Official Jeff Somers WebsiteOrder “The Digital Plague” HERE (US + UK)
Read An Excerpt HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s REVIEW of “The Electric Church”
Read Reviews of “The Digital Plague” via Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review, Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist + The Bookbag
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Jeff Somers is an American author whose bibliography includes “Lifers” (2001), “The Freaks Are Winning” (2002), “The Electric Church” (2007) and numerous short stories. Jeff is also the creator of the e-zine, The Inner Swine.
PLOT SUMMARY: It’s been a few years since gunner Avery Cates took down Dennis Squalor and The Electric Church, and in that time the assassin-for-hire has established himself as one of the richest and most feared criminals in post-Unification New York City. But right now, Avery Cates is in a world of trouble. Infected with a nanotech plague that is killing everyone around him, betrayed by his closet acquaintances, forced to ally with the hated SSF in hunting down his mysterious enemy, and with every moment bringing the human race closer to extinction, Cates finds himself in the role of both executioner and savior of the entire world…
CLASSIFICATION: Set in a dark and gritty dystopian future, “The Digital Plague” continues Jeff Somers’ violent brand of science fiction which mixes together cyberpunk and hard-boiled crime noir—imagine a cross between Blade Runner, Akira, Richard K. Morgan’s SF novels, and the action/thriller film Crank. So like “The Electric Church”, expect the profanity to be excessive, the humor caustic, and the action bloody & immoral :)
FORMAT/INFO: Page count is 368 pages divided over thirty-nine chapters with the story taking place over ten days. Also includes an Epilogue that leads into the next Avery Cates novel “The Eternal Prison”, an extract from “The Eternal Prison”, and an Appendix featuring Excerpts from the Audio Diary of Tricia Amber Pollock. Narration is once again in the first-person via Avery Cates. Plot is largely self-contained, but draws on many events and characters from “The Electric Church”, so reading that book first is highly advisable.
May 12th + May 15, 2008 marks the North American & UK trade paperback publication of “The Digital Plague” via Orbit Books. Cover art is once again provided by Jae Lee.
ANALYSIS: “The Electric Church” is one of those books that readers either seem to really enjoy, or really hate, and while I can understand some of the reasoning behind the novel’s negative criticisms—the unoriginal setting, lack of character depth & world-building, various deus ex machinas, etc.—for the most part I was of the former opinion. After all, I’m a huge fan of both noir and cyberpunk, so while the book may have suffered from some flaws, I thought overall “The Electric Church” was a pretty solid piece of entertainment. Fortunately, I found Jeff’s sequel “The Digital Plague” even better.
For starters, I loved the setup. Instead of picking up where “The Electric Church” ended, its a few years later and Avery Cates—now one of the richest and most powerful criminals in New York City—finds himself at the mercy of an unknown assailant at the very beginning of “The Digital Plague”: “This is not an execution Avery. This is an assassination. Not yours. But an assassination none the f**king less.” And is then injected with a mysterious substance and left with a ton of questions. So immediately there’s this sense of intrigue and desperation that really intensifies when Avery learns that he’s become the originator of a mechanical plague that is killing everyone around him, starting with his friends. The real hook though is that anyone within a certain radius of Avery will remain unaffected by the infection as long as they stay in that limited range, which leads to some engaging alliances and circumstances ;)
Aside from the initial concept though, there is actually very little to the story in “The Digital Plague”. Essentially, the book is about revenge with a doomsday plot mixed in and a dash of Undersecretaries/System Security Force politics sprinkled on top. That said, the pacing is intense, the action scenes skillfully orchestrated, and Jeff delivers some unexpected surprises along the way. Characterization meanwhile is a mixed bag. Avery Cates’ caustic narration remains a highlight of the book—and is improved upon in my opinion—but he lacks depth and his motives are weak, especially when his morals come into question. Supporting players are much worse however, and it’s hard to care when someone dies, turns betrayer or is at the center of a moral dilemma, but at least Jeff does a much better job with distinguishing a side character’s personality, specifically with newcomers Captain Happling and Colonel Hense. As far as the setting, once again there’s very little info-dumping or world-building involved, which actually reminded me of David Gunn’s Death’s Head novels. But like those books, it’s not really an issue.
CONCLUSION: More or less, “The Digital Plague” offers the same kind of gritty, cold-blooded cyberpunk/futuristic-noir that “The Electric Church” did, including the same strengths and weaknesses. Granted, the book is darker, better executed, the stakes are higher, the body count is off the charts, and Avery is put through nine kinds of hell, but basically if you were a fan of “The Electric Church”, then “The Digital Plague” should be right up your alley. I know I immensely enjoyed the book—even more than “The Electric Church”—and my adrenaline is already pumping for the next Avery Cates adventure…
PLOT SUMMARY: It’s been a few years since gunner Avery Cates took down Dennis Squalor and The Electric Church, and in that time the assassin-for-hire has established himself as one of the richest and most feared criminals in post-Unification New York City. But right now, Avery Cates is in a world of trouble. Infected with a nanotech plague that is killing everyone around him, betrayed by his closet acquaintances, forced to ally with the hated SSF in hunting down his mysterious enemy, and with every moment bringing the human race closer to extinction, Cates finds himself in the role of both executioner and savior of the entire world…
CLASSIFICATION: Set in a dark and gritty dystopian future, “The Digital Plague” continues Jeff Somers’ violent brand of science fiction which mixes together cyberpunk and hard-boiled crime noir—imagine a cross between Blade Runner, Akira, Richard K. Morgan’s SF novels, and the action/thriller film Crank. So like “The Electric Church”, expect the profanity to be excessive, the humor caustic, and the action bloody & immoral :)
FORMAT/INFO: Page count is 368 pages divided over thirty-nine chapters with the story taking place over ten days. Also includes an Epilogue that leads into the next Avery Cates novel “The Eternal Prison”, an extract from “The Eternal Prison”, and an Appendix featuring Excerpts from the Audio Diary of Tricia Amber Pollock. Narration is once again in the first-person via Avery Cates. Plot is largely self-contained, but draws on many events and characters from “The Electric Church”, so reading that book first is highly advisable.
May 12th + May 15, 2008 marks the North American & UK trade paperback publication of “The Digital Plague” via Orbit Books. Cover art is once again provided by Jae Lee.
ANALYSIS: “The Electric Church” is one of those books that readers either seem to really enjoy, or really hate, and while I can understand some of the reasoning behind the novel’s negative criticisms—the unoriginal setting, lack of character depth & world-building, various deus ex machinas, etc.—for the most part I was of the former opinion. After all, I’m a huge fan of both noir and cyberpunk, so while the book may have suffered from some flaws, I thought overall “The Electric Church” was a pretty solid piece of entertainment. Fortunately, I found Jeff’s sequel “The Digital Plague” even better.
For starters, I loved the setup. Instead of picking up where “The Electric Church” ended, its a few years later and Avery Cates—now one of the richest and most powerful criminals in New York City—finds himself at the mercy of an unknown assailant at the very beginning of “The Digital Plague”: “This is not an execution Avery. This is an assassination. Not yours. But an assassination none the f**king less.” And is then injected with a mysterious substance and left with a ton of questions. So immediately there’s this sense of intrigue and desperation that really intensifies when Avery learns that he’s become the originator of a mechanical plague that is killing everyone around him, starting with his friends. The real hook though is that anyone within a certain radius of Avery will remain unaffected by the infection as long as they stay in that limited range, which leads to some engaging alliances and circumstances ;)
Aside from the initial concept though, there is actually very little to the story in “The Digital Plague”. Essentially, the book is about revenge with a doomsday plot mixed in and a dash of Undersecretaries/System Security Force politics sprinkled on top. That said, the pacing is intense, the action scenes skillfully orchestrated, and Jeff delivers some unexpected surprises along the way. Characterization meanwhile is a mixed bag. Avery Cates’ caustic narration remains a highlight of the book—and is improved upon in my opinion—but he lacks depth and his motives are weak, especially when his morals come into question. Supporting players are much worse however, and it’s hard to care when someone dies, turns betrayer or is at the center of a moral dilemma, but at least Jeff does a much better job with distinguishing a side character’s personality, specifically with newcomers Captain Happling and Colonel Hense. As far as the setting, once again there’s very little info-dumping or world-building involved, which actually reminded me of David Gunn’s Death’s Head novels. But like those books, it’s not really an issue.
CONCLUSION: More or less, “The Digital Plague” offers the same kind of gritty, cold-blooded cyberpunk/futuristic-noir that “The Electric Church” did, including the same strengths and weaknesses. Granted, the book is darker, better executed, the stakes are higher, the body count is off the charts, and Avery is put through nine kinds of hell, but basically if you were a fan of “The Electric Church”, then “The Digital Plague” should be right up your alley. I know I immensely enjoyed the book—even more than “The Electric Church”—and my adrenaline is already pumping for the next Avery Cates adventure…
3:01 AM | 
Posted by
Robert |
Official Eric Brown WebsiteOfficial Solaris Books Website
Order “Kéthani” HERE (US) + HERE (UK)
Read An Excerpt HERE
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Eric Brown has been a published writer since 1987 with an extensive bibliography that features several novels, five novellas, and seven children’s books as well as over eighty short stories which have won the author two British Science Fiction Awards. His latest works include “Starship Summer” (PS Publishing), “Helix” (Solaris Books) and the upcoming science fiction novel “Necropath”, Book One of The Bengal Station Trilogy. Eric also writes a monthly SF review column for The Guardian.
PLOT SUMMARY: When a mysterious alien race known as the Kéthani make contact with the people of Earth, bringing with them the gift of eternal life, the world is forever changed. Centered on a group of friends in a small West Yorkshire village, “Kéthani” explores how the human race has been changed, not just in their worldviews, religiously and philosophically, but also on a much more personal level, including love, friendship, and humanity. But do the Kéthani have a hidden agenda and will the human race choose to evolve or turn in on itself in the face of this momentous revelation?
