A Series of Short Audio Reviews

Having been on a work trip, I find myself spending a lot of time in the car commuting and driving to various meetings. The result is a lot of time with audio books. It's been a nice break and an opportunity to catch up on a few things I haven't been able to get into in print. The following three books are what I've recently finished. Before my trip is over I suspect to finish two more, John Steakley's Armor, and probably Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint. 

Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregellis

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm pretty much done with World War II. It's just been done to death, hasn't it? The History Channel might as well be Hitler Channel for crying out loud. Or at least that's what I said before I listened to Ian Tregellis' Bitter Seeds.

Beginning in the early stages of World War II, Bitter Seeds shows the secret history of the conflict between Germany's Gotterelektrongruppe (Nazi mutants, a la X-Men) and Britain's warlocks. Tregellis uses four points of view, two from each side, to tell an immense story in an intensely personal way. It works beautifully, interweaving real events with invented ones, while never losing site of the characters that drive them.

Structurally, the novel reminds me very much of Stina Leicht's Of Blood and Honey. They both tell a story over a long period of time, jumping in at appropriate moments in the characters' lives and then jumping forward to the next. It makes for a disjointed story at times, but allows the author to only show the important bits. Tregellis also writes incredibly descriptive prose without being verbose, making even his minor characters come alive. Narrator Kevin Pariseau takes all that and uses it to great effect, creating one of the best audio book presentations I've ever listened to.

Bitter Seeds is a novel that should appeal to fans of almost any genre. Even in its most reality bending moments it feels grounded, a history that's just out of reach. I highly recommend it in any format.

The Hammer and the Blade by Paul S. Kemp

No matter how much I tried, I couldn't make myself like Paul S. Kemp's The Hammer and the Blade.  It's a well put together novel, with entertaining characters and a good enough plot. Yet, even with the masterful narration of Nick Podehl, it couldn't overcome odd pacing, moments of sheer boredom, and plot devices that robbed the characters of agency. Oh, and a first chapter that I bounced on four times before finally getting past it.

Although I mention a host of issues, the one that most frustrates me is the pace and structure of the narrative. The novel begins with Nix and Egil (or Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, or Locke and Jean, or Royce and Hadrian, et. al,) in a tomb, robbing it of the appropriate treasure and narrowly escaping with their lives. It's dungeon crawling at its finest--funny, mildly horrifying, and pulse pounding. It's also the last time the reader gets to enjoy that dynamic until the novel's penultimate chapter. Instead, Kemp gives the reader the machinations of a morally bankrupt sorcerer or Egil and Nix sitting in a bar drinking, puttering around blasted landscapes, and all the while grousing. In either case it induced in me long stretches of disinterest.

All that goes to say, it didn't work for me. I wouldn't discourage anyone from trying it themselves; it's been well received by hosts of reviewers I trust. My negativity could very well have been a result of wrong place and time for The Hammer and the Blade. I certainly won't hesitate to give Kemp another shot with his next novel despite my frustrations with this one.

Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein

Can you believe I've never read Starship Troopers? Me either! It wasn't the book I was expecting, bearing almost no resemblance to the film. I should have known better having read several of Robert Heinlein's other works.

Told in the first person by Juan Rico, a recently graduated teenager who enlists in the military, Starship Troopers recounts his experience from high school graduation to commissioned officer in the Mobile Infantry. The result is a no-nonsense look at a future dominated by the military, where humanity has embraced notions of duty and responsibility to his common man. I found it both immensely moving and horrifying in equal parts.

The vast majority of the narrative centers around Rico's training and conditioning, first in bootcamp, and later his memories of lessons taught in History and Moral Philosophy, a mandatory class every high school student is required to take. Throughout Heinlein waxes about social mores and the human condition--the things that separate us from other living organisms. It's fascinating and stimulating, often making my mind wander away from the story itself as I pondered the implications.

For Heinlein these mind expanding moments are absolutely vital to the success of the novel because the narrative itself is bone dry (a fact only enhanced by Lloyd James' detached reading). Rico shows little development as a character, often reacting to stimuli as designed, but rarely taking the time to ponder its implications. Instead, Heinlein leaves that to the reader. Very reminiscent of Ayn Rand's work, Starship Troopers isn't about the story, or even the characters, its about demonstrating a line of thought, a philosophical back and forth with his reader. Just like Rand's work, the reader's appreciation of it will vary greatly depending on the level of common ground he can find with author.

Either way, it's a vital piece of science fiction history and a novel I recommend wholeheartedly to anyone interested in how the genre got where it is today.

Excerpt from The Merchant of Dreams by Anne Lyle (giveaway)

THE MERCHANT OF DREAMS

by Anne Lyle 

Chapter I 

Mal leant over the ship’s rail, scanning the shore for any sign of a wreck. The mistral had swept the sky bare, leaving the coast etched in hard lines by the cold clear light of a January morn.

“There,” he said at last, pointing to a dark shape on the beach.

Coby joined him at the rail. “Are you sure it’s the skrayling carrack, sir? Those timbers could belong to any ship.”

“You still don’t believe me.”

“I—‘ Her head drooped, expression hidden by the hood of her cloak. “It’s been more than a year, sir. I thought…I thought all that was over.”

It’ll never be over, he wanted to tell her. Not whilst I have this thing inside me.

Read more »

Guest Post | Anne Lyle, Tearing It Down to Build It Back Up

As far as covers go, there's one style that's nearly guaranteed to do well in the fantasy world and Anne Lyle's debut novel, The Alchemist of Souls, nailed it. Intensely character driven, with a hint of action and a dash of mystery, it sent all the right signals to readers. Even better, Lyle completely delivered on that promise with an excellently paced historical fantasy full of plot twists.

With a cross-dressing female, several gay men, and a Catholic, Lyle's characters are all poorly suited to surviving life in Elizabethan England. Lyle does an incredible job of merging these progressive characters with the setting, never making them feel anachronistic (can people be anachronistic?). They're also just a ton of fun to read about too, making Alchemist of Souls my favorite Angry Robot novel since Zoo City.

All the way from the Cambridge, Anne Lyle...

***

In spring 2011 I signed a contract with Angry Robot for a historical fantasy trilogy, having submitted a finished manuscript of one book, The Alchemist of Souls, and the synopsis for a second. Although I had a rough draft of a sequel on which to base that synopsis, there was one small problem. Well, quite a big one actually. The second book was written way back in 2007, when I was still learning how to write novels, and on top of that Angry Robot had asked for major changes to the first book, specifically to add more magic. Since there was even less magic in the sequel, a simple revise and polish was out of the question; in fact I had to plan and write a new book pretty much from scratch. In under a year.

