It's coming!

Amazon UK just shipped my hardback of Reaper's Gale and it has an ETA of 16th to 22nd of May. I can't wait!

Aussie Wii Virtual Console Update

New to the Wii Virtual Console in Australia this Friday, are Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle, Virtua Fighter 2 and Wonderboy in Monster World. All originally released on the Sega Mega Drive.

What I'm...

Hopeful for - even more job interviews lined up!

Reading - Sixty Days and Counting by Kim Stanley Robinson.

Watching - Lost and Heroes.

Playing - Pokemon Pearl - yes I am officially a geek!

Going to see - Spiderman 3 tomorrow.

Looking forward to - Reaper's Gale by Steven Erikson, which I am going to give into my impatience and order from Amazon UK.

Celebrating - the release of a Wii Opera browser specific version of Google's RSS Reader.

You learn something new everyday PART 1...

Retroactive continuity – commonly contracted to the portmanteau word retcon – refers to new information later added to "historical" material or deliberately changing previously established facts in a work of serial fiction. The change itself is referred to as a retcon, and the act of writing and publishing a retcon is called "retconning".

Source: Wikipedia

Via: this thread at the A Song of Ice and Fire forums

Mirco Review: The Children of Hurin by JRR Tolkien

Here goes for one of the review formats that I want to trial on the blog. The micro review - a review of a book in approximately 150 words. Hopefully the format will force me to convey my ideas in as concise a way as possible, in the hope that they are easier to understand. So...

The Children of Hurin by JRR Tolkien
Edited by Christopher Tolkien, Illustrations by Alan Lee.

The synopsis from the Publisher, Harper Collins' website:

Painstakingly restored from Tolkien’s manuscripts and presented for the first time as a fully continuous and standalone story, the epic tale of The Children of Hurin will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, dragons and Dwarves, eagles and Orcs, and the rich landscape and characters unique to Tolkien.

Turin is born into a Middle-earth crushed by the recent victory of the Dark Lord, Morgoth, and his monstrous army. The greatest warriors among Elves and Men have perished and Turin’s father, Hurin, has been captured. For his defiance, Hurin’s entire family is cursed by Morgoth to be brought down into darkness and despair.

But, like his father, Turin refuses to be cowed by Morgoth and as he grows so does the legend of the deadly hero. In a land overrun with marauding Orcs, Turin gathers to him a band of outlaws and gradually they begin to turn the tide in the war for supremacy of Middle-earth.

Then Morgoth unleashes his greatest weapon: Glaurung, Mightiest of Dragons, and he proves an unstoppable foe. As the Dragon carves a fiery swathe through Middle-earth there remains only one man who can slay him, but to do that he will first have to confront his destiny.

The Children of Hurin was one of three Great Tales begun by J.R.R. Tolkien as he recovered from the horrors of the First World War, and he worked on refining and improving it for the rest of his life. This tragic tale of adventure, heroism, suffering and love stands as one of the finest expressions of his skills as a storyteller and the narrative is as powerful as anything contained within The Lord of the Rings. Painstakingly reconstructed by Christopher Tolkien from his father’s manuscripts, it can finally be enjoyed as the author originally intended.

MY REVIEW

It is fantastic to be back in Middle Earth and Tolkien's work can still weave a spell over the reader. The Children of Hurin has all that readers have come to expect from a work by Tolkien – great battles and landscapes, epic figures and a stirring (if in this case, rather tragic) story.

However, it also suffers from some of the negatives that can be associated with Tolkien’s work. Such as poorly drawn characters that are little more than sketches. The Children of Hurin also suffers from a wildly varying pace and tone.

Tolkien is Tolkien however. He is the father of the epic fantasy genre (If not its master anymore? I think the likes of Martin, Erikson and Bakker could challenge for that title). I would recommend The Children of Hurin to not only those who enjoyed any of Tolkien’s previous work but fans of the epic fantasy sub-genre of speculative fiction in general.

7 out of 10.

...159 words. Not bad. Any feedback on this review format (or the review itself) would be most welcome - feel free to leave some in the comments to this post.