CLASSIFICATION: “Kéthani” is best described as ‘soft’ or ‘social science fiction’, meaning there’s very little technology or action involved, with the book mainly concentrating on characterization and the cultural impact that immortality could have on humankind in this day and age. Recommended for readers who like their science fiction low-tech, poignant, and contemplative…
FORMAT/INFO: Page count is 294 pages, divided over ten chapters which are actually short stories that have appeared in previous publications like Interzone, Spectrum and Postscripts with the exception of “Matthew’s Passion” co-written with Tony Ballantyne. Connecting together the ten short stories are a Prelude, Coda and ten Interludes all narrated in the first-person by main protagonist Khalid Azzam. Khalid also narrates two of the short stories, with the others presented by different characters, all in the first-person except for two that are third-person. The stories them selves recount events that occur over a period of twenty years after the Kéthani presented humans with their ‘gift’. Also included in the book is a preview of Eric’s next novel “Necropath” which is slated for release October 2008 via Solaris Books.
May 6, 2008 marks the North American and UK paperback publication of “Kéthani” (Solaris Books). Cover art is provided by John Harris.
ANALYSIS: Originally I was going to look at all ten short stories individually, but then decided against it, mainly because I didn’t want to spoil anything for the reader. You see, each short story is like a mystery that examines different aspects of humanity, so if I were to give out the details it would probably ruin the surprises or lessen the emotional impact that each tale has to offer.
All you really need to know is that a benevolent alien race known as the Kéthani has landed on Earth offering immortality to humankind. As far as the process of resurrection which includes implants, nanotechnology, and a six-month instruction period on the planet Kéthan; the reason for the aliens’ gift—the official statement is so humans can work as ambassadors in bringing the word of the Kéthani to other races & planets—and the Kéthani themselves; very little is revealed with the book focusing instead on the sociological effect that immortality has on mankind.
In particular, “Kéthani” revolves around a group of friends—including a doctor, police officer, academic, high school teacher, professional cornet player, a Catholic priest, dry-stone waller, ferryman, and a writer—who hang out at a local pub in Oxenworth, England and the personal impact that the aliens have had on their lives with death, marriage and love the most prominent themes, although religion and philosophy are also represented.
From these stories, Eric Brown offers a deeply emotional and unforgettable glimpse at how the world might be changed if immortality, especially the Kéthani’s version of eternal life—people not only live forever, but come back healthier, younger and more humane with the allure of the stars at their fingertips—was suddenly in our grasp. Think about it. A world where the specter of death is banished, where suicide means a whole new beginning, where criminals and the terminally/mentally ill can have a second chance, where faith and the afterlife are challenged, and where maxims like “time heals all wounds” and “true love lasts forever” are given new perspectives…
It’s just an incredibly fascinating scenario and Eric does a spectacular job of exploring this concept in-depth, although I was left with several questions. For instance, after resurrection do you still grow old—I was just wondering because at least one resurrectee does—can you get injured or ill, and if you come back more humane so that crime is no longer an issue, wouldn’t you stop engaging in such destructive habits as drinking?
Writing-wise, Eric’s experience as an award-winning author is on full display in this book. The prose is graceful; the characters—with the exception of the narrative voices all sounding strangely the same—are rich and emotive; the storytelling is crafty and powerful; and even though “Kéthani” is essentially a series of old short stories linked together by a framing device, the novel flows along smoothly and ends on a high note, while teasing the reader with possibilities of another Kéthani tale :)
CONCLUSION: Last year I overlooked Eric Brown’s “Helix” and vowed not to make that same mistake with “Kéthani”. In return, I was rewarded with a brilliantly conceived and written novel about humanity that I’m going to be thinking about for a very long time. Utterly compelling, wonderfully thought-provoking and deeply moving, Eric Brown's "Kéthani" is a must-read...
PLOT SUMMARY: When a mysterious alien race known as the Kéthani make contact with the people of Earth, bringing with them the gift of eternal life, the world is forever changed. Centered on a group of friends in a small West Yorkshire village, “Kéthani” explores how the human race has been changed, not just in their worldviews, religiously and philosophically, but also on a much more personal level, including love, friendship, and humanity. But do the Kéthani have a hidden agenda and will the human race choose to evolve or turn in on itself in the face of this momentous revelation?
CLASSIFICATION: “Kéthani” is best described as ‘soft’ or ‘social science fiction’, meaning there’s very little technology or action involved, with the book mainly concentrating on characterization and the cultural impact that immortality could have on humankind in this day and age. Recommended for readers who like their science fiction low-tech, poignant, and contemplative…
FORMAT/INFO: Page count is 294 pages, divided over ten chapters which are actually short stories that have appeared in previous publications like Interzone, Spectrum and Postscripts with the exception of “Matthew’s Passion” co-written with Tony Ballantyne. Connecting together the ten short stories are a Prelude, Coda and ten Interludes all narrated in the first-person by main protagonist Khalid Azzam. Khalid also narrates two of the short stories, with the others presented by different characters, all in the first-person except for two that are third-person. The stories them selves recount events that occur over a period of twenty years after the Kéthani presented humans with their ‘gift’. Also included in the book is a preview of Eric’s next novel “Necropath” which is slated for release October 2008 via Solaris Books.
May 6, 2008 marks the North American and UK paperback publication of “Kéthani” (Solaris Books). Cover art is provided by John Harris.
ANALYSIS: Originally I was going to look at all ten short stories individually, but then decided against it, mainly because I didn’t want to spoil anything for the reader. You see, each short story is like a mystery that examines different aspects of humanity, so if I were to give out the details it would probably ruin the surprises or lessen the emotional impact that each tale has to offer.
All you really need to know is that a benevolent alien race known as the Kéthani has landed on Earth offering immortality to humankind. As far as the process of resurrection which includes implants, nanotechnology, and a six-month instruction period on the planet Kéthan; the reason for the aliens’ gift—the official statement is so humans can work as ambassadors in bringing the word of the Kéthani to other races & planets—and the Kéthani themselves; very little is revealed with the book focusing instead on the sociological effect that immortality has on mankind.
In particular, “Kéthani” revolves around a group of friends—including a doctor, police officer, academic, high school teacher, professional cornet player, a Catholic priest, dry-stone waller, ferryman, and a writer—who hang out at a local pub in Oxenworth, England and the personal impact that the aliens have had on their lives with death, marriage and love the most prominent themes, although religion and philosophy are also represented.
From these stories, Eric Brown offers a deeply emotional and unforgettable glimpse at how the world might be changed if immortality, especially the Kéthani’s version of eternal life—people not only live forever, but come back healthier, younger and more humane with the allure of the stars at their fingertips—was suddenly in our grasp. Think about it. A world where the specter of death is banished, where suicide means a whole new beginning, where criminals and the terminally/mentally ill can have a second chance, where faith and the afterlife are challenged, and where maxims like “time heals all wounds” and “true love lasts forever” are given new perspectives…
It’s just an incredibly fascinating scenario and Eric does a spectacular job of exploring this concept in-depth, although I was left with several questions. For instance, after resurrection do you still grow old—I was just wondering because at least one resurrectee does—can you get injured or ill, and if you come back more humane so that crime is no longer an issue, wouldn’t you stop engaging in such destructive habits as drinking?
Writing-wise, Eric’s experience as an award-winning author is on full display in this book. The prose is graceful; the characters—with the exception of the narrative voices all sounding strangely the same—are rich and emotive; the storytelling is crafty and powerful; and even though “Kéthani” is essentially a series of old short stories linked together by a framing device, the novel flows along smoothly and ends on a high note, while teasing the reader with possibilities of another Kéthani tale :)
CONCLUSION: Last year I overlooked Eric Brown’s “Helix” and vowed not to make that same mistake with “Kéthani”. In return, I was rewarded with a brilliantly conceived and written novel about humanity that I’m going to be thinking about for a very long time. Utterly compelling, wonderfully thought-provoking and deeply moving, Eric Brown's "Kéthani" is a must-read...
Read An Excerpt HERE
Reviewed by Liviu C. Suciu:
INTRODUCTION: “Napoleon's Pyramids” and “The Rosetta Key” by William Dietrich are two historical thrillers with a touch of the supernatural, the second being the direct follow-up of the first. A copy of “Napoleon's Pyramids” got in my hands by chance and I got hooked immediately, so the second volume became a buy on publication book. I will try not to give too many spoilers for “Napoleon's Pyramids” in talking about “The Rosetta Key”, but some will be inevitable so reader beware.
SETTING: Both books are set at the end of the 18th century, from 1798 to 1799. France's revolutionary fervor has been spent under the guillotine and now Paris is a city of decadence, excesses, uncertainty and plots. The weak five men ruling Directorate is trying to keep foreign conquests going on so the plunder for them and the mob keeps coming, but also to keep ambitious and popular generals like the Corsican Napoleon Bonaparte from plotting against them. So for plunder, glory and immortality, and encouraged by the Directorate to be as far from France as feasible, Bonaparte is leading an expedition to Egypt and later to the Holy Land. He brings with him an army of savants to decipher the mysteries of Egypt. Our hero, American adventurer and Benjamin Franklin protégée, Ethan Gage, joins the expedition as do some mysterious and unsavory characters like Count Silano, a sinister Cagliostro-like adventurer and reputed sorcerer. Since I am a history buff, I get very annoyed by sloppy research and famous persons portrayed completely out of historically-based character. Therefore, I am happy to say that these books have excellent research with reasonably accurate descriptions of real events and with pitch-perfect characterization for both Napoleon—he is fascinatingly intelligent, charismatic and repulsively megalomaniac—and our alter-ego hero Ethan Gage.
CLASSIFICATION/INFO: Both novels are historical thrillers so do not expect deep characterization or deep meaning, but a fun romp that you do not want to put down, and at the end of which you ask for more. Both books are first-person, present tense narratives by Ethan Gage with occasional recollections—especially in “The Rosetta Key” to give backstory for the events that occurred in “Napoleon's Pyramids”. They stand at around 350-400 pages each. To get a satisfactory ending you should read both since “Napoleon's Pyramids” ends on a literal “balloon-hanger” with almost nothing resolved. “The Rosetta Key” though ends quite satisfactorily, wrapping up almost everything of interest but leaving scope for more. And I want more!!!
PLOT HINTS AND COMMENTS: In 1798 Ethan Gage—an early thirties American, adventurer, gambler, mason and former employee and protégée of Ben Franklin—is living by his wits and luck at the card table in the decadent Paris of the Directorate age, just after the end of the Terror and before the age of Napoleon when uncertainty and corruption ruled the day. One day his luck turns—though it is unclear if it was for good or bad—when he wins a strange Egyptian medallion at a card game. Immediately a mysterious Count Silano offers him a nice price to buy it, but Gage does not like the count so he refuses, and then he is attacked in the street, framed for murder and thrown in jail.
