Congratulations to Kenneth Love (Missouri) who was randomly selected to win a copy of Warren Ellis’ debut novel “Crooked Little Vein” thanks to HarperCollins Publishers! To everyone else, thanks for entering and best of luck next time :D
FYI: “Crooked Little Vein” comes out Tuesday, July 24, 2007, so I highly urge you to pick up a copy. You can read an excerpt HERE, order the novel HERE and read my review of “Crooked Little Vein” HERE.
Also, don’t forget that the giveaway for Austin Grossman’s “Soon I Will Be Invincible” (Sign Up Here) ends Wednesday, July 25, 2007 (11:59AM PST) and that the deadline for Joe Abercrombie’s “The Blade Itself” (Sign Up Here) is Friday, July 27, 2007 (11:59AM PST).
FYI: “Crooked Little Vein” comes out Tuesday, July 24, 2007, so I highly urge you to pick up a copy. You can read an excerpt HERE, order the novel HERE and read my review of “Crooked Little Vein” HERE.
Also, don’t forget that the giveaway for Austin Grossman’s “Soon I Will Be Invincible” (Sign Up Here) ends Wednesday, July 25, 2007 (11:59AM PST) and that the deadline for Joe Abercrombie’s “The Blade Itself” (Sign Up Here) is Friday, July 27, 2007 (11:59AM PST).
Thanks again to everyone and much love & respect!
2:04 PM | 
Posted by
Robert |
Official Chris Roberson Website
Official Solaris Books Website
Order “Set the Seas On Fire” HERE
Official Solaris Books Website
Order “Set the Seas On Fire” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
Author of many short stories & novels, the three-time World Fantasy Award-nominated and two-time John W. Campbell Award-nominated Chris Roberson is also a co-founder of the writers’ collective Clockwork Storybook and owner/operator of the indie publisher MonkeyBrain Books (Michael Moorcock, Alan Moore, Jeff VanderMeer). “Set the Seas On Fire” is part of the Bonaventure-Carmody universe which includes the books “Cybermancy Incorporated” (2001-Clockwork), “Here, There & Everywhere” (2005-Pyr), “Paragea: A Planetary Romance” (2006-Pyr) & the forthcoming “The End of the Century” (2008-Pyr), and was originally released in 2001 via Clockwork Storybook. The new edition of “Set the Seas On Fire” is a “considerably expanded and revised version” of the original novel and is being released courtesy of Solaris Books.
Set in the late 1700s/early 1800s, during the time of Napoleon Bonaparte, the French Revolution / Napoleonic Wars, and King George III, Chris Roberson’s “Set the Seas On Fire” is an engaging blend of historical & speculative fiction, with a dash of coming-of-age tale thrown in for good measure. So, following in the footsteps of protagonist Hieronymus Bonaventure – what a great name! –, readers can look forward to some good old seafaring adventuring including an informative & realistic glimpse at how a British Naval ship is run; explore an undiscovered island where cultures will clash between the natives & the sailors, with love inevitably blossoming – think Christopher Columbus or Pocahontas; journey back to Hieronymus’ childhood to learn about the art of swordplay and how our hero’s early life lessons relate to Bonaventure’s current dilemmas; and prepare yourself for events both fantastical & terrifying, with the majority of the good stuff reserved for the end of the book.
Honestly, I’m not that big on period pieces and in particular, stories of the nautical variety, so I wasn’t expecting to enjoy “Set the Seas On Fire” that much even with the promise of mystical happenings. Surprisingly, I had a really good time reading the book and I think a lot of it had to do with the author Chris Roberson. Since I’ve never read anything by Mr. Roberson, I didn’t know what to expect, but the writing turned out to be quite accomplished, and even though the novel deals with a lot of familiar story elements, the skillful prose, scholastic knowledge of the historical material, and a ripe imagination, really elevated the book to another level. Of course, having a main character like Hieronymus Bonaventure really helps too – he’s easy to relate to, somewhat flawed as every person is in real life, and well developed by the author. Thankfully, Hieronymus also shows up in “Paragea: A Planetary Romance”, which I wouldn’t mind reading, and I hope to see further adventures with Hieronymus Bonaventure.
Now, as I mentioned earlier, this edition of “Set the Seas On Fire” is a revised & expanded version of the original. Because I haven’t read the original, I can only speculate on what might have been changed or added on, but according to the author’s notes, the new version is “some twenty-five percent longer, but contains the complete texts of the earlier version”. For me, about the only issues I had with the book was that a couple of flashbacks seemed a bit out of place, but other than that, the story seemed to flow along pretty nicely, the pacing was up-tempo, and everything was resolved satisfactorily at the end. Personally I think it would be interesting to compare the different versions with one another, but that is probably a project for another day.
In short, Chris Roberson’s “Set the Seas On Fire” is an impressively written and confidently realized novel that may appeal more to the historical fiction crowd, but embraces enough of the unknown to make it worthwhile for speculative readers as well... Up next for the author, “The Dragon’s Nine Sons” (Solaris Books), a promising sci-fi set for a 2008 release.
FYI: For a second opinion Ken over at The Neth Space recently posted his thoughts on “Set the Seas On Fire”. You can check out that review HERE.
Set in the late 1700s/early 1800s, during the time of Napoleon Bonaparte, the French Revolution / Napoleonic Wars, and King George III, Chris Roberson’s “Set the Seas On Fire” is an engaging blend of historical & speculative fiction, with a dash of coming-of-age tale thrown in for good measure. So, following in the footsteps of protagonist Hieronymus Bonaventure – what a great name! –, readers can look forward to some good old seafaring adventuring including an informative & realistic glimpse at how a British Naval ship is run; explore an undiscovered island where cultures will clash between the natives & the sailors, with love inevitably blossoming – think Christopher Columbus or Pocahontas; journey back to Hieronymus’ childhood to learn about the art of swordplay and how our hero’s early life lessons relate to Bonaventure’s current dilemmas; and prepare yourself for events both fantastical & terrifying, with the majority of the good stuff reserved for the end of the book.
Honestly, I’m not that big on period pieces and in particular, stories of the nautical variety, so I wasn’t expecting to enjoy “Set the Seas On Fire” that much even with the promise of mystical happenings. Surprisingly, I had a really good time reading the book and I think a lot of it had to do with the author Chris Roberson. Since I’ve never read anything by Mr. Roberson, I didn’t know what to expect, but the writing turned out to be quite accomplished, and even though the novel deals with a lot of familiar story elements, the skillful prose, scholastic knowledge of the historical material, and a ripe imagination, really elevated the book to another level. Of course, having a main character like Hieronymus Bonaventure really helps too – he’s easy to relate to, somewhat flawed as every person is in real life, and well developed by the author. Thankfully, Hieronymus also shows up in “Paragea: A Planetary Romance”, which I wouldn’t mind reading, and I hope to see further adventures with Hieronymus Bonaventure.
Now, as I mentioned earlier, this edition of “Set the Seas On Fire” is a revised & expanded version of the original. Because I haven’t read the original, I can only speculate on what might have been changed or added on, but according to the author’s notes, the new version is “some twenty-five percent longer, but contains the complete texts of the earlier version”. For me, about the only issues I had with the book was that a couple of flashbacks seemed a bit out of place, but other than that, the story seemed to flow along pretty nicely, the pacing was up-tempo, and everything was resolved satisfactorily at the end. Personally I think it would be interesting to compare the different versions with one another, but that is probably a project for another day.
In short, Chris Roberson’s “Set the Seas On Fire” is an impressively written and confidently realized novel that may appeal more to the historical fiction crowd, but embraces enough of the unknown to make it worthwhile for speculative readers as well... Up next for the author, “The Dragon’s Nine Sons” (Solaris Books), a promising sci-fi set for a 2008 release.
FYI: For a second opinion Ken over at The Neth Space recently posted his thoughts on “Set the Seas On Fire”. You can check out that review HERE.
Read An Excerpt HERE
Thanks to Tor/Forge I recently received a copy of a book I had never heard of. What immediately grabbed my attention was the superbly gritty artwork courtesy of Chris McGrath. Next were the blurbs, which described the book as a noir-ish sci-fi. Finally, there was the fact that “kop” was Warren Hammond’s debut. As you may or may not know, I love discovering new authors and I can never get enough futuristic noir, so reviewing “kop” seemed like a no-brainer. That said, “kop” didn’t work quite as well for me as I was hoping.
For starters, the book is set far in the future – the year 2787 – on the world Lagarto, a planet that once promised colonists a start to a glorious new life full of opportunities and financial prosperity. Through an unfortunate set of circumstances, Lagarto lost any value it had as a planet and was basically cut off from Earth, the other colonized worlds and the technological advancements that they enjoyed. As a result, the lizard-infested jungle planet, specifically its cities like Koga which is where the story takes place, has become a rundown relic of the past, strangely reminiscent of any urbanite setting that you might find in countless film or book noir. I mean this is the future right, so aside from the use of holograms, laser weaponry and a couple of other advancements, why is Koga just like any other typical noir-esque American city? I mean you have the same type of politicians, police force, legal system, news media, and religion; problems with drugs, prostitution & corruption; a divided social status between the rich, poor & middle class; and so on. Heck, even the lingo is the same! To be fair, Mr. Hammond does try to offer explanations for all of the above including why the planet still uses our same calendar, but the details are kind of sparse and didn’t fully satisfy my curiosity. In short, you just have to take a leap of faith with the setting, and to be honest, despite the futuristic background which offers some interesting variants from the norm, “kop” is basically crime noir through and through.
So, like any noir, good or bad, there are archetypes to be expected. First off, all of the stereotypical characters are in attendance: you have hardened protagonist Juno Mozambe, a corrupt vice cop with a nasty temper, a good heart, and a marriage on the rocks. There’s also a rookie detective in Maggie Orzo who hasn’t been tainted yet by the corruption that is found everywhere in Koba including crooked police, a power-hungry Mayor, dangerous criminal warlords, and various other sordid types that you would expect in a story of this nature. Secondly, “kop” is told in a first-person narrative (Juno), which seems to have become an obligatory feature in a noir novel, along with flashbacks, a couple of which are included in the book. And lastly, the plot is vintage noir, blending elements of crime, mystery, police procedural and suspense/thriller. As usual with these types of stories, “kop” starts out simple enough with a murder investigation, but as the book progresses, the mystery becomes more tangled, machinations & betrayals abound from every angle, and the stakes become significantly higher…
Regarding the author, I thought Warren Hammond’s writing was a bit bland. That’s not to say that the author was terrible mind you, just that the writing seemed to lack any distinguishable features and was more mechanical than anything, competent if you like. So the pacing was solid, maintaining a nice balance between the action and the drama. Characterization was a bit shallow, particularly with the cookie-cutter supporting characters, but at least Juno, who’s not your typical ‘hero’, was well-developed and I enjoyed the flashbacks, especially his relationship with wife Niki who harbors her own set of demons. The story itself doesn’t really offer anything new to the genre, especially if you’ve read or seen any kind of crime noir at all. However, despite the all-too familiar plot devices, there’s enough sci-fi elements introduced to keep the book somewhat fresh, and Mr. Hammond does offer a strong understanding & passion for the material, though there are inconsistencies. For instance, if offworlders are so much more advanced technologically than the locals, why would they even worry about Koga’s primitive judicial system? It seems to me the offworlders would be able to commit any crime they want, without fear of repercussion… There are others, but this is the one that annoyed me the most. As far as the tone of the book, there’s plenty of cursing, graphic violence and a bit of sex, but for some odd reason, in spite of the novel’s adult nature, I just felt that the book played it too safe.
