. Modesitt Jr. came walking through the restaurant and Peter said, “Hang on, let me introduce you to L.E.” At which point I just about passed out. So Peter called him to our table and I think I might have had some minor heart attacks in quick succession. we shook hands. Peter introduced me as “Sarah, who runs Bookworm Blues, the best genre blog around” (cue minor palpitations). L.E. Modesitt Jr. handed me this book with all of his books in it (and wow, has that guy written some books) and I later got him to sign it for me.

It was a totally surreal night, and I’m absolutely floored that I got to talk to him on a one-on-one level like that.

1. A few things I learned, Peter Orullian is genuinely one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met.

2. His series is going places, and I really want to read the next book (which is estimated to be released in a year, so brace yourselves).

3. I really feel like I could have talked to him for hours, because the hour I did have with him flew by.

The last point really drives home a lot of what I’ve been thinking about recently, in regards to the genre community, my website, and my place in it. I do this for fun. I run this website because I love reading, and I want everyone else to love reading and get excited about books, too. It was wonderful to talk to someone who felt the same way about the genre as I do. You know what this whole conversation really made me understand? That the love of this vibrant, beautiful community is a powerful thing, and when people embrace that enthusiasm, and come together in it, amazing things can happen.

Here I was, sitting across a table from an author that has fascinated me for years, talking about various aspects of being a writer, like I belonged there or something. I say it online a lot, but our similarities are far more numerous than our differences, and last night proved it. The two of us live in different states, with different experiences, and different perspectives (one of us being in the industry and the other – me – just yapping over here on the sidelines) but that enthusiasm bound us together and last night was an absolute joy for it. I learned a lot, and I smiled and laughed a lot. He’s a very nice guy, but more than that, he solidified my desire to try and be a positive force in this community I love so much, because there is so damn much to be positive about.

So thanks to Peter Orullian for such an incredible night. I personally would have loved to talk longer because it seems like there is so much that we could easily talk about, but all things must end. Luckily for those of us in this fair state, I think he’s going to come back for a few other conferences this year, he was talking about possibly coming Westercon, and Salt Lake Comic Con. I have promised him that the next time he is in town, we will have to meet up for another meal.

Officially? Having dinner with a well known author can get crossed off my bucket list. I’m hoping that is just the first of many, as our conversation really gave me some fascinating, unique insights into this community, from an author’s perspective, that I haven’t ever had before. It illuminated a lot of the strengths of our community, and some of the problems we face as well. Very, very cool… and very neat to be able to see things from an author’s perspective. Invaluable, really.

Big thanks to Peter Orullian for such an incredible evening. You just made this crazy bookworm’s life.

Books I’m Eyeing

Ah yes, it is that time again. Friday, sweet Friday, where I post links to other reviews that other people worked hard to write so I don’t have to (today).

In other news, tonight all of my badgering, bugging, coercing, and otherwise annoying someone pays off. Peter Orullian, the author of The Unremembered, is in town for a con (Life, the Universe and Everything). I am meeting up with him tonight, where I will bother him about various geekish things. I will get him to leave his autograph on something. I will ask him questions and bask in the glow of hanging out with an author. Of course I will let all you fine folks know about anything I learned that is hardcore or otherwise noteworthy. But basically, I’M EXCITED!!

So, back to the point of this post. Books I’m Eyeing is a weekly feature directing your attention to the books that other people have highlighted on their websites that got my attention. It is my small way to get their very worthy websites more traffic, and to show some books that may or may not have flown under your radar.

What books are you eyeing?

—

The Fifty-Seven Lives of Alex Wayfare – M.G. Buehrlen

Discovery blamed on: The Founding Fields

About the Book

For as long as 17-year-old Alex Wayfare can remember, she has had visions of the past. Visions that make her feel like she’s really on a ship bound for America, living in Jamestown during the Starving Time, or riding the original Ferris wheel at the World’s Fair.

But these brushes with history pull her from her daily life without warning, sometimes leaving her with strange lasting effects and wounds she can’t explain. Trying to excuse away the aftereffects has booked her more time in the principal’s office than in any of her classes and a permanent place at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Alex is desperate to find out what her visions mean and get rid of them.

It isn’t until she meets Porter, a stranger who knows more than should be possible about her, that she learns the truth: Her visions aren’t really visions. Alex is a Descender – capable of traveling back in time by accessing Limbo, the space between Life and Afterlife. Alex is one soul with fifty-six past lives, fifty-six histories.

Fifty-six lifetimes to explore: the prospect is irresistible to Alex, especially when the same mysterious boy with soulful blue eyes keeps showing up in each of them. But the more she descends, the more it becomes apparent that someone doesn’t want Alex to travel again. Ever.

And will stop at nothing to make this life her last.

—

The Copper Promise – Jen Williams

Discovery blamed on: Civilian Reader

About the Book

There are some far-fetched rumours about the caverns beneath the Citadel…

Some say the mages left their most dangerous secrets hidden there; others, that great riches are hidden there; even that gods have been imprisoned in its darkest depths.

For Lord Frith, the caverns hold the key to his vengeance. Against all the odds, he has survived torture and lived to see his home and his family taken from him … and now someone is going to pay. For Wydrin of Crosshaven and her faithful companion, Sir Sebastian Caverson, a quest to the Citadel looks like just another job. There’s the promise of gold and adventure. Who knows, they might even have a decent tale or two once they’re done.

But sometimes there is truth in rumour.

Soon this reckless trio will be the last line of defence against a hungry, restless terror that wants to tear the world apart. And they’re not even getting paid.

—

The Iron Wolves – Andy Remic

Discovery blamed on: King of the Nerds

About the Book

Thirty years ago, the Iron Wolves held back mud-orc hordes at the Pass of Splintered Bones, and led a brutal charge that saw the sorcerer Morkagoth slain. This ended the War of Zakora, and made the Iron Wolves heroes.