However he receives an offer of pardon if he joins a mysterious expedition under the leadership of the current darling of the French people, the Corsican general Bonaparte, who is journeying to a mysterious destination at both his and the Directorate rulers behest. For the Directorate, the goal is glory, plunder and ridding France of a popular general who could be dangerous. Bonaparte takes lots of scientists, mathematicians, journalists, artists with him, and the destination is of course Egypt. Ethan is to be the expedition expert on that new hot thing that Franklin, now sadly dead, started taming—electricity—while we learn later that Napoleon has ulterior motives.
Ethan joins the gang with his friend, the journalist Talma, and strange things start to happen on the way to Toulon where they embark, with the famous English spy and adventurer Sidney Smith, recently escaped from a French prison, saving Ethan's life from an ambush.
Ethan participates at some of the most memorable events of the campaign: the capture of Malta; the two battles of Abukir; the battle of Cairo; he gets in, out, in, out of Bonaparte's favor; he meets Nelson; he visits the Pyramids; finds love with a beautiful mysterious woman; finds treacherous and cruel enemies; and makes and loses friends. The medallion, so badly wanted by various parties, may lead to books of ancient wisdom which would give their owners amazing powers. Gage is determined to find and destroy, or even better . . . hide those books, while the other parties look for them for their own purposes.
There are also some brilliant cameos, especially by the famous “black” general Dumas, the son of a French aristocrat and a black slave who was a leading general of the revolution before being eclipsed by Napoleon and then was the commander of the French cavalry in Egypt before parting ways with Bonaparte and dying in obscurity several years later. Of course his main claim to fame is that after he returned from Egypt he became the father of Alexandre Dumas.
In a clear homage to Dumas, the author has the main villain Count Silano having a Cagliostro scene with General Dumas, in which Silano challenges the general to a strange duel involving eating a pig—called Cagliostro's duel after the mysterious charlatan/sorcerer that figures so prominently in many Dumas novels. After Bonaparte forbids a classical duel with guns or swords and the general declines, storming from the room, Count Silano exclaims: “he was wise to refuse, this way he will get back to France and have a son who will become very famous”.
“Napoleon's Pyramids” ends with Bonaparte in shaky charge of Egypt after the English fleet under Nelson sank the French fleet at 2nd Abukir leaving the French conquerors stranded in Egypt and encouraging the locals to revolt. After one more out from Napoleon's favor and on the run, Gage steals a meteorological balloon from a French scientist and together with his lady love, the mysterious Egyptian Astiza, and hotly pursued by Silano and the French, tries to get away...
“The Rosetta Key” takes off pretty much where the first book leaves, though it starts dramatically with Ethan Gage awaiting execution as a spy, with roughly 4000 Ottoman soldiers captured by Napoleon at Jaffa and executed en masse in one of those rare Napoleonic moments of outright cruelty though done with some political purpose in mind. In this case to frighten the Ottoman soldiers and rulers of Syria to surrender to Napoleon who, with about 15k soldiers, wanted to emulate Alexander and conquer all lands all the way to India since the English navy is blocking the way to France. Of course it does not work, but that's only because the Syrians have a ruler they fear more than Napoleon—Djezzar The Butcher.
Ethan recounts the story of how he got there starting from his journey on the British ship he landed on at the end of the first book where he cleaned the sailors at cards—which later led to his current fate—to Jerusalem where he met another interesting girl, and to his capture by the French. His lover Astiza is still missing. The mysterious books are still wanted by everybody and Silano is still the odds on favorite to get them unless Gage finds them first.
Then after Gage escapes the mass execution, the story moves forward to the siege of Acre, where Djezzar, helped by the British and some French noblemen, fights Napoleon, and then to various places in the Holy Land, then Egypt, and it ends on a quite satisfying note in Paris.
In many ways this is a better book, more polished than the first one, the main historical characters are still memorable. For instance, when Napoleon arrives before Acre, Djezzar, a very feared 75 years old, climbs the wall and yells at the French, “I killed more men and bedded more women than Napoleon and I will ### him too”.
The one-liners are very funny:
Silano, “Gage don't they teach you classics on the frontier?”
Gage, “On the frontier classics make excellent fire-starters.”
The only weak moments that irritated me after a while were the repetition of Napoleon ordering Ethan's execution for some reason or another, Ethan escaping, and then coming back to Bonaparte for some reason or another.
In the end, “Napoleon's Pyramids” and “The Rosetta Key” are highly recommended romps that you do not want to put down once you start them, and if new Ethan Gage adventures get published I will read them for sure…
INTRODUCTION: “Napoleon's Pyramids” and “The Rosetta Key” by William Dietrich are two historical thrillers with a touch of the supernatural, the second being the direct follow-up of the first. A copy of “Napoleon's Pyramids” got in my hands by chance and I got hooked immediately, so the second volume became a buy on publication book. I will try not to give too many spoilers for “Napoleon's Pyramids” in talking about “The Rosetta Key”, but some will be inevitable so reader beware.
SETTING: Both books are set at the end of the 18th century, from 1798 to 1799. France's revolutionary fervor has been spent under the guillotine and now Paris is a city of decadence, excesses, uncertainty and plots. The weak five men ruling Directorate is trying to keep foreign conquests going on so the plunder for them and the mob keeps coming, but also to keep ambitious and popular generals like the Corsican Napoleon Bonaparte from plotting against them. So for plunder, glory and immortality, and encouraged by the Directorate to be as far from France as feasible, Bonaparte is leading an expedition to Egypt and later to the Holy Land. He brings with him an army of savants to decipher the mysteries of Egypt. Our hero, American adventurer and Benjamin Franklin protégée, Ethan Gage, joins the expedition as do some mysterious and unsavory characters like Count Silano, a sinister Cagliostro-like adventurer and reputed sorcerer. Since I am a history buff, I get very annoyed by sloppy research and famous persons portrayed completely out of historically-based character. Therefore, I am happy to say that these books have excellent research with reasonably accurate descriptions of real events and with pitch-perfect characterization for both Napoleon—he is fascinatingly intelligent, charismatic and repulsively megalomaniac—and our alter-ego hero Ethan Gage.
CLASSIFICATION/INFO: Both novels are historical thrillers so do not expect deep characterization or deep meaning, but a fun romp that you do not want to put down, and at the end of which you ask for more. Both books are first-person, present tense narratives by Ethan Gage with occasional recollections—especially in “The Rosetta Key” to give backstory for the events that occurred in “Napoleon's Pyramids”. They stand at around 350-400 pages each. To get a satisfactory ending you should read both since “Napoleon's Pyramids” ends on a literal “balloon-hanger” with almost nothing resolved. “The Rosetta Key” though ends quite satisfactorily, wrapping up almost everything of interest but leaving scope for more. And I want more!!!
PLOT HINTS AND COMMENTS: In 1798 Ethan Gage—an early thirties American, adventurer, gambler, mason and former employee and protégée of Ben Franklin—is living by his wits and luck at the card table in the decadent Paris of the Directorate age, just after the end of the Terror and before the age of Napoleon when uncertainty and corruption ruled the day. One day his luck turns—though it is unclear if it was for good or bad—when he wins a strange Egyptian medallion at a card game. Immediately a mysterious Count Silano offers him a nice price to buy it, but Gage does not like the count so he refuses, and then he is attacked in the street, framed for murder and thrown in jail.However he receives an offer of pardon if he joins a mysterious expedition under the leadership of the current darling of the French people, the Corsican general Bonaparte, who is journeying to a mysterious destination at both his and the Directorate rulers behest. For the Directorate, the goal is glory, plunder and ridding France of a popular general who could be dangerous. Bonaparte takes lots of scientists, mathematicians, journalists, artists with him, and the destination is of course Egypt. Ethan is to be the expedition expert on that new hot thing that Franklin, now sadly dead, started taming—electricity—while we learn later that Napoleon has ulterior motives.
Ethan joins the gang with his friend, the journalist Talma, and strange things start to happen on the way to Toulon where they embark, with the famous English spy and adventurer Sidney Smith, recently escaped from a French prison, saving Ethan's life from an ambush.
Ethan participates at some of the most memorable events of the campaign: the capture of Malta; the two battles of Abukir; the battle of Cairo; he gets in, out, in, out of Bonaparte's favor; he meets Nelson; he visits the Pyramids; finds love with a beautiful mysterious woman; finds treacherous and cruel enemies; and makes and loses friends. The medallion, so badly wanted by various parties, may lead to books of ancient wisdom which would give their owners amazing powers. Gage is determined to find and destroy, or even better . . . hide those books, while the other parties look for them for their own purposes.
There are also some brilliant cameos, especially by the famous “black” general Dumas, the son of a French aristocrat and a black slave who was a leading general of the revolution before being eclipsed by Napoleon and then was the commander of the French cavalry in Egypt before parting ways with Bonaparte and dying in obscurity several years later. Of course his main claim to fame is that after he returned from Egypt he became the father of Alexandre Dumas.
In a clear homage to Dumas, the author has the main villain Count Silano having a Cagliostro scene with General Dumas, in which Silano challenges the general to a strange duel involving eating a pig—called Cagliostro's duel after the mysterious charlatan/sorcerer that figures so prominently in many Dumas novels. After Bonaparte forbids a classical duel with guns or swords and the general declines, storming from the room, Count Silano exclaims: “he was wise to refuse, this way he will get back to France and have a son who will become very famous”.
“Napoleon's Pyramids” ends with Bonaparte in shaky charge of Egypt after the English fleet under Nelson sank the French fleet at 2nd Abukir leaving the French conquerors stranded in Egypt and encouraging the locals to revolt. After one more out from Napoleon's favor and on the run, Gage steals a meteorological balloon from a French scientist and together with his lady love, the mysterious Egyptian Astiza, and hotly pursued by Silano and the French, tries to get away...