For starters, the book is set far in the future – the year 2787 – on the world Lagarto, a planet that once promised colonists a start to a glorious new life full of opportunities and financial prosperity. Through an unfortunate set of circumstances, Lagarto lost any value it had as a planet and was basically cut off from Earth, the other colonized worlds and the technological advancements that they enjoyed. As a result, the lizard-infested jungle planet, specifically its cities like Koga which is where the story takes place, has become a rundown relic of the past, strangely reminiscent of any urbanite setting that you might find in countless film or book noir. I mean this is the future right, so aside from the use of holograms, laser weaponry and a couple of other advancements, why is Koga just like any other typical noir-esque American city? I mean you have the same type of politicians, police force, legal system, news media, and religion; problems with drugs, prostitution & corruption; a divided social status between the rich, poor & middle class; and so on. Heck, even the lingo is the same! To be fair, Mr. Hammond does try to offer explanations for all of the above including why the planet still uses our same calendar, but the details are kind of sparse and didn’t fully satisfy my curiosity. In short, you just have to take a leap of faith with the setting, and to be honest, despite the futuristic background which offers some interesting variants from the norm, “kop” is basically crime noir through and through.
So, like any noir, good or bad, there are archetypes to be expected. First off, all of the stereotypical characters are in attendance: you have hardened protagonist Juno Mozambe, a corrupt vice cop with a nasty temper, a good heart, and a marriage on the rocks. There’s also a rookie detective in Maggie Orzo who hasn’t been tainted yet by the corruption that is found everywhere in Koba including crooked police, a power-hungry Mayor, dangerous criminal warlords, and various other sordid types that you would expect in a story of this nature. Secondly, “kop” is told in a first-person narrative (Juno), which seems to have become an obligatory feature in a noir novel, along with flashbacks, a couple of which are included in the book. And lastly, the plot is vintage noir, blending elements of crime, mystery, police procedural and suspense/thriller. As usual with these types of stories, “kop” starts out simple enough with a murder investigation, but as the book progresses, the mystery becomes more tangled, machinations & betrayals abound from every angle, and the stakes become significantly higher…
Regarding the author, I thought Warren Hammond’s writing was a bit bland. That’s not to say that the author was terrible mind you, just that the writing seemed to lack any distinguishable features and was more mechanical than anything, competent if you like. So the pacing was solid, maintaining a nice balance between the action and the drama. Characterization was a bit shallow, particularly with the cookie-cutter supporting characters, but at least Juno, who’s not your typical ‘hero’, was well-developed and I enjoyed the flashbacks, especially his relationship with wife Niki who harbors her own set of demons. The story itself doesn’t really offer anything new to the genre, especially if you’ve read or seen any kind of crime noir at all. However, despite the all-too familiar plot devices, there’s enough sci-fi elements introduced to keep the book somewhat fresh, and Mr. Hammond does offer a strong understanding & passion for the material, though there are inconsistencies. For instance, if offworlders are so much more advanced technologically than the locals, why would they even worry about Koga’s primitive judicial system? It seems to me the offworlders would be able to commit any crime they want, without fear of repercussion… There are others, but this is the one that annoyed me the most. As far as the tone of the book, there’s plenty of cursing, graphic violence and a bit of sex, but for some odd reason, in spite of the novel’s adult nature, I just felt that the book played it too safe.
In the end, I enjoyed “kop” enough that I’ll probably read its sequel “Ex-Kop”, especially since the ending leaves you wanting more and I’m interested to see where the story takes Juno. However, I thought the book focused too much on being a crime noir, was disappointingly by-the-book & formulaic, and didn’t take full advantage of its futuristic setting, which offered a lot of intriguing possibilities. Hopefully with the sequel, which is already written I believe and due out in 2008, Mr. Hammond will be able to correct some of the issues I had “kop”, while further developing his writing style. Personally, I’d like to see a lot more of the science fiction elements explored in “Ex-Cop” ;). Regardless of what Warren Hammond decides to do with the book, the sequel, like its predecessor, should be another solidly entertaining entry in the field of sci-fi noir…
So the trend continues as yet another YA fantasy series is optioned for film – are there even any left? This one is 
called “Septimus Heap” and is written by Angie Sage. Originally, it was a trilogy, then it was supposed to be five books, and now it’s a seven-part series… Anyways, Warner Bros. Pictures who has been producing the Harry Potter movies has picked up the rights, and the first book in the series, “Magyk”, will be produced by Karen Rosenfelt (The Devil Wears Prada). For more info on the internationally best-selling “Septimus Heap” and Angie Sage, check out the official websites HERE (US) + HERE (UK).
Not to be outdone, Walden Media of The Chronicles of Narnia / Bridge of Terabithia fame as well as the forthcoming The Dark is Rising, The Waterhorse: Legend of the Deep and Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, has secured the rights to “Savvy”, Ingrid Law’s debut middle-grade novel about supernatural-powered teens, which will be published in Summer 2008 via Dial Books for Young Readers in partnership with Walden Media.
On the subject of Walden Media, trailers were recently released for three of their upcoming films. First, you can check out the trailer for The Dark Is Rising HERE. I haven’t had the pleasure of reading the books, but in my opinion, the movie doesn’t look too impressive. Additionally, both The Waterhorse: Legend of the Deep and Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium are aimed toward children and aren’t films I’ll be rushing to see. If you’re interested, you can check out trailers HERE (Waterhorse) + HERE (Magorium).
While we’re talking about movie trailers, there’s been a bunch of them released the past couple of weeks, and some of them actually look pretty good. The one that has me the most excited is probably New Line Cinema’s adaptation of The Golden Compass starring Nicole Kidman & Daniel Craig (Casino Royale), which is based on the first book in the YA trilogy His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. I thought the trailer was great, and it looks to stay fairly true to the material. Of course we’ll have to wait and see in that regard. Another film that I'm really looking forward to and which has been announced for awhile is Paramount Pictures adaptation of Neil Gaiman's graphic novel Stardust, starring Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes, Peter O'Toole, Ian McKellen, Sienna Miller and many more. The film opens August 10, 2007, you can view the trailer HERE and read an advance review HERE.
Then there’s The Spiderwick Chronicles trailer HERE, which previews the film adaptation of the children’s fantasy series by Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi, and stars Freddie Highmore who seems to love these types of films (Finding Neverland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Arthur and the Invisibles). This one looks more for kids, although there might a dark streak in it. Of more interest to me was the TRAILER for Hitman, based on the cool videogame franchise about a professional assassin who gets caught up in a conspiracy. While it’s more of a teaser than anything, it does look promising. Hitman stars Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood, Live Free Or Die Hard) + Dougray Scott (Mission Impossible II). 10,000 B.C. is the latest big-budget spectacle from Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow), and like his previous movies, don’t expect much storytelling. It’s a shame really, because the premise is really cool – battling saber tooth tigers and prehistoric predators – and if someone like Mel Gibson were to direct it, I think it’d be something to see. Anyways, you can check out the trailer HERE. For fans of King Arthur and the legend of Excalibur, The Last Legion explores the truth behind the myth and stars Colin Firth & Sir Ben Kingsley. The film is based on the book by Italian historical novelist Valerio Massimo Manfredi (Alexander Trilogy) and you can see the trailer HERE. Personally, I love Arthurian stories, but this movie looks like a campy made-for-TV flick.
This next trailer HERE is for Gone Baby Gone, directed by Ben Affleck…yes, that Ben Affleck. Before you make any presumptions, the movie is based on the Dennis Lehane (Mystic River) novel of the same name and has a great cast including Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Casey Affleck & Michele Monaghan. I think it looks even better than “Mystic River”. Finally, there’s the extended trailer for Sunshine HERE, which I’ve previously mentioned and is already out across the pond. Sunshine was directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later), stars Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins), Chris Evans (Fantastic Four) and Michelle Yeoh (Tomorrow Never Dies, Memoirs of a Geisha), and is out July 20, 2007. Another must-see film for me :)
Backtracking a bit, it looks like the franchise for “Tunnels”, a series of sci-fi/fantasy teen novels by Roderick Gordon & Brian Williams, has been optioned to Relativity Media (Smokin’ Aces, Ghost Rider) for film adaptation. The first book in the series, originally titled “The Highfield Mole”, was recently released in the UK and will be made available in the U.S. on January 1, 2008. You can check out an excerpt from the Harry Potter heir apparent HERE.
Lastly, Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, Lullaby, Rant) fans should be happy to know that the movie version of the author’s first bestseller “Choke” is moving nicely along with Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston starring.
called “Septimus Heap” and is written by Angie Sage. Originally, it was a trilogy, then it was supposed to be five books, and now it’s a seven-part series… Anyways, Warner Bros. Pictures who has been producing the Harry Potter movies has picked up the rights, and the first book in the series, “Magyk”, will be produced by Karen Rosenfelt (The Devil Wears Prada). For more info on the internationally best-selling “Septimus Heap” and Angie Sage, check out the official websites HERE (US) + HERE (UK).Not to be outdone, Walden Media of The Chronicles of Narnia / Bridge of Terabithia fame as well as the forthcoming The Dark is Rising, The Waterhorse: Legend of the Deep and Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, has secured the rights to “Savvy”, Ingrid Law’s debut middle-grade novel about supernatural-powered teens, which will be published in Summer 2008 via Dial Books for Young Readers in partnership with Walden Media.
On the subject of Walden Media, trailers were recently released for three of their upcoming films. First, you can check out the trailer for The Dark Is Rising HERE. I haven’t had the pleasure of reading the books, but in my opinion, the movie doesn’t look too impressive. Additionally, both The Waterhorse: Legend of the Deep and Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium are aimed toward children and aren’t films I’ll be rushing to see. If you’re interested, you can check out trailers HERE (Waterhorse) + HERE (Magorium).
While we’re talking about movie trailers, there’s been a bunch of them released the past couple of weeks, and some of them actually look pretty good. The one that has me the most excited is probably New Line Cinema’s adaptation of The Golden Compass starring Nicole Kidman & Daniel Craig (Casino Royale), which is based on the first book in the YA trilogy His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. I thought the trailer was great, and it looks to stay fairly true to the material. Of course we’ll have to wait and see in that regard. Another film that I'm really looking forward to and which has been announced for awhile is Paramount Pictures adaptation of Neil Gaiman's graphic novel Stardust, starring Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes, Peter O'Toole, Ian McKellen, Sienna Miller and many more. The film opens August 10, 2007, you can view the trailer HERE and read an advance review HERE.
Then there’s The Spiderwick Chronicles trailer HERE, which previews the film adaptation of the children’s fantasy series by Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi, and stars Freddie Highmore who seems to love these types of films (Finding Neverland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Arthur and the Invisibles). This one looks more for kids, although there might a dark streak in it. Of more interest to me was the TRAILER for Hitman, based on the cool videogame franchise about a professional assassin who gets caught up in a conspiracy. While it’s more of a teaser than anything, it does look promising. Hitman stars Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood, Live Free Or Die Hard) + Dougray Scott (Mission Impossible II). 10,000 B.C. is the latest big-budget spectacle from Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow), and like his previous movies, don’t expect much storytelling. It’s a shame really, because the premise is really cool – battling saber tooth tigers and prehistoric predators – and if someone like Mel Gibson were to direct it, I think it’d be something to see. Anyways, you can check out the trailer HERE. For fans of King Arthur and the legend of Excalibur, The Last Legion explores the truth behind the myth and stars Colin Firth & Sir Ben Kingsley. The film is based on the book by Italian historical novelist Valerio Massimo Manfredi (Alexander Trilogy) and you can see the trailer HERE. Personally, I love Arthurian stories, but this movie looks like a campy made-for-TV flick.
