New Arrivals - mid December '06

Another batch of books have come in for the Books Received section of UKSFBN, and once again there are a couple of pearls included that I'd particularly like to bring to your attention:

Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie

This one's going to cause me a real scheduling headache. Joe Abercrombie's debut novel, The Blade Itself was my definite fantasy highlight of 2006. It was an absolutely superb low-fantasy saga; chock full of action, adventure and incident, shot through with a very dry, witty sense of humour, and with none of the pomposity that the heroic fantasy genre is so prone to. Great reading, absolutely flew through it, Jo loved it as well. Part 2? Hell, yeah! (or, as Jo quite literally said upon picking up the book not ten minutes ago, "oooh! oooh!")

So, this one really demands to be shunted right to the front of my 'must read' queue... except that K.J. Parker's Evil for Evil is already occupying that spot, and I definitely want to read that one for pretty much the same reasons. And then I've got the Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, John Connolly's Nocturnes and Gail Martin's The Summoner coming up hard on the rails... damn! Decisions, decisions...

The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes

Another Gollancz proof that arrived in the same batch as the Abercrombie. I've been hearing some mixed background buzz about this one for a while; some say 'good', some say 'not sure'. But it looks like it'll fit into an oeuvre that I do have a definite affection for; you'd probably have to call it 'quasi-Victorian humourous melodrama' or something. Or then again, maybe not...

But you know the stuff I mean, anyway: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Mark Gattiss' The Vesuvius Club - which coincidentally I'd started reading the day before this one turned up - for instance. And I could theoretically include the recent Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by G.W. Dahlquist in there as well, although to be honest that one was comparatively top-heavy on the melodrama and rather devoid of humour.

Hmmm. More headaches...

No Dominion by Charlie Huston

Not one that'll immediatly challenge for must-read top-spot, but a definite medium-term contender. This is the second in Charlie Huston's current series about a vampire-gang-dominated New York; no place for a determined loner vampire like Joe Pitt, who just wants to be left alone to live his un-death in peace. But his staunch neutrality makes him useful - and also potentially dangerous - to a whole range of factions in the continually ongoing gang turf war, so peace and quiet are likely to be two commodities in short supply.

Thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the series, Already Dead, after Jo bought a US copy from Amazon and then hit me with it until I agreed to read it. Urban vamp meets hard-boiled private eye, with everything wrapped up in a dark, grungy atmosphere that you could choke on. Orbit will be releasing the first couple of volumes in the UK early next year.

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And finally, it would be remiss of me not to mention the three latest titles from PS Publishing, which also came in today: Julian - A Christmas Story by Robert Charles Wilson, Flavors of My Genius by Robert Reed, and The Voyage of Night Shining White by the much talked-about Chris Roberson. All, as it happens, with stunning artwork from a certain Les Edwards (or Edward Miller) as well.

'Julian - A Christmas Story' by Robert Charles Wilson

'The Voyage of Night Shining White' by Chris Roberson

All three look very interesting indeed, so that's three more for the already-groaning t.b.r. shelf... one day I really will have to win the lottery, just so I can actually afford the time to sit down and read all this potentially rather excellent material. I tell you, it's the only way it's ever going to happen...

December 22, 2006 | Filed Under Books | 10 Comments

New Arrivals - late November '06

Collected a consignment of new books for UKSFBookNews last night from the post office. Everything will be listed in the next Books Received article on the site, but I just wanted to highlight a few choice items here that will henceforth be contributing to my own personal what-to-read-next dilemma:

Gradisil by Adam Roberts

Adam is a client of mine, and I do try to make a point of reading as many of my clients' books as I can, but I have to confess that I'm a Roberts behind at the moment; I still haven't sat down to read The Snow [Amazon].

But then Adam is one of those authors who writes individual novels at a time, exploring the possibilities of whatever idea has most captured his mind's eye and then moving on to the next, so I ought to be able to skip ahead to Gradisil and then go back to The Snow when I've unpacked it (so many of our books are still in boxes after last year's house extension...)

Ilario, The Lion's Eye by Mary Gentle

There's nothing I'd like more than to sit down and lose myself in the new Mary Gentle novel for a few days, but alas, there's work and chores to be done, so I may have to restrain myself. I made the mistake of trying to read Ash [Amazon] in fits and starts and I really don't think I got anywhere near as much out of it as I should have, so Ilario [Amazon] may have to take pride of place on my 'priority holiday reading' list for next year, by which time a more portable paperback should be out.

It's a real shame, because Ilario sounds like a wonderfully inventive alternate history, as most of Gentle's novels are, and I really do enjoy that particular sub-genre.

Evil for Evil by K.J. Parker

The second part of the Engineer Trilogy, by one of my very favourite authors. Parker writes complex, multi-layered fantasy with a dry, biting with throughout and an absolutely superb observational eye. Her Scavenger trilogy is one of the most intriguing and enjoyable fantasies I've read, this series started out just as well in Devices and Desires, although there does seem to be some small risk that she's covering a bit of the same ground that she explored in her first, Fencer trilogy.

Anyway, this is a potential 'drop everything' title, although I think I'll finish the short Christopher Priest novel I've just started before I treat myself to 599 pages of Parker.

Endymion and The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons

I now have all four books of Simmons' Hyperion sequence waiting for me on the shelf. All I need now is the time to sit down and appreciate them fully. Again, I think I tried to read Ilium too piece-meal and ended up not fully appreciating its complexity, and I've heard so many good things about this series that I'm determined to find the time to do it justice. Another two for the holiday shelf, perhaps...