“The Rosetta Key” takes off pretty much where the first book leaves, though it starts dramatically with Ethan Gage awaiting execution as a spy, with roughly 4000 Ottoman soldiers captured by Napoleon at Jaffa and executed en masse in one of those rare Napoleonic moments of outright cruelty though done with some political purpose in mind. In this case to frighten the Ottoman soldiers and rulers of Syria to surrender to Napoleon who, with about 15k soldiers, wanted to emulate Alexander and conquer all lands all the way to India since the English navy is blocking the way to France. Of course it does not work, but that's only because the Syrians have a ruler they fear more than Napoleon—Djezzar The Butcher.Ethan recounts the story of how he got there starting from his journey on the British ship he landed on at the end of the first book where he cleaned the sailors at cards—which later led to his current fate—to Jerusalem where he met another interesting girl, and to his capture by the French. His lover Astiza is still missing. The mysterious books are still wanted by everybody and Silano is still the odds on favorite to get them unless Gage finds them first.
Then after Gage escapes the mass execution, the story moves forward to the siege of Acre, where Djezzar, helped by the British and some French noblemen, fights Napoleon, and then to various places in the Holy Land, then Egypt, and it ends on a quite satisfying note in Paris.
In many ways this is a better book, more polished than the first one, the main historical characters are still memorable. For instance, when Napoleon arrives before Acre, Djezzar, a very feared 75 years old, climbs the wall and yells at the French, “I killed more men and bedded more women than Napoleon and I will ### him too”.
The one-liners are very funny:
Silano, “Gage don't they teach you classics on the frontier?”
Gage, “On the frontier classics make excellent fire-starters.”
The only weak moments that irritated me after a while were the repetition of Napoleon ordering Ethan's execution for some reason or another, Ethan escaping, and then coming back to Bonaparte for some reason or another.
In the end, “Napoleon's Pyramids” and “The Rosetta Key” are highly recommended romps that you do not want to put down once you start them, and if new Ethan Gage adventures get published I will read them for sure…
Official Susan Hubbard WebsiteOfficial “The Year of Disappearances” Myspace
Order “The Year of Disappearances” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Susan Hubbard is the author of “The Society of S”, two chick-lit novels, and two short story collections including “Blue Money”, winner of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize. Susan is also an award-winning Professor of English at the University of Central Florida, and is an advocate for animal rights, social justice, academic etiquette, and literacy.
PLOT SUMMARY: Picking up the story of 14-year-old Ariella Montero, a half-human, half-vampire crossbreed, “The Year of Disappearances” finds Ari living with her mother in Homosassa Springs, Florida, and navigating the emotional torrents of an adolescence made all the more complicated by her secret vampirism. Over the course of a dramatic year, Ari will learn more about her heritage, encounter abduction and murder, leave for college, and be immersed in a new world of political engagement with international implications…
CLASSIFICATION: Like “The Society of S”, “The Year of Disappearances” is not your typical vampire tale. So readers hoping for scares, gore, or eroticism will have to look elsewhere. Instead, “The Year of Disappearances” offers a mystery-thriller twisted up inside a literary coming-of-age tale that covers such diverse topics as environmentalism, presidential politics, society integration, educational philosophies, the disappearances of teens, mythology, and so on…
FORMAT/INFO: Page count is 286 pages divided over three ‘Parts’ and eighteen chapters. Narration is in the first-person via Ariella Montero, but is past-tense. “The Year of Disappearances” is a direct sequel to “The Society of S”, and since there is little recapping in the book, it’s recommended that readers finish “The Society of S” first. And like “The Society of S”, “The Year of Disappearances” concludes with many threads left unresolved that will hopefully be explored in future volumes…
May 6, 2008 marks the North American hardcover publication for “The Year of Disappearances” via Simon & Schuster. The wonderful cover art is designed by Patti Ratchford with the photo taken by Jeffrey Coolidge.
ANALYSIS: In “The Society of S”, Susan Hubbard really impressed me with her wonderful prose and intelligence, the charming character of Ari, and I especially loved the author’s original take on vampires: their different societies—there’s a chart on Page 54 :)—that range from celibate ethicists/environmentalists to bloodsuckers; emutation (invisibility); the way they can see words in color; how they suffer from periodic sensory overload syndrome (SOS); and how sunlight only causes sunburn, among many other unique distinctions. Unfortunately, even though the prose remains wonderful, we get to learn more about Susan’s vampires, and the book is another smart and relevant offering from the author, “The Year of Disappearances” just did not have the same impact on me…
Basically, it all comes down to one problem: there is way too much going on in the book. I mean between Ari trying to act like a normal teenager—she’s half-vampire and half-human, making new friends, thinking about sex, going to college, and all of the additional subplots involving the mysterious death of honeybees, her father getting sick, the disappearance or murder of her friends, brain-altering drugs, a vampire running for president, sasas—spiritual power that inhabits a person or animal as a demon—harbingers, confronting her nemesis Malcolm Lynch, contaminated drinking water, and so forth . . . it’s just overload, especially for a book that is only 286 pages long. As a result, many of the ideas are underdeveloped and fail to make a lasting impression, which is a shame because Susan comes up with some really neat stuff like Vunderworld (Vampire Underworld), COVE (Council on Vampire Ethics), vampire sex, sasas, and the measures that vampires undertake to coexist with humans; concepts that deserved much greater attention than they received.
Additionally, the chaotic mixture of ideas caused problems with the pacing, namely how jarring it was, while the novel’s conclusion was inexplicably sudden, convenient, and unsatisfying. Then there’s the characterization of Ari who seemed to lose a lot of the charm and personality that made her so appealing in “The Society of S”. Part of it I think has to do with the novel covering such a vast array of topics, but also there’s something a little unsettling about a 14-year-old girl who can pass for a 21-year-old with ease, while being sexually attracted to men that are significantly older than she is.
CONCLUSION: Compared to “The Society of S”, “The Year of Disappearances” was a disappointment, not because it was a bad book, but because it was an uneven one. In other words, “The Year of Disappearances” may be teeming with a wealth of intelligent and thought-provoking concepts, but because none of the ideas are developed to their fullest potential, the novel suffers from a distinctive lack of identity, not to mention the story and characterization being overwhelmed by everything else. Personally, I think if Susan had concentrated on just two or three core ideas and further developed them rather than trying to fit in so much, the book would have been much stronger. That said, there’s no denying that Susan Hubbard is a really talented author and I just hope that her next offering will be more to my liking…
BONUS FEATURE — Susan Hubbard Author Q&A:
Q: Following two acclaimed short story collections and two chick lit novels, you wrote “The Society of S” which is basically a coming-of-age tale, just with vampires. In an interview I read, you distinctly stated that “The Society of S” is not a vampire novel; it just had characters in it who happened to be vampires and I can see that. Nevertheless, the inclusion of vampires definitely added a unique dimension to your book. So what made you decide to use vampires in “The Society of S” and what are your thoughts on vampires in general, particularly their popularity and peoples' fascination with the mythology?
Susan: Traditionally, vampires are others: outsiders, children of the night. I think it's easy to identify with them. American mainstream culture seems so contrived and stagnant right now. And realism, accordingly, is not all that appealing. Who wants to be part of a dead culture when you can affiliate with the undead?
But a good deal of vampire fiction also strikes me as contrived and stagnant, with predictable plots and two-dimensional characters, and a lot of pandering to readers who want gore and garish sex scenes. I wanted to use my vampires in a more subtle, less formulaic kind of story, with themes that went beyond good vs. evil. The readers who like my books say they find them intellectually provocative as well as entertaining. The readers who don't like my books tend to crave more blood-sucking and bodice-ripping than I care to write about.
Q: Staying on this subject, your take on vampires is quite unique with scientifically-grounded abilities (hypnosis, emutation, etc) and different hierarchies like Colonists, Reformers, Nebulists, and Environmentalists. Could you tell us a bit more these different societies, where you got the inspiration for your vision of vampires?
Susan: Colonists are vampires who cultivate and harvest humans as crops, and they consume human blood. Sanguinists, on the other hand, believe in equal rights for vampires and mortals; they're environmentalists. They don't eat meat, and they subsist on special sera and artificial blood. Nebulists are harder to pin down; some vampires think they're extremists who want to eliminate the human race, while others think they're visionaries. Nebulists are proponents of vampire rights. And Reformers are a splinter group of the Nebulists, prone to preaching the superiority of vampires in evangelical style. I mentioned them in the first book, but didn't include them in the second. The new book goes into greater detail about the other sects, particularly the Nebulists.
My vision of vampire societies reflects contemporary Western culture to some extent. If you look analytically at American and British political parties, for instance, you'll see certain parallels among their ideologies and those of my vampires.
Q: Politics play a big role in your new book “The Year of Disappearances” which is timely because of the Presidential Election. Were you trying to make any kind of political statement with this subplot, and what other themes does your novel explore?
Susan: The influence of third parties on more established political groups has always intrigued me, and I let myself create a third-party caucus in the book to explore that. And in creating a college that reflects some of my own pedagogical preferences, I was able to involve students in the political process, as well as satirize academic politics.
A central question of the book is identity: what makes you what you are? And by what criteria are you perceived and judged by others?
Q: Does “The Year of Disappearances” complete the story of Ariella 'Ari' Montero that began in "The Society of S"?
Susan: No, I don't think “The Year of Disappearances” completes Ari's story. At the moment I'm in the early stages of researching a book about identity theft; I haven't decided yet whether Ari will be the central character.
Q: You're a professor of English at the University of Central Florida; have received teaching awards from Syracuse University, Cornell University, UCF, and the South Atlantic Administrators of Departments of English; and, as mentioned earlier, you've written short fiction. Does your profession, having a degree and writing in different formats make a difference in the way you write and if so, how?
Susan: Studying and teaching creative writing probably makes a writer more self-conscious of craft. I know the conventions of fiction, and if I break the rules, I do it on purpose. But I think my essential style and sensibility were formed long before I went to a university. I think that teaching makes me a better person and a better writer, because it's taught me how to listen. And students can be so helpful in terms of bringing me new perspectives and ideas. Right now I'm on a book tour, and today I discussed writing with high school students in San Diego who gave me some great ideas for future writing.
Q: Lastly, with technology advancing at an astonishing rate, how do you think the print format will be affected in the near future and is this a positive or negative thing for writers & publishers?
Susan: So many people tell me that print is on its way out, and if they're right, its disappearance will be positive for people who care about saving trees and hard for traditionalists who love books as physical objects. And it will hardest for people like me, who fall into both categories. I like the way books feel and smell and look. I love bookstores. And I'm not eager to bring yet another “essential” piece of technology into my life, no matter how useful it is. But I'm trying to keep an open mind until I've thought through all the implications of going digital.
