Heads Up! | Back to The Vorrh

Though I realise that a lot of Alan Moore's later work is lacking, his earlier efforts are so superlative that I'll never not consider myself fan of the man, so when, back in 2012, he blurbed a book called The Vorrh, I got in touch with the publisher—a small press called Honest Publishing—and sorted out a copy.

I went into The Vorrh, then, expecting something special. And fuck me, I found it. From the conclusion of the review I wrote:

Equal parts dark fantasy and surrealist dream, [The Vorrh] is inescapably dense, and unrelentingly intense. Shelve it shoulder to shoulder with 2012’s other most notable novels, be they of the genre or not, then consider carefully which stands lacking in comparison.

It was a decision I dithered about, but I went on to call The Vorrh the second-best book of the year, after only 2312, in Top of the Scots.

Alas, I was and I am only one man, so no matter how strenuously I recommended it, without the word of many mouths, The Vorrh wasn't the unfettered success—commercially, I mean—that it could have been. Should have been, even.

That changes today, with the release of a revised and expanded edition of Brian Catling's dizzyingly good debut. It's out from Hodder & Stoughton hereabouts—and thanks to Vintage, the new edition of The Vorrh is also available in the States.

But wherever you're based, and whatever your tastes, please: read it. It's remarkable.

Let me leave you with the new cover copy, the first sentence of which would surely have sold me on The Vorrh if I wasn't already admirer: 

In the tradition of China Miéville, Michael Moorcock and Alasdair Gray, B. Catling's The Vorrh is literary dark fantasy which wilfully ignores boundaries, crossing over into surrealism, magic-realism, horror and steampunk. 

In B. Catling's twisting, poetic narrative, Bakelite robots lie broken—their hard shells cracked by human desire—and an inquisitive Cyclops waits for his keeper and guardian, growing in all directions. Beyond the colonial city of Essenwald lies the Vorrh, the forest which sucks souls and wipes minds. There, a writer heads out on a giddy mission to experience otherness, fallen angels observe humanity from afar, and two hunters—one carrying a bow carved from his lover, the other a charmed Lee-Enfield rifle—fight to the end. 

Thousands of miles away, famed photographer Eadweard Muybridge attempts to capture the ultimate truth, as rifle heiress Sarah Winchester erects a house to protect her from the spirits of her gun's victims.

The Scotsman Abroad | Dear Year in Review

How's it going, folks?

I'm still in Skye, so forgive the relatively short blog. Hard to believe, but internet access is a precious commodity here, even in the year 2013: I've had to camp out in a WiFi-friendly pub in Portree, complete with a pint of Dark Island and my massive laptop. Fair to say, then, that I look a little conspicuous - there isn't even a smartphone in sight - so I'll keep this quick.

Last week, Strange Horizons' published their round-up of the Year in Review, and I wanted to direct you all towards it. This is the third time I've contributed to the feature, I believe, and as ever, the invite was an absolute highlight.

So what did I do with my 250 words?

Well, given the genre of the books I reviewed for Strange Horizons in 2012, I decided to focus on horror and dark fantasy fiction. Firstly, I burbled about The Drowning Girl: A Memoir - I'll toot my horn about that text any chance I get - but I couldn't very well discuss the year in all things creepy and/or crawly without making mention of season one of The Walking Dead, the incredible episodic entity I named my favourite game of 2012.

Thanks to the alphabet, my contribution comes first, but I implore you to read on for a paragraph or two from a who's-who of the site's most insightful critics. To see my work next to theirs - especially without an asterisk denoting I don't belong amongst such upstanding company - is an astonishing honour.

A brief word of warning: if it's anything like mine, your wallet simply can't handle all this awesome. By all means read the article anyway — just be prepared to seriously consider a new credit card after.

I've been nursing this ale for altogether too long already, so I'd best be off, but we'll talk again on the other side of what's been a deeply geeky holiday!

Back to Dungeons & Dragons and The Grim Company I go. :D

Top of the Scots 2012 | The Best Books: Other Awards

The Five Favourites we talked about yesterday may represent the very pinnacle of 2012's speculative fiction in my eyes, but The Best Books isn't over yet. Not even nearly!

Today, we're going to talk about some of the year's other most notable novels, beginning with a darkly fantastic double-act that only just missed out on proper slots in Top of the Scots' most coveted category.

Runners-Up

A year in which a career best from Caitlin R. Kiernan somehow doesn't make my Five Favourites says more about 2012's abundance of brilliant speculative fiction than it does about The Drowning Girl: A Memoir, which I adored in oh so many senses.

"This [...] is a book of lies, yet there is truth to it, too. The Drowning Girl: A Memoir is unquestionably Caitlín R. Kiernan's most ambitious long-form fiction to date, and its successes are multifarious, its failures truly few. I will say that the twofold conclusion the esteemed author eventually arrives at feels unfortunately hastened, but this doesn't subtract dramatically from the inexorable impact of The End, and again, 'you really have no notion how delightful it will be, was, at the inevitable convergence of those two roads full sail.' Kiernan's prose is in the interim as precise and appealing as ever, if a little less aesthetically poetic by dint of Imp's disorder (or discordant order). Similarly, her capricious characters ring true from their tailbones to their tippy-toes, and however far-fetched it is in fact, there is nothing false about this fiction."

This is one of the rare reviews for other genre-oriented resources that I haven't republished on The Speculative Scotsman, but you can of course read the remainder of the article over here.

To make up for the absences aforementioned, I've discussed my feelings for Kiernan's latest and greatest in more detail in my contributions to both of the other year's best articles I'm a part of. I'll say no more, except to point you towards tor.com and Strange Horizons, where the review excerpted above originally appeared.

Meanwhile, Forge of Darkness - the beginning of The Kharkanas Saga - single-handedly rekindled my interest in The Malazan Book of the Fallen, which I had made I don't know how many attempts to get into in the past.

