Competition: Get your pieces of Hate! [closed]
Things get out of hand on February 19th when Gollancz release David Moody’s Hater, an awesome vision of Britain as society breaks down amidst an outbreak of a virus that turns normal people into frenzied murderers. Hater follows one family’s struggle to survive in this seething urban landscape. Have a look at Mathew’s review of Hater if you think you’re hard enough.
Gollancz have kindly given us 3 SIGNED Trade Paperback copies for the winners who can answer the following question:
What is the title of David Moody’s self-published, (and wonderful), zombie series?
Fill in the form for a chance to win (UK residents only, sorry).
Nick Harkaway, author of The Gone-Away World
Nick Harkaway is the author of The Gone-Away World, which we at Bookgeeks thought was rather marvellous and is now available in paperback (and which was recently nominated for the BSFA Best Novel Award).
Nick was born in Cornwall in 1972. He studied philosophy, sociology and politics at Clare College, Cambridge, and then worked in the film industry. He has trained in fencing, aikido, jujitsu, and kickboxing, and is notably bad at all of them. He lives in London with his wife, Clare, and he’s working for on his second novel. Nick’s father is John Le Carré, who we also think is rather marvellous!
We picked Nick’s brains about dreams, inspiration, whether or not he’s a book geek, and his recent nomination…
The State Counsellor, by Boris Akunin
Just when I thought Boris Akunin’s Erast Fandorin series had reached a suavely thrilling peak, The State Counsellor sees it effortlessly move to a yet higher level. Once again Akunin has written a seemingly frivolous entertainment that perfectly resonates with our own times, in this case political terrorism during the twilight years of Empire.
A high ranking Imperial official becomes the latest victim of an ongoing terrorist campaign and State Counsellor, Erast Fandorin must stop the terrorist cell responsible. However, for once Fandorin is outshone by the seeming brilliance of a counterpart from the Imperial capital, St Petersburg. Semi-sidelined how will he solve the case before anarchy rules in Moscow? How will he preserve his own position and that of his patron against the threat from St Petersburg? All this against the backdrop of an Imperial state being challenged from below and responding in ever more arbitrarily authoritarian ways.
Bookgeek link love (2)
A few things that have caught our eye and led us seductively in to a secluded corner of the Internet for an intense one-on-one:
- Bob Fischer, author of Wiffle Lever to Full!, is reliving 1984 day-by-day, through the diary entries of his eleven year-old self. With the added commentary, this is a labour of love, and very enjoyable. It’s all on the Wiffle Lever blog.
- Nick Harkaway, author of The Gone-Away-World, has conducted an interview with fellow first-time novelist Charles Lambert which is worth a read, which is on his blog (and read the rest if you have time).
- Dorling Kindersley are seeking photographs of significant, unique and inspiring objects you might own or have access too – send in a photo and a short explanation of why the object is so special and you might see it in print. Competition closes on 28th January – check out www.allthisbook.com.
- On a more serious note, fellow geek George Walkley, Marketing Director at Little, Brown Book Group, has blogged the text of remarks he made about e-books and print-on-demand at a recent debate, clearly explaining the importance of storing book information in a platform-neutral way so it can be delivered to different formats, including some we probably don’t know about yet. What can I say, we’re geeks, we like stuff like this!
BSFA Best Novels shortlist 2009
The British Science Fiction Association have announced the shortlist for the 2009 Best Novel Award – and you can find reviews of two of the four nominated titles right here on Bookgeeks – Nick Harkaway’s The Gone-Away World and Stephen Baxter’s Flood. Look out for our interview with nominee Nick Harkaway in a few days too!
Your friendly neighbourhood Bookgeeks will redouble our efforts to get you reviews of the other two titles, Ken McLeod’s The Night Sessions
The Bird Room, by Chris Killen
Chris Killen’s debut novel is a short, punchy, darkly humourous affair that bespeaks great promise. Cleverly interweaving the lives of a lovestruck loser and a damaged young ‘actress’, Killen explores themes of alienation and mental illness with a deft touch.