PLOT SUMMARY: Picking up the story of 14-year-old Ariella Montero, a half-human, half-vampire crossbreed, “The Year of Disappearances” finds Ari living with her mother in Homosassa Springs, Florida, and navigating the emotional torrents of an adolescence made all the more complicated by her secret vampirism. Over the course of a dramatic year, Ari will learn more about her heritage, encounter abduction and murder, leave for college, and be immersed in a new world of political engagement with international implications…
CLASSIFICATION: Like “The Society of S”, “The Year of Disappearances” is not your typical vampire tale. So readers hoping for scares, gore, or eroticism will have to look elsewhere. Instead, “The Year of Disappearances” offers a mystery-thriller twisted up inside a literary coming-of-age tale that covers such diverse topics as environmentalism, presidential politics, society integration, educational philosophies, the disappearances of teens, mythology, and so on…
FORMAT/INFO: Page count is 286 pages divided over three ‘Parts’ and eighteen chapters. Narration is in the first-person via Ariella Montero, but is past-tense. “The Year of Disappearances” is a direct sequel to “The Society of S”, and since there is little recapping in the book, it’s recommended that readers finish “The Society of S” first. And like “The Society of S”, “The Year of Disappearances” concludes with many threads left unresolved that will hopefully be explored in future volumes…
May 6, 2008 marks the North American hardcover publication for “The Year of Disappearances” via Simon & Schuster. The wonderful cover art is designed by Patti Ratchford with the photo taken by Jeffrey Coolidge.
ANALYSIS: In “The Society of S”, Susan Hubbard really impressed me with her wonderful prose and intelligence, the charming character of Ari, and I especially loved the author’s original take on vampires: their different societies—there’s a chart on Page 54 :)—that range from celibate ethicists/environmentalists to bloodsuckers; emutation (invisibility); the way they can see words in color; how they suffer from periodic sensory overload syndrome (SOS); and how sunlight only causes sunburn, among many other unique distinctions. Unfortunately, even though the prose remains wonderful, we get to learn more about Susan’s vampires, and the book is another smart and relevant offering from the author, “The Year of Disappearances” just did not have the same impact on me…
Basically, it all comes down to one problem: there is way too much going on in the book. I mean between Ari trying to act like a normal teenager—she’s half-vampire and half-human, making new friends, thinking about sex, going to college, and all of the additional subplots involving the mysterious death of honeybees, her father getting sick, the disappearance or murder of her friends, brain-altering drugs, a vampire running for president, sasas—spiritual power that inhabits a person or animal as a demon—harbingers, confronting her nemesis Malcolm Lynch, contaminated drinking water, and so forth . . . it’s just overload, especially for a book that is only 286 pages long. As a result, many of the ideas are underdeveloped and fail to make a lasting impression, which is a shame because Susan comes up with some really neat stuff like Vunderworld (Vampire Underworld), COVE (Council on Vampire Ethics), vampire sex, sasas, and the measures that vampires undertake to coexist with humans; concepts that deserved much greater attention than they received.
Additionally, the chaotic mixture of ideas caused problems with the pacing, namely how jarring it was, while the novel’s conclusion was inexplicably sudden, convenient, and unsatisfying. Then there’s the characterization of Ari who seemed to lose a lot of the charm and personality that made her so appealing in “The Society of S”. Part of it I think has to do with the novel covering such a vast array of topics, but also there’s something a little unsettling about a 14-year-old girl who can pass for a 21-year-old with ease, while being sexually attracted to men that are significantly older than she is.
CONCLUSION: Compared to “The Society of S”, “The Year of Disappearances” was a disappointment, not because it was a bad book, but because it was an uneven one. In other words, “The Year of Disappearances” may be teeming with a wealth of intelligent and thought-provoking concepts, but because none of the ideas are developed to their fullest potential, the novel suffers from a distinctive lack of identity, not to mention the story and characterization being overwhelmed by everything else. Personally, I think if Susan had concentrated on just two or three core ideas and further developed them rather than trying to fit in so much, the book would have been much stronger. That said, there’s no denying that Susan Hubbard is a really talented author and I just hope that her next offering will be more to my liking…
BONUS FEATURE — Susan Hubbard Author Q&A:
Q: Following two acclaimed short story collections and two chick lit novels, you wrote “The Society of S” which is basically a coming-of-age tale, just with vampires. In an interview I read, you distinctly stated that “The Society of S” is not a vampire novel; it just had characters in it who happened to be vampires and I can see that. Nevertheless, the inclusion of vampires definitely added a unique dimension to your book. So what made you decide to use vampires in “The Society of S” and what are your thoughts on vampires in general, particularly their popularity and peoples' fascination with the mythology?Susan: Traditionally, vampires are others: outsiders, children of the night. I think it's easy to identify with them. American mainstream culture seems so contrived and stagnant right now. And realism, accordingly, is not all that appealing. Who wants to be part of a dead culture when you can affiliate with the undead?
But a good deal of vampire fiction also strikes me as contrived and stagnant, with predictable plots and two-dimensional characters, and a lot of pandering to readers who want gore and garish sex scenes. I wanted to use my vampires in a more subtle, less formulaic kind of story, with themes that went beyond good vs. evil. The readers who like my books say they find them intellectually provocative as well as entertaining. The readers who don't like my books tend to crave more blood-sucking and bodice-ripping than I care to write about.
Q: Staying on this subject, your take on vampires is quite unique with scientifically-grounded abilities (hypnosis, emutation, etc) and different hierarchies like Colonists, Reformers, Nebulists, and Environmentalists. Could you tell us a bit more these different societies, where you got the inspiration for your vision of vampires?
Susan: Colonists are vampires who cultivate and harvest humans as crops, and they consume human blood. Sanguinists, on the other hand, believe in equal rights for vampires and mortals; they're environmentalists. They don't eat meat, and they subsist on special sera and artificial blood. Nebulists are harder to pin down; some vampires think they're extremists who want to eliminate the human race, while others think they're visionaries. Nebulists are proponents of vampire rights. And Reformers are a splinter group of the Nebulists, prone to preaching the superiority of vampires in evangelical style. I mentioned them in the first book, but didn't include them in the second. The new book goes into greater detail about the other sects, particularly the Nebulists.
My vision of vampire societies reflects contemporary Western culture to some extent. If you look analytically at American and British political parties, for instance, you'll see certain parallels among their ideologies and those of my vampires.
Q: Politics play a big role in your new book “The Year of Disappearances” which is timely because of the Presidential Election. Were you trying to make any kind of political statement with this subplot, and what other themes does your novel explore?
Susan: The influence of third parties on more established political groups has always intrigued me, and I let myself create a third-party caucus in the book to explore that. And in creating a college that reflects some of my own pedagogical preferences, I was able to involve students in the political process, as well as satirize academic politics.
A central question of the book is identity: what makes you what you are? And by what criteria are you perceived and judged by others?
Q: Does “The Year of Disappearances” complete the story of Ariella 'Ari' Montero that began in "The Society of S"?Susan: No, I don't think “The Year of Disappearances” completes Ari's story. At the moment I'm in the early stages of researching a book about identity theft; I haven't decided yet whether Ari will be the central character.
Q: You're a professor of English at the University of Central Florida; have received teaching awards from Syracuse University, Cornell University, UCF, and the South Atlantic Administrators of Departments of English; and, as mentioned earlier, you've written short fiction. Does your profession, having a degree and writing in different formats make a difference in the way you write and if so, how?
Susan: Studying and teaching creative writing probably makes a writer more self-conscious of craft. I know the conventions of fiction, and if I break the rules, I do it on purpose. But I think my essential style and sensibility were formed long before I went to a university. I think that teaching makes me a better person and a better writer, because it's taught me how to listen. And students can be so helpful in terms of bringing me new perspectives and ideas. Right now I'm on a book tour, and today I discussed writing with high school students in San Diego who gave me some great ideas for future writing.
Q: Lastly, with technology advancing at an astonishing rate, how do you think the print format will be affected in the near future and is this a positive or negative thing for writers & publishers?
Susan: So many people tell me that print is on its way out, and if they're right, its disappearance will be positive for people who care about saving trees and hard for traditionalists who love books as physical objects. And it will hardest for people like me, who fall into both categories. I like the way books feel and smell and look. I love bookstores. And I'm not eager to bring yet another “essential” piece of technology into my life, no matter how useful it is. But I'm trying to keep an open mind until I've thought through all the implications of going digital.
Order “House of Suns” HERE
Reviewed by Liviu C. Suciu:
INTRODUCTION: After two brilliant novels at the beginning of his career—Revelation Space and Chasm City—Mr. Reynolds' novels became either incomplete or showing flashes of brilliance combined with some forgettable run-of-the-mill action. Those novels were still very good, but I always thought they could be so much better considering the sense of wonder packed into them. His short stories and novellas showed an extraordinary brilliance and I've wondered if he would ever write a novel commensurate with them. “House of Suns” is that novel.
SETTING: Based on the “Thousandth Night” novella published in the SFBC 1M AD anthology, with the same universe and characters, though different action, the story takes place in a mostly human dominated Galaxy six million years in the future, with everything allowed by our current state of the art science, so no causality busting, meaning no ftl. But we have matter replicators, moving planets out of danger, Dyson spheres, cloning, intelligent robots, immortality, damming stars and much, much more. Almost anything conceivable today that stays within the limits of our physical understanding of the Universe is there.
CLASSIFICATION: “House of Suns” is epic space opera on a large scale but with characters you can identify with, hard sf with no short cuts that are not allowed by what we know today, and a touch of fantasy and romance to complete it. There is a princess, a wizard, an evil half-brother, and a medieval setting in a subplot as many current space operas seem to require, but the books still remains hard sf through and through.
FORMAT/INFO: “House of Suns” stands at 473 pages divided into eight parts and 41 chapters. Each chapter alternates first person present tense with occasional recollections narrative from one of the two shatterlings / illicit lovers Campion and Purslane. Each part has a small unnumbered introductive chapter in which Abigail, the original Gentian, narrates. These special chapters take place several thousands of years in our future, so millions of years in the novel past, when humanity lived in the Solar System only—in the Golden Hour which is a literal name—and the shatterling project originated. The book is a standalone but there is scope for a sequel.