Fortunately I’m no stranger to pulling a manuscript apart and rebuilding it from the ground up, having done a five-month online course focusing on just that*. Of course I was able to keep the principal characters from the first book, since I had to maintain series continuity, and I kept the setting—the city of Venice—because I love it and thought it would keep the series fresh if I moved my heroes to a new location. I was even able to keep quite a few of the story elements, albeit demoted to a subplot. I then took some of the other Venetian characters, tweaked them a bit and wove a new plot around them. I also made sure that the skraylings—my invented creatures from the New World—were in the thick of things, because based on enthusiastic early reviews I knew my readers would want to learn more about them.

Read more »

Three Short (Not)Reviews - Continuing Series Edition

I tend to write long reviews for everything I read, but I've found that difficult, particularly with second and third book in a series. From time to time I'm going to do posts like this one where I bundle a bunch of reviews together. Most of them will be part of a series, but occasionally I'll throw a standalone in as well. I'll also write up novels in this space that I didn't finish (very rare) and I'll try to explain why without actually reviewing it. Enjoy!

***

Suited by Jo Anderton

Last year's Debris was a fascinating debut novel. In it, Anderton developed a world that reminded me of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn, particularly in the mystery surrounding the world's mechanics. Her main character was a powerful woman, cast down from the heights of society to work in the dreary underbelly of a city literally falling apart. The second novel, Suited, picks up soon after the end of the first, suffering from middle book syndrome and falling short of its predecessor by a reasonable margin.

Far more action oriented, having already built the mystery of the world and plot in Debris, Suited is the story of Anderton's protagonist taking control of her life and new found abilities. Despite the increased agency, and the illusion of activity, there doesn't seem to be a ton of progress to the overall plot. Instead, it sets up a final show down in a third book and a reveal of the villain behind it all.

However, it's my understanding that Anderton isn't under contract for the third book. I always find that disquieting in cases where the story is so clearly unfinished. I'd certainly like to see what happens in the series conclusion, but I don't know if I'll be writing letters to Angry Robot HQ demanding it.



Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey

Caliban, one of the antagonists in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and also a moon of Uranus, is a word that never occurs in the text of Caliban's War. Instead, the title is an acknowledgement to the Shakespeare character, defined as a once controllable monster who turns on its master. In this case, the monster is the alien protomolecule. Loose on the Martian moon Ganymede, Captain James Holden and his crew are tasked with trying to stop it.

Much more a space opera than the noir horror that personified Leviathan Wakes, Corey's sequel moves at a slower pace. The protomolecule remains the MacGuffin, but the conflict in the novel is between humans as the different political factions come to grips with a seemingly all-powerful presence in their midst. The result is a far more nuanced story that will call to mind the skills Daniel Abraham (part of the James S.A. Corey writing team) honed in his Long Price Quartet series.

Caliban's War is the natural next step from Leviathan Wakes, superior in almost every facet. I suspect mileage may vary for readers who will pine for the Detective Miller chapters and their noir sensibility.

Roughly eleven months to go until the next installment. I can't wait.



The Wanderers by Paula Brandon

I began Paula Brandon's Veiled Isles Trilogy last year with The Traitor's Daughter. Mocked up like a historical romance, the novel offered far more than appeared on the surface. Putting aside the hatchet job Random House did on marketing, I said,

'Brandon's debut is high fantasy with a sprawling plot, political machinations, complex systems of magic, all of which manifest themselves in themes that both men and women will very much enjoy. To someone looking for romance they're going to be sorely disappointed.'

It had me very excited to read the second book in the series, The Ruined City, which continued some of the promise from the first, while simultaneously descending into a somewhat tedious travelogue. The central female character, Jianna, also fell into the 'hopeless female' trap that sapped my investment in her half of the narrative. I held out hope that The Wanderers would return to form. Sadly, it did not. Continuing at pace until the final chapters, Brandon's plot unravels into a neatly arranged conclusion that lacks any tension, topped by one of the more blatant examples of deus ex machina I've seen.

As I read the final volume I found myself comparing it in my head to some odd combination of KJ Parker's characters and Diana Gabaldon's style. Unfortunately, neither of those two glowing comparisons hold water when the plot fails to carry any of its own.

Upcoming Night Shade, Angry Robot, Baen, Pyr and Releases - Fall/Winter

Now that we're at the halfway mark for the year, I thought it would appropriate to point out all the novels coming out from August-December that strike my fancy. I'll be breaking my posts down by publisher. Below are the novels coming this Fall and Winter from Night Shade, Angry Robot, Baen, and Pyr that will be must reads for me. I'll mention that there are likely some books from November and December here that aren't currently listed on the publisher's websites that I'll end up wanting (Anne Lyle's Merchant of Dreams is an example). Either way, I can't read them all. So I'll be looking forward to seeing what interests you.
Here's what caught my eye:

The Constantine Affliction by T. Aaron Payton (NSB - August)

1864. London is a city in transition. The Constantine Affliction–a strange malady that kills some of its victims and physically transforms others into the opposite sex–has spread scandal and upheaval throughout society. Scientific marvels and disasters, such as clockwork courtesans, the alchemical fires of Whitechapel, electric carriages, and acidic monsters lurking in the Thames, have forever altered the face of the city. 

Pembroke “Pimm” Hanover is an aristocrat with an interest in criminology, who uses his keen powers of observation to assist the police or private individuals–at least when he’s sober enough to do so. Ellie Skyler, who hides her gender behind the byline “E. Skye,” is an intrepid journalist driven by both passion and necessity to uncover the truth, no matter where it hides. 

When Pimm and Skye stumble onto a dark plot that links the city’s most notorious criminal overlord with the Queen’s new consort, famed scientist Sir Bertram Oswald, they soon find the forces of both high and low society arrayed against them. Can they save the city from the arcane machinations of one of history’s most monsters–and uncover the shocking origin of . . . THE CONSTANTINE AFFLICTION.

It seems like Victorian London is the new cat's pajamas. It's everywhere -- like herpes. What attracts me to this novel, and believe it or not it's not herpes, is the gender bending conceit. It just feels unique, something Night Shade has become adept at publishing.


The Tainted City by Courtney Schafer (NSB - October)

Dev is a desperate man. After narrowly surviving a smuggling job gone wrong, he’s now a prisoner of the Alathian Council, held hostage to ensure his friend Kiran — former apprentice to one of the most ruthless mages alive — does their bidding. 

But Kiran isn’t Dev’s only concern. Back in his home city of Ninavel, the child he once swore to protect faces a terrible fate if he can’t reach her in time, and the days are fast slipping away. So when the Council offers Dev freedom in exchange for his and Kiran’s assistance in a clandestine mission to Ninavel, he can’t refuse, no matter how much he distrusts their motives. 

Once in Ninavel the mission proves more treacherous than even Dev could have imagined. Betrayed by allies, forced to aid their enemies, he and Kiran must confront the darkest truths of their pasts if they hope to save those they love and survive their return to the Tainted City.

