The BoSS for 07/11/10

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... the new Joe Abercrombie!

Need I say more?

Well, no. But I really should. The Heroes is the biggie, I suppose, but there's a lot in The BoSS this week to get excited about, not least World War Z - at last! - and the new novel from Let the Right One In author John Ajvide Lindqvist. In books received terms it's been a week to remember, I'll tell you that.

Let's us get to it, then...

For the moment, click through to Meet the BoSS for an introduction and an explanation as to why you should care about the Bag o' Speculative Swag, or 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 Heroes
by Joe Abercrombie

Release Details:

Published in the UK on
27/01/11 by Gollancz

Review Priority:

5 (Immediate)

Plot Synopsis: "They say Black Dow's killed more men than winter, and clawed his way to the throne of the North up a hill of skulls. The King of the Union, ever a jealous neighbour, is not about to stand smiling by while he claws his way any higher. The orders have been given and the armies are toiling through the northern mud. Thousands of men are converging on a forgotten ring of stones, on a worthless hill, in an unimportant valley, and they've brought a lot of sharpened metal with them. Bremer dan Gorst, disgraced master swordsman, has sworn to reclaim his stolen honour on the battlefield. Obsessed with redemption and addicted to violence, he's far past caring how much blood gets spilled in the attempt. Even if it's his own. Prince Calder isn't interested in honour, and still less in getting himself killed. All he wants is power, and he'll tell any lie, use any trick, and betray any friend to get it. Just as long as he doesn't have to fight for it himself. Curnden Craw, the last honest man in the North, has gained nothing from a life of warfare but swollen knees and frayed nerves. He hardly even cares who wins any more, he just wants to do the right thing. But can he even tell what that is with the world burning down around him? Over three bloody days of battle, the fate of the North will be decided. But with both sides riddled by intrigues, follies, feuds and petty jealousies, it is unlikely to be the noblest hearts, or even the strongest arms that prevail. Three men. One battle. No Heroes."

Commentary: God yes!

Mind you, every speculative Brit blogger and their mothers seem to have reviewed The Heroes already. Oh well.

It's nice to get a little early buzz going, of course, but for myself, I don't know that I quite see the point in adding to the hubbub when we've still so long to go before The Heroes hits store shelves. From Adam's review over at The Wertzone, and James Long's, I think you probably already know Abercrombie's latest is a work of fantasy art. And indeed, it is. For my money, The Heroes is his best yet by a sizeable margin.

But more on that in January, I think. After all the fun and games to come towards the end-of-year. Then we'll start talking about 2011.

The Red Wolf Conspiracy

by Robert V. S. Reddick

Release Details:

Published in the UK on
14/05/09 by Gollancz

Review Priority:

4 (Very High)

Plot Synopsis: "The Chathrand - The Great Ship, The Wind-Palace, His Supremacy's First Fancy - is the last of her kind - built 600 years ago she dwarves all the ships around her. The secrets of her construction are long lost. She was the pride of the Empire. The natural choice for the great diplomatic voyage to seal the peace with the last of the Emperor's last enemies. 700 souls boarded her. Her sadistic Captain Nilus Rose, the Emperor's Ambassador and Thasha, the daughter he plans to marry off to seal the treaty, a spy master and six assassins, one hundred imperial marines, Pazel the tarboy gifted and cursed by his mother's spell and a small band of Ixchel. The Ixchel sneaked aboard and now hide below decks amongst the rats. Intent on their own mission. But there is treachery afoot. Behind the plans for peace lies the shadow of war and the fear that a dead king might live again. And now the Chathrand, having survived countless battles and centuries of typhoons has gone missing. This is her story."

Commentary: Oh, the sea, you say? Ships? These things... these are things I like.

The write-up on Strange Horizons leaves me rather keen on The Red Wolf Conspiracy. Add to that, I have a copy of the sequel - Rats and the Ruling Sea - too. Hands up all you Robert Reddick fans! You think I should get to this sooner, or leave it for the moment?

Midnight

by Stephen Leather

Release Details:

Published in the UK on
20/10/11 by Hodder & Stoughton

Review Priority:

3 (Moderate)

Plot Synopsis: "Jack Nightingale found it hard enough to save lives when he was a cop. Now he needs to save a soul – his sister's. But to save her he has to find her and they’ve been separated since birth.

"When everyone Jack talks to about his sister dies horribly, he realises that someone, or something, is determined to keep them apart. If he's going to save his sister, he's going to have to do what he does best - negotiate. But any negotiation with the forces of darkness comes at a terrible price. And first Jack must ask himself the question: is every soul worth saving?"

Commentary: Near enough a year to the day since Nightfall, along comes Midnight, the second in thriller grandmaster's Stephen Leather's latest series.

I might give this a go despite the dodgy reviews of the first book to feature Jack Nightingale... there's certainly the temptation. But then, I've never read Leather before, and is this really the place to start, given Midnight's mixed reception? Any fans prepared to argue the toss on his behalf? Anyone?

The Tiger
by John Vaillant

Release Details:

Published in the UK on
02/09/10 by Sceptre

Review Priority:

4 (Very High)

Plot Synopsis: "It’s December 1997, and a man-eating tiger is on the prowl outside a remote village in Russia’s Far East. The tiger isn’t just killing people, it’s annihilating them, and a team of men and their dogs must hunt it on foot through the forest in the brutal cold. As the trackers sift through the gruesome remains of the victims, they discover that these attacks aren’t random: the tiger is apparently engaged in a vendetta. Injured, starving, and extremely dangerous, the tiger must be found before it strikes again.

