The BoSS for 08/08/10

Another week has passed - give it back! - and with it, the arrival of another gang of books at TSS HQ. Among the highlights, The Very Best of Charles de Lint, which (shame on me) will mark my first taste of the oft-touted titular author; not to mention a collection of investigative non-fiction from David Grann, he who gave us The Lost City of Z; and The Gathering Night, a somber-sounding ecological fable with a gorgeous cover.

What? When did you ever get the impression that I was hard to please. :D

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 Gathering Night

by Margaret Elphinstone

Release Details:

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

Review Priority:

4 (Very High)

Plot Synopsis: "Between Grandmother Mountain and the cold sea, Alaia and her family live off the land. But when one of her brothers goes hunting and never returns, the fragile balance of life is upset. Half-starved and maddened with grief, Alaia's mother follows her visions and goes in search of her lost son. The Gathering Night is a story of conflict, loss, love, adventure and devastating natural disaster."

Commentary: I've done my due diligence on The Gathering Night (which is to say I've read a bit about it on Amazon) and going from that extensive survey of objective opinion, I'm not entirely sure this environmentally-conscious fable set in the Mesolithic era from the author of Hy Brasil will be for me. For one reason or another I'm put in mind of Clan of the Cave Bears, and that's my Mum's fantasy of choice, not mine. And yet, I'm going to read it, because sometimes what you least expect to surprise you is exactly the thing that does. Anyway, isn't that just the loveliest cover? In person it sparkles and everything... how could I not crack it open?

So Cold the River
by Michael Koryta

Release Details:

Published in the UK on
02/09/10 by Hodder & Stoughton

Review Priority:

3 (Moderate)

Plot Synopsis: "Ninety-five-year-old millionaire Campbell Bradford is dying.


"His family have hired ex-filmmaker Eric Shaw to make a documentary about him, but Campbell's childhood is shrouded in mystery. The only clues to his past are the name of his hometown and an antique glass water bottle that he’s kept his entire life.


"Arriving in West Baden with the bottle and a camera, Shaw begins to have vivid and disturbing visions. And the more he finds out about the town and the man, the more he suspects that something besides the West Baden Springs Hotel has just been restored...


"Something dark and terrifying. And cold."

Commentary: Another book for the crime week. I've mentioned that already, haven't I? No idea when it'll be, as of yet, but I've pulled together what I presume to be the best of all the crime fiction that's come through for review for my impending walk on the wild side, and I tend to suspect So Cold the River fills the bill just fine. Stop me if I'm embarrassingly far off base here, but the Koryta one sounds a little like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - you know, an old man at the centre of an investigation - and I loved that rather unreasonably.

Empire of Light

by Gary Gibson

 

Release Details:

Published in the UK on
07/05/10 by Tor

Review Priority:

2 (Fair)

Plot Synopsis: "The nova war has begun to spread as the Emissaries wage a fierce and reckless campaign, encroaching on the area of space occupied by humanity and forcing the Shoal into a desperate retreat. While Dakota goes in search of the entity responsible for creating the Maker caches, Corso, left in charge of a fleet of human-piloted Magi ships, finds his authority crumbling in the face of assassination attempts and politically-motivated sabotage.

"If any hope exists at all, it lies in an abandoned asteroid a thousand light-years beyond the Consortium's borders, and with Ty Whitecloud, the only man alive with the skill to decipher the messages left behind by an ancient race of star travelers. Unfortunately Whitecloud is locked in a prison cell aboard a dying coreship adrift in space, awaiting execution for war crimes against Corso's own people. But if humanity has any hope of survival, Corso is going to have to find some way to keep him alive - and that's only if Dakota doesn't kill him first..."

Commentary: As with Blood and Iron from Tor last week, and every other book I get through for consideration from Orbit, sadly, Empire of Light is volume three of a continuing series. As a series it sounds good - puts me in mind of Peter F. Hamilton's Commonwealth saga - but short of finding copies of Stealing Light and Nova War and the time to read them, I regret to admit that I probably won't be reviewing the latest banner sci-fi from Gary Gibson.
 

The Very Best of Charles de Lint

by Charles de Lint

Release Details:

Published in the US on

01/08/10 by Tachyon Publications

Review Priority:

5 (Immediate)

Plot Synopsis: "At turns whimsical, dark, and mystical, this extraordinary collection of retold fairy tales and new, modern myths redefine the boundaries of magic. Compiling favoured stories suggested by the author and his fans, this delightful treasury contains the most esteemed and beloved selections that de Lint has to offer. Innovative characters in unexpected places are the key to each plot: playful Crow Girls who sneak into the homes of their sleeping neighbours; a graffiti artist who risks everything to expose a long-standing conspiracy; a half-human girl who must choose between her village and her strange birthright; and an unrepentant trickster who throws one last party to reveal a folkloric tradition. Showcasing some of the finest offerings within the realms of urban fantasy and magical realism, this essential compendium of timeless tales will charm and inspire."

