The BoSS for 03/03/10

Top of the morning to you!

I'm not here right now. That's been well and truly established in several posts here on The Speculative Scotsman already. But there's no stopping the BoSS. Who's to say what's been breaking the postman's back since I left for my week away, but here, dear readers, is a quick look at a few of the advance proofs and review copies I'd recieved before my departure.

Click through to read Meet the BoSS for an introduction and an explanation as to why you should care about the Bag o' Speculative Swag.

With that, here's a sneak peek at some of the juciest genre fiction you can expect to see reviewed on the blog in the near future.

***

Veteran
by Gavin Smith

Release Details:

Published in the UK on

17/06/10 by Gollancz

Review Priority:

4 (Very High)

Plot Synopsis: "Three hundred years in our future, in a world of alien infiltrators, religious hackers, a vast convoying nation of Nomads, city sized orbital elevators, and a cyborg pirate king who believes himself to be a mythological demon Jakob is having a bad day: "Nothing gets in the way of a hangover like being reactivated by your old C.O and told to track down an alien killing machine. The same kind of killing machine that wiped out my entire squad. And now it's in my hometown.

"My name is Jakob Douglas, ex-special forces. I fought Them. Just like we've all been doing for 60 bloody years. But I thought my part in that was done with. My boss has other ideas. If I didn't find the infiltrator then he'd let the Grey Lady loose on me. And believe me; even They've got nothing on her. So I took the job. It went to shit even faster than normal. And now I'm on the run with this teenage hacker who's had enough of prostitution. The only people I can rely on want to turn the internet into God. And now it turns out that They aren't quite what we'd all thought. I've been to the bottom of the sea and the top of the sky and beyond trying to get to the truth. And I still can't get far enough away from the Grey Lady. All things considered I'd rather be back at home deep in a whiskey bottle."

Commentary: Gavin Smith's debut comes to us courtesy of the great Simon Spanton: the very man who brought us the likes of Scott Lynch, Patrick Rothfuss and Sam Sykes. In other words, the bar's set good and high. It remains to be seen whether Veteran can scale such dizzying heights, but you know what? It's set in Dundee. I've been to Dundee! They have a statue of Desperate Dan! Needless to say, I'm sold. Veteran sounds like it could be a bunch of fun.

Apartment 16

by Adam Neville

Release Details:

Published in the UK on

21/05/10 by Pan

Review Priority:

3 (Moderate)

Plot Synopsis: "In Barrington House, an upmarket block in London, there is an empty apartment. No one goes in, no one comes out. And it’s been that way for fifty years. Until the night watchman hears a disturbance after midnight and investigates. What he experiences is enough to change his life forever.

"A young American woman, Apryl, arrives at Barrington House. She's been left an apartment by her mysterious Great Aunt Lillian who died in strange circumstances. Rumours claim Lillian was mad. But her diary suggests she was implicated in a horrific and inexplicable event decades ago.

"Determined to learn something of this eccentric woman, Apryl begins to unravel the hidden story of Barrington House. She discovers that a transforming, evil force still inhabits the building. And the doorway to Apartment 16 is a gateway to something altogether more terrifying..."

Commentary: Hmm. I'm not at all familiar with Adam Neville, but with Joe Hill's Horns read and reviewed I've been on the lookout for my next fix of horror fiction, and there's every chance Apartment 16 could be it. It sounds a little derivative, sure, but the prose - from what little I've read - looks solid, and hell, I'm always up for a good haunted house story. My only real reservation is that the publicity materials liken Neville's forthcoming second novel to The Birthing House, a truly terrible bit of tripe. Here's hoping there isn't much truth to that particular comparison.

Shine: An Anthology of
Optimistic Science Fiction

by Alastair Reynolds, Kay Kenyon,
Jason Stoddard, Holly Phillips et al.

Release Details:

Published in the UK on

16/04/10 by Solaris Books

Review Priority:

3 (Moderate)

Plot Synopsis: "A collection of gems that throw light on a brighter future. Some of the world's most talented SF writers show how things can change for the better. From gritty polyannas to workable futures, from hard-fought progress to a better tomorrow; heart-warming and mind-expanding stories that will re-awaken the optimist in you!"

Commentary: I love me a good short story collection, and Shine looks it could be just what the doctor ordered. No less than sixteen tales of hopeful speculation on the future of humanity await within its pages, and I'm familiar with enough contributors that Shine could be a perfect way in to those writers I haven't heard of.  Of course, there's an upside and a downside to a collection of such sci-fi as this book brings together; the former being that the genre isn't known for its optimism, so Shine should be a nice change of pace, and the latter being that there's perhaps more room than usual for preachy. With a little luck, editor Jetse de Vries is well aware of that fact. At the least, this should make for a few great palette-cleansers between larger endeavors.

