The
Women of Troy by Pat Barker
Release Date: Late Aug
Contrary to popular belief, the Trojan saga does not end with the death of
Achilles and Hector in the fall of Troy, indeed it continues, particularly in
Euripides play The Trojan Women. Whether or not this has been the inspiration
for Pat Barker’s
new book The Women of
Troy, I cannot tell at this stage. What I can tell you is that
it is about the same characters – the women who survive the fall of Troy –
Briseis, Amina, Hecuba – and what they need to do to survive in a destroyed
kingdom overrun by Greeks. This is going to be a fascinating read, particularly
since Silence of the
Girls offered such an interesting insight to the backstory of The Iliad, I am
really looking forward to seeing what Pat
Barker’s particular eye brings to this narrative and seeing how
it relates to works by writers like Euripides, either to support their
narrative or to critique it and then demonstrate how the voices of the women,
even then, weren’t written quite the way they should have been.
Black
No More by George S Schuyler
Release Date: Early Aug
This is an interesting new addition to Penguin’s science fiction classic
imprint. George
Schuyler himself was an African American author, journalist and
social commentator, who is rather noteworthy for shifting his position in the
middle of his life from a socialist to a conservative, believing that
socialists in America didn’t really feel for the plight of African Americans. Black No More was
written before this shift and is a satire on race and identity through the
artifice of new technology that is developed that allows for a black man to be
transformed into a white man, and we follow this character and his observations
having seen the world form both sides. A truly fascinating book, written by a
very interesting man. Well worth a read, particularly since I suspect that it is
going to transgress a lot of the traditional ideas that science fiction of that
era that has for race and identity.
We
Cry For Blood by Devin Madson
Release Date: Mid Aug
This is the third book in Devin’s debut fantasy series but not the last, with a
fourth and final book in progress and scheduled for mid-2022. It’s set in a
nation reminiscent of feudal Japan, contending with Mongol-like and Western
styled societies. For folks who’ve read the first two, Miko Ts’ai is Empress of
a shattered empire, desperately trying to pull the pieces together to secure
her throne, unsure of who are enemies or allies while Disgraced former Captain
Rah e’Torin shelters among deserters. Assassin Cassandra Marius is running out
of time to thwart Leo Villius’ a plan to conquer Kisia and as Leo’s influence
over the Levanti Emperor grows, Dishiva will have to make a terrible choice. If
you’ve not started the series and like Asian set fantasy, or just epic
time-of-war stories with complex politics and character motivation, you should
probably check these out.
Make
Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison
Release Date: Early Aug
This 1966 book is probably better known to readers as the inspiration for the
1973 film Soylent Green.
Like the movie, it‘s set in the future New York that is dealing with the fall
out of economic collapse, massive environmental changes, overpopulation and the
consequent overcrowding, starvation and crime. Against this backdrop, a city
policeman is trying to solve the murder of a gangster while finding himself
moving through the world of the rich and powerful and realising just how
separated his society has become. As this all goes on, there is the new
marketing of Soylent Green, the food product that will supposedly deal with the
starvation epidemic that is plaguing the city. It’s part futuristic thriller
and part social commentary on man’s inhumanity to man and also the overreach of
science. It is very interesting stuff that has probably got a lot more meat on
the bones (pun intended) than they have managed to capture in the film. This
should be quite a good read.
Black
Water Sister by Zen Cho
Release Date: Early Aug
Newly graduated, broke, jobless and at a loss what to do with her life, Jess
decides to leave the US and return to her family’s home in Malaysia. Home is
somewhat relative, since she left Malaysia as a toddler. Jess may be unsure of
her place here, but Ah Ma, her grandmother is very certain. Unfortunately Ah Ma
is dead, a ghost and a voice in Jess’ head. It seems that Ah Ma was a devotee
of the Black Water Sister, a local deity and when a local business magnate
offended her goddess. Ah Ma swore revenge. She’s chosen Jess as her vehicle to
carry out this revenge from beyond the grave, whether or not Jess agrees. All
families can be possessive, though not usually this literally. Jess came
home to find her authentic self, but now she’s in a desperate struggle to be in
control of any version of her at all. As things with Ah Ma progress Jess will
be caught up in a web of family secrets and a world she never knew
existed. A very different urban fantasy book and one for fans of the genre in
the mood for a change.