Schafer's debut novel, The Whitefire Crossing, was one of my favorite finds of last year. It came out of nowhere as one of the first novels released from Night Shade's New Voices Program. The story was a pretty straight forward travelogue from one city to another with the author's passion for mountaineering bleeding through on every page. I really can't wait to read this one.


Rapture by Kameron Hurley (NSB - November)

After years in exile, Nyxnissa so Dasheem is back in action in service to the bel dames, a sisterhood of elite government assassins tasked with eliminating deserters and traitors. The end of a centuries-long holy war between her country, Nasheen, and neighboring Chenja has flooded the streets of Nasheen with unemployed - and unemployable - soldiers whose frustrations have brought the nation to the brink of civil war.

Not everyone likes this tenuous and unpredictable "peace," however, and somebody has kidnapped a key politician whose death could trigger a bloody government takeover. With aliens in the sky and revolution on the ground, Nyx assembles a team of mad magicians, torturers, and mutant shape-shifters for an epic journey across a flesh-eating desert in search of a man she's not actually supposed to kill.
The only problem?

Killing is the only thing Nyx is good at. And she already left this man to die...

Kameron Hurley's first novel, God's War, has one of the more fascinating roads to publication. I won't go into it here, but the takeaway is that it's an incredibly difficult book to categorize and therefore to market. It's also fucking incredible. To quote a big-six fantasy author, the ideas in it are "China Miéville level". Sure, it suffered from some storytelling hiccups, but that wasn't enough to hold it back from being one of the best first novels of 2011 and maybe one of the best novels period.

Also released last year, was Hurley's second novel, Infidel, which I actually found even better than the first. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that I'm frothing to get my hands on Rapture. You should be too.

Knife Sworn by Mazarkis Williams (NSB - November)

After spending most of his life in captivity and solitude, Sarmin now sits upon the Petal Throne of Cerana. But his reign is an uneasy one. Ambitious generals and restless soldiers want war at any cost. An insidious foreign religion stirs fear among the people and the court. And the emperor’s own heart is torn between two very different women: Mesema, a Windreader princess of the northern plains, and Grada, a lowborn untouchable with whom Sarmin shares a unique bond. A natural-born mage, Sarmin also carries within him a throng of bodiless spirits whose conflicting memories and desires force him to wage a private battle for his sanity. 

In times past, a royal assassin known as the Emperor’s Knife served as the keen edge of justice, defending the throne from any and all menaces, but the last Knife has perished and his successor has yet to be named. For his own safety, and that of the empire, Sarmin must choose his own loyal death-dealer . . . .but upon whom can be he bestow the bloody burden of the Knife-Sworn?

Three sequels in a row from Night Shade! They really had a tremendous 2011. I haven't been as impressed with their 2012 debuts, a fact that should take nothing away from what they're doing as a publisher. Knife Sworn picks up where The Emperor's Knife left off.

In my read through of the first novel, I discovered that Mazarkis Williams writes an understated style that layers tension. My main criticism of it related to that subtleness in the lack of foreshadowing for the major reveal. I'm hoping Williams cranks up the volume a bit in this one.

*** 

Seven Wonders by Adam Christopher (AR - August)

Tony Prosdocimi lives in the bustling Metropolis of San Ventura – a city gripped in fear, a city under siege by the hooded supervillain, The Cowl. 

When Tony develops super-powers and acts to take down The Cowl, however, he finds that the local superhero team Seven Wonders aren’t as grateful as he assumed they’d be…

I didn't rave about Christopher's first novel, Empire State. It had some strong points, but really struggled to pull together a coherent conclusion. I'm hoping Seven Wonders has a clearer idea of where it's going. If so, Christopher's exceptional ability to work with setting and tone should make for a great read. 

Superheroes seem to be en vogue this year, with Prepare to Die! by Paul Tobin and Only Superhuman by Christopher Bennett also on the shelves.

The Corpse-Rat King by Lee Battersby (AR - August)

Marius dos Hellespont and his apprentice, Gerd, are professional looters of battlefields. When they stumble upon the corpse of the King of Scorby and Gerd is killed, Marius is mistaken for the monarch by one of the dead soldiers and is transported down to the Kingdom of the Dead. 

Just like the living citizens, the dead need a King — after all, the King is God’s representative, and someone needs to remind God where they are. 

And so it comes to pass that Marius is banished to the surface with one message: if he wants to recover his life he must find the dead a King. Which he fully intends to do.

Just as soon as he stops running away.

The blurb seems to be leaving some things out because immediately I'm asking, why don't they just keep the King they already have? I suppose it's possible Marius tells them he's not a King, but then why would he be able to find a King for them? I might be over analyzing this.

The idea of casting battlefield looters as main characters is great. These guys show up in every fantasy novel to one degree or another and it's time they got their due. I'm looking forward to seeing what Battersby does with it.

***

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen - November)

Captain Ivan Vorpatril is happy with his relatively uneventful bachelor’s life of a staff officer to a Barrayaran admiral. Ivan, cousin to Imperial troubleshooter Miles Vorkosigan, is not far down the hereditary list for the emperorship. Thankfully, new heirs have directed that headache elsewhere, leaving Ivan to enjoy his life on Komarr, far from the Byzantine court politics of his home system. But when an old friend in Barrayaran intelligence asks Ivan to protect an attractive young woman who may be on the hit list of a criminal syndicate, Ivan’s chivalrous nature takes over. It seems danger and adventure have once more found Captain Vorpatril. 

Tej Arqua and her half-sister and servant Rish are fleeing the violent overthrow of their clan on free-for-all planet Jackson’s Whole. Now it seems Tej may possess a hidden secret of which even she may not be aware. It’s a secret that could corrupt the heart of a highly regarded Barayarran family and provide the final advantage for the thugs who seek to overthrow Tej’s homeworld.

But none of Tej’s formidable adversaries have counted on Ivan Vorpatril. For behind Ivan’s facade of wry and self-effacing humor lies a true and cunning protector who will never leave a distressed lady in the lurch–up to and including making the ultimate sacrifice to keep her from harm: the treasured and hard-won freedom from his own fate as a scion of Barrayar.

My first, and only, Miles book was CryoBurn. I only read it because it was nominated for the Hugo. It impressed me with Bujold's deft use of drama and humor. Given the huge back story associated with Miles I've been hesitant to pick up any of the other books in the series. I'm excited that this new one appears to be departing from that main arc. Sign me up.

*** 

London Eye by Tim Lebbon (Pyr - October)

Two years after London is struck by a devastating terrorist attack, it is cut off from the world, protected by a military force known as Choppers. the rest of Britain believes that the city is now a toxic, uninhabited wasteland. 

But Jack and his friends—some of whom lost family on what has become known as Doomsday—know that the reality is very different. at great risk, they have been gathering evidence about what is really happening in London—and it is incredible. 
Because the handful of London’s survivors are changing. Developing strange, fantastic powers. Evolving. 

