Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.
Limits of Power
by Elizabeth Moon
Promo copy:
Elizabeth Moon is back with the fourth adventure in her bestselling fantasy epic. Moon brilliantly weaves a colorful tapestry of action, betrayal, love, and magic set in a richly imagined world that stands alongside those of such fantasy masters as George R. R. Martin and Robin Hobb. The unthinkable has occurred in the kingdom of Lyonya. The queen of the Elves—known as the Lady—is dead, murdered by former elves twisted by dark powers. Now the Lady’s half-elven grandson must heal the mistrust between elf and human before their enemies strike again. Yet as he struggles to make ready for an attack, an even greater threat looms across the Eight Kingdoms. Throughout the north, magic is reappearing after centuries of absence, emerging without warning in family after family—rich and poor alike. In some areas, the religious strictures against magery remain in place, and fanatical followers are stamping out magery by killing whoever displays the merest sign of it—even children. And as unrest spreads, one very determined traitor works to undo any effort at peace—no matter how many lives it costs. With the future hanging in the balance, it is only the dedication of a few resolute heroes who can turn the tides . . . if they can survive.
Punk Rock Jesus #6
by Sean Murphy
Promo copy:
In this thrilling conclusion to the acclaimed miniseries, Chris and the Flak Jackets head to Jerusalem, the last stop on their world tour. But in this final concert, will the punk messiah rise above the protests from the world’s three major religions, or will he take matters into his own hands?
This looks very interesting–full of edgy b&w art and compelling concepts– but this is the first issue I’ve seen of this series. Why send out only the last issue of a six-issue mini-series?
Pathfinder Tales:
Called to Darkness
by Richard Lee Byers
Cover by Michal Ivan
Promo copy:
Kagur is a warrior of the Blacklions, fierce and fearless hunters in the savage Realm of the Mammoth Lords. When her clan is slaughtered by a frost giant she considered her adopted brother, honor demands that she, the last surviving Blacklion, track down her old ally and take the tribe’s revenge. Yet this is no normal betrayal, for the murderous giant has followed the whispers of a dark god down into the depths of the earth, into a primeval cavern forgotten by time. There, he will unleash forces capable of wiping all humans from the region – unless Kagur can stop him first! From acclaimed author Richard Lee Byers comes a tale of bloody revenge and subterranean wonder, set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
A Red Sun Also Rises
by Mark Hodder
Cover by Lee Moyer
Promo copy:
An original adventure from the author of the Philip K. Dick Award–winning Burton & Swinburne series
A tale of good and evil, where neither is what it seems! Aiden Fleischer, a bookish priest, finds himself transported to an alien world. With him is Miss Clarissa Stark, a crippled hunchback of exceptional ability, wronged by an aristocrat and cast out from society. On the planet Ptallaya, under two bright yellow suns, they encounter the Yatsill, a race of enthusiastic mimics who shape their society after impressions picked up from Clarissa’s mind. Creating a faux London, the alien creatures enroll Clarissa in their Council of Magicians and Aiden in the City Guard. But why does the peaceful city require guards? After a day that, in earthly terms, has lasted for months, the answer comes, for on this planet without night, a red sun also rises, and brings with it a destructive evil. The Blood Gods! Hideous creatures, they cause Aiden to confront his own internal darkness while trying to protect his friend and his new home. With a sharp eye for period detail and a rich imagination, Mark Hodder establishes a weirdly twisted version of Victorian London on a convincingly realized alien world, and employs them to tackle a profound psychological and moral question. A Red Sun Also Rises breaks new ground by combining the sword & planet genre with Victorian steampunk while adding an edgy psychological twist.
by Mike Resnick
Cover and interior illustrations by J. Seamas Gallagher
Promo copy:
The epic, adventure-filled ‘Wild West’ meets Steampunk’ adventure continues. It’s August 1884. The consumptive Doc Holliday is preparing to await his end in a sanitarium in Leadville, Colorado, when the medicine man Geronimo enlists him on a mission. The time the great chief has predicted has come, the one white man he’s willing to treat with has crossed the Mississippi and is heading to Tombstone – a young man named Theodore Roosevelt. The various tribes know that Geronimo is willing to end the spell that has kept the United States from expanding west of the Mississippi. In response, they have created a huge, monstrous, medicine man named War Bonnet, whose function is to kill Roosevelt and Geronimo and keep the United States east of the river forever. And War Bonnet has enlisted the master shootist John Wesley Hardin. So the battle lines are drawn: Roosevelt and Geronimo against the most powerful of the medicine men, a supernatural creature that seemingly nothing can harm; and Holliday against the man with more credited kills than any gunfighter in history. It does not promise to be a tranquil summer.