From my review, which was so long I had to split it in two:

"For a new beginning from a phenomenal fantasy author, Forge of Darkness is surprisingly difficult to wholeheartedly recommend to readers unfamiliar with the series it aims to lay the foundation for. But cast your minds back. Recall that I was such a one, once upon a time. And know now that this twisted fairytale has a happy ending, because I plum loved this book, such that I expect to be first in line for the following volume. 

"Indeed, all I can think is that in the interim between Forge of Darkness and Fall of Light, however long that lasts, I have at least nine more Malazan novels to help keep my mind off the acute pain of anticipation."

True to my word, I've been busy with the series since the time of that writing: rereading Gardens of the Moon in the rare moments I haven't had some dastardly deadline to attend to, as well as beginning Deadhouse Gates again.

There's no stopping me now! :)

Biggest Disappointments

To go from two of 2012's most novel narratives to one of its least encouraging is quite the comedown, but you mustn't misunderstand: The Twelve wasn't a bad book at all. In fact there were elements of it I enjoyed awfully. I appreciated what little forward progress there was, and the action scenes, though few and far between, were exemplary:

"[Great] set-up for the summer blockbuster this book could easily be, if Ridley Scott would only exercise his option. The Massacre of the Field is memorably horrendous, as is the bombastic attack on the Oil Road, and the explosive final showdown unfolds in exquisite slow motion. 

"Unlike The Passage, which made so much of so little - and so very well - The Twelve is at its best in the throes of such spectacle, and if in the periods between these superb set-pieces it seems shallow, and somewhat self-indulgent, rest assured that soon enough, there will be blood. And when it comes, you'll see why this sequel is still worth reading. 

"In the beginning, The Twelve builds brilliantly, and the end - which is both 'a beginning and an ending, standing adjacent but apart' - is excellent. Regrettably, the intermediary episodes are substantially less successful, and to make matters worse they represent the length of any normal novel."

You can read my review of The Twelve in its entirety here. On the whole, however, I came away from the middle volume of Cronin's apocalyptic trilogy quite crestfallen, simply because The Passage was so fantastic. Indeed, way back when, I deemed it one of The Best Books of 2010... whereas The Twelve didn't even figure into my excruciating deliberations over this year's Five Favourites.

Before we move on, let me stress again that The Twelve isn't terrible: it's simply a disappointing successor to a truly tremendous text.

Honourable Mentions

I don't know what it is about the work of Guy Gavriel Kay, but I always read his books whilst on holiday. The better to give them the space and time they deserve, I guess.

The tradition began with Tigana, which I devoured between Christmas meals in 2009. Bang on a year on I read Under Heaven, and earlier in 2012, during my month in America, I went back to the well with A Song For Arbonne.

I dare say my first Kay's still my foremost favourite, but A Song For Arbonne came incredibly close to equalling it. There are truly few books I wouldn't change if I had my way; this is one of that negligible number. Hard to believe it's nearly 20 years old!

The Half-Made World is a rather more recent favourite. I've had a copy since its publication in 2010, and it appealed to me immediately. Sadly, it took two years and a single sequel - The Rise of Ransom City - before I put aside time enough to do it justice.

I'm so glad I did.

I'm going to need a little longer to get my thoughts on Gilman's novel in order, but to make up for my earlier negligence, I plan to review both volumes of this damn fine duology on The Speculative Scotsman shortly. For the moment, know that if I'd gone ahead and read The Half-Made World when it was remotely recent, it would have featured in the very first Top of the Scots in a far more major way than it has here.

I came late to The Macht Saga too. Luckily, I got on board with this awesome author just in time to make a right song and dance about the trilogy finishing in February. I reviewed all three volumes before publishing a love letter to the complete series, from which I've lifted this:

"Kearney, in my admittedly limited experience, is getting better and better. Going from strength to strength, as they say. And I wish more people were reading his work to realise it. If you ask me, the best of his fiction stands shoulder to shoulder - in its own way - with a who's-who of my favourite fantasists, including the likes of Steven Erikson, George R. R. Martin, Guy Gavriel Kay and, at a stretch, R. Scott Bakker.

"But I don't think he sells as well as any of them, and therein's the thing. I have no actual information here - this is just speculation, loosely informed by a smattering of press releases and the buzz around his books versus the buzz around new releases by the other authors above - but the received wisdom seems to be that he's little league, as opposed to being one of the big hitters. And that's a damned travesty."

Yet here we are in the Honourable Mentions section. Why is that, you ask? Well, whilst The Kings of Morning saw off The Macht Saga in fine form, The Ten Thousand is yet the best of the books — and that's two whole years old!

In any case, I'd rather recognise the entire than any one of its parts. If you haven't already had the pleasure, readers, read The Macht Saga! I simply can't imagine a single situation in which you'd end up regretting it.

Glaring Oversights

If you've been following The Speculative Scotsman for any length of time, it won't come as news to you that China Mieville and K. J. Parker are two of my very favourite writers. You'll remember that I recommended The Hammer over every other new novel published in 2011, and perhaps that Kraken featured in Top of the Scots the year previous. Furthermore, you'll can't but be aware that I'm quick to post anything remotely resembling news about either author.

I habitually look forward to their latest with the greatest anticipation.

So why the hell haven't I read their newest books?

Well, I've been busy... but that's hardly the half of it.

If I'm honest, I think I have a problem, because the selfsame thing happened with Under Heaven in 2010: like Railsea and Sharps, it was a new release from a frequently fêted fictioneer that I all but refused to read until after the fact.

What's the use in gilding the lily? I'm a hoarder, but not of the normal denomination: I hoard stories, essentially. I hoard reading experiences that I'm as good as guaranteed to treasure... and in a sense, I sort of want them for myself.

