In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Stefan Raets starts a new blog: Our very own Stefan Raets is retiring from FanLit so he can focus on his new blog, Far Beyond Reality and his frequent writing assignments for Tor.com. We’ll miss Stefan, but we’ll still occasionally post some of his reviews here after they’ve been up for a while at FBR. Stefan says, “I’ve very much enjoyed these last two and a half years. Fantasy Literature is an amazing site and a tremendous resource for fans of the genre. I learned a lot, I had a lot of fun, and I’m truly grateful that I had the opportunity to be part of the FanLit team. You’ll still see some of my work here at FanLit in the future, but for now please visit me at Far Beyond Reality!”

2) A Synopsis of Joe Abercrombie’s Upcoming Release: Neth over at Neth Space has spotted some enticing details about Red Country. I sincerely cannot wait for this book.

3) Gene Wolfe to Receive Chicago Literary Hall of Fame: Gene Wolfe’s books account for at least 74% of the used book market in the SFF genres. Andre Norton is the other 26%. No other authors have used books.

4) Samuel Youd aka John Christopher 1922-2012: Another legend shuffles off this mortal coil.

5) Unsettling Undead Art: The squeamish need not apply.

6) Win a Mega Gamer Package from Tor!: PFH has a great contest going on for video game inspired books from Tor. Not sure how long this lasts, but it’s a nice giveaway.

7) ‘Lord of the Rings’ Fan Creates a Middle Earth Family Tree: Once again I find myself speechless at how awesome some fans can be.

City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer

What a long strange trip City of Saints and Madmen is! Jeff VanderMeer’s first book about the city of Ambergris is a tour de force of imagination and style. It’s a hard book to review, though. First of all, what is it? It’s not a novel. Is it a collection of short stories? Maybe, although some of the pieces included in City of Saints and Madmen are not stories, and in some cases, the stories seep in around the edges of the prose. Some of the prose pieces here are straightforward, be they fantasy or outright horror; some of the stories delight by imitating secret manuscripts hidden in other documents. Swirling through all of this are images of the beautiful and sinister city, Ambergris, built on the shores of the river Moth; Ambergris, with its religious quarter and its battling religions, its larger-than-life composer celebrity Voss Bender, and most mysteriously, its colorful, insidious, deadly fungi. Ambergris is an imaginary city in an imaginary world, festooned with spangles of cultural references from our world: the Borges bookstore, for instance… Read the rest.

Living with Ghosts by Kari Sperring

When you’ve shared a review site with someone for a long time, you start to get a feel for how your tastes are similar — and how they’re different. Being aware of these differences means that sometimes a negative review from one of your co-reviewers can make you want to read the book! For example, I know that if Kat finds a heroine too snarky, I’ll probably love her. Similarly, John and I often disagree on the “relationship stuff” in books. Recently he read Kari Sperring’s Living with Ghosts and had trouble with it, but from his review I could tell it was probably something I’d like. I was right, and Living with Ghosts was a terrific read for me… Living with Ghosts is the kind of book about which one might say, “this is the sort of thing you will like, if this is the sort of thing you like.” There’s a certain type of decadent, historically-influenced, character-driven, political, and often urban fantasy that I deeply enjoy and that is sometimes hard to find. Definitely give Sperring a try if you like Jacqueline Carey, Ellen Kushner, and Lane Robins. The writing is beautiful, the characters are well-drawn, and the story is scary and tragic and deeply romantic, without being a romance (i.e. no tidy happily-ever-after here)… Read the rest.

A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C. Clarke

Pat Harris is the captain of Selene, the only tour bus on the moon. Every day he and his stewardess, Sue Wilkins, take passengers on a trip across the moon’s Sea of Thirst. This crater filled with moondust seems similar to a lake on Earth, and Selene, like a motorboat, smoothly skims across its surface. By the light of Mother Earth, Selene’s passengers are entertained by glorious views of the moon’s topography, including the impressive Mountains of Inaccessibility.

Pat Harris loves his job. Selene is an excellent dust cruiser, Pat enjoys skimming along the dust and delighting his passengers with the moon’s views, and he has a secret crush on his stewardess. But Pat’s and Sue’s wits and characters will be severely tested when an unexpected moonquake shakes the Sea of Thirst and Selene sinks into the dust. Communications are cut off and nobody knows where they are. Now Selene’s crew and passengers must work together to try to save themselves while scientists and technicians from Earth and the moon are frantically trying to locate them. Read more »