Jamey Barlowe has been crippled since childhood, the result of being born on the Moon. He lives his life in a wheelchair, only truly free when he is in the water. But then Jamey’s father sends him, along with five other kids, back to the Moon to escape a political coup d’état that has occurred overnight in the United States. Moreover, one of the other five refugees is more than she appears.
Their destination is the mining colony Apollo.
Jamey will have to learn a whole new way to live, one that entails walking for the first time in his life. It won’t be easy and it won’t be safe. But Jamey is determined to make it as a member of Lunar Search and Rescue, also known as the Rangers. This job is always risky but could be even more dangerous if the new US president makes good on her threat to launch a military invasion. Soon Jamey is front and center in a political and military struggle stretching from the Earth to the Moon.
The final reckoning has come. The future of the Land will be decided now, written in the blood of men.
After his pyrrhic victory at Moorview, King Emin learns the truth about the child Ruhen. Powerless to act, he must mourn his friends and watch his enemy promise a new age of peace to the beleaguered peoples of the Land. While the remaining Menin troops seek revenge, daemons freely walk the Land, and Ruhen’s power grows, a glimmer of hope remains.
One final, desperate chance for victory remains and failure has become unimaginable. The fanatical rulers of Vanach hide a secret at the heart of their nation; a weapon so terrible only a dead man could wield it and only a madman would try, but without it Narkang will be obliterated. The past year has taken a grave toll and Ruhen’s millenniaold plans are about to bear terrible fruit. There can be only one outcome if he continues unchecked: total dominion over the Gods themselves.
An alternate 1895… . A world where Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace perfected the Difference Engine. Where steam and Tesla-powered computers are everywhere. Where automatons powered by human souls venture out into the sprawling London streets. Where the Ministry, a secretive government agency, seeks to control everything in the name of the Queen.
It is in this claustrophobic, paranoid city that seventeen-year-old Sebastian Tweed and his conman father struggle to eke out a living.
But all is not well.
A murderous, masked gang has moved into London, spreading terror through the criminal ranks as it takes over the underworld. As the gang carves up more and more of the city, a single name comes to be uttered in fearful whispers.
Professor Moriarty.
When Tweed’s father is kidnapped by Moriarty, Tweed is forced to team up with information broker Octavia Nightingale to track him down. But he soon realizes that his father’s disappearance is just a tiny piece of a political conspiracy that could destroy the British Empire and plunge the world into a horrific war.
The rip-roaring steampunk adventure for young adults continues in this exciting new story with an environmental conscience. Tim Barnabas is a submariner from the Cuttlefish, a coal-fired submarine. Clara Calland is the daughter of a scientist who carries a secret formula that threatens British Imperial power. After a daring chase across the globe, they have brought the secret to Westralia. Here, much of Australia is simply too hot to be habitable by day. People are nocturnal, living underground and working outside at night. To cross the deserts they use burrowing machines known as “steam moles.” With the Cuttlefish out of action, her crew take jobs on these submarine like craft. Duke Malcolm, of the Imperial Security Service, transports Clara’s rebel father to a prison in Eastern Australia, hoping to bait her into attempting a rescue. Clara looks to Tim for help, only to find he has fled from a racist incident into the desert. She takes a steam mole in search of him. The two head to Eastern Australia, where they discover an invading force with plans to take Westralia. Forced to survive in the desert, they encounter the intolerance meted out to the aboriginal people. Can they save Westralia from falling under British rule? And should they?
Today, December 18, is Michael Moorcock‘s birthday. In celebration of this event, I present my essay “The Winds of Limbo Roar: The Musical Career of Michael Moorcock.” This piece originally appeared in Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse #7 and then was reprinted in Geek Confidential.
The Winds of Limbo Roar:
The Musical Career of Michael Moorcock
THERE SEEMS TO be quite literally nothing that Michael Moorcock cannot write. He has produced novels, non-fiction, comics, screenplays and music. Yes even music. Go back and watch Heavy Metal. The Blue Oyster Cult song that’s blaring while the steam shovel removes the orb from the ground is a Moorcock-penned song. “Veteran of the Psychic Wars” is perhaps my favorite Blue Oyster Cult song. Maybe the lyrics struck a chord in this pubescent mind.
You see me now, a veteran
Of a thousand psychic wars
I’ve been living on the edge so long
Where the winds of limbo roar
And I’m young enough to look at
And far too old to see
All the scars are on the inside
And I’m not sure if there is anything
left of me…
The road to rock ‘n roll started for Michael Moorcock at the tender age of fourteen when he bought his first drum kit. The drums gave way to the banjo and then guitar. Moorcock got his first guitar at fifteen. He traded a huge collection of nearly priceless lead soldiers for them. Although the swap is one that Moorcock still regrets, that guitar lead him on the path to music.