This next trailer HERE is for Gone Baby Gone, directed by Ben Affleck…yes, that Ben Affleck. Before you make any presumptions, the movie is based on the Dennis Lehane (Mystic River) novel of the same name and has a great cast including Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Casey Affleck & Michele Monaghan. I think it looks even better than “Mystic River”. Finally, there’s the extended trailer for Sunshine HERE, which I’ve previously mentioned and is already out across the pond. Sunshine was directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later), stars Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins), Chris Evans (Fantastic Four) and Michelle Yeoh (Tomorrow Never Dies, Memoirs of a Geisha), and is out July 20, 2007. Another must-see film for me :)
Backtracking a bit, it looks like the franchise for “Tunnels”, a series of sci-fi/fantasy teen novels by Roderick Gordon & Brian Williams, has been optioned to Relativity Media (Smokin’ Aces, Ghost Rider) for film adaptation. The first book in the series, originally titled “The Highfield Mole”, was recently released in the UK and will be made available in the U.S. on January 1, 2008. You can check out an excerpt from the Harry Potter heir apparent HERE.Lastly, Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, Lullaby, Rant) fans should be happy to know that the movie version of the author’s first bestseller “Choke” is moving nicely along with Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston starring.
Official Warren Ellis WebsiteWarren Ellis’ LiveJournal
Order “Crooked Little Vein” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
Following in the footsteps of Neil Gaiman and Mike Carey, Warren Ellis is the latest critically-acclaimed comic book writer making the leap to novels, and the creator behind such noted properties as Transmetropolitan, Global Frequency & Fell, not to mention the various other comic books (Planetary, The Authority, newuniversal, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Iron Man, etc.), graphic novels, and television/videogame scripts that he’s left his mark on, has delivered one helluva debut with “Crooked Little Vein”.
Bestiality, Godzilla bukkake, degloving, vaginal tightenings, genetically modified monkeys whose feces possess anticancer drugs, testicles + needles + salt water; these are just a few of the depravities hidden within the pages of Mr. Ellis’ “Crooked Little Vein”. Trust me, the book is not for the faint of heart…it’s vulgar, nauseating, perverted, and the most damn fun I’ve had in a long, long time.
Basically a warped take on the noirish detective mystery, “Crooked Little Vein” follows private investigator Michael McGill, a “shit magnet” whose penchant for unluckiness attracts the attention of the United States President’s chief of staff who hires McGill to find a book that will supposedly save America’s way of life – a secret Constitution that was created by the Founders for emergency purposes and was lost in the 1950s. Starting in New York City, McGill’s hunt for the second Constitution will take the private eye on a ‘crooked little vein’ throughout the country’s immoral underworld, including visits to Columbus (Ohio), San Antonio, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Along the way readers will get mixed up with some of the wackiest weirdoes unimaginable, including an indestructible rat with a grudge, a famous serial killer offended at the slander produced by the media about him, a Helter Skelter cabbie ‘X’d from society’, a detective who was previously a male prostitute, and the omnisexual Trix who partners up with Mike to share in all the fun. And let’s not forget the heroin-addicted chief of staff, Mike’s schizophrenic friend Bob, pimps, transgenders, former Skull & Bones, and the mastermind behind a mega-billion Internet porn empire…and that’s just touching the tip of the iceberg.
Seriously, from the moment you open the book until its very last paragraph, there’s crazy shit happening on every single page and you never know what to expect. It’s not just the off-the-wall premise or the deviant characters either; it’s all of the little details that Mr. Ellis brings to the book, which makes “Crooked Little Vein” so damn entertaining. Even more impressive is that somewhere amid all of that weirdness and debauchery, there’s actually an important statement being made about our declining society, how what was once considered taboo has become part of the ‘mainstream’ – due in part to our technological advancements –, and how, despite all of this, there’s still hope for a better future…possibly...
Obviously “Crooked Little Vein” isn’t for everyone—under 18 beware. A lot of people will find it offensive and loathe its very existence. Others, most notably Warren Ellis fans, comic book lovers, and anyone who’s not afraid to indulge a bit in their masochistic side, will eat the book up. Me, I loved every second of it and couldn’t get enough. I don’t know what that says about me, but to hell with it. “Crooked Little Vein” is easily my favorite novel of the year and I’m already salivating with anticipation for book number two: “Listener”, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi due out in 2008…
Bestiality, Godzilla bukkake, degloving, vaginal tightenings, genetically modified monkeys whose feces possess anticancer drugs, testicles + needles + salt water; these are just a few of the depravities hidden within the pages of Mr. Ellis’ “Crooked Little Vein”. Trust me, the book is not for the faint of heart…it’s vulgar, nauseating, perverted, and the most damn fun I’ve had in a long, long time.
Basically a warped take on the noirish detective mystery, “Crooked Little Vein” follows private investigator Michael McGill, a “shit magnet” whose penchant for unluckiness attracts the attention of the United States President’s chief of staff who hires McGill to find a book that will supposedly save America’s way of life – a secret Constitution that was created by the Founders for emergency purposes and was lost in the 1950s. Starting in New York City, McGill’s hunt for the second Constitution will take the private eye on a ‘crooked little vein’ throughout the country’s immoral underworld, including visits to Columbus (Ohio), San Antonio, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Along the way readers will get mixed up with some of the wackiest weirdoes unimaginable, including an indestructible rat with a grudge, a famous serial killer offended at the slander produced by the media about him, a Helter Skelter cabbie ‘X’d from society’, a detective who was previously a male prostitute, and the omnisexual Trix who partners up with Mike to share in all the fun. And let’s not forget the heroin-addicted chief of staff, Mike’s schizophrenic friend Bob, pimps, transgenders, former Skull & Bones, and the mastermind behind a mega-billion Internet porn empire…and that’s just touching the tip of the iceberg.
Seriously, from the moment you open the book until its very last paragraph, there’s crazy shit happening on every single page and you never know what to expect. It’s not just the off-the-wall premise or the deviant characters either; it’s all of the little details that Mr. Ellis brings to the book, which makes “Crooked Little Vein” so damn entertaining. Even more impressive is that somewhere amid all of that weirdness and debauchery, there’s actually an important statement being made about our declining society, how what was once considered taboo has become part of the ‘mainstream’ – due in part to our technological advancements –, and how, despite all of this, there’s still hope for a better future…possibly...
Obviously “Crooked Little Vein” isn’t for everyone—under 18 beware. A lot of people will find it offensive and loathe its very existence. Others, most notably Warren Ellis fans, comic book lovers, and anyone who’s not afraid to indulge a bit in their masochistic side, will eat the book up. Me, I loved every second of it and couldn’t get enough. I don’t know what that says about me, but to hell with it. “Crooked Little Vein” is easily my favorite novel of the year and I’m already salivating with anticipation for book number two: “Listener”, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi due out in 2008…
Official Nicholas Christopher Website
Order “The Bestiary” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s REVIEW of “The Bestiary”
Order “The Bestiary” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s REVIEW of “The Bestiary”
I love reading books by authors that are new to me. Whether its debut novelists, a writer I’m aware of but haven’t read yet (for whatever reason), or someone I’ve never heard of, it’s just a rewarding experience to try something fresh. Nicholas Christopher falls in the latter category, and I’m very happy that was I introduced to his works, especially his latest novel “The Bestiary”, which will no doubt end up as one of my favorite releases of the year. So, it was only a matter of time before an interview would follow and thanks to Mr. Christopher’s cooperation, readers will get to learn about the making of “The Bestiary – the author’s inspiration, the facts separated from fiction, the themes, etc., – as well as future releases, film adaptations and much more! Thanks again to Nicholas Christopher for making this interview possible and enjoy:
Q: You’ve been writing for a while now, not just fiction, but also poetry and non-fiction, and early on you actually contributed to such magazines as the New Yorker, Esquire, etc. Where does your love for writing stem from and what events led you to pursue a career as an author?
Nicholas: I was taught to read before I went to school, and I was given books, then found my way to them. Like most writers, I came to be a writer, first, because I love to read. I still contribute to the New Yorker. They published my first poems when I was in my early twenties. Soon afterward I sold my first book. Why I began to write seriously in my teens is a mystery to me; but, then, any writer’s origins are an amalgam of mystery, magic, and accident. There were things I could express in no other way than the written word. I began to lead a parallel, internal life. That’s the best explanation I can give.
Q: It seems like your works are very well-received critically, but commercially, Nicholas Christopher is not exactly a household name. What are your thoughts on the whole “mainstream success vs. literary accolades” debate?
Nicholas: I have published fourteen books in three genres and have had both critical and commercial success. I have been blessed in that I have made a good living as a writer, that I live where I want to live, have a great deal of independence, and the time and wherewithal to travel where I like. I think the goal of any writer is to produce work that is well received in both domains. I began my writing life strictly as a poet, a world in which the accolades are far more significant because the audience for even the best known poets is very small – or so we (poets and publishers both) have convinced ourselves. In some quarters, I was considered a mainstream poet because I published work in over 30 issues of the New Yorker, always had large trade publishers (Knopf, Viking, Harcourt), and became a professor at an Ivy League university. Other poetry readers thought of me from the first as a “magical realist” or cutting-edge writer, a downtown New York poet, someone who wrote poetry heavily influenced by European and South American surrealists. I have been fortunate to have had success with my fiction, to have novels that reached a devoted audience, garnered film options, and was translated and published in numerous foreign countries. So I am known in a great many households, hopefully that number will keep expanding. I think it’s a fallacy that one cannot sell fine literary work; the audience is there to be tapped. A novelist can strive for that while maintaining his or her strict literary standards.
Q: I stand corrected :) So, for someone who has never read one of your novels, how would you describe your writing style, what book of yours would you recommend first picking up, and what kind of stories can the reader expect with your works?
Nicholas: I would let the books speak for themselves, and for the style in which they are written. I would suggest picking up THE BESTIARY first, because it is the newest! But if you look at my VERONICA or A TRIP TO THE STARS, you will get a pretty good idea of how I operate as a novelist. I learned long ago that any literary work is an explanation in itself; the author can only speak around that explanation, providing footnotes, which are often a tangle.
Q: Your novels are universally praised not just for their writing from a technical standpoint, but also for their storytelling. In your opinion, what makes a story work successfully?
Nicholas: The fact that a reader not only wants to know what happens next, and why, but realizes, however subliminally, that the dynamics of the story at hand will change some portion of his or her inner life. Maybe not right away, but it will happen. The characters and their actions should touch us deeply enough, and powerfully enough, that during the time we’re immersed in the story there is nowhere else we would rather be. Just as it is when we are with a person, or in a place, that we would not trade for any other at that particular moment in time.
Q: Let’s focus on your fifth fiction novel, the recently released “The Bestiary”. In it, readers are transported back to the 1960s/70s to such locales as the Bronx, Maine, Vietnam, Hawaii, Paris, Italy, Africa & Greece, while the story weaves historical fact with fiction. Obviously a lot of time & research was put into the writing of “The Bestiary”. Can you tell us where the idea for the book originated from, what kind of research was put into it, and how the story has evolved from when you first started on it?
Nicholas: It is difficult to trace the inspiration behind a novel. Like any author looking back, I might reconstrue — might even have forgotten — the elements that impelled me to write the book. Even those sources that seem most evident now have inevitably been distorted —amplified or diminished — during the five years of writing and rewriting. Yet I have a clear picture of the evolution of THE BESTIARY, which feels as if it was gathering force in my imagination for a long time before I put a word to paper. From the first, I was aware of the crucial elements that fueled the storytelling: my curiosity about the hidden metamorphoses, and accompanying projections, that are the essence of a man’s life; my love of animals, and my anger at the way they are treated in nearly every human society; my horror over the accelerating rate of animal extinction; the importance each of us assigns to the things we lose — people, places, things — and the illusions that enable us to endure those losses; my passion for mythology and mystery, and my fascination with the hazy borderline between history and myth.
Two particular myths lie at the heart of THE BESTIARY. I encountered them thirty years apart, and know now that only the combination of the two could have set in motion the creation of this book. They were like a chemical reaction waiting to happen.