PLOT HINTS AND ANALYSIS: Civilizations rise and fall, but towering over them are the Lines, groupings of originally 1000 immortal shatterlings—though in time some are lost to attrition—all clones of a single person to start with, so it was like the original person shattered in 1000 bodies and then were set free in the Galaxy, hence the names. They have the most advanced ships, tech, and go on Circuits around the Galaxy, meeting once every 200k years to mix their memories. Of course travel being sub-light, they spend most of their time in stasis or slow-time—they can and do slow time at will with “syncromesh”—so of those six million years each shatterling may live several tens of thousands, bookworms tunneling through the pages of history as they are called by entities that actually lived through millions of years, though at a slow pace.
The shatterlings appear almost as benevolent gods to the “turnover” civilizations of the Galaxy and they trade and do good works like preventing stars from going supernova or moving planets out of harm's way. Outside of human civilizations, of which we get to see several, there are The Machine People, a robotic race arisen relatively recently—about one million years ago—that is quite respected and somewhat feared as the Lines are for having long memories and no tolerance of attacks on its members.
Our main characters and narrators, Campion and Purslane, are shatterlings of the Gentian Line which is also known as the House of Flowers. Campion is brash and just on the right side of censure for various actions or inactions; Purslane has the best ship of the Gentian line and she is patient and determined, making a good match with Campion though their liaison could lead to censure, and worse if acknowledged since the shatterlings are supposed to go alone on their circuits and not form bonds. Kind of like a future version of Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy inside the Lines.
Purslane and Campion, on their way to the next Gentian reunion and preparing to falsify their memories to remove the traces of their liaison before dumping them in the common mix, stop by an obscure planet to fix a stardam put in place to prevent a supernova extinction of the local civilization. Being late to the meeting, they detour to fix Campion's ship, and in the process rescue a strange robot of the machine people—Hesperus—who is missing memories. Finally on their way to the reunion, they get a very disturbing message and the adventure begins. Someone is set to eradicate the Gentian Line and it has to do with something that Campion learned on his previous circuit and dumped in the common memory 200k years ago. And there is an unknown and mysterious presumed Line, House of Suns, that is involved in all of this. Historical weapons of enormous power—the Homunculus guns—supposedly destroyed ages ago by their custodial Line, the Marcellin Line, which as we learn from the Abigail story is the first line, the Gentian being the second, are loose in the galaxy again and turned on the Gentian ships. More mundane weapons like star-flame throwers—hook a wormhole to a star and open it light years away in another system, useless for ftl since anything going through is scrambled into constituent parts, but useful for reigniting old stars or for general purpose weapons—are used too.
The Gentian survivors are determined to get to the bottom of the matter and when two more machine people, Cadence and Cascade, become involved, Campion and Purslane are thrust in the main action.
The Abigail interludes are very interesting, providing both backstory and character development as well as the fantasy subplot. They are a bit confusing at first, but they illuminate the story a lot more the further you get into it.
The ending is fulfilling, leaving space for a sequel if the author desires, but completing the story very nicely.
If there is a simple way to describe this book, it is imagination running loose, but keeping a human side with interesting and well delineated characters, and even the best romance in Mr. Reynolds' novels.
Highly, highly recommended…
INTRODUCTION: After two brilliant novels at the beginning of his career—Revelation Space and Chasm City—Mr. Reynolds' novels became either incomplete or showing flashes of brilliance combined with some forgettable run-of-the-mill action. Those novels were still very good, but I always thought they could be so much better considering the sense of wonder packed into them. His short stories and novellas showed an extraordinary brilliance and I've wondered if he would ever write a novel commensurate with them. “House of Suns” is that novel.
SETTING: Based on the “Thousandth Night” novella published in the SFBC 1M AD anthology, with the same universe and characters, though different action, the story takes place in a mostly human dominated Galaxy six million years in the future, with everything allowed by our current state of the art science, so no causality busting, meaning no ftl. But we have matter replicators, moving planets out of danger, Dyson spheres, cloning, intelligent robots, immortality, damming stars and much, much more. Almost anything conceivable today that stays within the limits of our physical understanding of the Universe is there.
CLASSIFICATION: “House of Suns” is epic space opera on a large scale but with characters you can identify with, hard sf with no short cuts that are not allowed by what we know today, and a touch of fantasy and romance to complete it. There is a princess, a wizard, an evil half-brother, and a medieval setting in a subplot as many current space operas seem to require, but the books still remains hard sf through and through.
FORMAT/INFO: “House of Suns” stands at 473 pages divided into eight parts and 41 chapters. Each chapter alternates first person present tense with occasional recollections narrative from one of the two shatterlings / illicit lovers Campion and Purslane. Each part has a small unnumbered introductive chapter in which Abigail, the original Gentian, narrates. These special chapters take place several thousands of years in our future, so millions of years in the novel past, when humanity lived in the Solar System only—in the Golden Hour which is a literal name—and the shatterling project originated. The book is a standalone but there is scope for a sequel.
PLOT HINTS AND ANALYSIS: Civilizations rise and fall, but towering over them are the Lines, groupings of originally 1000 immortal shatterlings—though in time some are lost to attrition—all clones of a single person to start with, so it was like the original person shattered in 1000 bodies and then were set free in the Galaxy, hence the names. They have the most advanced ships, tech, and go on Circuits around the Galaxy, meeting once every 200k years to mix their memories. Of course travel being sub-light, they spend most of their time in stasis or slow-time—they can and do slow time at will with “syncromesh”—so of those six million years each shatterling may live several tens of thousands, bookworms tunneling through the pages of history as they are called by entities that actually lived through millions of years, though at a slow pace.
The shatterlings appear almost as benevolent gods to the “turnover” civilizations of the Galaxy and they trade and do good works like preventing stars from going supernova or moving planets out of harm's way. Outside of human civilizations, of which we get to see several, there are The Machine People, a robotic race arisen relatively recently—about one million years ago—that is quite respected and somewhat feared as the Lines are for having long memories and no tolerance of attacks on its members.
Our main characters and narrators, Campion and Purslane, are shatterlings of the Gentian Line which is also known as the House of Flowers. Campion is brash and just on the right side of censure for various actions or inactions; Purslane has the best ship of the Gentian line and she is patient and determined, making a good match with Campion though their liaison could lead to censure, and worse if acknowledged since the shatterlings are supposed to go alone on their circuits and not form bonds. Kind of like a future version of Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy inside the Lines.
Purslane and Campion, on their way to the next Gentian reunion and preparing to falsify their memories to remove the traces of their liaison before dumping them in the common mix, stop by an obscure planet to fix a stardam put in place to prevent a supernova extinction of the local civilization. Being late to the meeting, they detour to fix Campion's ship, and in the process rescue a strange robot of the machine people—Hesperus—who is missing memories. Finally on their way to the reunion, they get a very disturbing message and the adventure begins. Someone is set to eradicate the Gentian Line and it has to do with something that Campion learned on his previous circuit and dumped in the common memory 200k years ago. And there is an unknown and mysterious presumed Line, House of Suns, that is involved in all of this. Historical weapons of enormous power—the Homunculus guns—supposedly destroyed ages ago by their custodial Line, the Marcellin Line, which as we learn from the Abigail story is the first line, the Gentian being the second, are loose in the galaxy again and turned on the Gentian ships. More mundane weapons like star-flame throwers—hook a wormhole to a star and open it light years away in another system, useless for ftl since anything going through is scrambled into constituent parts, but useful for reigniting old stars or for general purpose weapons—are used too.
The Gentian survivors are determined to get to the bottom of the matter and when two more machine people, Cadence and Cascade, become involved, Campion and Purslane are thrust in the main action.
The Abigail interludes are very interesting, providing both backstory and character development as well as the fantasy subplot. They are a bit confusing at first, but they illuminate the story a lot more the further you get into it.
The ending is fulfilling, leaving space for a sequel if the author desires, but completing the story very nicely.
If there is a simple way to describe this book, it is imagination running loose, but keeping a human side with interesting and well delineated characters, and even the best romance in Mr. Reynolds' novels.
Highly, highly recommended…
Read Reviews of “The Host” via Blog Critics, Graeme's Fantasy Book Review, SciFiChick + SFF World
AUTHOR INFORMATION: A graduate of BYU, Stephenie Meyer made her debut in 2005 with the extremely popular young adult vampire novel “Twilight”. Since then, the author has released two #1 New York Times-bestselling sequels in “New Moon” and “Eclipse”—with the fourth volume “Breaking Dawn” scheduled for publication August 2, 2008—while “Twilight” has been adapted into a film (Official Twilight the Movie Website) that hits theatres December 12, 2008 and stars Kristen Stewart (Jumper, The Messengers, Panic Room) and Robert Pattinson (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). “The Host” is Stephenie’s first novel for adults.
PLOT SUMMARY: Earth has been invaded by a peaceful species that take over the minds of their hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Most of humanity has succumbed, but pockets of resistance exist and it is the Calling of the Seekers to stamp out any insubordination.
Melanie Stryder is such a human and after she was captured, her body was given to Wanderer in hopes that the invading ‘soul’ might be able to determine knowledge of other rebels. Wanderer knew about the challenges of living inside a human—the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too vivid memories—but there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.
Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions and memories of the man Melanie loves—Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a human that she should be turning over to the Seekers. When outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off on a dangerous and uncertain search for the man they both love…
CLASSIFICATION: While marketed as Stephenie’s ‘first novel for adults’, the violence, language, and what little sexual innuendo that can be found in “The Host” is extremely tame and is quite suitable for teens and younger readers. In fact, if not for the depth and complexity of the book emotionally and thematically, “The Host” is really not that far removed from being a YA novel. Genre-wise, “The Host” obviously possesses science fiction elements, but is more akin in spirit to such stories as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Puppet Masters, Alien Nation, Planet of the Apes and V: The Series, where SF is downplayed in favor of more thought-provoking issues like the resiliency of humanity, overcoming cultural barriers, interspecies prejudice, and so forth. However, instead of being fueled by adventure, thrills or horror, “The Host” is essentially a character-driven romance.
