Deep by Rivers
Solomon
Release Date: Early Dec
The new novella from Rivers
Solomon has an interesting provenance. It was inspired by the
song of the same name by the experimental hip hop band Clipping, which was
used in an episode of the This
American Life podcast. The story takes something familiar,
aquatic people, and takes it in a stunningly original direction. In the deep
ocean is an idyllic society of water breathing people. They are the descendants
of the unborn children of African women tossed overboard by slave ships, though
most have no real awareness of this. Only one person holds the racial memory
for these people, she is called the Historian, and at the time of the story her
name is Yetu. Unable to bear the awful truth of the knowledge she carries and
the responsibilities it brings, she flees to the surface and discovers the
world of her ancestors. What she sees and learns will force a role and task on
her that is far greater than the one she fled, and will decide the fate of her
home. Don’t be fooled by this one, it may only be novella sized, but short or
not there’s a lot to unpack. I really liked her first novel An Unkindness of Ghosts
and I’m really looking forward to this one.
Blood of Empire by Brian McClellan
Release Date: Mid Dec
There are a lot of great books that have recently arrived or are about to, but
I must confess to a certain desperation to read this one. Brian McClellan‘s
first series, the Powder
Mage trilogy is one of my favourite examples of fantasy moved
away from the traditional faux medieval era. It has all the trappings of 18th
century Europe, but is a separate fantasy world with everything that implies.
Gods, magic, heroes, villains epic battles and the fate of the world, it’s all
here. Blood of Empire
is the third book in the second series, which returned to the world ten years
later. It’s got a mix of new and old characters, is as good as the first series
and left readers with an OMG moment at the end of book two. At this stage I
can’t actually tell you what’s in it because I don’t know. But I think that
it’s a safe bet that it’s going to be an epic conclusion to the series. If
you’re a fantasy fan who doesn’t mind swapping a sword for a musket then this
is for you, but start with the first series. If you’ve read the others like me,
then all I can say is ‘get ready for the mad lancers, their armour returned.
Now we’ll see why they’re the stuff of legend’.
Boy of Fire and Earth by Sami Shah
Release Date: Early Sept
This is an omnibus edition of Sami
Shah‘s 2016 and 20017 young adult books Fire Boy and Earth Boy. An
urban fantasy adventure 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.
On the Beach by Nevil Shute
Release Date: Early Dec
While I don’t think I’ve got even close to a pessimistic disposition, I do seem
to order quite a lot of dystopian and apocalyptic fiction. I guess this is one
more for the list, but it’s a special one. Originally published in 1957, in the
middle of cold war, at a time of constant fear of nuclear armageddon. Following
the science of the period, after a brief nuclear bomb exchange in the northern
hemisphere, those in Australia wait for the inevitable arrival of the deadly
clouds of radiation working their way into the southern wind systems. It has
mix of characters, military and civilian, who each deal with what is about to
happen in different ways. The book also explores how society and government
deal with the fact that when the radiation arrives, everyone will die. It’s
introspective rather than suspenseful and there’s no last minute turnaround.
This is about the end, and how people behave in the face of it. It’s a powerful
book and, despite being more than sixty years old, still has something to say.
Darkness for Light by Emma Viskic
Release Date: Early Dec
This is the third book featuring deaf PI / insurance investigator Caleb Zelic.
In the physical and emotional aftermath of the previous novels, Caleb has
reconciled with his estranged wife, reconnected with the deaf community and is
in therapy. The events of the past few years had nearly destroyed him and his
journey of recovery has only just begun. Now is the worst possible time to open
old wounds but his ex partner Frankie, who once double-crossed and betrayed him
needs his help to find her kidnapped niece. But Caleb’s cases are never simple
and despite agreeing to help, he knows that Frankie cannot be trusted. What
follows is a journey into darkness that could get him killed or even worse,
destroy everything he holds dear and leave him alive. A tense and powerful
crime series by and Australian and set in Australia. Definitely read Resurrection Bay as
well as And Fire Came
Down first though.
