Cover Art! 'Koko Takes A Holiday' - Kieran Shea

Because sometimes you don't need to write a lengthy post saying what is was about the 'shading of the fonts' or 'the way that the hero's sword was drawn just so' that attracted you to the cover art of a book. Sometimes, the cover art itself seems to say... "just post me on your blog and say nothing else, everyone will understand my awesomeness as soon as they gaze on me." That's what happened with the cover art for 'Koko Takes A Holiday' so I'm going to post the picture and let it speak for itself (ok, I will probably leave a little smiley underneath it)

:o)

I've had a little read of the blurb and have adjusted the reading pile accordingly (I doubt that I will ever finish reading 'The Godwhale' at this rate, need to give myself a bit of a talking to there), have a look for yourself...

Five hundred years from now, ex-corporate mercenary Koko Martstellar is swaggering through an easy early retirement as a brothel owner on The Sixty Islands, a manufactured tropical resort archipelago known for its sex and simulated violence. Surrounded by slang-drooling boywhores and synthetic komodo dragons, Koko finds the most challenging part of her day might be deciding on her next drink. That is, until her old comrade Portia Delacompte sends a squad of security personnel to murder her.

What do you reckon? I'm definitely having a read.

‘The Holiness of Azedarac’ – Clark Ashton Smith

I’m having far too much fun with ‘The Incorruptibles’ to polish it off quickly and it has been a while since I dipped into the worlds of Clark Ashton Smith so… The end result is another brief journey into the dark woods of medieval Averoigne and a young monk’s journey to expose an evil prelate…

'By the Ram with a Thousand Ewes! By the Tail of Dagon and the Horns of Derceto!' said Azédarac, as he fingered the tiny, pot-bellied vial of vermilion liquid on the table before him. 'Something will have to be done with this pestilential Brother Ambrose. I have now learned that he was sent to Ximes by the Archbishop of Averoigne for no other purpose than to gather proof of my subterraneous connection with Azazel and the Old Ones. He has spied upon my evocations in the vaults, he has heard the hidden formulae, and beheld the veritable manifestation of Lilit, and even of Iog-Sotôt and Sodagui, those demons who are more ancient than the world; and this very morning, an hour agone, he has mounted his white ass for the return journey to Vyones. There are two ways — or, in a sense, there is one way — in which I can avoid the bother and inconvenience of a trial for sorcery: the contents of this vial must be administered to Ambrose before he has reached his journey's end — or, failing this, I myself shall be compelled to make use of a similar medicament.'

Beautiful writing (I wish I could curse like that, the world would be a much better place if everyone cursed like that) but, as an opening paragraph, it feels a little clumsier than what I’m used to from Ashton Smith. We’re being told what’s going on here, instead of being shown, and it feels forced. This issue crops up here and there, over the rest of the tale, but the language gets the reader through these tough patches and then we’re away.

‘In the oblique rays, the elongated webs of shadow wrought by the dying afternoon, the forest seemed to attend with bated breath the noisome and furtive passing of innominable things. Nevertheless, Ambrose had met no-one for miles…’

Brother Ambrose is making his way through the forest of Averoigne with as much haste as he can (if I was a Bishop entrusting someone with an important mission, the last thing I’d do is make them ride a donkey…) and I loved the way that Ashton Smith crowds the forest with phantasms brought on by what Ambrose had witnessed previously. We’ve seen in previous Averoigne stories that the forest holds dangers but Ashton Smith shows us that nothing is so dangerous as the fear we make for ourselves. This move builds things up nicely until the moment when Ambrose is finally caught by the agent of Azedarac and finds himself…

And here’s the thing, I don’t want to give anything away as Ashton Smith takes a story that was clearly going to end either one way or another and gives it an ending that comes straight out of left field. An ending that resolves absolutely nothing important in the plot but gives us a good insight into the universe Ashton Smith writes in. Good or evil, whatever you strive for can be taken from your grasp just like that and for no reason other than a passing fancy of either the gods or cosmic fate. Ambrose isn’t complaining too much by the end and you can’t blame him given what he has had to endure; at least Ashton Smith gives him that.

If you want to read ‘The Holiness of Azedarac’ yourself (and why not, it’s free) then you should be clicking right Here.

‘A Year and a Day in Old Theradane’ – Scott Lynch

Another story that can be found in the GRRM/Dozois ‘Rogues’ collection which I am loving so far (based on the stories I’ve dipped into).

I miss being able to sit down with a big, fat epic fantasy novel and get lost in it for hours at a time. Actually, no I don’t, not really. Reading a big fat epic fantasy novel usually means that I’m doing something horribly tedious, like a long commute, that I want to escape from and my life seems to be refreshingly free of things like that at the moment; that’s always a good thing and never to be sniffed at.