The first is a Native American myth that altered the way I looked at life, and which I incorporated whole into the body of the novel. We hear it early on from the grandmother of the hero, Xeno Atlas, a woman with a gift for communicating with animals: “Before men started their killing ways,” she tells Xeno, “they spoke the same language as all the other animals. There were no boundaries between them. Then the worm of cruelty burrowed into man’s heart. The animals needed to protect themselves, so they made up their own languages that only their own kind could understand. The same thing happened when men started killing other men.”
The second myth was central to the cosmogony of those early Christian heretics, the Gnostics. It stipulated that the Holy Ghost authored two books: the Bible and the Book of Life, which was the first bestiary, lost long ago. The man who read both books in their entirety would achieve universal gnosis, ensuring the salvation and immortality of the soul. Accomplishing this would be difficult, at best, for many reasons, not least of which the fact that, for the Gnostics, the true Bible included the Apocrypha — for example, the secret Gospels of Thomas and Philip and the Book of Jubilees — and a host of other “lost” texts that have still not been recovered. It occurred to me that, by this standard, a truly complete bestiary must include, not just the sixteen thousand animals on Noah’s ark, including those chronicled in the first bestiary (called the Physiologos) and all the fragmented bestiaries it spawned, but also the hundreds of creatures who were refused passage on the ark (griffins, manticores, basilisks, hippogriffs, perytons, rukhs) and had to survive the Great Flood and make their way through history, right up to the present day, by way of the human imagination. These are animals whose images continue to appear all around us, gorgons and gargoyles, nagas and centaurs, the phoenix and the chimera. They dwell in all parts of the world, and are depicted in every medium — paint, marble, bronze — in both secular and sacred settings, but their touchstone remains the human imagination, where they can be found at all times. So long as there are men walking the earth, these animals will flourish. I thought they must certainly have their own book, which would be the earliest offshoot of the original Book of Life. I called it the Caravan Bestiary. It is a lost book, which must be reintegrated into the Book of Life, just as the complete Apocrypha must be appended to the Bible, and read in their entirety by anyone, Gnostic or otherwise, who would attain supreme gnosis. Or as another of my characters, a teacher who changes the course of Xeno’s life, explains to him: “The complete Bible and the intact original bestiary comprise a universal history which is, in fact, the only true history of the world; if read in tandem, in their entirety, they would offer up the same knowledge a man could otherwise acquire only by reading all the other books ever written.”
Q: “The Bestiary” seems to share a lot of similar themes with your previous fiction novels, including the coming-of-age tale, characters having issues with their fathers, the books set in a past era, the exotic globetrotting, and the blending of history with imagination & magic with reality. What is it about these themes that fascinate you so much that you keep exploring them?
Nicholas: Again, I can only let them speak for themselves. I don’t set out to write around those themes, and others. As the characters come to life, and the story asserts itself, some of those themes become the imaginative vehicles that carry the narrative. They are like elements in a recurring dream, and as such, my private associations, even if I were inclined to share them, would not be of much use to the reader; in fact, they would be distractions.
Q: Apart from making up the Caravan Bestiary, can you enlighten readers as to what other historical parts are factual, what were fiction and how you came up with the methods in which you bridged the two?
Nicholas: With the CARAVAN BESTIARY, I used facsimilies of the Revesby, Hertford, and other bestiaries, many of which I found in libraries, and some on the Internet.
I did this because my story, and the story of bestiaries, and of the CARAVAN BESTIARY in particular, stretched across many centuries, involved numerous historical figures, and was important to various important, even cataclysmic, events such as the Black Death. It was necessary to provide this historical material, not as colorful background, but as an integral part of my novel. In all my novels, I try not to stretch facts to make them fit fictional circumstances; rather, I present the factual or historical reality as such and weave into it fictional elements that enhance or explore that reality without distorting it. For example, the episodes involving the lives of Lord Byron and Doge Dandolo are based in reality; the circumstances in which I have them encounter and handle the CARAVAN BESTIARY are otherwise left completely intact. I strive to make those parts of the novel plausible and satisfying. History is essentially a retelling of infinite numbers of stories, their variations and permutations, around established facts. (In this case, we can state with certainty that there was a poet named Byron who compiled the first Armenian grammar in English at San Lazarro in the Venetian lagoon, and a mid-fourteenth century doge named Dandolo who ruled Venice during the Black Death). In the end, a novelist must be sure his common sense informs his use of history and animates the exchanges between his historical and fictional characters.
Q: Staying on this subject, ever since the overwhelming success of Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code”, it seems like there’s been a veritable flood of likewise novels that have been released hoping to cash in on the trend. Did you have any reservations about publishing “The Bestiary” at a time when it might be lumped in this same category and what are your thoughts as a whole on the ‘historical thriller’ rage?
Nicholas: No reservations at all. I began writing THE BESTIARY in 2002, before THE DA VINCI CODE and its offshoots were published. I watched those books come and go, but didn’t think they had much to do with what I was attempting, for better or worse. I had no hesitation in publishing because I felt that the book I was attempting to write was unique, and would not just involve a quest, but a set of fully developed characters and character-driven plot that was not propelled by gimmicks or cliché. I was pleased to think that I might have been plugged into the zeitgeist early on in the writing of this novel. But that’s not something one things about too much when trying to construct a novel. As for historical thrillers, I think history, and the use of historical figures and situations can be used successfully or be utterly flat and forced. As a reader, I only care that a book is powerful enough to take me into its world and slowly but surely change the way I see the world at large. I don’t believe in segregated genres of fiction. I love science fiction, mystery, adventure, the philosophical novel and the fantastical novel, and so on. I love when a writer can blend elements from many different sources and schools of fiction. All I demand is that a novel offer inspiration and sustenance — emotional, spiritual, or philosophical.
Q: How does “The Bestiary” compare to your other novels, and how do you feel that you as a writer have evolved from your earliest published works? Is there anything else you want to improve upon as a writer?
Nicholas: I think it continues working the vein I began mining in A TRIP TO THE STARS. This book has had four fictional predecessors, several novellas-in-verse, and a lot of stories and narrative poems. Hopefully it has evolved by incorporating the best elements of its predecessors. As to improvement, I always want the book I am writing to be the best thing I’ve ever done, to be that much more powerful and revelatory than the books that preceded it. Any writer who doesn’t think he or she can improve is — what would be a good word — misguided.
Q: Xeno Atlas is a fascinating character and the end of “The Bestiary” leaves room for a possible follow-up. Will readers get to see anymore of Xeno in future volumes and if so, what can we look forward to? If not, could you perhaps speculate on where Xeno’s story might take you if you were to continue writing him?
Nicholas: I would leave the ending as it is. That is where I wanted Xeno to be when the story ended. As for a sequel, that is difficult to consider now, because in the months after completing a novel, one always misses the characters he has been living with for years. That said, because Xeno is still a young man at book’s end, and because he was a character I enjoyed inhabiting, I can see him returning at some point with the next part of his story. He has come to a crossroads at the end of THE BESTIARY and it would be fascinating to me to discover which road he takes from there.
Q: You’re working on a new novel called “It Was Freddie Moran Who Betrayed Me” and a book about the mythography of islands. Can you tell us anymore about these works?
Nicholas: The novel is in its earliest stages, pieces being assembled in notebooks, scaffolding being erected. I have twenty pages that I believe are opening of the novel. It is about betrayal, in its many permutations, emotional, spiritual, and material. The book about islands is one that has been continually shunted aside as I have become enmeshed in my recent novels. I wrote a book about film noir and the American city, SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT, which has just come out in an expanded edition on its tenth anniversary. That book arose from my deep interest in the films, most of which I had seen (about 300 films) before I ever thought of writing the book. I am also passionate about islands and their myths, but I need to do quite a bit of research before I begin writing the book in earnest. And I am now about two-thirds of the way through my new book of poems, which I hope to hand in late this year. Working in two genres comes naturally to me; when I move to a third, things get more hectic. And I don’t want them to be that hectic just now.
Q: As mentioned before, you’re also a prolific poet. How different is it writing poetry opposed to writing a novel, and how does one format influence the other?
Nicholas: I was a poet first, and I was publishing my poems in magazines and journals while still in college. When I began writing fiction in my mid-twenties, I thought at first that I must keep the two disciplines separate. I wanted to write fiction that was borne along by strong narratives and fully rounded characters. I did not want to write a beautifully wrought, but narratively aimless, novel — pejoratively called “a poet’s novel.” But I soon realized that the precision and imagistic facility necessary to produce a vivid poem are among the tools required when one is constructing an extended narrative line and delineating character. My training as a poet, and the fact I write and publish poetry as steadily as I ever did, have helped me to strive always for precision and economy in my novels, no matter how dense or complex the subject matter.
Q: Nowadays it’s not uncommon to see books adapted into movies, comic books, television or other formats and you already mentioned film options. Can you give us any details on these projects?
Nicholas: VERONICA has been optioned by Michael Birnbaum of Empire Pictures. A wonderful screenwriter, Harley Peyton (Twin Peaks), and a terrific director, Yann Samuell, are working with him. Their conception of the film is quite amazing, and is now being taken to the major studios. My first novel THE SOLOIST has been optioned several times, and the current optioner, Ken Marino, has written a first-rate script and is putting together his cast. I think THE BESTIARY would make for a very interesting film, and there has already been interest in it, so I expect it will be optioned soon. I’ve been told my book A TRIP TO THE STARS would make for a very fine long film or mini-series – and I agree!
Q: Let’s fantasize for a bit. What would be your dream adaptation?
Nicholas: My dream adaptation would be the one I listed above for VERONICA, with the people who are now working on it.
Q: What about you as a writer? You said earlier that you have enough on your plate at the moment, but would you ever consider trying a different medium (comic books, television, movie scripts, videogames, etc.) or genre (horror, sci-fi, suspense, etc.)?
Nicholas: I would love to do a comic or illustrated novel sometime. As for genres, as I said above, my books already cross lines and are read in very different ways. I would want to try whatever genre worked for the story I was telling; if one genre — sci-fi, suspense — began to dominate the novel, wonderful, I would go with that and consider myself fortunate.
Q: As someone who’s had a wealth of experience teaching and is currently a professor of the Writing Division of the School of the Arts at Columbia University, what advice would you give to an aspiring writer?
Nicholas: Write every day without fail. Be true to your vision. Be open to everything. Read anything and everything that whets your appetite. Pay no attention to distinctions between “high” and “low” culture; take in everything and use what you need and want. Be very careful about who you listen to when it comes to your work. Know that the work will absorb huge portions of your life; if you can’t or won’t rejoice in that, you shouldn’t write. That’s the long answer; the short is: write every day without fail.
Q: Do you happen to have a favorite book or poem that you’ve written?
Nicholas: I have no favorites. THE BESTIARY and A TRIP TO THE STARS, and my poetry collection 5˚ emerged from my imagination exactly as I hoped they would. VERONICA set my fiction on an entirely new road. Each of my books carried me forward, to the making of the next book. Each of them has its own meaning for me. But the meaning they have for my readers is what’s important to me once they’re completed.
Q: What about a least favorite story, something you wish you could go back and change or fix?
Nicholas: Not really. I might change a line here or there in a few of the poems in my first collection, which consisted of all the poems I wrote between the ages of 18 and 28. Maybe one of the subplots in my first novel. I don’t say that with hubris; I simply respect the books as they were written. I’ve managed not to publish things that, later on, gave me grief. I’m lucky in that I’ve written exactly what I wanted to write and had the very best publishers bring the work out. I have never written anything I did not want to write. As a poet, that’s a given; as a novelist, it’s a choice.
Q: What would you consider to be some of personal favorite authors or books?