In the mid-1950s the music scene divided between two major UK cities. Liverpool preferred Elvis-type rock and roll while London favored black R&B and blues. Out of Liverpool would come the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers and a host of others. From London would come the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds and later Hendrix and The Who. At Soho’s Gyre and Gimble in the fifties Moorcock could play beside Charlie Watts who in turn might be drumming for early cockney-rocker Tommy Steele, while Mick Jagger might dream one day to be as successful as Long John Baldry whose boogy-woogy piano player was Reg Dwight (now Sir Elton John). MM claims that Senator Joe McCarthy and his witch-hunting Committee were responsible for the rise of Britrock. In the fifties Joe drove so many good US musicians to England that the British folk and rock explosions were inevitable – “it was a magic creative mix,” says Moorcock. Black musicians got an admiring welcome in England. Moorcock corresponded regularly with Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. He knew Alan Lomax, whose father had recorded Leadbelly. He learned licks direct from “Rambling” Jack Elliott who in turn had learned them from Guthrie, watched Muddy Waters and Memphis Slim and a dozen other blues masters and sometimes was allowed to play along. He knew Alexis Korner, Graham Bond and many of the other famous seminal figures on the UK rock scene. Moorcock sat in with the Vipers, who would become Jet Harris and the Shadows, and rubbed shoulders with early legendary rockers like Wee Willie Harris. He hung out with Peter Green, later of Fleetwood Mac and knew people who’d played with Big Mamma Thornton. As Moorcock says, in those days unless you showed some minor proficiency on an instrument and could sing a few verses of a twelve-bar blues you felt under-educated.
In 1956 the sixteen-year-old Moorcock played his first gig in Bromley, Kent, as part of a band called The Greenhorns. Though presenting themselves as a country band complete with jackets, grey stetsons and string ties, they played an assortment of blues and Woody Guthrie “protest” songs. This didn’t go over well with audiences expecting country music. During this time Moorcock first performed one of his own compositions. “Ache in My Toe Rock,” is, Moorcock admits, an awful song, recorded as a demo in 1957 at EMI. It never made it past the acetate stage.
For the next few years Moorcock performed mostly as a solo blues act in clubs and coffee bars. He also began to write about the music he liked, producing fanzines like The Rambler. By the late fifties, when US paperbacks could not be imported into England, he’d go to Paris to find the American fiction he liked. Here, too, he met writers like Ginsberg and Kerouac and others associated with the infamous Olympia Press. The little cabarets of Montmartre were happy to employ him, giving him the money he needed to buy his books and return to London.
In the early sixties Moorcock traveled through Scandinavia and Northern Europe earning money from his music. In Liverpool, on a visit to his good friend Bill Harry, another keen fanzine producer, Moorcock vigorously resisted Harry’s entreaties that they go around the corner to the Cavern to hear some of his friends play. Moorcock hadn’t thought much of Bill’s earlier enthusiasms and refused to budge from the pub. The band, of course, was The Beatles.
The Flamingo in London was then the core of organ-based R&B, with regulars including Georgie Fame, Alan Price, the Brian Auger Trinity and other influential bands whose members would make up the supergroups of the seventies. Moorcock was a regular attendee. The musician he most admired was the legendary Zoot Money who’d “appear” in Moorcock’s 1967 Jerry Cornelius novel The Final Programme.
By now Moorcock’s literary reputation was growing and he had a young family to support. After rehearsing a new band for a couple of months, he decided to give up music for the more certain income now deriving from his fiction. For the 1965 World SF Convention in London, he made a novelty album with some of the New Worlds editorial team — Suddenly It’s The Bellyflops! — but Moorcock wasn’t satisfied with it and it was never released.
Moorcock’s music career took the back burner until 1970 when he’d encounter Hawkwind and begin a relationship which would span twenty years.
Hawkwind for lack of a better term is a space rock band. They’re an interesting mix of heavy metal, acid rock, poetry, urban angst, experiment and just general strangeness.
By the early sixties Moorcock had settled in London’s Ladbroke Grove, epicenter of the sixties international cultural earthquake. He and the radically vital New Worlds crew fit right in. Moorcock bought his groceries from Annie Lennox, was chased down Portobello Road by Marc (T.Rex) Bolan and was a near neighbor of Jimi Hendrix. Out of this world came his own skeptical gun-toting, guitar-wielding anti-hero, Jerry Cornelius.