Now, a new terror stalks the realm. In hushed whispers, it is claimed the Horse Lady, Orlana the Changer, has escaped from the Chaos Halls and is building an army, twisting horses, lions and bears into terrible, bloody hunters, summoning mud-orcs from then slime and heading north to Vagandrak where, it said, the noble King Yoon has gone insane…

After hearing a prophecy from a blind seer, aged General Dalgoran searches to reunite the heroes of old for what he believes will be the final battle. But as mud-orcs and twisted beasts tear through the land, Dalgoran discovers the Iron Wolves are no longer heroes of legend… Narnok is a violent whoremaster, Kiki a honey-leaf drug peddler, and Prince Zastarte a drinker, a gambler, amoral and decadent: now he likes to hear people scream as they burn…

United in hate, the Iron Wolves travel to the Pass of Splintered Bones; and as half a million mud-orcs gather, General Dalgoran realises his grave error. Together, the Iron Wolves hold a terrible secret which has tortured them for three decades. Now, they only wish to be human again.

—

Black Moon – Kenneth Calhoun

Discovery blamed on: Civilian Reader

About the Book

Insomnia has claimed everyone Biggs knows.  Even his beloved wife, Carolyn, has succumbed to the telltale red-rimmed eyes, slurred speech and cloudy mind before disappearing into the quickly collapsing world.  Yet Biggs can still sleep, and dream, so he sets out to find her.

He ventures out into a world ransacked by mass confusion and desperation, where he meets others struggling against the tide of sleeplessness.  Chase and his buddy Jordan are devising a scheme to live off their drug-store lootings; Lila is a high school student wandering the streets in an owl mask, no longer safe with her insomniac parents; Felicia abandons the sanctuary of a sleep research center to try to protect her family and perhaps reunite with Chase, an ex-boyfriend.  All around, sleep has become an infinitely precious commodity. Money can’t buy it, no drug can touch it, and there are those who would kill to have it. However, Biggs persists in his quest for Carolyn, finding a resolve and inner strength that he never knew he had.

Kenneth Calhoun has written a brilliantly realized and utterly riveting depiction of a world gripped by madness, one that is vivid, strange, and profoundly moving.

—

The Girl With All The Gifts – M.J. Carey

Discovery blamed on: The Speculative Scotsman

About the Book

Melanie is a very special girl. Dr Caldwell calls her ‘our little genius’. Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite, but they don’t laugh. Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children’s cells. She tells her favourite teacher all the things she’ll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn’t know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.

The Waking Engine – David Edison

About the Book

Welcome to the City Unspoken, where Gods and Mortals come to die.

Contrary to popular wisdom, death is not the end, nor is it a passage to some transcendent afterlife. Those who die merely awake as themselves on one of a million worlds, where they are fated to live until they die again, and wake up somewhere new. All are born only once, but die many times . . . until they come at last to the City Unspoken, where the gateway to True Death can be found.

Wayfarers and pilgrims are drawn to the City, which is home to murderous aristocrats, disguised gods and goddesses, a sadistic faerie princess, immortal prostitutes and queens, a captive angel, gangs of feral Death Boys and Charnel Girls . . . and one very confused New Yorker.

Late of Manhattan, Cooper finds himself in a City that is not what it once was. The gateway to True Death is failing, so that the City is becoming overrun by the Dying, who clot its byzantine streets and alleys . . . and a spreading madness threatens to engulf the entire metaverse.

400 pages (hardcover)

Published on February 11, 2014

Published by Tor

Author’s webpage 

This book was sent for me to review by the publisher.

—

I always enter reviews like this with a sort of terrified feeling. This is Edison’s first novel, and I’m going to admit with absolute honesty here, the entire reason I was excited about it (at first) was because the cover art just spoke to me on that one level that cover art rarely speaks to me on. It’s incredible. Then, I (a little late, I admit) read what the book was about, and I started to get even more exciting.

Then I got scared.

With a first novel, and a first novel that is this bold, unorthodox, and absolutely unique, there are a lot of places for first authors to really show how first-author-ish they are (if that makes any sense at all). A lot rides on the review for a first time author. How will they take it? Will what I say make an impact? I get kind of paranoid. I hate feeling like the person who poo-poos on someone’s lifetime achievement.

Thankfully, I don’t have to do that this time.

The Waking Engine is something else entirely, and by something else, I mean something totally different, but different in a good way. This is one of those books that is a delicious mix of fantasy, reality, speculation, philosophy, and science fiction. It’s a little bit of everything and a whole lot of its own animal. The City Unspoken is quite a place, neither here nor there, but somewhere all its own, both a gateway to a mystery and a delectable hodgepodge of cultures. Not just Earth cultures, but cultures from all sorts of places – places we couldn’t even dream of.

It would be easy for Edison to get mired in the details, and let the city bog down the flow of his story. Let me be honest for a moment, at times he does get a little mired in the details, but those details are astounding. Edison really spends time bringing this important city to life for the reader and he does it so vividly that you feel like you are there. Yes, at times the descriptions can slow down the flow, but he’s doing it for a good reason. He’s making the City Unspoken an important character in the novel. That might sound weird, a city being a character in a book, but in some books that is absolutely essential, as it is in The Waking Engine. No matter what else you may think of this novel, the City Unspoken will absolutely astound and amaze you.

That point nicely dovetails into my next  – the real amazing part of this book. It isn’t the story, or the characters, or even the city. While all of that is absolutely wonderful, the real beauty of The Waking Engine is Edison’s stunning ability to write. To put it simply: This guy can string some words together to create one hell of a beautiful work of art. It is nice, for a change, to read a book that you can appreciate not just for the story, but also simply because the author knows how to write beautifully.

“The day had corrupted the blue sky, and the promising morning had already miscarried into a sickly yellow noonday – the twin suns fused into a kind of angry mating, their orbs gone orange, streams of red-black plasma arcing between them as they grew steadily closer together. Another costume change for the sky above the City Unspoken.”