The lovestruck loser is William – he has a girlfriend, Alice, but he can’t quite believe he’s good enough for her and this insecurity lies at the root of his problems. When he makes the mistake of introducing Alice to his artist friend Will (the scope for confusion of names can only be deliberate on Killen’s part, though I would question whether it’s necessary for the plot), things start go rapidly downhill. Will is everything William is not – cocky, brash, successful and utterly obnoxious.
Tokyo Year Zero, by David Peace
David Peace’s Tokyo Year Zero is awash with death and retribution, honour and compromise, despair and occupation, degradation and chaos. Set in the day after and the year after MacArthur’s conquest of Japan, the survivors of the war are attempting to force the strictures and structure of a now-defunct hierarchy onto the unstable world that has been left to them. Peace’s narration vividly depicts Japan as a country under occupation by the authority of the American forces (nearly always called “Victors”). Attempting to build a society on decayed and bombed foundations, many Japanese have fled the consequences of their past actions, or are hiding behind false names, and the entire society shudders with the aftermath and consequences of the brutal war.
The plot is wrapped tenuously around the serial murders of young girls, unique not in their deaths but in the manner of their dying. Each has been strangled, and raped, and left to decompose among the other bodies that scatter Japan. Their identities are in question, and the police, led by Detective Minami, struggle to find any sort of evidence or suspects. Although the murders are based on an historical Japanese serial killer, the story that is told is not a clear-cut retelling of a particular horrific crime. The reader views the deaths and the investigation through all of the debris of the war and the hazy and frantic eyes of Minami. Far from a stable narrator, Minami is a drug addict and under the control of a local crime lord; he struggles to face his past and seems complicit, in some ways, in the despair and destruction around him. Under pressure by his superiors and tangled up in the hierarchical nature of Japanese society, Minami struggles to find the will, manpower, and time to investigate the steadily growing number of bodies.
Tom Bedlam, by George Hagen
I haven’t read any Charles Dickens, which is not really to my credit – but that doesn’t stop me thinking that George Hagen’s Tom Bedlam owes him a great debt. British history acts as the backdrop for the life of our eponymous hero, who starts his life in a slum tenement next to a factory. His father left when he was a baby, so his mother, a tirelessly optimistic Christian, brings him up alone. Tom’s first experience of the harshness of real life comes when his actor father comes back and steals his mother’s savings. We meet many characters who will be returned to at various stages of the book, including Tom’s best friend Oscar, and Oscar’s little sister Audrey. In a twist of magical realism, their youngest brother, known at ‘the Orfling’, is a baby who doesn’t seem to want to age, even as his siblings grow up around him.
It’s after his mother dies that Tom’s odyssey starts – with an English public school education, complete with bullies, hare-brained masters and a very funny cook who is perpetually setting herself on fire and losing things in the soup. Tom shows himself to be unwilling to bow down to the bullies, and befriends fellow outsider Arthur Pigeon. After an affecting tragedy, Tom has to leave under a cloud. Fulfliling his ambition to become a doctor, he studies medicine in Edinburgh, where he meets his wife to be – now known as Dr Tom Chapel, he elopes with her to South Africa.
The Return, by Hakan Nesser
A good but ever so slightly identikit Scandi thriller, that is nonetheless entertaining. Anyone who has run out of Hening Mankell may not yet have found an adequate substitute (hint: it’s Jo Nesbo) but The Return will do nicely while the search continues (hint: it’s Jo Nesbo).
Set in an unnamed Northern European country that is a cross between Sweden and the Netherlands, The Return features the crotchety and enigmatic (aren’t they all) Inspector Van Veeteren. Yet since one of Nesser’s neat tricks is to keep Van Veeteren in the wings, The Return is more of an ensemble piece and all the better for it. The good inspector is hospitalised for most of the novel but still runs the investigation from his hospital bed, so the action unfolds via conversations between other more prosaic police officers. For the most part, these tricks and tropes work very nicely.
The Tales of Beedle the Bard, by J.K. Rowling
It would be difficult to miss J.K. Rowling’s newest addition to the world of Harry Potter. With a handwritten, hand-illustrated copy bought by Amazon for almost two million pounds, and the more accessible public edition still in the Amazon top ten, the book certainly made a media, and charitable, splash. Although only one of the stories, The Three Brothers, was given in its entirety, The Tales of Beedle the Bard were first mentioned in the final Harry Potter book and were instrumental in Harry’s defeat of Voldemort. The stories themselves serve as a window into wizarding childhoods, and “Dumbledore’s commentary” only adds to the fun.