The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

Anne Rice’s The Vampire Lestat is the second (and probably best-regarded) of her VAMPIRE CHRONICLES. The Vampire Lestat is probably the seminal work of vampire fiction since Bram Stoker. Much of what was implied in Interview with the Vampire is made concrete here as Rice broadens and deepens her mythology, all the while creating one of the archetypal figures of the genre. The first thing one should say about The Vampire Lestat in comparison with Interview with the Vampire is that if you spent the first novel sighing to yourself that all of this was rather good, but Louis was a whiny sort of fellow who liked to talk more than to act, you shall be overjoyed with this installment. Lestat is the vital, charismatic hero that Louis was not. If he loses some of Louis’s tragedy and philosophizing, he makes it up in the simple fact that he is from the first page a more relatable character. The narrative style of Lestat’s book is faster-paced and more direct than that of Louis’s, but leaves ample room for Rice’s trademark sensual imagery and dense characterization… Read the rest.

Many countries, including the United States, house their poor in such unpleasant places that they are rethinking the way to provide housing assistance for them. Numerous high rise facilities have been demolished, like the infamous Cabrini Green in Chicago or Atlanta’s Bowen Homes, and replaced with mixed-income housing projects. In England, they are called council estates. High rises are even more problematic there, for England has never taken much to the skyscraper, at least as a place to live. So it’s not surprising that there are places like The Grove, with an abandoned high rise in the center and flats surrounding it in a concentric pattern. Such is the nature of The Grove in Gary McMahon’s The Concrete Grove, because that’s all you see there: no trees, no grass, no flowers, only concrete.

Hailey lives in the Grove with her mother. The place scares her, because she is not accustomed to it. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, but her father lost the family’s money and committed suicide, and now they’re stuck living on as best they can. Hailey yearns for a place she can be on her own, and for someone, or something, to save her. She often heads for the Needle, the abandoned skyscraper in the middle of the Grove, for some private time. It isn’t exactly a pleasant place, being filled with trash and unpleasant smells, but it’s a place she can grab some time for herself. One day after school, she happens upon a flock of hummingbirds in the room she usually frequents in the Needle. She is enraptured, especially because hummingbirds are not native to England; she’s never seen one before. But these hummingbirds seem to be messengers of a sort, from a literal grove that existed before the Concrete Grove existed, and right there, in Chapter One, unpleasant things begin happening.

McMahon quickly introduces us to another viewpoint character, Tom, who likes to run to keep in shape, but also to escape from his wife. It’s an especially sad marriage. His wife is a paraplegic, having been in a automobile accident while on her way to a tryst with a paramour. She no longer makes the slightest effort to be a wife in any way, not even leaving her bed any longer, simply eating herself to death. One day – that same day Hailey had her encounter with the hummingbirds – Tom is out running near the Grove when he comes across Hailey, crumpled by the side of the road. He rescues her from what appears to be a faint, and takes her home to her mother, Lana. Lana and Tom have an immediate physical attraction to each other, an attraction that they refuse to deny.

But the Grove has something to say about that, and things continue to get darker as this very black novel continues. We learn that Lana is in deep with the Grove’s resident loan shark, who is as brutal – no, actually more brutal – than one can imagine.  McMahon does not spare his readers, but he doesn’t need to overwhelm us with gory details.  He tells us just enough so that our own imaginations soar into a darkness we never thought lived there, seeing in our mind’s eye what he only hints at. It takes a true master to make a reader paint the picture after he has merely drawn the outline.

McMahon hints at a deeper story than the horrific picture he draws, though, and the reader is left wishing that he had filled in more of the details. One guesses that he is attempting to use the trope of an oak grove as the home of ancient powers that are insensible to humans, seeing them, if at all, only as tools.  The Concrete Grove seems to be built over one of these old places of power. It transforms the older grove rather than replacing it, and McMahon seems to want us to see that the transformation has warped those powers. This would have been a better story if McMahon had done more with the deep background. Desperation, frustration and terror lurk in the pages of The Concrete Grove, and one wishes for an explanation. Publicity for the book states that this is the first novel in a trilogy, so maybe we’ll learn more as the trilogy goes on.

But then, perhaps the lack of a reason is all the reason for the horror McMahon means for us to see for now. Hopelessness emanates from every page; no character seems to have a way out of the awefulness in which he or she lives. McMahon’s horror is existential as well as experiential, and it’s hard to say which is the more terrifying.