Upon discovering that his mother is still alive inside london, Jack, his sister, and their three friends sneak into a city in ruins. Vast swathes have been bombed flat. Choppers cruise the streets, looking for survivors to experiment upon. the toxic city is filled with wonders and dangers that will challenge Jack and his friends . . . and perhaps kill them. But Jack knows that the truth must be revealed to the outside world or every survivor will die.

Steven Erikson blurbed Lebbon's Echo City. That was enough for me to want to read him. Alas, I haven't gotten around to Echo City (for shame). I'm going to make sure I can't say the same about London Eye come next year. This is one of those books I'll be reading the second I get a copy.


The Creative Fire by Brenda Cooper (Pyr - November)

Nothing can match the power of a single voice. . . . 

Ruby Martin expects to spend her days repairing robots while avoiding the dangerous peacekeeping forces that roam the corridors of the generation ship the Creative Fire. The social structure of the ship is rigidly divided, with Ruby and her friends on the bottom. Then a shipwide accident gives Ruby a chance to fight for the freedom she craves. Her enemies are numerous, well armed, and knowledgeable. Her weapons are a fabulous voice, a quick mind, and a deep stubbornness. Complicating it all—an unreliable AI and an enigmatic man she met—and kissed—exactly once—who may hold the key to her success. If ruby can’t transform from a rebellious teen to the leader of a revolution, she and all her friends will lose all say in their future. 

Like the historical evita Peron, ruby rises from the dregs of society to hold incredible popularity and power. Her story is about love and lust and need and a thirst for knowledge and influence so deep that it burns.

I first encountered Brenda Cooper's work in Lou Anders's first Fast Forward anthology. From what I understand her fiction always connects to music in some way. It's an interesting point of view and something I'd like to explore a little bit more. I can't say for sure that I'm going to enjoy Creative Fire. It doesn't really seem like my bag, but I'm intrigued enough by the concept to find out.


The Lazarus Machine by Paul Crilley (Pyr - November)

An alternate 1895. . . a world where Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace perfected the Difference engine. Where steam and tesla-powered computers are everywhere. Where automatons powered by human souls venture out into the sprawling London streets. Where the Ministry, a secretive government agency, seeks to control everything in the name of the Queen. 

It is in this claustrophobic, paranoid city that seventeen-year-old Sebastian tweed and his conman father struggle to eke out a living. 

But all is not well. . .  

A murderous, masked gang has moved into London, spreading terror through the criminal ranks as they take over the underworld. as the gang carves up more and more of the city, a single name comes to be uttered in fearful whispers. 

Professor Moriarty.  

When tweed’s father is kidnapped by Moriarty, he is forced to team up with information broker Octavia Nightingale to track him down. But he soon realizes that his father’s disappearance is just a tiny piece of a political conspiracy that could destroy the British Empire and plunge the world into a horrific war.

What?! Victorian London, again? It seems like a combination of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Who, The Prestige, and Guy Fawkes. If it's solely a pastiche of those things, it can't be bad, right?

***

Anything catch your eye? Anything else from these imprints that I didn't mention for the second half of the year? 

Interview with Anne Lyle author of Alchemist of Souls

Earlier this week I reviewed Anne Lyle's debut novel Alchemist of Souls. It's an excellent piece of historical fiction that she blends with fantasy elements to create something wholly unique. A lover of historical fiction during a long stretch in my 20's, I found myself quickly drawn into the background of the novel. Before long I was neck deep in a Wikipedia wormhole following Lyle's historical threads and their real world simulacrums. After my supplementary reading, I wanted to ask her a few questions... Lyle agreed.

###

When Tudor explorers returned from the New World, they brought back a name out of half-forgotten Viking legend: skraylings. Red-sailed ships followed in the explorers’ wake, bringing Native American goods--and a skrayling ambassador--to London. But what do these seemingly magical beings really want in Elizabeth I’s capital? 

Mal Catlyn, a down-at-heel swordsman, is seconded to the ambassador's bodyguard, but assassination attempts are the least of his problems. What he learns about the skraylings and their unholy powers could cost England her new ally--and Mal his soul.

###

Justin: Thanks for agreeing to answer my questions, Anne. During my college days, when I thought I was way too cool for fantasy books, I started reading gobs of historical fiction. James Clavell, Stephen Pressfield, etc. In reality, historical fiction is as much fantasy as well... fantasy. Especially when you get into alternate time lines as you have in Alchemist of Souls. What do you think about the distinction between the two?

Lyle: I never considered myself too cool for fantasy - I was playing RPGs such as D&D and Runequest at uni! - but I did read Shogun and other historical novels as well. I think they appeal to a similar audience, in evoking nostalgia for a simpler time.

Some would say that all fiction is fantasy, in that it can never be a true representation of reality, but the lines blur more easily when it comes to historical fiction. After all, most human cultures throughout history have believed in ghosts and other supernatural creatures, so these things will be as real for your historical characters as magic is for Gandalf or Harry Potter. However I've noticed that many historical novels play this down, perhaps for fear of straying into fantasy territory. Their loss, I think!

Justin: How much research did you put into making the novel feel historical? Is Elizabethan England a passing interest or something you've studied extensively?

Lyle: It's an era I've always loved, but naturally I had to ramp up my knowledge level once I decided to write a book set in this period. I now have an entire bookcase shelf full of non-fiction about sixteenth-century England, and have made research trips to specific locations used in the book, such as the Tower of London.

Justin: Is it true you were locked up in the Tower of London after a controversial incident at university?

Lyle: Damn, I thought that had all been hushed up!

No, I went to university in Bristol, which is a long way from London. The city does have a tower, a Victorian edifice honouring the Italian explorer John Cabot, who sailed from Bristol to Newfoundland in 1497. And, in my alternate history world, found skraylings. They say write about what you know...

Justin: Your historical macguffin is that Elizabeth had children. It's not one of those great what-ifs that you hear about (what if Alexander went west, what if Hitler never went to Russia, etc.) Why this one?

Lyle: Late sixteenth century England was politically volatile because of Elizabeth's lack of a clear heir, giving rise to the many plots to put Mary Queen of Scots on the throne, and of course the Spanish Armada. I didn't want these problems - or the consequent high tension between Protestants and Catholics - to overshadow my fictional political struggles between humans and skraylings, so I took the decision to stabilise the Tudor dynasty, and that meant marriage and children for Elizabeth.

Justin: On top of that you throw in the Skraylings, some kind of mystical race living among the Native peoples in the New World. Where are you drawing the Skraylings from? It all seems significantly more imaginative than say... dragons in Napoleonic Europe (no offense intended to dragons in Napoleonic Europe) or pixies.