Having said all that though, I do miss the feeling of being able to get lost in that world, within the pages of a book, and have no idea where the time went when I surface. It’s a good job then that are short stories out there like ‘A Year and a Day in Old Theradane’. While it’s by no means a story that will grip you for hours (it’s only forty pages long…) there is more than enough depth to the background to have the reader enthralled by life in Old Theradane. I read this story on the way to work, this morning, and there were stations that I literally didn’t notice the train stop at as I was too busy scoping out Prosperity Street with Amarelle Parathis, and her gang of rogues, or drinking in ‘The Sign of the Fallen Fire’. What an amazing pub by the way (made from the skeleton of a fallen dragon), just the description of a ‘Rise and Fall of Empires’ makes me wish that I drank in establishments like this rather than… well, the ones that I drink in (my living room, in front of the TV) This kind of detail, more than ably supplied by Lynch, is only a part of what makes ‘A Year and a Day in Old Theradane’ such an enjoyable read but it’s an incredibly important part. Lynch eases you into the story so smoothly that before you know, you’re caught up in the plot itself.

I’m not going to lie, if I was Amarelle I’d have gone for the last option first. If I was Amarelle however, ‘A Year and a Day in Old Theradane’ would have been about five pages long and incredibly dull so… It’s a good job that things worked out the way they did really :o) Amarelle and her gang are complete and utter rogues (definitely a good fit for this collection) and there’s enough humour here (in both the gang and the story itself) to get you behind the characters and rooting for a successful conclusion. It’s a foregone conclusion but that’s beside the point. The fun lies in getting there and there is a lot of fun to be had, take my word for it.

If you hadn’t guessed already, I came away from ‘A Year and a Day in Old Theradane’ with a real urge to tell everyone just how good it is and that you should all read it. I was also really glad that I chose to read it instead of  

Neil Gaiman’s ‘How the Marquis Got His Coat Back’ (one for another time perhaps). I noticed that Lynch has (or is developing) a habit of leaving his short stories open-ended so he can write more if they prove popular. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of Amarelle and her friends. GRRM and Gardner Dozois – Any chance of a ‘Rogues 2’?

Action Philosophers!

It's been a frantic old day today so this is all I've got for you. There'll be a review tomorrow though (promise). In the meantime...

I don't normally post blatant adverts like this but... Can anyone tell me who these five philosophers are? Absolutely no prizes, just the satisfaction of knowing philosophers better than anyone else ;o) 

‘The Princess and the Queen’ – George R.R. Martin

A brief update from yesterday, I didn't get the job after all. Oh well, next time is the charm :o)

‘The Princess and the Queen’ can be found in the GRRM & Gardner Dozois collection ‘Dangerous Women’ and follows on from the events of ‘The Rogue Prince’ (which was reviewed over Here). Proof then that not getting round to reading things when they are published can actually work out very well indeed. Go me :o)

While I attempt to clear the decks for a big ol’ ‘ASOIAF’ re-read (looking very unlikely right now but stranger things have happened) it’s been nice to catch up on the world of Westeros by reading some of the shorter pieces. ‘The Princess and the Queen’ is one of the longer shorter pieces, weighing in at around eighty pages long which makes it a novella according to the front of the book. It recounts a Targaryen war of succession, a couple of hundred years before 'ASOIAF' and GRRM being GRRM, the story actually feels like it’s four or five times that many pages (at least); not only is there a lot happening but it’s all carried by a cast so long that (yet again) I developed a small headache, behind my left eye, trying to keep track of who was who. They pretty much all die by the end which made the headache even less worthwhile, I should have expected it really.

Find your way past the overpoweringly large cast though and ‘The Princess and the Queen’ becomes a treat of a read for fans who are starting to get itchy feet about ‘The Winds of Winter’. It has everything to it that the main series has, just condensed into a much smaller space. This can work for and against the plot; you don’t get much in the way of character development, for example, but they all seem to do a lot more. There isn’t that constant politicking (which you may or may not appreciate) but the story itself moves along at a brisk pace which, for me, really made up for it. Basically, have a think about what you like best about ‘ASOIAF’ and then be aware that there may not be enough room in ‘The Princess and the Queen’ for GRRM to go with it like he normally would. There is still a lot to get out of it though (the sheer scale of events depicted in such a short space is astonishing), not least of which is full on dragon warfare across Westeros.

To go from a world where there are only three half grown dragons to a world where the Dragon Pit in Kings Landing is full… It’s an amazing experience, especially when the dragons on both sides go at it in the skies above Westeros. We all knew that GRRM could write a mean battle sequence but what he does with the dragon fights is something else; you really get a feel for the brute impact of battles fought with tooth, claw and fire. GRRM doesn’t treat his dragons any better than his human characters; big players die when you least expect it and by the end of the tale you’re in no doubt that the ‘Dance of Dragons’ marks the passing of an age.

