The BoSS for 21/11/10

The scent of mistletoe's officially in the air - thanks in no small part to the Charlaine Harris-edited anthology featured in The BoSS this week - so I guess I can't be a Christmas denier much longer. Still, give me till the end of November! I've got (at least) The Half-Made World and the new N. K. Jemisin to get through before advent's upon us, and there's nowt festive about either of those. Tell you what: you keep your festivities for just a little while longer, and I'll have at a few choice fantasies - how about that?

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 else 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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A Discovery of Witches
by Deborah Harkness

Release Details:

Published in the UK on
03/02/11 by Headline

Review Priority:

4 (Very High)

Plot Synopsis: "When historian Diana Bishop opens an alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, it's an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordered life. Though Diana is a witch of impeccable lineage, the violent death of her parents while she was still a child convinced her that human fear is more potent than any witchcraft. Now Diana has unwittingly exposed herself to a world she's kept at bay for years; one of powerful witches, creative, destructive daemons and long-lived vampires. Sensing the significance of Diana's discovery, the creatures gather in Oxford, among them the enigmatic Matthew Clairmont, a vampire genticist. Diana is inexplicably drawn to Matthew and, in a shadowy world of half-truths and old enmities, ties herself to him without fully understanding the ancient line they are crossing. As they begin to unlock the secrets of the manuscript and their feelings for each other deepen, so the fragile balance of peace unravels..."

Commentary: This arrived a little while ago, in actual fact. Just before my week in Krakov - I'm playing catch-up again! - and I would have gladly had away with it then were my luggage allowance a little more generous. Headling seem to be positioning A Discovery of Witches as the next big thing in paranormal romance, and though that realisation rather dampens my enthusiasm for supposed former historical fiction author Deborah Harkness' novel, I've read a little, and it feel more along the lines of Blake Charlton's Spellwright to me - which, you might recall, I rather adored.

Here's hoping!

One way or another, I'll have a review of this rather mammoth new shiny up on TSS well in advance of its release in February next year; and that's a promise I mean to keep.

Autumn

by David Moody

Release Details:

Published in the UK on
28/10/09 by Gollancz

Review Priority:

3 (Moderate)

Plot Synopsis: "In less than twenty-four hours a vicious and virulent disease destroys virtually all of the population. Billions are killed. Thousands die every second. There are no symptoms and no warnings. Within moments of infection each victim suffers a violent and agonizing death. Only a handful of survivors remain. By the end of the first day those survivors wish they were dead. Then the disease strikes again, and all hell breaks loose..."

Commentary: Oh no. It's happened again! Autumn is the latest - well, not quite: it's the first in a series of old novels, republished thanks to Gollancz - from the dude what wrote Hater and Dog Blood, both of which I absolutely meant to read when they came through the door.

Damn it!

Well. Here's David Moody doing zombies - again; add to that, Autumn's a pretty short novel, so let's cross our fingers and hope the third time's the charm.

Pax Britannia: The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus

by Jonathan Green

Release Details:

Published in the UK on
11/11/10 by Abaddon

Review Priority:

3 (Moderate)

Plot Synopsis: "Ulysses Quicksilver, dandy, adventurer and agent of the throne. A steam-punk hero on a dark alternative universe where Queen Victoria has ruled for 160 years, sinister powers plot against the


"British Empire and dinosaurs roam the Challenger enclosure at London Zoo. This is the world of Magna Britannia, a brave new age of steam populated by heroes and villains, monsters and grotesques.


"Volume 1 in this series collect together the first three Ulysses Quicksilver novels: Unnatural History, Leviathan Rising and Human Nature."

Commentary: Hmm. Supposedly, Pax Britannia is spiffing stuff. We shall see - it certainly sounds interesting; foppish, steampunky fun, I'd guess - but if I'm honest, it'll probably be the new year before I can put aside to time to make it through this three-novel omnibus. Still and all, it's sweet and damned convenient of Abaddon to package up the Ulysses Quicksilver books the way they have.

The Broken Kingdoms

by N. K. Jemisin

Release Details:

Published in the UK on

04/11/10 by Orbit

Review Priority:

4 (Very High)

Plot Synopsis: "In the city of Shadow, beneath the World Tree, alleyways shimmer with magic and godlings live hidden among mortalkind. Oree Shoth, a blind artist, takes in a homeless man who glows like a living sun to her strange sight. However, this act of kindness is to engulf Oree in a nightmarish conspiracy. Someone, somehow, is murdering godlings, leaving their desecrated bodies all over the city. Oree's peculiar guest is at the heart of it, his presence putting her in mortal danger - but is it him the killers want, or Oree? And is the earthly power of the Arameri king their ultimate goal, or have they set their sights on the Lord of Night himself?"