The plot, essentially, circles around the philosophical point that death isn’t really the end. Dropped into the center of that bit of knowledge is our protagonist, one very confused man by the name of Cooper. Cooper is a character that I enjoyed, but never quite cared too much about. He’s an everyman and anyman. There really isn’t anything terribly amazing about him other than the fact that he’s in this very odd place, for reasons unknown. He develops as the plot progresses, but I often felt that he was dwarfed by the things happening around him, or the city itself. Things spiral from the point when Cooper is found, but that’s really what you need to know until you read the book. Now, that seems simple, right? Well it really isn’t.

This is where my “roses and puppy farts” review ends. Sorry.

As I mentioned above, sometimes Edison can get bogged down in the details and descriptions, which I can enjoy, and his stunning prose really helps me enjoy those details and plot-bogging moments. The problem that readers may run into is that this book has an overly complex feel to it. There are so many layers of thought behind everything that is going on, from the world building, to the plot direction, the character developments – everything. This is a very philosophical novel, and while I tend to enjoy my novels with a bit more bite, some meat for me to gnaw on and thoughts to weigh me down a bit, it almost felt like there was too much of all of that crammed into this book. At times, the events and descriptions were so complex, I had a hard time puzzling out what exactly was going on and what I, as a reader, was supposed to take away from it.

In all reality, if that is my main complaint from a first novel, that’s pretty good, but the reason I want to add a caveat to that, is because it is a big complaint. That issue doesn’t just come and go occasionally throughout the novel. This is one of those books that keeps your thought muscle exercising the whole time you read it. I think readers will either love or hate that aspect of the book. You’ll either love it because this book is so far beneath the surface, and that is absolutely fascinating to you. Or you’ll hate it because the depth of it might overpower the plot and characterization to the point where you lose interest.

So, what are my final thoughts?

The Waking Engine is incredibly untraditional. It is a beautifully written book with a shocking amount of depth. While some readers might feel like the depth and philosophy behind it all can be a bit too much, readers who aren’t turned off by that are really in for a treat. Edison’s first novel is brave. He strays from the popular path, from genre tropes and common fantasies, and blazes his own trail. The Waking Engine makes you work, and that’s half the charm. The other half of the charm lies in Edison’s prose, and the City Unspoken, which is one of the most vibrant, alive, and thought provoking places I’ve read about recently. If this is the starting point for Edison’s career as an author then truly the stars are the limit.

Bravo, Edison. I can’t wait to see what you churn out next.

 

4/5 stars

 

I’m over on SF Signal (twice)

You can find me over on SF Signal (twice) right now.

1. I am attempting to make a Special Needs in Strange Worlds reading list, so head over there and tell me about ALL THE BOOKS I’ve missed (and there are a TON, I know).

2. You can also find me on the SF Signal podcast talking about when the second book is better than the first.

Check it out!

The Shining Girls – Lauren Beukes

About the Book

THE GIRL WHO WOULDN’T DIE HUNTS THE KILLER WHO SHOULDN’T EXIST.

The future is not as loud as war, but it is relentless. It has a terrible fury all its own.” 

Harper Curtis is a killer who stepped out of the past. Kirby Mazrachi is the girl who was never meant to have a future.

Kirby is the last shining girl, one of the bright young women, burning with potential, whose lives Harper is destined to snuff out after he stumbles on a House in Depression-era Chicago that opens on to other times.

At the urging of the House, Harper inserts himself into the lives of the shining girls, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He’s the ultimate hunter, vanishing into another time after each murder, untraceable-until one of his victims survives.

Determined to bring her would-be killer to justice, Kirby joins the Chicago Sun-Times to work with the ex-homicide reporter, Dan Velasquez, who covered her case. Soon Kirby finds herself closing in on the impossible truth.

375 pages (hardcover)

Published on June 4, 2013

Published by Mulholland Books

Author’s webpage

This book was sent for me to review by the publisher.

—

I’ve put off reading and reviewing The Shining Girls for a ridiculous amount of time. It’s not because I didn’t want to review the book, but because books that are so incredibly hyped up tend to put me off. Everyone else is reviewing them, what could I possibly say that hasn’t already been said? Then, Mulholland Books sent me a surprise copy of the new paperback version of the book in the mail and my excitement overwhelmed me. I read it and now I am reviewing it. Lucky you.

The thing is, I like psychological books. I enjoy books where the antagonist is a real piece of crap that really manages to get in my head and keep me up at night. The Shining Girls has that in spades. On the other hand, I hate time travel. I never can mentally get my head to a place where time travel makes any reasonable amount of sense to me. It’s no different in The Shining Girls. However, Beukes makes up for my problem with the logical leap by the fact that her antagonist is basically batshit insane and so self-involved and weirdly tunnel-vision-motivated through most of the book that the logic problems I always face with time travel never really come into play here.

The reason the time travel works so well isn’t just because of the weird antagonist, but also largely due to Beukes fantastic use of narrative. She does a great job at establishing a very real world with enough arbitrary, but real aspects that the times easily blend together. It makes it easy for the reader to believe that Harper just opens the door one day and walks from the 1930’s into the 1970’s (or whenever else). There’s enough cultural blending and fuzzy edges to make each time and place seem real, but somewhat universal at the same time.

The reason this is important is because, without my need to focus on pesky time travel, I could spend a lot more time focusing on the plot and characters and the various side plots that are going on. The truth is, The Shining Girls is almost doggedly focused on its overarching plot, which is a good thing when you think about all the time travel and world building aspects thrown in. Too much packed into this book would have made it very, very messy. Instead, Beukes wisely decided to focus on the main plot, the characters and the world, with some small side plots thrown in here and there for good measure. It keeps this (fantastically) messy book incredibly neat and easy to read.

Harper is a fascinating character that you can’t really help but love despite yourself. He’s one of those characters that I love so much because he is so intensely real and creepy. I wanted to take a shower after I read passages with him in it. I know that sounds weird, but that is actually a testament to how incredibly real this book and these characters are. It’s very rare that I read a book with characters or situations that are so real I want to hose myself down afterward. Harper does that for me. In contrast, Kirby was also very real, but she felt very broken, and very lost for much of the book. While she was just as well realized, her personality felt more fluid, and harder to pin down than Harper’s. It took me a longer time to warm up to her story, and find it as fascinating as Harper’s, than I expected.