Nicholas: Too many to list… All of Dickens and Tolstoy and the other Russians, Proust and Musil, Zbigniew Herbert, W.S. Merwin, Charles Simic, Mark Strand, all of James Salter’s fiction, Borges, Marquez, Calvino, all of Charles Nicholl’s nonfiction, the late trilogies of Céline and Burroughs’, Ondaatje’s IN THE SKIN OF A LION, Bellow’s HUMBOLDT’S GIFT, much of Hemingway, Nabokov, THE TALE OF GENJI, THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS, the poetry of Ritsos, Montale, Hecht, and Stevens, Olaf Stapledon’s science fiction. Donne and Blake. Too many to list…
Q: Are there any up-and-coming writers that we should know about?
Nicholas: Darin Strauss, Diane Vadino, Dana Spiotta, Dana Goodyear
Q: Obviously you love to travel. What are some of your favorite places to visit and where would you recommend traveling to?
Nicholas: The outer Hawaiian Islands, the Greek islands of Hydra and Naxos, the Grenadines, Paris, Venice — especially Venice. I like islands and I like real cities. Manhattan is both, but when you are in Venice you know you are both in a city and series of islands.
Q: Anything else you would like to share with your readers?
Nicholas: Everything I really want to say, I’ve tried putting into my books. I hope they bring any reader pleasure and joy. I still think Nabokov’s definition of a successful poem is the best definition I know: he said it should send a tingle up your spine. A novel should send a whole series of tingles – a burst of imaginative energy. I hope THE BESTIARY takes you on a journey that leaves you fulfilled.
Q: You’ve been writing for a while now, not just fiction, but also poetry and non-fiction, and early on you actually contributed to such magazines as the New Yorker, Esquire, etc. Where does your love for writing stem from and what events led you to pursue a career as an author?
Nicholas: I was taught to read before I went to school, and I was given books, then found my way to them. Like most writers, I came to be a writer, first, because I love to read. I still contribute to the New Yorker. They published my first poems when I was in my early twenties. Soon afterward I sold my first book. Why I began to write seriously in my teens is a mystery to me; but, then, any writer’s origins are an amalgam of mystery, magic, and accident. There were things I could express in no other way than the written word. I began to lead a parallel, internal life. That’s the best explanation I can give.
Q: It seems like your works are very well-received critically, but commercially, Nicholas Christopher is not exactly a household name. What are your thoughts on the whole “mainstream success vs. literary accolades” debate?
Nicholas: I have published fourteen books in three genres and have had both critical and commercial success. I have been blessed in that I have made a good living as a writer, that I live where I want to live, have a great deal of independence, and the time and wherewithal to travel where I like. I think the goal of any writer is to produce work that is well received in both domains. I began my writing life strictly as a poet, a world in which the accolades are far more significant because the audience for even the best known poets is very small – or so we (poets and publishers both) have convinced ourselves. In some quarters, I was considered a mainstream poet because I published work in over 30 issues of the New Yorker, always had large trade publishers (Knopf, Viking, Harcourt), and became a professor at an Ivy League university. Other poetry readers thought of me from the first as a “magical realist” or cutting-edge writer, a downtown New York poet, someone who wrote poetry heavily influenced by European and South American surrealists. I have been fortunate to have had success with my fiction, to have novels that reached a devoted audience, garnered film options, and was translated and published in numerous foreign countries. So I am known in a great many households, hopefully that number will keep expanding. I think it’s a fallacy that one cannot sell fine literary work; the audience is there to be tapped. A novelist can strive for that while maintaining his or her strict literary standards.
Q: I stand corrected :) So, for someone who has never read one of your novels, how would you describe your writing style, what book of yours would you recommend first picking up, and what kind of stories can the reader expect with your works?
Nicholas: I would let the books speak for themselves, and for the style in which they are written. I would suggest picking up THE BESTIARY first, because it is the newest! But if you look at my VERONICA or A TRIP TO THE STARS, you will get a pretty good idea of how I operate as a novelist. I learned long ago that any literary work is an explanation in itself; the author can only speak around that explanation, providing footnotes, which are often a tangle.
Q: Your novels are universally praised not just for their writing from a technical standpoint, but also for their storytelling. In your opinion, what makes a story work successfully?
Nicholas: The fact that a reader not only wants to know what happens next, and why, but realizes, however subliminally, that the dynamics of the story at hand will change some portion of his or her inner life. Maybe not right away, but it will happen. The characters and their actions should touch us deeply enough, and powerfully enough, that during the time we’re immersed in the story there is nowhere else we would rather be. Just as it is when we are with a person, or in a place, that we would not trade for any other at that particular moment in time.
Q: Let’s focus on your fifth fiction novel, the recently released “The Bestiary”. In it, readers are transported back to the 1960s/70s to such locales as the Bronx, Maine, Vietnam, Hawaii, Paris, Italy, Africa & Greece, while the story weaves historical fact with fiction. Obviously a lot of time & research was put into the writing of “The Bestiary”. Can you tell us where the idea for the book originated from, what kind of research was put into it, and how the story has evolved from when you first started on it?
Nicholas: It is difficult to trace the inspiration behind a novel. Like any author looking back, I might reconstrue — might even have forgotten — the elements that impelled me to write the book. Even those sources that seem most evident now have inevitably been distorted —amplified or diminished — during the five years of writing and rewriting. Yet I have a clear picture of the evolution of THE BESTIARY, which feels as if it was gathering force in my imagination for a long time before I put a word to paper. From the first, I was aware of the crucial elements that fueled the storytelling: my curiosity about the hidden metamorphoses, and accompanying projections, that are the essence of a man’s life; my love of animals, and my anger at the way they are treated in nearly every human society; my horror over the accelerating rate of animal extinction; the importance each of us assigns to the things we lose — people, places, things — and the illusions that enable us to endure those losses; my passion for mythology and mystery, and my fascination with the hazy borderline between history and myth.Two particular myths lie at the heart of THE BESTIARY. I encountered them thirty years apart, and know now that only the combination of the two could have set in motion the creation of this book. They were like a chemical reaction waiting to happen.
The first is a Native American myth that altered the way I looked at life, and which I incorporated whole into the body of the novel. We hear it early on from the grandmother of the hero, Xeno Atlas, a woman with a gift for communicating with animals: “Before men started their killing ways,” she tells Xeno, “they spoke the same language as all the other animals. There were no boundaries between them. Then the worm of cruelty burrowed into man’s heart. The animals needed to protect themselves, so they made up their own languages that only their own kind could understand. The same thing happened when men started killing other men.”
The second myth was central to the cosmogony of those early Christian heretics, the Gnostics. It stipulated that the Holy Ghost authored two books: the Bible and the Book of Life, which was the first bestiary, lost long ago. The man who read both books in their entirety would achieve universal gnosis, ensuring the salvation and immortality of the soul. Accomplishing this would be difficult, at best, for many reasons, not least of which the fact that, for the Gnostics, the true Bible included the Apocrypha — for example, the secret Gospels of Thomas and Philip and the Book of Jubilees — and a host of other “lost” texts that have still not been recovered. It occurred to me that, by this standard, a truly complete bestiary must include, not just the sixteen thousand animals on Noah’s ark, including those chronicled in the first bestiary (called the Physiologos) and all the fragmented bestiaries it spawned, but also the hundreds of creatures who were refused passage on the ark (griffins, manticores, basilisks, hippogriffs, perytons, rukhs) and had to survive the Great Flood and make their way through history, right up to the present day, by way of the human imagination. These are animals whose images continue to appear all around us, gorgons and gargoyles, nagas and centaurs, the phoenix and the chimera. They dwell in all parts of the world, and are depicted in every medium — paint, marble, bronze — in both secular and sacred settings, but their touchstone remains the human imagination, where they can be found at all times. So long as there are men walking the earth, these animals will flourish. I thought they must certainly have their own book, which would be the earliest offshoot of the original Book of Life. I called it the Caravan Bestiary. It is a lost book, which must be reintegrated into the Book of Life, just as the complete Apocrypha must be appended to the Bible, and read in their entirety by anyone, Gnostic or otherwise, who would attain supreme gnosis. Or as another of my characters, a teacher who changes the course of Xeno’s life, explains to him: “The complete Bible and the intact original bestiary comprise a universal history which is, in fact, the only true history of the world; if read in tandem, in their entirety, they would offer up the same knowledge a man could otherwise acquire only by reading all the other books ever written.”
Q: “The Bestiary” seems to share a lot of similar themes with your previous fiction novels, including the coming-of-age tale, characters having issues with their fathers, the books set in a past era, the exotic globetrotting, and the blending of history with imagination & magic with reality. What is it about these themes that fascinate you so much that you keep exploring them?
Nicholas: Again, I can only let them speak for themselves. I don’t set out to write around those themes, and others. As the characters come to life, and the story asserts itself, some of those themes become the imaginative vehicles that carry the narrative. They are like elements in a recurring dream, and as such, my private associations, even if I were inclined to share them, would not be of much use to the reader; in fact, they would be distractions.
Q: Apart from making up the Caravan Bestiary, can you enlighten readers as to what other historical parts are factual, what were fiction and how you came up with the methods in which you bridged the two?
Nicholas: With the CARAVAN BESTIARY, I used facsimilies of the Revesby, Hertford, and other bestiaries, many of which I found in libraries, and some on the Internet.
I did this because my story, and the story of bestiaries, and of the CARAVAN BESTIARY in particular, stretched across many centuries, involved numerous historical figures, and was important to various important, even cataclysmic, events such as the Black Death. It was necessary to provide this historical material, not as colorful background, but as an integral part of my novel. In all my novels, I try not to stretch facts to make them fit fictional circumstances; rather, I present the factual or historical reality as such and weave into it fictional elements that enhance or explore that reality without distorting it. For example, the episodes involving the lives of Lord Byron and Doge Dandolo are based in reality; the circumstances in which I have them encounter and handle the CARAVAN BESTIARY are otherwise left completely intact. I strive to make those parts of the novel plausible and satisfying. History is essentially a retelling of infinite numbers of stories, their variations and permutations, around established facts. (In this case, we can state with certainty that there was a poet named Byron who compiled the first Armenian grammar in English at San Lazarro in the Venetian lagoon, and a mid-fourteenth century doge named Dandolo who ruled Venice during the Black Death). In the end, a novelist must be sure his common sense informs his use of history and animates the exchanges between his historical and fictional characters.
Q: Staying on this subject, ever since the overwhelming success of Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code”, it seems like there’s been a veritable flood of likewise novels that have been released hoping to cash in on the trend. Did you have any reservations about publishing “The Bestiary” at a time when it might be lumped in this same category and what are your thoughts as a whole on the ‘historical thriller’ rage?
Nicholas: No reservations at all. I began writing THE BESTIARY in 2002, before THE DA VINCI CODE and its offshoots were published. I watched those books come and go, but didn’t think they had much to do with what I was attempting, for better or worse. I had no hesitation in publishing because I felt that the book I was attempting to write was unique, and would not just involve a quest, but a set of fully developed characters and character-driven plot that was not propelled by gimmicks or cliché. I was pleased to think that I might have been plugged into the zeitgeist early on in the writing of this novel. But that’s not something one things about too much when trying to construct a novel. As for historical thrillers, I think history, and the use of historical figures and situations can be used successfully or be utterly flat and forced. As a reader, I only care that a book is powerful enough to take me into its world and slowly but surely change the way I see the world at large. I don’t believe in segregated genres of fiction. I love science fiction, mystery, adventure, the philosophical novel and the fantastical novel, and so on. I love when a writer can blend elements from many different sources and schools of fiction. All I demand is that a novel offer inspiration and sustenance — emotional, spiritual, or philosophical.
Q: How does “The Bestiary” compare to your other novels, and how do you feel that you as a writer have evolved from your earliest published works? Is there anything else you want to improve upon as a writer?
