New Releases: Apocalypse Cow by Michael Logan (Doubleday)

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When scientists with warped imaginations accidentally unleash an experimental bioweapon that transforms Britain’s animals into sneezing, bloodthirsty zombies with a penchant for pre-dinner sex with their victims, three misfits become the unlikely hope for salvation.

Abattoir worker Terry Borders’ love life is crippled by the stench of death that clings to his skin from his days spent slaughtering cows; teenage vegan Geldof ‘Scabby’ Peters alternates between scratching furiously at his rash and baiting his overbearing New Age mother; and inept journalist Lesley McBrien struggles forlornly in the shadow of her famous war correspondent father and the star journalist at the Glasgow Tribune.

When Britain begins a rapid descent into chaos and ministers cynically attempt to blame al-Qaeda, Lesley stumbles upon proof that the government is behind the outbreak. During her bumbling quest to unveil the truth, she crosses paths with Terry and Geldof, and together they set out to escape a quarantined Britain with the evidence and vital data that could unlock a cure for the virus.

Standing in the way are rampaging hordes of animals, a ruthless security agent and an army ready to shoot anybody with a case of the sniffles on the off-chance the virus has mutated.

Three losers. Overwhelming odds. A single outcome: the world is screwed

I got you with the cover and the title didn’t I? I know that’s what got me! Roll on May!

Out in Hardback on the 10th May

Waterstones 11: Exciting Debut Literary Authors for 2012

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I’m catching up a little with updating the blog so this might be old news to you but I think it’s nice to see so worth mentioning, even if it’s a little late:

For the second year running Waterstones have chosen eleven debut authors dubbed the Waterstones 11 to promote and feature in their stores. Alright I know that are on the literary side of the fence but I think that my co-host (on The Readers) Simon Savidge is having an odd influence on me. I really do think I’m missing something by not reading things that explore life in a way that is more grounded (eg not SFF).

The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan (William Heinemann)
Absolution by Patrick Flanery (Atlantic)
Shelter by Frances Greenslade (Virago)

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach (Fourth Estate)
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey (Headline Review)
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (Doubleday)

The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen (Chatto & Windus)
Signs of Life by Anna Raverat (Picador)
The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan (Virago)

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker (Simon & Schuster)
Care of Wooden Floors by Will Wiles (Harper Press)

If I had to choose three to read I’d got for:

The Panopticon,  The Land of Decoration and The Snow Child.

What would you choose?

 

Coming Soon: Magic: An Anthology of Esoteric and Arcane (Solaris)

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I know books are all about the contents rather than the covers but you have to agree that being black and white does make Magic an intruiging read and that’s before we get to the list of authors, some of whom are at the bottom of the press release that I’m borrowing this off Graeme:

International best-selling author Audrey Niffenegger is to pen her first ever story for a commercial trade anthology, after signing to Solaris’ forthcoming short story collection, Magic.

Solaris are proud to announce that Niffenegger, whose novel The Time Traveller’s Wife has sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide, is to produce a story for the themed anthology of the occult and arcane, due for release in November 2012 in North America and the UK, in both paperback and ebook.

The story marks Audrey’s first ever appearance in any commercial trade anthology and is the third themed collection from Solaris editor-in-chief Jonathan Oliver. The previous critically-acclaimed anthologies include The End of the Line, which featured stories set on the Underground, and House of Fear, which rebooted the haunted house for the 21st Century. The titles garnered ecstatic reviews, with The Times describing End of the Line’s stories as “exceptionally good”.

“I’m delighted to be involved in this project,” said Audrey Niffenegger. “My story is called The Wrong Fairie and is about Charles Altamont Doyle. He was a Victorian artist who was institutionalized for alcoholism. He was also the father of Arthur Conan Doyle, and he believed in fairies.”

“It’s really very exciting to be working with Audrey, whose novels The Time Traveller’s Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry show an author with a great talent for subverting genre norms and delivering the unexpected,” said Jonathan Oliver. “Audrey’s story is sure to make a great addition to Magic.”