Thinking back on the book, I think one of the most interesting aspects of it is just how well Beukes managed to weave together the story into one powerful, climactic, very unexpected ending. The Shining Girls isn’t what I expected at all, and that’s the real strength of it. Nothing is what it seems to be, and Beukes masterfully plays her audience, slowly revealing what is going on as the book progresses, and really managing to get into our minds. It is incredible, it really is. However, despite the complexities, and the layers (and there are a lot of both), Beukes never really loses her way. She never gets mired in the details or bogged down by events, or her very (very) powerful characters. She stays true to her course, and because of that, this book is such a fast read, because you’re pulled so far into it that you can’t really surface until it’s over. It’s so incredibly rare when that happens – when an author can tell such a complex, powerful, twisted story and manage to keep her readers moving effortlessly through the whole thing, all the while managing to tie things up so neatly.

I’d love…. LOVE…. to spend an afternoon with the woman that can write a book like that.

I often complain about the fact that I absolutely love Stephen King, but I get really annoyed with how wordy he is. Why say something in ten words when you can say it in 2,000? There is a time and place for that, and sometimes that’s really what I want, but most of the time I want books like The Shining Girls, where each word is cunningly used to lead the readers along on this confusion, very psychological path. The atmosphere is amazing. The world is very well done. The time travel actually didn’t annoy me for once. Harper is probably one of my favorite creepy characters I’ve ever read. This book got right into my head, and I read it so fast it was ridiculous. This shows Beukes at her finest. This is skill. This is talent. This is how psychological/horror/mystery/time travel books are supposed to be written. Stephen King-esque, but better. So much better.

 

5/5 stars

Books I’m Eyeing

Alright, it is time for Books I’m Eyeing. This week I have a few that are yet-to-be-published (but have me all sorts of excited) and a few that have already been published (and also have me all sorts of excited).

What books are YOU eyeing?

—

Flintlock Fantasy – Stina Leicht

Discovery blamed on: Skiffy and Fanty & Stina Leicht

About the book(s)

“The future for the ancient Kingdom of Eledore is grim. A small pox epidemic is sweeping through the land. A decadent aristocracy employs immense magical powers to quibble with one another, and dominate the populace, the Regnum of Acrasia has declared a holy war against magic, and an ancient evil living beneath Eledore threatens to break free. Can Princess Suvi navigate her family’s deadly politics, create justice for her people, unify the survivors, and hold back a demon horde at the same time? Disowned and cast off, can her twin brother Nels successfully fight a war that no one is willing to acknowledge against a nation whose technology is far superior?” The first book in the new series is titled Cold Iron and the second one has the working title: Blackthorne.”

—

Defenders – Will McIntosh

Discovery blamed on: SF Signal

About the book

When Earth is invaded by telepathic aliens, humanity responds by creating the defenders. They are the perfect warriors–seventeen feet tall, knowing and loving nothing but war, their minds closed to the aliens. The question is, what do you do with millions of genetically-engineered warriors once the war is won?

A novel of power, alliances, violence, redemption, sacrifice, and yearning for connection, DEFENDERS presents a revolutionary story of invasion, occupation, and resistance.

—

 

 

 

The Rook – Daniel O’Malley

Discovery blamed on: The Ranting Dragon

About the Book

The body you are wearing used to be mine.” So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her.

She soon learns that she is a Rook, a high-ranking member of a secret organization called the Chequy that battles the many supernatural forces at work in Britain. She also discovers that she possesses a rare, potentially deadly supernatural ability of her own.

In her quest to uncover which member of the Chequy betrayed her and why, Myfanwy encounters a person with four bodies, an aristocratic woman who can enter her dreams, a secret training facility where children are transformed into deadly fighters, and a conspiracy more vast than she ever could have imagined.

Filled with characters both fascinating and fantastical, THE ROOK is a richly inventive, suspenseful, and often wry thriller that marks an ambitious debut from a promising young writer.

—

Crossover – Joel Shepherd

Discovery blamed on: The Completist

About the book

Crossover is the first novel in a series which follows the adventures of Cassandra Kresnov, an artificial person, or android, created by the League, one side of an interstellar war against the more powerful, conservative Federation. Cassandra is an experimental design — more intelligent, more creative, and far more dangerous than any that have preceded her. But with her intellect come questions, and a moral awakening. She deserts the League and heads incognito into the space of her former enemy, the Federation, in search of a new life.

Her chosen world is Callay, and its enormous, decadent capital metropolis of Tanusha, where the concerns of the war are literally and figuratively so many light years away. But the war between the League and the Federation was ideological as much as political, with much of that ideological dispute regarding the very existence of artificial sentience and the rules that govern its creation. Cassandra discovers that even in Tanusha, the powerful entities of this bloody conflict have wound their tentacles. Many in the League and the Federation have cause to want her dead, and Cassandra’s history, inevitably, catches up with her.

Cassandra finds herself at the mercy of a society whose values preclude her own right even to exist. But her presence in Tanusha reveals other fault lines, and when Federal agents attempt to assassinate the Callayan president, she finds herself thrust into the service of her former enemies, using her lethal skills to attempt to protect her former enemies from forces beyond their ability to control. As she struggles for her place and survival in a new world, Cassandra must forge new friendships with old enemies, while attempting to confront the most disturbing and deadly realities of her own existence

—

The Whitechapel Demon – Joshua Reynolds

Discovery blamed on: The Founding Fields

About the Book

Formed during the reign of Elizabeth I, the post of the Royal Occultist was created to safeguard the British Empire against threats occult, otherworldly, infernal and divine.

It is now 1920, and the title and offices have fallen to Charles St. Cyprian. Accompanied by his apprentice Ebe Gallowglass, they defend the battered empire from the forces of darkness.