That said, there's another reason for Sharps' absence from my reading this year. I'd been recommending my partner get on the K. J. Parker train for ages, and my copy of Sharps latest arrived at just the right time: Katie was between books, and good to give it a go.

Within a couple of weeks,  while I wrapped up a few literary loose ends, she'd read it from cover to cover, and was ready to surrender an opinion. Readers... I regret to report she didn't dig it.

This took the wind out of my sails somewhat.

I'm pretty sure I'll be reading Railsea sometime soon - hopefully somewhere warm, with coffee and chocolates, over the holidays - but it might take me some time to come back to Sharps.

Final Thoughts

You ask me, 2012 has been a fantastic year for genre fiction. One of the very best in my recollection. For fantasy and science fiction. For horror and alt-history. For the weird and the wonderful.

I had no trouble finding Five Favourites from amongst the many, many contenders... to the point that I seriously considered doing a top ten instead. What stayed my hand was the thought that if I doubled my numbers once, there'd be nothing to stop me from multiplying them again, and again — and what meaning would these awards have then?

Still, my restraint has left me with a list as long as my arm of books I'd recommend to discerning speculative fiction fans in a second. Like Jack Glass and Jagannath; Red Country and The Corpse-Rat King;  Some Kind of Fairy Tale and The City's Son.

I could go on and on... sadly Top of the Scots cannot.

I can't pretend to have read everything, either; not even everything that's been recommended to me. Other notable oversights include The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers, The Lighthouse by Alison Moore, The White Forest by Adam McOmber, This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz.

I'm hoping to spend some time with each of these in 2013, but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.  There's still a week of 2012 left, and if it's anything like the last 51, it's bound to be brilliant.

Now then. Our Christmas intermission approaches. I'll be back on Monday to wish you all well, and reward one reader with a particularly gorgeous gift, but with The Best Games and The Best Books behind us, I'm calling time on Top of the Scots for the time being.

Do stay tuned for The Best Movies and The Best of the Rest in early January!

For the moment, let's reflect on 2012.

It's been a hell of a year, hasn't it?

Top of the Scots 2012 | The Best Books: Five Favourites

Books are why I blog.

There. I've said it.

Sure, I review the occasional video game. I also talk about comics from time to time. And I've been known to post about movies, too... though rather less so lately. But at the end of the day, make no mistake: books are to blame for The Speculative Scotsman.

The Best Books, then, is the crown jewel of Top of the Scots. And it begins... now!

Five Favourites

5. Alif the Unseen
by G. Willow Wilson

As I discussed in my introduction to Top of the Scots 2012, for various reasons I've found time to be in short supply this year, and in light of my limited resources, I've had to make some terribly difficult decisions. One of these was whether or not to read Alif the Unseen.

I'll be honest: I very nearly didn't. I'd had an e-ARC of the US version sitting on my Kindle for some months before a physical copy of the beautiful British edition found its way to me. What finally elicited my interest, coupled with my passing familiarity with G. Willow Wilson from the comics she'd written, was the glowing Neil Gaiman quote on the UK cover. 

Though my reasoning for reading Alif the Unseen may have been both shallow and arbitrary, to my unbridled delight, the book itself was anything but. Here's a particularly suggestive excerpt from the review I wrote in August:

"The Alif is both more and less than a word. It is the first letter of Sura Al Baqara in The Quran; it is the first line of code ever written; it is a state of mind, a suggestion, a symbol that our hero becomes - inasmuch as it becomes him - over the course of this remarkable fantasy narrative. Alif 'had spent so much time cloaked behind his screen name, a mere letter of the alphabet, that he no longer thought of himself as anything but an alif — a straight line, a wall. His given name fell flat in his ears now. The act of concealment had become more powerful that what it concealed.' (p.3) 

"Alif the Unseen, too, conceals a great deal. The initial simplicity of the Aladdin-esque romance with which it begins belies the book's more challenging aspects. Seductive as it is, this early section seems fleeting when set against the heady concoction of faith, torture and politics that fuels its unforgettable finale. Indeed, these ends are so at odds that one can only imagine the inevitable clash, yet instead, Wilson shapes a careful, character-driven commingling — a thing both beautiful and terrible to behold."

Dear readers: if you haven't already experienced Alif the Unseen, I urge you to do so at the first available opportunity. It's fantasy at its most magical.

And if I can't convince you, maybe this interview with the author will.

4. The Brides of Rollrock Island

by Margo Lanagan

From the delightful, as above, to the devastating, so below. Unlike Alif the Unseen, which took me entirely by surprise, I'd been anticipating The Brides of Rollrock Island for some time — ever since the twisted fairytale Margo Lanagan told in Tender Morsels in 2008. That latter will never leave me, and if this tragic selkie story is not necessarily its better, than it is its equal, at least.

It's breathtakingly beautiful, too. From my review:

"There is a peculiar poetry to Lanagan's prose: a power - all her own - over those who push through the opaque prologue, and with my every word I would urge you to do exactly that. [...] There's nothing not to love about The Brides of Rollrock Island. It's a wistful book, but wondrous. It will break your heart, and remake it. 

"Surrender yourself, then, to Margo Langan's mesmerising new novel. Allow it to surround you like a shimmering second skin... finer, fuller, and freer, finally, than the first."

Like several of my other selections, The Brides of Rollrock Island isn't easy reading, but what it lacks in accessibility, it more than makes up for in meaning. Which just goes to show that sometimes, literature's greatest rewards are not given, but taken — earned, even.

You'll have to work for this next one as well.

3. Angelmaker

by Nick Harkaway

I don't know what I was expecting when I read Angelmaker back in March. More of the glorious, gabbling madness of The Gone-Away World, perhaps? But more likely something lesser.