It was inevitable that Moorcock should meet Hawkwind, still considered by many to be the quintessential ‘underground’ band. He got together with them at the insistence of Jon Trux and Robert Calvert, then writing for Frendz, a UK Rolling Stone spinoff. Moorcock would eventually write a Hawkwind comic for one issue of the magazine. The band had named themselves, they said, after Moorcock’s character Hawkmoon. Good feelings were mutual. Soon Moorcock was producing lyrics for the band.
The first Moorcock song Hawkwind performed was “Sonic Attack.” Robert Calvert had become the band’s resident poet. In Summer 197l he committed himself for psychiatric care. The band needed material and someone to perform it. Dave Brock, Hawkwind’s main man, approached Moorcock. So at a free concert, where Moorcock had already appeared with the likes of Arthur Brown and Paul Kossoff, he gave the first performance of his most famous number.
http://youtu.be/LwRvWpsiM2w
The 1972 Hawkwind album Doremi Fasol Latido clearly owed a lot to Moorcock’s Black Corridor as did the subsequent tour, when Calvert read a long extract from the book. It was released as a live double album in 1973 as Space Ritual.
Soon Moorcock was a frequent performer at Hawkwind concerts. Inevitably he returned to the recording studio for the second associated album. Based on his Eternal Champion book Warrior on the Edge of Time (1975) contained three Moorcock spoken pieces, two of which he performed himself.
1975 was a busy musical year for Moorcock. He provided banjo and backing vocals for the Calvert/Brian Eno Lucky Leif and the Longships, appeared with Hawkwind and released his own near classic album The New Worlds Fair.
New Worlds Fair featured Moorcock’s band Deep Fix, including musicians Snowy White, Kumo, Pete Pavli and Simon House, who had appeared with the likes of Pink Floyd and David Bowie. Ambitious in scope, it centers on a huge fairground operating as though everything’s normal while outside the entire world falls apart. A fascinating, well-executed concept. Until its re-release on Griffin (US) and Castle (UK) it was hard to find in good condition. The new version includes recently discovered demos and deletions. Fresh from the artistic success of NWF, Moorcock jumped into a new musical project, The Entropy Tango. Originally planned for release in 1977, it was supposed to tie in with a new Jerry Cornelius novel to be lavishly illustrated by French artist Romain Slocombe. Production problems followed and eventually Moorcock abandoned the idea, publishing the black and white illustrated book on its own in 1981. A bootleg with some of the demos was given away with Moorcock’s permission at a Dragoncon, Atlanta, 1990 where Moorcock also performed with Eric Bloom, who had originally approached him in 1977 to write for Blue Oyster Cult, subsequently recording “The Great Sun Jester”, “Veteran” and “Black Blade”, an Elric song.
In the late seventies Moorcock began work on Gloriana, based on his novel of the same name. The BBC was interested but the music project became too time-consuming and Moorcock abandoned it. He thinks that music remains some of his and Pete Pavli’s best.
Moorcock had friends amongst the pre-punk bands and was a welcome guest at early punk gigs at the Marquis. He also made friends with Goth bands like The Damned. In 1980 Virgin asked him to write the tie-in for the Sex Pistols movie Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle, which was given away as a newspaper at gigs. Moorcock subsequently made a documentary on “new” punk for UK TV, featuring Siouxsie Sue and others. A music project, based on his novel The Brothel in Rosenstrasse, was abandoned in 1981. Parts of the album were later released in 1982 and 1992 and appear on various Hawkwind associated releases. Somewhere in 1981, at Dave Edmunds’ Rockfield studio, Moorcock also found time to record the songs Coded Messages and Running Through The Back Brain which appeared on their 1983 album Zones. He also played 12-string Rickenbacker on Robert Calvert’s1981 album Hype and worked on the Hawkwind album Sonic Attack.
Through the early eighties Moorcock was a frequent performer at Hawkwind gigs. The culmination of their alliance came in 1985 with the release of The Chronicle of the Black Sword. The entire album was the Elric story and included lights, graphics, mime and dance, as well as the songs. Moorcock appeared on the tour as often as he could. This album, together with the double album Live Chronicles and the video which features Moorcock, are probably the most interesting to Elric fans.
http://youtu.be/LO4iKnwA6hw
To date that’s the last Moorcock musical work. There are several Hawkwind albums with Moorcock contributions, but after his relocation to the States in the mid-nineties he has played only one live show. That was with Nik Turner in Austin, TX in 1995. His performance can be found on the live album Past or Future.
