Fire Boy by Sami Shah
Release Date: Early Aug
This is a book I’ve been looking forward to for while, and I’m glad they’re finally here. Urban fantasy for young adults is pretty popular at the moment and, while I like it, there is a quality of sameness that they start to get. Elves, fairies, werewolves, witches and the like. Though there is often an attempt made to use these ideas in different ways, the truth is that since they all come from the same basic myth and folklore source, it’s going to get samey after a while. This is where Fire Boy is a breath of fresh air. Set in Karachi, in modern-day Pakistan it draws on the rich mythic tradition of the Islamic world. Our guide is Wahid, a boy struggling with the same issues any teen would have. Young love and crushes, worries about school and career, finding time to hang with his friends and generally making his way to adulthood in a dynamic city with its own problems. One issue he has that is not typical is that he can see the Djinn, magical creatures of flame and shadow that most people regard as no more than old stories. When his best friend is killed in a car accident and the Djinn steal his girlfriends’ soul, Wahid knows he has to do something. That ‘something’ will lead him to allies and enemies, fear and courage and will require a very unlikely alliance. This is a fun and fast paced urban fantasy adventure that also offers a peek at life in Pakistan. It is at what I would call the top end of young adult though, and there are a few bits that while fine for a 15-16 year old, might not be what parents see as appropriate for readers younger than that.
Unbreakable by W C Bauers
Release Date: Early Aug
Military Science fiction is considered something of a guilty pleasure for those that read it, which I think is a bit unfair. At their worst they are no more formula driven than similar examples from other genres, and there’s the same bell curve of excellent and ordinary that you get from any type of fiction. That said, there is something about the ‘soldiers in space’ romp that is just so much fun, even if the setting isn’t brilliantly thought out and writing perhaps needs a bit more polish. These are the action movies of science fiction and I for one like them. There is a lot in this book that is recognisable from others in the genre and Bauers slips in a few nods to show that he knows that you know. You’ve got outpost worlds with libertarian style governments where the local rotary clubs are also the militia and, on the other side of the galaxy an evil expansionist empire. We begin with woman named Promise Paen who joined the marines years ago after her father was killed by pirates. Now she’s back on her home world of Montana at the head of a marine unit and hunting the same sort of pirates that killed her father. But there may be more to recent attacks than just piracy. Montana is on the fringe of The Republic of Allied Worlds and these pirates, if that’s what they are could be an excuse for annexation by the nearby Lusitanian Empire. If that happens, the only thing the world has to defend itself is Promise and her troops. With flashes of David Weber and Firefly, this is a fun addition to military SF and a reasonably good debut novel.
The Annihilation Score by Charles Stross
Release Date: Early Aug
Since there won’t be a new Ben Aaronovitch book for a while, it might be an idea if you’re a fan to look into some other UK based urbanfantasy. One I would recommend is Charles Stross‘ Laundry Files. Annihilation Score is the sixth book in the series and I’d suggest new readers start with the first, since by this stage things have somewhat escalated. Dominique, or ‘Mo’ O’Brien, works for a secret agency of the British Government called The Laundry. Their brief is to deal with issues of and occult or otherwise unusual nature. Her particular speciality is the nastier, bloodier part of the job, know euphemistically as ‘wetwork’. After the recent attacks on The Laundry after citizens all over the UK start to develop supernatural powers, her remit has been somewhat modified. She’s now the official liaison, trying to balance the interests of the police, politicians and recently super-powered members of the public. And there’s plenty to do too since a mysterious criminal calling himself Dr Freudstein is committing heists all over the city and taunting authorities. To make matters worse, she seems to having problems with both her husband, Bob Howard, and his possessed magical violin, ‘Lecter’. Which of these is of greater concern however, seems to be fluid. For long term readers of the series, this will be a bit of a change since we’re being given the story from Mo’s perspective rather than Bob’s. It’s still the style we’ve come to enjoy from Stross and could be a jump off point for some books in the broader Laundry universe, which I think would be pretty cool.