I didn't for a minute think Nick Harkaway's new book would blow me away in the manner it managed to. As I wrote in my review:

"The Gone-Away World was 'a bubbling cosmic stew of a book, written with such exuberant imagination that you are left breathless by its sheer ingenuity,' but for all its wonders, Nick Harkaway’s extraordinary debut was not without its issues in addition — foremost amongst them its madcap, almost abstract construction, which too often left one wondering what in The Gone-Away World was going on, even as it was going, going, gone.

"Angelmaker, however, is a book far better put than its predecessor. A markedly more crafted artefact. Though the author’s roving eye remains intact, and those subjects its alights upon feel as delightful and insightful as ever, Harkaway has honed this incomparable trick of his to a filigree so fine that it appears nearly invisible; a filament of woven gold - impossible, yet a fact for all that - which runs through Angelmaker from the fanciful first to the beloved last."

Back in March, Angelmaker seemed to me a clear contender for the year's best books; and here, nearly a year later, its impact is essentially undiminished. I can't think of a single 2012 reading experience I've had more fun with than than I did this one — I've selected the other books on this greatest hits list for other reasons.

Smart, funny and fantastic, Angelmaker is all I could have asked for. But be warned: like The Gone-Away World before it, it won't be for everyone. Why, just the other day The Book Smugglers took exception to Nick Harkaway's apparent inanity... and Ana's complaints were anything but baseless.

But beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder, and obviously this beholder adored Angelmaker.

2. The Vorrh

by Brian Catling

I have hummed and I have hahed about nothing else in Top of the Scots 2012 more than where to place Brian Catling's incredible debut.

Though there's no question in my mind that The Vorrh is a fundamentally fantastic genre novel - amongst the year's best, easily - at the same time it's the most recent release to feature in my Five Favourites by a number of months, and I don't doubt that its primacy in my mind plays some part in its apparent potency.

The long and short of it is that The Vorrh has yet to stand the test of time, whereas the others featured in my list have, and I felt it was important to take age into account this year. Nevertheless, know that it was this close to taking home the trophy.

Here are a few reasons why, excerpted from the review I republished here on The Speculative Scotsman before Top of the Scots kicked off:

"The Vorrh is quite a complex novel, and not always easy to follow, what with its unnamed narrators and its array of peripheral perspectives, but though the going gets tough, the tough makes for good going soon enough. I’d go so far as to say great. [...] And if its story seems iffy initially, rest assured that things become clearer beyond the book’s fulsome first third, by which point I warrant you’ll be comprehensively caught in the inexorable vortex of The Vorrh. 

"When even the warts of a novel are winning, it’s hard to misunderstand that you have something special on your hands, and The Vorrh is absolutely that. Equal parts dark fantasy and surrealist dream, it is inescapably dense, and unrelentingly intense. Shelve it shoulder to shoulder with 2012’s other most notable novels, then consider carefully which stands lacking in comparison."

And there's still time for you to win a copy of the strictly limited signed and numbered edition of The Vorrh I announced late last week.

If not The Vorrh, then, what's our winner?

1. 2312

by Kim Stanley Robinson

Surprised to see me plump for a science fiction novel as the best book of 2012?

Well you shouldn't be! I basically game the game away in May, in the last paragraphs of my original review:

"The tension in the structure of 2312, between the little and the large, reflects the relationship between the planet-cracking happenings and the seemingly insignificant events that Robinson is interested in for the bulk of the book. The reader is routinely shuttled between stunning set-pieces, like the sunwalk with which the whole thing begins, or the destruction of Terminator - Swan's sweet home if she has one - and quiet, composed, character-oriented moments, such as the prolonged underground walkabout our scattershot protagonist shares with Wahram, or the stop-overs she takes on various terraria. 

"You will come to look upon all these moments equally. In astonishment, in awe, at both the small, and the immense. Such is Robinson's success in terms of the sense-of-wonder 2312 evokes, like a sky full of stars exploding one after the other, over and over again. 

"Given all its ideas, not to speak of the myriad intricacies of each of these, I dare say 2312 is a substantially more accessible novel than it has any right to be. The author's decision to delineate his science from his fiction pays dividends in that respect, as it allows each scene to breathe, and more often than not to blossom. Furthermore, Robinson presents many of most complex concepts with a winning amount of whimsy. As recipes, among other things. 

"There's fun in 2312, then. Fun, and unbelievable wonder; love, profundity and a lot of legitimately gripping drama. Also some startling ideas. I had not dared to dream that Kim Stanley Robinson could even equal Red Mars, but in time, 2312 could take the cake. That and biscuit-based relativity aside, it's a magnificent sweet treat in its own right. Robinson is as intelligent and compelling as ever he has been - at least in my experience - but herein he has tempered his the science of his fiction smartly, and sensitively. The result, simply put, is stunning. 

"Never mind the usual genre divisions: 2312 is easily one of the year's best books, period."

The year's very best book, as it happens, in retrospect at least as much as in the moment.

Hearty congratulations to the creator of a sense of wonder like no other: Kim Stanley Robinson, I salute you!

***

And that's that. My favourite books of 2012, bar none.

Is it just me, or has this been an especially spectacular for speculative fiction?

But The Best Books isn't over yet! Stay tuned to The Speculative Scotsman for tomorrow's Other Awards, wherein we'll see which novels narrowly missed my final five.

In the meantime, I'd be obliged if you chimed in with your own opinions. What was the best book you read since the last time we did this thing? And what, I wonder, was the worst?

Top of the Scots 2012 | The Best Games: Other Awards

Yesterday, I selected my Five Favourite video games of 2012.

Spoiler alert: season one of The Walking Dead won!

Today, it's time to look at a couple of the other most memorable experiences I had with a controller in my clutches. We're going to pick up right where we left off, beginning with two games that only narrowly missed out on slots at the top.