The line-up for Magic: An Anthology of the Esoteric and Arcane is set to include other high profile authors, including Richard and Judy Book Club-choice Alison Littlewood, NYT Bestseller Dan Abnett, and celebrated authors such as Christopher Fowler, Storm Constantine, Robert Shearman, Paul Meloy, Sophia McDougall, Will Hill, Gemma Files, along with new writers such as Sarah Lotz, Lou Morgan and Thana Niveau and more.


Review: The Somnambulist by Essie Fox (Orion)

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The Somnambulist

Just after I finished reading The Somnambulist I was lucky enough for Essie Fox take part on The Readers podcast. Having Essie on the podcast was the reason I finally took The Somnambulist out of the TBR but it wasn’t the reason why I fist noticed it, neither was its inclusion in this year’s TV Book Club though I can’t pin down when I came across it but I have a copy since the middle of last year.

Why the background? This is going to a positive review (aren’t they 99/100 anyway?) but I wanted to say as lovely as a guest Essie was the book is entirely enchanting on it’s own. And I really was enchanted. I don’t think I’ve ever read what you’d call a ‘sensationalist’ novel, which I’m told by Simon these books are called. Though I do like Sherlock Holmes and stories that borrow that historical background and twist it like Steampunk does. Though I do usually like them with a twist say in the form of a ghost story.

The Somnambulist isn’t an entirely ‘straight’ novel but any unexplained elements are more due to a reflection of the sentiments of the time rather than an intention of the author to add any mystical uncertainties.

We follow Phoebe Turner as she breaks out of the cotton wool that her mother has placed around her and discovers a world of guilt and deception. Her exposure starts with something small, a visit to Wilton’s Music Hall but a couple of chance encounters will affect her relationship with her mother, Maud and her Aunt Cissy and the secrets they hide.

There are some books that hold an x-factor. Something that you can’t quite place your finger on. It doesn’t matter they aren’t perfect as they will captivate you with their story and the carry you along on a wave. And that’s how I’d describe The Somnambulist.

I was captivated with Phoebe; there was something in her innocence and the way that the people around her manipulated her that I felt compelled to keep reading in order to find out in the end what the fates (and Essie Fox) had in store for her.

It wasn’t a pleasure in her pain, it was a sense of background hope that everything was going to was be alright and I wanted to be right. Now this is where it gets tricky. It’s such a close knit tale that’s set up in such a way that saying too much with start pre-empt events.

And as I’ve said it’s the fact that Phoebe is starved of knowledge that makes it an absorbing read. Though what I can say is that Essie Fox has placed on her stage vibrant and  fitting (if not always totally realistic) characters that act out this gothic tale of woe.

It sounds cruel describing them as actors but they larger than life that it would be doing the book a disservice to describe it as realistic. And it’s more fun this way. Being larger than life the characters can get away with behaviour that would have felt out of place if Essie Fox had muted and mellowed their personalities.

This is proper escapist fiction. It’s a place and a world that is familiar though told in a contemporary way with real emotions and a main character you feel for. You also get distinctive secondary characters. But most of all you get twists and turns that keep you wondering what else is left both to discover and to throw on poor Phoebe’s shoulders.

Ultimately, it’s an accomplished debut novel that I greatly enjoyed and drew me in to a type of novel that I don’t normally read. If you fancy a gothic tale about guilt, deception, regret and lost love this is for you.

Out now in paperback and as an ebook

Awards: Winners of the 2011 Kitschies

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The winners of the 2011 Kitschies, presented by The Kraken Rum, are:

  • The Inky Tentacle for Cover Art: The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan, designed by Peter Mendelsund (Canongate)
  • The Golden Tentacle for Debut: God’s War by Kameron Hurley (Night Shade Books)
  • The Red Tentacle for Novel: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Siobhan Dowd (Walker)
  • The judges’ discretionary award, The Black Tentacle, was given to publisher SelfMadeHero.

I’m really going to have to read God’s War now aren’t I?

Catching Up

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We are week and a bit  into February already. Where has the time gone? Five-odd weeks into January and it doesn’t feel that I’ve had enough time to enjoy my reading. This is made quite bold on checking my GoodReads Challenge to read 75 books this year:

At your current pace, you’re 5 books (7%) behind.

Does it count that I started three books and put them down in January? I guess not…

Though it has been a booky month. Mostly Simon and I getting our head around doing a Summer Book Club for The Readers:

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It’s quite an exciting project. If you haven’t listened to The Readers yet I hope you get chance to pop over and give it a go. It’s great fun to do the podcast in general and having an 8 book event celebrating books that Simon and I both enjoy is going to a fun challenge. And I do mean challenge. We meet do meet in reading tastes but I have no idea what kind of books that’s going to result in for the Summer Book Club. We have a lot of books to filter though mostly on spread sheets to make a target list of books to try out. And there are some great books to choose from.

Speaking of The Readers I had a great two hour conversation with Essie Fox and Simon that you can hear a good chunk of on this weeks episode. I’ve also got a review of The Somnambulist going live tomorrow (spoiler I liked it).

Back on the personal reading front I made a pledge to read more short stories this year and I’m not off to a great start on that front though I have read:

Harry and Marlowe and the Talisman of the Cult of Egil by Carrie Vaughn (available on 28/2 on Lightspeed’s website – I got it early buying the Feb edition from Wizard Tower Books)

And I started The Weird from the beginning with Alfred Kubin, “The Other Side” (excerpt), 1908 (translation, Austria). To be honest I’ve just had to skip it as I was reading it and not getting anywhere with it fast. Though I did try. If trying to finish a story is seriously going to impede my progress I’m going to skip but not without giving it my best fist (which is what I do with any story).

I don’t think that short stories lend themselves to snatches of reading, which is all I’ve been getting over the last few weeks hence being behind on my GoodReads Challenge!

Right back to reading.

Oh before I go what does the word Cwtch mean to you? If it helps it’s Welsh ;)

Review: Hilldiggers by Neal Asher (Tor)

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I’ve already mentioned elsewhere that Neal Asher is one of my favourite authors but as with any well-loved writer (especially if you are me) then you can approach the next book of theirs that you pick up with a little trepidation.

Not that I worry about Asher over any other author, actually I worry about him less as the main body of work revolves around the Polity universe, which pretty much means that I know that I’m going to be in for a good ride as the Polity is a wonderful playground.

The Skinner was set on the fringes of the Polity’s reach. Hilldiggers has no Polity interaction at all until that is an ambassador is sent whose arrival restarts a conflict between two worlds that have recently been at peace after the death of millions.

One of Asher’s strengths is how he invests time and imagination into the biology of the worlds he creates and the two warring planets, whose inhabitants have their origins as humans (and Polity history) but have both adapted to individual unique environments. And it’s fascinating to read the evolutions of those races.

The other thing that Asher does is set different world views against each other. Like the insect Prador’s society vs the Polity humans in books like Prador Moon. And the conflict between the two planets and their races is fully exploited here.

Hilldiggers shares a connections with later books such as The Skinner as the ambassador they sent is infected by the splatterjay virus, which allows him to adapt to the extreme environments he surprisingly finds himself in.

Cleverly Asher finds a way to neuter the Polity agents both the obvious (the ambassador) and its hidden observer drone. This does make the story more interesting as a result. They still have influence but it means they don’t interfere with events in the way that stop the conflict reaching genocide.

But for all that this is a story of four children who as born following their mother’s pregancy near an alien artifact. One that one planet has put a lot of research into and gained scientific and military advantages from in the process.

We also follow the view points of several of the main characters, which rather than fragments makes it easier to see the whole jigsaw rather than trying to figure out why one piece won’t fit.

I did however have issues with one of the characters and their motivations, which is always the downside of a multi-view story. You want to get back to the characters you like and can’t see why some of the action can’t take place offstage. Though I didn’t mind seeing from their view. It’s hard to explain who it was or why it didn’t seem quite right without giving away some pivotal plot points.

Not that it spoiled the overall effect but it felt more like the story needs this than the need of the character. However that could just be me comparing threads and finding not as enjoyable as the others.

Hilldiggers is a stand-alone title in the Polity universe but I think reading something like Prador Moon or The Gabble would be better introduction to Neal’s work but for fans this is well worth reading.

Review: The House That Groaned by Karrie Fransman (Square Peg)

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The House that Groaned

Literary graphic novels feel pretty rare. I could be wrong as they are outside my radar or more exactly they fall between my main interest in novels and the cursory eye I keep on comics. And I have seen a two graphic novels from mainstream (eg non-comic publishers) in the last year one based on a fantasy novel and one with a fish man, which still fall into ‘genre’ so would have a more identifiable audience.

I’d venture that The House That Groaned hasn’t got a readymade market but will find fans with literary readers and those that love graphic novels but want something that isn’t superheroes and spandex will definitely enjoy it.

It arrived in the morning and I’d read it by the afternoon. Reading comics isn’t something that takes hours but it surprised me as I had other things I should have been doing. So what engaged me?

The world that Karrie Fransman managed to create in 141 Rottin Road.

Visually apart from the yellow lights in the windows on the front cover the rest of the book is black, white with various shades of blue. The style is comic art. Each panel bring it alive as they should but the panels are more than functionary as there is something magical about it.

Not only is there magic in the art but in the story itself. It definitely dips it toe into magical realism, which is quite odd for a story involving the six occupants of house converted to flats. I initially thought it would played ‘straighter’ than it eventually was. But it’s surreal blending of reality with the imaginary is what makes it so absorbing a read.

Barbara moves in to 141 Rottin Road, which is anything but the thick-walled apartment she was told, and allows us to use her as an introduction to the other residents, who are, if I’m being honest, more than a little odd.

And Fransman seems to have great fun playing on their oddities. Though they aren’t so odd to unrealistic. The woman that runs a fat club but really just wants to eat, the man whose only means of sexual excitement is extreme looking women, and then there is the neighbour across the landing…

Even though it revolves around 141 Rottin Road we occasionally leave its walls to see key defining moments in the characters lives (Fransman even includes the building’s life in those flashbacks). And I think that’s the most fascinating aspect; what made them into the strange people that they are?

And that element makes it quite dark. The fact that these people have been so twisted by those key moments and how that has had what we might see as a negative affect on their lives. It’s also a very fun and playful story both in terms of visuals and storytelling like the hall literally filling up with people for the diet class and the a very glutenous food eating scene.

The House That Groaned is the type of story that graphic novels are made for. Visually compelling and narratively complex. It’s also a book that challenges the conventions and expectations of what the medium can do.

Can we have more books like this? Please!

The House That Groaned by Karrie Fransman
Published by Square Peg
On sale now

Awards: THE 2011 KITSCHIES Short List Announced

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The unboundless Jared and Anne have really upped the stakes with their third year of The Kitsches:

The annual award is presented to the most “progressive, intelligent and entertaining novels that contain elements of the speculative or fantastic” published in the UK during the previous calendar year.

And the short list has just been announced:

FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2011 KITSCHIES, PRESENTED BY THE KRAKEN RUM

The Kitschies are proud to announce the finalists for the year’s most progressive, intelligent and entertaining works of genre literature.

The shortlisted books for the Red Tentacle (for novel):

  • The Enterprise of Death by Jesse Bullington (Orbit)
  • Embassytown by China Miéville (Tor)
  • A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Siobhan Dowd (Walker Books)
  • The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers (Sandstone)
  • Osama: A Novel by Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing)

The shortlisted books for the Golden Tentacle (for debut):

  • Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick (Tor)
  • God’s War by Kameron Hurley (Night Shade Books)
  • The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (Harvill Secker)
  • Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Quirk)
  • The Samaritan by Fred Venturini (Blank Slate Press)

The shortlisted books for the Inky Tentacle (for cover art):

  • Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch; illustration by Stephen Walter, design by Patrick Knowles (TAG Fine Arts) (Gollancz)
  • The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan; design by Peter Mendelsund (Canongate)
  • The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco; design by Suzanne Dean, illustration by John Spencer (Harvill Secker)
  • Equations of Life by Simon Morden; design by Lauren Panepinto (Orbit)
  • A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Siobhan Dowd; illustration by Jim Kay (Walker Books)

The winning author of the Red Tentacle will receive a £750 prize; the winners of the Golden Tentacle and Inky Tentacles each receive £250. All three will also receive iconic, hand-made Tentacle trophies

All the finalists receive a bottle of The Kraken Rum.This shortlisted titles were selected from a list of over 150 submissions received from 38 publishers and imprints.The winners will be announced on February 3, 2011 at an award ceremony to be held at the SFX Weekender 3.

Award Director Anne C. Perry said:
“Our goal in creating this award was not just to bridge the gap between genre and literature but to prove that there’s no gap at all. And we feel that 2011 has gone a long way towards illustrating that. We’re tremendously delighted by the passion we’ve seen from the authors, editors, publishers and fans – all of whom have contributed to make this an extraordinary year for The Kitschies.”

Red and Golden Tentacle Judge (and 2010 Red Tentacle winner) Lauren Beukes said:

“It’s been a fraught and bloody process winnowing the nominees down to shortlists of just five, involving passionate fan-rants, general geekery, some very silly jokes and occasional outbreaks of threatened violence between the judges.

2011 produced some remarkable novels. These are the ones that stood out for all of us, according to The Kitschies’ criteria: books that were inventive, playful and smart, packed with intriguing ideas, great characters and nudged at the boundaries of things, or overturned them altogether.

I suspect getting consensus on the ultimate winners is going to turn into even more of a knife-fight. A battle to which I fully intend to bring a mecha armed with autocannons.”

Inky Judge Hayley Campbell added:

“As we sorted through the mountain of submissions, we were glad to see our old pals the hooded druids, the snarling werewolves, and the miscellaneous bit of unfathomably large spaceship – we cast them a friendly wave as we sorted them out of the pile.

We were looking for stuff that went beyond the obvious, the kind of cover that would not relegate a book to the dark forgotten corner of the bookshop where the monsters live. What we were left with was an astonishingly diverse collection of covers, and an even more diverse collection of opinions.”

The judging panel for the Red and Golden Tentacles is:

  • Lauren Beukes (2010 Red Tentacle winner for Zoo City)
  • Rebecca Levene
  • Anne C. Perry
  • Jared Shurin

The judging panel for the Inky Tentacle is:

  • Darren Banks
  • Hayley Campbell
  • Catherine Hemelryk
  • Craig Kennedy
  • Anne C. Perry

What do you think? Surprising? Boring? Exciting?

It’s nice to see some smaller and specialist there. I need to ponder their selection some more but I’d say that they’d met their ambition of ‘progressive, intelligent and entertaining novels that contain elements of the speculative or fantastic.’

I wonder who will win?

News: China Miéville Writing A Comic – Dial H

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My comic book reading I admit stalled after my initial enthusiasm for the New 52 I’ve not been talking about comics much. I do pick up the odd issue but I’ve not yet been converted to a full time lover.  This might change though:

DIAL H – Writer: China Miéville. Artist: Mateus Santoluoco. The first ongoing series from acclaimed novelist China Miéville, this is a bold new take on a cult classic concept about the psychological effects on an everyman who accidentally gains powers to become a hero.

DC COMICS IN 2012 – INTRODUCING THE “SECOND WAVE” OF DC COMICS-THE NEW 52

This isn’t the first time that Miéville has been linked to a comic book series (Swampthing I think) but it the first one that I know of that has actually gone to print.

Roll on May!