Books Received 11/15/12 Pyr edition Part II

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

Reaper (Lightbringer)

Reaper

by K. D. McEntire
Cover by Sam Weber

 

Promo copy:

Reaper is set in a world a breath away from our own. After the death of her mother, Wendy is attempting to fill her mother’s shoes and discovering that the prospect is far more difficult than she ever imagined. Learning that she is part of a powerful and ancient family of Reapers that her mother had forsaken is just the first surprise—Wendy soon discovers that the San Francisco Bay Never is filled with political powers and factions both previously unknown and completely mysterious to Wendy. Since both her mother and Piotr are gone, Wendy must struggle to maneuver between the machinations of the dead and the dark intentions of her living Reaper family.

Eventually betrayed and made sick unto death, the clock is ticking before Wendy will fall—she has only a matter of days to unravel the mysteries her mother left behind and to convince her wary family to accept her as one of their own.

 

The Steam Mole

The Steam Mole

by Dave Freer
Cover by Paul Young

 

Promo copy:

Steampunk adventure with an environmental point

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?

 

London Eye (Toxic City Book One)

London Eye (Toxic City Book One)

by Tim Lebbon
Cover by Steve Stone

 

Promo copy:

The Hunger Games meets the X-Men in an exciting postapocalyptic debut

Two years after London is struck by a devastating terrorist attack, it is cut off from the world, protected by a military force known as Choppers. The rest of Britain believes that the city is now a toxic, uninhabited wasteland.

But Jack and his friends—some of whom lost family on what has become known as Doomsday—know that the reality is very different. At great risk, they have been gathering evidence about what is really happening in London—and it is incredible.

Because the handful of London’s survivors are changing. Developing strange, fantastic powers. Evolving.

Upon discovering that his mother is still alive inside London, Jack, his sister, and their three friends sneak into a city in ruins. Vast swathes have been bombed flat. Choppers cruise the streets, looking for survivors to experiment upon. The toxic city is filled with wonders and dangers that will challenge Jack and his friends… and perhaps kill them. But Jack knows that the truth must be revealed to the outside world or every survivor will die.

Books Received 11/15/12 Pyr edition Part I

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

Quantum Coin

Quantum Coin

by E. C. Myers
Cover by Sam Weber

 

Promo copy:

The sequel to the exciting adventure spun across parallel worlds!

Ephraim thought his universe-hopping days were over. He’s done wishing for magic solutions to his problems; his quantum coin has been powerless for almost a year, and he’s settled into a normal life with his girlfriend, Jena. But then an old friend crashes their senior prom: Jena’s identical twin from a parallel world, Zoe.

Zoe’s timing couldn’t be worse. It turns out that Ephraim’s problems are far from over, and they’re much more complicated than his love life: The multiverse is at stake—and it might just be Ephraim’s fault.

Ephraim, Jena, and Zoe embark on a mission across multiple worlds to learn what’s going wrong and how to stop it. They will have to draw on every resource available and trust in alternate versions of themselves and their friends, before it’s too late for all of them.

If Ephraim and his companions can put their many differences aside and learn to work together, they might have a chance to save the multiverse. But ultimately, the solution may depend on how much they’re willing to sacrifice for the sake of humanity… and each other.

 

The Crossing (Blood of the Lamb: Book One)

The Crossing (Blood of the Lamb: Book One)

by Mandy Hager
Cover by Larry Rostant

 

Promo copy:

A compelling dystopian novel; winner of the 2010
New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards: Young Adult Fiction

Maryam refused to play by the Rules, and now they’re out to get her blood. . .
The people of Onewere, a small island in the Pacific, know that they are special—chosen by the great Apostles of the Lamb to survive the deadly Tribulation that consumed the Earth. Now, from their Holy City in the rotting cruise ship Star of the Sea, the Apostles control the population—manipulating texts from the Holy Book to implant themselves as living gods. But what the people of Onewere don’t know is this: the white elite will stop at nothing to meet their own bloodthirsty needs . . .

When Maryam crosses from child to woman, she must leave everything she has ever known and make a Crossing of another kind. But life inside the Holy City is not as she had dreamed, and she is faced with the unthinkable: obey the Apostles and very likely die, or turn her back on every belief she once held dear.

The Crossing is a fast, suspenseful drama underpinned by a powerful and moving story about love and loss.

 

The Creative Fire (Book One of Ruby's Song)

The Creative Fire (Book One of Ruby’s Song)

by Brenda Cooper
Cover by John Picacio

Promo copy:

Character-driven, social science fiction inspired by the life of Evita Peron

Nothing can match the power of a single voice… .