Runners-Up

Here are two worlds I lost myself in for more hours than I could count. Two games, differently anticipated admittedly - I expected more from Assassin's Creed III, and almost nothing of Sleeping Dogs - which I played and played and played, equally even. Not a single collectible escaped my character in either case. Not a single side mission or miscellaneous objective was left where it very probably belonged.

What can I say? I plum love an awesome open world, and in Sleeping Dogs' Hong Kong, and Assassin's Creed III's revolutionary-era America, I found two to rule them all: two created spaces so different from Liberty City and the like that any excuse to explore them was a worthy one, even if this often amounted to a bounty of busywork.

You often hear it said that the sum of something is better than its parts. I'd turn that hoary old story on its head as regards my runners-up to The Best Games of 2012: both Assassin's Creed III and Sleeping Dogs were fundamentally flawed products which boasted parts far more fun than their sum.

Honourable Mentions

Oh, Rayman Origins. We had such fun together, didn't we?

"Don't think I'm some rabid Rayman fan. If anything, I'm the exact opposite; before now, one of my guiltiest gaming secrets was that I'd never played a Rayman game. Not even a Raving Rabbids. Well I'll tell you this for free: I'll be playing the next one now. 

"The first thing that strikes you about Rayman Origins is its dreamy appearance. Particularly considering that it began life as a downloadable Wii-Ware affair, it's a gorgeous game, lavishly lit, perfectly rendered and smoothly animated. The seemingly simplistic appeal of sidescrollers like this and Mario and all the other console mascots is such that they don't need to be beautiful. The fact that Rayman Origins is so artful and aesthetically fetching is just the icing on the cake. 

"But cake has rarely tasted so great, and I don't mind saying I've tasted some great cakes in my time. The actual platforming mechanics are easy to pick up yet demanding to master, and you do a lot more than run and jump in Rayman Origins. You also swim, wall-run, float, slide and shoot; indeed, eight of the ten worlds you speed through unlocks a new ability, which the subsequent levels teach you to use. All of which means that things are rarely as straightforward as they appear. For a minute it might look like all you need to do is run to the right, but then you have to hop onto a handy mosquito and the bullet hell begins. For serious."

You can read the rest of my Rayman Origins review in this edition of The Monday Miscellany.

For now I'll only add that it was with great regret that the other half and I heard Rayman Legends would be a bloody Wii U exclusive. Hopefully that doesn't last - few exclusive do these days - because I'd hate to be obliged to buy Nintendo's new home console. I played all of about eight games on my Wii in the whole time I had it, and I've staunchly resolved not to make the same mistake again.

Bet I'm not the only either, either. It's awful, but I'd be over the moon if Nintendo shifted its focus to software, like Sega did back in the day. But they just keep on keeping on!

From fun to fear, by way of a 2010 indie effort which scared me in a way no other game has to date. Not even The Walking Dead!

"Amnesia: The Dark Descent is without a doubt the scariest game I have ever played.

"This honour used to belong to the second Silent Hill, but Frictional Games' latest and greatest makes that touchstone of terror look like clowning around by comparison.

"You are Daniel, and that's all you know at the start of this unforgettable six to eight hour experience. When you awaken in the dark somewhere in the underbelly of Brennenburg Castle, for some reason, you have amnesia. What else to do but follow the strange trail of bleeding red petals that leads from your position into the indefinable distance? 

"This is easier said than done. Most of the castle's heavy oak doors are shut tight, meanwhile many of its corridors have collapsed, so for the moment there's only one way to go... but it's so incredibly dark that you can hardly see one foot to put in front of the other. Almost immediately, Daniel's fear begins to get the better of him, and we are with him every tentative step of the way: after all, almost anything could be biding its time in the next room, and lacking illumination, we wouldn't know till it was too late. 

"To make matters worse, it becomes clear that there is someone, or something, hot on our heels. A shadow of some sort. An embodiment of the darkness which seems to mean Daniel harm..."

I reviewed Amnesia: The Dark Descent in full right here on The Speculative Scotsman, and though there's no sense in repeating myself, this once I will: play this game, guys. The last act is trash, but before that, nothing in the industry - perhaps nothing in any industry - can compete with Amnesia in terms of unfettered terror.

The early 2013 sequel, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, can't come soon enough for some.

Biggest Disappointments

I spend an interminable amount of time thinking about which books and movies and games and so on deserve spots in Top of  the Scots. I'm particularly finicky about my Five Favourites, but this year - as you'll see - they've come reasonably easily to me.

Comparatively, this particular category has been a challenge, because to discuss disappointment is to talk about one's expectations as opposed to the quality of a given game per se.

Thus, my first answer will be no-one else's, I expect. After all, who else had high hopes for Silent Hill 8?

From my review:

"Silent Hill has to be one of my all-time favourite franchises, but with each passing year it's become increasingly clear that my position is practically indefensible. 

"I don't think anyone would dispute that the series started strong. Resident Evil might have popularised the survival horror genre, but let's face facts: it was crude, and unconscionably camp. Occasionally shocking, is how I'd politely describe it, rather than scary, or legitimately horrific. Silent Hill, however, hit on a much more meaningful formula.

"Silent Hill: Downpour gets off to a credible start, but all too soon everything was promising about it recedes into the middle distance, and thereafter the ever-present ether. Most players don't finish games, so I suppose it makes sense for Vatra to have frontloaded the latest in the Silent Hill series with the best of their ideas. At this late stage, though, it seems cruel and unusual to tease the type of people likely to give Downpour a go - which is to say me, and folks like me, who finish everything on principle - with an hour of reasonably good game, only to call it quits with nine tenths of the whole as yet ahead. 

"A disappointment, then. Not broken, but boring, and undeniably bland. No surprises there. And what, I wonder, is Silent Hill worth without the element of surprise on side?"

