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

The Sacred Band
by David Anthony Durham

Promo copy:

With the first two books in the Acacia Trilogy, Acacia and The Other Lands, David Anthony Durham has created a vast and engrossing canvas of a world in turmoil, where the surviving children of a royal dynasty are on a quest to realize their fates—and perhaps right ancient wrongs once and for all. As The Sacred Band begins, one of them, Queen Corinn, bestrides the world as a result of her mastery of spells found in the ancient Book of Elenet. Her younger brother, Dariel, has been sent on a perilous mis­sion to the Other Lands, while her sister, Mena, travels to the far north to confront an invasion of the feared race of the Auldek. Their separate trajectories will converge in a series of world-shaping, earth-shattering battles, all ren­dered with vividly imagined detail and in heroic scale.

David Anthony Durham concludes his tale of kingdoms in collision in an exciting fashion. His fictional world is at once realistic and fantastic, informed with an eloquent and dis­tinctively Shakespearean sensibility.

I interviewed Durham when Volume 1 came out. RevSF’s resident book goddess Peggy Hailey called Acacia “a huge, sprawling epic that manages to weave together history, politics, intrigue and thunderous action scenes without ever losing track of the multitudes of finely-drawn characters.”

Shadow’s Lure
by Jon Sprunk
Cover by Michael Komarck

Promo copy:

The unforgiving Northlands …

In Othir, he was at the top of the food chain—an assassin beyond compare, a dark shadow in the night. But Caim left that life behind when he helped an empress claim her throne. And now his past has come calling again.

Searching for the truth behind the murder and disappearance of his parents, Caim discovers a land in thrall to the Shadow. Haunted by temptations from the Other Side, he becomes mired in a war he does not want to fight.

But there are some things a son of the Shadow cannot ignore, and some fights from which he can’t run. In this battle, all of Caim’s strength and skill won’t be enough.

For none can resist the Shadow’s Lure.

Blood Secrets (Alexandra Sabian, Book 2)
by Jeannie Holmes
Cover by Kris Keller

Promo copy:

WHEN ALEXANDRA SABIAN SINKS HER TEETH INTO AN INVESTIGATION, SHE DOESN’T LET GO.

Alex allowed a case involving murdered vamps to get personal and is suspended from the Federal Bureau of Preternatural Investigation. Now she’s facing an official inquiry but has a chance to redeem herself. The catch: She must once again work with Varik Baudelaire, her former mentor and ex-fiancé, as he spearheads a search for a missing college student. But Varik has been keeping secrets from Alex, and his mysterious past is on a collision course with his present.

When Alex and Varik discover a carefully handcrafted doll at a crime scene, neither of them can see how close the danger really is or that a killer known as the Dollmaker has made Alex the object of his horrific desire. Now the only way out of the Dollmaker’s lair is through the twilight realm of the Shadowlands, where all secrets—for better or worse—will be revealed.

Part II

Books received 6/18/11 Part I was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

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

Low Town
by Daniel Polansky

Promo copy

Drug dealers, hustlers, brothels, dirty politics, corrupt cops … and sorcery. Welcome to Low Town.

In the forgotten back alleys and flophouses that lie in the shadows of Rigus, the finest city of the Thirteen Lands, you will find Low Town. It is an ugly place, and its cham­pion is an ugly man. Disgraced intelligence agent. Forgotten war hero. Independent drug dealer. After a fall from grace five years ago, a man known as the Warden leads a life of crime, addicted to cheap violence and expensive drugs. Every day is a constant hustle to find new customers and protect his turf from low-life competition like Tancred the Harelip and Ling Chi, the enigmatic crime lord of the heathens.

The Warden’s life of drugged iniquity is shaken by his dis­covery of a murdered child down a dead-end street … set­ting him on a collision course with the life he left behind. As a former agent with Black House—the secret police—he knows better than anyone that murder in Low Town is an everyday thing, the kind of crime that doesn’t get investi­gated. To protect his home, he will take part in a dangerous game of deception between underworld bosses and the psy­chotic head of Black House, but the truth is far darker than he imagines. In Low Town, no one can be trusted.