The first of the stories, The Wizard and the Hopping Pot, gives a small version of the rebellions, and consequences, of youth. It begins with a description of an old and kindly wizard who spends his time helping and healing the Muggles around him. At his death, he leaves his only son his worn and lucky cooking pot, a slipper, and a note stating “In the fond hope, my son, that you will never need this.” As is to be expected, the son, deciding that the Muggles around him are unworthy of his help, turns away an old woman who needs a wart cure for her granddaughter. With his refusal to help, the wizard’s old cooking pot sprouts warts, and a foot, in retaliation. As the story moves along and the pot refuses to leave its recalcitrant owner alone, the pot, reflecting its owner, becomes more hideous (and, incidentally, hilarious). Will he ever learn from his mistakes?
The Ninth Circle, by Alex Bell
Here’s a book that’s been sitting on my shelves for a while – and this week, enticed by the beautiful cover artwork and a promise I made that “I would review it eventually, honest”, I picked it up. Now I wish I had done so much sooner, because it was a very enjoyable read indeed. To be honest, it’s not a book I know how to classify – is it fantasy? Horror? I suspect that if one has to pigeon-hole The Ninth Circle, it would be as urban fantasy, as there are strong echoes of Neil Gaiman, especially his Sir Terry Pratchett collaboration Good Omens. The setting in this case is a beautifully-evoked (and clearly well researched) Budapest, whose streets Alex Bell has definitely pounded to enable her to paint such vivid pictures of its churches, monuments and streets.
WARNING: Review contains mild spoilers
Hater, by David Moody
David Moody’s been following his own path for several years now. Via his Infected Books, he self-published to relative acclaim, and impressive sales, whilst developing a deservedly healthy fan base. He’s arguably best known for his Autumn series – across five books, Moody involved the reader in a darkly raw and realistic, very British zombie apocalypse, (a zombie apocalypse with a difference, but that’s another review). During those independent years Moody published several other titles, including Hater, which has now been picked up by Gollancz in the UK, and in the US by Thomas Dunne Books.
In Hater, Moody has tweaked the apocalyptic virus trope in a very simple way. And it is an utterly devastating tweak. Seemingly normal people suddenly turn into killers. There is no warning, no time to think as the pure urge to kill the person in front of them overwhelms the affected, (infected?). As the violence spreads, the media coin a term for those who succumb to these mysterious violent urges: Haters.
The God Stalker Chronicles, by P.C. Hodgell
Today we welcome a new geek! We are very pleased that Jennie will be sharing her thoughts with our readers, starting with an intriguing fantasy re-issue. Now read on…
P.C. Hodgell is not a well-known author, and her books have until quite recently been difficult to find. Luckily, Baen Books has re-issued her first two books in preparation for the publication of a fifth book in her Kencyrath series. The re-issue, The God Stalker Chronicles, is an omnibus volume of the first two books in the series: God Stalk and Dark of the Moon. Some parts of Hodgell’s world will be familiar to readers of epic fantasy, but her genius lies in her evocative and unique world and deftly-drawn and complete characters. Her butterflies are carrion-eaters. The unicorns? They grow ivory hides that both protect and eventually strangle them. And her hero is a lithe, honour-bound thief who never knows quite what to do with herself and frequently falls down flights of stairs. All of Hodgell’s books are punctuated by clever wordplay and sheer physical comedy. The main character, Jame, tumbles from great heights, literally and metaphorically, often enough that the reader has no trouble bonding with her and cheering for her success. She struggles when presented with the evidence that she is something more than she may appear, and she fights to work out the right way to act in the face of seemingly impossible choices.