Downpour was the game that finally made me realise that Silent Hill is essentially dead to me, and that -  given my feelings for the series in years previous - is why it's one of my Biggest Disappointments of 2012.

I have another, however.

Famously, Fez was in the works for an egregious period of years, and I'd been desperate to play it since its debut at the 2008 Indie Games Festival. So you can imagine my state of mind when I sat down with Phil Fish's much ballyhooed-about baby fully four years later, only to realise I just wasn't enjoying it.

Fez is a lot of things, obviously: gorgeous, intelligent, literary and ambitious. But the actual experience of playing it is either so simplistic as to liquidise one's intellect, or so incredibly cerebral that it'll make you feel a  fool. Unable to find a happy medium between the two, I came away from Fez fatally deflated.

I've soured even further on Fez in the months since its release, given Phil Fish's bad behaviour. He may be the most obnoxious figure in the industry, and there's stiff competition in that category.

But onwards and upwards, eh?

Glaring Oversights

Despite my feelings for Fez, I can absolutely get behind good arthouse gaming. In fact, given the exceptional response it's gotten - as well as my fondness for Flower, thatgamecompany's previous masterpiece - I full well expect to adore Journey from tip to toe whenever I find the time to play it.

I know it's not a long game. What, two hours tops? And I don't doubt that I could get two hours together. But would I be at my most receptive before bed, or if I were to squeeze in the experience between sessions of something else? I think not, and I want to give Journey room to move; to breathe, like fine wine — not that I'm any kind of connoisseur.

Luckily, with the holidays so nearly here, I should have the chance to do exactly that within the next few weeks, so stay tuned to The Speculative Scotsman for more, because I'll very probably blog about whether or not Journey lives up to my great expectations. Here's hoping!

Final Thoughts

Hard to believe that I've managed to put together not one but two fairly lengthy lists about my most memorable experiences in gaming this year without even alluding to Mass Effect 3, Dear Esther, or any of the others that have gone unmentioned in this vast category.

Well done, 2012!

I'm so glad that the industry did itself proud this year, because with the Wii U already out, and news of new consoles from both Microsoft and Sony as good as guaranteed next E3, 2013 is apt to be lacking. I've been gaming since age 8, and in my experience, transitional years are rarely worth writing home about.

There's hope, of course. Hope buoyed by a surprising number of exciting new releases still to come before the great change. Off the top of my head, there's Bioshock: Infinite to look forward to; the latest Tomb Raider reboot; a second Dark Souls; the sequel to Metro 2033; and so many more they deserve their own post rather than this postscript.

That'll have to wait, I'm afraid... because Top of the Scots has hardly started! Tomorrow, we'll be looking at The Best Books of 2012, and more from the speculative fiction front will follow on Friday.

Between now and then, though, I have a couple of questions to ask you fine folks.

What were your favourite video games of 2012? And what are you most looking forward to playing in 2013?

Let's talk it out in the comments! :)

Top of the Scots 2012 | The Best Games: Five Favourites

I've never been shy about my belief that video games are as valid a form of art and entertainment as books and movies. They may not necessarily be there yet, but the promised land is on the horizon, and I see it more clearly this year than I ever have in the past.

That's because this year's best game, in my book, moved me in a way no experience in either film or literature has before.

Those of you who've played it probably know what I'm talking about already - and oh, how I envy those of you who haven't! - so before I give any more of the game away, let's get this show on the road.

Five Favourites

5. FTL: Faster Than Light

developed by Subset Games

FTL: Faster Than Light is a difficult game to describe, but brace yourselves — I'm going to give it a shot anyway.

Let's say it's a... rogue-like space sim... combining real-time and turn-based elements... resource management and battle tactics... randomly-generated enemies and environments... complete with upgrade paths and impossible rewards.

FTL certainly isn't going to be for everyone. Initially, I didn't think I would like it, either, but after completely failing to figure out what it was about for a couple of excruciating hours, I sat down for one final session, determined to either get to grips with it or move on with my life.

That was when it clicked.

My "final" session lasted for four hours. I played FTL again the next night, and the next, and so on, until I got to the last battle against the last boss, which - abominably - I lost.

Call me a glutton for punishment, but months on, I keep coming back for more. FTL must be the most moreish game I've played in 2012. It's probably for the best that the two-man team who developed it haven't yet ported their pet project to Android and iOS devices, because if they had, I might never have been heard from again.

4. Dishonored

developed by Arkane Studios

When I blogged about Dishonored a couple of days before it hit home consoles, it was primarily to applaud Arkane Studios for going against the grain so late in the generation by bringing an original IP to market. Their boldness has already reaped rewards: if recent reports are right, Dishonored's developers have a new franchise on their hands — and that's fantastic.

Appropriately, given its daring, Dishonored cast players as a rebel out to revenge an entire empire:

"Set in the fictional plague-ridden and industrial city of Dunwall, Dishonored follows Corvo Attano, the Empress' legendary bodyguard. He is framed for her murder and forced to become an assassin to seek revenge on those who conspired against him. Corvo is aided in his quest by the Loyalists, a resistance group fighting to reclaim the Empire, and The Outsider, a powerful being who imbues Corvo with magical abilities."

I loved the design of Dishonored, Dunwall made for a wonderful world, and the stealth-based gameplay blew me away.

Not so much the narrative, sadly. Though I had hopes of something resembling Half-Life or Bioshock - what can I say? I'm easily led - what I got, in the end, was a muddle, if not a complete mess. A stunning setting poorly used; an incredible cast of voice actors, including Brad Dourif and Susan Sarandon, none of who got to do much of anything.

I'd have said as much and more in a review... if I'd written one. The only reason I didn't was because despite playing Dishonored to death, I felt like I'd only seen a fraction of all that it had to offer. See, I didn't kill a single person. I didn't once use a deadly weapon. So few games allow you play in such a way that I simply couldn't resist.

