Met the old BoSS? Well, let me introduce you to the new BoSS - same as the old BoSS, more or less... except less is more. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
All caught up? Good. Let's get on with it, then.
It's been a quiet week in what's been a particularly quiet year, thus far. So much so that I can't help but wonder if the gleeful abandon with which a certain Hotlist holidaymaker treated his reviews of a gaggle of high profile new releases has left the rest of us bloggers suffering under the strictures of a reactionary new publicity regime. Because it's not like there are some fabby looking books on the way, yet ARCs seem to be thinner on the ground than before.
But I digress. Quiet week or not, there's still been some good stuff, so. To that!
All caught up? Good. Let's get on with it, then.
It's been a quiet week in what's been a particularly quiet year, thus far. So much so that I can't help but wonder if the gleeful abandon with which a certain Hotlist holidaymaker treated his reviews of a gaggle of high profile new releases has left the rest of us bloggers suffering under the strictures of a reactionary new publicity regime. Because it's not like there are some fabby looking books on the way, yet ARCs seem to be thinner on the ground than before.
But I digress. Quiet week or not, there's still been some good stuff, so. To that!
***
The Waters Rising
by Sheri S. Tepper
by Sheri S. Tepper
Vital Statistics
Published in the UK
on 27/01/11
by Gollancz
on 27/01/11
by Gollancz
Review Priority
4 (Pretty Bloody Likely)
The Blurb: Long ago was the Big Kill, a time when the slaughterers walked the earth unseen, killing, departing, returning to kill again and again. Since then mountains have risen, deserts have fallen, the last of humankind has scattered; myth, superstition, and legend have replaced knowledge; and the great waters rising are changing the world.
In the west, the people of Norland live in small kingdoms, unaware that a hideous evil from ages past has been revived. Powers are being used. Curses are being laid... and the waters are rising as never before.
In the west, the people of Norland live in small kingdoms, unaware that a hideous evil from ages past has been revived. Powers are being used. Curses are being laid... and the waters are rising as never before.
A Scotsman's Thoughts: I gather new Sheri S. Tepper is a pretty big deal. I can only gather because - welcome to my weekly confession time - I've never read the lady. I know, I know; shame on me.
This would be my chance, too, except that weirdly, The Waters Rising is a sequel of sorts to Tepper's 1993 novel, A Plague of Angels - and that's fallen out of print. Going off of Amazon's listing, Gollancz will be republishing A Plague of Angels later in the year, but till then I'm faced with that old chestnut of a choice: whether to start a series from the start, which would mean delaying The Waters Rising till late summer, or throw caution to the wind.
I'll probably throw caution to the wind. I hear this one's pretty fine as a standalone, and I'm keen to get at least a taste of all the big deal genre authors my knowledge is spotty on.
Plugged
by Eoin Colfer
Vital Statistics
Published in the UK
on 12/05/11
by Headline Crime
Review Priority
2 (It Could Happen)
The Blurb: Ian, an Irishman who’s ended up in New Jersey, finds himself embroiled in a world of murder, kidnapping and corrupt cops.
Dan
A Scotsman's Thoughts: Hmm. As with The Unremembered last week, I leafed through this one, read a few pages to see whether or not it'll be for me, and came away from the experience less than impressed.
Now I never did get into the Artemis Fowl books - though Plugged seems about as far from what I know of those as possible, so I'd hardly be at a disadvantage if I gave it another shot.
At this stage, the happiest thing I can say about Plugged is that my ARC came, cleverly, with a complimentary plug. Seriously: a plug. And would you believe, I totally needed a plug for the kitchen sink! :)
The Long Song
by Andrea Levy
Vital Statistics
Published in the UK
on 06/01/11
by Headline Review
Review Priority
4 (Pretty Bloody Likely)
The Blurb: You do not know me yet.
My son Thomas, who is publishing this book, tells me, it is customary at this place in a novel to give the reader a little taste of the story that is held within these pages. As your storyteller, I am to convey that this tale is set in Jamaica during the last turbulent years of slavery and the early years of freedom that followed. July is a slave girl who lives upon a sugar plantation named Amity and it is her life that is the subject of this tale. She was there when the Baptist War raged in 1831, and she was also present when slavery was declared no more.