The Black Company, by Glen Cook
The new Gollancz omnibus edition of Glen Cook’s Chronicles of the Black Company is proudly emblazoned with a quote from Steven Erikson, proclaiming that Cook ‘singlehandedly changed the face of fantasy’. It’s certainly clear from reading the first volume the influence that it’s had on Erikson. Cook’s fantasy is far removed from Tolkien and traditional swords-and-sorcery fare – the focus is on unheroic characters and ordinary people, while there’s no sign of clear-cut goodies and baddies or the moral certainties you see in much fantasy. The first volume in the omnibus, The Black Company, which is the subject of this review, was first published back in 1984 but it doesn’t feel at all dated.
The Black Company are mercenaries, and our narrator, Croaker, fulfils the dual roles of company doctor and annalist, which means he has a reason to know all of his fellow soldiers, and an excuse to write down his experiences. Effectively a junior officer, he is involved in the Company’s decision-making and is friends with the Company’s mages, Goblin, One-Eye and Silent (the names of the soldiers seem to be a clear influence on Erikson). At the start of the book, the Company is on assignment in the city of Beryl, but their mission is turning sour and they are becoming embroiled in the politics of the city. They take the first opportunity to disentangle themselves, which means working for the Lady in her war against The Circle.
Yellow Blue Tibia, by Adam Roberts
My experience with Adam Roberts’ last book, Swiftly, was something of a disappointment, so it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I approached the bizarrely titled Yellow Blue Tibia. I was not to be disappointed again. Subtitled ‘Konstantin Skvorecky’s memoir of the alien invasion of 1986′, Yellow Blue Tibia demonstrates that when Roberts sticks to his high-concept guns, he is capable of producing compelling and intriguing science fiction.
The concept this time is to reconcile two very widely separated positions: there are thousands of UFO sightings every year, and millions of people who believe in little green men and alien abductions; but there is no acceptable scientific proof for their activity or existence. How could both be right at the same time?
Konstantin Skvorecky is a Soviet science fiction writer, a hero of the Great Patriotic War, and along with a number of his peers he is summoned in to the presence of Stalin himself. They are briefed to create a story of alien invasion that Stalin can use to maintain the focus of the Soviet people on a shared foe after their inevitable defeat of the USA.
Doors Open, by Ian Rankin
In a diversion from Inspector Rebus, Ian Rankin brings us a one-off heist novel set in his, and Rebus’s, home city of Edinburgh. Doors Open is based on a specially commissioned serial that originally ran in the New York Times. The plot concerns three art-lovers who decide to liberate unseen works from their confinement in the overflow warehouse for the National Gallery of Scotland.
Mike Mackenzie is a software millionaire, Allan Cruikshank a banker and Professor Gissings the head of the Edinburgh College of Art – the three friends share a sense of frustration that so many wonderful artworks are hidden away from public view. Gissings reveals a long-held plan to his friends: to take advantage of the annual Doors Open day, when normally closed private buildings across Scotland open to the public. With the aid of a talented art student turned forger, who wants to be the next Banksy, their plan is to substitute the real works with fakes in a bid to commit the perfect crime.
Competition: Banish those winter blues with brand new SF and fantasy from Gollancz [closed]
It’s January, Christmas is over for another year, and don’t even mention the credit crunch! What you need to cheer you up are some proof copies of some of the exciting SF&F titles that will be hitting the shelves in 2009, courtesy of those warm-hearted people at Gollancz:
- Best Served Cold by Joe Abercombie – this is not published in hardback until June 09, so our lucky winner will really be stealing the march on fellow fantasy fans with this standalone novel, set in the same world as the author’s excellent debut trilogy
- Zima Blue by Alastair Reynolds – a short story collection from one of our best visionary SF writers
- Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding, about which I all I can say is that it’s a “kick-ass heist novel”, also not published until June
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The Bookgeeks Interview
Simon Kernick
Simon Kernick is one of Britain’s most exciting new thriller writers. He arrived on the crime writing scene with his highly acclaimed debut novel The Business of Dying, the story of a corrupt cop moonlighting as a hitman. However, Simon’s big breakthrough came with his novel Relentless which was selected by Richard and Judy for [...]
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Latest Competition
Five copies of John le Carré’s Smiley vs Karla Trilogy to be won
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was one of the big film releases of 2011, and to celebrate its release on DVD we have five copies of John le Carré’s Smiley vs Karla Trilogy to be won – consisting of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley’s People.
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