Recommended Reading: 'White Time' by Margo Lanagan

'White Time' by Margo Lanagan - Click for ordering info from Amazon.co.ukRight then, that's two Margo Lanagan collections (this one and Black Juice) read and enjoyed, one more (Red Spikes) still to be savoured.

I have to confess that I went into this volume assuming that it wasn't likely to be the strongest of the three because the stories were all written with a younger reading audience in mind. I therefore rather thought they would be less thematically surreal or situationally adult, but as it turns out there's some very odd-ball situations and some quite adult themes on display throughout. Lanagan clearly isn't a writer who pulls her punches just because her readers are a little on the small side, although she might wear slightly thicker gloves...

Personal highlights: the title story, 'White Time', had some interesting sfnal ideas that weren't dumbed-down by the application of a teenager as narrator / p.o.v. character. 'The Night Lily' and 'Wealth' both had a strong element of the bizarre. 'Dedication' and 'Big Rage' both explored the sort of relationships that you might not normally associate with a teen audience (or perhaps I'm doing the audience an injustice there?) and none of the other stories in the volume contained ideas or concepts that you could accuse of being simplistic. My favourite though was the highly entertaining 'Midsummer Mission', which must surely win the prize for the most entertainingly foul-mouthed fairy to appear in children's literature.

All in all, another very good collection which, if not quite as exotic and rich as Black Juice, definitely has much to recommend it to readers in both the young and not-so young adult age brackets.

Author info: Among Amid While, Margo Lanagan's blog
Ordering info: Amazon.co.uk (my hardback copy set me back all of £6.42, including postage)
Publication info: August 2006 (Eos Hb), originally published October 2000 (Allen & Unwin, Pb still available)

Additional 30.08.07: Ed Ashby has sent me a link to a Sci-Fi Wire interview with Lanagan on the subject of Red Spikes.

August 17, 2007 | Filed Under Books | 2 Comments 

Exo-Review: Colin Greenland on Margo Lanagan's 'Red Spikes'

'Red Spikes' by Margo Lanagan - Click for ordering info from Amazon.co.ukHaving read and thoroughly enjoyed Margo Lanagan's quite wonderful collection Black Juice last year, I've been determined to complete her triptych of short fiction collections by getting hold of copies of both White Time (which, actually, I've just ordered from an Amazon seller for the handsome sum of £6.42 - nice!) and the third volume, Red Spikes, which as you can see from the pic is graced with some particularly fine cover art.

I'm particularly determined to acquire the latter (which isn't due until October; from Knopf in the US, unless Gollancz schedule a UK edition in the meantime..?) after reading this review on Strange Horizons by Colin Greenland, who's no slouch when it comes to wordsmithery either, let me tell you.

Also in this week's Strange Horizons reviews, Richard Larson reviews David Devereux's Hunter's Moon, which I read recently. It's a well-written review and I do I agree with much of Richard's analysis on the book. The weekly update email also promised a Paul Raven review of the Elastic Press antho Extended Play, but that must be appearing later in the week.

May 29, 2007 | Filed Under Books | 5 Comments 

Genre Cover of the Month - Vote Feb '07, Noms open Mar '07

Okay then, here we go with the first selection of nominated covers for the inaugural Genre Files Genre Cover of the Month accolade...

A quick note before we start: Nominations are now open for the March '07 Genre Cover of the Month, so please do head on over to the GCoTM page of the site for details of how to nominate your favourite covers during the coming month.

The Nominees

This month I've selected six book covers for the shortlist, based on the nominations sent in by various people (many thanks to everyone who participated) plus one that I've included myself.

[Clicking on a cover will take you to the relevant Amazon info page, where you'll be able to see a slightly larger cover image...]

The Voting

Please remember, I'm asking you to vote for the strongest book cover, not the best book itself.

It doesn't matter whether you've read the book or not, or whether you liked it or not if you have. What I'm interested in is, in your opinion, which of the six covers is the most effective. Not necessarily the most eye-catching or the most aesthetically pleasing, although both of these factors are important.