Ruby Martin expects to spend her days repairing robots while avoiding the dangerous peacekeeping forces that roam the corridors of the generation ship the Creative Fire. The social structure of the ship is rigidly divided, with Ruby and her friends on the bottom. Then a ship-wide accident gives Ruby a chance to fight for the freedom she craves. Her enemies are numerous, well armed, and knowledgeable. Her weapons are a fabulous voice, a quick mind, and a deep stubbornness. Complicating it all—an unreliable AI and an enigmatic man she met—and kissed—exactly once—who may hold the key to her success. If Ruby can’t transform from a rebellious teen to the leader of a revolution, she and all her friends will lose all say in their future.

Like the historical Evita Peron, Ruby rises from the dregs of society to hold incredible popularity and power. Her story is about love and lust and need and a thirst for knowledge and influence so deep that it burns.

 

Power Under Pressure (The Society of Steam, Book Three)

Power Under Pressure (The Society of Steam, Book Three)

by Andrew P. Mayer
Cover by Justin Gerard

Promo copy:

 

Steampunk superheroes in Victorian-era New York!

The Society of Paragons is gone—destroyed from within by traitors andenemies. With the death of The Industrialist and the rebirth of the Iron-Clad as a monstrous half-human creature known as “The Shell,” Lord Eschaton now has almost everything he needs to cover the world in fortified smoke and rebuild it in his image—everything except for the mechanical heart of the Automaton.
The device is nearer than he knows. Just across the East River, hiding in a Brooklyn Junkyard, Sarah Stanton is trying to come to restore the mechanical man to life. But before she can rebuild her friend, she must first discover the indomitable power of her own heart and save herself. Only thenwill she be able to forge a ragtag group of repentant villains, damaged Paragons, and love-mad geniuses into the team of heroes known as “The Society of Steam.”

Welcome to my new blog

I already have a long established RevolutionSF blog called The Culture where I record my thoughts on the comics books I read. This new one will have a slightly different focus.

I have been collecting comics on and off for the last 30 years or so and there are a number of series that I would like to re-read – mainly from the eighties and nineties. Most of these will be from Vertigo but there are others from DC, Marvel and 2000AD that I would like to read too. So I will record these readings here separate from my main blog.

The final spur to actually do this is the news from DC that the only ongoing title throughout Vertigo’s 20 years of existence, John Constantine, Hellblazer, is to end with issue 300 and move back to DC as part of the New 52. Like most fanboys, my views on this change are not entirely positive but the closing out of the series on Vertigo means that now is probably a good time to go back and revisit the series as I have been meaning to do for some time.

So all things John Constantine will be my first focus. I will look at some of his appearances in Swamp Thing before moving onto his own series and the associated spin-off series that he also appeared in. I will probably not start before December so you have time to dig out your old back issues if you want to join in.

My Skyfall review

Even though RevolutionSF hosts this blog, I know some of you may not routinely check out the main page. For y’all slackers, here’s the news that I reviewed the latest James Bond Skyfall for the site.

One of the finest James Bond installments, 2006’s magnificent Casino Royale infused an air of realism rarely seen in the previous films. Daniel Craig’s expert portrayal of the neophyte agent hearkened back to the dark, less humorous visage of Fleming’s novels. Picking up immediately after the conclusion of Royale, the disappointing Quantum of Solace paled in comparison to its predecessor, derailing much of the hoped-for future promise of the series. In the franchise’s 50th year, Craig returns for his third outing in Skyfall, a picture that successfully returns to the excitement and quality of Casino Royale.

 

 

Read the rest…

 

 

The New Deadwardians #1-8 (2012)

“One day I recall, I had to re-kill my entire platoon.”

The New Deadwardians #1 cover

This recently finished 8 part mini-series from Vertigo was created by writer Dan Abnett and artist I.N.J. Culbard. Abnett has had a long career as a writer of prose books, most notably a large number of Warhammer 40K novels, and comics books mainly for Marvel and 2000AD. Ian Culbard has illustrated a number of adaptions of literary works including  Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, H.P. Lovecraft stories and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars.

Set in an alternate history London of 1910, a curse has spread across England since zombies (known as the Restless) first mysteriously appeared in 1861. Attracted by the living, the only cure is to become a vampire (known as the Young) an option taken up mainly by the wealthy and privileged members of society. The rest of the human race (known as the Bright) live in barricaded zones surrounded by hundreds of the Restless pressing in attracted by the living. In this setting, Chief Inspector George Suttle is called on to investigate the murder of a Young aristocrat who death is made more mysterious by not being due to one of the three ways to kill the Young. During his investigation, Suttle has to cross into a Bright zone and deal with the reawakening of long dormant desires as well as secret societies and pressure to close the case quickly without any scandal.