Sabriel
– 25th Anniversay Edition by Garth Nix
Release Date: Early Aug
I don’t think I have ever worked at a bookshop that didn’t have Sabriel and its
sequels in its young adult section, and to the best of my knowledge, it has
been that way consistently for the last 25 years. This is by far one of the
best young adult fantasy novels I have ever read and I have pushed it into many
eager young and not-so-young hands over the years. Therefore, I don’t think I
need to tell too many people about the Old Kingdom and Charter magic and the
Abhorsen and the magic they use to set to rights the unquiet dead and to fix
the various nasty problems that occur in a world beset by evil spirits and
necromancers. This is a beautiful hardcover edition with some handwritten notes
from Garth,
a facsimile of the some of the original hand written manuscript pages as well
as a new introduction and an absolutely glorious cover. This is a book worth
owning just so you have got an edition of Sabriel that will last forever. I also
understand that similarly bound copies of Lirael and Abhorsen will be
forthcoming, so well worth collecting now.
Ten
Low by Stark Holborn
Release Date: Early Aug
I didn’t get a chance to read one of these till they arrived in the store, but
I’d heard good things, so I grabbed one for myself. I opened it after dinner
the same night to have a bit of a look at it and proceeded to spend the rest of
the evening reading the entire book. This is a stunning and immediately
captivating science fiction novel. It’s set on a barely habitable moon in a
system at the edge of nowhere. It’s the place where the lost, the desperate,
the hated and the abandoned wash up. It’s arid, inhospitable and everything is
in short supply. It’s also Ten’s home. She’s a medic and something of an
oddity. In a kill-or-be-killed world where kindness is weakness she’s a medic
who helps whoever she finds. It’s altruism, but born out of a past she will not
talk about. First to arrive at the site of a crashed ship Ten rescues a teenage
girl, part of an alarming child-soldier project, who wants only to get back to
her people. It’s a journey across a wasteland populated by marauding gangs,
opportunists, cult-like organ thieves and something worse. Something that has
lived on the moon since long before the first humans arrived. Something
drawn to pain and suffering. There will be plenty of both on the road ahead,
but the worst will be when Ten faces the truth of who and what she is.
Brilliant stand-alone science fiction. Highly recommend.
A
Master of Djinn by P Djeli Clark
Release Date: Late Aug
This is probably one of the best books I have read in the last five years. A Master of Djinn is
set in the same fictional universe as Clark’s
novellas, A Dead Djinn
in Cairo and The Haunting
of Tramcar 15. That is, a magical version of early 20th
century Cairo that in this world was never controlled by the British. It’s a
modern city for the era, with tram cars and telephones, but it also has djinn
and alchemically created automatons that are like robots but far more
interesting. Fatma is the youngest investigator working for the Ministry of
Alchemy and she is somewhat of a rising star and despite her cultural rebellion
that manifests in sharp English suits, dapper ties, canes and various smart
shoes, she has also got one of the finest minds the Ministry has to offer.
However something in the city is rising. Someone who claims to be Al-Jahiz, the
magician who brought magic & the Djinn back into the world more than fifty
years ago. It appears he can control the djinn and is wreaking havoc and
killing the innocent, claiming to be displeased with what has been done with
his ‘gift’. Fatma is not convinced that he really is Al-Jahiz, though the power
he wields is very real. She’s determined to get to the bottom of this,
preferably before Cairo is destroyed. This is the most innovative, clever
steampunk/urban fantasy novel I have read ever. It’s also got a wonderful
Sapphic romance subplot and is worth reading just to have the heroine’s
girlfriend turn up to save the day on a steam & magic powered motorbike.
This is a wonderful book and I highly recommend anybody who is into steampunk
or urban fantasy or Middle Eastern fantasy or just wants an adventure that will
hook you all the way to the very end. This is going to be huge.
She
Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
Release Date: Early Aug
I’ve been looking forward to this one arriving for a while now, since it mixes
a few of my favourite genres. Fantasy, historical fiction and folklore. In a
nutshell, it’s a gender-flipped retelling of the 14th century
unification of China. It’s still woven around the traditional story, but takes
things in a different direction. In famine stricken village, a seer
foretells a great future for an auspiciously eighth-born son. For his sister, a
second-born daughter, the seer has nothing. But when the village is raided by
bandits, the girl survives when her brother does not. Taking his name and
identity for her own safety, she begins to wonder if perhaps she has taken his
destiny as well. If there is a greatness to be claimed, could it not just as
easily be hers? Achieving this will cost her more than she suspects, and there
will be loss and betrayals, but she will also find things within herself that
are more than just a borrowed name and destiny. There’s a lot of buzz about
this one, not just for the epic story, but also for its exploration of identity
and LGBT representation. It’s not super clear on the cover, but this is the
first book in planned two book series which is good because folks are
definitely going to want more.