Nicholas: I think it continues working the vein I began mining in A TRIP TO THE STARS. This book has had four fictional predecessors, several novellas-in-verse, and a lot of stories and narrative poems. Hopefully it has evolved by incorporating the best elements of its predecessors. As to improvement, I always want the book I am writing to be the best thing I’ve ever done, to be that much more powerful and revelatory than the books that preceded it. Any writer who doesn’t think he or she can improve is — what would be a good word — misguided.
Q: Xeno Atlas is a fascinating character and the end of “The Bestiary” leaves room for a possible follow-up. Will readers get to see anymore of Xeno in future volumes and if so, what can we look forward to? If not, could you perhaps speculate on where Xeno’s story might take you if you were to continue writing him?
Nicholas: I would leave the ending as it is. That is where I wanted Xeno to be when the story ended. As for a sequel, that is difficult to consider now, because in the months after completing a novel, one always misses the characters he has been living with for years. That said, because Xeno is still a young man at book’s end, and because he was a character I enjoyed inhabiting, I can see him returning at some point with the next part of his story. He has come to a crossroads at the end of THE BESTIARY and it would be fascinating to me to discover which road he takes from there.
Q: You’re working on a new novel called “It Was Freddie Moran Who Betrayed Me” and a book about the mythography of islands. Can you tell us anymore about these works?
Nicholas: The novel is in its earliest stages, pieces being assembled in notebooks, scaffolding being erected. I have twenty pages that I believe are opening of the novel. It is about betrayal, in its many permutations, emotional, spiritual, and material. The book about islands is one that has been continually shunted aside as I have become enmeshed in my recent novels. I wrote a book about film noir and the American city, SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT, which has just come out in an expanded edition on its tenth anniversary. That book arose from my deep interest in the films, most of which I had seen (about 300 films) before I ever thought of writing the book. I am also passionate about islands and their myths, but I need to do quite a bit of research before I begin writing the book in earnest. And I am now about two-thirds of the way through my new book of poems, which I hope to hand in late this year. Working in two genres comes naturally to me; when I move to a third, things get more hectic. And I don’t want them to be that hectic just now.
Q: As mentioned before, you’re also a prolific poet. How different is it writing poetry opposed to writing a novel, and how does one format influence the other?
Nicholas: I was a poet first, and I was publishing my poems in magazines and journals while still in college. When I began writing fiction in my mid-twenties, I thought at first that I must keep the two disciplines separate. I wanted to write fiction that was borne along by strong narratives and fully rounded characters. I did not want to write a beautifully wrought, but narratively aimless, novel — pejoratively called “a poet’s novel.” But I soon realized that the precision and imagistic facility necessary to produce a vivid poem are among the tools required when one is constructing an extended narrative line and delineating character. My training as a poet, and the fact I write and publish poetry as steadily as I ever did, have helped me to strive always for precision and economy in my novels, no matter how dense or complex the subject matter.
Q: Nowadays it’s not uncommon to see books adapted into movies, comic books, television or other formats and you already mentioned film options. Can you give us any details on these projects?
Nicholas: VERONICA has been optioned by Michael Birnbaum of Empire Pictures. A wonderful screenwriter, Harley Peyton (Twin Peaks), and a terrific director, Yann Samuell, are working with him. Their conception of the film is quite amazing, and is now being taken to the major studios. My first novel THE SOLOIST has been optioned several times, and the current optioner, Ken Marino, has written a first-rate script and is putting together his cast. I think THE BESTIARY would make for a very interesting film, and there has already been interest in it, so I expect it will be optioned soon. I’ve been told my book A TRIP TO THE STARS would make for a very fine long film or mini-series – and I agree!
Q: Let’s fantasize for a bit. What would be your dream adaptation?
Nicholas: My dream adaptation would be the one I listed above for VERONICA, with the people who are now working on it.
Q: What about you as a writer? You said earlier that you have enough on your plate at the moment, but would you ever consider trying a different medium (comic books, television, movie scripts, videogames, etc.) or genre (horror, sci-fi, suspense, etc.)?
Nicholas: I would love to do a comic or illustrated novel sometime. As for genres, as I said above, my books already cross lines and are read in very different ways. I would want to try whatever genre worked for the story I was telling; if one genre — sci-fi, suspense — began to dominate the novel, wonderful, I would go with that and consider myself fortunate.
Q: As someone who’s had a wealth of experience teaching and is currently a professor of the Writing Division of the School of the Arts at Columbia University, what advice would you give to an aspiring writer?
Nicholas: Write every day without fail. Be true to your vision. Be open to everything. Read anything and everything that whets your appetite. Pay no attention to distinctions between “high” and “low” culture; take in everything and use what you need and want. Be very careful about who you listen to when it comes to your work. Know that the work will absorb huge portions of your life; if you can’t or won’t rejoice in that, you shouldn’t write. That’s the long answer; the short is: write every day without fail.
Q: Do you happen to have a favorite book or poem that you’ve written?
Nicholas: I have no favorites. THE BESTIARY and A TRIP TO THE STARS, and my poetry collection 5˚ emerged from my imagination exactly as I hoped they would. VERONICA set my fiction on an entirely new road. Each of my books carried me forward, to the making of the next book. Each of them has its own meaning for me. But the meaning they have for my readers is what’s important to me once they’re completed.
Q: What about a least favorite story, something you wish you could go back and change or fix?
Nicholas: Not really. I might change a line here or there in a few of the poems in my first collection, which consisted of all the poems I wrote between the ages of 18 and 28. Maybe one of the subplots in my first novel. I don’t say that with hubris; I simply respect the books as they were written. I’ve managed not to publish things that, later on, gave me grief. I’m lucky in that I’ve written exactly what I wanted to write and had the very best publishers bring the work out. I have never written anything I did not want to write. As a poet, that’s a given; as a novelist, it’s a choice.
Q: What would you consider to be some of personal favorite authors or books?
Nicholas: Too many to list… All of Dickens and Tolstoy and the other Russians, Proust and Musil, Zbigniew Herbert, W.S. Merwin, Charles Simic, Mark Strand, all of James Salter’s fiction, Borges, Marquez, Calvino, all of Charles Nicholl’s nonfiction, the late trilogies of Céline and Burroughs’, Ondaatje’s IN THE SKIN OF A LION, Bellow’s HUMBOLDT’S GIFT, much of Hemingway, Nabokov, THE TALE OF GENJI, THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS, the poetry of Ritsos, Montale, Hecht, and Stevens, Olaf Stapledon’s science fiction. Donne and Blake. Too many to list…
Q: Are there any up-and-coming writers that we should know about?
Nicholas: Darin Strauss, Diane Vadino, Dana Spiotta, Dana Goodyear
Q: Obviously you love to travel. What are some of your favorite places to visit and where would you recommend traveling to?
Nicholas: The outer Hawaiian Islands, the Greek islands of Hydra and Naxos, the Grenadines, Paris, Venice — especially Venice. I like islands and I like real cities. Manhattan is both, but when you are in Venice you know you are both in a city and series of islands.
Q: Anything else you would like to share with your readers?
Nicholas: Everything I really want to say, I’ve tried putting into my books. I hope they bring any reader pleasure and joy. I still think Nabokov’s definition of a successful poem is the best definition I know: he said it should send a tingle up your spine. A novel should send a whole series of tingles – a burst of imaginative energy. I hope THE BESTIARY takes you on a journey that leaves you fulfilled.
Official Hachette Book Group USA WebsiteOrder “Exposure” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
In his first two books – “Lit Light” and its sequel “Gotham Tragic”, Kurt Wenzel explored the highs & lows of the publishing world, New York City and Islamic religion. Now, I haven’t read either of those books, but when I saw the description for Kurt Wenzel’s newest novel “Exposure” – “a blistering mash-up of science fiction and mystery…William Gibson (Neuromancer, Spook Country) meets Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, Rant)” – I was definitely intrigued.
With “Exposure”, Mr. Wenzel takes on Los Angeles and in particular Hollywood, introducing readers to a frightening near future (2017) where digitalism has taken on a life of its own. We’re talking about a Hollywood where moving image billboards (MIBs) are plastered virtually everywhere – on buildings, cars, mirrors, in bathroom stalls, etc.; where ReStars – digitized versions of deceased movie actors like Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant and so on have been resurrected to sell products in commercials; and where advertising on the moon, on your home, in your conversations and even on your body, are just around the corner. And let’s not forget the wild animals that are addicted to fast food, the manufactured drugs (Bliss) which offer a high unlike anything else, and the Home Security Checkpoints (HSCs) – random security stops where agents with nearly unlimited powers can violate a person’s life, all in the name of anti-terrorism. Quite a milieu if I do say so, but what’s most fascinating about Mr. Wenzel’s vision is that it’s not science fiction…these are all plausible concepts or scenarios that could easily transpire in our lifetimes, and, in some cases, are already nearly a reality.
As far as the story, “Exposure” follows a group of screenwriters, actors, agents, television personalities and other ‘Hollywood’ types who get caught up in a fast-moving plot that is part Hollywood satire, part whodunit, part science fiction extrapolation and a statement on America’s infatuation with image, advertisements polluting our lives, & the loss of privacy. Storylines include the friendship between screenwriter Marshall Reed and the number one actor in the world Colt Reston, not to mention plenty of background information regarding the two; the Black Book – a mysterious novel with no title or author that talks about the dangers of media saturation; Mr. Black, the unnamed writer behind the Black Book who offers journalist Lindsay Williams an exclusive interview; competing talent agencies; antimedia cabals, inexplicable diseases; murder and other shadowy conspiracies. Basically, there’s a lot to process in such a small book (262 pages), but everything and everyone is somehow connected to one another, so as “Exposure” builds towards its climax, which features some unexpected revelations, all of the individual pieces start coming together and are wrapped up nicely by the end, though some parts will require a suspension of disbelief, while a couple of others are left unanswered.
So, what did I think about my first Kurt Wenzel book? For starters, the author’s writing really impressed me with the deft dialogue, better-than-average characterization, well-orchestrated surprises (though a couple were predictable), excellent pacing and some nice symbolism, not to mention the issues that he brings up regarding image & advertising, which I thought were pretty interesting. The story itself grabbed me from the first page, was hard to put down and, apart from some slow moments, was over before I even knew it. Above all, Kurt Wenzel’s “Exposure” was just fun to read, reminding me somewhat of a cross between the movie S1m0ne starring Al Pacino, the F/X television show Nip/Tuck and the noirish elements from Blade Runner or Richard K. Morgan’s “Altered Carbon”, and I would not hesitate in recommending this book to anyone who’s looking for a good time…
With “Exposure”, Mr. Wenzel takes on Los Angeles and in particular Hollywood, introducing readers to a frightening near future (2017) where digitalism has taken on a life of its own. We’re talking about a Hollywood where moving image billboards (MIBs) are plastered virtually everywhere – on buildings, cars, mirrors, in bathroom stalls, etc.; where ReStars – digitized versions of deceased movie actors like Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant and so on have been resurrected to sell products in commercials; and where advertising on the moon, on your home, in your conversations and even on your body, are just around the corner. And let’s not forget the wild animals that are addicted to fast food, the manufactured drugs (Bliss) which offer a high unlike anything else, and the Home Security Checkpoints (HSCs) – random security stops where agents with nearly unlimited powers can violate a person’s life, all in the name of anti-terrorism. Quite a milieu if I do say so, but what’s most fascinating about Mr. Wenzel’s vision is that it’s not science fiction…these are all plausible concepts or scenarios that could easily transpire in our lifetimes, and, in some cases, are already nearly a reality.