Abnett has taken some very old (and possibly tired) supernatural species and managed to weave a fresh story full of intrigue. The zombies are mostly background threat with a couple of incursions in the living zones of London. The most interesting relationship is between the Young and the Bright and the simmering resentment that pervades the whole series. Suttle goes through a transformative experience when made to interact with the Bright that challenges the life (or unlife) he has been leading for nearly 50 years. I liked the art by Ian Culbard and the subtle colour palette used throughout the book. Worth a look for a different take on some classic horror tropes.

Aces & Eights – The Legend of Pecos Jake

In my every-other-Sunday group we have returned to my long-running Aces & Eights campaign. I have a lot of material on that campaign that I’ll eventually set up at this blog, but for now you can follow it at its own site, Guns In the Cauldron.

In our most recent session, French-Canadian mountain man Antoine Beaujoureaux, slick-talking grifter Sly Murray, and famous young gunfighter (and recently appointed deputy marshal) Pecos Jake spent a couple of weeks settling into their new home in Lazarus, a prospecting boomtown in a little green valley just south of the San Juan Mountains.

Jake decided he liked the respect he got from wearing a deputy’s star, and he and Antoine helped rebuild the establishments that burned down the night of their last fight with the One Spur Gang. Antoine befriended a wealthy Indian with a familiar name who’d just moved into town. Sly set about making friends (or at least marks) among the townfolk and decided to try his hand at politics.

And the newspaper, the Lazarus Spectator, carried the news of their arrival and their battle with the One Spur Gang out to all the towns in the region — including some where Jake and Antoine may have left old enemies behind.

Read the detailed Actual Play report here.

John Constantine, Hellblazer: The Devil’s Trench Coat (2012)

“Welcome to Hell, John …”

With this latest collection (#283-291), the regular creative team since #250 – Peter Milligan, Giuseppe Camuncoli and Stefano Landini – are just one issue away from matching the previous longest run on the series. This was the peerless run in the early 1990s by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon.

The book contains two related stories from the long running series -The Devil’s Trench Coat and Another Season in Hell. In the first, Constantine’s niece has stolen his old trench coat and sold it. But the coat being exposed to years of magic has a will of its own that it exerts on a series of new owners leaving death in its wake. Meanwhile John finds that he is more susceptible to wild magic and not as finessed in the spells he casts. All of which results in a Mafia hit man trying to gun him down while possessed by the coat. In the second story Constantine agrees to go to Hell to speak to his sister so that his niece, Gemma, can find out why she found her mother crying one day and free her soul from Hell. While John thinks he has out-smarted the First of the Fallen, the demon comes to Earth to enlist Epiphany’s consent to bind her father’s soul to him.

During his run, Milligan has done a good job of taking Constantine back to the basics of the character and gradually introducing a darker tone to the storyline. This book contains some of the darkest material yet with the dark magic radiated from his old trench coat to Constantine’s return to Hell and his revenge on his evil twin for raping his niece. Not comfortable viewing or reading at times but a must for long time Constantine fans and horror lovers.

The One Ring — The Old Road Trading Company

The player-characters in our campaign of The One Ring: Adventures Over the Edge of the Wild have changed a bit over time, as heroes in long-term games often do. We started with Kester, Falco, Gismund, and Caranthir, and at the hobbits’ encouragement those four founded the Old Road Trading Company to bring goods — especially pipeweed! — from the Shire to Rhovanion.

Today Gismund and Caranthir are joined by newer companions as Falco’s player is away at school and Kester’s player (that’s me) is running the game while our other Loremaster is taking night classes. Here’s a look at the companions and their present disposition.

Also online: A Tale of Years.

Beli of the Lonely Mountain

The dwarf warrior Beli traveled with the Old Road Trading Company in their 2948 journey across the Misty Mountains and back.

  • Culture and Standing: Dwarf of the Lonely Mountain, Standing 1.
  • Attributes (Favored): Body 6 (8), Heart 3 (6), Wits 5 (6).
  • Other Ratings: Valour 3, Wisdom 2, Endurance 31, Hope 13, Shadow 0.
  • Key Skills: Battle, Craft, Search, Song, Travel; Mattock.
  • Specialties: Fire-Making, Burglary, Tunnelling.
  • Distinctive Features: Cunning, Suspicious.
  • Rewards: Grievous and Keen Mattock.
  • Virtues: Confidence.
  • Calling: Treasure-Hunter.