In essence though, I'd like to know which of the six covers above would be most likely to persuade you to pick up the book in a bookstore, or to click on a link online, and either buy the book there and then, or at least want to find out more.

In short: which book cover does the job of selling that book the best?

Please use the Feb '07 Poll to register your vote, or send me an email instead and I'll register the vote on your behalf.

If you'd like to discuss the covers, or add a comment as to why you registered your vote for a particular title, then please do feel free to use the comments for this post.

The Winner...

Will be announced when voting closes on March 31st. I'll email the author, publisher, artist / designer to let them know, and ask for any comment they might have on the design of the cover, then post whatever responses I'm able to elicit.

Unnecessary Footnote

Please, don't bother voting dozens of times for your favourite cover. Ballot-stuffing isn't big, or clever, and it's not like we're deciding the fate of the world here or anything, y'know..?

March 1, 2007 | Filed Under Books | 12 Comments 

Best books of 2006 - a personal selection

Every January, I open a brand new spreadsheet and start making a list - one that I faithfully promise myself I will update both regularly and diligently - of all the books I've read over the course of that year. Every March or so I start forgetting to keep track. And then every December I sit down to have a think about writing some sort of 'review of the year' piece, and end up wishing I'd bloody remembered to keep the damn list up-to-date for a change...

2006 was no exception, but I'm going to gamely have a stab at remembering my personal 'best of' without the benefit of an electronic aide-memoire. I'm working on the theory that if a book made a strong enough impression on me that I still remember it by now, then it must have been a good 'un.

So here, in no particular order, are the seven titles that made the biggest impression on me over the course of '06. Bear in mind, these are books I read in '06, not necessarily books published in '06. And as usual, you can click the cover images to obtain ordering information etc. from Amazon.co.uk, should you feel so inclined.

'The Blade Itself' by Joe Abercrombie - Click for ordering info from Amazon.co.ukThe Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

I read some damn good fantasy fiction last year - including Brian Ruckley's Winterbirth, K.J. Parker's Devices and Desires, Sarah Ash's Children of the Serpent Gate, Paul Kearney's This Forsaken Earth and Scott Lynch's quite fabulous The Lies of Locke Lamora (see below) - and Joe Abercormbie's The Blade Itself was right up there with the very best of them, definitely.

Abercrombie's plotting is tight and fast-paced, his settings are vivid without being fussy or over-detailed, his characterisation is excellent (Logen Ninefingers and Glokta the Inquisitor, in particular, are both a joy to read) and he really has hit the dialogue-nail right on the head. He's a freelance film editor by trade, so maybe it's the skills he uses on a daily basis that have helped him to craft this good a story; one that reads as well as something that you might reasonably expect an author to take at least four or five outings to achieve. Or maybe he's just a natural-born story-teller. Or maybe he's been to the crossroads at midnight, with a laptop in his hand instead of a six-string...

Whatever the reason, he's bloody good. Give him those four or five book's worth of development, and I reckon he'll be frequently spoken of in the same glowing terms that most folks use when discussing (those perennial personal favourites of mine) George R.R. Martin and Steven Erikson. Seriously, if you're a fan of those two - and / or the likes of Paul Kearney, K.J. Parker, James Barclay, Fritz Leiber, Greg Keyes, Robin Hobb, David Gemmell, and so forth - then you should add this to your 'must read' list. Oh, yes.

'The Lies of Locke Lamora' by Scott Lynch - Click for ordering info from Amazon.co.ukThe Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Quite, quite wonderful stuff here from debut author Scott Lynch. The Lies of Locke Lamora received huge amounts of attention, both before and after publication. The majority has been in the form of extremely well-earned praise; a few nay-sayers have mistaken the praise of others for the fall-out from publisher-generated hype (believe me, most publishers can only dream of being anywhere near that effective). On balance though, the genuine plaudits have won out, and with good reason: this is a cracking read, and one that I'd take no hesitation in recommending to anyone with more than a modicum of taste for the finer things in fantasy literature.

