The BoSS for 25/07/10

And the big-hitters keep on coming. Best of the week's haul has to be a gorgeous and strictly limited proof of Peter F. Hamilton's The Evolutionary Void, the final part of the Commonwealth saga. Lest we forget I Am Number Four, the next Next Big Thing (after The Passage) in books, a minute new short story collection from Stephen King to tide us over till the release of Full Dark, No Stars and Johannes Cabal the Detective, the second in the oft-acclaimed series from the writer of the Broken Sword video-games.

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.

Read on for a sneak peek at some of the books - past, present and future - you can expect to see coverage of here on The Speculative Scotsman in the coming weeks and months.

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The Evolutionary Void

by Peter F. Hamilton

Release Details:

Published in the UK on
10/09/10 by Macmillan

Review Priority:

4 (Very High)

Plot Synopsis: "Having finally mastered his astonishing psychic abilities and how to harness the power of the city itself, Edeard is dismayed to find that life in Makkathran is as challenging and dangerous as ever. No matter what he does, there always seem to be threats to quash and unrest to settle. Although he knows he can eventually rid the city of corruption and anarchy, he is coming to understand that he himself will have to pay a terrible price for Makkathran's peace and liberty."

Commentary: And lo, the epic Commonwealth saga comes to a close... for now. The Evolutionary Void wraps up the story began a decade and perhaps 5000 pages ago. I'm tremendously pleased to have scored a copy of the latest from "Britain's number one science fiction writer" - not least because the proof came, much to my surprise, signed by the author and individually numbered - but I've got a great deal of catching up to do if I hope to have read it before its release date in September. The Dreaming Void, here I come!

Blockade Billy

by Stephen King

Release Details:

Published in the UK on

25/05/10 by Hodder & Stoughton

Review Priority:

5 (Immediate)

Plot Synopsis: "Even the most diehard baseball fans don't know the true story of William Blakely. He may have been the greatest player the game has ever seen, but today no one remembers his name. He was the first - and only - player to have his existence completely removed from the record books. Even his team is long forgotten, barely a footnote in the game's history.

"Every effort was made to erase any evidence that William Blakely played professional baseball, and with good reason. Blockade Billy had a secret darker than any pill or injection that might cause a scandal in sports today. His secret was much, much worse..."Commentary: Horror junkies need not fret: this minute volume isn't our Stephen King for the year. Blockade Billy contains just two short stories - novelettes if you're feeling generous. One about baseball, the other, "Morality" (which just won a Shirley Jackson award), an indecent proposal. I've... um, well. I've read them already. Couldn't help myself! There should be a review up shortly, but my thoughts, in short: I don't know that "Blockade Billy" was meant for me, but the second story contained in this lavishly presented book really hit home. Stay tuned for more, but rest assured, in the meantime, that the inclusion of "Morality" alone makes Blockade Billy worth the price of admission.

Johannes Cabal the Detective

by Jonathan L. Howard

Release Details:

Published in the UK on
08/07/10 by Headline

Review Priority:

4 (Very High)

Plot Synopsis: "For necromancer Johannes Cabal, dealing with devils, demons and raising the dead is pretty much par for the course. But when his attempt to steal a rare book turns sour, he is faced by a far more terrifying entity – politics. While awaiting execution for his crime, Cabal is forced to resurrect an inconveniently deceased emperor. Seizing his chance, the cunning Cabal engineers his escape, fleeing the country on a state-of-the-art flying ship. But the ship has more than a few unpleasant surprises, including an unwelcome face from the past and the small matter of some mysterious murders. Cabal may work with corpses but he has absolutely no intention of becoming one. Drawn into a deadly conspiracy, is he shuffling dangerously close to the end of his mortal coil?"Commentary: I think I'll be in the minority when I admit that I just didn't feel the first book in this series. Johannes Cabal the Necromancer was a bit of fun, but so disconnected as to distract me, and its sense of humour - despite appearing to be similar to my own - simply didn't win me over. My complaints aside, and I understand them to be very particular complaints, I did have a good time reading Jonathan L. Howard's first novel, and I have high hopes for the sequel: the cliffhanger which book one ended on could very well enrich the cold titular character with the emotional context he lacked before.

Plus, isn't that a great cover? I'll be reading Johannes Cabal the Detective as soon as I'm done with The Way of Kings - expect reviews of both of Howard's books to go live within the next few weeks.

The Scent of Rain and Lightning

by Nancy Pickard

Release Details:

Published in the UK on

22/07/10 by Hodder & Stoughton

Review Priority:

4 (Very High)

Plot Synopsis: "Twenty-six years ago, when she was only three months old, Jody Linder's father was murdered as she slept in her cot. Her mother vanished, presumed dead.