Caranthir of the Woodland Realm

A very young elf at only 160 years of age, dark-haired Caranthir comes from a high house of Thranduil’s people. A minor lord or knight of Thranduil’s court, he fought in the Battle of the Five Armies and saw first-hand the value of alliance with the other Free Peoples. He has spent the last few years adventuring with friends from beyond the Elvenking’s lands, drawn by curiosity to see and learn things for himself that have been unknown to the wood-elves for long years in their isolation. Caranthir is often stern but his adventures with men and hobbits seem to have lightened his spirits in ways that the merriment of the wood-elves could not.

  • Culture and Standing: Elf of Mirkwood, Standing 3.
  • Attributes (Favored): Body 4 (7), Heart 4 (6), Wits 6 (7).
  • Other Ratings: Valour 4, Wisdom 4, Endurance 26, Hope 14, Shadow 0.
  • Key Skills: Athletics, Awareness, Battle, Inspire, Lore, Travel; Bow, Sword.
  • Specialties: Elven-Lore, Fire-Making, Rhymes of Lore.
  • Distinctive Features: Lordly, Quick of Hearing.
  • Rewards: Keen and Grievous Sword (Galgos, “Lightning”), Mail Shirt of Cunning Make.
  • Virtues: Confidence, Elvish Dreams, The Speakers.
  • Calling: Scholar.

Falco Proudfoot

Falco and his brother Kester came from the Shire across the Misty Mountains and so to the Long Lake a few years after Bilbo Baggins’ return from his great adventure. The Proudfoot brothers were first cousins of Bilbo; their mother Ophelia and Bilbo’s mother Belladonna were sisters, daughters of the Old Took. Falco and Kester befriended Gismund of Dale and Caranthir the wood-elf and immediately set out to have as many adventures and get as rich as Bilbo himself. Falco was always the more rakish of the brothers, with light fingers and a lighter conscience.

  • Culture and Standing: Hobbit of the Shire, Standing 1.
  • Attributes (Favored): Body 2 (4), Heart 7 (8), Wits 5 (8).
  • Other Ratings: Valour 4, Wisdom 3, Endurance 23, Hope 21, Shadow 2.
  • Key Skills: Battle, Courtesy, Stealth, Travel; Shortsword.
  • Specialties: Gardening, Storytelling, Burglary.
  • Distinctive Features: Elusive, Robust, Small.
  • Rewards: King’s Sword (“Stalk Chopper”), Cunning and Lucky Leather Corselet.
  • Virtues: Confidence, Small Folk.
  • Calling: Treasure-Hunter.

Frerin the Far-Traveled, Son of Farin

Always accompanied by his best friend, the raven named Hrafn — a wealthy prince among birds, with more treasure in its nest than most men see in a lifetime — Frerin the dwarf joined the company in their return from the Shire to Esgaroth, and then accompanied them on an expedition into Mirkwood and in a battle against hill-giants in Greenfields the next year.

  • Culture and Standing: Dwarf of the Lonely Mountain, Standing 2.
  • Attributes (Favored): Body 7 (8), Heart 2 (3), Wits 5 (7).
  • Other Ratings: Valour 4, Wisdom 4, Endurance 30, Hope 10, Shadow 0.
  • Key Skills: Craft, Persuade, Search, Travel; Axe.
  • Specialties: Folk-Lore, Smoking, Trading.
  • Distinctive Features: Cautious, Cunning.
  • Rewards: Fell, Grievous and Keen Axe (“Giant’s Bane”).
  • Virtues: Confidence, Expertise in Persuade, Ravens of the Mountain.
  • Calling: Wanderer.

Gismund of Dale, King’s Man

Gismund apprenticed with dwarves of the Lonely Mountain as a blacksmith before devoting himself full-time to adventuring and serving King Bard. Gismund comes from a large, still-growing family, with something around a dozen younger brothers and sisters. In the last year the king made Gismund marshal of Greenfields, a farming region in the Dale-lands. Gismund was very young for such trust but the kingdom is newly returned and he proved himself on dangerous errands for the king and the king’s allies.

  • Culture and Standing: Barding, Standing 4.
  • Attributes (Favored): Body 5 (7), Heart 7 (10), Wits 2 (3).
  • Other Ratings: Valour 4, Wisdom 4, Endurance 32, Hope 19, Shadow 0.
  • Key Skills: Awareness, Battle, Insight, Inspire, Persuade, Travel; Sword.
  • Specialties: Old Lore, Smith-Craft.
  • Distinctive Features: Adventurous, Generous, Afraid of Spiders, Elf-Friend.
  • Rewards: Mail Hauberk of Doubly Cunning Make, Tower Shield.
  • Virtues: King’s Man, Confidence (x2).
  • Calling: Treasure-Hunter.