Commentary: Would you credit it? It seems I still have some catching up to do: though my lovely other half read and eventually adored The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, somehow, I ended up passing on my turn with N. K. Jemisin's debut once she was done.

Well, what better time to remedy that error than now!

Except, perhaps, once book three - which perhaps wrongly I presume will be the series' climax - is nearer to the horizon-line. Amazon's listing Kingdom of Gods as an October 2011 release. Mayhap I should hold off on reading volumes one and two till nearer then?

Or are these books another of the year's must-reads?

Best American Mystery Stories 2010

edited by Lee Child & Otto Penzler

Release Details:

Published in the UK on
01/11/10 by Corvus

Review Priority:

3 (Moderate)

Plot Synopsis: "Featuring twenty of the year's standout crime short stories handpicked by one of the world's best thriller writers, Best American Mystery Stories 2010 showcases not only the very best of the crime genre, but the best of American writing full stop. Within its pages, literary legends rub shoulders with the hottest new talent. Contributors in the past have included James Lee Burke, Jeffrey Deaver, Michael Connelly, Alice Munro and Joyce Carol Oates. This year's guest editor is Lee Child, the creator of Jack Reacher and a simultaneous bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic."

Commentary: So it is crime? Or is this mystery? These should be a lark in any event; a nice way for me to paddle in a pool I'm not, I'll readily confess, terribly familiar with at all. In particular, the Joyce Carol Oates - whose forthcoming collection Give Me Your Heart has been calling out to me for months already - appeals.

Safe to say, I think, I'll definitely be picking the latest Best American Mystery Stories up the next time I've had it up to here with and/or need a break from fantasy.

The Half-Made World
by Felix Gilman

Release Details:

Published in the US on
12/10/10 by Tor / Forge

Review Priority:

5 (Immediate)

Plot Synopsis: "The world is only half made. What exists has been carved out amidst a war between two rival factions: the Line, paving the world with industry and claiming its residents as slaves; and the Gun, a cult of terror and violence that cripples the population with fear. The only hope at stopping them has seemingly disappeared — the Red Republic that once battled the Gun and the Line, and almost won. Now they’re just a myth, a bedtime story parents tell their children, of hope.

"To the west lies a vast, uncharted world, inhabited only by the legends of the immortal and powerful Hill People, who live at one with the earth and its elements. Liv Alverhyusen, a doctor of the new science of psychology, travels to the edge of the made world to a spiritually protected mental institution in order to study the minds of those broken by the Gun and the Line. In its rooms lies an old general of the Red Republic, a man whose shattered mind just may hold the secret to stopping the Gun and the Line. And either side will do anything to understand how."

Commentary: Of all the books to have arrived with me for review this week, The Half-Made World is far and away the one I'm most looking forward to. I've heard great things, and this kind of post-collapse narrative really rubs me the right way. Sounds like The Road meets Mr Shivers: two of my very favourite novels of recent memory, don't you know. I've got a bit on my plate at the moment, but be sure of a review of this gorgeous looking, sounding and - am I imagining it? - smelling book before Christmas and the time for year's-best considerations is upon us.

Wolfsbane and Mistletoe

edited by Charlaine Harris & Toni L. P. Kelner

Release Details:

Published in the UK on
18/11/10 by Gollancz

Review Priority:

3 (Moderate)

Plot Synopsis: "We all know the holiday season can bring out the beast in anyone - but it's especially hard if you're a lycanthrope! Gathered here together is a veritable feast of fears and tears: fifteen of the scariest, saddest, funniest werewolf tales, by an outstanding pack of authors, best read by the light of the full moon, and with a silver bullet close at hand. In 'Gift Wrap', Sookie Stackhouse is feeling mighty sorry for herself, all alone for Christmas - until she meets someone with bigger problems than loneliness . . . Patricia Briggs gives us the story of lone wolf David Christiansen, who needs to mend fences with his daughter, before it's too late. In 'Christmas Past', Keri Arthur tells the tale of Hannah, who gets an unmerry and potentially life-threatening Christmas present when the hunky werewolf who dumped her last Christmas Eve turns up as her partner on the hunt for a vampire serial killer. All these and more feature in Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, the perfect antidote to Christmas mawkishness!"

Commentary: You know, I'm all for the anti-Xmas, so I certainly appreciate the sentiment behind this timely anthology. Sadly, however, the list of contributors to Wolfsbane and Mistletoe does nothing for me.

Maybe I'll read the Sookie thing. I'm probably kidding myself on, but hey, you never know. The festive spirit and all that. Sure enough the thing'll sell by the bucket-load whatever my disinterest.

Cheery note to leave things on for this week, eh? Well, you know... humbug! :D