Pirata by Simon
Scarrow
Release Date: Late Dec
I’m a big fan of Simon
Scarrow‘s historical fiction, particularly the Eagles of the Empire
series set in ancient Rome. That’s an 18 book series so far, so it’s quite an
undertaking. This new book, Pirata
is also set in ancient Rome, but is single novel. As the title suggests it’s
about pirates, of the kind that stalked the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas
around AD25. Young Telemachus is pleased to be able to escape a hard life on
the streets of Piraeus by joining the crew of a merchant ship, but his
happiness is short lived. Captured by pirates, he takes the offer to join them
over death and ends up in a world even more dangerous than the slums of his
home. But he’s smart and resourceful, and among the pirates a man like that can
rise. With the Imperial fleet hunting them and murder or mutiny a regular
occurrence a clever and ruthless man could become almost anything.
Perhaps even a leader who could challenge Rome. Great historical fiction,
previously published online as e-book novellas.
This Alien Shore by C S Friedman
Release Date: Mid Nov
This is a re-issue of a stand-alone science fiction book from 1998. It was very
popular at the time, and still gets talked about by folks who’ve read it. It
hovers between space opera and cyberpunk in my opinion, so I recommend it to
fans of either. It’s set in a future where mutant star pilots have a monopoly
of space travel, corporations run planets and almost everyone has a small
computer embedded in their brains. This means that people are not only
vulnerable to computer viruses, but to another technological problem,
obsolescence. The surgery is complex, and once completed the device cannot be
safely changed or updated. Jamisa is a young girl adrift in this world. After
surviving the destruction of her home colony and harassed by computer or trauma
induced internal voices she finds herself hunted by those who destroyed her
home with no idea why. As she stumbles through dangerous situations and uneasy
alliances, a computer virus wreaks havoc across the galaxy. It’s a crisis for
all of humanity and Jamisa may hold the key. A classic science fiction
adventure that is making a well deserved return to the shelves.
The Deathworld Omnibus by Harry Harrison
Release Date: Mid Nov
I don’t know if Harry
Harrison coined the term ‘Deathworld’ as a term for a
habitable, but dangerously inhospitable planet, but this series was certainly
my first encounter with the term. This edition collects the three Deathworld
books into a single volume, all featuring interstellar gambler and con-man
Jason dinAlt. The first has him crash on a mineral rich world where the local
flora and fauna are slowly wiping out the human inhabitants. The second sees
him stranded on a planet where the colonists have regressed to barbarism and
the third has him take settlers from the first book to a new world where the
survival skills their brutal home has taught them will come in very handy. In
each case, the story explores dangerous environments both man-made and natural,
and strategies for overcoming them. They’ve also got plenty of action and some
imaginatively nasty beasties. The first book was originally serialised in Astounding Science Fiction
magazine in 1960, and the series is being reprinted as part of Gollancz’s SF Masterworks Golden Age
series. This is classic, old school science fiction adventure, but because it’s
Harrison
there’s also stuff to think about.
Broken Stars by Ken Liu
Release Date: Late Dec
In the aftermath of the success of The
Three Body trilogy by Cixin
Liu, there was talk of a short story collection featuring other
Chinese science fiction writers. The book was called Invisible Planets and
Ken Liu
was slated as the translator. It was a very good collection and quite popular.
So popular in fact that Ken
has done another one. This collection of fourteen stories and three essays
features all of the contributors from Invisible
Planets as well as new authors. The stories feature such ideas
as a man confronted by future versions of himself trying to avert the destruction
of their respective worlds to the mystery of a train that vanishes into space
with all 1500 passengers as well as the title story, Broken Stars which
offers a new twist on the stars being able to foretell the future. The essays
discuss the history of Chinese science fiction as well as the recent attention
and the effect that has had on writers and audiences both inside China and the
rest of the world. This is not only a great science fiction read, but also a
fascinating insight into what it means to different people.