Daniel Polansky has crafted a thrilling novel steeped in noir sensibilities and relentless action, and set in an original world of stunning imagination, leading to a gut-wrenching, unforeseeable conclusion. Low Town is an attention-grabbing debut that will leave readers riveted … and hun­gry for more.

Taken by Fire
by Sydney Croft
Cover by Jae Song

Promo copy:

HIS MISSION WAS TO DESTROY HER.
BUT DESIRE GOT IN THE WAY.

A product of genetic manipulation, Melanie Milan shares a body with her malevolent sister, Phoebe. A sleek, blond predator with a heart of pure darkness, Phoebe puts their body through the wicked underbelly of sex for thrills—when she’s not igniting her pyrokinetic skills for an evil organization bent on taking over the world. Melanie rarely gets out to play—much less fall in love. But that changes when rival ACRO agent Stryker Wills shows up, with a mission to terminate the woman who torched his partner.

An operative with rare abilities, Stryker soon realizes that the woman he’s about to kill isn’t the murderous fire starter he’s been hunting. But he does want her. Melanie, with the power to ice anything in her path, is heating things up in ways that are setting fire to his blood. As long as Melanie stays in control, she is his best ally to bring down her sister and stop hellish havoc from being unleashed. Walking a tightrope of longing and hate, Stryker and Melanie begin to understand that true power lies in sweet surrender to each other, to the flames between them, to the erotic adventure that’s joined their hearts and abilities to become their salvation—and perhaps the world’s.

ACK!

The Shadow Men
by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon

Promo copy:

From Beacon Hill to Southie, historic Boston is a town of vibrant neighborhoods knit into a seamless whole. But as Jim Banks and Trix Newcomb learn in a terrifying instant, it is also a city divided—split into three separate versions of itself by a mad magician once tasked with its protection.

Jim is happily married to Jenny, with whom he has a young daughter, Holly. Trix is Jenny’s best friend, practically a member of the family—although she has secretly been in love with Jenny for years. Then Jenny and Holly inexplicably disappear—and leave behind a Boston in which they never existed. Only Jim and Trix remember them. Only Jim and Trix can bring them back.

With the help of Boston’s Oracle, an elderly woman with magical powers, Jim and Trix travel between the fractured cities, for that is where Jenny and Holly have gone. But more is at stake than one family’s happiness. If Jim and Trix should fail, the spell holding the separate Bostons apart will fail too, and the cities will reintegrate in a cataclysmic implosion. Someone, it seems, wants just that. Someone with deadly shadow men at their disposal.

Part III

Books received 6/18/11 Part II was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

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

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
by Charles Yu

Promo copy:

From a 5 Under 35 winner, comes a razor-sharp, hilarious, and touching story of a son searching for his father … through quantum space-time.

Every day in Minor Universe 31 people get into time machines and try to change the past. That’s where Charles Yu, time travel technician, steps in. He helps save people from themselves. Literally. When he’s not taking client calls, Yu visits his mother and searches for his father, who invented time travel and then vanished. The key to locating his father may be found in a book. It’s called How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, and somewhere inside it is information that will help him. It may even save his life.

Down to the Bone (Quantum Gravity, Book 5)
by Justina Robson
Cover by Larry Rostant

Promo copy:

Lila Black faces her greatest challange yet as she takes herself, her dead lover and the AI in her head into death’s realm. The Quantum Gravity series, set in a world where our reality mixes with other dimensions that are the homes to Faeries, elementals and demons, is unique in modern SF – a series that is willing to incorporate legend, myth and magic while maintaining a rigorous approach to scientific and pyschological reality. And in Lila Black Justina Robson has created an enduringly strong yet quirkily human and flawed heroine.

City of Ruin
by Mark Charan Newton
Cover by Scott Grimando

Promo copy:

In the frozen north of a far-flung world lies Villiren, a city plagued by violent gangs and monstrous human/animal hybrids, stalked by a serial killer, and targeted by an otherworldly army. Brynd Lathraea has brought his elite Night Guard to help Villiren build a fighting force against the invaders. But success will mean dealing with the half-vampyre leader of the savage Bloods gang. Meanwhile, reptilian rumel investigator Rumex Jeryd has come seeking refuge from Villjamur’s vindictive emperor—only to find a city riddled with intolerance between species, indifference to a murderer’s reign of terror, and the powerful influence of criminals. As the enemy prepares to strike, and Villiren’s defenders turn on each other, three refugees—deposed empress Jamur Rika, her sister Eir, and the scholar Randur Estevu—approach the city. And with them they bring a last, desperate hope for survival … and a shocking revelation that will change everything.