Definitely one for fans then but ‘The Princess and the Queen’ also feels like a good jumping on point for anyone who just watches ‘Game of Thrones’ and wants to know what GRRMs writing is like without getting into a multi-volume epic. Of course, that would currently mean you buying a massive anthology but, you know what I mean… ;o)

Books In The Post! 'Waiting For That Phone Call...' Edition.

So I had an interview, last Wednesday, that actually went really well; certainly well enough for me to finally consign the 'Mary Poppins' interview to the dustbin of history. Seriously, I did that interview in the style of Mary Poppins being interviewed by the father (what was his name again?) but anyway... I've been promised an update sometime this afternoon and I will likely find out whether I got the job or not; staring at my phone and willing it to ring clearly doesn't work but only because I'm not staring hard enough! *Stares*

While I wait for the phone to ring then, have a look at the books that came in the post over the last few days. There are some good ones there...

Okay, 'Dark Crusade' didn't arrive in the post at all; I found this while mooching around second hand bookshops (waiting for Sue and the girls to get home from Plymouth). I used to have a really old battered copy that got lost while we were living in Gloucester; this copy looks a lot nicer (Frank Frazetta covers make everything look nicer) and officially marks the start of my trying to collect all the 'Kane' books in paperback. We'll see how that goes, I suspect it will take a lot longer to complete than my Fantasy Masterworks collection...

I'm pretty sure you will have already seen a couple of these books before, in blogs that are much better at keeping up to date with the new stuff than I will ever be. The arrival of 'Cibola Burn', last week, prompted me to try and get caught up with the 'Expanse' series and that's what will be happening with 'Caliban's War' and 'Abaddon's Gate'. I need to do an awful lot of reading to get caught up with Kevin Hearne's 'Iron Druid' chronicles as well but... I'm not going to. Nothing wrong with the books, I'm just not feeling any need to keep reading at all so 'Shattered' will be going to a new home very soon I think.

I'm really into dragons at the moment (blame 'Game of Thrones', I'm two seasons in now and am loving every second of it) so 'Splintered Gods' will be read, after I read 'Dragon Queen', as will 'The Tropic of Serpents'. I started reading 'The Incorruptibles' over the weekend and would like to get in early by saying that you really need to be reading this one too, it's looking very good so far.

So what does that leave? It's been a little while since I've read any ghost stories and Joanna Briscoe's 'Touched' looks promising (and short enough to fit in between other reads) so I'll more than likely dip into it this week. Have a look at the blurb,

Rowena Crale and her family have moved from London.

They now live in a small English village in a cottage which seems to be resisting all attempts at renovation.

Walls ooze damp, stains come through layers of wallpaper, ceilings sag.

And strange noises - voices - emanate from empty rooms.

As Rowena struggles with the upheaval of builders while trying to be a dutiful wife and a good mother to her young children, her life starts to disintegrate.

And then, one by one, her daughters go missing ...

Look for a review very soon.

And last but not least, 'The House of War and Witness'. Another ghost story that's had a little bit of blog time already (look down the page a bit...) and will be read/reviewed purely because Mike Carey's name is on it.

What am I reading at the moment? 'The Crimson Campaign' is already shaping up to be at least as good as 'Promise of Blood' and I've already mentioned 'The Incorruptibles' as one to look out for. I've also (finally) made a start on 'Range of Ghosts' and that doesn't look too shabby either. What are you reading?

‘Ghost #4’ – DeConnick, Borges (Dark Horse Comics)

One story arc comes to an end and so another begins. This is the way of comic books everywhere and no less so with ‘Ghost #4’, a book that doesn’t have a lot to say for itself (which is going to result in a very short and to the point post today…) but is laying the foundations for something to play out over the next few issues. I don’t know quite what but it looks interesting.

Elisa Cameron has defeated the threats of Dr. October, the White City Butcher and also the demon Beleth. Ghost can now start to protect the city of Chicago from itself while her friends start to piece together Elisa’s past life from the effects of a dead friend…

‘Ghost #4’ is essentially a chance to take a break from the frenetic events of previous issues and start to see what Elisa herself is really all about, both in her past and the path she is choosing to take right now. There isn’t a lot of difference between the two to be honest; you could say that as Ghost, Elisa is just continuing to be the person she always was, only with added power and purpose. The parallels are cleverly drawn and aren’t too obvious; I like a bit of subtlety so appreciate the approach taken here.

What does this mean for the future? It’s clear that Elisa’s past isn’t ready to let her go just yet and that there are questions still to be answered. Nothing major at the moment, these are the kind of questions that lead to even bigger questions I think. We’ll see how that goes.

One final word on the art though. I’d love to see a little more consistency with the artists; Noto, Sook and now Borges are all good but I would love to see this title pick an artist and then stick with them for an extended run; give them time to really make the character and setting their own and complement DeConnick’s excellent writing. Just a thought guys. ‘Ghost’ is starting to look really good in terms of moving away from the original and becoming its own tale; a little consistency with the art could really make all the difference as far as I’m concerned.