Commentary: Score! I've been desperate to try my eye at some Charles de Lint for the longest time - at least since I spotted the Charles Vess connection, and that was back in my comic-book reading days - so the release of this lavish collection of his finest short fiction from Tachyon Publications in the States is exactly what the doctor ordered. Can't hardly wait to get dug in. Maybe I'll even slip a short story in before bed tonight! A tale of faerie hijinx should be the perfect antidote to yet another chapter of The Way of Kings - not that I'm not enjoying that book, I should say, but man is it an exercise in long-assery...

Of Saints and Shadows
by Christopher Golden

Release Details:

Published in the UK on

09/07/10 by Pocket Books

Review Priority:

3 (Moderate)

Plot Synopsis: "A secret sect of the Catholic Church, armed with an ancient book of the undead called The Gospel of Shadows, has been slowly destroying vampires for centuries. Now the book has been stolen, and the sect races to retrieve it before their purpose is discovered: a final purge of all vampires. As the line between saints and shadows grows ominously faint, private eye Peter Octavian is drawn into the search. And he'll do anything to find the book... for Peter Octavian is also a vampire. Ostracized by his kindred for refusing to take part in the 'blood song', he cannot stand by and watch while they are destroyed. In a deadly game with a driven, sadistic assassin, the trail leads to Venice at the time of carnival, where the Defiant Ones, as the vampires are known, are engaged in a savage battle for their lives. Filled with plot twists, mystery, sex and violent death, Of Saints and Shadows is a spine-tingling thriller which opens the door to the world of The Shadow Saga."

Commentary: Secret vampires! Doesn't exactly sound "startlingly original," does it? Well, as per her somewhat suspect cover quote, vamp-queen Charlaine Harris certainly thinks it is, so... what? Is Of Saints and Shadows for me? As like as not, I suppose. I've read some of Christopher Golden's work in the past and found it perfectly adequate. Perhaps now he's working on his own fiction rather than co-writing the spark I've found wanting in the past has been ignited. Let me get back to you on that.

The Necromancer

by Michael Scott

Release Details:

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

Review Priority:

2 (Fair)

Plot Synopsis: "Sophie and Josh have returned to San Francisco. They must protect themselves from the Dark Elders, but they've not yet mastered the magic they'll need to do so. Their trust in Nicholas Flamel is shaken, and their friend Scatty is missing. Unbeknownst to the twins, John Dee has amassed an enormous army of foul creatures, with which he plans to battle Nicholas and his wife, Peronelle. In order for his plan to work, he must train a necromancer to raise the Mother of the Gods from the dead. The twins of legend will make the perfect pupils in his diabolical scheme."

Commentary: The Necromancer - not to be confused with Johannes Cabal, with whom Nicholas Flamel shares a profession - is the fourth book of a projected six in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series. That's pretty much all I have to say about this one.

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes

by David Grann

Release Details:

Published in the UK on
04/03/10 by Simon & Schuster

Review Priority:

4 (Very High)

Plot Synopsis: "As Sherlock Holmes once conceded to Dr. Watson, 'If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the planning, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chain of events, working through generations and leading to the most outre results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable.' And with such a spirit for investigation and discovery does David Grann set out in The Devil and Sherlock Holmes to unravel the truth of twelve great, real-life mysteries. Although Holmes is the subject of just one of the mesmerizing true stories in this collection, all twelve contain elements of intrigue. Many of the protagonists are sleuths: a Polish detective trying to determine whether an author planted clues to a real murder in his post-modern novel; an arson investigator racing to prove whether a man about to be executed is innocent; a legendary French con man questioning whether he is the one who is suddenly being conned; and scientists stalking a sea monster. Unlike the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, these tales are all true. The protagonists are mortal and pieces of the puzzle often elude them. Some of the characters are driven to deception and murder. Others go mad. But ultimately the stories contained in The Devil and Sherlock Holmes shed light on the human condition, and why some people on this earth devote themselves to good and others to evil.

Commentary: Weird, huh? In two weeks, two very different books related to Arthur Conan Doyle. In the last BoSS, we talked about The Complete Brigadier Gerard, a collection of the revered Victorian author's lesser-known works, and here - would you look at that - we have The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, David Grann's follow-up to the The Lost City of Z, a fascinating retelling of man's battle with the mighty Amazon rainforest. Well, as Holmes put it, "Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent." I loved The Lost City of Z; I fully expect to be entertained and educated to an equal degree by this book.