Quite frankly, what's not to like? The eponymous Locke Lamora is the ringleader of a gang of intelligent, witty, charming and imaginative con-men who dub themselves 'the Gentlemen Bastards'. They dwell in the city of Camorr; a blend of medieval Venice, Leiber's Lankhmar and Miéville's New Crobuzon. Said burg is dominated by the shadowy bulk of Capa Barsavi; an old-school gangster with an iron grip on Camorr's criminal underworld, including that segment occupied by Lamora and the other Bastards. Lamora is intimately acquainted with Barsavi's daughter, or has been in the past, and when a challenger to Barsavi's crown arises, he finds himself caught slap-bang in the middle of the ensuing turf-war.

Action, adventure, betrayal and retribution all run riot throughout this extremely well-written, gleefully unpretentious saga; The Lies of Locke Lamora aspired to be a piece of highly entertaining fiction first and foremost, and in that it succeeds more than admirably. Given such a high standard of debut, I predict this author will be going on to even bigger and better things in volumes to come.

What can I say? Heed the praise. Or, if you prefer, believe the hype...

'Black Juice' by Margo Lanagan - Click for ordering info from Amazon.co.ukBlack Juice by Margo Lanagan

My first exposure to Margo Lanagan's fiction came in the form of a publisher's promotional blad containing the story 'Singing My Sister Down'. I thought I'd give it a go - why not? - and I'm very glad I did, because it turned out to be one of the most memorable pieces of short fiction I've ever read. I'll say no more here. Just pick up a copy of Black Juice in your local bookstore and give this one story a go while you wander around and pretend to browse. You'll see what I mean.

The other highlights, for me, of a very strong collection overall were 'My Lord's Man' (which I think might just be is a prose version of the Irish ballad 'The Raggle-Taggle Gypsy') and 'Red Nose Day', (guaranteed catharsis for anyone who ever suffered a modicum of Coulrophobia; maybe after reading Stephen King's It?) The rest of the collection is highly readable, intelligent and thought-provoking as well, but these two were my particular stand-out picks.

Lanagan's subject matter covers a wide range of themes and tropes and she is not only a superb story-teller but also an incredibly skillful prose crafter. She has a wonderfully economical way with words - hardly a syllable is wasted - and seems to have pretty much perfected the principle of 'show, don't tell'. If you watch carefully, you'll barely detect more than a hint of narrator-delivered exposition; her characters reveal their back-story through dialogue and interaction; there's a bare minimum of unnecessary background detail to get in the way of the focus of the tale. It's perhaps not a technique that will appeal to every reader, but it is one that I particularly like.

In any case, if there are any would-be short fiction writers out there, my advice to you would be: read Black Juice, and learn.

'Use Once, Then Destroy' by Conrad Williams - Click for ordering info from Amazon.co.ukUse Once, Then Destroy by Conrad Williams

Another very strong collection indeed, from one of my favourite British short fiction writers. Conrad Williams might not be quite as big a name as some of his contemporaries, but that's nothing short of a grave injustice if you ask me. I think Williams' prose is just as lyrical, just as compact and spare and emotive as work by the likes of Michael Marshall Smith, Graham Joyce, Nicholas Royle or Geoff Ryman, and it's well worth sampling.

Only, don't do it if you're feeling particularly miserable, because Williams really doesn't do cheerful all that often. In fact, 'bleak' would be a good way of describing the atmosphere that suffuses the majority of his work - dark, disturbed psychology and broken relationships of all sorts seem to be pretty much par for the course.

My favourites (if that isn't too jolly a sentiment in this case) from Use Once, Then Destroy are the sort-of Lovecraftian tale 'The Windmill', along with 'Nest of Salt', which echoes London Revenant; Williams' eerie novel of the lost and dispossessed. This volume also contains his PS Publishing novella, Nearly People, another one well worth taking the time to track down, and is only £12.43 on Amazon at the moment for the Night Shade Books trade hardcover edition: bargain!