Part I

Books received 6/18/11 Part III was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

For my latest Nexus Graphica column over at SF Site, I expanded and revised my 1998 essay “Michael Moorcock and the Comics of the Multiverse” (from Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse #5). The new piece re-titled “The Illustrated Moorcock” chronicles Moorcock’s comics career to the present, delivers some 500 additional words, and allowed me to make some much needed revisions to my clunky writing.

As an added bonus, I also review League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Century: 1969 which features a Jerry Cornelius appearance.

The Illustrated Moorcock was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

I reviewed.. well okay, more tar & feathered Green Lantern over at Moving Pictures.

And that’s just a sampling. I really went off on this one. Check it all out at Moving Pictures.

One of the worst superhero movies of the 21st century was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

For the folks over at Moving Pictures, I reviewed J. J. Abrams’ new summer blockbuster.

Check it all out at Moving Pictures.

Promising both entertainment and quality was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

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

Smithereens
by Steve Aylett

Promo copy:

Steve Aylett has been described as “utterly original” (SFX), “the most original voice in the literary scene” (Michael Moorcock), “an unstoppable master of space and time” (Asimov’s) and “the coolest writer alive today” (Starburst). SMITHEREENS collects 19 stories including ‘The Man Whose Head Expanded’, the prophetic ‘Download Syndrome’, ‘The Burnished Adventures of Injury Mouse’, the full text of ‘Voyage of the Iguana’, the last ever Beerlight story ‘Specter’s Way’, ‘Horoscope’, and the closest thing Aylett has ever written to a traditional SF story, ‘Bossanova’ (featuring a robot and two spaceships!) There are also animal-attack-while-writing reminiscences in ‘Evernemesi’ and top-of-the-line declarative bitterness in ‘On Reading New Books’. Snails, whales and cortical drills. Aylett’s last collection.

As evident in Part I, I’m a big Aylett fan. Back when I was the RevolutionSF fiction editor, I published his short story “Infestation” and for Fantastic Metropolis in 2005, I interviewed Aylett. Anything new by the bizarrely talented Aylett is always a treat. Like donning a costume and getting candy in June!

Madeline And Her Friends

Promo copy:

Join Madeline, the smallest of 12 little girls in Miss Clavel’s class, and her best friend, her loyal dog Genevieve, as they take the fun to town with six outrageous adventures inspired by Ludwig Bemelmans’ best-selling children’s books!

Six Adventures, Including:
Madeline And The Soccer Star

Madeline’s Singing Dog

Madeline And The Missing Clown

Madeline And The Talking Parrot

Madeline And The Big Cheese

Madeline’s Rescue

City of Ruins
by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Cover by Dave Seeley

Promo copy:

Boss, a loner, loved to dive derelict spacecraft adrift in the blackness of space…

But one day, she found a ship that would change everything—an ancient Dignity Vessel—and aboard the ship, the mysterious and dangerous Stealth Tech. Now, years after discovering that first ship, Boss has put together a large company that finds Dignity Vessels and finds “loose” stealth technology.

Following a hunch, Boss and her team come to investigate the city of Vaycehn, where fourteen archeologists have died exploring the endless caves below the city. Mysterious “death holes” explode into the city itself for no apparent reason, and Boss believes stealth tech is involved. As Boss searches for the answer to the mystery of the death holes, she will uncover the answer to her Dignity Vessel quest as well—and one more thing, something so important that it will change her life—and the universe—forever.

Part I

Stuff received 6/5/11 Part II was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

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

Novahead
by Steve Aylett

Promo copy:

About to quit the failed experiment of civilisation, fake detective Taffy Atom is detained by one last case – a boy with a bomb in his mind. But what’s the trigger? Pursued by cops, mobsters, mercenaries and a mechanical swan, Atom carries the bomb and trigger through Beerlight City, the single holdout of creative mischief in a world overtaken by the trend-led Fadlands. By the relentless principles of gun karma Aylett’s final Beerlight book lands you in the Delayed Reaction Bar and fixes you a glass of antifreeze with everything in it. Listen to your heart. It will not stop slowly.

