Man, am I in a bad mood right now.
Maybe closing a bunch of book-related tabs will cheer me up.
Let’s start with Justine Larbalestier‘s justified outrage about another recent YA book-banning. This kind of shit really pisses me off–thinking about it probably won’t help me get out of my pissy mood, actually. If I didn’t already have a copy of The Bermudez Triangle (yes, I read some “girl books”–want to make something out of it?) it’d be enough to get me to go buy one. Since I do have a copy I’ll have to go buy the rest of Maureen‘s back catalogue. (I was kind of planning to do that anyway based on how much I enjoyed Devilish. And I’m not the only one–it made the NYPL set of recommended teen books.) The update does cheer me up, though.- How come nobody told me about Payseur and Schmidt? Those look like some lovely chapbooks. I’ve already ordered up the Matt Hughes book–I think I may have mentioned earlier my appreciation for Hughes’ post-Vancean style.
Speaking of things that should be no surprise for people who’ve been reading here for a while, we can also talk about my mild fascination with the old school weird fiction. While I did get my poker chips made based on Lovecraft, I think Clark Ashton Smith is probably my favourite of the original pack. Naturally as a Smith fan, I have a lot of time for The Eldritch Dark, a site dedicated to all things CAS including the text of a large number of his works. However, for some reason I hadn’t noticed until recently that they have a large bank of spoken work stuff online–several stories and quite a large number of poems (some read by CAS himself.).
The Lies Of Locke Lamora was pretty good, especially for a first novel. You always wonder, though, “is he going to improve, or fade?”. Well, I haven’t read the second book, Red Seas Under Red Skies, yet, but the kids over at The Genre Files have, and they are pretty relentlessly positive about it.
If you loved The Lies of Locke Lamora and have been crying out for a second instalment that takes the essence of the first novel and builds on the same sword, sorcery and swashbuckling atmosphere – of high adventure in the lowest of low fantasy settings – to create a sequel of equal adrenaline-fuelled excitement and descriptive delight, then your wishes have been answered. Red Seas Under Red Skies is, once again, a caper saga of immense imaginative flair, with a plot that twists and turns at breakneck pace as our heroes hurtle from one sticky situation and death-defying act of derring-do to another.
Don’t mince words guys, tell us how you really feel. Actually this is probably enough reassurance about the series to push me into picking up the swank Subterranean editions–something I was leery about doing if the work wasn’t going to improve from the first book. Sounds like we’re on the good path here, though, and I do enjoy swashing a good buckle.
- Remember when I was recommending you go read Blindsight? Well, Watts now has all three (and it’s three, not four, despite how it was published–see the link for colour commentary) books in his Rifters series up for free reading as well. I own ’em, but if you need a free preview, or don’t have the dosh, there they are.
Some quick award news about books I quite liked: Liz Hand reports that M. John Harrison‘s Nova Swing has won the 2007 Arthur C. Clarke Award for best novel. Excellent and deserved, although it really should have been Light in 2002. Also, Gavin reports that Ellen Kushner‘s Privilege of the Sword won BEST EPIC FANTASY NOVEL at the Romantic Times 2006 Reviewers’ Choice Award.- I see that Iain (M.) Banks has a new Culture novel, Matter, in the pipe. Excellent. The Steep Approach to Garbadale was good, but I feel like a new Culture book is due.
- On the non-fiction front, I’ve been digging through a couple of economic historian Niall Ferguson‘s books. If you don’t know about Ferguson, you might want to start with the relatively detailed introductory piece Harvard Magazine did on him recently. Or, you could download one of his many free talks–here’s one example, Google for others–to get a sense of how he approaches history.
- I like Trickster stories, whether they are folk tales, comic books, or even fantasy-with-humour. So this review of the new Datlow/Windling anthology was pretty much enough to make a sale here.
- I’ve read a stack of Paul Johnston books, both his mysteries set in a future (independent) Scotland, and the mysteries set in modern day Greece. Apparently his latest book is a serial-killer thriller that starts a new series. This quick description and interview at The Rap Sheet are the first I’ve heard of the book–perhaps not surprising, given the amount of press Johnston has traditionally got here in the Cold North. (See also the older profile of, and interview with, Johnston at January magazine.)
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