In the wake of a séance gone wrong, a monstrous killer is summoned from the depths of nightmare by a deadly murder-cult. The entity hunts its prey with inhuman tenacity even as its worshippers stop at nothing to bring the entity into its full power… It’s up to St. Cyprian and Gallowglass to stop the bloodthirsty horror before another notch is added to its gory tally, but will they become the next victims of the horror guised as London’s most famous killer?

In the tradition of William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki the Ghost-Finder, Josh Reynolds presents the Adventures of the Royal Occultist. Join Charles St. Cyprian and Ebe Gallowglass as they race to halt the workings of a sinister secret society and put an end to the monstrous manifestation in THE WHITECHAPEL DEMON!

—

The Holders – Julianna Scott

Discovery blamed on: A Fantastical Librarian

About the Book

17-year-old Becca spent her whole life protecting her brother from, well, everything. The abandonment of their father, the so called ‘experts’ who insist that voices in his head are unnatural and must be dealt with, and the constant threat of being taken away to some hospital and studied like an animal. When two representatives appear claiming to have the answers to Ryland’s perceived problem, Becca doesn’t buy it for one second. That is until they seem to know things about Ryland and about Becca and Ryland’s family, that forces Becca to concede that there may be more to these people than meets the eye. Though still highly skeptical, Becca agrees to do what’s best for Ryland.

What they find at St. Brigid’s is a world beyond their imagination. Little by little they piece together the information of their family’s heritage, their estranged Father, and the legend of the Holder race that decrees Ryland is the one they’ve been waiting for. However, they are all–especially Becca–in for a surprise that will change what they thought they knew about themselves and their kind.

She meets Alex, a Holder who is fiercely loyal to their race, and for some reason, Becca and Ryland. There’s an attraction between Becca and Alex that can’t be denied, but her true nature seems destined to keep them apart. However, certain destinies may not be as clear cut as everyone has always believed them to be.

Becca is lost, but found at the same time. Can she bring herself to leave Ryland now that he’s settled and can clearly see his future? Will she be able to put the the feelings she has for Alex aside and head back to the US? And can Becca and Ryland ever forgive their father for what he’s done?

—

The Mirror Empire – Kameron Hurley

Discovery blamed on: Angry Robot Books

About the Book

On the eve of a recurring catastrophic event known to extinguish nations and reshape continents, a troubled orphan evades death and slavery to uncover her own bloody past… while a world goes to war with itself.

In the frozen kingdom of Saiduan, invaders from another realm are decimating whole cities, leaving behind nothing but ash and ruin.

As the dark star of the cataclysm rises, an illegitimate ruler is tasked with holding together a country fractured by civil war, a precocious young fighter is asked to betray his family and a half-Dhai general must choose between the eradication of her father’s people or loyalty to her alien Empress.

Through tense alliances and devastating betrayal, the Dhai and their allies attempt to hold against a seemingly unstoppable force as enemy nations prepare for a coming together of worlds as old as the universe itself.

In the end, one world will rise – and many will perish.

—

Silver on the Road – Laura Anne Gilman

Discovery blamed on Laura Anne Gilman

About the Book

Laura Anne Gilman’s SILVER ON THE ROAD, launching The Devil’s West series, the story of a sixteen-year-old growing up in the Devil’s Territory, west of the newly-formed United States, who makes a fateful decision when she signs a contract with the Master of the Territory, and is sent, unprepared, with only a stranger as her companion, into a land where natives and newcomers have an uneasy truce, demons and magicians battle in the crossroads, and only the most desperate settlers try to make a home, to Joe Monti at Saga Press/Simon & Schuster, in a three-book deal, for publication in Fall 2015, by Barry Goldblatt at Barry Goldblatt Literary(World English).

—

And congratulations to Pierce Brown for getting his book, Red Rising, turned into a movie…. and SO SOON after publication. Congratulations! I’m so happy for you!

—

A Very Needed Apology

Yesterday I wrote this post about gender and etc.

It was in response to an email I got that really offended me. However, I wanted my post to be inclusive rather than exclusive. Meaning, I didn’t want my post to be “All The Reasons Why (Insert name here) Is A Dick.” I tend to think we all have more in common than we think we do, so I like to try and pull us all together from those commonalities.

Well, in so doing, I made the decision to leave a lot of context out of my post that only the person who wrote me that email would understand. That was a stupid move on my part, and I ended up offending people without meaning to. Believe it or not, Internet, I am not perfect. I do make mistakes, and I don’t know everything.

Anyway, I edited my post, because I agree with all the comments people made who were offended. I took out the parts that were offensive and ignorant of me to put in there. I also decided to add some context here so people would maybe understand more why I’m so pissed off. Also, I am making a goal to add context in the future. We all need it. I have learned that “inclusive” doesn’t need to mean “inclusive to the point of pissing people off.” Context matters.

Here are some quotes from the email I got (which was in comment to my old review of Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht):

Sarah,

I appreciate your reviews. I just discovered your website and I’m starting to explore some of your older reviews. I just read Of Blood and Honey by S. Leicht and I am very disturbed. I know I’ll send you this letter and you’ll probably call me sexist, but I’m not. I wish women would just be women and stop trying to write like men. They Can’t. They don’t have the right equipment and don’t understand what it is like to be a man. Women writing masculine books disturbs me. Do these women need gender therapy? What does it say about society when women can’t just write women’s books and men can’t just write a man’s book and I can’t write this email to you without being called sexist? I’m just trying to start a discussion. Can women be women and men be men anymore?

(etc etc etc)

I should note I get BUCKETS of email, on all manner of weird topics. Some I reply to, some I ignore, some, like this, spark a rant-fest.

That’s just a snippet of the email. It’s really not much longer than that, but it really regurgitates the main points a few times and then leaves me with a “great work” and a sign off.