What more could you want from a stealth game than that?

Well, since you ask...

3. Mark of the Ninja

developed by Klei Interactive

I'll be the first to admit that Dishonored did it for me, mostly. Mark of the Ninja, then, is the year's clearest illustration that less can be so much more!

For one thing, I couldn't have cared less about the story. Suffice it to say it almost certainly involved a ninja, who may or may not have had a magical tattoo. Utter nonsense, in other words.

But Mark of the Ninja didn't need narrative. Nor did it rest its laurels on lavish graphics or triple-A presentation. It did one thing so incredibly well that everything else it had to offer was just gravy, at the end of the day: it reduced the fundamentals of stealth - which have ever been the bane of gaming - to something pure, precise and more potent than... ever?

You know, I think so.

All stealth games to be 2D going forward! :)

Well, perhaps that's pushing it - see Dishonored, for all its faults - but Mark of the Ninja is a marvellous game all the same, and downloadable for a truly tiny price given the many hours of entertainment it offers. I intend to go back to it over the holidays, to 100% the levels I failed to first time round.

2. X-Com: Enemy Unknown

developed by Firaxis Games

Speaking of games I plan to go back to, I'm already thinking about playing through the entirety of XCOM: Enemy Unknown a second time on a harder difficultly — and I only finally finished it last week!

"Set in the near future, and following the invasion of Earth, XCOM: Enemy Unknown puts the player in control of an elite multinational military organization called the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit, which is tasked with defending the Earth against the alien onslaught. In the field, you command the unit's troops in a series of turn-based tactical missions; meanwhile, you must direct the research and development of new technologies from recovered from fallen aliens and captured prisoners and expand XCOM's base of operations, all whilst managing your finances and monitoring any alien activity."

If that sounds complicated... that's because it is. But here we have half the fun of XCOM: Enemy Unknown. There are so many systems to get to grips with, and so little time! By the time you do have a handle on things, Earth is well on its way to hell in a hand-basket. The sense of tension and jeopardy which defines the experience of XCOM: Enemy Unknown is simply dizzying; I spent 30 hours slowly losing control of all I'd worked towards, only to muster my forces just enough to take back the planet at the last.

Victory has rarely felt sweeter to me.

And defeat has hardly ever been harder. But death is just something you'll have to accept in the second best game of 2012. You will lose some of the soldiers you've shepherded from Recruit to Colonel, and it's tragic. All that time and money and experiential investment... gone. Never mind all that gear you've researched!

But for all that, loss in XCOM: Enemy Unknown is not half as heart-breaking as the feelings you'll experience in what is far and away favourite game of the year.

1. The Walking Dead: Season One

developed by Telltale Games

Who'd have thunk it, huh?

Allow me to answer my own question: no-one would have, is who. Not a year or so ago.

Let's not beat around the bush here: Telltale Games' last few new series were ill omens at best - Jurassic Park in particular was a mess - but the developers of The Walking Dead certainly got their shit together for this borrowed property.

Considering the source material, it's a wonder to me how respectfully The Walking Dead has been treated in all mediums. I haven't yet read The Road To Woodbury, but the first book in Jay Bonansinga's prose series was surprisingly strong.

Meanwhile the TV series has gone from strength to strength. The recent killing off of some of its central characters has been breathtaking, and the sheer sense of momentum behind the first half of its current run has impressed me no end, especially after the relative tedium of the second season.

But not all adaptations are equal, even when the others are stunning. Certainly not in this case. Because the original tale Telltale Games have spun out of the pages of Robert Kirkman's comic book so absorbed me, and so touched me, ultimately, that I'd proclaim its greatness over even my favourite book of 2012.

Seriously.

Contrarians may differ on point of principle - I wouldn't be surprised to see XCOM: Enemy Unknown take the top spot in a few places whose names I dare not name (well, alright: my money's on Giant Bomb and maybe Eurogamer too.) - but by and large, expect The Walking Dead to sweep the industry's awards.

And why is that? Well, Bioshock will always have a special place in my heart, but never in the history of video games has a story been better told than The Walking Dead's. Never have characters seemed so real to me as Lee and Clementine did. 

In short, Season One of Telltale Games' take on The Walking Dead made me cry. No other video game has ever managed that. Precious few books or movies do these days, if I'm honest.

Props to the Idle Thumbs for coming good on the countdown to tears. Dudes: you did it!

I you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry. Just do yourself a favour and play The Walking Dead already. You can buy a collection of the whole first season now for next to nothing, and it might just be worth more than all the others I've talked about today put together.

***

And there we have it. My game of the year... plus a couple of others I loved. :)

So what do you think? Do you agree with my choices, or am I way off base?

Remember to stay tuned for more on the best and worst video games of 2012 tomorrow!

Top of the Scots 2012 | An Introduction

2012 has been a momentous year for me for many reasons. This will come as scant surprise to those of you who've been with me from its beginning, but The Speculative Scotsman has seen a surprising number of newcomers in recent weeks - where did you guys come from, I wonder? - so allow me to make plain my changed circumstances.

To begin with, I realised a lifelong dream back in March, spending a full month in America, and loving every minute of it. I've been itching to go again ever since I got home — and I pray will one day! But I'll need a better reason than "because" to justify the tremendous expense again.

Meanwhile, I went from submitting reviews very occasionally elsewhere to having my work paid for and published on a weekly basis. As many people as I reach here - and I'm grateful to every single visitor - the simple fact of the matter is that articles on Strange Horizons and Tor.com are destined to be read by more folks than those I post on TSS, so if I want to get the good word out there about a promising small press or an exciting new author, the decision isn't difficult... much as it sometimes pains me to make.