My son says I must convey how the story tells also of July's mama Kitty, of the negroes that worked the plantation land, of Caroline Mortimer the white woman who owned the plantation and many more persons besides - far too many for me to list here. But what befalls them all is carefully chronicled upon these pages for you to peruse. Perhaps, my son suggests, I might write that it is a thrilling journey through that time in the company of people who lived it.
All this he wishes me to pen so the reader can decide if this is a book they might care to consider. Cha, I tell my son, what fuss-fuss. Come, let them just read it for themselves.
A Scotsman's Thoughts: Not what you some of might expect from The Speculative Scotsman, I suppose, but believe it or not, from time to time I do read outside of my favoured few genres. I'm rather late to the party where The Long Song is concerned - I remember there being a lot of attention last year, when it was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize - but I only just saw the blurb whilst idly browsing the books in the supermarket there to fall in love with it. And here I am.
The Long Song is Levy's first novel in six years, and though I didn't much care for Small Island - more fool me, I'm sure - I'll be interested to see if this one's charm can go the distance.
My son Thomas, who is publishing this book, tells me, it is customary at this place in a novel to give the reader a little taste of the story that is held within these pages. As your storyteller, I am to convey that this tale is set in Jamaica during the last turbulent years of slavery and the early years of freedom that followed. July is a slave girl who lives upon a sugar plantation named Amity and it is her life that is the subject of this tale. She was there when the Baptist War raged in 1831, and she was also present when slavery was declared no more.
My son says I must convey how the story tells also of July's mama Kitty, of the negroes that worked the plantation land, of Caroline Mortimer the white woman who owned the plantation and many more persons besides - far too many for me to list here. But what befalls them all is carefully chronicled upon these pages for you to peruse. Perhaps, my son suggests, I might write that it is a thrilling journey through that time in the company of people who lived it.
All this he wishes me to pen so the reader can decide if this is a book they might care to consider. Cha, I tell my son, what fuss-fuss. Come, let them just read it for themselves.
A Scotsman's Thoughts: Not what you some of might expect from The Speculative Scotsman, I suppose, but believe it or not, from time to time I do read outside of my favoured few genres. I'm rather late to the party where The Long Song is concerned - I remember there being a lot of attention last year, when it was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize - but I only just saw the blurb whilst idly browsing the books in the supermarket there to fall in love with it. And here I am.
The Long Song is Levy's first novel in six years, and though I didn't much care for Small Island - more fool me, I'm sure - I'll be interested to see if this one's charm can go the distance.
Autumn: The City
by David Moody
Vital Statistics
Published in the UK
on 20/01/11
by Gollancz
on 20/01/11
by Gollancz
Review Priority
2 (It Could Happen)
The Blurb: A disease of unimaginable ferocity has torn across the face of the planet leaving billions dead. A small group of survivors shelter in the remains of a devastated city, hiding in terror as the full effects of the horrific infection start to become clear. The sudden appearance of a company of soldiers again threatens the survivors' fragile existence. Do they bring with them hope, help and answers, or more pain, fear and suffering?
A Scotsman's Thoughts: I haven't been more disappointed in a book than I was the first part of this five-volume series from the author of Hater since... oh, since The Left Hand of God. Seriously.
I'll be savaging Autumn shortly; given which review, when you see it, you'll better understand why it's so very unlikely I'll get to Autumn: The City any time soon. Not to speak of Autumn: Purification and Autumn: Disintegration, both of which Gollancz will be publishing as 2011 wears on. Yay?
A Scotsman's Thoughts: I haven't been more disappointed in a book than I was the first part of this five-volume series from the author of Hater since... oh, since The Left Hand of God. Seriously.
I'll be savaging Autumn shortly; given which review, when you see it, you'll better understand why it's so very unlikely I'll get to Autumn: The City any time soon. Not to speak of Autumn: Purification and Autumn: Disintegration, both of which Gollancz will be publishing as 2011 wears on. Yay?