FORMAT/INFO: Page count is 624 pages divided over 59 chapters and a prologue/epilogue. Narration is in the first-person, present-tense via the ‘soul’ Wanderer. “The Host” is a standalone novel, but the epilogue all but promises that sequels are on the way :) May 6, 2008 marks the North American/UK hardcover publication of “The Host”. Jacket design is by Meryl Sussman Levavi.
ANALYSIS: Considering how popular Stephenie Meyer has become, it’s hard to imagine that her debut novel was only just released in 2005, because it seems like I’ve been hearing about the author for decades. Not immune to such massive hype, the Twilight Saga has been high on my reading list for a while now, but it is “The Host”—Stephenie’s first novel for adults—that marks my introduction to the author’s charms and I can now see firsthand why Ms. Meyer is so popular :)
Let's start with the setup. While reminiscent of the Body Snatchers films/book and The Puppet Masters, there are some key differences in “The Host”. One, in this story Earth has already been conquered, and has been for several years now. Also, Earth is only one of dozens of planets that have been similarly subjugated. Two, the ‘souls’ are a benign alien species and in their mind they believe they’ve done humanity a favor by getting ridding of crime, violence and other depravities—concepts along with hate and betrayal that are foreign to the aliens. And thirdly, even though the planet has been conquered, the lives of those humans whose bodies have been stolen continue on. In other words, the aliens, through their human hosts, continue to feed & bathe themselves, go to work, and have relationships. Basically life is normal, except they don’t have to worry about security, pay for services or provisions anymore, and health care is much improved :)
I should also note that even though “The Host” is classified as science fiction, there is actually very little science fiction in the book. I mean readers will get to learn about different planets—Fire World, See World, The Singing Planet, The Planet of the Flowers, the Mists Planet, the Dragon Planet, Summer World, etc.—alien species (Vultures, Spiders, Dolphins, claw beasts) and the souls’ Callings like Healers, Seekers, Comforters, and Motherhood as well as their Origin world, but overall the science fiction elements are overshadowed, so don’t expect the same kind of depth or complicated world-building that you might find in a space opera or epic fantasy series. After all, that’s not what “The Host” is about.
Instead “The Host” is about emotions, characters and their interactions with one another, and what it means to be human, and this is where Stephenie Meyer leaves her mark. In short, I can’t remember the last time I read a novel that was as emotionally touching as “The Host”, and it’s because of Stephenie who displays an uncanny ability for writing characters that are complex, relatable, and every bit as human as you or I. What’s truly amazing about this is that the main protagonist is an alien. Of course, Wanderer is not your everyday alien. You see, she chose the name Wanderer for a reason. On average, a ‘soul’ may visit two planets before finding one they like and settling down. Earth is Wanderer’s ninth planet. Because of this experience, Wanderer is chosen to be inserted into the body of the rebel Melanie Stryder. The thought was that with her experience, Wanderer would be able to extract the information from Melanie’s memories that the Seekers need even though the long-term success rate of ‘souls’ assimilating an adult human host is under 20 percent. What no one expected though was that Melanie’s consciousness would remain aware, and driven by her host body’s emotions Wanderer would abandon her species and seek out Melanie’s loved ones.
This is where “The Host” gets really interesting. Because not only does Wanderer find Melanie’s lover Jared, her younger brother Jamie, and her Uncle Jeb, but she also discovers a whole hidden community of escaped humans, which is where the majority of the novel takes place. The problem of course is that Wanderer is an alien—betrayed by her silver reflective eyes—and because ‘souls’ retain all of a host’s memories, and arguably their feelings, it is extremely easy for a parasite to mimic a human. So even though Melanie’s consciousness is aware in the same body as Wanderer, how could any human being ever believe that a ‘soul’ is telling the truth? Trust is just one of the many complications that Wanderer will have to deal with in “The Host”. There’s also prejudice including those people who will do anything to kill ‘it’, the vast cultural barrier between ‘souls’ and humans, a Seeker that is trying to hunt down Wanderer, the shocking secrets that both Wanderer and the rebels are hiding, and one of the most bizarre, yet fascinating love quandaries I’ve ever read: includes Melanie & Wanderer in love with Jared, Jared in love with Melanie, another human in love with Wanderer, Wanderer in love with that human, and Melanie & Wanderer’s love for one another :)
I could go on trying to explain how amazing I thought the characterization was, how the incredibly poignant story made me react with such strong emotion, and why I loved reading “The Host” so much, but no amount of words can do the book justice. Basically, “The Host” is one of those rare novels that you have to experience on your own to really appreciate…
CONCLUSION: Since I haven’t read the Twilight Saga I have no grounds on which to compare “The Host”—Is it better or worse than the Twilight Saga? How different are the two? Et cetera—but as a first impression of Stephenie Meyer’s work, I couldn’t be more impressed or more satisfied :) Like Harry Potter, Stephenie Meyer’s “The Host” is storytelling at its finest—fiction that is easily identifiable, emotionally gripping, and immensely entertaining…
PLOT SUMMARY: Earth has been invaded by a peaceful species that take over the minds of their hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Most of humanity has succumbed, but pockets of resistance exist and it is the Calling of the Seekers to stamp out any insubordination.
Melanie Stryder is such a human and after she was captured, her body was given to Wanderer in hopes that the invading ‘soul’ might be able to determine knowledge of other rebels. Wanderer knew about the challenges of living inside a human—the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too vivid memories—but there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.
Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions and memories of the man Melanie loves—Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a human that she should be turning over to the Seekers. When outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off on a dangerous and uncertain search for the man they both love…
CLASSIFICATION: While marketed as Stephenie’s ‘first novel for adults’, the violence, language, and what little sexual innuendo that can be found in “The Host” is extremely tame and is quite suitable for teens and younger readers. In fact, if not for the depth and complexity of the book emotionally and thematically, “The Host” is really not that far removed from being a YA novel. Genre-wise, “The Host” obviously possesses science fiction elements, but is more akin in spirit to such stories as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Puppet Masters, Alien Nation, Planet of the Apes and V: The Series, where SF is downplayed in favor of more thought-provoking issues like the resiliency of humanity, overcoming cultural barriers, interspecies prejudice, and so forth. However, instead of being fueled by adventure, thrills or horror, “The Host” is essentially a character-driven romance.
FORMAT/INFO: Page count is 624 pages divided over 59 chapters and a prologue/epilogue. Narration is in the first-person, present-tense via the ‘soul’ Wanderer. “The Host” is a standalone novel, but the epilogue all but promises that sequels are on the way :) May 6, 2008 marks the North American/UK hardcover publication of “The Host”. Jacket design is by Meryl Sussman Levavi.
ANALYSIS: Considering how popular Stephenie Meyer has become, it’s hard to imagine that her debut novel was only just released in 2005, because it seems like I’ve been hearing about the author for decades. Not immune to such massive hype, the Twilight Saga has been high on my reading list for a while now, but it is “The Host”—Stephenie’s first novel for adults—that marks my introduction to the author’s charms and I can now see firsthand why Ms. Meyer is so popular :)
Let's start with the setup. While reminiscent of the Body Snatchers films/book and The Puppet Masters, there are some key differences in “The Host”. One, in this story Earth has already been conquered, and has been for several years now. Also, Earth is only one of dozens of planets that have been similarly subjugated. Two, the ‘souls’ are a benign alien species and in their mind they believe they’ve done humanity a favor by getting ridding of crime, violence and other depravities—concepts along with hate and betrayal that are foreign to the aliens. And thirdly, even though the planet has been conquered, the lives of those humans whose bodies have been stolen continue on. In other words, the aliens, through their human hosts, continue to feed & bathe themselves, go to work, and have relationships. Basically life is normal, except they don’t have to worry about security, pay for services or provisions anymore, and health care is much improved :)
I should also note that even though “The Host” is classified as science fiction, there is actually very little science fiction in the book. I mean readers will get to learn about different planets—Fire World, See World, The Singing Planet, The Planet of the Flowers, the Mists Planet, the Dragon Planet, Summer World, etc.—alien species (Vultures, Spiders, Dolphins, claw beasts) and the souls’ Callings like Healers, Seekers, Comforters, and Motherhood as well as their Origin world, but overall the science fiction elements are overshadowed, so don’t expect the same kind of depth or complicated world-building that you might find in a space opera or epic fantasy series. After all, that’s not what “The Host” is about.
Instead “The Host” is about emotions, characters and their interactions with one another, and what it means to be human, and this is where Stephenie Meyer leaves her mark. In short, I can’t remember the last time I read a novel that was as emotionally touching as “The Host”, and it’s because of Stephenie who displays an uncanny ability for writing characters that are complex, relatable, and every bit as human as you or I. What’s truly amazing about this is that the main protagonist is an alien. Of course, Wanderer is not your everyday alien. You see, she chose the name Wanderer for a reason. On average, a ‘soul’ may visit two planets before finding one they like and settling down. Earth is Wanderer’s ninth planet. Because of this experience, Wanderer is chosen to be inserted into the body of the rebel Melanie Stryder. The thought was that with her experience, Wanderer would be able to extract the information from Melanie’s memories that the Seekers need even though the long-term success rate of ‘souls’ assimilating an adult human host is under 20 percent. What no one expected though was that Melanie’s consciousness would remain aware, and driven by her host body’s emotions Wanderer would abandon her species and seek out Melanie’s loved ones.