I reviewed the previous Beerlight book, Atom, for Nova Express.

Needless to say, I’m looking forward to Novahead.

Happythankyoumoreplease

Promo copy:

Josh Radnor (CBS’ Emmy-nominated ”How I Met Your Mother”) wrote, directed and stars in happythankyoumoreplease, a sharp comedy centered on a group of 20-something New Yorkers struggling to figure out themselves, their lives and their loves.

On his way to a meeting with a publisher, aspiring novelist Sam Wexler (Radnor) finds Rasheen, a young boy separated from his family on the subway. When the quiet Rasheen refuses to be left alone with social services, Sam learns the boy has already been placed in six previous foster homes and impulsively agrees to let the boy stay with him for a couple days. Dropped into Sam’s chaotic, bachelor lifestyle, Rasheen is introduced to Sam’s circle of friends; Annie (Malin Akerman) who has an unhealthy pattern of dating the wrong men, as well as an auto-immune disorder which has rendered her hairless, Mary-Catherine (Zoe Kazan) and Charlie (Pablo Schreiber) whose potential move to Los Angeles threatens their relationship, and Mississippi (Kate Mara), an aspiring singer/waitress who tests Sam’s fear of commitment. When Sam’s unexpected friendship with Rasheen develops, he realizes adulthood is not about waiting for the right answers to get the life you want, but simply stumbling ahead and figuring them out in the process.

Featuring a brilliant young cast and music from breaking indie musicians, happythankyoumoreplease deftly captures the uncertainty and angst of what it is to be young, vulnerable, and desperate to find out who you are – or perhaps more importantly, who you want to be.

Hexed: The Iron Druid Chronicles
by Kevin Hearne
Cover by Gene Mollica

Promo copy:

Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, doesn’t care much for witches. Still, he’s about to make nice with the local coven by signing a mutually beneficial nonaggression treaty—when suddenly the witch population in modern-day Tempe, Arizona, quadruples overnight. And the new girls are not just bad, they’re badasses with a dark history on the German side of World War II.

With a fallen angel feasting on local high school students, a horde of Bacchants blowing in from Vegas with their special brand of deadly decadence, and a dangerously sexy Celtic goddess of fire vying for his attention, Atticus is having trouble scheduling the witch hunt. But aided by his magical sword, his neighbor’s rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and his vampire attorney, Atticus is ready to sweep the town and show the witchy women they picked the wrong Druid to hex.

Part II

Stuff received 6/5/11 Part I was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

As long time readers of my pixels know, I suffer from both multiple sclerosis (MS) and fibromyalgia (FM) (and some argue delusions of grandeur… but I’ll leave that for others to determine). I’m not going into exactly what MS or FM are (follow the links above for explanations), but they’re both chronic, incurable illnesses that vary in severity from moderately annoying to debilitating. My primary MS symptoms include severe fatigue, numbness, double vision, and spasticity (stiffness). My FM primarily focuses on constant pain, that changes due to the weather, fatigue and other factors, around the joints.

An MRI of my brain with lesions typical of people with multiple sclerosis

Over the past five months, I’ve developed this pain along my right rib cage (if I was baseball player, they’d be talking about my oblique injury). It comes and goes and can be quite severe at times. Nothing short of pain drugs seems to help it, but not always. Sometimes exercise makes it better but then the same exercise can at times make it worse. Same rules apply to sleep or no sleep. There is no structural damage or pulled muscles. It’s a different kind of pain than FM. After 12 years with FM, I recognize that particular feeling.

Confounded, my doctor sent me to physical therapy. In Austin we are lucky enough to have a physical therapist who not only specializes in MS but actually has MS herself! Her understanding helps greatly.

