Range of Ghosts

Wanted to mention a book making its way into the world!

Just yesterday, Tor published Elizabeth Bear's new novel, Range of Ghosts. It's the start of an ambitious series, one that essentially dispenses with Europeans and looks elsewhere for inspiration.

Here's a great piece Bear wrote about the process of writing the book at Black Gate. It doesn't hurt that she mentions me, but that's not the only reason it's an interesting read! She wanted to write a fat fantasy with maps, but she also wanted to strike out in new territory.

Has she achieved what she was after? The notoriously cranky people at Kirkus Reviews seem to think so. In a starred review, they wrote:

"This lean, sinewy, visceral narrative, set forth in extraordinarily vivid prose full of telling detail, conveys a remarkable sense of time and place, where the characters belong to the landscape and whose personalities derive naturally from it. Though the book is not self-contained, Bear provides this opener with enough of a resolution to satisfy while whetting the appetite for more. Gripping, perfectly balanced and highly recommended."

Frame that and put it on a wall.

I've got my e-copy, trying hard to clear the decks so I can actually read it...