Fool’s Gold by Jon Hollins
Release Date: Early Aug
As mentioned in the introduction, we’re not getting the new Scott Lynch book we were expecting, but I just might have found something for readers in the mood for swashbuckling scoundrels. Of course they don’t start out as scoundrels, they kind of have it thrust upon them. Some of them anyway. Will is a farmer until a clerical error in the bureaucracy robs him of his farm and livelihood. Like many a mistreated landsman his thoughts turn to justice and revenge and a little opportunistic redistribution of wealth. It’s a familiar story, but this one has a few complications. To begin with, the corrupt nobility are actually enormous dragons so stealing from them is generally ill advised and the folks he’s fallen in with are not exactly ideal for what he’s got in mind. Lette is a mercenary looking for more in her life than just killing for money, though she’d be happy to admit she is very good at it. Balur is a massive lizard-man and Lette’s colleague (sidekick?) he’s quite happy with life as a mercenary since it’s preferable to death as a mercenary. Quirk used to de magic, but she doesn’t any more. She does know a lot about dragons though, which would be an advantage on a job like this except that the first thing that anyone learns about dragons is that you don’t cross them unless you’re eager to meet your gods. This is Jon Hollins debut novel, and while perhaps with not quite the same tone as Scott Lynch‘s books, it nevertheless hits a very similar sweet-spot. It’s a black humour heist story with dragons and eight foot lizard men, how much fun does that sound?
Urban Allies by Joe Nassise
Release Date: Early Aug
There are a lot of short fiction anthologies around at the moment, but this one stands out. It’s a collection of urban fantasy stories from some of the most popular writers in the genre, but that’s not the really interesting thing. The twist is that the book has twenty authors who, split into ten pairs have each collaborated on one of the stories in the collection. In some cases the authors have brought their most famous character with them, resulting in some strange meet-ups and crossovers. Our writing pairs are: Charlaine Harris and Christopher Golden, Carrie Vaughn and Diana Rowland, Jonathan Maberry and Larry Correia, Kelley Armstrong and Seanan McGuire, Joseph Nassise and Sam Witt, Steven Savile and Craig Schaefer, David Wellington and Weston Ochse, Stephen Blackmoore and Jeff Somers, C. E. Murphy and Kat Richardson and Jaye Wells and Caitlin Kittredge. These authors are drawn from the whole range of urban fantasy, run and gun, police and detective, drama and romance. I think it would be a rare reader who was familiar with all the contributors, so most urban fantasy fans should come away from this book with a few new names to look into. An effort has been made to keep the pairs roughly the same in terms of market appeal too, so what you get from them in this collection is what you’ll get from their novels. I can’t say I’ve seen a ‘BYO characters’ collaboration collection like this before, but I’m intrigued by the possibilities. There are many writers here that I like and I’m looking forward to see how they work together.
Camera Obscura by Lavie Tidhar
Release Date: Early Aug
Actually, this is the second book in a series, and since I don’t recall writing about the first one when it came out, this will be a bit about both. This is part of the sub genre of Victoriana or Steampunk, in that it’s set in Victorian London but takes quite a few liberties with science and history. There are quite a few writers at the moment doing this sort of thing, but I don’t think any of them get as carried away as Tidhar which is what, in my opinion, makes these books so special. We began with The Bookman, which introduced us to an easy to recognise Victorian London. This is because there are cameo appearances and mentions of just about every person, real or fictitious associated with the period. Professor Moriarty is the Prime Minister, Irene Adler is a cop, Jules Verne and Captain Nemo are chums, an anarchist Mrs Beeton cooks up bombs rather than pies and Queen Victoria is a lizard being from a formerly sunken and legendary island. The Bookman was the story of Orphan and his desperate actions to save the love of his life and getting caught up in discovering and foiling the dark plans of the aforementioned lizard people.Camera Obscura however offers us a new protagonist in the form of the glamorous Lady DeWinter, agent of the Quiet Council. Her latest assignment is a locked room murder in the Rue Morgue in Paris. It’s the kind of mystery that the Quiet Council specialises in, and the course of solving it will take DeWinter from the nastiest parts of the city to its brightest lights and challenge everything she knows about the world. An adventure story full of references, nods and in-jokes this is steampunk as pop culture and loads of fun.