Next Culture novel by Ian M Banks - Matter

Big Dumb Object reports that the next Culture novel by Ian M Banks is currently titled 'Matter' and is due out in February (in the UK at least).

Source: Big Dumb Object
Via: SF Signal

Night of Knives - 15/6/2007 in Australia

Did you think that was all the Malazany goodness we had to look forward to? Random House are also listing the release of the hardback of Night of Knives - the new Malazan novel from series co-creator Ian C. Esslemont as June 15, 2007. No word yet on whether or not we can expect a large format trade paperback release.

Here is the synopsis:

It gave the Empire its name, but the tiny island and city of Malaz is now a sleepy, seedy back-water port. However this night things are a little different. This night its residents are bustling about, barring doors and shuttering windows. Because this night a once-in-a-generation Shadow Moon is due and threatens the good citizens of Malaz with demon hounds and other, darker, beings...

And it was also prophesied that on this night the Emperor Kellanved, missing for all these years, will return. As factions within the greater Empire battle over the imperial throne, the Shadow Moon summons a far more alien and ancient presence for an all-out assault upon the island. Indeed the cataclysmic events that happen this night will determine the fate of the Malaz and of the entire world beyond.

Again, if you see either book out in the wild before the release date let us know in a comment on the blog.

Hopefully I can line up reviews of both of these new Malazan novels for Speculative Dispatches.

Reaper's Gale - 1/6/2007 in Australia

Random House are listing the release date for the trade paperback of the seventh book in Steven Erikson's acclaimed Malazan Book of the Fallen series for June 1, 2007 in Australia.

Here is the synopsis:

All is not well in the Letherii Empire. Rhulad Sengar, the Emperor of a Thousand Deaths, spirals into madness, surrounded by sycophants and agents of his Machiavellian chancellor, while the Letherii secret police conduct a campaign of terror against its own people. The Errant, once a farseeing god, is suddenly blind to the future. Conspiracies seethe throughout the palace, as the empire - driven by the corrupt and self-interested - edges ever-closer to all-out war with the neighbouring kingdoms. And the great Edur fleet - its warriors selected from countless peoples - draws ever closer. Amongst them are Karsa Orlong and Icarium Lifestealer - each destined to cross blades with the emperor himself. That yet more blood is to be spilled is inevitable... Against this backdrop, a band of fugitives seek a way out of the empire, but one of them, Fear Sengar must find the soul of Scabandari Bloodeye. It is his hope that it might help halt the Tiste Edur, and so save his brother, the emperor. Yet, travelling with them is Scabandari's most ancient foe: Silchas Ruin, brother of Anomander Rake. And his motives are anything but certain - for the wounds he carries on his back, made by the blades of Scabandari, are still fresh. Fate decrees that there is to be a reckoning, for such bloodshed cannot go unanswered - and it will be a reckoning on an unimaginable scale...
A brutal, harrowing novel of war, intrigue and dark, uncontrollable magic, this is epic fantasy at its most imaginative, storytelling at its most thrilling.

I can't wait!

If you see Reaper's Gale out in the wild before the release date drop us a comment here at the blog and let us know.

For more information about Erickson's Malazan Book of the Fallen visit the semi-official forums here.

Repost - Review: Shriek: an Afterword by Jeff Vandermeer

ABOUT: As the title suggests this book serves as an afterword to one of the short works in Jeff Vandermeer’s collection, City of Saints and Madmen.

It details the lives of Duncan and Janice Shriek through war, scandal and tradgedy. Duncan is a once - famous historian who becomes obsessed with the mysterious grey caps, strange alien creatures who live underground, beneath the city of Ambergris, the book’s setting. He becomes afflicted with a fungal disease that slowly transforms him.

His sister Janice, the patron of the New Art movement, soars to the heights of success and then slides back down again.

FOR: - Fantastic characterisation, Duncan and Janice feel like fully realised individuals with many faults but also great strengths. Although there relationship is tested you can still observe the affection they feel for each other.