After a half a dozen visits, nothing was working. I was already doing the daily stretches that should have alleviated the pain. (I start my day with roughly 30 minutes of stretching. Helps incredibly with the FM.) Again it sometimes felt better after stretching, some times worse. Now of the traditional PT worked. The only thing she didn’t try was heat, which usually exacerbates the MS. The fact that the pain comes and goes in no discernible pattern lead to the idea that the pain maybe caused by spasticity. (There are no diagnostic tests for most MS symptoms. Just diagnosis through process of elimination.) The muscle stiffness along my side is quite literally stretching apart my ribs, causing the pain. While this won’t kill me, it can be very uncomfortable and lead to other issues such as poor posture and other pain.

A four-lead TENS unit.

At my last visit, the therapist suggested a TENS unit to me. The Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation unit sends a small electrical current into the body to stimulate the nerves. The theory with me is that the unit might “loosen” up some of the spaciticity, affording me some relief without pain meds. No one is sure if this will “correct” the issue but it certainly won’t make things worse.

She loaned me an Empi Select unit. The device is amazingly simple. Basically attach the four leads around the area of the pain, usually along the muscles or nerve clusters. You then turn on the unit, adjusting the charge as needed. The only bad places are the eyes and neck.

I’ve used it on and off for a week and it does offer some relief for a few hours after using it for a ½ hour or so. I’ve also used it on some other regions affected by FM (different type of pain, caused by different factors) with some success. Keeping the device all depends on how much my insurance covers of it. But I plan on using it for my various pains while I can! Far better than relying on pills.

Shocking relief was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

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

Strange Adventures #1
Written by Selwyn Hinds, Tala Hershewe, Peter Milligan, Lauren Beukes, Jeff Lemire, Ross Campbell, Kevin Colden, Paul Cornell, and Brian Azzarello
Art by Denys Cowan, Juan Bobillo, Sylvain Savoia, Inaki Miranda, Jeff Lemire, Ross Campbell, Kevin Colden, Goran Sudžuka, and Eduardo Risso
Cover by Paul Pope

Promo copy:

Don’t miss this eighty page collection of science fiction short stories from some of Vertigo’s all-time greats, as well as the hot new talents of tomorrow! From the far reaches of space to the not so distant future, we bring you eight science-fiction stories as only Vertigo can do them. Plus: the Eisner Award-winning 100 BULLETS team of Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso reunite to bring you the first chapter of their upcoming new series SPACEMAN!

Abattoir Issue #5
Created by: Darren Lynn Bousman
Concept by: Michael Peterson
Written by: Rob Levin, Troy Peteri
Illustrated by: Bing Cansino
Cover art by: Tae Young Choi

Promo copy:

Radical’s ABATTOIR, from horror director Darren Lynn Bousman (SAW franchise, REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA), steadily inches toward its horrifying last act in ABATTOIR #5! Desperate to clear his name and reclaim his life, Richard Ashwalt searches frantically to unravel the deadly mysteries surrounding the strange old man at the root of his troubles: Jebediah Crone. But as the final pieces of this puzzle begin to come together, Richard must come to terms with a series of disturbing truths that may shatter his already fragile psyche.

Basic Anatomy for the Manga Artist: Everything You Need to Start Drawing Authentic Manga Characters
by Christopher Hart
Cover by Roberta Pares

Promo copy:

This most basic and complete book on manga anatomy ever written is targeted to beginners, the widest segment of manga fans. The latest from bestselling author Chris Hart is not your father’s anatomy book, it’s an anatomy book strictly for the manga artist. Packed with dynamic step-by-step demonstrations detailing how to draw correctly proportioned manga faces and bodies, plus lots of tips and tricks of the trade, this practical guide has everything aspiring beginners need to start drawing convincing manga characters.

Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom
Written by Peter Hogan
Art by Chris Sprouse and Karl Story

Promo copy:

Tom Strong, the popular “science hero” created by Alan Moore, returns in a new epic starring Nazi robots, super-powered villains and political intrigue.

As Tom Strong and his family prepare to celebrate a wedding, the unthinkable happens: Before their eyes, reality alters to become a world conquered by Nazis and ruled by Tom’s nefarious son, Albrecht. What mysterious secret from Tom’s past has brought about this catastrophe? To overthrow Albrecht and restore the world he knew, Tom must find a way to journey back in time and seek help from the only man he can trust: himself. But will even two Tom Strongs be enough to stop the Robots of doom?

Graphic Novels/Comics received 6/2/11 was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon