Pete's 2014 challenge

Since we are all responsible for dealing out book bullets I am, this year, going to base my entire challenge around the theme of bullets. I will be having 14 categories but, as like 2013, I am assigning no maximum number to each category but am assigning a minimum number of 6 (the traditional 6 shooter).

I'll be having a random category - that you can choose and also be stealing Ander's blindfold idea and having 6 books chosen by you too

Books will be rated:

Unfinished - self explanatory really, it was so bad I couldn't finish it

Average - an OK book but one I wouldn't really recommend

Good - a good example of the genre, one I'd recommend

Brilliant- books that everyone should read, really outstanding and memorable

Category 1 - "Bullet" is derived from the French word boulette which roughly means little ball. Origins – first in a series, books made into films or books in translation

Category 2 – Musket Balls – old moldering books that have been languishing on the TBR shelf for more than a year (not in the Dirty Harry category)

Category 3 – Blanks – ARCs, books given to me

Category 4 – Rubber Bullets – Re-reads

Category 5 – Seven-six-two millimeter, full metal jacket – “What is your major malfunction” - Books about war or with war as a backdrop

Category 6 – Tracer – Graphic Novels

Category 7 – Incendiary – Polemical, political, propaganda, controversial or banned

Category 8 – Armour Piercing – Surprise reads, shining books that have to be bought and read immediately

Category 9 – Uzi 9mm (said in an Arnie accent) – Books about robots or with robots in

Category 10 - 39mm AK 47 “when you absolutely positively have to kill every motherf*cker in the room” – Apocalyptic books

Category 11 –.44 Dirty Harry – “I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?” – Lucky dip, in January I will number every book on the TBR and you, the good people of the 2014 challenge, will choose 6 of them

ETA - 12 books chosen by you

120 = Angela Carter's book of Fairy tales by Angela Carter
7 = The ant men of Tibet and other stories a collection of shorts that first appeared in Interzone
45 = snow by Orhan pamuk
227 = and God created zombies by Andrew Hook
111 = red harvest by Dashiel Hammett
9 = weirdmonger which is an odd book that I never seem to get round to reading...
42 = the rock of tanios by Amin Malouf
13 = Gateway by Frederick Pohl
169 = Batavia's graveyard by Mike Dash
88 = most secret by Nevil Shute
53 = Fear institute by Jonathan L Howard (so will have to read johannes cabal the detective first...)
278 = the corpse-rat king by Lee Battersby

Category 12 – Buckshot – scattered wide area recommendations (recommended by more than 1 person on a previous challenge) or group reads

Category 13 – Silver Bullet – Books with a supernatural element

Category 14 – I spent a while trying to decide what I should have for this category and wasn’t inspired – so over to you! Everyone can suggest a category that fits the theme between now and January and I’ll pull one out of the hat in January to see what this category is going to be

ETA - Russian Roulette (Thanks to Lori) - Crime, espionage or mystery books

You need a richocet category!

How about Cannon for those great big wide bore books? Set a minimum page limit and read a few chunkies.

Or go for arrows - not bullets but argueably the introduction of archers had as big an impact on battles in the middle ages as cannon and then portable fire power did in later centuries. It could be a history category, if that floats your boat at all.

Haha, I love this theme! You could do a "Revolver" category for mysteries (since Miss Scarlet did it in the study with the revolver)...or a "Rocket launcher" category for sci fi...

I see that some of us are inspired, great theme !

some good suggestions so far :-) thanks to all

In Thoroughbred horse racing, a Bullet is the fastest workout time on that day at a given distance and location.

Example - a posted work:
"Fort Larned worked 5f MT ft in 1:00.60 B (1/31) at SAR, 07/29/13."

meaning:
Fort Larned worked 5 furlongs in 1 minute, .60 of a second, Bullet, the best of 31 horses that worked that distance at Saratoga Race Track on that day.

I don't know if this is useful, but I couldn't stop thinking about it so I'm tossing it in here. :-)

lol. taking a meme literally. I'll look forward to helping you sort out that TBR. And ducking.

That's brilliant - making bookbullets work for you! Starring!

Great theme, Pete. I have some suggestions:

1. Enfield P-53's - These grease lined, paper encased cartridges were the bullets that enflamed a revolt by the sepoys in 1857 India. This category could be used for Global Reading or Books Set in the English Empire.

2. Ammunition Belt for a Machine Gun - Rapid, repeating fire could be used for Series.

3. The WC .44-.40 Center Fire Cartridge for the Winchester Repeating Rifle - "The Gun That Won The West" - This would suit a category for Westerns.

Looking forward to following your reading in 2014.

I think you should get the Repeater out for Category 2 for another books off the shelf category... I am not at all biased.

Of course, who would dare to think so :)

GREAT theme!!! Love all the categories and suggestions. If you wanted a science category, perhaps "the ballistics lab" would be a good name?

Fun theme! Interested in seeing how you fill your categories.

Excellent theme!

Love this theme!

You old son of a gun! What an imaginative challenge. I look forward to seeing what books you read.

Very clever theme! Starring as per usual of course. As for the last category, another suggestion could be BB:s, a short story category. I've loved my short story categories the last years, and it seems you have read quite a few collections you've liked too. Best thing about a short story categosy, IMO, is that it can be very eclectic and somewhat cohesive at the same time.

Looking forward to see your blindfold picks!

Another good suggestion - glad I'm drawing from a hat rather than trying to choose - I blow hot and cold on shorts - I started and have read a few stories in at the mouth of the river of bees and need to get back to it soon but at the moment am blowing cold...

Very creative, and slightly dangerous theme! I was just over on Claire's thread, and with fights breaking out there and bullets flying here, I have to say I'm a little worried...

Bullets.... never even occurred to me but what an inspired theme! Can't think of a bullet type for a category but how about Russian Roulette, but only if you read any crime, espionage or mystery books? You just never know with Russian Roulette who will get hit with a bullet.....

> 35 - LOL!

Putting on my bullet-proof vest right now, since I already know this thread is going to be dangerous!

35-37 - Thanks!

am so far behind on the 2013 challenge after a week away from a laptop I now see that i am even further behind here!

Some catching up required later on this week - bit of a busy week planned though - off out tonight, tomorrow and Thursday...

What a wondeful theme, Pete! Starred again for next year.

This is really wonderful Pete! Got you starred.

#32 You old son of a gun! Ha!

39&40 - Thanks!

My 13/13 challenge is due to end on the 13th December but I think I'll do some free reading until January 1st and start this in 2014. Between Xmas & New Year I'll post my blindfold books and randomly pick a winner of the random category

Category 14 - out of a hat - I've numbered all the suggestions and the first person to suggest a number from 1-11 will choose what the category is

Blindfold books - 6 books from the TBR shelves (or 12 if Claire's suggestion is picked) - I've numbered all the books so choices from 1-302 - if it's a book in a series I will read the books in the series up to & including that number (this could be dangerous as there are some series that Claire has read but I haven't with several books in!)

The first six people (or 12) to choose a number choose my blindfold books

Hi Pete - I'll give you a number -- 3.

Blindfold book - I offer you number 120

I like 7.

45.
Hope it's a good one!

Here we go…227

ETA: for the blindfold book

111

how about 9!

42!

13 :)

drum roll.......

Number 3 is - Russian Roulette, thanks to Lori for that suggestion

120 = Angela Carter's book of Fairy tales by Angela Carter
7 = The ant men of tibet and other stories a collection of shorts that first appeared in Interzone
45 = snow by Orhan pamuk
227 = and God created zombies by Andrew Hook
111 = red harvest by Dashiel Hammett
9 = weirdmonger which is an odd book that I never seem to get round to reading...

I was only going to do 6 but it seems churlish not to do 42 & 13 as well

so

42 = the rock of tanios by Amin Malouf
13 = Gateway by Frederick Pohl

I may as well go the whole hog and do 12 in this category anyway (I need all the help I can get to get books off the TBR) so another 4 numbers please...

169!

88 :)

53!

169 = Batavia's graveyard by Mike Dash
88 = most secret by Nevil Shute
53 = Fear institute by Jonathan L Howard (so will have to read johannes cabal the detective first...

Looks like you still need one more? If so, I nominate 278!

Oh I like "mine," that sounds very much like something I'd pick up! :D

45 - Snow - Wow! I actually have that book on my TBR pile! What a coinkidink!

278 = the corpse-rat king by Lee Battersby

Thanks all!

An interesting list of books!

58. I love Nevil Shute, he's always good. THought I haven't read that particular book of his.

Yes an interesting list and I don't think I've heard of any of them, so there could be BBs in there.

I agree with Betty, looks like there could be a few BB in amongst those books!

And God Created Zombies sounds fun and the cover is genius!

>156 psutto: You've got an interesting mix of titles for this category. #169 sounds fascinating, and I've added it to my public library TBR list!

Great list of books chosen!

Many thanks to all the people who suggested numbers, I agree an interesting mix

I love your theme and explanations! Consider me a lurker...

Happy New Year Everyone! My first book of the year is the haunted book that I started a couple of days ago.

Happy New Year Pete!

All caught up and ready to go! Here's to a great reading year with hails of bullets!

Happy New Year everyone! I am now back from holidays and catching up....

OK here's my book haul from Xmas & birthday, most of these will end up on this challenge...

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth Chris Hadfield (a signed copy!)
Write guardian books
Mountains of the mind by Robert Macfarlane
Ten billion by Stephen Emmett
The novel cure by Ella Berthoud
Bad pharma by Ben Goldacre
Bound in Venice by Alessandro Magno
Shackleton The heart of the Antarctic & South
God emperor of Didcot by Toby Frost
Possessing genius by Carolyn Abraham
The pendragon legend by Antalya szerb
The art of urban sketching by Gabriel Campanario
Goliath by Tom Gould
Dark satanic mills by Marcus Sedgwick
Encyclopedia of early Earth by Isabel Greenburg
All over coffee by Paul madonna
the complete Maus by Art Speigelman
Joe Sacco first day of the Somme
Jaguars and electric eels by Alexander Von Humboldt
The shipwrecked men by Cavebeza de vaca
Borneo, Celebes, aru by Alfred Russell Wallace
the meadows of gold by Mas'udi
Adventures in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella bird

So this means I start the year at -23 books (adding books to the TBR rather than taking them off!)

Hi Pete, Happy New Year ! So this means I start the year at -23 books (adding books to the TBR rather than taking them off!) True but what a way to start :) Lots of interesting books. I'm thinking of reading Jaguars and electric eels for the October GeoCAT.

thanks!

I'm happy with the books I got and am really looking forward to reading them, there are plenty of others that I also need to get to though...

Shouldn't that technically be +23 books? ;)

could be? although am thinking of it in terms of trying to get a +ve of books read versus new books

Ooh, signed copy of the Chris Hadfield book! Very nice.
Will be interested to hear what you think of Bad Pharma as it's on my to-read list as well.

Nice book haul Pete. The Shackleton looks interesting.
All Over Coffee is one of my favorite books of illustrations. I have a weakness for sepia toned images though. Have you been to San Francisco?

Love the book haul and joining RP in oohing over the signed Hatfield book! That man made space travel so cool for school kids (and me!) with his info videos from space!

Yep particularly chuffed to get that Hadfield one

>79 VioletBramble: - I have been to San Francisco (and would love to go back) and read Everything is its own reward first not knowing when I bought it that it was the second book... Got to say i love his artistic style

80/81 "chuffed to get" - pointed to vigoursly in a bookshop and so I bought you....

LOL Claire.

Pete, thanks for mentioning Everything is It's Own Reward. I didn't know Madonna had put out a second book. Now I'll have to go look for a copy.

"pointed to vigoursly in a bookshop and so I bought you...."

A master of subtlety, apparently. :)

and now for some quick reviews to stop falling so far behind! (and I'm still 3-4 GN reviews behind after posting this)

The haunted book by Jeremy Dyson

Category 13

Brilliant

Excellent framing device of the author fictionalising “true” ghost stories and introducing them as he starts to become involved in them. The book is haunted. There are some deliciously creepy moments in this set of short stories. All the tales work well standalone but also combine together superbly with the author’s introductions to make it something more than just a collection of ghost stories, even though they are very good ghost stories, traditional but with a modern spin.

Overall – Are you sure there is no-one behind you right now?

All over coffee by Paul Madonna

Category 6 - GN

Brilliant

In 2004 the San Francisco chronicle started publishing Madonna’s enigmatic and beautiful pictures with mistmatched prose in a series called All over coffee. The series is collected here and in Everything is its own reward. My review of Everything is its own reward has this description This is a series of almost photorealistic pencil & ink drawings of mostly urban landscapes. Some pictures have text, some a lot of text, some a pithy comment only, some you have to search for the text, some the text is alongside. Flash fiction, short poems and thoughts from the author. The first book is just as good as the second. Highly recommended

Overall – Poetic and artful

The Great War: July 1, 1916: The first day of the Battle of the Somme by Joe Sacco

Category 6 - GN

Brilliant

Sacco has drawn a modern day Bayeaux tapestry of the first day of the battle of the Somme. It comes with a commentary by Sacco in a separate booklet with an essay on the first day by Adam Hothschild.

Publisher’s blurb, which I cannot improve upon Launched on July 1, 1916, the Battle of the Somme has come to epitomize the madness of the First World War. Almost 20,000 British soldiers were killed and another 40,000 were wounded that first day, and there were more than one million casualties by the time the offensive halted. In The Great War, acclaimed cartoon journalist Joe Sacco depicts the events of that day in an extraordinary, 24-foot- long panorama: from General Douglas Haig and the massive artillery positions behind the trench lines to the legions of soldiers going “over the top” and getting cut down in no-man’s-land, to the tens of thousands of wounded soldiers retreating and the dead being buried en masse. Printed on fine accordion-fold paper and packaged in a deluxe slipcase with a 16-page booklet.

This is an amazing piece and one that you can study panel by panel or laid out end to end (if you had a room big enough) for many hours.

Overall – Just beautiful, I wish I had a wall big enough to display it

The complete Maus: a Survivor’s tale by Art Speigelman

Category 6 - GN

Good

Art Spiegelman’s father survived Auschwitz and this is his story told in graphic format. Much has been made of Spiegelman’s use of anthropomorphic animals to depict the different peoples – mice for Jews, cats for Nazis, dogs for Americans all fit perfectly but pigs for Poles? Frogs for French – really? Anyway the frame is Spiegelman junior talking to his father, who comes across as a very caricatured version of a penny pinching Jew (although the reasons are fully explained later in the book) who is a racist (all black men are thieves) and isn’t at all likable in the way he’s depicted. Spiegelman puts himself in his work thoroughly and all biography is fiction so you do wonder about the way he has chosen to depict his own father. The parts about the past redeem the issues I had with the book and yet I don’t really feel they say anything new about the holocaust, but maybe that is because I have read several other works on it. It is a laudable effort and has brought the holocaust on a human level, via the memories of Vladek Spiegelman, very much to life. I think in the 1980’s this must have been a groundbreaking work. I guess that due to many people telling me this was amazing I possibly had unrealistic expectations.

Overall – I just didn’t like the modern bit, well worth reading though

Goliath by Tom Gauld

Category 6 - GN

Brilliant

The Biblical story of david & Goliath told in Gauld’s own inimitable style. The art is typically Gauld and fits the story fine. Goliath, as a character, is a surprise and the lead up to the inevitable end is so good it still makes the end shocking as you hope it will be different.

Overall – Art & story in perfect harmony

Write Guardian books

Category 8 - Surprise

Brilliant

Split into 3 sections – authors talking about the how of plot, character etc. Authors writing tips & “other advice” with a whole plethora of authors (too many to list but including Andrew Miller, Neil Gaiman, Michael Moorcock, Iain Banks, Helen Dunmore, Charlie Brooker and many more). Lots of short but invaluable advice.

Overall – Lots of writers talking about writing, what’s not to like

Ten Billion by Stephen Emmott

Category 10 - Apocalyptic

Good

Emmott spends this thin book, outlining the problem – catastrophic climate change with especial emphasis on how much we’re screwed knowing everything we now know. He then posits two possible ways we can save ourselves. Technologizing our way out of it or massively changing our behaviour. Both of which he points out are unlikely to happen. Yeah cheery little book. Oh and why 10 billion? Well the problems are all caused by there being too much of us and the fact that we’ll reach Ten Billion (if trends continue) before the end of the century just mean that being totally and utterly screwed is speeding up.

Overall – We’re all doomed, DOOMED!

Oh, the book bullets abound! I'm going to have to go hunt down The Haunted Book and Write sooner than later...

5 Brilliants and 2 Goods - what a great start to your 2014 reading, Pete!

I've just taken 3 graphic novel BB, great, just great :)

You've started the year with some great reading.

why are you doing this? by Jason

Category 6 - GN

Good

Jason’s understated art is excellently paired with a story about love lost, friendship and murder. A man witnesses a murder and takes the blame for it. On the run from the police he must try to solve the murder himself.

Overall – nice art and story, recommended.

incidents in the night book one by David B

Category 6 - GN

Brilliant

At night I slept under a blanket of books

I confess to only buying this as Brian Evenson did the translation but I’m glad I did. I think this would appeal to most book lovers. Characters hide in books, there is a book that is only made up of the letter N repeated infinitely, there is a bookshop that has so many books that you must perform an archaeological dig to try and find the obscure book you’re looking for. There is no real summary that can do justice to this rather mad tale.

Overall – Great art, great plot, great story

the encyclopedia of Early Earth by Isabel Greenberg

Category 6 - GN

Brilliant

Our tale opens with a man and a woman meeting and falling in love and yet being magnetically unable to touch each other or even come within a few feet of each other. Who are they? And what is causing this mysterious condition. The tale is set in “Early Earth” in a time when there are 3 moons and before the history of the earth as we know it, a time before dinosaurs but when there were other men and women. There are also gods, or a god and his children, who do squabble and interfere in the lives of the humans. Being a neat blend of mythology and almost biblical the story manages to keep your attention and the art is also very good.

Overall – very few books get quirky right, this one does

So I think this catches me up on reviews... now i need to catch up on people's threads!

That last one sounds fascinating! Added to the never-ending list...

Double book bullets for me with those last two GN's! Is the David B one part of a series? How many parts are there, do you know?

>92 GingerbreadMan: - the David B one is the first in a series that currently doesn't have a second!

there is a bookshop that has so many books that you must perform an archaeological dig to try and find the obscure book you’re looking for
I think I've been to that bookstore! ;-0

Definite book bullet on the last one - sounds wonderful!

London Falling by Paul Cornell

Category 1 - first in a series

Brilliant

Rob Toshack is a crime lord that has somehow come to run pretty much all the crime in London. DI Quill heads the operation to bring Toshack to justice & there are two undercover cops in the organisation helping to do so. When Toshack is caught however things take a strange turn and Quill, the two undercover cops and an analyst are drawn into a supernatural world. Originally a TV script (and now optioned for TV) there are a few issues with the book that may put off other readers. The characters are a bit stock at the beginning for example and would be better differentiated on screen I guess, with visual clues. There is also some exposition provided in flashback that could be seen as being a bit clumsy. The writing, the story and the second half of the book are more than good enough for me to forgive this. The hints and glimpses of the world underneath (or above?) London are great and the plot, once it kicks in, cracks along at a good pace with our four protagonists growing as we understand more as we flit from one to another POV. There were points where the book gave me a visceral emotional reaction including a shiver up the spine and a solid “woah” from one reveal. To me that’s a sign of a good book. There is some clever stuff in here and it gets the balance right between revealing enough to get a handle on what’s going on whilst concealing enough to keep you intrigued and wanting to follow on. Good job really as there is a sequel due in May this year. I for one am eagerly awaiting it.

Overall – Police procedural with supernatural elements, the start of what promises to be a great series. Recommended.

If I recall correctly you read Rivers of London a while back. Sounds a little bit similar. How do they compare? (I'm asking because I've got Aaronovitch book on the TBR, got it from my brother for Christmas).

Yeah I read Rivers of London which I've thought about reading the next in series but so far haven't felt compelled to, it's possible that if i leave reading the sequel of London Falling too long a similar thing may happen but am not sure I will leave it too long, I want to know what happens next. I enjoyed both books but both have flaws, on balance i think London Falling appeals more to me YMMV. Aaronovitch has kind of a "Cool Britannia" vibe & singular protagonist whereas Cornell's feels more like the Sweeney versus ghosts with multiple protagonists and is certainly grittier, plus and minus points to both of course. There is a quote from Aaronovitch on the cover of London Falling so they are similar enough for it to be used as a marketing ploy. Aaronovitch is better at bringing London alive, Cornell is better at plot and suspense (in my opinion).

#97 by GingerbreadMan> IMO, Rivers of London is entirely different from London Falling. Yeah, both police procedurals with supernatural elements, but RoL is mostly light hearted, and LF is definitely dark and noir.

You've hit me with a book bullet on London Falling, to see it described as darker and grittier than Rivers of London has sealed the deal.

Ooh, sequel to London Falling? Good to know! Still have to read the first one...

>100 DeltaQueen50: - hope you enjoy it! (I think you will)

>101 rabbitprincess: - It launches in May in both US & UK

Dark Satanic Mills by Marcus & Julian Sedgwick

Category 6 – GN

Good

In a near future Britain science has become distrusted because of environmental disasters and there is a resurgence of a powerful church, one that does not suffer heresy lightly, one that is fascist in outlook. Motorbike courier Christy fails to make a delivery as she stops to help a man who is being attacked for being an atheist. They find that what she fails to deliver is a set of documents with uncomfortable truths about the True Church that the church would do anything to get back. Using the work of William Blake as inspiration and structure with an afterword by the Sedgwicks as to why Blake’s work was so important to them. The art is reminiscent of early 80’s comics and the tone is very similar to v for vendetta and Bill Savage in 200AD so felt somewhat nostalgic even though it’s bang up to date. Sadly the story doesn’t quite live up to its promise and being a standalone feels a little rushed. It would have been better as a series I think as it feels as though it needs a little more room.

Overall - Enjoyable enough and I really like the artistic style and Blake references.

Sounds like a (mostly) good one :)

Can anyone recommend a good overview book on the Crusades? looking for military, personalities, chronology, context

@ 105 -- A Concise History of the Crusades by Thomas Madden might work. Full disclosure: it's been a while since I looked into it, so it might not be exactly what you're looking for. I think it's a pretty broad-strokes overview.

I've been recommended Tomas Asbridge for books about the Crusades - anyone read his books?

Luckily, I already had London Falling on my "look for" list!

The sea inside by Philip Hoare

Category

Unfinished

It’s as though Philip Hoare read W.G. Sebold’s inimitable rings of Saturn and thought – “I can do that”. Sadly, he couldn’t. This is ostensibly Philip Hoare sets out to rediscover the sea, its islands, birds and beasts – and the way we see them…..More than anything it is the story of the sea inside us all So an interesting premise and it starts out well with Hoare discussing swimming in seas with frozen spume and how the sea has shaped his home, Southampton but with some digressions along the way. By the time I was in chapter 2 it became obvious that the sea was but a jumping on point for Hoare to ramble about any subject that fell into his head at any time, all mushed together. OK if they were all tangential to the sea perhaps, but to this reader the sea became ever more irrelevant to his, well if it’s the majority of the text it can’t really be called digression can it? Chapter 2 has quite a lot of information about Ravens (and digressions on other Corvids) which, whilst diverting, didn’t have anything to do with the topic at hand as far as I could see, until many pages later he introduces the fact, which he means to tie everything together, that they mostly now live in a few islands off the coast of Britain. But this is offered in a throwaway line leaving me wondering what his point was.. He then goes off on a discussion about saints and the desert fathers for some pages so he can introduce a biography of Saint Cuthbert just so he can discuss the birds most associated with him and the fact he lived on an island. In chapter 3 I hoped he’d get back to the point but he was in London and started talking about John Hunter, the zoologist who started the Hunterian museum. After dropping in a horrific account of the killing of an elephant he eventually comes to the point to say that in Hunter’s time London was a whaling port and Hunter spent some time dissecting whales, it takes him about 20 pages to get to that point though and it is merely a stepping stone for him to spend a further 15 pages describing in morbid detail the dissection of a porpoise he watches at a zoo. Then that chapter ended and the next opened with him in the Azores whale watching, so OK he’s finally back to the sea, but by now my patience has pretty much run out. I start to flick ahead but eventually I just can’t take any more of his analogy heavy text. Once I realise I am avoiding picking it up and reading it I decide that life is too short and abandon it in preference of the next book on the TBR.

Overall – Incoherent, some interesting stuff but far too jumbled together

Johannes Cabal: The detective by Jonathan L Howard

Category

Brilliant

Although this is the second in the series I think you could probably read it out of order without too much being spoiled, still it is worth reading the first one. We start the book in the company of Cabal as he is in prison awaiting execution for stealing a necromantic book in the small state of Mirkavia. When the rulers of Mirkavia decide to use his necromantic skills this starts a series of events that sees Cabal on a kind of murder on the Orient express with airships. There is a bit of a tonal change between the first and second books but Howard’s trademark wit and clever prose is here still, in spades. There’s a whole host of new characters and Cabal, although feeling occasional twinges of a feeling he struggles to identify (his conscience), is his usual sarcastic master of understatement. I enjoyed the first book very much, this one cemented my love for the series and I’ll be getting to the third book very soon. As a bonus there is an afterword that includes a 30 odd page short story set after the events of the book, this was also very enjoyable. Howard is a local author and I was lucky enough to be at a reading he gave in November in which he introduced the forthcoming 4th Johannes Cabal book which can be found here: http://bristolcon.podbean.com/ along with other local writers doing readings.

Overall – Johannes Cabal is a marvellous protagonist and it is a pleasure to spend time in his company.

Although I've made a mental resolution to read more women I haven't managed to get parity as yet, I will attempt to get a better ratio than last year....

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/womens-blog/2014/jan/20/read-women-2014-...

Excellent - I had forgotten I had more Cabal waiting. He was such a great character in the first one - good to hear he stays in character.

You got me with your review of London Falling, Pete.... forgetting of course that the Aaronovitch's books are also on the future reading list. Looking forward to both, AND Johannes Cabal....thanks for the reminder that I want to read that one!

#112 by lkernagh> Oh I loved London Falling. Hope you enjoy it.

I was in freezing Finland (temps of -27 C) last week so have fallen behind - I have read 3 ARCs - the not so good the waking engine, the quite good europe in autumn and the brilliant new Vandermeer annhilation so owe some reviews...

The waking engine David Edison

Category 3 - ARC

Average

When we die, we don’t cease to exist or turn into shimmering motes of ectoplasm or purple angels or anything else you may have been brought up to believe. We just . . . go on living. Someplace else

When I was offered this as an ARC I said yes because of the cool premise. It is a first book and I didn’t know anything about the author but it does have a cool cover too. After you die you wake up on a new world, and continue to do this over and over forever unless you go to one of the few places in the vast multiverse where Final Death can be obtained. The City Unspoken is one of those places and True Death is controlled by the nobility of that city, in addition it is possible in the City for you to be Body Bound (made so that you cannot die & move on at all). However the ruler of the city, the Prince, is missing, the undead and their mortal servants The Undertow are becoming ever more powerful and there is a new madness malaise affecting part of the population called the Svarning. Into this world Cooper awakes, an ordinary man from New York, this is his first awakening, a really unusual occurrence as people generally spend many many lifetimes before arriving in the City Unspoken. Sesstri & Asher, who find Cooper, hope that he will bring the solution to the city’s problems. Meanwhile In the Dome the nobles have been locked away for several years, unable to leave into the wider city and Purity Kloo, a nobleman’s daughter has tried to escape by killing herself every day for a week but can’t escape her body binding. There is also a killer stalking the Dome. That is a Killer(with a capital K) who can Murder (with a capital M i.e. causes the Final Death).

The plot summary has taken a while because there is a lot going on in the book (and I’ve over-summarised there are actually a few more plot strands that I’ve not mentioned, for brevity), it is a complex highly interwoven tale with a host of neat ideas working for it. When it works, it works well and pages go by with me loving some of the world building and ideas. There are some fantastic flights of fantasy with beautiful imagery and poetic writing. For example the Apostery where the ideas of all the many gods are buried, since it’s now proven that there is no afterlife in the heaven/hell sense. Edison also seems to have the knack, like China Mieville (who I see he is being compared to), of taking existing fantasy tropes and putting a new shine on them. Edison’s liches are one example and I enjoyed his descriptions of these (even though undeath doesn’t make much sense in his multiverse?). It’s also refreshing for there to be a prominent gay character in a fantasy book. If it was just this then I'd have no hesitation in recommending it.

However there are some issues here too. The overcomplicated nature of the book sometimes gets away from Edison and in some places it is obscure or incoherent. Edison could have done a little more work integrating his many cool ideas. We occasionally cross the line from dark into just plain creepy (not in a good way) for example the whores of the city were Body Bound as a reward in the past, so now can’t die. Therefore there are now a type of whore called Bloodslut who sell their bodies to people who like to torture and kill them and will leave their payment in the dead whore’s mouth knowing that the whore will eventually stop being dead. Or the host of youths called Death Boys and Charnel Girls who are all HIV victims who now worship the undead liches. One of the characters, Nixon in a young boy’s body, seems to be there as a comedy sidekick most of the time but at one point goes off on a racist rant. Is racism supposed to be funny? There are sometimes scenes of low comedy (the comedy wasn’t to my taste tbh) and deeply dark episodes, sometimes on the same page.

In such a vast multiverse how come our protagonist seems to mostly meet people from our world? Cleopatra as queen of the whores, or the aforementioned Nixon are only a couple of examples. There is a little bit of telling rather than showing and because of that the personality of Cooper didn’t come across as strongly as it could have. He seems to be heroically nonchalant about dying and never being able to see his friends and family ever again, as well as later in the book on being tortured and losing body parts. There is a lot of nice worldbuilding in here but the city failed to come alive for me and I never got a good sense of what is was like. I’m not sure all of the characters make total sense either but don’t want to go into spoilers. It feels to me that Edison should either have been given a couple of hundred extra pages to thoroughly explore some of the things that feel a little rushed and incoherent. Or more needed to end up on the cutting room floor. He does display a prodigious imagination and there is a lot to like in the book but for me it was sadly let down in execution.

Overall – Flawed but with nice worldbuilding. I was left with far too many questions, ones that were integral to understanding.

Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchinson

Category 3 – ARC

Good

Rudi is a chef hailing from Estonia who has wound up working in a Polish restaurant in an alternative history Krakow. Following devastating economic and medical crises Europe has splintered into a plethora of tiny polities and splinter states. When Rudi gets involved in crossing a border on behalf of his boss’s cousin he is drawn into a new career, part-spy, part postman, part people smuggler for an organisation called Les Coureurs des Bois (for which there is a real life equivalent - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coureur_des_bois). Starting as a part time hobby job Rudi is drawn ever further into the shadow machinations of espionage and counter-espionage, conspiracy and counter-conspiracy and the book winds us ever further into second guessing what is going on.

At first the genre element is very lightly done but later in the book we get to explore some very cool, almost Borgesian ideas, it has also been described as Le Carre meets Kafka which I think it deserves. I loved the fact that the really cool ideas are fully integrated with the plot and when we get to the revelation it feels natural. The Coureur organisation is quite a neat idea too, and I liked the introduction of the various special code words etc. Rudi’s induction into the organisation was very well done and the succession of rug pulling felt exciting and interesting and certainly kept me reading. My only, very minor, gripes here are to do with pacing, although I’m not a thriller reader so perhaps it’s just me but some of the set up feels a little slow, later when there are several POV changes it feels a little like a series of resets. However the overall quality of the writing, the characterisation and the central premise are easily good enough for me to forgive this. My only real complaint is that I didn’t know this was the first in a series before starting it and I felt a little cheated at the end when the story didn’t end but sets up a sequel. Again a minor complaint, easily remedied by reading the next book, although since this is an ARC it may be a while before I get there!

Overall - If you like spy thrillers, if you like alternative history, if you like SF&F I thoroughly recommend you check this out.

Ooh sounds interesting!

Annihilation Jeff Vandermeer

Category 3 – ARC

Brilliant

Area X has been contained behind the border for 30 years

So starts the first book in a new trilogy from Jeff Vandermeer. The Southern Reach has sent 11 expeditions into Area X. Many of them have failed to come back, or have come back changed Our narrator is one of 4 in the 12th expedition, she is a biologist and joins a psychologist, surveyor and anthropologist. This is her story. This is the story of the 12th expedition. This is the story of, well let’s not reveal too much here shall we?

This is an example of isolation fiction with a hearty dollop of paranoia on top of the fear and mystery. Vandermeer weaves a web of wicked weirdness that conceals to reveal. We have so many questions that are not answered and may never be but this is because the mystery is, well mysterious. Our narrator is no more clued up than we are and, crucially, compromised. Can we trust her? Can we trust anyone on the team? Can we trust The Southern Reach? Why aren’t expeditions allowed to take cameras, or telecoms, or most other modern technology but are allowed to take guns? What is the true purpose of the expeditions? What is Area X? What is the significance of the Lighthouse? Do we really want to know what the strange noises in the night are? Why did the Biologist join the expedition?

There are several Vandermeerisms (yes that is a word) that will appeal to fans of his earlier work (no spoilers but I bet you can guess what I mean) but this is a slightly different tale to those he has told before. He describes a real and lush landscape in almost cinematic terms. He also manages to make it feel uncanny with a few deft touches and therefore even though the palette is light he achieves a darker tale. I was in the story from the first paragraph, rushing gladly through the book simultaneously desperate to know what was going to happen and deeply dreading knowing in case that knowledge were to change me irrevocably.

It will be compared to Roadside Picnic by the Strugatskys no doubt and possibly Dark Matter By Michelle Paver and there are brief elements of familiarity here if you are well read in the Weird. However Vandermeer has carved a compelling and fresh tale that may owe a passing nod to Lovecraft but only in the same way that a modern car would owe a nod to a Model T. If any complaint were to be levelled at this it would be that we are forced to wait some months before the second in the trilogy is released. Will we get our answers in that tome? Do we want answers? Perhaps it’s safer not to know.

Overall – I can only describe this as Vandermeerian (yes that is also a word) in its brilliance. If you’re a fan of Vandermeer go, buy, read! If you’re not a fan of Vandermeer why the hell not?

I'm doing the happy happy joy joy dance. New VanderMeer!

It comes out this month - I got an ARC from the SF reading group I'm a member of, probably should have said that!

3 new books this year.. I was dubious at first (why split them) but having just finished the 1st I shall just go and sit in stunned silence somewhere and let in sink in.

Oh dear. If Claire if off sitting in stunned silence to let the story sink it, my future reading list is probably about to take a beating.

How Fiction Works by James Wood

Category

Average

Woods introduces the book by comparing what he is attempting to do with the elements of drawing by John Ruskin. A book that aimed to be a primer by casting a critic’s eye over the business of creation, to help the practising painter, the curious viewer, the ordinary art lover… So in creating this book Wood says In this book I try to ask some of the essential questions about the art of fiction and it is supposed to be aimed at both writers and a general audience who want to know how books work without doing formal literary criticism. A specialists guide for the non-specialist supposedly.

It starts well using clear examples that are a mix of contemporary and classic. However Wood soon forgets that he is aiming the book at a general audience and it starts to enter the rarefied air of almost academic literary criticism. The earlier chapters I fully grasped and found interesting but when he started on a chapter called a history of consciousness I confess he lost me and subsequent chapters on dialogue and realism never really got me back. Wood also falls into the trap of good fiction = only the fiction he likes and he really really likes Flaubert. When he starts being sniffy about “why genre isn’t any good” he lost my good opinion completely and when he starts criticising other critics at the end of the book it meant I drew a sigh of relief when it was all over.

Overall – starts well but soon becomes stuffy, I can’t recommend this. One for the discard pile.

It's great to hear that of the Vandermeer! I just picked up his Wonderbook recently, and I can't wait to sit down with it--it's got some of the most crazy and gorgeous illustrations I've ever seen :)

I've not gotten to any Vandermeer yet, mainly because I'm afraid I'll get completely sucked in and his catalog is large. Getting increasingly tempted, though!

125 but Annihilation is such small book.. how could you resist? you know you want to ;-)

->126 clfisha:
Enabler-danger!!

>115 psutto: riveting setup. Shame about the execution. Reading your review there seems to be to many things likely to annoy or disturb me. I'll let this one go.

>124 whitewavedarling: - wonderbook was a 5 star read for me last year

>125 -Eva-: - you're in for a treat when you get to him then! you really should read one of his books....

>128 GingerbreadMan: - yeah I really can't recommend it

I'm currently reading the proof copy of the book I have a story in - no links as yet but i'll let you all know when it's published and where to buy a copy ;-)

I won't be reviewing it though - although I do think the standard of stories is quite high generally....

Then I'll be reading another ARC - seem to be getting more the more I review! and after that will be reading the next Cabal....

Thanks for the review of How Fiction Works. I believe I can safely remove that one from the wish list!

glad to take the hit on your behalf!

Spent some time catching up, hope to spend some more time tomorrow. No reviews behind, decided I can't in good conscience review Airship shape (even if I haven't quite finished it) but am working my way through an ARC called the blades of the old empire which is competently written but pretty standard fantasy fare....

Just added the anthology I have a story in to Librarything :-) (no touchstone yet) - http://www.librarything.com/work/14740053/book/106531640

http://wizardstowerpress.com/books-2/airship-shape-bristol-fashion/

How fun! :))

(Also, you can force touchstones by using worknumber::title instead of just title. So Airship Shape & Bristol Fashion is your touchstone!)

useful tip! Thanks

May have had a struggle with the latest ARC but that's behind me now, am reading swords of good men which is 'vikings, beards and swearing, much like me' according to the author who I saw do a reading from it last night.

With a description like that, how can I resist? :)

->136 psutto:
Claire already hit me with that bullet - I am happy when you guys read the same books, so I only get one bullet at a time! :)

You and Claire work well in tandem - one shoots, the other scores!

Blades of the old empire by Anna Kashina

Category 3 – ARC

Unfinished

I received this as an ARC in return for a review. The plot revolves around a prince with a magical gift in a world where magic is usually against the law (enforced by the church). Various inimical forces are arrayed against him, such as a resurgent ancient evil cult, the church, politics etc. He has to travel to the Majat stronghold to renew the services of his bodyguard, and source of affection, whilst those forces seek to do him harm. The Majat are quite formidable, a bit like the legendary warriors in Wuxia (like Crouching Tiger or Hero) that can tirelessly and effortlessly defeat 50 opponents, swipe hundreds of arrows from the air, leap tall buildings etc.

This is billed as the first book in a new series, it isn’t, there is a previous book. I used to read a lot of fantasy and this felt like very familiar territory which allows the author to skip much world building and go straight to the action. Although it did have the feel of a second book rather than first in series. As it was an ARC there were some other issues which perhaps will be tightened up in the final edit.
I’m not a fan of the type of romance explored in the book, I can enjoy books with romance in just fine, it’s just this sort of adolescent unrequited crush stuff doesn’t do anything for me. So sadly this book wasn’t for me.

Overall – Romance and fantasy in a world of mighty warriors, nefarious plots and deadly politics. Not one for me though.

Eustace by S J Harris

Category 6 – GN

Average

This is just odd. It starts as the tale of Eustace, who is an ill 8 year old confined to his bed, his disease is never explained, he has a cough and vomits a lot. It is from his POV so the adult world is a bit obscure to him. He has a brother, who is older and joins the army (the story is set just pre WW2) and we see his mother and father rarely, his gaggle of great aunts and great uncles feature prominently. Some of the story is told in flashback (not always clear tbh) and it takes a decidedly weird turn half way through when it turns out that his uncle, on the run from the law, has been hiding under his bed, with his secretary. Eustace, only 8, then gets drawn into the very adult world of running a bawdy house as the story becomes less and less coherent and the less said about the end the better. Paedophilia is hinted at, madness ensues, it’s all very strange and I’m not sure it works. S.J. Harris can certainly draw, his pencilled style is very nice:










But he’s less adept at plotting a story.

Overall – Didn’t really work for me, gets very confusing in the second half

Jonathan L Howard fans - he's bringing out a new comic, only available on smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/402178

->142 psutto:
Ooh, interesting!

Discovering the diamond by Helen Hollick

Category - 8

Average

This is a writing book pitched at indie authors (self or assisted publish) mainly about how to edit & market your book. It’s short and pithy and worth a read if you don’t know much about publishing. It also has plenty of examples on how to write using the author’s own work to underline the writing advice – showing bad and good writing side by side.

Overall – Solid advice in this short book, but nothing new (to me)

Just Add Writing by Meg Kingston

Category – 8

Good

This is a great little book that you can slip into your pocket and take with you to dip into and keep dipping into. Especially if you invest in a set of dragon dice so you can use the randomisers in there. There is a quiz to see if you have what it takes to be a NanoWriMo author (or indeed an author) and plenty of fun tips. It is written in an informal and engaging style and although only took an hour to read is one that will take a while to sink in & I know I’ll be revisiting it again.

Overall – Great little book of writing advice, some interesting writing tasks, one to keep dipping into

Werewolves of Montpellier by Jason

Category – 6 GN

Good

We follow the story of an ex-pat jewel thief as he dresses as a werewolf to roam the rooftops of Paris and steal people’s jewels. He is in love with his lesbian neighbour and plays chess with a misogynist friend who gives him tips on how to stare at women’s T&A better. When the real werewolves of paris find out they target him. The ending is a bit odd. Being a Jason comic the art is strange with anthropomorphic animals but always seems to gel with the story.



Overall – a bit staccato with each page seeming to stand partly alone it is a bit too episodic to work well as a coherent narrative, and yet it is very enjoyable nonetheless

The Gigantic beard that was evil by Stephen Collins

Category – 6 GN

Brilliant

Dave has been bald all his life. Except for 1 hair. Dave likes to draw pictures of his street. Dave lives in a place called Here, with his back to the sea that separates Here from There. Everything is tidy in Here but when Dave grows a beard everything changes. This is an understated book but one with a core idea that will make you think. The panel layout is nicely done and the understated art is great.





Overall – This is a book with a big idea, presented simply and beautifully rendered in A4 printed on high quality paper with a reassuring heft. Recommended

I think everything Jason does qualifies as "a bit odd," lol. I read his Hitler one and I'm still puzzled as to what I think of it, and that was like a year or more ago. I've briefly looked at a couple others that the library has, but decided not to go back that route again, haha.

The Stephen Collins one sounds really interesting though!

Yeah I've read a couple of his others but this one is the oddest, not read the Hitler one yet though...

Swords of good men by Snorri Kristjannson

Category 5 - War

Good

Kristjannson, an author originally from Iceland, has crafted an adventure tale set at the end of the Viking age when the old gods are in process of being displaced by the White Christ. There is a large cast of great characters and we switch POV between them fairly often. The action all takes place in Stenvik, a fortified town in Norway. War comes to Stenvik in the form of a Viking fleet and Snorri spends enough time to set up each and every character and the situation beautifully before the Vikings land. The prose is sharp, punchy and keeps the pace going and ratcheting up the tension throughout. There are a few twists and turns and when the battle finally comes it is cinematic in scope. The only off note was right at the very end but this is the first in a series so further books will, no doubt, claw that back. This is a pretty solid read that does exactly what you want it to. If you’ve a penchant for sweary bearded men killing other sweary bearded men in a Viking style then this is your thing.

Overall – a slightly off ending drops the rating a little but it is a rollicking good read nonetheless

Johannes cabal: The Fear institute by Jonathan L Howard

Category 11 – Blindfold, as chosen by Dudes22

Brilliant

“You wish to isolate fear. Ah, well, if only I'd realised your ambitions were so simple. Perhaps we can work up to it by capturing faith, bottling hope, and presenting love to the world as a commodity, available by the pound, wrapped in greaseproof paper and topped with a bow.”

Johannes Cabal, after his previous two outings, is at home where visitors are not only discouraged they are likely to be eaten by the things that live in the garden. It is with some surprise then that he greets the gentlemen from the Fear Institute who come to procure his services as a guide to the Dreamlands on their quest to capture the Phoebic Animus and dispel fear forever. With the promise of the Silver Key as payment Cabal agrees and the Fear Institute set off on a Victorian expedition into this most unusual of planes. Cabal is, of course, his usual brilliant self and this time round we are treated to a very clever plot that has lots of nods to Lovecraft, such as a sly nod to Ulthar.

“Cats, as any rational person knows, are solitary, opportunistic, ambush predators, much like spiders, but with fewer legs and a better fan club.”

Howard is very much having fun and invites us all along with him as the book capers around gleefully. This is a great series and I am hoping that the 4th book gets a UK deal as well as the already announced US one. If you enjoyed the first two it is a fair bet that you’ll enjoy this one. There is a lot of fun to be had if you’re well read in Lovecraft but I don’t think it’s necessary to be well read in Lovecraft to enjoy it.

Overall – Fun sequel in a highly recommended series.

I just acquired a copy of The Fear Institute, so a "brilliant" rating makes me very happy!

Happy to see the series continues to be a brilliant read! I really must get around to reading the first book in the Johannes Cabal book......

>148 -Eva-: & 149 - it's longer and not as punchy as the first two but is still thoroughly enjoyable

Jonathan is such a great character that I'll be OK with a lesser story, just to hang out with him. :)

the last lingua franca by Nicholas Ostler

Category 8

Unfinished

I pearl ruled this book, life it just too short and there are so many books waiting for me on the shelf. This was dull with a capital ULL. The premise is fascinating – all previous lingua francas (and he does explain the genesis of that label) have disappeared (e.g. Latin) and it has taken less than a couple of generations in the past. Therefore he challenges the belief that English is taking over the world. However I’m not sure I agree with some of his arguments (will computers really make translators & the need for a lingua franca obsolete?) and the dry as dust prose was off-putting. I struggled through the first chapter and then when I realised I was making excuses not to get back to it I dumped it for another book.

Overall – Just too dull not to end up on the discard pile

The city’s son by Tom Pollock

Category 13

Unfinished

I may have mentioned once or twice that I don’t like YA? Well I didn’t know this was YA until I started it. To be honest there is a lot to like in this book and I thoroughly recommend it to those of you who do like YA, China Mieville, Neil Gaiman and Patrick Ness. Set in London the Mater Viae, the goddess of the city, has gone missing and her son Filius hasn’t really filled the gap. Reach, a recurring enemy of his mother, known as the crane king, has returned and is trying to kill Filius. Meanwhile Beth is expelled from school after a graffiti incident. She comes across Filius and inadvertently saves his life then joins with him in his fight against Reach. Pollock has a vivid imagination and some of the various supernatural agencies, who work in the shadows of London, are nicely thought out. The mirrorstocracy, the chemical synod, the pavement priests and the sodiumites are all nice touches and the prose is crisp so you can flip the pages at a good rate. However there are some issues, which in themselves should not put you off, as perhaps most of them are problems with the format. I failed to engage with the characters, I’m not 16 years old and teenage angst just bores me and the adults were either caricatures of evil (there’s an evil teacher, yawn) or ineptitude (one of the worst tropes of YA I think, painting adults as useless) or, no wait that’s it – there may be other adults later in the book I guess (I can think of 4 in the first 200 pages – the evil teacher, the useless teacher, the useless father and the strict but seemingly terminally unobservant mother) . I did get to almost half way through the book before deciding that it just wasn’t for me. You know when you’re not enjoying a book and small things that wouldn’t bother you when you’re really into a story start to be annoying? Well that. One thing that annoyed me, and annoyed me more as the story unfolded was that there is no explanation about how the hidden city stays hidden (and there does appear to be an awful lot of supernatural entities wandering about).

Overall – Yet again I have proved to myself that YA is just not my thing

The Girl with all the gifts by M. R. Carey

Category – 10 apocalyptic

Brilliant

Book Trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xo3A5UTjso

I think this Nietzsche quote is apposite

He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.

o Beyond Good and Evil, Aphorism 146 (1886).

Her name is Melanie. It means “the black girl”, from an ancient Greek word, but her skin is actually very fair so she thinks that maybe it’s not such a good name for her. She likes the name Pandora a whole lot, but you don’t get to choose. Miss Justineau assigns names from a big list; new children get the top name on the boys’ list or the top name on the girls’ list, and that, Miss Justineau says, is that.

So starts the latest Mike Carey book (writing as M. R. Carey) which is a contender for best book of the year for me. To get the best from those brilliant opening chapters, which hook you so thoroughly, it’s best not to say too much about the story. Melanie is a special little girl, genius level IQ, in a school on an army base with about 20 other children. The children are taught and tested by a number of different teachers but Miss Justineau is Melanie’s favourite. The book, at its heart, is an exploration of the relationship between these two compelling characters.

Carey has captured the voice of the 10 year old girl perfectly and creates a very plausible world which is explored in a slowly unfolding and engaging plot. The characters are lovingly crafted such that we care what happens to them, throughout, even those that perhaps are not ‘nice’ people. This book has been plotted with care, with excellent pacing. At around 400 pages it doesn’t feel like a long book and I enjoyed the experience so much that around the half way mark the book became unputdownable and I stayed up late to finish it. It has that effect where, when you close it for the final time, you are utterly satisfied and somewhat emotionally drained. This is a book I’d like to return to once the memory has faded a little. Very much a stand out read. I’m just gushing now but this is highly recommended.

Not every gift is a blessing

Overall – Emotional and unputdownable. Highly recommended.

Well darn - you had me sold on The Girl With All The Gifts until I went to the bookpage and saw 'zombies' as a tag. I don't mind dystopians, but I am not a fan of zombies in the dystopian story. Do you think I should just steer clear of this one?

I think we can all agree that the best thing in the world is when you're reading a book that hits you just right.

>154 lkernagh: I wouldn't say the Z word.... ;-)

Depends what you don't like about them I guess

Well, I think zombies can only improve a book ;), so onto the wishlist this one goes.

Thumbs up for a great review which hooked me even before I knew there may be zombies as well!

Most secret by Nevil Shute

Category 11 - blindfold, as chosen by polymathicmonkey

Good

This is one of Shute’s boat novels (he really, really likes boats and airplanes, especially airplanes) set in WW2 with a cast of characters who all want revenge against the Germans for one reason or another. An Englishman raised in France is put in charge of a boat of Free French, Danish and odd English characters in a series of daring raids on the French Coast. Since it’s Shute you know it’s not going to end well although it was a better ending for some of the characters than I expected. It’s a bit of a slow burner as Shute spends over half the book setting up the characters, and plot. He also uses an interesting technique which serves to distance you from the action as the narrator stays in Britain whilst the action happens and then there’s a report of how the action went followed by a personal account by one of the men. It’s a bit odd and I’m not sure it worked all that well. Still this is a WW2 adventure story that ticks all the Shute boxes - engineering as hero, affection for transport (in this case boat), romantic involvement, manly men, action, pathos, a downbeat ending. Shute is one of my go to authors who seems to be consistently good but is a bit of a comfort read. Although this is perhaps not the best place to start with his catalogue.

Overall – Stiff upper lips and derring do in one of Shute’s boat novels

Born Weird by Andrew Kauffman

Category 13

Good

The five siblings of the Weird family have all been given a blursing (should be a blessing but has turned into a curse) by their grandmother when they were born. The blursings give the Weirds particular capabilities or predispositions; Lucy never gets lost, Abba never loses hope, Richard always keeps safe, Kent will win any physical fight, and Angie always forgives.. These have pushed the sibling’s lives in strange directions and the grandmother realises that she can remove these blursings upon her deathbed, which she accurately predicts to be on her birthday. She charges Angie to gather the Weirds together and bring them to her bedside at the moment of her death. What follows is a strange family dysfunctional road trip across Canada and beyond which skirts whimsy and plays with weird. This is a much better novel than the waterproof bible which had put me off his books, but someone I trust a lot recommended this. I’m still not 100% sure I’m a Kauffman fan but I did read this straight after watching Wes Anderson’s latest film and I think that helped put me in the right frame of mind.

Overall – Off the wall slice of gentle weirdness

I'm running a competition on my blog - you can win a book, and some gin! http://brsbkblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/airship-shape-bristol-fashion-to.html

Born Weird sounds intriguing...

I'm reminding myself to read more Shute, and looking up Born Weird. Also, I shared your blog's contest on my facebook page--I had fun just reading the sentences posted!

>160 christina_reads: hope you enjoy it when/if you get to it

>161 whitewavedarling: - thanks!

>158 psutto: There may be a reason for that - he was an engineer who started on the airship programme and became a director in a company than manufactured aircraft, so I imagine he knew them like the back of his hand. I read a biography of him a few years ago - it was most unexpected and he purposely kept his writing and business persona separate.

I've read slide rule and a lot of his books so yeah I'm aware of why he writes as he does, I'm not complaining, I really like the books :-)

saw this on Twitter today, thought it apt - Word of the day (Japanese) - TSUNDOKU - the practice of buying a pile of books and then not getting around to reading them.

>165 psutto: - Uh-oh, I recognize myelf in that definition!

I wonder if there's a similar word for borrowing too many library books and not being able to read them within the time allotted, or if tsundoku could be extended to cover that as well.

A new word we can all relate to!

Managed to snag the latest Gaie Sebold as an ARC not a Babylon Steel book though?!

apparently being listed as a contributor on Airship Shape allows me to have an author page on LT! - perhaps I should do an author hob nob ;-)

The Blackbirder by Dorothy B Hughes

Category 14 – crime/espionage

Good

We start the book in New York, in the company of Julie Guille, an escapee from Nazi occupied Paris. She bumps into an old acquaintance from her Paris days and when he is murdered outside her apartment she goes on the run rather than get mixed up in any investigation. Julie entered the USA illegally, via Cuba, and is a habituated fugitive. What follows is her trying to cross the country to meet with the one man she feels can help her whilst pursuit is always a possibility, from the law and from the Gestapo. This is a book that from page one is tense with a goodly dollop of suspense and paranoia & it has an utterly believable and sympathetic female protagonist. Recommended for pulp & noir fans.

Overall – Good WW2 drama from the Femmes Fatales: Women write pulp series

Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig

Category 1 – 1st in series

Good

Miriam Black can see how someone dies just by touching flesh to flesh. Obviously this has turned her into a pretty damaged character. From trying to stop the deaths she soon becomes fatalistic and takes what she needs from those destined to die soon in a peripatetic existence rattling round the USA. When she is targeted by a con man and gets involved with an organised criminal gang things start to go awry. This is a dark and bleak story but is blackly amusing with some great turns of phrase, it’s what you’d expect from Wendig really if you follow his blog or twitter. I enjoyed it but think it may not be for everyone, there is also a strange lack of women populating the world of Blackbirds, 90% of the people Miriam meets are men and Miriam and the other main woman character are basically men with breasts which could piss you off. I’m willing, based on the writing to forgive it some but this drop its rating.

She puts her hands on her hips and cocks them this way, then that. With the back of her hand, she wipes away a smear of lipstick from where Del kissed her.
“The lights need to be on,” she says to nobody, foretelling the future.
She clicks the lamp by the bed. Piss-yellow light illumines the ratty room.
A roach sits paralyzed in the middle of the floor.
“Shoo,” she says. “Fuck off. You’re free to go.”
The roach does as it’s told. It boogies under the pull-down bed, relieved.
Back to the mirror, then.
“They always said you were an old soul,” she mutters. Tonight she’s really feeling it.

Overall – Smart, sassy first book in an interesting series, I will read the sequels despite problems with the first

And God created zombies by Andrew Hook

Category 10 - apocalyptic

Good

John has just been dumped by his girlfriend because he’s too self-obsessed. He has few friends. Worked in finance, until the meltdown and is now basically sat on his bum with nothing to do. When he does a favour for a someone and they drive to his house they accidently run over a man in an alleyway. When they discover that he is both already dead and also still moving John is drawn into the usual zombie apocalypse story development. However that is all well-trodden so Hook decides to go off-piste and treats us to something a little different, something a bit more intelligent and interesting. This is a very brief book, novella length really, and effective because it doesn’t feel the need to belabour the point.

Overall – Interestingly philosophical take on the zombie genre, something a little different

Soul Screams by Sara J Townsend

Category 13 – books with a supernatural element

Thirteen stories from crime and horror writer Townsend covering 20+ years of published and unpublished stories. As with all short collections there are stories that work for you, and ones that don’t. The first story, the 13th floor is one of the better stories, although does have a couple of flaws. I also really liked Blue eyes, a story about passion and obsession as well as Jimi Hendrix eyes, about betrayal and cigarette burns about abuse. Mainly because I prefer psychological to overt supernatural there were a couple of stories that didn’t gel with me, especially the guitar (about a haunted guitar, I just found that concept a bit silly really), but thankfully the stories that were good far outweigh those I didn’t get on with.

Overall – Mixed collection of shorts from 20+ years’ worth of writing

Lost Cat by Jason

Category 6 – GN

A private eye finds a lost cat and returns it to its owner only to be drawn into a deeper mystery. Typical Jason art & odd story. Very odd.

Overall – another wtf from Jason, this is one of his more weird pieces, which is saying something

Shanghai Sparrow by Gaie Sebold

Category 3 – ARCs

Eveline Duchen Evvie Duchen, sharp Evvie, Evvie the sparrow, a spry little fringe-dweller alone in the crowd of them, always scraping for a crumb, always with one eye open for a bigger bird, or a cat, or a cruel boy with a stone is introduced to us whilst she is casing a posh house for a possible burglary. She is working for a female Fagin figure and feels it is much better to con and steal than it would be to sell her body. How she ended up being an orphan and street urchin means that certain gentlemen in the British government have taken an interest in her, and her education, and how she can affect the fate of the British empire, and the world.

A good blend of Dickens (you can’t help but compare to Oliver Twist), Folk tales (always nice to see Chinese trickster foxes), spy schools and a light steampunkness - there are steam hansoms, airships (of course) and the plot revolves around “Etheric science”. However the steampunk is very much a background, a plot device for sure, but this story is much more a character journey and the character is really engaging. What was really refreshing for me was that there were poor people in this & Sebold manages to turn a story that is basically about a 15 year old girl going to boarding school into an enthralling read. There are few off notes (although I think the ending felt a little too neat) and I’d really recommend this to anyone, whether you’re a fan of steampunk or not. There are hints that this is a world that the author may visit again in the future and if she does I’d be willing to revisit too even though I’m still hoping for another Babylon Steel book….

Overall – Intelligent & fun steampunk. Worth a visit.

Kudos on being eligible to be an author on LT!

Oh... a new steampunk I haven't heard of before - and with a folk tales connection, no less, and while the Dicken's link has me somewhat undecided, I am intrigued enough to keep my eye out for Shanghai Sparrow.

I like your Author-page - needs some sprucing up (i.e. completion), though. :) I too ended up with Shanghai Sparrow on the radar - great cover, reminds me of Big Trouble in Little China. :)

consider it spruced http://www.librarything.com/author/suttonpete

>172 lkernagh: - it's not written like Dickens, just has that whole Dickensian London feel to it -I personally dislike Dickens (forced to read him at school) I wouldn't let that put you off, this is a very good book!

Wonderful review of Blackbirds.

And I am being constantly reminded to go read something by Dorothy B. Hughes already.

You can read an extract of shanghai sparrow here: http://gaiesebold.com/?page_id=307

>174 psutto:
Very nice!

Catching up and taking some bullets. The girl with all the gifts was brought to my attention by Claire, and now you hammer it home in that tag team thing you guys do so well. Jotting down The city's son and Blackbirds as well. Hooray and congrats on the author page! :)

>178 GingerbreadMan: - Thanks!

I really need to track down Mike's other book he brought out recently city of silk and steel which he wrote with his wife and daughter, which must have been a really cool experience! apparently it is also very good!

Nexus by Ramez Naam

Category 7 - political

Good

This book has been nominated for several different awards and I can kind of see why. It is a very thought provoking read, dealing as it does with human evolution, transhumanism and post humanism, and is also a sometimes gripping action thriller. I didn’t devour this book though and at 400+ pages it did actually feel a little long for an action book. The worldbuilding is mainly done via “briefings” scattered throughout which felt just a little like infodumps and the author spends a lot of time telling you how the characters feel.

In the near future there are transhumans and posthumans in a world where gene splicing and augmentation is available from governments and black markets. There is a nanobot drug called Nexus which allows mind to mind communication and the book revolves around Kaden Lane a hacker who has upgraded the nano drug by giving it an OS and making it a permanent upgrade to those who take his version. You can run some programs on it and the book opens with a vaguley amusing party at which Lane is running a “romantic” program to make him into a pick-up artist, which goes wrong. All is not drugs and parties though as the government is waging a war against “Emerging Threats” and Kade is dragged into an espionage plot against the Chinese when attending a conference in Thailand.

The main part of the is set in Bangkok and having visited there last year it was nice to see the city explored. The action is kind of comic book in places – people slammed into brick walls and the walls coming off worse etc. But a very imaginable world of semi-autonomous drones including spider-drones, augmented government agents, shoot-outs and fistfights and aerial dog fights. When Naam plays to his strengths it’s very, very good.

Overall – Entertaining & worth reading, if Naam’s writing ability matches his imagination in future books then they will be pretty special, a writer to watch.

I can vaguely remember when this series came out. Did you read all of them?

Nexus is the first, I think only 1 other has come out?

>174 psutto: - Well, that is a relief! My recent Bleak House reading experience had me skeptical but now that I know it is more a Dickensian London I am good with that!

Oh, now I look at the author. The link was for the Henry Miller Nexus from the early 70s.

Oops, will fix that!

The Memoirs of a Survivor by Doris Lessing

Category 12 (read for a book group)

Unfinished

I could rant about this but it's so dull I just can't summon up the energy. Suffice to say this book is rammed full of large indigestable lumps of turgid prose written in an interminable, labyrinthine style that requires you to re-read many sentances twice in order to glean any sort of meaning. It took me several days of duty reading (as it's a book group choice I didn't want to give up) to get to page 56 before deciding that Lessing was sucking all my love for books, and reading in general, out and the real world was becoming tired and grey as a consequence.

Overall - How the **** did this woman win a Nobel prize for literature?

>186 psutto: Have you read anything else by Lessing? I've enjoyed the three or four books I've read so far - The good terrorist being my favorite. I don't really recognize the lumpy prose you describe from my readings, but rather a quite accessable, fluid language. However, I haven't ventured into her more sci-fi-oriented books, which many seem to think are her worst. Could be worth giving her another go sometime, maybe.

"I could rant about this but it's so dull I just can't summon up the energy."
Haha! Well, too bad it was a misery-read for you. I seem to remember liking The Good Terrorist, but I really need to read it again to be sure. I've heard The Grass Is Singing is amazing, but haven't gotten to that one myself.

well I did try and read the golden notebook and couldn't get into it so I did groan when the book group chose this one. Perhaps we should have done one of the others!

Or just leave her alone - chalk her up to not your type and move on to the many thousands of authors who are. :) You're hardly running low on materials from Mt. TBR, right?!

I think it's entirebly possible to live a rich life without having read more than two books by Doris Lessing, yes. Especially if you've hated them!

wise words :-)

Mount TBR is pupping several mini mounts at the moment so yeah

I appear to be getting ARCs in batches at the moment so next few books are going to be review copies starting with spindrift by Peter Reason

outlining your novel K M Weiland

Category 8 - shining

Good

As with most things, if I need to learn how to do something I’ll turn to text. This is a how to book on, as the title says, outlining your novel. Weiland discusses the pros and cons of planning versing flying by the seat of your pants (or pantsing as it's known to writers)and misconceptions on outlining. Is an advocate on the benefits of outling, as you’d expect and gives a really thorough guide on how to do it. Along the way she ads inter-chapter interviews with a whole host of writers, gives practical examples using her own writing and makes sure that there are checklists that you can refer easily to.

Overall - If you want to learn how to outline then you won’t go wrong if you use this book.

>193 psutto: Sounds like a helpful book for writers. I'm kind of surprised that there's a book about how to outline a book...but then again, I probably shouldn't be!

There's more than one book about how to outline a book :-)

Spindrift By Peter Reason

Category 3- ARC

Good

Part travelogue, part inner journey, part deep thought on our place in the world. Peter Reason's book is a delight to read, redolent of the sea which infuses each page. He has thought long and hard and deep on the rerlationshio between human and environment and it is this that shines through in the writing. As well as a brief description of the art of sailing, including the nautical naming conventions, which can be confusing to the landlubber (like me) Reason goes on to describe the outer journey he is taking in an effort to reconnect with the wild. This takes the form of sailing round the Irish coast, partly with a companion, partly alone. Drawing in many influential thinkers into his narrative he explores how we have become out of tune with the wider "more than human" world and discusses his meditations upon why this is so and what it is possible to do about it, at a personal level. Pilgrimages are usually religious experiences but this goes far beyond any "spiritual journey" in the normal sense of the word, being as it is a reconnection with the wider world, rather than any one god or spirit.

Overall - intense, thoughtful, meditative this is a book that you'll want to read and reflect upon, and probably read again

The shock of the fall by Nathan Filer

Category 8 - surprise books

Brilliant

Matthew has a mental illness that “sounds like a snake” and this is his story. Filer is a mental health nurse and now a Costa book winner and what a book, a well-deserved win. Filer obviously understands Schizophrenia and this neither mythologises or demonises the illness but gives Matthew space to tell his own story, in his own way. At the end of the book there is a Q&A and Filer says that his vision for the book would be a pile of untidy, different sized, papers, held together with string, paperclips and staples. The book is in a variety of fonts, to represent computer, letters, and typewritten parts as Matthew tells his story, in his own time, with constant interruptions. This is also a story about grief and family.:

I’ll tell you what happened because it will be a good way to introduce my brother. His name’s Simon. I think you’re going to like him. I really do. But in a couple of pages he’ll be dead. And he was never the same after that

I will say no more about the plot. This is a very affecting, thought-provoking, emotional, intelligent and brilliantly written book. Filer’s style grabs you and won’t let go. I read this in a single day. It is one of those books where you may find that there is something in your eye in parts so bring a hankie to your favourite reading chair, snuggle up and dive right in.

Overall – This very much deserves all the praise and hype, go and get a copy, now!

Ok, you definitely got me with that review, Pete. I will be picking up a copy of The Shock of the Fall.

The Shock of the Fall sounds like my kind of page-turning read! Excellent review!

Yep, The Shock of the Fall is going on my wishlist as well!

I got the impression that I was very late to the party as the book & author seem to be everywhere at the moment, but I guess that's just my impression since he's a local! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did when you get to it, I thought it could never possibly live up to the hype but was hooked from the first few pages....

You make it sound very interesting.

>202 hailelib: - thanks! it is :-)

I abandoned Bailey's revenge and as that was given to me in return for a review I felt it wasn't fair of me to post a bad review, so you'll have to make up your own mind about that one I'm afraid

250 Things You Should Know About Writing by Chuck Wendig is a very short book, each "thing" being about a paragraph long - all short, to the point and some are useful - depends where you are in your writing I expect. All in Wendig's individual style. I'd recommend it as a 'am I on the right path' checklist rather than a manual or guide to writing. There is a whole section specific to screenwriting too, if that's your thing

Don't know how/why I missed your thread till now, one of those LT things I suppose. Now I've had to take quite a few BBs all at once, just pleased that I've already read a few of those GNs.

I've seen a few good reviews of The Shock of the Fall, will seek out Jeff VanderMeer, Johannes Cabal & The Girl with All the Gifts.

edit: also The Gigantic Beard was evil added to Mt tbr.

The immortalists by Andrew Hook

Category – ARC

Average

“Two days before Christmas, but it wasn’t like I had anyone to feed or any presents to buy. The only person I had in the world to care about was me. And I wasn’t the caring kind.”

Mordent is an ex-cop turned PI with a tarnished past and a bubblewrap fetish. He is hired to look for a missing kid, disappeared off a ferry three years past, so the police suspect a suicide. Mordent though asks all the questions the police can’t be bothered to, and is tenacious in pursuit of the truth. Hook has got the wisecracking dialogue spot on, with plenty of nods to the 50’s pulp that Mordent is such a fan of, and his police contacts and crime lords really have no time for. Needless to say not everything is as it seems and when the other case he’s working seems to overlap we are headed for an interesting showdown. For it seems that the kid’s body, when found, has aged after death and when a second aged body turns up it appears that rival gang lords are competing in a quest for immortality. When Mordent’s girlfriend goes missing the case turns personal. The book is inter-cut with flashback chapters from his life as a cop, which becomes relevant to the case of course.

The characters are well drawn, if a bit too much from a male perspective (women don’t come out well here) and there are definitely mean streets and wise language. However the denouement doesn’t quite give the payoff I wanted from the story, doesn’t mean it was bad, just that it disappointed me personally. I also didn’t like the main character, which doesn’t necessarily need to be a barrier to enjoying a book (but it helps) but in this case I wasn’t quite sure where his tenacity (before the girlfriend going missing) came from. OK he’s a flawed man trying to do some good, but he’s too flawed.

*****Spoiler alert*****When he’s a cop he kills a prostitute pretty much in cold blood as she was trying to set him up for a fall. Later when he finds out his girlfriend is dead and his ex-wife wants him back he’s glad that his GF is dead because otherwise it would be complicated. He’s open about being a dirty cop. He wonders how much money he can get away with charging the grieving mother of the boy he’s been paid to find. In the final chapter, when he and his wife are aged, and she has dementia, he starts telling her of affairs he’s had, thinking that she understands just enough to be hurt by it. He’s just a nasty piece of work. Overall – Interesting modern noir, doesn’t quite deliver on the premise

>204 avatiakh: - hope the hail of bullets doesn't put you off revisiting ;-)

I'm feeling pretty guilty that I'm just popping in and not having time to catch up on people's threads. I'm going to have to put aside a little time for a catch up soon!!

In the mean time here's a review

Invisible: Personal essays on representation in SF/F edited by Jim C Hines

Category – ARC

Brilliant

People who read a lot of fiction form judgements based upon their reading about how the world works and should work. Books can give us dreams and ideals and goals. Saying to any group, "these dreams, these goals, are not for you" harms not just individuals, but our culture.

This slim, but important and packed volume, is a must read. As the editor explains: This project began as a call for a handful of guest bloggers to talk about representation in fiction, inspired by Alex Dally MacFarlane’s article about ending the default of binary gender in SF/F (http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/01/post-binary-gender-in-sf-introduction), and the backlash that article received. Giving voice to thoughts on representation are; writers of colour, women, Trans, non-traditional gender, disabled, a writer with Asperger’s and an impassioned appeal to stop making albinos evil, by an albino. Every single one of these voices underline why representation is important. More importantly, and highlighted in Derek Handley’s brilliant essay, why representation without understanding can hurt as much as, if not more, than no representation at all. This is a book I’d love to put into the hands of many authors, one I’d love to see taught in creative writing classes and one I will be referring to often when discussing why representation matters, with the numerous folk who don’t understand that concept. Stories make the world.

I’ll leave you with Derek’s words on representation:

Representation is important. When you’re a kid, it’s about having a positive role model with your defining characteristics. When you’re an adult, it’s about being reminded that you fit in somewhere and escaping into that character. And when you’re going through a major life change, it’s about finding solace in stories that show you that someone understands and that maybe you can overcome the challenges you face.

Overall – Slim but packs a mighty wallop. Highly recommended.

Pete, when a child learns to read, the transition from picture books that are read to them and chapter books they read themselves require that there is a character that they identify with. This certainly fits with what Hines is saying.

Also, Jim C. Hines will always have my love because of his blog and when he posed in the positions required of the women on SF/Fantasy covers.

Invisible sounds like a must read. And I chime into the choir of praise for that appetizing review of The shock of the fall. Psychosis as a theme can often lead to suprprising, moving and original literature.

Authority Southern Reach by Jeff VanderMeer

Category 8 - must read now

Brilliant

In the aftermath of the 12th expedition we follow "Control" the nom de guerre of the new director of the Southern Reach. Some of the questions in the first book are answered but many mysteries remain, are deepened in fact. This is different in tone and style and yet the two books are so inextricably linked that whilst reading this volume I had to several times resist the urge to go back and re-read Annihilation. When I have completed all three books I can imagine re-reading all three as a "whole".

I won't go into the plot - that's a doorway you'll have to cross by yourself. This is less dream-like (although relies, in part, on dreams to build the experience) and less pared down than Annihilation but feels like a layering on of information, themes, character, plot, sense of place, and, to use a term from the book (and the wine world), terroir. It is a deeply sensuous experience that I gorged myself upon. Another reason to re-read once all three have been ravenously consumed will be to take it slower and appreciate the craft. For to be sure there is much craft in these books to admire.

Comparisons are useless, this is idiosyncratic and it is obvious that much thought and care has been put into this as a book, as the second in a trilogy, as a bridge, as a complex exploration of transformation and immersion. Everything becomes significant, it is like being indoctrinated by a conspiracy theorist. It is both a reflection and an intermingling with the first book. Themes are re-explored, re-examined, deepened.

Throughout, as per the word Annihilation in the first book, I was considering – what is authority?, what is control? There is a Russian doll feel to it. Turn over a phrase and find a concept which when considered is but a layer of a greater theme which in turn is reflected in character development, or description, or dialogue. Throughout is a key uncertainty, which in itself is another theme – surface detail is a concealment, an obfuscation of the truth, or is it?

Adding to this is the very form of the story. Presented in a paranoid spy thriller atmosphere as organisational politics meets intelligence meets counter-intelligence. Power struggles, suspicions, revelations, tug-of-war manoeuvres and the use of hypnosis (itself a recurrence of something explored in Annihilation) conspire to keep you immersed and engaged.

VanderMeer has parcelled out information, seemingly generously (in comparison to Annihilation) and yet the mystery remains and is, if anything, deeper following this book. At the end of Annihilation I wanted answers and yet wasn’t sure I’d like what the answers were and was simultaneously eager and afraid of reading the next book. At the end of Authority I wanted the next book to be there to hand, to tear straight into, the level of suspense and anticipation has been built to fever pitch.

Overall – This is a book and a series that deserves all the praise. I expect prizes in the future.

Guinea Pig Zero by Robert Helms

Category 7 – political & controversial

Good

Guinea Pig Zero is a zine dedicated to the world of human experiments. Those brave (or foolhardy?) souls who sign up for medical experiments. It is split into three parts – Research unit report cards (reviews of various research units, USA) which was of mild interest but not terribly useful or relevant to a non-experimental subject much after the first one. Medical experiments in history – including Nazi doctors. Interesting and disturbing in equal parts and case studies – where subjects tell of their experiences, also hugely interesting. I recommend this book to anyone interested in drug trials, human experimentation and the pharmaceutical industry.

Overall – Fascinating insight into the world of human experimental subjects. More info here: http://www.guineapigzero.com/

For who the bell tolls by David Marsh

Category 8 – surprise!

Good

Marsh is the man behind the Twitter of Guardianstyle. The style guide for the Guardian newspaper in the UK. In this entertaining and easy to read grammar guide he goes through the many pitfalls present in written English. Along the way he attacks jargon (politicians don’t come out well) and outlines all the basics without getting too technical. Recommended for grammar nerds and as a reference guide (although there are better indexed guides out there)

Overall –Their are people whom would benefit from reading this

>210 psutto: - A spoiler review! I love that the entire review is hidden by the spoiler feature..... you have no idea how finger twitching tempting it was to see that and want to click to view what you wrote, but I contained myself and made a note to Authority Southern Reach to my burgeoning future reading list instead. ;-)

Hoping to pick up a copy of For Who the Bell Tolls at some point. It sounds right up my alley.

>211 psutto: Ha! I like your "overall" comments on For Who the Bell Tolls...I see what you did their. :)

Thanks for recommending Jim Hines's essay collection. Like RidgewayGirl, I appreciated his "women and fantasy covers" blog pots. I've not read any of his other work but it's high time I did.

Thanks all :-)

From a killer’s mind by Jason Helford

Category 3 – ARC

Good

John is a serial killer. We follow him pursuing his ‘work’ as he meticulously plans another kill, using a map on which he has painstakingly noted all of the places he’s visited, the routes he’s taken etc. We see that he practices meditation to keep from going mad. When he brings his ‘epiphany’ home and chains her to a chair in his bomb shelter basement he sits down to meditate to obtain the calm frame of mind needed. When he wakes things are different. He has manifested, something (Tulpa – although never stated as such in the book). Things then get pretty complicated for John.

Helford takes his premise and runs about as far as he can with it. John’s current complicated life is interspersed with his pretty horrendous childhood, told in flashback. His monster of a father, aided and abetted by his mother torture him. His school life is pretty much as you’d expect, loner abused by peers. It’s a mainly psychological piece but does have a fair bit of torture and other “nasty bits.” It’s a pretty neat idea and there are some genuinely creepy moments. Readers with a strong stomach will enjoy this, not for those who can’t handle body shock. It’s a self-pub and there are a couple of minor things that could have done with a bit of tighter editing but only really nitpicky stuff, a couple of typos, no more than I’ve seen in some more trad published works.

Overall - A quick and entertaining read

Take it cool by Jonathan Pinnock

Category 3 – ARC

Good

Jonathan Pinnock goes through that “where did I come from?” moment that many of us get. Wondering about the family history, the origin of his last name etc. At the same time he is intrigued as to why there is a black reggae singer with the same surname and the fact that there are a lot of Pinnocks from Jamaica. Being a fan, and becoming slightly obsessed with Dennis Pinnock, the reggae singer, Jonathan goes off in search of the history behind the name and attempts to meet with Dennis and interview him about his career. However how do you go about tracking down an obscure reggae singer anyway? Obviously Facebook will come into it, and email, but how do you get people you don’t know to speak to you about this sort of stuff?

Pinnock writes with verve and humour and gently leads you through his somewhat odd quest, blending information about the records themselves (all singles), the musicians, the producers, the reggae scene and the history of the Pinnocks in Jamaica. The format of the book will be familiar to fans of Dave Gorman or Tony Hawkes perhaps but still feels fresh in Pinnock’s hands. There are plenty of footnotes, a discography and the descriptions of the singles were great. If anything, and this is a only very minor niggle, there was a bit too much information about the records in the main text which maybe could just have been put in the discography. For some people this may break the narrative perhaps. This is recommended for fans of UK reggae, music lovers, record collectors, family history aficionados and people interested in Jamaican history and the history of slavery.

Overall – Entertaining and informative, well worth checking out.

Too many brilliant ratings here to mention them all as potential BB's but no doubt I'll be adding the new VanderMeer series to the wishlist. London Falling is already on there but it's good to get another confirmation and I'm glad the Johannes Cabal books continue to meet with your approval.

Hey Dave, long time no see!

Yeah, kind of got lost for a while but managed to find my way back eventually. Created a messageboard thread to explain but have since started my own challenge thread as well.

cool, will track it down - I've not been very active myself, now there's no chance of me catching up on most people's threads :-(

I swear that this group gets bigger and more active each year. I have absolutely no idea how some people manage to keep track of here and the 75'ers group. All I've been doing is managing to keep up with new posts and giving quick scans when the old familiars pop up.

I gave up on the 75 group. Way too many posts to keep up with. This group is much more manageable. I do go back and check up on a couple of people I enjoy reading, however.

Even here (the 75 group is too daunting for me) I have to restrict myself to only some of the threads, although I occasionally add a new one if someone posts on my thread or mentions a book I'm interested in on the "what are you reading now" threads.

Adding to the sighs when it comes to trying to keep up here. Don't know if it's me or the level of activity, but I'm more behind than ever this spring.

Couldn't resist clicking on the spoiler vandermeer review and am very happy to see the story seems to progress as I was hoping - adding both answers and questions.

Good to see you again, Dave!

Zero Alternative by Luca Pesaro

Category – ARC

Good

Scott Walker is a city trader nicknamed “Yours” (which to be honest is a bit confusing in the first half of the book) who is working with a friendly mathematician and programmer to create a set of algorithms called Deepshare. Deepshare is an Oracle of formidable power and is coveted by a rival bank for the fact it can unerringly read the market. Walker is thrust into a world of espionage, conspiracy and betrayal with a cast of billionaires, hitmen and hackers.

This is a punchy thriller that just fizzes with energy and bowls you along. It’s an interesting premise and one that should now be familiar to all of us, The murky world of international trading, secret cabals of billionaires etc & pondering the question - when are banks too big to fail?. But in Pesaro’s hands this feels fresh and exciting and very relevant. Some of the trading went over my head (or I wasn’t paying enough information perhaps) and when Pesaro takes his foot off the accelerator and we pause from breakneck action and go to character development it is hard to feel any sympathy with the main character, who is pretty superficial, or in fact most of the characters if truth be known. Although the characters were mostly well drawn though there’s not exactly a lot of women characters (and they may all be beautiful and attracted to our MC too). There’s some really nice set pieces and I really liked the part set in a crumbling mansion which felt very “Uncharted.”

Overall – Enjoyable thriller

Anders - Hope you enjoy the VanderMeer when you get to them, exciting news is that he's coming to the UK in the Summer and I'll definitely be stalking him, er I mean going to events that he's at in the hope of meeting him :-)

I got an honourable mention in the NYC Midnight short story challenge which I'm pretty chuffed about - if you want to see any more detail about it I've blogged here: http://brsbkblog.blogspot.co.uk/

I'm also running a book giveaway on the blog so if you're interested in SF check it out

>229 psutto: I got an honourable mention in the NYC Midnight short story challenge

Cool! Congratulations!

Yay! Congratulations!

Awesome!

Congrats!

'grats Pete!

Thanks folk, means I came in top 15 of almost 1,000 writers :-D

If you'd like to hear me reading one of my stories I was on last for "Fringe in a flash" for the local SF Con here:
http://www.cheryl-morgan.com/?p=18996

Also on they bill was Jonathan L Howard and Jonathan Pinnock - their books as reviewed above....!

Suffice to say, it was the third ever time I read any of my work out in public since starting writing last year & I'm on the same bill as several published authors. I was VERY nervous! I was also on last!

I will be doing a longer piece for BristolCon fringe later this month and will post the podcast when it's up. Would love to know what you guys think!

Writing & being involved in the local Lit scene is why I've fallen behind on reading and everyone's threads this year. I hope that after the summer Con frenzy I'll have some more time....

Thanks for sharing the link to the podcasts! Great stories. Your story has that nice slow build of creepiness to it. Not enough to freak me out, but enough for me to go "Oooohhh" with wide eyes. Please do post the podcast for your longer piece when it comes available!

>210 psutto:
Haha - love that the entire review is one big spoiler!

>229 psutto:
Congratuwelldone! :)

>196 psutto: & >207 psutto: : Adding these two to the BB list and >229 psutto: Congrats :)

Seems your writing is really taking off, Pete! Great to be here to see it happen!

Congratulations!!!

Thanks all - I'm very much a starting writer so am happy that there has been a bit of success at the beginning which gives me some needed encouragement!

Pure Julianna Baggott

Category 10 - apocalyptic

Average

This was a book club read, I would never have chosen to read this otherwise. As you know I’m not a fan of YA. Although this has less YA tropes than I feared I did have large issues with it. However didn’t hate it & some of the imagery and ideas were very nice. So perhaps if you’re a YA fan you’ll enjoy it, several of the guys at the book club did. My main issues were with passive characters, a plot that relied on coincidence (and unbelievable contrivance), a very vague grasp of worldbuilding and weak understanding of science. The author seems to only be able to think of one way to put her characters into peril by using the dusts (see below)

In the future (?) there is a pseudo-nuclear war(?) called the detonations (a weirdly awkward word for everyone to call the event) which destroyed all the infrastructure of the cities, apart from “The Dome” and caused changes to the people left outside. Now there are the “pure” who live in the dome and the mutated “wretches” that live outside. The wretches have been scarred and fused to things: some to inanimate objects, our heroine has a dolls head instead of a hand, her grandfather has an electric fan in his throat, others are bonded to animals (one of the characters has birds fused to his back) and others are fused to people forming groupies and yet others are fully fused to the ground forming “dusts”. This grotesquery is, by far, the best thing about the book. When one of the pure escapes the dome everything changes.

Overall – Not for me, but didn’t hate it as much as some YA I’ve read

Godwhale by T. J. Bass

Category 9 – books with robots in

Good

Apparently this guy only wrote two books and this is the sequel to his first one, which I haven’t read. I bought this on the strength of it being an SF Masterworks and the blurb on the back, which made it sound right up my street, plus it was also recommended by Jeff VanderMeer. Covering several thousand years’ worth of history this is a bit of a mess structurally; new characters are thrown into the mix (seemingly at random) throughout the book, even towards the end. There are many lurches in time and sometimes these are confusing plot wise, although to be honest there isn’t much of a plot either. I’ve struggled to think how to summarise. In the future the seas are dead, most of humanity live underground in the hive, mechs farm the land, the Godwhale of the title comes back to life when the seas are re-seeded, the hive comes into conflict with the “Benthics”, outsiders who live under the ocean.

And yet, it’s never dull, it’s full of crazy interesting ideas and I enjoyed it a lot. It shouldn’t work, but somehow it does. I wish I’d read the first book, as potentially some of the mysteries wouldn’t be so mysterious?

Overall – some structural problems but an interesting read nevertheless

Tigerman by Nick Hakaway
Category – shiny must read
Brilliant
How does an author follow up an award winning book? By writing something completely different but equally compelling. This is the trick that Nick Harkaway has pulled off with this, his third book.
Lester Ferris is a sergeant in the infantry who winds up on the island of Mancreu after a tour in Afghanistan. This is a former British colony in the Arabian sea that has been given over to the NATO and Allied Protection Force of Mancreu (NatProMan). Technically Lester is the senior officer of the United Kingdom’s Mancreu command and senior consular member. But the whole island is imminently going to be demolished due to an extinction level threat from outgassing of toxicity and mutant bacteria from volcanic vents. Previous outgassings have had some unusual properties and are totally unpredictable.
Lester has established several fair weather friendships but none so important to him than with ‘the boy’, a comics book obsessed, internet savvy local youth who calls himself ‘Robin’. He is also friends with the NatProMan man in charge, the Japanese scientist studying the island and a local café owner. The island has become a bit of a backwater, due to people Leaving (yes with a capital L) and the UK government basically abandoning it. This has led to a fleet of illicit ships floating just off the island, listening stations, black-ops and all sorts of other shady dealings that governments can treat with plausible deniability.
Lester’s job is basically to keep the consulate ticking over and “not get involved” apart from to do some basic policing and representing Britain in a nominal way. When violence starts to spread and Lester gets more involved with the boy it becomes ever more difficult for him to remain aloof and he feels the need to become involved, which the boy encourages. It isn’t long before the legend of the Tigerman is born.
Tigerman, although ostensibly built like a superhero origin tale and drawing on comic book colour (“full of win”, “We are made of awesome”) is an endearing paternal tale and a complex character study. In fact Tigerman only just dips its toe into genre and if you’re looking for full on SF&F then this may not be the place to look. However it is a great read and Mancreu and its colourful cast of characters is a great place to visit for the duration of this book. It has things to say about politics and the state of the world making It a more reflective book than the previous two, but all the more powerful for it. It is also a book, like Gone Away World where, when you get to the end, you are tempted to start all over again. That, I feel, is the sign of a great book.

Overall - Harkaway just seems to be getting better, if you like his other books go and get a copy

Yay! Really looking forward to the new Harkaway, especially with a review like that! :)

I've still not read his 2nd book yet but at least it's good to have things to look forward to.

Ooo! Color me intrigued!

Now I really need to focus on the two Harkaway bombs I own.

Your deceptive mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills by Professor Steven Novella

Category

Good

This is part of the Great courses series and includes 24 lectures that I listened to, so not strictly a book but I’m counting it as such for my challenge!

Novella’s assertion is that at no time in human history have we had access to so much information and so much misinformation. He covers the neuroscience of thinking, the need for critical thinking, a quick course on logical fallacies, biases, critical thinking, science and pseudoscience, conspiracy thinking and so much more. This is a marathon at Twelve and a half hours but very much worth it. Even as someone who is interested in the scientific method, critical thinking, scepticism and logical fallacies I learned some new things. I would say that every single student in our schools should be taught this course as well as media studies (for the understanding of propaganda and political bias). If they were I bet the world would be a better place. I have only scored it as “Good” as it repeated a lot of information I already know but I would recommend this course to everyone.

Overall – Great course of lectures that present critical thinking in easily digestible chunks

More information here: http://www.thegreatcourses.co.uk/tgc/Courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=9344

China Mieville fans rejoice http://torbooks.co.uk/2014/07/01/china-mieville-original-short-story/

Thanks for that. I hadn't opened my Tor newsletter yet. I'm reading Kraken at the moment. He really puts new twists on things, doesn't he?

Really liked your review of Tigerman, thumb! Harkaway seems to be one of those writers who do something different each time, and yet have a coherent feel. I liked The gone away world a lot, and look forward both to this one, and Angelmaker - already on my TBR.

Took a BB for Godwhale too...annnnd will go read the Miéville story as soon as I have a quiet moment!

>250 mamzel: - if you're reading kraken he just explodes with ideas in that one!

>251 GingerbreadMan: - Thanks for the thumb & I know what you mean. You can easily point to his writing and say "that's Harkaway" but all of his books are very different. He's currently writing a fourth I believe which I'm really looking forward to.

Godwhale was recommended by Jeff Vandermeer. Talking of Vandermeer recommendations I'm looking at this one and thinking it is something I should get round to - http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2014/07/02/review-all-the-birds-singing-by-evie-wy...

Anyone read it? LT tells me I'll probably like it ...

Prison Noir edited by Joyce Carol Oates

Category – ARC

Good

Akashic books have a large catalogue of Noir books set in a variety of cities around the world. This one is a little bit different. It is stories by convicts, from within prison. There are writing programs in various prisons but as the editor says in the introduction We discovered along the way, for example, that some institutions don’t allow prisoners to write, but in others they are allowed to write but not, perversely, about crime or prisons! She also notes that it was hard to spread the call for submissions within the prison service. However the stories that they managed to collect together are, on the whole, excellent. There are of course, as in most anthologies, ones that failed to hit the spot for me, but I read them all and was never bored, a sign of a good anthology.

The anthology is split into three parts - “ghosts in the machine”, “caged birds sing” & “I saw the whole thing, it was horrible” no explanations are given as to what divides these themes but you can guess from the titles. The stories are widely diverse in tone, POV, style, language, mood and theme and yet all are recognisably similar because of the setting. Many of the stories are lyrical, soulful and introspective, as you’d expect. Prison is painted as no soft touch luxury alternative to “real” punishment (except perhaps in 3 Block from Hell by Bryan K Palmer which is about a serial killer who kills inmates). My favourites in here are: The opening story, Shuffle by Christopher M Stephen which is a delightfully twisted tale of prison overcrowding; Milk and Tea by Linda Michelle Marquadat (one of only two women writers in the collection) and There will be seeds for next year by Zeke Caliguri which is about an inmate who has tried and failed to commit suicide. Suicide is a common theme, as is mental illness, respect, truth and of course guilt are also common themes.

This is a powerful collection made more so by the simple, short bios of the contributors such as - Ali F Sareini – was born in Kharbit Selim (Valley of Peace) Lebanon. He left the Lebanese civil war in 1985, was a political prisoner in Berlin, joined the US Army’s 82nd Airborne division and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Campbell University and Spring Arbor University. He has just completed his twenty fifth year of incarceration for second degree murder. His story, A message in the Breath of Allah is also one that sticks in your mind, as do many of them.

In the front of the book is a map of where the prisons are that the stories are set in and the introduction notes the fact that the United States incarcerates 2.2 million individuals, a far higher rate per capita than any other nation (On the same list with the USA as number 1, the UK is 104 and China is 127)

Overall – I’m not sure the stories count as “noir” by the strictest definition, but what they are is affecting, powerfully written and arresting literature. Well worth seeking out.

That's an interesting addition to the Akashic books. And edited by JCO. I'll look for it.

I bet a few of us can identify with these - http://mashable.com/2013/11/02/book-lovers-gifs/

>255 psutto: Ha! Too true!

>255 psutto:
Those are great! #5 is my favorite, but that's because I love Morticia so much.

Check on almost all of those - except for one or two I'm not English/American to understand (the dragon on the beach...?). A special check on no. 23. I read when I cook, when I brush my teeth, and occasionally when I walk.

>255 psutto: I can definitely identify with many of these! Thanks too for the China Mieville link.

Hey Jeff Vandermeer fans - he's posted a storybundle over here: http://storybundle.com/fiction some great books on there - I've read most of them sadly - I REALLY recommend Jagannath also a big fan of michael cisco's work

A great deal if you have an e-reader!

Solaris Rising 3 Edited by Ian Whates

Category – ARC

Good

The editor says in his introduction that he has attempted to showcase the rich variety that modern science fiction has to offer. I would tend to agree as this is a fine collection of stories. Of course, as with any anthology, there are taste variations between the editor and the reader but the vast majority of these stories really hit the spot. The one or two off ones are not poorly written, just didn’t do it for me. It’s pointless to try and summarise all the stories so I’ll just mention the ones that really stood out for me. I was very taken by Ken Liu’s Homo Floresiensis which has stayed with me since reading it, a tale of the discovery of living specimens of what the world nicknamed hobbits a few years ago, The Howl by Ian MacLeod and Martin Sketchley and The science of chance by Nina Allen both explored the same sort of territory (timelines) and really captured the imagination. They swim through sunset seas by Laura Lam was a very striking tale with a brilliant first line Dear Eli, I thought I would write and tell you what happened after you died and I also enjoyed psychological Thing and sick by Adam Roberts. Also worth a mention are Gareth L Powell’s entertaining Red lights, and rain and the clever Popular images from the first manned mission to Enceladus by Alex Dally MacFarlane.

There, I said it was pointless to try and summarise all the stories and I then tried to do it for half of them.

Overall - This is an eclectic and entertaining collection, often thought-provoking, like all best SF. Recommended.

Stein: On writing by Sol Stein

Category 8

Good

I’ve now read enough writing books to know that most aspects of good writing can be taught, although some of it comes natural to some writers. It is both an art and a craft and good writing books teach you the craft. Sol Stein’s is a good writing book, as you’d expect from a famous editor. He has probably the best explanation of “show don’t tell” that I’ve read. he is a bit sniffy about "commercial" fiction though ...

Overall - If you’d like to learn what makes good writing good then read this book.

Steering the craft by Ursula Le Guin

Category 8

Good

I find I don’t have much to say about this book, which I read some time ago and have not got round to reviewing. Whilst it is a good introduction, with examples and exercises, of how to write I didn’t find that it spoke to me.

Overall - Worth a read for aspiring writers but no earth shattering insights

the writers and artists guide to How to Write by Harry Bingham

Category 8

Good

This is a fine writing guide with lots of modern examples, a comprehensive guide to writing (but not editing) that is easy to read and follow.

Overall – useful guide, but not one for dipping into

Weirdmonger by D F Lewis

Category 11 - chosen by you

Unfinished

Why?

You want a longer review? Well this is a collection of writing from D F Lewis. Writing, words on the page, no more no less and certainly not stories. So my question is, why? Why produce a thick book of writing that has no trace of story? Maybe I’m missing something? This is the worst sort of “prose poem” which just reads like self-indulgent arty wank. Apparently this guy has over a thousand published stories to his name? Why? How?

Overall – No really, why?

station eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Category 10 - apocalyptic

Good

In the here and now Georgian flu explodes across the world with a mortality rate of 99%. Twenty years after the collapse of civilisation the travelling symphony moves through northern America performing concerts and Shakespeare plays because, as is written on one of their caravans ‘survival is insufficient’. The book cleverly weaves the stories of its main protagonists together throughout time skipping forwards and backwards to the days before and after the flu, adding layers of detail and revealing new depth as it goes. We get to see the interconnectedness of the world through the relationships surrounding Arthur, an aging film star, in the lives he touches. There is Kirsten, a child actress who becomes a key member of the symphony and who carries a comic called Station Eleven written by Arthur’s first wife. Jeevan, a former paparazzi turned paramedic who is at a production of King Lear that Arthur and Kirsten are appearing in. Clark, Arthur’s friend who, after the flu, builds the museum of civilisation. The flu is a device, a background one that is not gone into in much detail, this isn’t The Stand and Mandel spends little time dwelling on how the flu spreads or how civilisation collapses. We do see some of the collapse through the eyes of Jeevan but he mostly just watches out of a window. But this isn’t what the book is about, it doesn’t concern itself with distasteful survival, it concerns itself with how to live and with beauty. Survival is insufficient. There is a message that many people are just sleepwalking through their lives, highlighted most obviously in Clark’s pre-flu story with his unfulfilling life, or Jeevan’s story about having no justification to be a paparazzi, and later an entertainment journalist, or even Arthur whose own story explores the shackles that success and fame can bind you with. There are themes that come forth in the art and story of the comic which gives the book its title and King Lear is obviously of importance too and there are echoes, reflections, resonances with the comic and the play to be found within. It is an accomplished, often spellbinding and affecting book that took a while to get a grip on me, but once it did I breezed through the second half in no time at all.

Overall - This is ultimately a book about relationships on a very human scale and what makes life worth living. Impressive and recommended.

Station Eleven sounds really fascinating! Book bullet taken!

I had no idea Mandel had another book out! I loved Last Night in Montreal and The Singer's Gun. I still need to get around to reading The Lola Quartet, although I have noticed that it doesn't rank as highly here on LT as her first two books do.

I may try one of her other books, the writing in station eleven was good

So you didn't like Weirdmonger then? Think I'll stay away from that one too so at least your abortive reading has some purpose in warning others off this title.

Great review of Station eleven. Sounds a little bit like the comfort I drew from Octavia Butler's Earthseed duology earlier this year.

I post my reviews on my blog (http://brsbkblog.blogspot.co.uk/) and the author of Weirdmonger replied to his review to say "Even I don't know why." so at least he has a sense of humour - I really didn't get it though, perhaps they were prose poems?

station eleven was a book group book, seems most people in the book group thought it was a bit meh, I think possibly because they expected it to be SF, when it is more literary?

Tonight I'll be heading to 9 worlds ( https://nineworlds.co.uk/ ) where I'll be very excited all weekend :-)

Art of forgetting: Nomad by Joanne Hall

Category

Good

This is the second part of a duology –

First half review: (The art of forgetting: Rider)

Rhodri is a foundling and has a perfect memory. He clearly remembers his father but knows very little about his early childhood. This is an important plot point, which does raise a few questions, no spoilers but he had a pretty famous father who I just thought may have been mentioned once or twice in Rhodri’s hearing before the plot dictated the reveal. However this minor point didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book which is a - young lad joins the army, becomes a man -format but told in an engaging style which never gets dull. All the usual stuff happens, first battle, first love (with both sexes), first loss, friendships and enemies. Rhodri becomes a rider in the king’s third (As it’s fantasy and is about a cavalry officer there is a lot of horseyness in parts!) who patrol a city called Northpoint which was instrumental in a civil war that happened in the past but very much informs the events of the book. We see that healers and magic users exist but they don’t have much impact on the lives of the men of the King’s third and in one memorable incident there is a river demon. However it is mostly a low fantasy book concentrating on the lives and loves of Rhodri and his friends as he goes through training and on to a posting at the edge of the country which the second book will explore. This is very much the start of the story and the next instalment is coming soon in which the epic part of the fantasy will probably come more to the fore. The author explores some big themes in this part of the story around identity, gender and sexuality. She does make the characters come alive and I am keen to read the second book.

Second half review –

The book starts where the last one finished in a direct run on, which is a nice touch if you are reading both together but took me a short while to remember what had happened in the first book, although I’m glad the author didn’t spend much time doing the always tedious to read “and this happened in the first book” explanations. However it does make it difficult to discuss the plot without spoilers for the first book. So I won’t. Needless to say there are bigger battles, more death, more magic (of the Shamanic variety) a new culture, and a different part of the map, to explore and lots more love and agst. I think I’d recommend buying & reading both parts together for full effect. The writing is always engaging and easy to read and the characters are mostly fully developed. I’d say that if you enjoy the first one, you’re very likely to enjoy the second one, after all you get to see how things end up. I suspect there will be more books set in this same world as some of the characters didn’t have a neatly tied up ending at the close of the book.

Overall – Enjoyable fantasy

Meatspace by Nikesh Shukla

Category 8

Good

Kitab is an author with one book to his name, greeted lukewarmly by the literati. He’s supposed to be working on a second book but is slowly frittering away his inheritance whilst spending so much time on social media his girlfriend dumps him. When he gets a friend request from someone with the same name as him his life takes an odd turn. This is a funny book that makes you think, a hard trick to pull off. Shukla’s voice shines through the prose and he’s a funny guy. It’s a meditation on identity, identity theft and the Facebook generation. But, you know, in a funny way. There’s an extra level of meaning for someone who hangs around the lit scene in the city and frequents readings. It’s often self-referential and finger on the pulse but what Shukla achieves with the core theme is always engaging and the pages just fly by. Interspersed with the main story are extracts from a blog about Kitab’s brother going to New York which is like a shaggy dog story and just as entertaining, if not more so, as the main story.

Overall – highly enjoyable second novel about a guy writing his second novel. Recommended

The knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch by Lewis Dartnell

Category 10 - apocalyptic

Good

Dartnell sets out to outline the knowledge required to rebuild out modern society after an apocalypse. Full of interesting information it kind of fails at its stated aim, in my opinion, because it assumes that the apocalypse is a “nice” one (i.e. doesn’t destroy the infrastructure too much) and that the folk left behind will have a viable population for industrial society. However if you’re ready to take those two assumptions then Dartnell takes a whirlwind tour of restarting electricity, industrial chemistry, medicine, communications and all the rest of the technologies that make the modern world what it is. Along the way you’ll get a great, but brief, overview of all these things. It is, by necessity, brief and perhaps this is the greatest criticism that can be levelled at the book since anyone can tell you that the devil is in the details. There are a few illustrations but if anything it is a primer for the intelligent survivor to know what knowledge he needs to seek out.

Overall – You’ll need more than this one book to help you restart civilisation, but having this one book will give you a good headstart

Premonitions by Jamie Schultz

Category 13 - supernatural

Good

Karyn Ames hallucinates the future, she’s the leader of a small crew who procure antiquities and magical gewgaws using her skills to avoid trouble. However her hallucinations are bad, they can take over her life, so she takes a drug called blind, only really available from one fairly creepy drug dealer who lives in a ruin and is overly fond of rats. When the group are approached by a notorious crime boss who wants them to steal a relic from a cult the crew agree because there is a two million dollar payout for them if they do. Told from a variety of POVs this is a smart, modern supernatural heist novel that is a whole ton of fun. This is the first in a series, with the intro to the second in the back, so could feel a bit unfinished in a lesser writer’s hands, however it has a very satisfying wholeness to the story and yet the world is such that you know you’re not done with the characters.

Schultz will no doubt be compared to Wendig as they both have female protagonists who glimpse the future and both writers have a knack for witty prose and fast moving plots.

Overall – Great start to a series & I’ll definitely be tracking the second book down

I remember seeing Premonitions in a bookstore and thinking it looked good…nice to see a positive review of it here!

Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer

As this is the third book in the series if you’ve not read the previous do you must do so. At some point I will be re-reading all three books together and providing a Southern Reach review.

A reminder of my reviews of the first two (it's all "spoilers" after the first one!):

Annihilation

Area X has been contained behind the border for 30 years.

So starts the first book in a new trilogy from Jeff VanderMeer. The Southern Reach has sent 11 expeditions into Area X. Many of them have failed to come back, or have come back changed Our narrator is one of 4 in the 12th expedition, she is a biologist and joins a psychologist, surveyor and anthropologist. This is her story. This is the story of the 12th expedition. This is the story of, well let’s not reveal too much here shall we?

This is an example of isolation fiction with a hearty dollop of paranoia on top of the fear and mystery. VanderMeer weaves a web of wicked weirdness that conceals to reveal. We have so many questions that are not answered and may never be but this is because the mystery is, well mysterious. Our narrator is no more clued up than we are and, crucially, compromised. Can we trust her? Can we trust anyone on the team? Can we trust The Southern Reach? Why aren’t expeditions allowed to take cameras, or telecoms, or most other modern technology but are allowed to take guns? What is the true purpose of the expeditions? What is Area X? What is the significance of the Lighthouse? Do we really want to know what the strange noises in the night are? Why did the Biologist join the expedition?

There are several VanderMeerisms (yes that is a word) that will appeal to fans of his earlier work (no spoilers but I bet you can guess what I mean) but this is a slightly different tale to those he has told before. He describes a real and lush landscape in almost cinematic terms. He also manages to make it feel uncanny with a few deft touches and therefore even though the palette is light he achieves a darker tale. I was in the story from the first paragraph, rushing gladly through the book simultaneously desperate to know what was going to happen and deeply dreading knowing in case that knowledge were to change me irrevocably.

It will be compared to Roadside Picnic by the Strugatskys no doubt and possibly Dark Matter By Michelle Paver and there are brief elements of familiarity here if you are well read in the Weird. However VanderMeer has carved a compelling and fresh tale that may owe a passing nod to Lovecraft but only in the same way that a modern car would owe a nod to a Model T. If any complaint were to be levelled at this it would be that we are forced to wait some months before the second in the trilogy is released. Will we get our answers in that tome? Do we want answers? Perhaps it’s safer not to know.

Overall – I can only describe this as VanderMeerian (yes that is also a word) in its brilliance. If you’re a fan of VanderMeer go, buy, read! If you’re not a fan of VanderMeer why the hell not?

Authority


In the aftermath of the 12th expedition we follow "Control" the nom de guerre of the new director of the Southern Reach. Some of the questions in the first book are answered but many mysteries remain, are deepened in fact. This is different in tone and style and yet the two books are so inextricably linked that whilst reading this volume I had to several times resist the urge to go back and re-read Annihilation. When I have completed all three books I can imagine re-reading all three as a "whole".

I won't go into the plot - that's a doorway you'll have to cross by yourself. This is less dream-like (although relies, in part, on dreams to build the experience) and less pared down than Annihilation but feels like a layering on of information, themes, character, plot, sense of place, and, to use a term from the book (and the wine world), terroir. It is a deeply sensuous experience that I gorged myself upon. Another reason to re-read once all three have been ravenously consumed will be to take it slower and appreciate the craft. For to be sure there is much craft in these books to admire.

Comparisons are useless, this is idiosyncratic and it is obvious that much thought and care has been put into this as a book, as the second in a trilogy, as a bridge, as a complex exploration of transformation and immersion. Everything becomes significant, it is like being indoctrinated by a conspiracy theorist. It is both a reflection and an intermingling with the first book. Themes are re-explored, re-examined, deepened.

Throughout, as per the word Annihilation in the first book, I was considering – what is authority?, what is control? There is a Russian doll feel to it. Turn over a phrase and find a concept which when considered is but a layer of a greater theme which in turn is reflected in character development, or description, or dialogue. Throughout is a key uncertainty, which in itself is another theme – surface detail is a concealment, an obfuscation of the truth, or is it?

Adding to this is the very form of the story. Presented in a paranoid spy thriller atmosphere as organisational politics meets intelligence meets counter-intelligence. Power struggles, suspicions, revelations, tug-of-war manoeuvres and the use of hypnosis (itself a recurrence of something explored in Annihilation) conspire to keep you immersed and engaged.

VanderMeer has parcelled out information, seemingly generously (in comparison to Annihilation) and yet the mystery remains and is, if anything, deeper following this book. At the end of Annihilation I wanted answers and yet wasn’t sure I’d like what the answers were and was simultaneously eager and afraid of reading the next book. At the end of Authority I wanted the next book to be there to hand, to tear straight into, the level of suspense and anticipation has been built to fever pitch.

Overall – This is a book and a series that deserves all the praise. I expect prizes in the future.

Acceptance

Acceptance entwines several narratives from both the past and the present, as we understand it from the previous books. It is worth noting at the outset that although there are revelations and answers there is also still much mystery and those seeking an explanation for all that has gone before may be somewhat disappointed. But then if you’ve got this far you’re not really seeking an explanation are you? You’re revelling in the experience and frolicking with the ideas. Surely. Acceptance is non-linear and jumps chapter by chapter between the Lighthouse Keeper (yes that lighthouse keeper! Control, Ghost Bird and the Psychologist with one of those POVs being in second person, difficult to bring off but brilliant when it works (and VanderMeer is never less than brilliant). It is, again, a re-examination of the same events of the previous two books with a deepening and broadening of our perception of what happened and what is happening.

There is much in here that will take some pondering, there is a lingering unease and a sense of wonder and awe. Being able to read all three in the year of publication, across the year, devoured as soon as they arrived and waiting with bated breath for the next, has been an experience. Sharing that experience with a book club has only made it better. On this side of reading the series I am satisfied and yet want to explore more. Content with the experience and the world of the books and yet want to dive back in. This is a towering achievement and one that deserves a wide readership. I won’t cover the plot (why change now?) but suffice to say that as we follow the various narrators we get a variety of perspectives on Area X. Having heard the author talk about the books, and gained a little insight from various interviews I am sure that these books will spawn a “guide to Area X” and the next time I read them I’ll be keeping notes.

To dip back into wine (since terroir is of importance to these books) Acceptance is the long finish revealing the complexity of the robust first notes and the palate pleasing middle notes leaving you thirsty for another draught of the same.

Overall – If you’ve read Annihilation and authority there is no need for me to tell you to read this book. If you’ve not read them then I heartily recommend the entire series and this entirely satisfying conclusion.

>274 psutto: The trilogy is obviously already on my radar because it's VanderMeer but it's good to hear that the whole thing holds up well all the way through. I will get to it at some point (hopefully!).

seems it's split reviewers - if you want a neat & tidy ending then it's disappointing, VanderMeer doesn't do tidy wrap ups but I found it a satisfying series because of the mystery & felt that there were enough answers for me ...

I thoroughly recommend the trilogy

Torture of girth by Nicholas Alan Tillmans

Category – ARC

Average

In Springwood, it’s never okay to talk about the world “outside.” People wonder about it. It can’t be helped. But there’s no point to talking about it. No one who’s been there shares anything. Besides that, it’s dangerous. “Talkers”—people who are overheard talking about the world outside—are routinely monitored. If they are caught sharing too much or saying something threatening or disparaging about the powers that be, they are arrested and often imprisoned or even put to death. All it takes is a mere mention of the world “outside” to warrant an arrest.

Harry Gorman is an underachiever, working in a butcher shop, spineslessly taking a pay cut, not really connecting with his wife (who he doesn’t know is having an affair) and not being able to summon the effort to properly clean out his fish tank. However he doesn’t know that the city he lives in is on top of an underground prison containing odd, evil, spiritual creatures perhaps his must be why no-one is allowed to leave the city? This is a tale of spiritual possessions and has a fair share of horror (both psychological and physical) and mostly the plot just scoots along. There were a few errors that crept in towards the end and there are important new characters being added even in the last few chapters (and sometimes it was hard to differentiate between some of them). I’d also have liked a bit more of an explanation of the setting and maybe more work to ground the plot. It’s a pretty dark tale but does have some levity, comedy horror is difficult to pull off well but mostly Tillmans succeeds. There is talent and story here but as with many self-pub you can’t help but feel it lacks a little bit in polish, however this is head and shoulders above many out there and worth parting with a bit of cash for an entertaining ride.

Overall – If you like Scott Sigler you’ll probably like this. Enjoyable horror.

The Reason I jump by Naoki Higashida, translated by David Mitchell

Category – Shiny

Good

This is a short book by a 13 year old Japanese boy with Autism who answers a series of questions such as “What is the reason I jump” – it is mostly sparse and honest prose but occasionally beautiful, and includes a highly symbolic story at the end. There isn’t much to say about this one. If you’ve ever wondered about what life is like with autism, or want an autistic perspective on the joys of repetition then this book will provide answers. I mostly picked this up because it’s translated by David Mitchell and I was at an event but it I’m very glad I did.

Overall - I think this should be read by everyone really, as it is a study in empathy

Tel aviv noir Edited by Etgar Keret

Category – ARC

Good

Akashic continue their excellent Noir series with a set of tales by Israeli authors edited by Etgar Keret. The stories are split into three sections, the last (and probably best section) being Corpses, the others being Encounters and Estrangements. It’s an interesting mix of stories, some of which are only tenuously “noir” I think but I was especially struck by the first story Sleeping Mask by Gadi Taub which was an exploration of prostitution and the relationships prostitutes have. I also really liked Slow Cooking by Deakla Keydar which was about a woman who goes to a food bank as a method of meeting with a man she wants to be romantically involved with only to confront her prejudices about immigrants. Clear Recent History by Gon Ben Ari was an entertaining little tale about writers, pornography and blackmail that sticks in the memory. Keret’s own story in the anthology, a childless couple decide to buy a dog, which changes their lives was also one of the stand out stories, very in keeping with the tales in The Nimrod flip out.

Overall – Excellent group of short dark stories. Recommended.

Did you get to meet David Mitchell? I heard a radio broadcast of a discussion with questions from the audience with him and his responses to the questions from the audience were so kind and thoughtful that I have had an author crush on him ever since. Also, I really loved Black Swan Green. I haven't gotten to Why I Jump yet.

>278 RidgewayGirl: - yeah I got to have a chat with him whilst he was signing The bone clocks after he was interviewed - there's a bit of detail on my blog: http://brsbkblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/david-mitchell-visits-bath.html

I asked him a question about the translation and could see his publicist looking nervous out the corner of my eye as he waxed lyrical about it and the other 100 or so people in the queue were waiting their turn :-)

He seems like a really nice chap

>277 psutto:
Very good to hear about Tel Aviv Noir. It's definitely on the wishlist!

Mind Seed Edited by David Gullen and Gary Couzens

Category – Shiny

Good

The T Party is a London based writers group that have put together this SF anthology in memory of one their members, Denni Schnapp, who took her own life in 2013. Proceeds from the book go to Next Generation Nepal, an anti-child trafficking charity supported by Denni. The introduction tells us that Denni wrote about How would technological developments affect us as humans, both individually and socially … Her stories were of travel and journey, interaction and transformation, of strong characters and their weaknesses. and the stories are from those that knew Denni and her stories They cover the themes that Denni tackled in her own work: exploration, interaction, the nature of intelligence, and communication with the unknown. There are nine solid tales in the book, including the title story Mind Seed an interesting speculation on rejuvenation and being on and off the grid.

The collection starts with Sex and the single hive mind by Helen Callaghan which is the best SF short story I’ve read for a long while, one that got my synapses buzzing from its inventiveness, tone and prose, highly recommended and a writer I’m looking forward to reading more from. It’s a story about all the themes promised in the intro, about a drug called Seething Green and of a cop on the drug squad. Other stand out stories are by Ian Whates with a creepy little tale of alien contact in Darkchild and Rockhopper by Martin Owton and Gary Couzens about a miner who discovers a derelict, which does that difficult thing in a short story of building an entire, plausible universe within the confines of the story. But suffice to say there are no duff stories in the collection although of course I liked some more than others. Nina Allen’s BSFA shortlisted Bird songs at eventide on top of her story in the previously reviewed Solaris Rising 3 also places her in my “writers to watch” category.

Overall – A fine collection of SF shorts. Recommended.

The Moon King by Nial Williamson

Category - Shiny

Brilliant

Those of an idle frame of mind could find a place in Glassholm to sit the day long and watch the moon

Let me start with the beautiful cover

Yes, you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but it is the reason I picked this up, in an Edinburgh SF bookshop. Which is appropriate since Neil is Scottish I guess. The premise so intrigued me once I'd picked it up that I had to buy it.

Life under the moon has always been so predictable, day follows night, wax phases to wane and, after the despair of every Darkday, a person's mood soars to euphoria at Full.

A former policeman investigates a series of puzzling murders, an artist is drawn into the politics of revolution and an engineer, jilted on his wedding day, has to fix the machine at the heart of the city. Meanwhile the creatures of the immortal ruler, the Lunane, are acting out of character. There is a cell full of crabs in the police station, the crows are gathering at the Castil and the luck monkeys touch the lives of our protagonists.

The monkey blinked and then reached into its mouth and removed a metal disc that appeared too wide to have possibly fitted in there...

This is a phantasmagoric book that slowly unfolds drawing you ever further into its fantastical world. As more layers are revealed it becomes ever more strange and ever more compelling. Williamson has built a stand out world here, one that is a real pleasure to visit, even as things veer towards madness. For the moon is a prime character in the book, of course. As are cycles, memory, order and duty.

"I spent Dark with friends." It was the first thing that came into his head but he'd had to lie hadn't he. He couldn't tell her that he could not remember a coherent thing after being at the bandstand the previous afternoon.

There is an ebb and flow from chapter to chapter and sometimes scene to scene between the three main characters and later on the book grips you and keeps you turning the pages.

It's a bit of a slow-burner and the language can sometimes be flowery, but only very occasionally, and these are not even minor niggles, more a matter of taste and mood.

While the moon grows fat, we are happy
While the moon grows thin, we cry

(start of a popular song in Glassholm)

Overall - This is a very accomplished debut that deserves a wide readership. This is very much my sort of thing. Highly recommended.

That doesn't sound like my kind of book at all, but it also sounds really interesting. I'll keep an eye out for it and if I happen to run across a copy I'll expand my horizons a little.

Mind Seed sounds interesting.

>284 hailelib: - It really is

Sibilant Fricative by Adam Roberts

Category – ARC
Good

How could a book reviewer resist this collection? Adam Roberts, the author of e.g. Yellow blue tibia (which I reviewed previously) and By light alone also writes reviews, and pulls no punches. In this collection of reviews and essays of SF (Sibilant & Fricative respectively) he casts his eye over a variety of books and films. I confess to reading the reviews completely out of order, going through the ones of books and films I had already seen and some I had reviewed myself. This was to get a “baseline” for the books and films I’ve not yet got to so that I know what Roberts likes and doesn’t and where he agrees and disagrees with me so that I can see what I need to add to the TBR & TBW piles.

He reviews PKD, Ballard, Pynchon, Mieville, Bova and many others in the SF section, as well as Star Trek & District 9 films and Tolkein, Le Guin, Rothfuss and notably all of the Wheel of Time in the Fantasy section. He reviews with great insight, sly humour and occasionally in the style of the book he is reviewing. The vast majority of the reviews are very entertaining and some are thought provoking, the best are both. For example Roberts sets himself the task to review The Wheel of Time which starts better than he expected but then rapidly becomes a massive chore. Along the way we get a class on how to write well, and why Jordan doesn’t and thoughts about epic fantasy, fandom and a brief meta discussion about reviews. This, in addition to the essay on the “Two Hobbits” is worth the entry ticket alone, and there is so much more entertainment within.

I started keeping note of some of the more out-leap-y examples of WoT-style … But after 120-pages of this I exhausted the patience necessary to interrupt my reading with jotting examples down in my notebook. I wanted to get through the damn thing as soon as possible. That’s not to say that the writing gets any better, for it does not

If you like reading reviews – and you must do if you’re reading this one right? Then I highly recommend this collection to you.

Overall –Erudite, entertaining, intelligent collection of essays and reviews.

I doubt I could sit and read a whole book of reviews no matter how amusing they may be.

>287 AHS-Wolfy: - I read it over a few weeks in between other stuff, I can't imagine reading it in one either!

I'm mid Kim Newman's An English Ghost story and enjoying it a lot - good Halloween reading

Open Waters by David Gullen

Category – Shiny

Good

Mr Gullen has collected together 11 stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies (and 5 that haven’t) into this, his first short story collection. The earliest published in 1998, the latest in 2011. It’s a wide mix of speculative stories of varying length, a few flash, a few longer pieces, many in between. With the majority of stories Gullen explains the genesis, with many stemming from challenges created by the T party, the writing group Mr Gullen is part of.

There is a lot to like in here and the quality is, in the main, very high. I dipped in and out in between other projects - my own writing and reading for reviews. The first and last stories are very good, both about war, a subject Gullen tells us he often writes about, – the first a ‘what if’, what if the invasion by tourists every year was just that, an invasion, this one stuck with me long after reading it. The last with humanity getting caught up in a galactic war as auxillaries and a small army of humans are abandoned on an alien world and left to conquer it. I was also taken by Gullen’s re-imagining of the lady in the lake in Come the Hour which, he tells us, had a rejection because the editor thought her readers would like to keep their lunches, which Gullen takes as a compliment. My favourite though must be Fade a post-apocalyptic story about us and Them and the Difference, one of those stories that lights up the creative part of your brain and therefore makes the world contained seems much larger than what is on the page. I wish I’d written something as cool as this story. There were a few misses, not poorly written, just didn’t do it for me, but that’s natural in any collection, but they were very few.

These are stories about war, about relationships, about humans, sometimes in alien situations. It is a collection with heart and imagination. Besides, where else would you go for your walrus porn and cowboy Cthulhu erotica?

Overall – An excellent read, recommended.

I'm doing a book giveaway on my blog - I've not read the book in question. if you'd like a copy of The Sham head on over to my blog here: http://brsbkblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/the-sham-book-giveaway.html

In other news - I've finished An English ghost story and a review will be coming soon ...

Just started the thicket and really enjoying it - been meaning to get to Lansdale for far too long!

An English Ghost Story by Kim Newman

Category – ARC

Good

Kim Newman seldom disappoints and I'm happy to report that this is another fine tale from him. A dysfunctional English family seek to escape from the big smoke and move into the Somerset countryside after finding their dream house. The house was formerly owned by children’s author Louise Teazle, whose “Weezie” books entertained children when the parents of the family were small. They soon come to realise that the location of the books is their new house and that the ghosts in the books are very much real. When some of the problems they sought to leave behind, obliquely and darkly referenced in the first third of the book, rear their ugly heads then the family have a realisation, first voiced by the Naremore’s twelve year old son; “They’re not our friends.”

Weaving the four family members POV’s together, sometimes switching between each on one page (although it’s always obvious who) makes for a rich tapestry, seeing events unfold from different perspectives. Newman’s film critic background means that he has a good eye for description and there are some genuinely creepy moments as well as bumps and scares. At its heart though this is a deeply psychological tale and it pelts along at a fine pace. Also included is a Teazle book – “Weezie & the Gloomy Ghost”, an extract from “England’s most haunted locations” and “the journal of a Victorian Woman” which all deepen the story.

Overall – An excellent Halloween read. Recommended.

>290 psutto: Joe Lansdale has been on my radar for a seriously long time, I'll be looking forward to hearing what you think of The Thicket.

I do love a good ghost story. I will keep an eye out for the Newman book.

>292 DeltaQueen50: You've added Joe Lansdale to my to get to list but so far haven't got round to picking anything up from him so I'll also be interested to see what Pete thinks.

So far so good - but not far in due to being too busy to read, which i hope to remedy tomorrow!

I spotted this today, rang a few bells

http://www.bustle.com/articles/44205-7-things-only-kids-who-practically-grew-up-...

And now for a shameless plug! I'm running a crowdfunding campaign to get my writing group's anthology printed. We're using a local company for the platform

Take a look and, if so inclined, pledge - consider it a pre-order

https://www.fundsurfer.com/project/north-by-southwest-anthology

>295 psutto:

Great link!

So close to finishing The Thicket enjoyed it a lot, hoping he doesn't throw it away in the last chapter

>297 hailelib: - Thanks!

The Thicket by Joe R Lansdale

Category

Good

The story opens with Jack’s parents dying of smallpox. His grandfather decides to take him and his sister to their aunt’s and along the way they cross a set of bankrobbers who kidnap his sister. Jack hires two unconventional bounty hunters: a dwarf named Shorty and a black gravedigger named Eustace who has a Hog companion (not pet). It’s set in turn of the century Texas and the hunters must travel to “The Thicket” an iniquitous den of thieves, murderers, rapists and other ne’er do wells with several adventures along the way.

“He’s right you know,” Jimmy Sue said, “ Just a year ago I kept thinking this ain’t fair, the way things have turned out for me. Then it comes to me clear as spring rain. Life is just what it is, and it ain’t fair at all.”
“Can’t we make it fair?”
“You can try, but all that other unfairness keeps seeping in.”

There’s an underlying message that life is just what it is and a tension between God-fearing Jack and reality, as the other characters see it. There is a loss of innocence and a worry of corruption threaded throughout. Lansdale is a wordsmith, full of pretty turns of phrase (or should that be ‘purty’) and the Wild West is beautifully pictured.

”I had a thought that if I didn’t run for it I was going to be dead next, so I broke and made like a rabbit, hit that back door so hard it came off its hinges, and me and it went out into the back there. A bullet came past me like it had to meet someone downtown and was late, and gave me a hot kiss on the ear as it passed.”

The plot is fairly standard for Westerns but that doesn’t make it any less of a page turner. It’s full of memorable characters but of course the Hog is the best one.

Overall – Dark Western with a mean streak and gallows humour. Recommended.

The guest cat by Takashi Hiraide

Category

Average

A couple in their 30’s renting a cottage in a quiet part of Tokyo work as freelance writers, from home. They no longer have much to say to each other. One day a cat invites itself into their lives, visiting from next door, a “guest cat”. It transforms their lives, they begin to order their lives around the cat’s visits, cooking it special meals, playing for hours with it with a ping pong ball. Then the landlord dies and everything changes. This is a philosophical book about ownership and property and a very quick read (140 pages). It lacks a certain feeling of story, being more espisodic and without a clear structural beginning, middle and end. If you can get past that and are a cat lover I think you’ll love this book. The prose is quite beautiful and thoughtful but lack of story meant it failed to sink its teeth into my imagination. The narrator notes that he wrote a number of articles that turned into the book you’re reading and I wonder if this is autobiographical. There’s a number of translator’s notes in the back which further elucidate what could be obscure facts about Japanese society.

Overall – Cute, thoughtful and well observed cat and cat owner behaviour.

>299 psutto: I just happen to have a Western category again next year. The Thicket sounds interesting. Not sure about the Hog though.

I considered buying a copy of The Thicket yesterday. I now wish I had, but I can always drop by the bookstore tomorrow. Good review.

>299 psutto: Good to get the confirmation that Joe Lansdale deserves his place on the wishlist. As that's now a couple of different books of his that have garnered good reviews I think I'll just pick up the next one I see to give him a try.

Oh, how I enjoyed catching up here! A hail of BB's as usual - both Mind seed, Open water and The thicket go on the list for sure. As for the Moon king - that one goes straight on my christmas wishlist. Sounds exactly like what I tend to love!

Thanks folks!

Keeping to the Western theme I've just received Nunslinger as a review copy which I'm really looking forward to! But first I need to finish Broken Monsters which I'm about a third of the way through & enjoying

Claire has been loving Lansdale for a while so I have a stack on the shelves i can dip into now :-)

>304 psutto: OK, Nunslinger might be my new favorite word!

Another one here who needs to get my hands on some Joe R. Lansdale. The Thicket sounds like a western that I would love!

Read Saga (very enjoyable) in between broken monsters (brilliants) and nunslinger which is what I'm reading now - need to catch up on reviews!

Saga is great! I'm waiting for the fourth volume to be published and am somewhat regretting not waiting until the series was finished to start so that I didn't have to wait to see what happens.

I still need to review saga & Broken monsters but I've skipped over them to review nunslinger which is great :-)

Nunslinger Stark Holborn

Good

The true tale of how Sister Thomas Josephine of St. Louiis Missouri, began to cross the Oveland Trail to Sacramento, California with the help of one Abraham C. Muir … So starts a remarkable set of books, first serialised and now collected together in one volume for your delectation. The books recount how Sister Thomas Josephine becomes the “Six-Gun Sister”, a fugitive, running from the law, the bluecoats and the church in civil war era United States. She is waylaid on her way to the promise of a new life in Sacramento California when her wagon train is attacked by Indians. There she meets Lt. Carthy, a handsome cavalry officer and Abraham C Muir a mysterious drifter, two men that fate ties her to. Spurred by a desire to do good in a difficult world Sister Thomas Josephine embarks on a set of adventures that will keep you turning the pages.

There is some beautiful writing here, very evocative and you can almost smell the sweat, leather, beans and coffee that pervade the book. Because it was a serial it does of course feel episodic, but this is a bonus as you can rest between each novella length adventure or gorge on the whole thing as the regular cliffhangers draw you ever onwards. Full of memorable characters and places this is a must for any fan of the Western and a great place to start if you’ve never explored the genre.

Overall – Great Western which ticks all the boxes and yet also manages to feel fresh.

Not read too many westerns but will definitely be adding Nunslinger to the wishlist. Adding a thumb for the review as well.

>310 AHS-Wolfy: Thanks! Hope you enjoy it

Apparently my library on LT stands at 666 books :-o

wait - it's almost Xmas and I haven't been here for a month (I've been on holiday for some/most of that though)

Damn - will have to figure out my year's reading and stuff...

>312 psutto: Quick! Catalog another book!!!

>313 mamzel: - LOL!

Stopping by to wish you a Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2015 for both you and Claire!

>314 lkernagh: - Thanks!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all my LT friends

I am so behind on reviews, on other people's threads, on everything really - hoping to get a bit of time to catch up!

In the meantime I was sent an ARC of Gareth L Powell's Macaque Attack

Good

f you've read this far you are hoping that Powell can pull off a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy with all the trademark explosions and monkey action. Well fear not, he does, with verve, with a few surprising twists and with all the humour and thought-provoking plot you've come to expect. Ack-Ack has been jumping dimensions, saving various uplifted simians and building a monkey army. Meanwhile on their earth Merovich gets a message from his mother. It's not long before there's a race against time to save the multiverse. Old characters grow, new characters are introduced (an ape called Cuddles - featured on the cover - is worth a mention) and there are shocks and revelations. As with the previous instalments the pages whizz by in a frenetic, white knuckled pace and upon turning the last page there is a real sense of completeness, even though you'll want more from the world, the characters and especially the monkey.

Overall - Satisfying and entertaining conclusion. Can't wait to see what Powell does next.

I also caved in and ordered a copy of the brothers cabal from the States since it still hasn't got a UK publication date, sounds like Mr Howard is having problems with his UK publisher :-( I really enjoyed it, those books go from strength to strength & I was glad because I spent a little bit more on it! I'll try to catch up with a review of that and Broken Monsters, travels in a thin country, distant star, navidad & matanza, ways of going home, on liberty, why are we the good guys and Robin Ince's Bad book club and a review of the year - I doubt I'll finish my current book - The best American non-required reading before the new year starts but i'll be counting that as my last 2014 challenge book.

I'll have to think of what I'm going to challenge myself with in 2015 - it'll be a very cut down list as I'm going to be as busy as this year with writing projects, if not more so. Although i didn't have much in the way of targets this year I think I can say that I failed the challenge especially later in the year.

Looking forward to seeing your thoughts on The Brothers Cabal. I just finished reading The Fear Institute and while I miss the constant 'in one's face' intellectual snobbery and sarcasm of Johannes, I thought the whole world build was pretty darn good and, of course, nothing like ending with a bit of a cliff hanger..... ;-)

Glad you're still getting the time to read if not to write about it. The good thing about LT is that it's going nowhere so will still be here when things settle down enough for you to catch up. I still haven't got around to picking up The Fear Institute yet never mind The Brothers Cabal so I still have time to wait on that one. Also be looking forward to your review of Broken Monsters.

I had totally missed that there was a new Cabal book! I've been sitting on The Fear Institute a while since I didn't want to be at the end of the series. :)

The brothers cabal is more in line with the fear institute but better than that one I think - it's only available in the USA at the moment I think :-(

I hope to get to reviews & end of year stuff tonight or tomorrow

I read 94 books in 2014 which is almost exactly half the amount of books read in 2013. I did write a novel, and a short story collection, and edit 8 issues of Far Horizons though, so time spent reading was obviously a lot less than in 2013 -about half I reckon!

I also went to a lot of cons and ran a few events so busy book year. Very satisfying and enjoyable though.

I read 21 ARCs in 2014 compared with 11 in 2013 - I think 1 per month is more doable than 2 per month so am going to make that promise to myself, no more than 1 ARC/Review copy per month.

18 books by women (and 7 by Various - including women contributors) which is actually a lower proportion than in 2013. Must do better next year!

18 e-books and 2 audio books shows that these are still not my favoured formats.

7 Unfinished
11 Average
52 Good

I read books from all categories, so I'm going to count that as a positive, although I think by the fact I didn't do the TBR books I promised myself the whole challenge counts as a fail this time round. Ah well, back for more in 2015!

The following books rated "Brilliant" in 2014 - books that everyone should read, really outstanding and memorable. Highly recommended.

The Haunted Book by Jeremy Dyson

Excellent collection of ghost stories
Overall – Are you sure there is no-one behind you right now?

All Over Coffee by Paul Madonna

Overall – Poetic and artful

The Great War: July 1, 1916: The First Day…

Overall – Just beautiful, I wish I had a wall big enough to display it

Goliath by Tom Gauld

Overall – Art & story in perfect harmony

The Encyclopedia of Early Earth: A Novel by Isabel Greenberg

Overall – very few books get quirky right, this one does

Write by The Guardian

Overall – Lots of writers talking about writing, what’s not to like?

Incidents in the night by David B (translated by Brian Evenson)

Overall – Great art, great plot, great story

The gigantic beard that was evil by Stephen Collins

Overall – This is a book with a big idea, presented simply and beautifully rendered in A4 printed on high quality paper with a reassuring heft.

London Falling by Paul Cornell

Overall – Police procedural with supernatural elements, the start of what promises to be a great series.

The Johannes Cabal series by Jonathan L Howard

I really don't understand why Howard isn't a bigger star, one of the best comic writers working in books at the moment.

The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer

From the decision to release the entire trilogy in one year, to the weirdification of the Florida coast, to mouse detergent, definitely the best thing I've read for a long while. So good I read them twice, once as they came out and a second time one after another. Two different reading experiences. And I got to meet Jeff & Ann too which was great.

The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey

Overall – Emotional and unputdownable. I stayed up late to finish this one, that doesn't happen often any more.

The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer

Overall – This very much deserves all the praise and hype, go and get a copy, now!

Invisible: Personal essays on representation in SF/F edited by Jim Hines

Overall – Slim but packs a mighty wallop.

Derek Handley (who is one of the essayists in the book) had this to say about representation- Representation is important. When you’re a kid, it’s about having a positive role model with your defining characteristics. When you’re an adult, it’s about being reminded that you fit in somewhere and escaping into that character. And when you’re going through a major life change, it’s about finding solace in stories that show you that someone understands and that maybe you can overcome the challenges you face.

Tigerman by Nick Harkaway

Overall - Harkaway just seems to be getting better, if you like his other books go and get a copy

The Moon King by Neil Williamson

Overall - This is a very accomplished debut that deserves a wide readership. This is very much my sort of thing.

Do no harm by Henry Marsh

Overall - Honest insight into a career as one of Britain's top neurosurgeons, heavy on the medical drama.

(I've not yet finished this but I know it's going to be one of the best reads of the year as I'm half way through it)

So that's it - 2014 is almost over and 2015 is round the corner, what will it hold for me? Well I'm hoping for good news on my short story collection, my novel will receive its final polish and start doing the rounds of agents and publishers and my writing group's anthology will be published thanks to all our lovely backers on Fundsurfer. I'll be at several cons (9 worlds, Archipelacon and BristolCon for sure so far) and busy on the local lit scene with Bristol Festival of Literature, North Bristol Writing and no doubt many other local lit scene events - as usual I'll blog about them as they happen!

Happy 2014! - See you in 2015

Missing reviews tomorrow!

Aha! Now I know where I heard about The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil! Saw it in the library catalogue and immediately requested it, then wondered who had put me onto it. Really looking forward to it.

You did have a pretty good reading year considering everything else you had going on!

That's a great total, considering your other commitments!! See you over in the 2015!

>321 psutto: - well that didn't happen ;-)

>322 rabbitprincess: - There's now a stage play too! - http://www.skylightrain.com/how-to-adapt-a-graphic-novel-for-the-stage/

>323 hailelib: & 324 - Thanks!

Missing reviews for 2014 challenge & that brings the 2014 challenge to a close - see you all on the 2015 Challenge...

The brothers Cabal by Jonathan L Howard

Brilliant

Hmmm how to review this without spoilers of the previous novels? By not mentioning the plot (which is great btw and the bit where the wotsit and the thingy were introduced was amazing) but just by saying – it’s like the previous books, but better. Has some characters you’ll know, and some you won’t. Has acts of derring do and wicked plots and perfidious practices. And there are brothers, they are named Cabal and you may or may not have met them both in earlier books. There are monsters from beyond the sane angles of reality of course and dark gloomy castles, and it may not be giving too much away to state that there is a train, but not that train, and there may also be sarcasm and necromancy.

Overall - This really is a great series and if you haven’t spent time with Johannes Cabal then you should remedy that immediately.

Do No Harm by Henry Marsh

Brilliant

Henry Marsh is one of Britain’s top neurosurgeons and in this memoir he reflects upon his career, on the highs and lows. Especially the lows. This is a fascinating insight into what can go wrong with the brain, that require surgery. The heart breaking decisions surgeons need to make. The state of British and Ukrainian medicine (Marsh travels a lot to Ukraine) and what top surgeons think of the NHS (it’d be great if governments stopped interfering on ideological grounds). Marsh’s prose is matter of fact and unflinchingly honest, regrets are laid bare and he admits to mistakes that “ruin” people or even kill them. This has been put forward for a Costa prize and I’m not surprised. A gripping read throughout.

Overall - If you’re the sort of person who is interested in the workings of biology, medicine or a fan of medical drama this is the book for you.

Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes

Good

Combining crime and urban fantasy Beukes writes a novel I enjoyed but it was just a little off the mark to gain a Brilliant rating. A mutilated body of the top half of a boy glued to the bottom half of a deer starts a hunt for a new serial killer on the block in Detroit. Beukes does a great job of creating the cop investigating, Gabi Versado, and her daughter, who becomes integral, and the killer. Detroit’s art scene is vividly brought to life and the plot bubbled away nicely. Beukes was spot on with social media in the novel, which was very refreshing, so many modern novels try to ignore mobile phones, the internet and social media, but Beukes interweaves it beautifully. So what was off the mark? The supernatural element, it just felt superfluous, a garnish rather than an integral ingredient. Still that is a relatively minor niggle and I do recommend this book. I am also slightly disappointed that Beukes has started writing books set exclusively in America, I liked that her first two were set in her native South Africa.

Overall – Crime? Horror? urban fantasy? Doesn’t matter what genre you put it in, give it a go

Travels in a thin country by Sara Wheeler

Average

Sara, as a young woman, travels to Chile and determines to travel from the very top to the very bottom (in Antartica) and write about her experiences. Whilst this does explore the country it does so in very brief snapshots in each place and there is no overall narrative to bind it together. I read it on holiday, naturally, and can remember very little of it now, a matter of a few weeks later.

Overall - Not very evocative.

Distant Star by Roberto Bolano

Average

Novella about poets during the Pinochet era. Bolano obviously took sly digs at actual poets and the overall tone is interesting but in a novella it’s a very odd choice to abandon the plot half way through for an extensive aside. I didn’t really enjoy this one, it failed to grip me and the last third fails at being hard boiled. This is my second Bolano and the second I’ve not really “got”. It came recommended and now I’m wondering if Bolano is for me – perhaps I’m just not trying him at his best?

Overall - This struck me as a pretentious book.

Navidad & Matanza by Carlos Labbe

Good

The narrator(s), quite unreliable, is participating in a writing experiment/game with six other particpants, all named after days of the week. Each writes part of the story that the others must complete, if one fails they disappear, an obvious allusion to the disappearances during the Pinochet era. Our narrator is obsessed with a family whose the son and daughter disappear in Navidad near the twin village of Matanza. This is a short but chewy novel/novella which twists and turns through a complex structure and plot. I was left a little mystified at the end, obviously missing some of its allusions and Chileanisms. It is a very interesting, but confusing, read.

Overall – Not an easy book, but worthwhile reading

Ways of going home by Alejandro Zambra

Good

Our narrator reflects on his childhood growing up in 1980’s Chile as his parents and their friends try to cope with Pinochet’s regime. On the night of the Santiago earthquake, a mysterious girl, called Claudia, appears and his life is changed forever. This is another Chilean novella about the Pinochet era that I read whilst travelling in Chile and the one that I remember best. It’s a story about finding our way home (as per the title) both physically and emotionally and obviously an allusion of how the country can return ‘home’ after the dictatorship.

Overall – Small book, big themes, interesting reading, recommended.

Pablo Neruda by Dominic Moran

Good

A biography of that quintessential Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, Nobel prize winner, diplomat, philanderer. Moran’s biography concentrates on what the poetry says about the man going back and forth between the works and what was happening in the world, in Chile and in Neruda’s life. A controversial figure, unable to criticise Stalinist Russia because of his deeply held belief in Communism. Fleeing from Franco’s Spain, but then spending great effort to get others out once he was safe. Horrible to his wives, the third of whom was utterly devoted to him. Neruda’s character is complex and fascinating. Moran also gives us an oversight of some of the more famous poems and poetry collections. It was very interesting to tour Neruda’s hoses in Santiago and Valparaiso after reading this book.

Overall – A riveting, if not very flattering, portrait of a complex character, one you cannot help but dislike.

On Liberty by Shami Chakrabarti

Good

Shami Chakrabati gave up a promising career working as a lawyer for the home office to join Liberty, a cash-strapped charity fighting on behalf of the oppressed for human rights. Here she tells her story and why liberty (the concept) and Liberty (the organisation) are important. Human Rights in this country (the UK) have come under attack lately as people leap on board the UKIP bandwagon with its mistaken belief that some people do not deserve any rights, and that rights have been assigned and enforced incorrectly by faceless bureaucrats in Europe. What they don’t admit to is that Human Rights were enshrined in law after the holocaust, written mostly by British lawyers. Chakrabarti lays out the facts about the act, quotes it extensively, debunks the counter-factual claims of the Right (including our delusional Conservative party, as well as the nutters in UKIP) and explains with patience, passion and intelligence why human rights are important.

Overall – People either side of the human rights debate should read this book.

Why are we the good guys?

Good

David Cromwell of Media Lens - http://www.medialens.org/ challenges the assumption that the West is a force for good. To quote the back - One of the unspoken assumptions of the Western world is that we are great defenders of human rights, a free press and the benefits of market economics. … the prevailing view is that the West is essentially a force for good in the wider world. Why Are We The Good Guys? is a provocative challenge of this false ideology.

Interweaved with Cromwell’s incisive analysis of the modern media is a memoir of how he came to be an iconoclast, growing up in one of the very few communist families in his home town. I like iconoclasts, I like to have my assumptions and cosy opinions challenged, I think this is healthy, if you have an opinion, understanding why you have that opinion and being able to defend it is a useful skill. Cromwell makes many good points but I feel goes too far the other way, we are neither universally good nor universally bad. Perhaps it is his debating technique – to take a diametrically opposite view – but some of what he said eroded his message.

Overall – Thought-provoking polemic

Bad book club by Robin Ince

Good

Robin Ince is a UK comedian that travels the country doing gigs, on his travels he visits second hand bookshops looking for reading material. Once bitten by the “this book is so bad it’s good” bug he goes on search for the hidden gems of bad celebrity biographies, awful animal horror stories (like The crabs) and romances with heaving bosoms, bizarre self-help books and many more. Ince is best when he rants about books written by newspaper columnists or celebrity culture and the chapter on sex has some very bizarre material. However it’s not a book to read all in one go, as the humour wears a little thin by the end. I also felt it was perhaps a little too long, but maybe it was just that the novelty wore off a few chapters before the end. Saying that though Ince is obviously passionate about writing and I really enjoyed most of the book.

Overall – A celebration of bad writing and bad book ideas.

The best American non-required reading edited by Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snickett)

Average

Every year high school students through the auspices of 826 Valencia (and the other 826 locations USA wide) read and choose fiction and non-fiction to be included in an anthology. This was set up by Dave Eggers and this year, for the first time, edited by Daniel Handler. This should be a very mixed bag right? There are non-fiction pieces, fiction, even extracts from Graphic Novels. But I found it all to be very similar, and, dare I say, a bit bland. So much so that I couldn’t reach the end (I have about three stories left to write and two poems). I started by trying to read in one, went to reading in between other books and it’s now on the TGRO (To Get Rid Of pile).

Overall – What should be eclectic and interesting is somehow similar and bland

Congrats on catching up with the reviews. I guess I need to catch up on the Cabal series (2 books behind now) and Broken Monsters was always going to be picked up at some point though it's good to see a positive review for it here.

>325 psutto: Wow! That would be neat to see.