As far as the story, “Exposure” follows a group of screenwriters, actors, agents, television personalities and other ‘Hollywood’ types who get caught up in a fast-moving plot that is part Hollywood satire, part whodunit, part science fiction extrapolation and a statement on America’s infatuation with image, advertisements polluting our lives, & the loss of privacy. Storylines include the friendship between screenwriter Marshall Reed and the number one actor in the world Colt Reston, not to mention plenty of background information regarding the two; the Black Book – a mysterious novel with no title or author that talks about the dangers of media saturation; Mr. Black, the unnamed writer behind the Black Book who offers journalist Lindsay Williams an exclusive interview; competing talent agencies; antimedia cabals, inexplicable diseases; murder and other shadowy conspiracies. Basically, there’s a lot to process in such a small book (262 pages), but everything and everyone is somehow connected to one another, so as “Exposure” builds towards its climax, which features some unexpected revelations, all of the individual pieces start coming together and are wrapped up nicely by the end, though some parts will require a suspension of disbelief, while a couple of others are left unanswered.
So, what did I think about my first Kurt Wenzel book? For starters, the author’s writing really impressed me with the deft dialogue, better-than-average characterization, well-orchestrated surprises (though a couple were predictable), excellent pacing and some nice symbolism, not to mention the issues that he brings up regarding image & advertising, which I thought were pretty interesting. The story itself grabbed me from the first page, was hard to put down and, apart from some slow moments, was over before I even knew it. Above all, Kurt Wenzel’s “Exposure” was just fun to read, reminding me somewhat of a cross between the movie S1m0ne starring Al Pacino, the F/X television show Nip/Tuck and the noirish elements from Blade Runner or Richard K. Morgan’s “Altered Carbon”, and I would not hesitate in recommending this book to anyone who’s looking for a good time…
Starting August 1, 2007 and running through September, the Reader’s Paradise Bookstore in South Africa will be hosting their first-ever Fantasy Feast. During the two-month event, any books purchased that are part of the promotion will include a Signed Bookplate from the author. Among the 40+ fantasy/science-fiction writers participating there is Neil Gaiman, Terry Brooks, Laurell K. Hamilton, Jacqueline Carey, Charlie Huston, Orson Scott Card, Tad Williams, L.E. Modesitt Jr., Charlie Stross, James Clemens, Daniel Abraham, Kate Elliott and many others. Additionally, every book purchase during the event will automatically enter you in the Fantasy Feast Raffle where prizes include autographed items by Terry Brooks, Tad Williams & L.E. Modesitt Jr. among other cool prizes. Fortunately, for anyone not in the Cape Town, South Africa area, you can get details on how to order a book that is part of the promotion by EMAILING Reader’s Paradise Bookstore. Click HERE for the full scoop on Fantasy Feast!!!
Over at Newsarama, there’s a six-page preview of Voodoo Child #1 HERE, which was created by Nicholas Cage (Ghost Rider, National Treasure) & son Weston. The comic book is written by Mike Carey (Ultimate Fantastic Four, X-Men, Hellblazer), – interviewed HERE by yours truly – drawn by Dean Hyrapiet, and will be released July 11, 2007 via Virgin Comics (John Woo’s “7 Brothers”, Guy Ritchie’s “Game Keeper”). Read Newsarama’s interview with the Cages HERE, check out a review of issue one HERE, and view the synopsis below:
“In 1860, the plantation of Mason Moore—a known Unionist sympathizer—is burned to the ground by secessionists. In the battle, Moore’s illegitimate son is killed, but as he gasps his last breaths, a voodoo bokor places a spell upon the dying boy. Flash forward to 2005: four months after the worst natural disaster in its history, New Orleans is gripped by fear as young girls start to disappear from its streets while a brutal gang war rages. When Detective Robert Julien starts to investigate, he finds that there's something else out in the shadows: something that's neither dead nor alive—an enigma. But is it a possible ally, or the darkest nightmare of all?”
David Morrell, award-winning author of numerous novels including “First Blood”, which introduced the character John Rambo, – turned into a film franchise starring Sylvester Stallone (Rocky, Cliffhanger) – recently sold the rights to “The Brotherhood of the Rose” (1984) to Warner Bros Pictures. The book was originally adapted as a television miniseries for NBC in 1989 starring Robert Mitchum, Peter Strauss & David Morse. Mr. Morrell’s latest thriller is called “Scavenger” (Released March 2007) and brings back protagonist Frank Balenger (Creepers).
Staying on the subject of movies, the big news over the weekend was not so much the successful opening of Michael Bay’s Transformers – $152 million grossed domestically, $246 million worldwide – but the trailer that accompanied it. Speculations have run rampart regarding the untitled film, – described as a Blair Witch Project-styled giant monster/sci-fi flick – but about all that’s really concrete is that J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias) produced it, and that it will be released 1-18-08. There’s actually a website HERE and you can now view the trailer via Apple HERE. Looks interesting…
Lastly, but definitely not least, there are a ton of news books released today, including the sequel to “The Traveler” – John Twelve Hawk’s “The Dark River”, the debut novel from noted comic book writer Mike Carey, additional debuts from David Bilsborough & Camille Deangelis, and the latest from Emma Bull, not to mention others that I’ve probably overlooked. I won’t get into specifics on these titles, but you get links to excerpts, websites, etc., on the aforementioned HERE.
Over at Newsarama, there’s a six-page preview of Voodoo Child #1 HERE, which was created by Nicholas Cage (Ghost Rider, National Treasure) & son Weston. The comic book is written by Mike Carey (Ultimate Fantastic Four, X-Men, Hellblazer), – interviewed HERE by yours truly – drawn by Dean Hyrapiet, and will be released July 11, 2007 via Virgin Comics (John Woo’s “7 Brothers”, Guy Ritchie’s “Game Keeper”). Read Newsarama’s interview with the Cages HERE, check out a review of issue one HERE, and view the synopsis below:“In 1860, the plantation of Mason Moore—a known Unionist sympathizer—is burned to the ground by secessionists. In the battle, Moore’s illegitimate son is killed, but as he gasps his last breaths, a voodoo bokor places a spell upon the dying boy. Flash forward to 2005: four months after the worst natural disaster in its history, New Orleans is gripped by fear as young girls start to disappear from its streets while a brutal gang war rages. When Detective Robert Julien starts to investigate, he finds that there's something else out in the shadows: something that's neither dead nor alive—an enigma. But is it a possible ally, or the darkest nightmare of all?”
David Morrell, award-winning author of numerous novels including “First Blood”, which introduced the character John Rambo, – turned into a film franchise starring Sylvester Stallone (Rocky, Cliffhanger) – recently sold the rights to “The Brotherhood of the Rose” (1984) to Warner Bros Pictures. The book was originally adapted as a television miniseries for NBC in 1989 starring Robert Mitchum, Peter Strauss & David Morse. Mr. Morrell’s latest thriller is called “Scavenger” (Released March 2007) and brings back protagonist Frank Balenger (Creepers).Staying on the subject of movies, the big news over the weekend was not so much the successful opening of Michael Bay’s Transformers – $152 million grossed domestically, $246 million worldwide – but the trailer that accompanied it. Speculations have run rampart regarding the untitled film, – described as a Blair Witch Project-styled giant monster/sci-fi flick – but about all that’s really concrete is that J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias) produced it, and that it will be released 1-18-08. There’s actually a website HERE and you can now view the trailer via Apple HERE. Looks interesting…
Lastly, but definitely not least, there are a ton of news books released today, including the sequel to “The Traveler” – John Twelve Hawk’s “The Dark River”, the debut novel from noted comic book writer Mike Carey, additional debuts from David Bilsborough & Camille Deangelis, and the latest from Emma Bull, not to mention others that I’ve probably overlooked. I won’t get into specifics on these titles, but you get links to excerpts, websites, etc., on the aforementioned HERE.
Order “The Wanderer’s Tale" HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
In fantasy circles there’s been some hype surrounding “The Wanderer’s Tale”, the debut novel from Malvern, England writer David Bilsborough. The problem with hype is that more often than not, the item in question fails to live up to expectations, and at least from the early reviews that I’ve seen, “The Wanderer’s Tale” seems to have fallen well short of its mark. Of course, I’m not one to make assumptions based on another person’s opinions, so I tried to keep an open mind when reading Mr. Bilsborough’s massive debut. Alas, the results were not that pretty…
Described as an “epic fantasy series in the very best tradition of Tolkien”, “The Wanderer’s Tale” – part one of a duology that will be concluded in "A Fire In the North" – is an old-school story about a band of misfits embarking on a quest north to Melhus through the land of Lindormyn – populated by many different races, religions, deities and other creatures – to prevent Drauglir, The Evil One, from being resurrected 500 years after he was supposedly slain. Along the way, the travelers get caught up in numerous (mis)adventures as they journey through strange lands and meet up with a menagerie of beasts – ogres, Leucrota, wolves, Huldre, Jaculus, Ganferd, Spriggans, Kobolds, Afanc, giants, etc. – both familiar & terrifying…
Based on the synopsis alone, comparisons to J.R.R. Tolkien are inevitable though there’s actually much more to “The Wanderer’s Tale” than just another Lord of the Rings clone. True, Tolkien was a major influence in Mr. Bilsborough’s debut from the main premise to the novel’s prose and the land of Lindormyn, which comes across as very Middle Earth. Yet, the author has cited various other influences in the book such as Dungeons & Dragons, the Silent Hill video game and the British television comedy The League of Gentlemen, all of which have been incorporated into “The Wanderer’s Tale” in some way. The end result is a novel that is either trying to make fun of or reinvent the traditional ‘quest’ fantasy.
This is where the book gets tricky, because I can’t decide what it’s trying to be. On the one hand, “The Wanderer’s Tale” is a largely stereotypical fantasy that features occasional moments where the author is trying hard to explore a different angle, such as the whole ‘good vs. evil’ scenario, what it means to be a hero, the concept of fate, the ramifications of killing, developing characters & plot in unexpected directions, and so forth. At other times, the book doesn’t seem to take itself seriously at all and reads more like some sort of bad slapstick comedy act. Whatever it is that Mr. Bilsborough is trying to accomplish, it doesn’t quite work and the main reason is the writing.
Basically, Mr. Bilsborough is an author who is biting off more than he can chew in his debut. Stylistically, I thought Mr. Bilsborough did okay in the descriptive department though he tries to be too sophisticated and clever for his own good. Pacing wise, “The Wanderer’s Tale” is an uneven read that is way too long and would benefit from some tightening up. Plotting is simplistic and it’s pretty easy to guess all of the book’s ‘surprises’. Atmospherically, the author tries to convey different moods representing horror, suspense, bravery, wonder, etc., but as a reader I was never fully convinced. Where the book really starts to go wrong however, is the characterization. Whether it was the cookie-cutter protagonists, their shallow developments, the infantile dialogue/musings, their ludicrous interactions with one another, the way that the third-person narratives jumped around haphazardly when there was more than one character involved, or the noticeable lack of any female personalities, the characterization was just substandard at best. Let’s just say that I’ve seen better character development in cheesy RPG videogames, which is not known as one of their strong points.
Of course, it’s not all bad. Take the world of Lindorymn for example. Sure, it’s very “Tolkienesque” as a whole, but there was a lot of love put into its creation, evidenced by its rich mythology, and there were actually some truly imaginative monsters, cultures and other concepts that were introduced, especially in the latter half of the book. Speaking of which, a little over halfway in, the novel starts following a single viewpoint for several chapters, which I thought were some of the better moments in the book and showed, albeit briefly, that Mr. Bilsborough could write a character as long as that was his main focus. There were other areas interspersed throughout the book that flashed promise as well, but truth be told, the negatives far outweigh the positives in “The Wanderer’s Tale”.
