The 'Slightly Sheepish...' Update Post!

Has it almost been a week? Where did the time go...? I'll tell you :o) I've been 'dog-sitting' for the last few days at my folk's house in Ipswich. I tried to get on line (I really did) but their broadband kept running these self-diagnostic sessions and, in the end, it was far easier just to turn the computer off and go read a book instead. And walk the dog. And take Hope swimming. And a whole load of other bits and pieces that were only interesting if you were there at the time :o) I'll try not to leave it so long next time (no promises though, life being as it is these days).

So, what have I got for you by way of apology? Well, this for a start...

Yep, it's 'Black Company Re-Read' time over at Tor.com and this week I'm tackling 'Dreams of Steel', a book that is far more awesome this time round than I remember it being. Go and read my post Here and then leave a comment if the fancy takes you :o)

Anything else? Only a picture of three interesting looking books that were waiting when I got home yesterday...

I enjoyed Tom Lloyd's 'The Stormcaller' but never had time to finish the series. 'Moon's Artifice' is a chance then for me to get back into his writing at the start of a series (instead of part way through). A definite read then (look for it on the shelves around November time), have some blurb...

In a quiet corner of the Imperial City, Investigator Narin discovers the result of his first potentially lethal mistake. Minutes later he makes a second.

After an unremarkable career Narin finally has the chance of promotion to the hallowed ranks of the Lawbringers - guardians of the Emperor's laws and bastions for justice in a world of brutal expediency. Joining that honoured body would be the culmination of a lifelong dream, but it couldn't possibly have come at a worse time. A chance encounter drags Narin into a plot of gods and monsters, spies and assassins, accompanied by a grief-stricken young woman, an old man haunted by the ghosts of his past and an assassin with no past.

On the cusp of an industrial age that threatens the warrior caste's rule, the Empire of a Hundred Houses awaits civil war between noble factions. Centuries of conquest has made the empire a brittle and bloated monster; constrained by tradition and crying out for change. To save his own life and those of untold thousands Narin must understand the key to it all - Moon's Artifice, the poison that could destroy an empire. 

Look at that cover for 'The Six Gun Tarot', isn't it gorgeous? It's the cover which encouraged me to start reading this book today (again, I never got round to picking up the Tor edition) and it's looking promising so far. Blurb? Go on then,

Nevada, 1869: Beyond the pitiless 40-Mile Desert lies Golgotha, a cattle town that hides more than its share of unnatural secrets. The sheriff bears the mark of the noose around his neck; some say he is a dead man whose time has not yet come. His half-human deputy is kin to coyotes. The mayor guards a hoard of mythical treasures. A banker's wife belongs to a secret order of assassins. And a shady saloon owner, whose fingers are in everyone's business, may know more about the town's true origins than he's letting on. A haven for the blessed and the damned, Golgotha has known many strange events, but nothing like the primordial darkness stirring in the abandoned silver mine overlooking the town. Bleeding midnight, an ancient evil is spilling into the world, and unless the sheriff and his posse can saddle up in time, Golgotha will have seen its last dawn...and so will all of Creation.

I didn't even know that there was going to be a third 'Low Town' book so the proof copy 'She Who Waits' (look for it in October) was a brilliant surprise to have waiting on the doorstep. I'm with Myke Cole by the way, Daniel Polansky is a great author who is criminally overlooked. If you're after noir detective fantasy then you really need to be reading the 'Low Town' books if you aren't already. And here's the blurb for 'She Who Waits'...

Low Town: the worst ghetto in the worst city in the Thirteen Lands.

Good only for depravity and death. And Warden, long ago a respected agent in the formidable Black House, is now the most depraved Low Town denizen of them all.

As a younger man, Warden carried out more than his fair share of terrible deeds, and never as many as when he worked for the Black House. But Warden's growing older, and the vultures are circling. Low Town is changing, faster than even he can control, and Warden knows that if he doesn't get out soon, he may never get out at all.

But Warden must finally reckon with his terrible past if he can ever hope to escape it. A hospital full of lunatics, a conspiracy against the corrupt new king and a ghetto full of thieves and murderers stand between him and his slim hope for the future. And behind them all waits the one person whose betrayal Warden never expected. The one person who left him, broken and bitter, to become the man he is today.

The one woman he ever loved.

She who waits behind all things. 

That's me for today, time to go off and make sure that we're not all waiting another few days for the next blog post... ;o)