Lyle: There have been quite a few fantasy novels set in Elizabethan England, and nearly all of them draw on "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and therefore have fairies as their main fantasy element. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but I felt I didn't have anything new to add in that line. What interested me was the Age of Discovery and particularly the conquest of the New World. With bands of brave, reckless men crammed into those tiny ships for weeks on end, crossing the vast featureless expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, I saw obvious parallels with space exploration, and the thought came to me: what if the Europeans discovered "aliens" - people who weren't just humans speaking strange languages (though they exist too). I like the idea of stealing tropes and themes from other genres - crime and noir are popular additions into fantasy these days, but SF has such a rich history, it's just ripe for mining :)

Justin: You've got two story lines going on in the novel. One is court intrigue stuff and the other is the theater. Obviously the theater is a huge part of Elizabethan England, but what prompted you to use it as a major component in the novel?

Lyle: I've always been interested in the theatre. My parents met through the local amateur dramatics society, which performed at a proper theatre in town, so I more-or-less grew up backstage, watching rehearsals. I even appeared on stage once myself when I was eight or nine, dancing in the pantomime "Babes in the Wood" (a traditional English tale featuring Robin Hood). In recent years I've seen many of Shakespeare's plays in performance, two of them at the reconstructed Globe, so I had a lot of experiences and imagery to draw on for the book.

Justin: Of course, men dressed as women was the default of the era. Interestingly, you went with a woman dressed as a man as the PoV character. And then also went with a gay character to bridge the gap between your two story lines. Both fascinating choices given the time period.

Lyle: My female PoV character Coby started out as an ordinary young woman, but I soon realised that it was going to be difficult justifying her running around London with these young men - Elizabethan society was very strict on the subject of proper female behaviour. So, I decided to have her disguise herself as a boy to earn an honest living (she's an orphan), which allowed me to riff on some of the Shakespearean clichés of that situation.

Likewise Mal's friend Ned was originally straight, and a promiscuous rogue to boot. When I made the girl into (apparently) a boy, that changed the dynamic between them - so I shifted it back by making him gay and therefore potentially still interested in her. It gave me a chance to explore Elizabethan attitudes to homosexuality and masculinity, which were very different from ours.

Justin: It made for a fascinating juxtaposition, I thought. So what's next? Will we get a chance to visit the New World in future books?

Lyle: Next is a sequel set mainly in Venice (one of my favourite places in the world), which reveals more about the skraylings, as well as moving the main characters' stories forward. I don't have any immediate plans to take the characters to the New World - that would require a lot more research to get it as authentic as the European settings!

Justin: Well, let me know if you need me to go the Native American Museum. It's right down the street! Thanks for joining me Anne. I really enjoyed the book and look forward to the next one!

Lyle: Thank you for having me!

Alchemist of Souls - Anne Lyle

Before I became re-enamored with fantasy, I was an avid reader of historical fiction (or as I like to call it -- fantasy for people who don't want to be seen reading fantasy). I read Shogun (Clavell), Pride of Carthage (Durham), Musashi (Yoshikawa), Gates of Fire (Pressfield), and their ilk. It's exciting to me now when I come across a fantasy concoction that blends that historical sensibility with the speculative. Anne Lyle's debut novel is just that kind of brew. Set in historical Elizabethan England, Alchemist of Souls shows what might have happened if the Virgin Queen had children, secured her rule, and made an alliance with a heretofore undiscovered alien race from the New World.

Lyle's protagonist is Mal Catlyn, a down on his luck swordsman with a checkered past and an unfortunate family connection to Catholicism. The skraylings, a new race from the New World, have been allied with England for a generation, but an ambassador had yet to treat with the Queen. With word of the first skrayling delegation, Mal is hand picked, rather unexpectedly, to serve as bodyguard during the controversial visit. Assassination attempts are the least of his concern as layers of espionage and political jockeying begin to pull him in unexpected directions.

Along with the intrigue, Lyle sets the stage with a tournament of stage performances in honor of the ambassador's visit. Put on by the three most esteemed theater troops in London, the tournament becomes a set piece for the larger story. The theater sections are told mostly through the eyes of Coby, a young woman hiding behind men's clothing, and connects to Mal's thread through his friend Ned, a scribe with a penchant for theater men. Between the three of them they'll be asked to prevent a conspiracy at the core of the monarchy.

There's one requirement in a historical novel and that's tone. Accuracy is important. I certainly don't want auto-loading revolvers running around 16th century London, but it's secondary to capturing the tone of the time. For Elizabethan London that means a lot of things -- religious tension, theater, foreign conflict, and the economic expansion from the New World, to name a few. While some modern affectations of character and language assert themselves from time to time, Alchemist embraces that historical tone from the opening pages and left me wondering whether I was reading a fantasy at all. References to the recent death of Christopher Marlowe, a tense tennis match, and the dropping of Bloody Mary's name all lend themselves to setting an ambiance that's decidedly Elizabethan.

Brought into this authentic setting are the skraylings, a 'race' that I was surprised to learn was, at least tangentially, pulled from Norse history. Encountered in the 11th century, the skraeyling were a people of the region known as Vinland (maybe Newfoundland?), about whom almost nothing else is known. In Alchemist the skraylings are far more fleshed out, exhibiting an entirely different evolutionary line than humanity. Part Native American, part alien, part alchemist wizard things, they exist as Lyle's fantastic element and the impetus by which the narrative moves, woven into Mal's childhood and hopelessly intertwined with his future.

Taking things to another level, Lyle adds characters who exist in the historical space. Mal struggles with his familial responsibilities and his duty to the crown. Coby fights her lie and her faith. Ned reconciles his lifestyle to a world that rejects it. These values they struggle with and embrace in equal parts are so tied to the time in which Lyle has chosen to write that they could not have existed else wise.

Overall the Alchemist has great pace, moving through equal parts political intrigue, bursts of action, and fear of discovery for Coby and Ned. There are moments where Lyle jumps forward in a plot line too suddenly, making a supposition or connection that a character don't seem quite ready to make. Likewise, I raised an eyebrow or two at the social progressiveness of many of the characters who for the time are significantly more accepting of others than I might expect. These are minor complaints and seem reasonable solutions to difficult problems, most notably the fact that close minded bigotry isn't a lot of fun for a socially progressive audience.

Mysterious circumstances combined with historical authenticity and the strange, Anne Lyle's Alchemist of Souls is a 2012 debut I can strongly recommend. It will stand out in the Angry Robot catalog as a title with broad appeal across a wide swathe of genre readers, as well as a real departure from many of their titles that eschew genre classification.

Look for Alchemist of Souls in stores March 27 in the US and the following week in the UK. It's the first book in a planned trilogy titled Night's Masque. You can find Anne Lyle on Twitter @annelyle or on the web at annelyle.com

Collection of Short Reviews from Early 2012

I tend to write long reviews for everything I read, but I've found that increasingly difficult as I read more. It's particularly difficult with second and third books in a series. From time to time I'm going to do posts like this one where I bundle a bunch of reviews together. Most of them will be second and third volumes in a series, but occasionally I'll throw a standalone in as well. I'll also write up novels here that I didn't finish (very rare) and I'll try to explain why without actually reviewing it. Enjoy!