I’m sure that like all Moorcock’s endeavors and interests this is not the final chapter of his musical career. Already he’s talking of entirely re-recording New Worlds Fair. He’ll wake up one day soon and feel the bug. He’ll write a lyric, perform a gig, sing a song. Music is in his blood and soul. Maybe Moorcock’s musical career is like the Veteran of the Psychic Wars? He’s waiting for the winds of limbo to roar again!
(For more information on Michael Moorcock’s music check out Dude’s Dream by Brian Tawn, Hawkfan Publication, 1997. Without Tawn’s informative book this article would have been impossible.)
New York Times bestselling author Peter F. Hamilton’s riveting new thriller combines the nail-biting suspense of a serial-killer investigation with clear-eyed scientific and social extrapolation to create a future that seems not merely plausible but inevitable.
A century from now, thanks to a technology allowing instantaneous travel across light-years, humanity has solved its energy shortages, cleaned up the environment, and created far-flung colony worlds. The keys to this empire belong to the powerful North family—composed of successive generations of clones. Yet these clones are not identical. For one thing, genetic errors have crept in with each generation. For another, the original three clone “brothers” have gone their separate ways, and the branches of the family are now friendly rivals more than allies.
Or maybe not so friendly. At least that’s what the murder of a North clone in the English city of Newcastle suggests to Detective Sidney Hurst. Sid is a solid investigator who’d like nothing better than to hand off this hot potato of a case. The way he figures it, whether he solves the crime or not, he’ll make enough enemies to ruin his career.
Yet Sid’s case is about to take an unexpected turn: because the circumstances of the murder bear an uncanny resemblance to a killing that took place years ago on the planet St. Libra, where a North clone and his entire household were slaughtered in cold blood. The convicted slayer, Angela Tramelo, has always claimed her innocence. And now it seems she may have been right. Because only the St. Libra killer could have committed the Newcastle crime.
Problem is, Angela also claims that the murderer was an alien monster.
Now Sid must navigate through a Byzantine minefield of competing interests within the police department and the world’s political and economic elite . . . all the while hunting down a brutal killer poised to strike again. And on St. Libra, Angela, newly released from prison, joins a mission to hunt down the elusive alien, only to learn that the line between hunter and hunted is a thin one.
To make his biggest score, Han’s ready to take even bigger risks. But even he can’t do this job solo.
Han Solo should be basking in his moment of glory. After all, the cocky smuggler and captain of the Millennium Falcon just played a key role in the daring raid that destroyed the Death Star and landed the first serious blow to the Empire in its war against the Rebel Alliance. But after losing the reward his heroics earned him, Han’s got nothing to celebrate. Especially since he’s deep in debt to the ruthless crime lord Jabba the Hutt. There’s a bounty on Han’s head—and if he can’t cough up the credits, he’ll surely pay with his hide. The only thing that can save him is a king’s ransom. Or maybe a gangster’s fortune? That’s what a mysterious stranger is offering in exchange for Han’s less-than-legal help with a riskier-than-usual caper. The payoff will be more than enough for Han to settle up with Jabba—and ensure he never has to haggle with the Hutts again.
All he has to do is infiltrate the ultra-fortified stronghold of a Black Sun crime syndicate underboss and crack the galaxy’s most notoriously impregnable safe. It sounds like a job for miracle workers . . . or madmen. So Han assembles a gallery of rogues who are a little of both—including his indispensable sidekick Chewbacca and the cunning Lando Calrissian. If anyone can dodge, deceive, and defeat heavily armed thugs, killer droids, and Imperial agents alike—and pull off the heist of the century—it’s Solo’s scoundrels. But will their crime really pay, or will it cost them the ultimate price?
Karen Lord’s debut novel, the multiple-award-winning Redemption in Indigo, announced the appearance of a major new talent—a strong, brilliantly innovative voice fusing Caribbean storytelling traditions and speculative fiction with subversive wit and incisive intellect. Compared by critics to such heavyweights as Nalo Hopkinson, China Miéville, and Ursula K. Le Guin, Lord does indeed belong in such select company—yet, like them, she boldly blazes her own trail.
Now Lord returns with a second novel that exceeds the promise of her first. The Best of All Possible Worlds is a stunning science fiction epic that is also a beautifully wrought, deeply moving love story.
A proud and reserved alien society finds its homeland destroyed in an unprovoked act of aggression, and the survivors have no choice but to reach out to the indigenous humanoids of their adopted world, to whom they are distantly related. They wish to preserve their cherished way of life but come to discover that in order to preserve their culture, they may have to change it forever.
Now a man and a woman from these two clashing societies must work together to save this vanishing race—and end up uncovering ancient mysteries with far-reaching ramifications. As their mission hangs in the balance, this unlikely team—one cool and cerebral, the other fiery and impulsive—just may find in each other their own destinies . . . and a force that transcends all.
LEAVE IT TO CHANCE. Eleanor “Elle” Chance, that is—the intrepid heroine of this edgy new series that transforms elements of urban fantasy, historical adventure, and paranormal romance into pure storytelling gold.
It is 1903, and the world is divided between light and shadow. On the side of light is a wondrous science that has transformed everyday life by harnessing magical energies to ingenious new technologies. But each advance of science has come at the expense of shadow—the traditional realm of the supernatural.
Now two ancient powers are preparing to strike back. Blood-sucking immortal Nightwalkers and their spellcasting Alchemist allies have a plan to cover the whole world in shadow. All they require is the sacrifice of a certain young woman whose past conceals a dangerous secret.
But when they come after Elle, they get more than they bargained for. This enterprising young woman, the daughter of a scientific genius, has reserves of bravery and determination that even she scarcely suspects. Now she is about to meet her match in more ways than one: a handsome yet infuriating Warlock named Hugh Marsh, whose agenda is as suspect as his charms are annoyingly irresistible.
With The Warded Man and The Desert Spear, Peter V. Brett surged to the front rank of contemporary fantasy, standing alongside giants in the field such as George R. R. Martin, Robert Jordan, and Terry Brooks. The Daylight War, the eagerly anticipated third volume in Brett’s internationally bestselling Demon Cycle, continues the epic tale of humanity’s last stand against an army of demons that rise each night to prey on mankind.
On the night of the new moon, the demons rise in force, seeking the deaths of two men, both of whom have the potential to become the fabled Deliverer, the man prophesied to reunite the scattered remnants of humanity in a final push to destroy the demon corelings once and for all.
Arlen Bales was once an ordinary man, but now he has become something more—the Warded Man, tattooed with eldritch wards so powerful they make him a match for any demon. Arlen denies he is the Deliverer at every turn, but the more he tries to be one with the common folk, the more fervently they believe. Many would follow him, but Arlen’s path threatens to lead to a dark place he alone can travel to, and from which there may be no returning.
The only one with hope of keeping Arlen in the world of men, or joining him in his descent into the world of demons, is Renna Tanner, a fierce young woman in danger of losing herself to the power of demon magic.
Ahmann Jardir has forged the warlike desert tribes of Krasia into a demon-killing army and proclaimed himself Shar’Dama Ka, the Deliverer. He carries ancient weapons—a spear and a crown—that give credence to his claim, and already vast swaths of the green lands bow to his control.
But Jardir did not come to power on his own. His rise was engineered by his First Wife, Inevera, a cunning and powerful priestess whose formidable demon bone magic gives her the ability to glimpse the future. Inevera’s motives and past are shrouded in mystery, and even Jardir does not entirely trust her.
Once Arlen and Jardir were as close as brothers. Now they are the bitterest of rivals. As humanity’s enemies rise, the only two men capable of defeating them are divided against each other by the most deadly demons of all—those lurking in the human heart.
Since my last Rayguns Over Texas update, four more Texans have joined the all-Texas anthology: Nicky Drayden, Jessica Reisman, Don Webb, and Joe R. Lansdale.
The current lineup looks like this:
“Defenders of Beeman County” by Aaron Allston
“TimeOut” by Neal Barret, Jr.
“Babylon Moon” by Matthew Bey
“La Bamba Boulevard” by Bradley Denton
The Atmosphere Man” by Nicky Drayden
“Grey Goo and You” by Derek Austin Johnson
“Rex” by Joe R. Lansdale
“The Nostalgia Differential” by Michael Moorcock
“The Chambered Eye” by Jessica Reisman
“Avoiding the Cold War” by Josh Rountree
“The Art of Absence” by Don Webb
More updates to come including the revelation of the all important cover artist.
The latest comic book incarnation of The Shadow comes from Dynamite. The first story, The Fire of Creation, was written by Garth Ennis with art by Aaron Campbell. Ennis has had a string of hit series for both the major publishers as well as his recently concluded series, The Boys, for Dynamite. Aaron Campbell is a new name to me but he seems to have worked mainly on other Dynamite titles such as Green Hornet and Sherlock Holmes.
Set sometime in the 1930s, Lamont Cranston is working with US Military Intelligence to prevent an ex-crime boss turned Japanese army officer getting his hands on the “magic rocks” being auctioned among the world’s super powers by a Chinese crime lord. Along the way he must escape assassination attempts by the Nazis and the interference of the Military Intelligence officer sent with him to legitimise the mission.
I gave this one a try because I like the gun-toting vigilante known as the Shadow especially the incarnation from the 80s by Andrew Helfer and Kyle Baker. This version did not live up to that mainly because writers seem to have been restricted in what they can do with the character since that time – the book was pulled from DC without warning in the middle of a storyline. As a Garth Ennis piece it also did not live up to its potential, probably for the same reason, as a lot of the signature Ennis tropes are missing – the black humour, sexual deviancy and gallons of blood and gore. So we get a fairly standard pulp thriller that touches on the origin of the Shadow and his relationship to Lamont Cranston and Kent Allard without going into too many details. The Shadow’s only companion in this story, from his usual selection of sidekicks, is Margo Lane and the action mainly takes place outside of New York in a China under the control of Japan. A good enough read that retains the pulp essence of the character but I think I will stick to my Helfer back issues.
Arcadia Alvarado, the leading Democratic candidate for President of the United States, says she was ‘abducted by aliens.’ As the Mexican-American Governor of New Mexico, she’s dealing with immigration, budget cuts and an alcoholic ex. She’s about to toss her hat into the ring as a candidate for President in the most volatile political climate ever. But then…a lonely road and a nightmarish encounter have left her with terrible, half-glimpsed memories. And now she has to become President. To expose the truth–and maybe, to save the world.
Arcadia’s quest is at the heart of this new title from writer Paul Cornell (DEMON KNIGHTS, ACTION COMICS, Doctor Who) and artist Ryan Kelly (NEW YORK FIVE, NORTHLANDERS, Local). With the help of her quirky staff, Arcadia will pursue the truth of her abduction into danger, mystery and awe.
Saucer Country is a dark thriller that blends UFO lore and alien abduction with political intrigue, all set in the hauntingly beautiful Southwest.
Written by Scott Westerfeld and Devin Grayson Art by Steven Cummings
Promo copy:
Experience the riveting, dystopian Uglies series seen as never before—through the eyes of Shay, Tally Youngblood’s closest and bravest friend, who refuses to take anything about society at face value.
“From the moment we are born, we are considered threats in need of ‘special’ management. We are watched and shaped and exploited by a force most of us never see. . . . All to keep us safe. . . . Do you feel safe?! Or do you feel like you’re in a cage?”—Shay
In Pretties, Tally Youngblood and her daring best friend, Shay, both underwent the operation that turned them from ordinary Uglies into stunning beauties. Now this thrilling new graphic novel reveals Shay’s perspective on living in New Pretty Town . . . and the way she sees it, there’s more to this so-called paradise than meets the eye.
With the endless parties and custom-made clothes, life as a Pretty should be perfect. Yet Shay doesn’t feel quite right. She has little to no memory of her past; it’s as if something in her brain has inexplicably changed. When she reunites with Tally and the Crims—her rebellious group of friends from Uglyville—she begins to recall their last departure to the wild, and the headstrong leader she used to be. And as she remembers the truth about what doomed their escape, Shay decides to fight back—against the status quo, against the mysterious Special Circumstances, even against her own best friend.
Written by Pierre Christin Art by Jean-Claude Mézières
Promo copy:
Technorog is a planet essential to the economy of the Terran empire. For 200 years, it has been a centre of industry, research and agriculture. Suddenly, the indigenous population—believed long extinct—comes back to the planet they know as Alflolol. Earth’s laws are strict: They must be allowed back on their ancestral grounds. But when Valerian and Laureline are assigned to facilitate their “reinsertion,” they see the difference between the letter of the law and its spirit…
Earlier this year, I interviewed Jerome Saincantin, who translated this very volume, as part of my Nexus Graphica column.
This card, among the usual bills and junk, arrived in the mail today.
It totally made my day. Everything else will be gravy!
Did I ever tell y’all that I have perhaps the coolest mom and aunt in the world? While not always grokking what I do, they both have always been my biggest fans and ardent supporters.
Edited by Ann Vandermeer Cover by Dan Jones Interior design by John Coulthart
Promo copy:
Playfully mashing up the romantic elegance of the Victorian era with whimsically modernized technology, this entertaining and edgy new anthology is the third installment in a bestselling steampunk series. Featuring a renegade collective of writers and artists—from beloved legends to rising talents—the steam-driven past is rebooted and powered by originality, wit, and adventure. Lev Grossman offers a different take on the Six Million Dollar Man who possesses appendages and workings from recycled metal parts, yet remains fully human, resilient, and determined. Catherynne M. Valente explores a new form of parenting within the merging of man and machine while Cherie Priest presents a new, unsettling mode of transportation. Bruce Sterling introduces steampunk’s younger cousin, salvage-punk, while speculating on how cities will be built in the future using preexisting materials and Jeff VanderMeer takes an antisteampunk perspective as a creator must turn his back on an utterly destructive creation. Going beyond the simple realms of corsets and goggles, this engaging collection takes readers on a wild ride through Victoriana and beyond.
Table of Contents:
Introduction by Ann VanderMeer
Fiction
“Harry and Marlowe and the Talisman of the Cult of Egil” by Carrie Vaughn
“Addison Howell and the Clockroach” by Cherie Priest
“On Wooden Wings” by Paolo Chikiamco
“Sir Ranulph Wykeham-Rackham” by Lev Grossman
“The Heart Is the Matter” by Malissa Kent
“Mother Is a Machine” by Catherynne M. Valente
“Possession” by Ben Peek
“Beatrice” by Karin Tidbeck
“Arbeitskraft” by Nick Mamatas
“Study, for Solo Piano” by Genevieve Valentine
“Beside Calais” by Samantha Henderson
“An Exhortation to Young Writers (Advice Tendered by Poor Mojo’s Giant Squid)” by David Erik Nelson, Morgan Johnson, and Fritz Swanson
“A Handful of Rice” by Vandana Singh
“Fixing Hanover” by Jeff VanderMeer
“Salvage” by Margaret Ronald
“Urban Drift” by Andrew Knighton
“Ascension” by Leow Hui Min Annabeth
“Nowhere Fast” by Christopher Rowe
“The Effluent Engine” by N. K. Jemisin
“To Follow the Waves” by Amal El-Mohtar
“Captain Bells & the Sovereign State of Discordia” by JY Yang
“The Seventh Expression of the Robot General” by Jeffrey Ford
“The Stoker Memorandum” by Lavie Tidhar
“Smoke City” by Christopher Barzak
“Goggles (c.1910)” by Caitlín R. Kiernan
“Peace in Our Time” by Garth Nix
“White Fungus” by Bruce Sterling
Nonfiction
“Winding Down the House: Towards a Steampunk Without Steam” by Amal El-Mohtar
“Steampunk Shapes Our Future” by Margaret Killjoy
“From Airships of Imagination to Feet on the Ground” by Jaymee Goh
#1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Marie Moning picks up where Shadowfever leaves off with Iced, the first book in her hotly anticipated new urban paranormal trilogy set in the world of the blockbuster Fever series.
The year is 1 AWC—After the Wall Crash. The Fae are free and hunting us. It’s a war zone out there, and no two days are alike. I’m Dani O’Malley, the chaos-filled streets of Dublin are my home, and there’s no place I’d rather be.
Dani “Mega” O’Malley plays by her own set of rules—and in a world overrun by Dark Fae, her biggest rule is: Do what it takes to survive. Possessing rare talents and the all-powerful Sword of Light, Dani is more than equipped for the task. In fact, she’s one of the rare humans who can defend themselves against the Unseelie. But now, amid the pandemonium, her greatest gifts have turned into serious liabilities.
Dani’s ex–best friend, MacKayla Lane, wants her dead, the terrifying Unseelie princes have put a price on her head, and Inspector Jayne, the head of the police force, is after her sword and will stop at nothing to get it. What’s more, people are being mysteriously frozen to death all over the city, encased on the spot in sub-zero, icy tableaux.
When Dublin’s most seductive nightclub gets blanketed in hoarfrost, Dani finds herself at the mercy of Ryodan, the club’s ruthless, immortal owner. He needs her quick wit and exceptional skill to figure out what’s freezing Fae and humans dead in their tracks—and Ryodan will do anything to ensure her compliance.
Dodging bullets, fangs, and fists, Dani must strike treacherous bargains and make desperate alliances to save her beloved Dublin—before everything and everyone in it gets iced.
This brilliant new installment in bestselling author Susan Carroll’s mesmerizing Dark Queen historical fiction series is perfect for fans of Philippa Gregory.
Queen Catherine de Medici is dead, and for Meg Wolfe—successor in a line of legendary healers and mystics known as “daughters of the earth”—it is a time of new beginnings. She strives to be ordinary, invisible in the mists of Faire Isle, and is determined to put the terrifying days of a wicked mother and turbulent childhood behind her. But soon a summons from King James will rekindle a menacing power from the past, bringing haunting visions of a nightmare already unfolding—and a shattering mystery steeped in magic that will determine a destiny from which she cannot hide.
Meg’s task: Save the king from the most insidious form of treachery, invisible to those who do not possess Meg’s extraordinary gifts. But as Meg discovers, there are more sinister motivations at play in the king’s world. Torn between two very different men whose motives and secrets are tied inexorably to her own fate, Meg learns that she can no longer trust anyone or anything—not even her own heart.
