Fantasy Book Critic: “Hardcore” by Andy Remic: Cover Art & Description

Thanks to Andy Remic, I was notified of the awesome new cover art to Andy’s upcoming third Combat-K novel “Hardcore”, which debuted on the Solaris Book Blog HERE. According to the post, the artwork was provided by Marek Okon. I never heard of the artist before, but I have to say this is probably my favorite Combat-K cover yet! As far as the book itself, “Hardcore” isn’t scheduled for publication until January 2010 (Solaris), but I already can’t wait for the novel, especially after reading the following description:

“Sick World was a planet dedicated to the ill, the deformed, the dying and the dead...

Humanity as an organism was not the most durable chassis. After mixing it up with aliens, the human shell developed a host of unwanted and incurable ailments . . . esoteric diseases, curious viruses, life-changing bugs, vomit-inducing deformations. So a beautiful planet, Sick World, was terraformed with limitless funding, state-of-the-art research centres, gleaming wards and towering operating theatres providing unparalleled care, a perfection of medicine and a pinnacle of repair for the plethora of grotesque diseases and mutating conditions. However, a thousand years ago something happened, and the planet was evacuated in totality. Today, it lies uninhabited.

Combat K—Keenan, Franco and Pippa—are forced by implanted logic cubes into an unholy alliance of cooperation. Their mission: to infiltrate Sick World and carry out a simple fact-finding reconnaissance prior to SLAM excavations to research the new Junk threat. It should have been safe, simple, secure.

As the first day fades, so a long hibernation ends. For the Medical Staff of Sick World—the doctors, the nurses, the patients, all those abandoned long ago—have been undergoing a thousand year gestation of hardcore medical mutation and accelerated healthcare technology. Now they can smell the fresh meat and are beginning to awake...

HARDCORE. You’ll never look at a nurse the same way again."

“Hardcore” is the third Combat-K novel after “War Machine” (Reviewed HERE) and “Biohell”, which was recently released as a Mass Market Paperback. Highly recommended series for anyone who loves action-packed military science fiction...