Many of the comments in my original post were written as me sort of restating what this dude said in such a way that I hope he’d see it and see what a jackass I thought his email was. I forgot to realize that, without context, other people might read it and think that I was being a jackass. And in a lot of ways, I was.

The thing is, gender and sexuality is a very nuanced area that is really starting to get the limelight in popular culture, literature and etc. There are a lot of opinions, and a lot of people are saying a lot about it. I think that is very exciting, but it’s also an area where a lot of toes can get stepped on very easily. As it was pointed out to me, gender does not equal sex, and I have an odd habit to equate the two without even thinking about it. I think a lot of us do. I’m very glad that I was called out on that. In truth, I’m starting to really do a lot more research right now, and I’m really thinking about the genre and gender in a whole new way. I’m fascinated! Honestly!

I’m not even exaggerating that point. That comment, that point that the offended person left me was hugely enlightening.

And I’m sorry I didn’t add context when I should have. That email made me very mad, and kind of slipped into an “I know what I’m doing, I’m sure everyone else will, too” mode. I do that sometimes.

I appreciate being called out on that, because in all reality, I’m not lying when I say that discussion is where progress happens. I’m not afraid to admit that I’m stupid, make mistakes, and occasionally look like a gigantic roaring ass. I’m also not afraid to admit when I’m doing all those things and apologize for it. Gender is such an exciting area right now, and I’m brand new to exploring it. For so long I was so absorbed in my cancer battle, a lot of these nuanced conversations were too deep, too much of a mental exercise for me to focus on. I’m really starting to dive into these areas and look at things a whole new way.

Thanks to @Loerwyn for calling me out. I hope the context I’ve added here helps a bit with my stupid errors. I edited my post to hopefully take out the offensive parts I added due to my own social programming and preconceived notions that I am trying very hard to override. Education is the first step, and I’m doing a ton of research and I’m really excited about how this evolving area of understanding will effect the genre I love so much. In more mundane news, this whole exchange has made me want to read Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie again, as I think she was really onto something with her interesting use of “she” and “he”.

Context matters, and I hope my context and my apology has eased some ruffled feathers. Progress happens when people aren’t afraid to call others out on their mistakes they may (or may not) make ignorantly. I appreciate @Loerwyn for being brave enough to foster change, start discussion, and get the wheels of my mind moving. I always appreciate an opportunity to broaden my horizons and understanding.

Isn’t that what life is all about?

And I humbly apologize for being a blubbering ass.

Hey Ladies, You Should Stop Writing Such Dude-ish Dudes.

Yep, another tongue-in-cheek title. Sorry.

—

I’m not exactly sure when it happened, but somewhere along the way books became genderfied. Or something. I’m saying this because yesterday I received an email from someone who was talking about a book and said, “but you’d probably not enjoy it because you’re a woman.” The sad thing is, this isn’t even the twentieth letter or comment I’ve read that said something like that. Not even the thirtieth.

Generally speaking I don’t think people even realize how something like that comes across, but it really rubs me the wrong way and makes me ask a few important questions. Can woman write a masculine book and can a man write a feminine book? And just what the hell is the definition of a masculine a masculine and feminine book? Are there rules in place that authors and readers need to be aware of so they write and read only books that appeal to their gender? Honestly, I wonder what these beliefs and viewpoints automatically make people infer about my reviewing.

I enjoy books for a lot of different reasons, but one of the primary reasons is because books don’t tell me what to enjoy or how to enjoy it. I can read whatever I want, and I can enjoy it to whatever level I desire. It doesn’t matter that I’m a woman. A book doesn’t do physical exam and refuse to open if my plumbing isn’t right. It doesn’t care.

I’m not sure why people apply these gender rules to books, because they don’t make any sense to me at all. Books transcend gender. I know some male reviewers who enjoy urban fantasy (a subgenre that is often referred to as a “chick” genre by lots of people) far more than I do (and I’m a “chick”). I tend to enjoy darker, bloodier, and grittier epics than a lot of men I know whom I review with. Maybe I’m the outlier, but when I talk books with people, I don’t really care what gender the person is, as long as they have something to contribute to the conversation.

The thing that really gets me about these viewpoints is how absolutely limiting they are. If I only read books that were considered “girl books” then I’d be so stunted (that’s if anyone even agreed on a definition of what a “girl book” was). It’s not just limiting reading material that bothers me, though. That sort of segregation stunts on so many levels. However, It’s the fight that so many authors have to put up just to write the stories they want to tell without any assumptions from readers that gets me. Saying things like, “you probably wouldn’t like that book because you’re a girl” just continues the trend and feeds into the stereotypes, slamming readers and careers into cookie-cutter boxes without even realizing it.

Believe it or not, women can write gritty fantasy and SciFi. Women can also write male characters, fight scenes, and cursing. And on the flip side, all you need to do is talk to this guy to know that men can write some pretty touching, emotional books featuring female characters and steamy scenes.

Books don’t depend on gender, and authors don’t check the Gender Rule Book before they set down to tell a story. There aren’t “Masculine Story” rules and “Feminine Story Rules” and the fact that some authors and readers out there think that stories are “masculine” and “feminine” actually kind of insults me. That sort of lingo puts rules and stipulations on something that I enjoy purely because it has no real rules. I do not go to a separate section of the library to pick my books out. Are authors like Stina Leicht, Janny Wurts, and Teresa Frohock doing it wrong because they write vibrant, well-developed male characters? Should we send them all a letter saying, “Hey, I’m sorry but your dudes are too dude-ish and you are too woman-ish so you should probably stop now.”

My sarcasm aside, it’s rather humbling to see just how much female authors still have to battle in the genre. While it seems to me that sexism should be a nonissue – it seems so logical that gender just shouldn’t matter – it’s still very much an issue. As I touched on in Kameron Hurley’s AMA:

My question: When I first read your book God’s War, I went on Twitter and said something like, “Anyone who says women can’t write gritty SpecFic haven’t read books by Kameron Hurley.” I said that comment sort of tongue-in-cheek, but it made me wonder – as a woman, do you feel like there are some assumptions about your writing that you are fighting against? If so, what are they?