Shadow Prowler
by Alexey Pehov

Release Details:

Published in the UK on

01/04/10 by Simon & Schuster

Review Priority:

4 (Very High)

Plot Synopsis: "After centuries of calm, the Nameless One is stirring. An army is gathering: giants, ogres and other creatures joining forces from across the Desolate Lands, united for the first time in history under one black banner. By the spring, or perhaps sooner, the Nameless One and his forces will be at the walls of the great city of Avendoom. Unless Shadow Harold, master thief, can find some way to stop them.

"Epic fantasy at its best, Shadow Prowler is the first in a trilogy that follows professional thief Shadow Harold on his quest for a magic Horn that will restore peace to the kingdom of Siala. Accompanied by an elfin princess, ten Wild Hearts - the most experienced and dangerous royal fighters - and the King's court jester (who may be more than he seems ...or less), Harold must outwit angry demons, escape the clutches of a band of hired murderers, survive ten bloody skirmishes ...and reach the burial grounds before dark. Can he escape a fate worse than death?"

Commentary: This might be the first we're hearing of Alexey Pehov, but he's become a household name in the Motherland, where Shadow Prowler and its sequels are widely held to be the most popular fantasy books in Russia. Released nearly a decade ago as Stealth in the Shadows, it's about time English-speaking readers got to see what all the fuss is about, and with six-figure acquisition deals in the UK and the States, there's every chance Shadow Prowler could be the next Night Watch. In fact, the two books even share the same translator. I'm excited to see if Pehov's first novel - he's published nine to date - holds up to the high watermark of that comparison.

In Great Waters

by Kit Whitfield

Release Details:

Published in the UK on
04/03/10 by Vintage

Review Priority:

3 (Moderate)

Plot Synopsis: "In a tense, divided court, a young princess watches her mother struggle to hold the throne. On a remote coastal estate, a scholar finds a child washed up on the shore. Anne Henry, a Christian princess of the royal blood. A pagan bastard, groomed all his hidden, lonely life to make a grab for the crown. In this work of stunning imagination, Kit Whitfield has written a fictional history at once familiar and alien. Since the ninth century, when the deeps men invaded Venice, an uneasy alliance has held between the people of the land and the sea. That alliance was brokered by the warrior queen, Angelica, half landsman, half deeps man, the mother of the royal houses of Europe.

"Now, centuries later, no navy can cross the seas without allies in the ocean - and without deeps men guarding its shores, no nation can withstand invasion. The hybrid kings keep the treaty between both sides, protecting their people from the threat of war. The royal blood is the key to peace, and ferociously protected. The penalties for any landsman who tries to breed with a deeps man are severe; the fate of any 'bastard' child, born of such an illegitimate union, is terrible. But the royal house of England is staggering, collapsing under the weight of centuries of inbreeding. Anne prays for guidance, a way into the future without hatred or bloodshed. Henry holds with fierce certainty that only the strong survive. But if either of them is to outlive the coming conflict, they may need more deeps man faith alone..."

Commentary: I'm sorry to admit that I'd have overlooked In Great Waters entirely were it not for a recommendation from a fellow bloggery sort whose taste in fiction I hold in high regard. But I have it now, and it looks - and sounds - quite incredible. By all rights In Great Waters looks like a difficult bit of speculative fiction, but the buzz from those who've persevered through to the end is uniformly positive, and hey, I'm all for a challenge.

The World House

by Guy Adams

Release Details:

Published in the UK on
04/02/10 by Angry Robot

Review Priority:

3 (Moderate)

Plot Synopsis: "There is a box. Inside that box is a door. Beyond that door is a house. They have searched for a way inside for centuries.

"In some rooms forests grow. In others, prisoners wait. At the very top of the house, a prisoner sits behind a locked door waiting for a key to turn. The day that happens, the world will end..."

Commentary: I've heard some very positive things about The World House these past few weeks, so it was a real pleasure to recieve a review copy in the mail. If this keeps up I'll have to pledge alliegiance to the Angry Robot Army, won't I? In any event, sometime Emmerdale guest star Guy Adams is the current chair of the British Fantasy Society, and though I believe this is his first original novel, I'm good and ready to get stuck in. The premise sounds right up my alley - though for some reason I'm reminded of Saw II. As to why, well, search me...