Conan's Brethren
by Robert E. Howard
Vital Statistics
Published in the UK
on 20/01/11
by Gollancz
on 20/01/11
by Gollancz
Review Priority
3 (We'll See)
The Blurb: Robert E. Howard was a pulp writer who turned his hand to everything from historical adventure and detective stories to Western and boxing fiction - and invented the genre now known as sword-and-sorcery: it is for these tales of heroic fantasy and horror that he is best remembered. His mighty heroes - including an English Puritan adventurer sent on redressing grievous wrongs, the king of a mythical, antediluvian empire contemporary with Atlantis, a Pictish warrior-king - all these brothers of the sword and more bestrode the pages of Weird Tales and the other pulp magazines of the twenties and thirties.
This companion volume follows on from the success of the first Gollancz Big Black Book featuring Howard's world-famous barbarian king, and contains all the stories featuring his brothers-in-arms, collected together in chronological order, as fresh and atmospheric today as when they were first published in the pulp magazines of more than eighty years ago. Compiled by and with an Afterword by award-winning writer and editor Stephen Jones, and with cover image, frontispiece and internal pictures by the award-winning artist Les Edwards.
This companion volume follows on from the success of the first Gollancz Big Black Book featuring Howard's world-famous barbarian king, and contains all the stories featuring his brothers-in-arms, collected together in chronological order, as fresh and atmospheric today as when they were first published in the pulp magazines of more than eighty years ago. Compiled by and with an Afterword by award-winning writer and editor Stephen Jones, and with cover image, frontispiece and internal pictures by the award-winning artist Les Edwards.
A Scotsman's Thoughts: Conan, eh? Well I confess: I've never read a Conan story. The closest I ever got - and I would wager this is a familiar explanation - was the dodgy duology of films Schwarzenegger starred in, back before his Governator G-1000 days.
But of late I've read a couple of things about Robert E. Howard's original fiction that have me curious, to say the least. Curious about Conan, and indeed his kin - among them the subject of another God-awful adaptation last year: Solomon Kane - so this Big Black Book could be a tremendous coup. Would that I had a copy of the Conan collection itself...
In fact, Amazon? You know what? I'll take one of those, and sure, that one too. Et voila!
But of late I've read a couple of things about Robert E. Howard's original fiction that have me curious, to say the least. Curious about Conan, and indeed his kin - among them the subject of another God-awful adaptation last year: Solomon Kane - so this Big Black Book could be a tremendous coup. Would that I had a copy of the Conan collection itself...
In fact, Amazon? You know what? I'll take one of those, and sure, that one too. Et voila!
***
That's it for this week. But never fear: the nearly-new and probably only moderately improved BoSS will be back at the same bat-time next week, in the same bat-place. See you then!
For the moment, I think... is that The Long Song I can hear, calling me? Why, I think it might just be. :)
Oh, fellow Scot, how I envy thee for the grand adventure upon which thou art about to embark!
ReplyDeleteThe closest I ever got - and I would wager this is a familiar explanation - was the dodgy duology of films Schwarzenegger starred in, back before his Governator G-1000 days.
This was the exact reason it took me so long to read a Conan story. However, seeing them in the Fantasy Masterworks line when I was 16, I decided there must be more to them than what I saw in the films. To say I was blown away would be an understatement!
However, it's important to consider which your first Conan story is. I was lucky, in that mine was "The Tower of the Elephant," one of the very best stories. Unfortunately, I read them in an artificial chronological order, and as a result a lot of the inferior stories were placed in quick succession - though this was made up for in the second volume, which was composed nearly entirely of the best Conan stories of all.
Which Conan volumes have you ordered, may I ask?
I actually think Conan's Brethren is a better way to start with Howard than Conan himself. Conan was Howard's most commercial creation, and he seems devised in order to appeal to audiences - given the character's popularity, it's clear he succeeded. But reading the very different heroes Solomon Kane, Kull, Bran Mak Morn, Turlogh Dubh and James Allison, as well as the historical stories, one experiences far more of a taste of Howard than by reading Conan alone.
Huh.
ReplyDeleteAlright, point taken: maybe I'll lug Conan's Brethren up on holiday with me, instead of waiting for the original stories - it's the big black collection Gollancz put out last year I've ordered.
Appreciate the advice, Taranaich! :)