Hurley’s Answer: Yes. I was actually emailing another woman writer about this the other day, who’s considering a gender-neutral name. I think there are expectations about what women can and should write and how what they create is marketed. I’ve worked incredibly hard – both with the GW [God's War] books and with this one upcoming – to position these the way I would see them positioned if they were written by dudes, which is ACTION BLOW SHIT UP BUGPUNK RIOT APOCALYPSE in the first case and EPIC WORLDS AT WAR HOLY SHIT UNLIKELY CHAMPIONS COME INTO SUPERPOWERS SENTIENT PLANTS SATELLITE MAGIC MY GOD BUY FIFTY COPIES. But there are some folks who go, “Oh, God’s War is written by a woman? Is is a YA Romance?” and I’m like, uh… wha….? And with this epic I’m like IT’S FUCKING EPIC WHOLE WORLDS CRASH TOGETHER BLOOD PORTALS AAHAHAH and they’re like, “Oh, so it’s a romance, then?” and I’m like AAAAHAA. I got a lot of feedback on this one about it being “too complex” which I thought was wacky, because, like, Wheel of Time is simplistic? But I did start to wonder if that was about people expecting something different from me than what I actually wrote.

I think Hurley’s statement is probably true for a lot of women out there writing and enjoying the genre. Most women don’t dress like video game characters. Just because I am a woman doesn’t mean I automatically go to the romance section of the library, crave alpha males, and love to read about the woman who nurtures the lost and looks to fall in love. There’s nothing wrong with those stories, but I tend to prefer my literature a bit bloodier, and a whole lot darker. And that’s fine. Furthermore, the women authors out there can, and do, write just as well as any man – sometimes even better. The genre is alive and well purely because of diversity. Speculative fiction pushes boundaries and questions the norm. It demands that its readers do the same, so why are so many of us so hooked on these old gender ideals? And has anyone stopped and thought about the effects of these gender-centric viewpoints on authors, readers, and even society?

I want my daughter to go to the library and pick up any book she wants – a book about trucks or a book about dolls. Knowing her, she’ll probably pick up a book about animals, because that’s how she rolls. I don’t care. I just want her to read and love reading. I never want her to read what girls are “supposed” to read. I never, ever, want that thought to enter her head. I don’t think that’s too much to ask, but when I’m told that I won’t like a book because I’m a woman, or hear that women can’t write masculine stories, I start wondering if my dream of a gender-less library is too far fetched. What are we doing to ourselves?

To summarize this rambling diatribe:

I can read whatever the hell I want, and I can enjoy it however I so choose.
Authors can write whatever the hell they want, however the hell they want to write it.
So can you.

Regardless of your plumbing.

 

The Emperor’s Blades – Brian Staveley

About the Book

When the emperor of Annur is murdered, his children must fight to uncover the conspiracy—and the ancient enemy—that effected his death.

Kaden, the heir apparent, was for eight years sequestered in a remote mountain monastery, where he learned the inscrutable discipline of monks devoted to the Blank God. Their rituals hold the key to an ancient power which Kaden must master before it’s too late. When an imperial delegation arrives to usher him back to the capital for his coronation, he has learned just enough to realize that they are not what they seem—and enough, perhaps, to successfully fight back.

Meanwhile, in the capital, his sister Adare, master politician and Minister of Finance, struggles against the religious conspiracy that seems to be responsible for the emperor’s murder. Amid murky politics, she’s determined to have justice—but she may be condemning the wrong man.

Their brother Valyn is struggling to stay alive. He knew his training to join the Kettral— deadly warriors who fly massive birds into battle—would be arduous. But after a number of strange apparent accidents, and the last desperate warning of a dying guard, he’s convinced his father’s murderers are trying to kill him, and then his brother. He must escape north to warn Kaden—if he can first survive the brutal final test of the Kettral.

480 pages

Published on January 14, 2014

Published by Tor

Author’s webpage

This book was sent for me to review by the publisher.

—

The Emperor’s Blades is the book that everyone is talking about these days. It is smashing its way into the speculative fiction scene and quickly becoming the book that everyone should read. I almost always hate reviewing those sort of books because everyone is reviewing them and honestly, what can I possibly say that “everyone” hasn’t already said? Nothing. Well, whatever. I’ll do it anyway.

The Emperor’s Blades is epic. The world is huge and sprawling, and the cultures are complex and multi-fasceted. In fact, as the book progresses, readers are given even more history, culture, lands and countries to keep track of rather than less. However, Staveley really gives readers his dish of epic in a really graceful way. Yes, there are a lot of names, countries, histories, and cultures to deal with, and yes, it can get confusing, but the writing style keeps it interesting and accessible.

In my humble opinion, accessibility is what can make or break epic fantasy. I don’t mind learning languages, or reading about obscure countries that may or may not matter later in the series. What matters to me is how easy it is for me to remember these details and make sense of them. Sometimes epic fantasy can get so epic, so sprawling and so lost within its own jargon that it is hard to puzzle out exactly what matters, and what is what.

That’s really where Staveley succeeds with The Emperor’s Blades. It’s epic, and sprawling, and complex, and political, and all those things I love so much, but he keeps it all accessible and easy to digest. You never really get lost in his jargon, or his world, or get confused about who is who and why they are doing (insert thing here). That’s a huge bonus for any epic fantasy book and it says a lot about his writing style and characters.

On the other hand, the accessibility does come at a price. Despite the fact that this has all the bells and whistles and it has them all tuned to the pitch I enjoy so much, there isn’t really anything absolutely new here. There’s the empire in turmoil, and the focus on three different main characters – some of whom readers will find more interesting than others. There’s the wise elderly people who give out wisdom in the form of a few infodumps. There’s political maneuvering, and backstabbing. There’s also mystery. It’s everything you expect in your epic fantasy, and that’s kind of a problem. It’s everything you expect, but nothing you really don’t expect.