Kester Proudfoot

Kester prides himself on keeping his brother Falco out of too much trouble, for while he is  good-hearted, generous and unfailingly courteous he is also undyingly loyal to his little brother. Always cheerful, Kester has composed countless songs of the companions’ travels to while away the long hours of exploring and hiking across the Wild. When the brothers returned to the Shire in 2348, Kester commissioned a fine new hobbit-hole for them to share and hired a household of local hobbits to build it and take care of it. He also made trading allies of his first cousin Bilbo Baggins, his first cousin Fortinbras Took the Thain, and the mayor in Michel Delving. He and Falco run the Old Road Trading Company out of their fine home and a warehouse in Esgaroth on the Long Lake.

  • Culture and Standing: Hobbit of the Shire, Standing 4.
  • Attributes (Favored): Body 4 (6), Heart 6 (9), Wits 4 (5).
  • Other Ratings: Valour 3, Wisdom 3, Endurance 22, Hope 18, Shadow 0.
  • Key Skills: Awareness, Courtesy, Hunting, Persuade, Song, Stealth; Bow.
  • Specialties: Folk-Lore, Smoking, Storytelling.
  • Distinctive Features: Fair-Spoken, Reckless.
  • Rewards: Fell and Keen Bow.
  • Virtues: Fair Shot, Tough in the Fiber.
  • Calling: Wanderer.

Theodore Took

A cousin of Kester and Falco Proudfoot and a sometimes hunting companion of Kester’s, Theodore Took often wandered and explored the bounds of the Shire even before Bilbo’s return from afar sparked his imagination. When Kester and Falco came home wealthy and well-traveled and then went east again, he couldn’t resist. Theodore obtained the blessing of the Thain and letters of introduction from Bilbo — who had become rather accustomed to writing them for adventurous hobbits — and persuaded dwarf traders from the Blue Mountains to let him accompany them to the Wild just as his cousins had done a few years before. When Theodore reached Esgaroth, his cousins put him in the care of their partners Gismund and Caranthir.

  • Culture and Standing: Hobbit of the Shire, Standing 1.
  • Attributes (Favored): Body 2 (4), Heart 7 (8), Wits 5 (8).
  • Other Ratings: Valour 4, Wisdom 3, Endurance 23, Hope 19, Shadow 0.
  • Key Skills: Awareness, Battle, Hunting, Courtesy, Riddle, Stealth; Dagger, Bow.
  • Specialties: Folk-Lore, Herb-Lore, Smoking.
  • Distinctive Features: Bold, Elusive, Elf-Friend.
  • Rewards: Fell and Grievous Bow of the North Downs.
  • Virtues: Art of Disappearing, Fair Shot.
  • Calling: Wanderer.

The Red Stag

A woodman who abandoned his name and became a wandering warrior after orcs slew his family  in their steading near Woodmen-town. He encountered Gismund of Dale, Caranthir of the Woodland Realm, and Theodore Took of the Shire in the Misty Mountains near the ancient ruins of Haycombe, where he helped Gismund recover from an orc-arrow’s poison and undertook a strange, dreaming adventure to help the companions protect the elf-maiden Irimë from an evil spirit.

  • Culture and Standing: Woodman of Wilderland, Standing 1.
  • Attributes (Favored): Body 4 (5), Heart 5 (8), Wits 5 (7).
  • Other Ratings: Valour 3, Wisdom 4, Endurance 25, Hope 15, Shadow 0.
  • Key Skills: Battle, Craft, Explore, Healing, Song, Stealth, Travel; Long-Hafted Axe.
  • Specialties: Anduin-Lore, Leechcraft, Orc-Lore.
  • Distinctive Features: Elf-Friend, Hardy, True-Hearted.
  • Rewards: Keen Bearded Axe, Feathered Mail Shirt.
  • Virtues: Fell-Handed, Herbal Remedies, Hunter’s Resolve, Staunching Song.
  • Calling: Slayer.

Shareholders

These are the owners of the Old Road Trading Company. (Each share represented an investment of 400 silver pennies, or 20 points of Treasure.)

  • Falco Proudfoot (5 shares).
  • Gismund of Dale (4 shares).
  • Bilbo Baggins (2 shares).
  • Kester Proudfoot (2 shares).
  • Beli of the Lonely Mountain (1 share).
  • Caranthir of the Woodland Realm (1 share).
  • Frerin the Far-Traveled, son of Farin, of the Lonely Mountain (1 share).