"Local trouble-maker Billy Crosby confessed to the murder and was locked up, leaving his wife and son to face the consequences in the small Kansas town of Rose. But his son Collin, now a lawyer, has successfully petitioned for a retrial, which means that - for now - Billy is back in town.

"Jody is horrified - the man who tore her family apart is living just a few streets away. So why does she find herself wondering if Collin is right? What if Billy was innocent, and her close-knit family has been hiding a terrible secret all these years?"

Commentary: Call me easily pleased, call me Ishmael, but I'd read this on the strength of its starkly beautiful title alone. The Scent of Rain and Lightning, can you imagine it? Can you smell it?

The blurb doesn't sound half bad either. Definitely reading and reviewing this one for a forthcoming experiment TSS readers have convinced me to give a go: a bit of gritty crime fiction mixed in with your daily dose of far-flung speculation. Should be fun.

I Am Number Four
by Pittacus Lore

Release Details:

Published in the UK on

26/08/10 by Michael Joseph

Review Priority:

5 (Immediate)

Plot Synopsis: "John Smith is not your average teenager. He regularly moves from small town to small town. He changes his name and identity. He does not put down roots. He cannot tell anyone who or what he really is. If he stops moving those who hunt him will find and kill him. But you can’t run forever. So when he stops in Paradise, Ohio, John decides to try and settle down. To fit in. And for the first time he makes some real friends. People he cares about – and who care about him. Never in John’s short life has there been space for friendship, or even love. But it’s just a matter of time before John’s secret is revealed. He was once one of nine. Three of them have been killed. John is Number Four. He knows that he is next..."

Commentary: Discussed this at some length in the Unbooking last week - check it out here. The review's already scheduled, so I won't say any more. Keep your peepers peeled for more on I Am Number Four very soon.

Light Boxes

by Shane Jones

Release Details:

Published in the UK on

03/06/10 by Hamish Hamilton

Review Priority:

3 (Moderate)

Plot Synopsis: "February is persecuting the townspeople. It has been winter for more than three hundred days. All forms of flight are banned and the children have started to disappear, taken from their beds in the middle of the night. The priests hang ominous sheets of parchment on the trees, signed ‘February’. And somewhere on the outskirts of the town lives February himself, with the girl who smells of honey and smoke... In short bursts of intensely poetic language, this beautifully strange and otherworldly first novel tells the story of the people in the town and their efforts to combat the mysterious spectre of February. Steeped in visual imagery, this is a hauntingly enigmatic modern fairy tale – in which nothing is as it seems."

Commentary: Maybe it's just me, but Light Boxes strikes me as... Gaiman-esque, I suppose? Perhaps I'm way off base. Regardless, this is a very slim volume, beautifully presented in the mode of Japanese paperbacks, and it sounds hypnotic. Light Boxes has quite the story, too: first published with a print run of only 500 copies, word of mouth made Shane Jones' debut a cult success, much buzzed-about - now it's coming out from publishers around the world, and I'm very much looking forward to giving it a shot.

Traitor's Gate

by Kate Elliot

Release Details:

Published in the UK on
05/08/10 by Orbit

Review Priority:

2 (Fair)

Plot Synopsis: "Reeve Joss is struggling to defend a country ravaged by the assaults of twin armies. His men now patrol a land of burning villages and homeless refugees as Joss tries to separate traitor from friend. The Reeve's thoughts are also plagued by the intriguing Zubaidit, pleasure-giver, spy and temple-trained assassin. But Zubaidit is focused on a dangerous mission, her target being warped Guardian Lord Radas. His death would leave the invading militia in chaos, but the old tales tell truly of the Guardians' immortality - and of the powers they now wield to twist the hearts of men. Joss's nights are also troubled, disturbed by dreams of Marit. His lost love has returned from death to become a feared Guardian herself, but Marit rejected the corrupt temptations they offered. She now seeks others of her kind, praying some are yet uncontaminated by the blight on the land - and have the will to fight it."

Commentary: Ah, Traitor's Gate. Would that I could read you, but you're the concluding volume of a trilogy. I can't decide if the book deities love me or hate me: all these books are great - give me an extra 80 years and I'll read every one - but with such an abundance of speculative fiction, I seem to have gotten that much more discriminating with my time and my tastes. Thus, I doubt I'll get to Kate Elliot until she starts a new series that doesn't require so much prep-work to properly engage with. Sad but true.