Pistols and Petticoats by Erika Janik
Release Date: Early Aug
I’m a big fan of crime fiction and particularly of period crime fiction. Three of my favourites, Kerry Greenwood‘s Phryne Fisher, Jaquiline Wispear‘s Maisie Dobbs and Felicity Young‘s Dody McCleland all feature women detectives. I’m ashamed to say however, that I have no idea how accurately they portray the involvement of women in law enforcement in their respective times. Fortunately, this new book by Erika Janik will allow me to correct this oversight. Inside is a history of women as crime solvers and investigators, both in fiction and in reality. Readers will discover that there a rich tradition going back to the early days of the genre and being written by, and eagerly read by, both men and women. On the history side are some remarkable stories of the early days of policing, which were rough and dangerous environments, even for those who were at least culturally supported in the role. Women making the first inroads into these areas must have found themselves bucking convention and tradition while dealing with one of the most conservative aspects of any society, the police. If you’re a fan of crime fiction or interested in women in fiction and history this is definitely one for you.
Troll Mountain by Matthew Reilly
Release Date: Early Aug
Before folks get too excited, there’s a few things about this book that you ought to know. Firstly it’s not really new, but the print version of an on-line project from 2014 (there is a new Jack West book coming from Reilly in November, but more on that in the coming months). Secondly it’s a children’s book. That said it is a good fun take on the adventure fairytale. It begins with Raf, a young boy living in a remote valley. His village is ravaged by a strange and deadly disease and there seems to be nothing anyone can do. Until Raf hears a legend that the fearsome Trolls of the mountain have an elixir that will cure the illness. The tribal elders don’t believe the story, and it would be certain death for anyone to go into the mountain Troll domain anyway, so they do nothing. When Raf’s sister gets sick he has no choice. With or without the Elder’s help, and whatever the dangers may be, he is going to Troll Mountain. This is really for the younger end of the young adult market, so if you’re a fan of Reilly’s adult books and you want this because you’re fond of those, just remember while reading who it is he wrote this for. Of course if you’ve got young adult readers around, you could start sharing one of your authors a bit earlier than you thought.
Mammoth Book of Cthulhu edited by Paula Guran
H.P. Lovecraft‘s Cthulhu mythos is probably one of the best known milieu’s in genre fiction. Lovecraft‘s stories have been presented complete and in almost every possible combination at one time or another. There have also been countless stories by other authors, using what Lovecraft had created, indeed one of the more interesting things about Lovecraftian horror and its fans is the eagerness to embrace new additions and explorations. Therefore The Mammoth Book of Cthulhu could be seen as one of many anthologies of Lovecraft inspired stories by other writers and as such, not particularly noteworthy. A quick look at the table of contents however, paints a different picture. Many of the contributors to this collection are not normally associated with this sort of thing and there’s a couple I was surprised to find here like John Shirley and Yoon Ha Lee. This brings me to my second observation, which is that slightly over half the contributors are women. This is a ratio I don’t think I’ve ever seen before in a Lovecraftian horror collection, but I hope represents a growing appreciation of the possibilities of the diverse voices in genre fiction. There are also a few names here that I don’t recognise because, to be honest, I don’t read a lot of short fiction. But anthologies are a good way to discover a new author and I’ve always been a fan of crazed cultists and the unnameable dread of things that man was not meant to know.