'Three Days to Never' by Tim Powers - Click for ordering info from Amazon.co.ukThree Days to Never by Tim Powers

A new Tim Powers novel is always a treat to look forward to. The thing is, you never know quite what you're going to get when you dive between the covers; it could be anything from baroque time travel fantasies to voudoun pirate magic, secret agents and desert-dwelling djinn, to far-flung dystopian futures. In this case it's a tale of father and daughter Frank and Daphne Marrity, and the bizarre treasure that his mother - her grandmother - has kept in her garden shed for the past forty years or so.

Of course, very little that you find in a Tim Powers novel is ever as simple or as straightforward as it first seems and Three Days to Never is no exception. Before too many chapters have elapsed, Frank and Daphne find themselves being visited by long-lost relatives, pursued by Israeli secret agents and haunted by spectral creatures and occultists bent on extracting - or retrieving - secret knowledge from them... at all costs.

But as you do rather expect from Powers, it's superbly written throughout and in places is frankly quite astonishing. Never one for playing a straight trope, Powers seems to delight in subverting the reader's expectations and opening up strange new avenues of idea and concept. Add this one to your list as well, and then if you haven't already read them, go buy copies of On Stranger Tides, Dinner at Deviants Palace, The Anubis Gates and Declare as well. Seriously, you've got some catching up to do...

'Fly by Night' by Frances Hardinge - Click for ordering info from Amazon.co.ukFly By Night by Frances Hardinge

I've already given this one a mention in my first potted bookshelf entry, but I'll just reiterate a bit here: great storytelling, lively characters, setting, well worth a read whatever your age or literary inclination. A young orphan girl escapes from her dull, boring village after (accidentally!) burning down her uncle and aunt's mill. Armed with nothing but a homicidal goose and a rare ability to read, she is swept up in a bewildering whirlwind of intrigue, revolution, murder and espionage.

Yes, it's a 'young adult' book, but one with plenty of sly word-play nudges in directions that adult readers will appreciate. Yes, it's a fantasy, but it's far from your average, mundane, kiddie-quest, dragon-taming, coming-of-age shtick. It's interesting, it's entertaining, it's well written. It's the best young adult book I read last year (no, I didn't read all that many, but that's beside the point...) and I'll be keeping an eye out for the sequel, definitely.

'Every Dead Thing' by John Connolly - Click for ordering info from Amazon.co.ukEvery Dead Thing by John Connolly

I'm including this one on the grounds that, yes it might be an oldie-but-goodie, but it's always great to discover a new author, particularly one with a decent amount of back-list to work through.

Connolly's fiction blends elements of crime with slivers of the supernatural; in this, his debut novel, ex-cop turned p.i. and gun-for-hire Charlie Parker re-lives the brutal slaying of his wife and child when similar atrocities raise the spectre of a serial killer on the loose. Parker becomes drawn into a web of sinister mind-games as he desperately tries to bring the loose strands together and somehow double-guess the intentions of a sick and twisted killer. It's a dark and gritty narrative; emotionally brutal in places, somewhat gory but not unnecessarily gratuitous. Just my sort of crime / horror cross-over tale.

And stylistically, Connolly's first novel has a very similar feel to Michael Marshall (Smith)'s Straw Men series, which is no bad thing at all in my book. It's dynamically written, with great pace, action sequences that will have you on the edge of your seat, and a cast of colourful characters that wouldn't be out of place in a well-filmed Hollywood blockbuster. Great stuff, and I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of the series.

.
So, there you go. My personal picks for '06, and I've already got a fave for '07 lined up in the shape of Joe Abercrombie's follow-up, Before They Are Hanged.

Now, where did I save that spreadsheet..?

January 4, 2007 | Filed Under Books | 5 Comments 



Technorati


Technorati Authority:

View blog authority

Add to Technorati Favorites

Miscellania


British Blog Directory. Blog Flux Directory