Last but not least, the part-time tutoring I started in doing in early 2011 became a full-fledged business in 2012, eating away more of my time than ever before, especially taken together with everything else. But I can't complain; I wouldn't even if I could! Teaching has been a terrific and enlightening experience. To be doing something so meaningful to make ends meet... I simply can't imaging going back on that.

Alas, all this has had an adverse effect: the free time I've had to read and write in years previous has taken a bit of a hit. Likewise the hours I tended to dedicate to gaming... not to mention the movie nights I used to look forward to. It's practically tragic how little of the year's most exciting cinema I've seen. 

But catching up is what holidays are all about, so I still plan to blog about 2012's finest films... albeit a little later than usual. Thus, this year, I'm going to stagger Top of the Scots somewhat, rather than blowing my whole load inside of a single week: the plan is to post The Best Movies in early January, after a bit of a break, alongside a category new to TSS.

Happily, I am still in a position to talk you through the year in speculative fiction forthwith — my thoughts on The Best Books of 2012 should be good to go this week.

And though the time I've spent with in other worlds than these has been rather reduced from previous periods, I put it to you that I've used it much more wisely. To wit: we'll kick Top of the Scots 2012 off properly tomorrow, with a long look at the The Best Games I've gamed this year.

Now you'll notice that Top of the Scots looks a little different than it has in the past. That's because - as well as adding an extra category - I've embiggened each of the blogs I've posted before, and split them down the middle.

And lo, there were two sections where once there was but one! Firstly, we'll talk about my Five Favourites., and afterwards, I'll give out several Other Awards - to Runners-Up amongst others, including Honourable Mentions, Glaring Oversights, and the year's Biggest Disappointments - before signing off with some fitting Final Thoughts.

And that's our introduction.

Remember: the excitement begins in earnest 24 hours from now!

Anyone want to hazard an early guess about what I'm going to go for?

You Tell Me | What's at the Top of the Scots?

It's that time of the year, dear readers!

Hard to believe it may be - I'm still wondering where October went, never mind November - but it's time to start thinking about 2012 as a whole. To consider the very best of the very best. And as ever, I need all the help I can get.

I go to the movies as often as I can... I play video games on the PS3, the PC and the 360... I read more books than most humans — but there's only the one of me, and I can't hope to be in any sense comprehensive. What I can do is ask you if I'm missing anything particularly significant.

So here I am, hat in hand... asking.

This post is intended as an open forum for you to put your personal favourites forward. If there's a book you think is brilliant, and I haven't already reviewed it here or on Tor.com - here's my page over there - then it's entirely likely I haven't read it. If there's some magnificent film or obscure video game that I haven't said word one about, please, point me in the right direction. 

Top of the Scots starts on December 17th, which gives us approximately ten days to talk. I can read three or four normal-length novels in that time, watch at least as many movies, and play perhaps a pair of games, depending on how long they're apt to last. I've cleared the slate specifically so I can do exactly as outlined... so let fly your recommendations, folks!

Who needs holidays, eh? :)

Dear Everyone | Old Year, New Year

So: 2011.

I think it's been A Good Year, all told.

First, if not foremost, I've read more than I ever have before - more than 100 books, which is a big deal for me - and I've chosen said books better. That is to say, in 2011 I found a tolerable balance between those books I've read solely to review, and those books I've read simply to read, because I love reading.

And there have been some great books.

I still haven't watched as many movies as I usually would, but I've seen a fair few, and a few more since I put together this list of my favourite films of the year, including Conan, Attack the Block, Another Earth, A Lonely Place to Die and Super 8. Reviews will follow shortly.

In video games, meanwhile, 2011 was great. Portal 2 was my game of the year, of course, with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim hot on its heels, and I'm still playing that. Well... truth be told I'm taking a short break, because last week I finally got my hands on a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. It's the first game I've played on my Wii in at least a year, and realistically it's probably the last game I'll ever play on the thing.

Even so, it's been brilliant. A fitting send off for rather an ill-fitting console, if I'm honest.

In 2011, I also started reading comic books again. I didn't put together a Top of the Scots about them largely because even now, I'm up to my ears in collections and recommendations to catch up on. It'll be an almighty long time before I'm anywhere approaching current, but maybe... just maybe... comic books will get theirs in 2012.

In the interim, I'd very much recommend Daryl Gregory's Planet of the Apes ongoing, anything by Jeff Lemire or Scott Snyder, and Stephen King's N., which I'll be posting about shortly.

What else?

Gosh, only everything!

I can't hope to hit on all my personal or professional highlights here in this li'l baby blog, but I do want to say one last thing, to all the people I've met in 2011, whether thanks to The Speculative Scotsman or thanks to things that have come to pass because of The Speculative Scotsman, like having my reviews published in Strange Horizons and Starburst Magazine, or on Tor.com, SF Signal, The Zone and so on.

So to all the lovely folks I've met through the community - to the bloggers, the authors, the publicists, the editors, the agents - to each and every one of you, a tip of the hat, and a hearty thank you for sticking with me in 2011.

We'll talk again next year, alright?

Which is to say... tomorrow.

 

Because in a bit, we'll be putting this year out to pasture -- and who knows what 2012 will bring?

The end of the world? I'm going to say no.

New books, new movies? New video games and new comic books? I should think so!

Not only, but also: I'll be making some serious changes to The Speculative Scotsman in the weeks and months to come. I have a good few new features on and off the drawing board, a whole new look and feel in the offing, and maybe, just maybe, something... more.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. There are still a few hours of 2011 to go, and if you'd care to spend some small portion of them telling me about the highlights - even the lowlights - of your year... why I'd be much obliged! Because that's kind of what this whole thing is about. You know: The Conversation.

And The Conversation will continue in 2012.

Before that, though, brace yourselves... I'm going to say it.

In the words of Neil Gaiman, international treasure:

 

Meanwhile, in the rather less inspiring words of me, to each and every one of you, and all of yours: Happy New Year! :D