In the end, David Bilsborough’s “The Wanderer’s Tale” is a fantasy that aspired for great things, – even though I’m still not sure what that was – but ultimately failed due to poor writing & execution. Yet, I have to give the man some due. Supposedly the author spent twelve years writing “The Wanderer’s Tale”, after it was originally conceived as a poem at the age of 15. Add to that 130 rejections from agents and another 60 from publishers, and it’s hard not to be impressed with Mr. Bilsborough’s perseverance. Of course, it will probably take that same perseverance for readers just to finish “The Wanderer’s Tale” in the first place…
Described as an “epic fantasy series in the very best tradition of Tolkien”, “The Wanderer’s Tale” – part one of a duology that will be concluded in "A Fire In the North" – is an old-school story about a band of misfits embarking on a quest north to Melhus through the land of Lindormyn – populated by many different races, religions, deities and other creatures – to prevent Drauglir, The Evil One, from being resurrected 500 years after he was supposedly slain. Along the way, the travelers get caught up in numerous (mis)adventures as they journey through strange lands and meet up with a menagerie of beasts – ogres, Leucrota, wolves, Huldre, Jaculus, Ganferd, Spriggans, Kobolds, Afanc, giants, etc. – both familiar & terrifying…
Based on the synopsis alone, comparisons to J.R.R. Tolkien are inevitable though there’s actually much more to “The Wanderer’s Tale” than just another Lord of the Rings clone. True, Tolkien was a major influence in Mr. Bilsborough’s debut from the main premise to the novel’s prose and the land of Lindormyn, which comes across as very Middle Earth. Yet, the author has cited various other influences in the book such as Dungeons & Dragons, the Silent Hill video game and the British television comedy The League of Gentlemen, all of which have been incorporated into “The Wanderer’s Tale” in some way. The end result is a novel that is either trying to make fun of or reinvent the traditional ‘quest’ fantasy.
This is where the book gets tricky, because I can’t decide what it’s trying to be. On the one hand, “The Wanderer’s Tale” is a largely stereotypical fantasy that features occasional moments where the author is trying hard to explore a different angle, such as the whole ‘good vs. evil’ scenario, what it means to be a hero, the concept of fate, the ramifications of killing, developing characters & plot in unexpected directions, and so forth. At other times, the book doesn’t seem to take itself seriously at all and reads more like some sort of bad slapstick comedy act. Whatever it is that Mr. Bilsborough is trying to accomplish, it doesn’t quite work and the main reason is the writing.
Basically, Mr. Bilsborough is an author who is biting off more than he can chew in his debut. Stylistically, I thought Mr. Bilsborough did okay in the descriptive department though he tries to be too sophisticated and clever for his own good. Pacing wise, “The Wanderer’s Tale” is an uneven read that is way too long and would benefit from some tightening up. Plotting is simplistic and it’s pretty easy to guess all of the book’s ‘surprises’. Atmospherically, the author tries to convey different moods representing horror, suspense, bravery, wonder, etc., but as a reader I was never fully convinced. Where the book really starts to go wrong however, is the characterization. Whether it was the cookie-cutter protagonists, their shallow developments, the infantile dialogue/musings, their ludicrous interactions with one another, the way that the third-person narratives jumped around haphazardly when there was more than one character involved, or the noticeable lack of any female personalities, the characterization was just substandard at best. Let’s just say that I’ve seen better character development in cheesy RPG videogames, which is not known as one of their strong points.
Of course, it’s not all bad. Take the world of Lindorymn for example. Sure, it’s very “Tolkienesque” as a whole, but there was a lot of love put into its creation, evidenced by its rich mythology, and there were actually some truly imaginative monsters, cultures and other concepts that were introduced, especially in the latter half of the book. Speaking of which, a little over halfway in, the novel starts following a single viewpoint for several chapters, which I thought were some of the better moments in the book and showed, albeit briefly, that Mr. Bilsborough could write a character as long as that was his main focus. There were other areas interspersed throughout the book that flashed promise as well, but truth be told, the negatives far outweigh the positives in “The Wanderer’s Tale”.
In the end, David Bilsborough’s “The Wanderer’s Tale” is a fantasy that aspired for great things, – even though I’m still not sure what that was – but ultimately failed due to poor writing & execution. Yet, I have to give the man some due. Supposedly the author spent twelve years writing “The Wanderer’s Tale”, after it was originally conceived as a poem at the age of 15. Add to that 130 rejections from agents and another 60 from publishers, and it’s hard not to be impressed with Mr. Bilsborough’s perseverance. Of course, it will probably take that same perseverance for readers just to finish “The Wanderer’s Tale” in the first place…
Official Mike Carey WebsiteOrbit’s Mike Carey Website
Order “The Devil You Know” (US Version) HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s Interview With Mike Carey
Published last year in the UK via Orbit, “The Devil You Know” – the debut novel from Mike Carey, a celebrated comic book writer known for his work on Marvel’s Ultimate Fantastic Four and X-Men, “Hellblazer” & the Eisner Award-nominated “Lucifer” from the DC imprint Vertigo, and such Neil Gaiman-related projects as “Sandman Presents” & “Neverwhere”, – is finally coming stateside thanks to Grand Central Publishing and is a rousing new entry in the world of urban fantasy.
In a genre that has become oversaturated in recent years with second and third-rate carbon copies looking to feed off the successes of more popular series such as Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake novels, “The Devil You Know” is quite a breath of fresh air. Sure, at a glance there may seem to be a lot of similarities: the contemporary setting where the paranormal has become a part of everyday life; the down-on-your-luck main character who narrates in a first-person perspective; the blending of horror, crime noir & humor elements; and so on. Yet, these would only be superficial observations, and if you were to take a closer look at what “The Devil You Know” brings to the table, it becomes pretty apparent that Mr. Carey has imbued the material with his own unique stamp.
For starters, Mike Carey is an experienced writer, especially at setting the ambiance, fleshing out complex characters/plots and delivering snappy dialogue. Just read any of the writer’s comic works, specifically “Lucifer” or “Hellblazer”, for an excellent example. Obviously writing a novel is much different from writing a comic book, but Mr. Carey makes it look easy in “The Devil You Know”, which is an impressive debut that really showcases the author’s better qualities – the city of London is brought keenly to life in all of its gloomy splendor; Felix Castor, reminiscent somewhat of John Constantine from the Hellblazer books, is a wonderfully flawed protagonist who is easy to root for and will endear a lot of readers with his biting commentary & amusing metaphors; side characters, apart from a few stereotypes and a couple of underdeveloped ones, are nearly as fascinating, particularly the conspiracy-theorist zombie Nicky and the flippant Cheryl; the pacing, aside from some lulls towards the beginning and middle area of the book, is gripping; and the story, which Mr. Carey does a good job of executing, is quite entertaining, particularly the scene-stealing black humor that permeates the book courtesy of Mr. Castor, though there’s plenty of supernatural action, gritty violence/sexuality, coarse language, a noirish mystery, and even some profoundly tender moments that add to “The Devil You Know’s” textured flavor.
Now, since “The Devil You Know” is the first in a series of Felix Castor adventures – “Vicious Circle” (Book Two) is out now in the UK, while “Dead Men’s Boots” (Book Three) is due out in September, – don’t expect to know everything by the time you finish the novel. Sure, the main plot of the book is largely wrapped up and the payoff is not disappointing, but more than anything, “The Devil You Know” is an introductory piece to Felix’s world. For instance, readers will get to learn about the different manifestations of the dead, which includes ghosts, zombies and loup-garou (spirits that possess an animal host; more commonly known as were-wolves), as well as meet up with a demon and a succubus. As to what allows the souls of the dead to return as they do, in the forms that they do, and what happens to them when they are exorcised, is one of the great mysteries of the series, which will no doubt be explored in future volumes. Additionally, I believe the Breath of Life movement – a grassroots pressure group campaigning for changes in the law governing the risen dead – will play a larger role in the books to come, and I hope to see more of Rafi (Felix’s friend who is possessed by the demon Asmodeus), get further insights into Felix’s friend/landlord Pen and his preacher brother Matty (both of whom were barely developed in the book), revisit with Nicky & Cheryl (a possible love interest?), and learn even more about Mr. Castor’s dark past. Now, there is at least one unexpected character who is definitely returning in “Vicious Circle” that will present some major complications in Felix’s life, not to mention provide some pretty interesting developments, but to reveal more would ruin the surprise ;). So, let me just conclude by saying that if you’re a fan of supernatural thrillers, urban fantasy or whatever the genre may be called, but you’re in the mood for something a little edgier, fresher and more cathartic, then I would highly recommend “The Devil You Know”, the start of a promising new series that is going to turn a lot of heads by the time Mike Carey is through with it…
In a genre that has become oversaturated in recent years with second and third-rate carbon copies looking to feed off the successes of more popular series such as Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake novels, “The Devil You Know” is quite a breath of fresh air. Sure, at a glance there may seem to be a lot of similarities: the contemporary setting where the paranormal has become a part of everyday life; the down-on-your-luck main character who narrates in a first-person perspective; the blending of horror, crime noir & humor elements; and so on. Yet, these would only be superficial observations, and if you were to take a closer look at what “The Devil You Know” brings to the table, it becomes pretty apparent that Mr. Carey has imbued the material with his own unique stamp.
For starters, Mike Carey is an experienced writer, especially at setting the ambiance, fleshing out complex characters/plots and delivering snappy dialogue. Just read any of the writer’s comic works, specifically “Lucifer” or “Hellblazer”, for an excellent example. Obviously writing a novel is much different from writing a comic book, but Mr. Carey makes it look easy in “The Devil You Know”, which is an impressive debut that really showcases the author’s better qualities – the city of London is brought keenly to life in all of its gloomy splendor; Felix Castor, reminiscent somewhat of John Constantine from the Hellblazer books, is a wonderfully flawed protagonist who is easy to root for and will endear a lot of readers with his biting commentary & amusing metaphors; side characters, apart from a few stereotypes and a couple of underdeveloped ones, are nearly as fascinating, particularly the conspiracy-theorist zombie Nicky and the flippant Cheryl; the pacing, aside from some lulls towards the beginning and middle area of the book, is gripping; and the story, which Mr. Carey does a good job of executing, is quite entertaining, particularly the scene-stealing black humor that permeates the book courtesy of Mr. Castor, though there’s plenty of supernatural action, gritty violence/sexuality, coarse language, a noirish mystery, and even some profoundly tender moments that add to “The Devil You Know’s” textured flavor.
Now, since “The Devil You Know” is the first in a series of Felix Castor adventures – “Vicious Circle” (Book Two) is out now in the UK, while “Dead Men’s Boots” (Book Three) is due out in September, – don’t expect to know everything by the time you finish the novel. Sure, the main plot of the book is largely wrapped up and the payoff is not disappointing, but more than anything, “The Devil You Know” is an introductory piece to Felix’s world. For instance, readers will get to learn about the different manifestations of the dead, which includes ghosts, zombies and loup-garou (spirits that possess an animal host; more commonly known as were-wolves), as well as meet up with a demon and a succubus. As to what allows the souls of the dead to return as they do, in the forms that they do, and what happens to them when they are exorcised, is one of the great mysteries of the series, which will no doubt be explored in future volumes. Additionally, I believe the Breath of Life movement – a grassroots pressure group campaigning for changes in the law governing the risen dead – will play a larger role in the books to come, and I hope to see more of Rafi (Felix’s friend who is possessed by the demon Asmodeus), get further insights into Felix’s friend/landlord Pen and his preacher brother Matty (both of whom were barely developed in the book), revisit with Nicky & Cheryl (a possible love interest?), and learn even more about Mr. Castor’s dark past. Now, there is at least one unexpected character who is definitely returning in “Vicious Circle” that will present some major complications in Felix’s life, not to mention provide some pretty interesting developments, but to reveal more would ruin the surprise ;). So, let me just conclude by saying that if you’re a fan of supernatural thrillers, urban fantasy or whatever the genre may be called, but you’re in the mood for something a little edgier, fresher and more cathartic, then I would highly recommend “The Devil You Know”, the start of a promising new series that is going to turn a lot of heads by the time Mike Carey is through with it…
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