Sure, there are some unique things here, for example, I absolutely loved the world, which wasn’t Europe-esque at all (Disclaimer: I’m kind of sick of Europe-like settings). The three protagonists are all separated from each other, so their storylines are quite different and their voices are all very individual, rather than having them blend all into one homogenous lump which can easily happen in books. Furthermore, Staveley does weave together all the aspects of his novel fairly flawlessly, which makes it feel both epic and easy-to-enjoy at the same time. Something is always happening somewhere, and it’s quite fun to puzzle out the larger picture from the three diverse viewpoints readers are given.

Usually I don’t really like to pick on writing issues too much, but in truth, when they are present and they can affect reader enjoyment levels, I should probably mention them. One of Staveley’s habits that I noticed pretty early on is that he can occasionally fall into the tendency to tell (repeatedly) rather than show, when showing would have been just as effective, if not more so. Also, some of the scenes feel a little drawn out, and/or convenient. While this shouldn’t make you put the book down and read another time, it is noticeable on occasion, but I chalked it up to new-writer hiccups. These hiccups can, occasionally, make the book feel rather meandering, or stagnate in places. But, they are hiccups. Everyone has them, and they are always kind of annoying.

So, the final verdict? The Emperor’s Blades is a lot of fun, and it is very well done, but it does feel a bit cookie-cutter. This is a very accessible novel that will give you everything you expect, and not enough of the unexpected. That’s not really a terrible thing, though. There’s something to be said for a novel that is both familiar and incredibly well done so it remains enjoyable. The Emperor’s Blades hints at more to come, and with a world this unique and sprawling, I have no doubt that Staveley will be throwing us through some unexpected, incredible plot twists in the near future. I’ll pay close attention to this series.

 

4/5 stars

John Golden: Freelance Debugger – Django Wexler

About the Book

JOHN GOLDEN IS A DEBUGGER: he goes inside the computer systems of his corporate clients to exterminate the gremlins, sprites, and other fairies that take up residence. But when he gets a frantic call from Serpentine Systems, a top-of-the-line anti-fairy security company, John finds out he’s on much more than a simple smurf-punting expedition. With the help of his sarcastic little sister Sarah (currently incarnated in the form of a Dell Inspiron) and a paranoid system administrator, John tackles Serpentine’s fairy problem. But the rabbit hole goes deeper than he thinks, and with the security of all of the company’s clients in danger, there’s more at stake this time than John’s paycheck!

62 pages (ebook)

Published on February 3, 2014

Published by Ragnarok Publications

Author’s webpage

This book was sent for me to review by the publisher.

—

Django Wexler.

You know who I’m talking about. They made a movie about him. He spelled out his name in that rough, deep tone that made people just remember it – D-J-A-N-G-O and then he brought the hurt down on some people. It was on all the previews. You know who I’m…

Okay I’ll stop kicking the dead horse. You all know our lovely Django Wexler not only for the awesome name, but also because he smashed his way into the speculative fiction scene in grand form last year with his triumphant release of The Thousand Names. Everyone loved it. Everyone wants more.

NOW you know who I am talking about.

Well, lucky you, our darling Django Wexler, the man with such a fun name, hasn’t just limited himself to epic fantasy. Today Wexler released a novella called John Golden: Freelance Debugger. In proper Wexler form he took a genre that is almost too saturated (urban fantasy) and slammed his way into it with something new, eye catching, and unique.

John Golden tells the story of a man (Surprise! His name is ‘John’) who fixes computers by debugging them. While that might seem fine and dandy, the truth is that the entire premise of how this protagonist debugs computers (and just what the “bugs” are) is just about as interesting as anything else in the novel. Despite the fact that this is a novella, Wexler packs quite a story into his few short pages (62 pages, actually).

Don’t let the technospeak and the footnotes (that take time to get used to), put you off. While typically people like their text to flow certain ways, and footnotes generally aren’t one of those ways, Wexler uses all this space to really play with his words. I absolutely ended up loving the footnotes and everything else, even though I was pretty set on hating them when I started the book. it’s actually quite easy to sink into the style and feel of the novel. It’s part Jim Butcher, with a dollop of noir, and all unique to Wexler. In a novel this short, Wexler doesn’t really have time to ease people into his world or the style of his writing, and while I’d normally struggle with that sort of thing, I really didn’t in this case. The footnotes felt a little jarring at first, but I got over it pretty fast.

The story itself moves at a fast pace, as you’d expect, and it’s a lot of fun. Part urban fantasy, with plenty of the creatures we’ve all seen before, but used completely differently than you’d expect. Perhaps what surprised me the most is just how much Wexler managed to pack into sixty-two pages. The story is more complex than I expected, and the technology blend with urban fantasy is so well fleshed out that it feels real. Furthermore, the secondary characters add a wonderful, humorous, and dynamic punch to the story. Their voices are far more memorable and individual than I would expect an author to be able to accomplish in so few pages.

All in all, John Golden is a hell of a lot of fun. It moves fast, and has a relaxed, self-assured feel to it that makes it easy to just sink into and enjoy (once you get used to the footnotes). The world, while fairly narrow in scope, is very well fleshed out. Some stylistic things might be off-putting to some readers, like the technospeak and the footnotes, but you’ll soon realize just how clever they all are. All in all, John Golden is a novella that could easily have been a novel. There’s a lot here, and while it is a lot of fun, it really shows off just what Wexler is capable of as an author. He’s confident, dynamic, and really sticks out. He takes saturated genres and he makes them his own. He did it with The Thousand Names, and now he’s done it again with John Golden.

There are some novels you read and you just know the author had a ton of fun writing them, and so they are fun to read because of that. John Golden is one of those. I think Wexler must have had a blast writing it, and I ended up having a blast reading it.

5/5 stars

(P.S. I generally don’t enjoy novellas because they aren’t ever “long enough” for my taste. I am honestly amazingly surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. I didn’t expect to. My major complaint is that it wasn’t long enough. MORE, WEXLER. I WANT MORE.)