As he re-creates these extraordinary events, John Vaillant gives us an unforgettable portrait of this spectacularly beautiful and mysterious region. We meet the native tribes who for centuries have worshipped and lived alongside tigers, even sharing their kills with them. We witness the arrival of Russian settlers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, soldiers and hunters who greatly diminished the tiger populations. And we come to know their descendants, who, crushed by poverty, have turned to poaching and further upset the natural balance of the region.

"This ancient, tenuous relationship between man and predator is at the very heart of this remarkable book. Throughout we encounter surprising theories of how humans and tigers may have evolved to coexist, how we may have developed as scavengers rather than hunters, and how early Homo sapiens may have fit seamlessly into the tiger’s ecosystem. Above all, we come to understand the endangered Siberian tiger, a highly intelligent super-predator that can grow to ten feet long, weigh more than six hundred pounds, and range daily over vast territories of forest and mountain.

"Beautifully written and deeply informative, The Tiger circles around three main characters: Vladimir Markov, a poacher killed by the tiger; Yuri Trush, the lead tracker; and the tiger himself. It is an absolutely gripping tale of man and nature that leads inexorably to a final showdown in a clearing deep in the taiga."

Commentary: Oddly, I kind of trust Jeff Vandermeer. I say oddly; I don't suppose it's really so odd at all. Near enough every book he's recommended, either on Ecstatic Days or the Amazon blog Omnivoracious, has been a treat that'd have as like as not slipped under my radar were it not for his say-so. And so. And say. Thus, The Tiger.

I'm all for a good bit of non-fiction, and nothing stirs me quite like a story of survival. Plus I have this leftover love of tigers after Life of Pi. Not that this particular tiger sounds anywhere near so reasonable as the stowaway zoo animal Pi Patel had to live with...

Wait, what was I talking about again?

The Fall

by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan

Release Details:

Published in the UK on

16/09/10 by HarperCollins

Review Priority:

3 (Moderate)

Plot Synopsis: "Humans have been displaced at the top of the food chain, and now understand – to their outright horror – what it is to be not the consumer, but the consumed.

"Ephraim Goodweather, director of the New York office of the Centers for Disease control, is one of the few humans who understands what is really happening. Vampires have arrived in New York City, and their condition is contagious. If they cannot be contained, the entire world is at risk of infection.

"As Eph becomes consumed with the battle against the total corruption of humanity, his ex-wife, Kelly, now a vampire herself, is ever-more determined to claim their son, Zack.

"As the Biblical origins of the Ancient ones are gradually revealed, Eph learns that there is a greater, more terrible plan in store for the human race – worse even than annihilation..."

Commentary: Ah, another second volume. It's been too long! Well, I've had a copy of The Strain for ages - picked it up as part of a rare charity shop haul earlier in the year, best pleased (I might add) to have finally come across something more to my tastes than another complete collection of Mills & Boon.

Perhaps it's about time to give a go...

I mean, I do love me my Guillermo del Toro. Can't help but wonder if in fact he's had much to do with this series though, you know?

World War Z

by Max Brooks

Release Details:

Published in the UK on
27/06/07 by Duckworth

Review Priority:

4 (Very High)

Plot Synopsis: "It began with rumours from China about another pandemic. Then the cases started to multiply and what had looked like the stirrings of a criminal underclass, even the beginnings of a revolution, soon revealed itself to be much, much worse. Faced with a future of mindless, man-eating horror, humanity was forced to accept the logic of world government and face events that tested our sanity and our sense of reality. Based on extensive interviews with survivors and key players in the 10-year fight-back against the horde, World War Z brings the very finest traditions of American journalism to bear on what is surely the most incredible story in the history of civilisation."

Commentary: Well. At long bloody last, am I right?

I've been meaning to read World War Z for years, now, and though I've just missed Halloween, I'm thinking: for this apparent masterwork I'll take a left out of my lovely colleague Graeme's book (he of the Fantasy Book Review) and say if it's got zombie in, I'm in. :D

Harbour

by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Release Details:

Published in the UK on
30/09/10 by Quercus

Review Priority:

4 (Very High)

Plot Synopsis: "It was a beautiful winter's day. Anders, his wife and their feisty six-year-old, Maja, set out across the ice of the Swedish archipelago to visit the lighthouse on Gavasten. There was no one around, so they let her go on ahead. And she disappeared, seemingly into thin air, and was never found. Two years later, Anders is a broken alcoholic, his life ruined. He returns to the archipelago, the home of his childhood and his family. But all he finds are Maja's toys and through the haze of memory, loss and alcohol, he realizes that someone - or something - is trying to communicate with him. Soon enough, his return sets in motion a series of horrifying events which exposes a mysterious and troubling relationship between the inhabitants of the remote island and the sea."

Commentary: So in the process of reviewing Handling the Undead, I took a gander at Amazon to pilfer a blurb and whatnot, only to discover... new John Ajvide Lindqvist. Excellent news! Well, again, All Hallows might be behind me, but it's not as if there's some rule that says I have to read spooky books when the spooks are most apt to come out.

I'm hoping to make time for Harbour before Christmas. Hoping. Though that said, between you and me the sheer number of books I really should read before declaring my favourites of the year is looking pretty intimidating as is...

Till next time!