This is where “The Host” gets really interesting. Because not only does Wanderer find Melanie’s lover Jared, her younger brother Jamie, and her Uncle Jeb, but she also discovers a whole hidden community of escaped humans, which is where the majority of the novel takes place. The problem of course is that Wanderer is an alien—betrayed by her silver reflective eyes—and because ‘souls’ retain all of a host’s memories, and arguably their feelings, it is extremely easy for a parasite to mimic a human. So even though Melanie’s consciousness is aware in the same body as Wanderer, how could any human being ever believe that a ‘soul’ is telling the truth? Trust is just one of the many complications that Wanderer will have to deal with in “The Host”. There’s also prejudice including those people who will do anything to kill ‘it’, the vast cultural barrier between ‘souls’ and humans, a Seeker that is trying to hunt down Wanderer, the shocking secrets that both Wanderer and the rebels are hiding, and one of the most bizarre, yet fascinating love quandaries I’ve ever read: includes Melanie & Wanderer in love with Jared, Jared in love with Melanie, another human in love with Wanderer, Wanderer in love with that human, and Melanie & Wanderer’s love for one another :)
I could go on trying to explain how amazing I thought the characterization was, how the incredibly poignant story made me react with such strong emotion, and why I loved reading “The Host” so much, but no amount of words can do the book justice. Basically, “The Host” is one of those rare novels that you have to experience on your own to really appreciate…
CONCLUSION: Since I haven’t read the Twilight Saga I have no grounds on which to compare “The Host”—Is it better or worse than the Twilight Saga? How different are the two? Et cetera—but as a first impression of Stephenie Meyer’s work, I couldn’t be more impressed or more satisfied :) Like Harry Potter, Stephenie Meyer’s “The Host” is storytelling at its finest—fiction that is easily identifiable, emotionally gripping, and immensely entertaining…
Congratulations to Marilyn Wons (Florida) and Christopher Harner (California) who were both randomly selected to win a SET of Stephen Hunt’s Jackelian novels including copies (UK Versions) of “The Court of the Air” and the new book, “The Kingdom Beyond the Waves” thanks to HarperVoyager!!! For more information about Stephen Hunt and “The Kingdom Beyond the Waves”, check out Fantasy Book Critic’s book review HERE which also includes a short Q&A with the author :)
In news, Dean Koontz and his beloved ghost-seeing fry cook, Odd Thomas, are back. Want to know what's been happening to Oddie? Watch “Odd Passenger”, a four-part mini-movie exclusively on the web. This original Odd Thomas story, set in the time between the ending of “Brother Odd” and the start of “Odd Hours” (on sale in hardcover May 20th), can be viewed, shared, and posted on your own web page. Watch Episode One below. Episode Two can be viewed HERE, Episode Three HERE and Episode Four HERE:
In news, Dean Koontz and his beloved ghost-seeing fry cook, Odd Thomas, are back. Want to know what's been happening to Oddie? Watch “Odd Passenger”, a four-part mini-movie exclusively on the web. This original Odd Thomas story, set in the time between the ending of “Brother Odd” and the start of “Odd Hours” (on sale in hardcover May 20th), can be viewed, shared, and posted on your own web page. Watch Episode One below. Episode Two can be viewed HERE, Episode Three HERE and Episode Four HERE:For more Odd Thomas, be sure to check out the Official Odd Thomas Website, his Myspace Page and his Facebook Page. Also, there’s an Odd Hours Book Trailer and an interview with the author about Odd Thomas HERE.
In celebration of the 10th Anniversary of EOS, HarperCollins e-books will be offering a free e-book download every two months throughout 2008. To receive your free e-book, visit HarperCollins EOS E-book Giveaway and redeem the coupon code. You may download the e-book in the format of your choice, including Adobe, Microsoft, and Mobipocket.Currently, the May/June free e-book download is “The Serpent Bride” by Sara Douglass. Download “The Serpent Bride” and prepare for the release of “The Twisted Citadel”, the second title in the DarkGlass Mountain series by Sara Douglass. “The Twisted Citadel” will be available to purchase as an e-book on May 27th. For more information and to purchase, please visit HarperCollins.
During the second half of 2008, you can look forward to more free e-books by other HarperCollins authors, including Karen Traviss, Fiona McIntosh, and Adam-Troy Castro. HarperCollins e-books hopes that you enjoy these classic titles in honor of the EOS 10th Anniversary!
Moving on, following its successful launch in the US in 2007, and a record year for the imprint in the UK, Orbit Books announces its intention to expand both lists. In the US, Orbit is going to double the size of the list over the next three years, taking its title output to 70-80 titles per year by 2011. In the UK, where Orbit is already the biggest SFF imprint, it will increase the size of the list by approximately 10% each year over the next three years.Tim Holman, Orbit Publisher, said: “The support that we’ve received for our launch season in the US—and the success that we’ve achieved internationally—has given us great confidence in our publishing strategy. There is a clear and significant opportunity for any SFF publisher looking to expand the core readership, and we intend Orbit to be at the forefront of the effort to attract more readers to SF and Fantasy. We will continue to publish a wide range of authors from across the spectrum of both genres with a common purpose: to reach the widest possible readership for each. I’m thrilled that we have this opportunity to increase the size of both lists over the coming years.”
Orbit is also expanding its publishing teams. In the US, it is currently hiring an additional editor, and will be making further appointments in due course. In the UK, Bella Pagan has been promoted to Commissioning Editor, and Marketing Executive Samantha Smith has taken on a number of editorial responsibilities. Darren Turpin has also joined the imprint as an additional Marketing Executive, focusing on online marketing campaigns.
Tim Holman said: “Key to our future plans is the ongoing collaboration between our publishing teams in the US and the UK, as well as Australia, where Hachette Australia will start to publish SFF titles under the Orbit imprint later this year. We will continue to work closely together, not just on individual publishing plans for shared authors, such as bestsellers Iain M. Banks and Trudi Canavan, but also on our general publishing strategy.”
In related Orbit news, Jeff Somers new Avery Cates novel “The Digital Plague” is officially released today, and in support of the new book, Jeff has scripted another ARG-inspired puzzle. This one takes place on a messageboard where citizens of Old New York are coming to grips with the plague that’s taking over the city. Even readers who aren’t up for solving the puzzles can get a kick out of this extension of the book’s universe – with topics like “Augments: A place to discuss legal bodily augmentation” and “Elective Surgeries: A place to discuss the newest surgical techniques to extend lifespans, restore youthfulness, and defeat disease.” I actually just finished reading / reviewing “The Digital Plague” myself and enjoyed it very much, so look out for that sometime in the next several days :)
Over at PS Publishing, things are staying busy with a number of great books now available for order including the following, most of which come in two different editions (click on the links):Ramsey Campbell — “Thieving Fear”
Nancy Jane Moore — “Conscientious Inconsistencies”
Chris Evans — “Omega”
Lawrence Block — “Random Walk”
David Herter — “The Luminous Depths”
Jeff VanderMeer — “The Situation”
Steve Jones — “Basil Copper: A Life in Books”
Zoran Zivkovic — “The Last Book”
As a special offer, if you order six or more of the eight titles mentioned above, then you’ll receive either a free jacketed novella hardcover or a free unjacketed 'big book' or hardcover POSTSCRIPTS! Pretty cool. Also, the future is looking mighty bright with forthcoming releases from Ian MacLeod's The Song of Time, POSTSCRIPTS # 14, Matt Hughes' Template, Bob Jeschonek's Mad Scientist Meets Cannibal (SHOWCASE # 3), Ed Gorman's Cage of Night, plus several others. Including the much-heralded and long-awaited limited edition of “Return of the Crimson Guard” by Ian Cameron Esslemont…Last, but not least, Pyr Books has updated their book catalog which includes the following upcoming releases:
“Last Argument of Kings” by Joe Abercrombie. Release Date: September 2008. The end is coming. The king of the Union lies on his deathbed, the peasants revolt, and the nobles scramble to steal his crown. No one believes that the shadow of war is about to fall across the heart of the Union. Only the First of the Magi can save the world, but there are risks and no risk is more terrible, than to break the First Law… “Last Argument of Kings” is the concluding volume in The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie…
“Going Under” by Justina Robson. Release Date: September 2008. Lila Black is off with the faeries. Ever since the Quantum Bomb of 2015 things have been different; the dimensions have fused and suddenly our world is accessible to elves, demons, ghosts and elementals—and their worlds are open to us. Justina Robson’s new Quantum Gravity series combines her trademark themes of identity and reality, magic and technology, break-neck plots, a mischievous sense of fun, and a seriously sexy new heroine…
“Fast Forward 2” edited by Lou Anders. Release Date: October 2008. When Fast Forward 1 debuted in February 2007, it was met with a huge outpouring of excitement and approbation from the science fiction community. Now the critically-acclaimed, groundbreaking series continues, featuring all new stories from some of the field's best writers: Paul Cornell, Kay Kenyon, Chris Nakashima-Brown, Nancy Kress, Cory Doctorow and Benjamin Rosenbaum, Ian McDonald, Mike Resnick and Pat Cadigan, and more…
“The Stormcaller” by Tom Lloyd. Release Date: October 2008. In a land ruled by prophecy and the whims of gods, a young man finds himself at the heart of a war he barely understands, wielding powers he may never be able to control. Isak is a white-eye, created by the gods to bring order out of chaos, and are born bigger, more charismatic, and more powerful than normal men. Is the first book in a powerful new series that combines inspired world-building, epoch-shattering battles, and high emotion to dazzling effect...
“Starship Rebel” by Mike Resnick. Release Date: December 2008. Almost a year has passed since the events of “Starship: Mercenary”. Captain Wilson Cole now commands a fleet of almost fifty ships, and he has become the single greatest military force on the Inner Frontier. Then an incident occurs that changes everything, and Cole declares war on the Republic. It's a hopeless cause...but that's just what Wilson Cole and the Teddy R. are best at… Mike is also the author of “Stalking the Vampire” (on sale August 2008).
“End of the Century” by Chris Roberson. Release Date: January 2009. Three people. Three eras. One city. Endless possibilities. Chris Roberson’s “End of the Century” is a novel of the distant past, the unimaginable future, and the search for the Holy Grail. Set in the city of London, the narrative is interlaced between three ages, in which a disparate group of heroes, criminals, runaways, and lunatics are drawn into the greatest quest of all time. And lurking behind it all is the entity known only as Omega…
“City without End” by Kay Kenyon. Release Date: February 2009. Reviewers have called Kay Kenyon's Entire “a grand world,” “an enormous stage,” and “a bravura concept.” On this stage unfolds a mighty struggle for dominance between two universes. In the middle of it all is Titus Quinn, his estranged daughter in the fabled Rim City encircling the heart of the Entire, and the beautiful and resourceful Ji Anzi who—sent on a journey to other realms—holds the key to Quinn’s heart and his overarching mission…
“Cyberabad Days” by Ian McDonald. Release Date: February 2009. “Cyberabad Days” is a triumphant return to India 2047, a new superpower of one and a half billion people in an age of AIs, climate-change induced drought, water wars, strange new genders, genetically improved children that age at half the rate, and a population where males outnumber females four to one. This new collection of eight stories contains one Hugo nominee, one Hugo winner, and a twenty-five thousand word original novella…
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