Infinite Ground by Martin MacInnes
Release Date: Late Aug
I’ll be honest about this one, it flew completely under my radar and the first I heard about it was when a couple of my regulars brought it to my attention. I’m glad they did though because this sounds very much like my kind of thing. I haven’t managed to secure a preview copy, and there’s not a lot in the way of reviews of the book about yet either. Much like the people who told me about it, I’m basing my interest on the publishers blurb that I’ll stick at the end of this and an article by a friend of the author. From that reading, it seems to me that we have another book to add to the ‘strange’ pile. The article suggests that the book has a non standard structure, at least in parts and mixes poetic and philosophical expression with science and report-like narratives. I’m intrigued by this one, perhaps because of how little I actually know about it. Since I know that several of my subscribers share my love of strange fiction and like the occasional jump into the unknown, I’ve included it in the newsletter.
From the Publishers: A luminous debut novel of modern alienation, of the sinister beauty of the human body and of the enduring splendour of the natural world…During a sweltering South American summer, a family convenes for dinner at a restaurant. Midway through the meal, Carlos disappears. An experienced, semi-retired inspector takes the case, but what should be a routine investigation becomes something strange, intangible, even sinister. The corporation for which Carlos worked seems to serve no purpose; the staff talk of their missing colleague’s alarming, shifting physical symptoms; a forensic scientist uncovers evidence of curious abnormalities in the thriving ecosystem of cells and bacteria that made up Carlos’s body. As the inspector relives and retraces the missing man’s footsteps, the trail leads him deep into the country’s rainforest interior, where he encounters both horror and wonder.
Traitor by Seth Dickinson
Release Date: Early Aug
This book, published in the US as The Traitor Baru Cormorant attracted quite a following when it came out. It’s part of the growing subset of fantasy books that tell a more intrigue and politics based story rather than adventure and magic. Personally, I like it all and my tastes in the genre move around with my mood. At its core Traitor is a classic hero versus evil empire tale, but with a few interesting twists. To begin with the hero is a heroine, and she’s a bureaucrat, not a warrior. This is a good thing because the Empire of Masks is too big and too powerful to be overthrown by a small band of plucky adventurers. It is however a very complex web of alliances, finances, noble families and interconnected and deeply corrupt institutions. In this conflict it is a sharp mind that wins out and Baru has one of the sharpest. In her youth she was happy on her island home, until the Empire of Masks decided to swallow the small independent nation. Now part of The Empire, their customs are outlawed and one of her father’s is killed in a purge. Baru vows to fight the Empire and avenge her father, but from within. Intelligent, driven and ruthless she rises up the rungs of power within the empire until she finds herself sent to the distant city of Aurdwynn. Far from the capital this offers her few opportunities for advancement or power until she makes a surprising discovery. She is expected to use her talents to quell and control what appears to be a hotbed of malcontented nobles and potential rebels. The Empire has handed a weapon to its sworn enemy and doesn’t even know it. This will be the most complex game Baru has ever played, with the highest possible stakes and with no real idea of what will happen if she wins, or what she is risking is she loses.
Resistance is Futile by Jenny Colgan
Release Date: Early Aug
If I were to be flippant about describing this book I might call it a cross between Bridget Jones’ Diary and Starman, but that doesn’t really do it justice. It is a science fiction romance, but it’s also a pretty cool chase and adventure story too, with a touch of ‘save the world’ thrown in for good measure and a mystery or two to liven things up. Connie MacAdair is a Probalistic Number Theorist (no, I don’t know what that is either) who gets plucked from her safe, if boring, academic, existence and dropped into a secret facility where she and a small group of other mathematics whizzes are given what appears to be an alien transmission. The problem is that no-one can make any sense of it and it’s up to these five to decode it. Strange things start to happen and over time the team discovers that the agency that has hired them also believes that one of them may actually be an alien. Unfortunately odd behaviour is pretty much par for the course with world class mathematicians, so even they are not sure which one of them it is. When the message is decoded, and the alien revealed, Connie will make a choice that results in a race across Europe to avert a world ending catastrophe. This is a great example of genre mixing. The science fiction elements are interesting and well thought out and the relationships between the characters do get you involved with them. The romance aspect of the book is crucial to that and the book handles the balance very well. I don’t think there is any point trying to force the book into one category or the other. I’ll just say that regardless of what aspect of the book draws you to it, you’ll like the other bits too.