- A strong cast of believable, engaging supporting characters. Standouts are Monmot, Mary Sabon and Sybel.

- Ambergris is a fantastic setting reminiscent of Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar or more recently, China Mieville’s New Crobuzon. There is a real sense of place and history developed in the novel.

- Interesting structure that has Janice narrating the story in the first person and Duncan adding his own thoughts to the tale as it develops.

AGAINST: - The structure of the book can also be frustrating at times. Janice is a very selective narrator and as the reader discovers, she skips many parts of her own life. Also it would be good to get even more of an insight into the underground world of the grey caps through Duncan’s explorations.

OVERALL: An extraordinary non-traditional fantasy tale with superb characterisation and setting. I can’t wait to return to Ambergris!

SCORE: 9 out of 10.

THE AUTHOR: Visit Jeff Vandermeer’s blog which has links to his ‘empire’ of other websites. It is a great source of news and interviews about the fantastic as well.

OTHER OPINIONS: Cheryl Morgan at Emerald City

Repost - Review: Newton’s Wake by Ken Macleod

ABOUT: In the year 2367, the colony Eurydice, thinking itself the last remaining outpost of humanity, is contacted by strangers who come through a wormhole gate. Other humans!

The Eurydicians are Runners (who prefer to be called Reformers), people who fled the Hard Rapture. A Singularity event on Earth which killed billions and resulted in nuclear Armageddon. They are the survivors of an internal human conflict against the Returners. A human faction who wanted to reclaim the Earth and ‘liberate’ the victims of the Hard Rapture.

Who is the sole representative to Eurydice of the other humans in the galaxy? Lucinda Carlyle. A member of the Scottish clan that is an equivalent to the Mafia. They control the wormhole skein linking all of humanity’s planets together.

Throw in contact with the other remnant civilizations of humanity and a renewed war machine threat and you are left with an intelligent, fun, modern space opera.

FOR: - Lucinda Carlyle is the central characterisation of the book. She is engaging, fun, gritty but also sensitive. She isn’t a woman I would want to cross. Other standouts include the resurrected folk singers Winter and Calder, the DK communist Ree and playwright Ben Ami.

- The setting of Newton’s Wake bristles with intelligent tech and original ideas. For example FTL ships, wormholes, runaway AI and resurrection and rejuvenation technology. I can see the Rapture F***ers as the natural evolution of today’s software nerds!

- The novel also features well developed political intrigue. The futuristic tech combines with the relatively familiar remnant human civilizations for some strange results. Such as the descendants of communist Koreans (the DK), terraforming a whole planet’s ecosystem for the remnants of capitalist America (the AO – America Offline farmers), to turn into homogenous farmland. It can make for a compelling mix though.

- The book has a great atmosphere with witty humour throughout. My personal favourites were Ben Ami’s re-imagined plays of human history (such as his version of the fall of the Soviet Union as a romantic tragedy) and the scene where Lucinda staggers onto the beach of an unknown world to find a sculpture gallery of the who’s who of communist ideology staring back at her.

AGAINST: - Newton’s Wake is a relatively short book (369 pages in my edition) that deals with big ideas. This can be a problem. Some parts of the book, such as the scenes on the pulsar planet, may have been better if they were expanded a little. Trust me, I’m not arguing for some formulaic fantasy bloat but it would have been fantastic to get a better impression of some of the funky post-human tech or to see some more of the settled galaxy.

- There is a similar problem with some of the characterization, which at times can be pretty patchy. I would have liked to gotten more in the head of the Rapture F***ers in particular, to really see what makes them tick. (Maybe they were speaking to my inner geek!).

- Also, the ending has the feeling of a book that has tidied up all the loose ends a little too well. At times it borders on the formulaic.

VERDICT: A smart, witty space opera with some compelling moments and great characters.

SCORE: 7.5 out of 10

AUTHOR’S SITE: Ken Macleod's blog can be found here.

OTHER OPINIONS: Can be found at Emerald City, Sfsite and Sfreviews.