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Shadow Master by Jon Sprunk

I finished Shadow's Master last night, concluding Jon Sprunk's trilogy that began a few years ago with Shadow's Son. I'm keeping this review short because I've said almost everything about the series and Sprunk's style that needs to be said in my reviews of Shadow's Son and Shadow's Lure. For those who've been awaiting this final installment I can confidently say it's a fitting end to Caim, Josey, and Kit's stories. The novel is also a bit of a return capturing the kinetic violence and unrelenting pace of the first volume.

If I have one complaint about the series, and it's a relatively big one, it's that Sprunk doesn't do a very good job of giving his world and magic system the depth that could have taken the series to another level. There are times when the magic becomes deus ex machina almost entirely due to the fact that it's just unexplained. None of that really detracted from my enjoyment, but it is something I'd like to see Sprunk do better in his next series.


The Ruined City by Paula Brandon

Last year I wrote a review for The Traitor's Daughter, the first book in Paula Brandon's The Veiled Isles Trilogy. I found it wildly entertaining, but lamented the book's marketing strategy that pushed it more toward romantic fantasy readers. The romance comes across as a secondary story line to the true conflict in the series which revolves around the corruption of the Source, a magical energy that's in danger of reversing course and altering the world. Brandon shines in this space, utilizing interesting, flawed, and wholly believable characters with goals that are equal parts right and wrong.

Book two, The Ruined City, picks right up where Traitor's Daughter left off. Admittedly, Brandon does open up the throttle on the romance, taking Jianna and Rione's relationship to the next level. It's handled well, and never descends into the sugary annoyance the novel's cover might suggest. Unfortunately, it occasionally portrays Jianna as a girl waiting around for men to solve her problems. The novel's conclusion gives me hope that will change in the final volume, due out this summer.


Jane Carver of Waar by Nathan R. Long

Being Long's first original novel, I would typically write a long form review about Jane Carver of Waar. Except as much as I enjoyed the read, I don't have a whole lot to say. Long takes Edgar Rice Burrough's classic John Carter stories and gives them a modern bent with a strong, female protagonist. The novel reads like a pulp lover's fantasy with over the top action, humor, and a good amount of sex.

It's not just cheap thrills. Long embeds a good amount of commentary on racial and gender equality, class warfare, and biker chicks. As I've never read Burrough's original series, I suspect there was a lot of nuance I missed that fans will pick up on.  Either way, it was a ton of fun to read and I highly recommend it.


The Legend of Eli Monpress by Rachel Aaron

Ok, I'm totally cheating because I haven't read the entire Legend of Eli Monpress. It's an omnibus of three novels -- Spirit Thief, Spirit Rebellion, and Spirit Eater. Orbit has released them in this format, I presume, to get some new readers involved in time for the fourth installment, The Spirit War, due out this summer. Personally, I'd never heard of the series before despite the fact that it's part of one of the most popular sub-genres in fantasy (thief/assassin). I can't help but wonder if the original covers had something to do with it (very urban fantasy don't you think?).

I did finish the first of the original three novels and I'm glad to report it was a fun read. Shallow, overly light on the world and character building, but also possessing a great voice with a fast paced adventure plot. I think the target demographic is younger readers, but there's plenty here to enjoy for everyone. I don't hesitate to recommend the omnibus. I mean it's three books for $10, how can you beat that? I plan to finish it before the fourth book is released.


Giant Thief by David Tallerman

I'm kind of cheating here too. I didn't finish Giant Thief. I didn't even get very far -- around 90 pages. It's not a bad book. It's well written and the plot wasn't unworthy, but the narrator didn't do it for me at all. I found his voice bland and completely uninteresting. A first person novel pins everything on the reader's ability to connect to the narrator, and I just didn't. I can't recommend or not recommend it and I hate that. I try to finish everything I start, even bad books, but this was a rare case where I just didn't dislike or like it enough to continue. Most of the reviews out there, from people I trust (Far Beyond Reality), have been good so maybe I just caught it on a bad week.

Empire State - Adam Christopher

One of the most highly anticipated titles of early 2012, Adam Christopher's Empire State has been billed as superhero noir.  Angry Robot, recognizing the broad appeal of such a pastiche, has marketed the novel along with their WorldBuilder project.  WorldBuilder invites readers to create their own works based in the world of Empire State, which Angry Robot may publish (if they get anything good).  That's neither here nor there, but I thought it worth mentioning.  As a novel, Christopher's debut is wildly entertaining in a tradition Angry Robot fans have come to expect.

Set in New York City during prohibition, Empire State starts with a street tough named Rex witnessing the final battle of the superhero Skyguard and his nemesis the Science Pirate.  Make note of this, because it's the last real super-superhero action you're going to get (mostly).  The story quickly jumps out of New York and into the Empire State (don't worry, you'll be back) -- a parallel-universe, where prohibition continues unfettered and a never ending war with an unknown enemy keeps the populace in constant fear.

The narrative centers around a private dick named Rad Bradley, a divorcee who at 40 years old can only remember the last dozen years or so.  Beautiful women and newspaper reporters soon get him embroiled in a murder mystery that crosses space, time, and dimension.  Sound a little complicated? It is and it isn't.  At its core, Empire State is a standard mystery novel couched in the noir tradition. Rad is a straight forward down on his luck, hard-boiled P.I. working his way through a murder and the conspiracy behind it.

So, that's what the novel is about? Not really.  Near as I can tell, it's really about social inequality.   Existing as a poor copy of New York, down to the people themselves, the Empire State is an isolated and oppressed pocket of humanity.  At its edges, reality blurs, and across the Hudson River exists the Enemy, a nebulous entity of government machinated fear.  The conceit exists on two levels, both within Empire State and in New York.  Internally the authoritarian government rations its populace living large at the top, while those below struggle to subsist.  Externally, those without would sooner see it forgotten or destroyed all together because the implications of Empire State call into question self-realizing notions of identity and existence (draw what parallels you like from real life).

Alright, I might be pushing it a bit with that breakdown, but it's certainly there, whether the author intended it or not.  As for the prose and tone of the novel, Christopher does a bang-up job of conveying the State's bleakness.  The lament of lost memory and the hopelessness of constant war hangs over everything.  It's tangible and permeates all of his characters most especially Rad and heretofore unmentioned trapped explorer, Captain Carson.  Christopher channels a certain dark humor as well that kept me smirking in the face of the unrelenting gloom.

On the downside, the novel does struggle at times with clarity (here's where things get complicated), mostly in breaking down how and why Empire State exists.  Christopher would probably have benefited greatly from an astrophysics degree, and the whole setup reminded me not a little of Mark Hodder's Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack in that the novel itself isn't science fiction, but the device that makes it possible is.  How it all ties together with the plot makes for an obscure ending that doesn't jump the shark as much as it detours around it.  All that adds up to an ending that relegates Empire State to great noir instead of a great novel.

Utlimately, Christopher does a lot more right than he does wrong in his debut.   It seems that Lee Harris and the Angry Robot team have a clear editorial direction in publishing these pastiche novels that don't fit neatly into any sub-genre -- a trend that looks to continue well into 2012 with Empire State at the fore.  I don't put it in the same class as Lauren Beukes's Zoo City, but Adam Christopher is another great new voice in the genre.   It'll be interesting to see where he goes next.

Debris - Jo Anderton

I think I've mentioned this observation in the past, but it continues to prove out the more books I read from the 2011 catalog.  First person person narrators are hip in the publishing world.  I was listening to an Odyssey podcast the other day and Richard Sawyer was talking about point of view.  He made the remark that something like 80% of fantasy and science fiction is written in the third person.  In years past, I would totally agree.  Today it seems that more and more are being written in the first person.  This year alone the genre has seen dozens of debuts in the first person including Mark Lawrence's Prince of Thorns and Daniel Polansky's Low Town (obviously I could list a lot more, but will use those two as high profile examples).

Being a rather amateur writer and reviewer, I don't know exactly why this shift toward more first person narrators may be happening. It could be in response to the desire for more character driven drama. Or maybe the fact that it seems so many of them are from debut authors is significant? Does writing in the first person make it easier for the reader care about the protagonist? If so it would be a pretty small leap to assume that first person narrations suck in agents and editors at a higher rate.  Just looking at this years Hugo and Campbell Nominees I count five out of the ten as written in the first person and all of them are relatively new authors.  Regardless of the why (although I think it's an interesting question) Debris by Jo Anderton joins the ranks of 2011 first person debuts.

Tanyana, a talented artist and architect, was born the ability to see and control pions - the the building blocks of matter.  When she falls from the top of her newest project under mysterious circumstances the damage to her body leaves her stripped of her powers.  Bound inside a bizarre powersuit, Tanyana doesn't see pions anymore, only the waste they leave behind - debris.  Cast down to the lowest level of society, she must adjust to a new life collecting debris while figuring out who or what made her fall.

 Debris takes a familiar shape without being tired.  There's a character who's powerful, loses her power, ends up at the bottom, and has to claw her way back up.  A mystery is afoot as to how she ended up where she did and of course she's not as powerless as she's been led to believe.  Despite the fact that Tanyana is a grown woman, the arc of the character is a coming of age tale of sorts.  Being reduced in power and influence she becomes forced to reinvent not only how she is perceived by others, but how she perceives herself.

I find that the primary challenge an author has in pulling off a successful novel is making me care about the main character.  In a first person narrative this is doubly true.  Anderton achieves this beautifully, portraying Tanyana as a strong, but ultimately vulnerable woman.  She also successfully identifies a series of ancillary characters that manage to have depth despite their lack of focus.  I do wish that I could have spent some time inside the heads of the other characters recognizing the impossibility of that request given the choice of narration.

Replete with mythology and a strong sense of history, the novel demonstrates a commitment to place centered around the city of Movoc-under-Keeper. A stark divide exists between the haves and have-nots where those at the bottom of society struggle even to eat, while those at the top attend lavish balls and flaunt their power.  This world view is kept in place by a group known only as the Veche who employ human puppets to enforce order.  Order in this sense means making sure people like Tanyana and her crew keep collecting debris and don't focus on the why.

Dark tones run throughout the setting and I often found myself drawing favorable comparisons to Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn for that reason.  The similarities between the two don't entirely end there, but going any further down this road would end up spoiling quite a bit of Debris' reveals and I want to avoid that if at all possible.  I'm not criticizing Anderton for being derivative - not all.  In fact, the plots aren't all that similar and  trying to predict where Debris was going based on my knowledge of Sanderon's trilogy would have been erroneous.  It wouldn't surprise me to hear she hasn't even read Mistborn.  Nevertheless, as someone who has read Mistborn and loved it, the similarities between it and Debris stood out.

While I found some aspects a bit well tread in genre terms, Anderton's debut novel is well worth reading.  Tanyana is an engaging character and her supporting cast is well done despite the limitations of the narration.  Additionally, the plot and setting interact flawlessly and drive each other to their ultimate conclusion.

I should note here that the ending itself is a bit disappointing.  Tanyana never quite has her light bulb moment leaving me to wonder if Angry Robot bought the original manuscript and split it into two novels or their contract was for two books (or more) from the very beginning.  Given the latter (as in the case of Guy Haley, another Angry Robot author I reviewed here), I applaud them for having faith in their authors and giving them the space to take their time telling the story they want to tell.

In any case, I recommend Debris with the small caveats I mentioned above.  As far as I'm concerned, I find my appetite adequately whetted for the sequel, Suited, due out next year. Debris hits stores (and eStores) next week is the U.S. and the following week in the U.K.

New Cover Art from Angry Robot

Angry Robot Books, a publisher becoming slightly renowned for urban/historical fantasy, announced the addition of Anne Lyle to their stable of authors earlier this year.  Her new series titled Night's Masque will begin with the first installment The Alchemist of Souls next April.  Today, they unveiled the cover for Lyle's debut.

Hi-Res Version

I think it's quite good and the overall tone reminds me of the cover from The Fallen Blade by Jon Courtenay Grimwood.  It should since both were done by artist Larry Rostant.  There's definitely a photorealism theme afoot right now in the cover art world.  I'm not sure I love the general trend, but this is one of the better ones.

Personally, I'm a sucker for historical fiction, especially when it's historical fantasy fiction.  Currently, this fancy is being tickled by Mark Hodder's The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack (a rather good read, review to come soon).  Here's the blurb for The Alchemist of Souls from Anne Lyle's site:

When Tudor explorers returned from the New World, they brought back a name out of half-forgotten Viking legend: skraylings. Red-sailed ships followed in the explorers’ wake, bringing Native American goods—and a skrayling ambassador—to London. But what do these seemingly magical beings really want in Elizabeth I’s capital?

Mal Catlyn, a down-at-heel swordsman, is seconded to the ambassador’s bodyguard, but assassination attempts are the least of his problems. What he learns about the skraylings and their unholy powers could cost England her new ally—and Mal his soul.

Zoo City - Lauren Beukes

Lauren Beukes is the Queen of Metaphors.  I capitalized and underlined it so it must be true.  I'll go into why this is an awesome novel in a second, but first let me treat everyone to one of Beukes' metaphors:

"I haven't drive in three years and the car handles like a shopping trolley on Rohypnol."

 I don't highlight much when I read, if at all, but I found myself marking sentence after sentence reading Zoo City.  Beukes writes with a rare vividness that would keep me reading regardless of what the hell she's writing about.  As it turns out, what she's writing about has the same zest and magnetism as how she's writing it.

Zinzi December is a Zoo.  Having committed an unforgivable act she has become animalled, cursed (blessed?) with a Sloth that's an extension of herself.  Unfortunately, to everyone who looks at her, Sloth is a scarlet letter marking her a criminal.  She exists on the fringes of Johannesburg in the slum known as Zoo City where the criminal underclass and their animal companions live in fear of being separated.  A recovering drug addict, she owes money to some bad people.  She writes 419 scam e-mails to keep the mob off her back and in her spare time she finds lost items for cash.  When a client turns up dead before paying, Zinzi is forced to take on a missing person's case.  She's hired by the private and wholly odd-ball music producer Odi Huron to find a teenage pop star.  The case is her ticket out of life in the slums, but it might cost her the last shred of human dignity she has left.

Joining a masterful group of first person SFF novels written over the past few years (developing trend?), Zoo City is told entirely within Zinzi's head.  To some degree, Beukes' novel is a pastiche.  Scenes and plot devices referencing The Golden Compass and the film District 9 are obviously prevalent.  There are elements of noir, urban fantasy, psychological thriller, not to mention a bit of not-so-thinly veiled social commentary.  Somehow Beukes manages to pull all this together and instead of coming off as imitation of these various styles she instead finds something all her own.  Let's call it urban noir magical realism (that's gold baby, copyrighted!).

In telling the story, Beukes takes her readers on a ride through Johannesburg.  When I read Dervish House earlier this year I mentioned Istanbul as one of Ian McDonald's characters.  I think the same holds true in Zoo City.  Johannesburg, its music scene, and its abject class warfare, occupy significant space in the novel.  Beukes' flawed protagonist is in many ways reflected in this space - corruptible, decayed, and hopeless.  But she is also trying to be something else.  In many ways the city acts as her foil - its static nature contrasting Zinzi's desire to be better despite her frequent failures.

The most impressive accomplishment in Zoo City is it managed to make me forget I was reading a novel of speculative fiction.  Basing the story in an realistic urban environment certainly aided Beukes' cause, but the depth and rawness of her prose grabbed me with its conviction.  The city's music scene in particular was given so much dimension that Angry Robot and South African production house African Dope. released a Zoo City Soundtrack to compliment the novel.  It's clear that Beukes' world isn't just an author's passing fancy.  Zoo City is the representation of a fully realized vision of what Johanassburg would be if our conscience had four legs and fur.

Sadly no novel is perfect, and there a few hiccups here and there.  Things get a little occult toward the end, more so than the early parts of the novel might suggest, and the villain's motivation is a tad esoteric.  There are also moments when the pace slows down usually as a result of not always brief asides.  It's easy to breeze through these moments to get back to the compelling story.  I strongly suggest reading them closely, not only for the key world building information provided, but for the fairly hilarious inter-textual Easter eggs scattered throughout.

Nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for the best new writer in Science Fiction and Fantasy for her work in Zoo City, Lauren Beukes has established herself as someone to watch in the coming years.  Regardless of the outcome of the vote, Zoo City is a novel that will stand up today, tomorrow, and for decades to come.  I'm going to be in San Francisco next weekend and I'm hoping to take a daytrip to Reno and WorldCon.  If I do, I fully plan to find my favorite South African writer and give her a big high five.

Reality 36: A Richards and Klein Novel - Guy Haley

In the year 2069, the first true Artificial Intelligence is created.  Thirty years later the Class Fives are born, becoming the first fully self-aware AIs.  Along with their less advanced cousins, "Fives" become known as the Nuekind.  One of them is Richards, a private detective considered to be the most human of his kind.  Richards is approached by the EuPol (think European Union/Interpol) to investigate the disappearance of the world's foremost expert in Nuekind rights.  Unfortunately for Richards and Klein, it appears their quarry has hidden himself in Reality Realm 36, a now defunct game world populated by AIs and thus afforded the same rights as Reality itself.

In true Angry Robot form, Reality 36 has lots of robot stuff.  There are cyborgs, androids, cydroids (what?), super AIs, wussy AIs, and insane AIs.  The internet is on steroids and with a little work the more powerful AIs can send themselves anywhere there's a connection with enough bandwidth to handle them.  Naturally, there's no shortage of action.  Klein, a decommissioned military cyborg, is almost never still.  He leaps over cars, absorbs dozens of flechettes, and generally causes mayhem wherever he shows up.  By contrast, Richards is an investigator and a bit of a flirt.  He prefers to let Klein get his hands dirty while he plays the mental game.

While the action is very well done, the part that works most in Haley's favor is the application of technology.  Everything just makes sense.  Haley's world hinges on the discovery of the Singularity within the next hundred years.  This application of processing power leads to, as Ray Kurzweil stated, "technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history".  Thanks to this technological change, game worlds (think World of Warcraft) have developed to the point of becoming alternate realities with machines as aware and alive as those existing in Real Space.  Makes sense, right?  I know I can think of a few humans that spend more time living in a game world than in reality.

This reality (so far as science fiction goes) is what makes the book so compelling.  It's an actual glimpse into the future as much as it's a mystery yarn and an action thriller.  Isn't that what Science Fiction is all about?  I hesitate to put the label of "hard sci-fi" on Reality 36, but only because I don't have the knowledge base to determine how much of what Haley has created is nonsense versus actual science.  What I do know is it reads authentic.  When bullets aren't flying I felt like I was having a discussion with the author about the implications the Singularity will have on humanity.  And that's cool.

Generally speaking Haley writes a strong narrative.  In my head as I was reading the novel I was comparing it favorably to another debut from earlier this year - Hannu Rajaniemi's The Quantum Thief.  They really aren't similar in any way other than they read with a similar pace and absence of information dumping (a pet peeve of mine).  While there are some expositions from time to time about the world's history, for the most part Haley allows the understanding of his reality to be absorbed organically as opposed to forcing it down his reader's throat.  When he does ramble a bit, it's usually integrated into a character that's a bit of a windbag (Hughie, I'm looking at you dude!)  I thought this formula was very successful in Thief and Haley accomplishes it here as well in Reality 36.

My only fundamental problem with the novel is that it's not complete.  Haley ends things on a pretty brutal cliff hanger akin to the season finale of a TV drama.  The way the title is currently worded makes it seem as though the book will read a bit like a TV procedural where each Richards and Klein Novel is a mystery to be solved, but fully encapsulated within the pages of the book.  Instead Reality 36 is more like Reality 36: The First of Half of a Richards and Klein Duology.  I know I shouldn't be too upset about it, but there it is.  Even first installments in a larger series should have a beginning, middle, and an end (call me close minded). 

Ultimately, the only conclusion I was able to draw from Reality 36 is that I'll definitely be checking out the sequel Omega Point next year.  Sure the ending was annoying, but Guy Haley has really produced a first rate robot novel.  While Robopocalypse is this years hottest robot release and will assuredly sell more copies, I think Reality 36 is a superior novel in almost every way.  Angry Robot Books keeps churning out great additions in speculative fiction.