City of Dragons by Robin Hobb

City of Dragons is the third volume in Robin Hobb’s RAIN WILDS CHRONICLES, set in the same universe as many of her other books. In my review of Dragon Haven I wrote, “I’ve begun to wonder over the course of Hobb’s recent books if she is exploring just how much plot she needs in her novels to actually have a ‘story.’ There is a lot of action in her earlier books, such as the FARSEER TRILOGY (and subsequent FOOL’s books) and her LIVESHIP TRADERS group. Then, in the SOLDIER SON TRILOGY, there is almost none; it is primarily a slow study in character and culture (or culture clash). THE RAIN WILDS CHRONICLE seems to be a middle ground between the two. It’s almost as if she’s feeling her way to as quiet and minimalist a style (in terms of action, not language) as possible.” In the end, I thought Dragon Haven rewarded the reader despite its lack of “action” and its slow pace. City of Dragons is, if anything, slower and less action-oriented until the very end. I’d also argue that it is overall less successful, though it did hold my interest for most of its length… Read the rest.

A bit of a busy week, it seems, all told…

Bill: Tough week this time between grading and the craziness of having our dining room and kitchen redone. But I did manage to read Steward O’Nan’s newest, The Odds. It was a slim delight of a novella by one of my favorite current writers; I highly recommend both this book and just about all O’Nan’s work. I’ve also begun Indigo Springs by A.M. Dellamonica, the premise and structure of which I quite like but which isn’t quite grabbing me yet.

Kat: I really enjoyed Orson Scott Card’s Speaker for the Dead which was a lot deeper and more complex than Ender’s Game. I’m moving on to book 3 soon. Next I read William Gibson’s story collection called Burning Chrome. A couple of those stories were a bit different from his normal fare, but most of his writing is so stylistically similar that I get tired of it after a while. Lastly, I read Bree Despain’s The Dark Divine. I’m not sure I’ve ever met a paranormal YA romance that I really liked — I only read this one because I got a free audio copy and we needed to get one of her novels reviewed for the site. The Dark Divine had many of the same angsty teenage clichés that this genre always contains, but it also had a few elements that were refreshing.

Marion: I finished Act of Love, my Joe R Lansdale and a review should follow shortly. I set down Breaking Point, the British forensic thriller, about ten pages from the end, because the mystery is solved and I find I don’t care if the main character reunites with his lovely, manipulative lawyer wife. I was so emotionally disengaged by this book that, by not reading the final ten pages, I won’t find out if a key character lived or died — and I don’t care. It has such a good premise, too. Right now I’m about one-third of the way through Chris Humphreys‘s dark YA fantasy The  Fetch.  Not much time for reading this week, but I am in charge of completing  the “budget narrative” for our department, which in some circles would qualify as creative writing.

Terry: It’s been one of those weeks — up until midnight working one night, up until 4:00 a.m. working. Not surprisingly, there wasn’t much time for reading. I’m nearing the end of both The Bookman by Lavie Tidhar; and The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells, though, and hope to have reviews of both available relatively soon.

Tim: This week I read Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities for a class, which took up a good chunk of time. I did also have a run at Robert E. Charette‘s A Prince Among Men, which is rather unimpressive so far (and even a bit… well, the word that comes to mind is “sleazy”, and that’s not quite it–nothing so damning), but I have not progressed very far, so perhaps things will improve once the action gets started.

Harbinger of the Storm by Aliette de Bodard

Servant of the Underworld, Aliette de Bodard‘s début novel and the first book in the OBSIDIAN AND BLOOD series, was one of the most interesting books I’d read in a while… I enjoyed her depiction of the pre-Columbian Mexica (Aztec) empire a lot… I found Harbinger of the Storm to be a worthy successor to what I consider to be a very successful début. The emphasis in this book has shifted a bit from a murder mystery to political intrigue but the setting hasn’t lost any of its appeal in the process. The novel zooms out a bit to allow room for more religious and political aspects of Aztec society to slip into the story. Despite my preoccupation with the historical aspects of the novel, Harbinger of the Storm is mostly a race against the clock to deflect a supernatural attempt to end the empire and the world. De Bodard works a great sense of urgency into the story, making it a fast read. She has once again managed to deliver a very interesting book. I’m looking forward to reading the third book in this series, Master of the House of Darts. Read the rest.

The Heretic by Joseph Nassise

Joseph Nassise’s THE TEMPLAR CHRONICLES series features a modern-day Knights Templar organization that battles the supernatural bad guys of the world. Its hero, Cade Williams, is a member of the Templars but has an uncanny reputation among the order for his psychic abilities. The Heretic is the first in the series and revolves around a cabal of sorcerers who is attacking Templar commanderies, slaughtering the members, and desecrating the cemeteries in search of a holy relic. Cade and his unit are assigned to the problem. The Heretic could be described as urban fantasy by way of a paramilitary/religious thriller. As is apropos for a thriller, The Heretic includes a lot of action and tough-guy heroics. There’s also a great deal of gore, so the weak of stomach need not apply… The Heretic is not a horrible book; it just isn’t for me. It could be a 3-star or 4-star book for a very different type of reader. This is a novel about manly men stoically getting the job done, with little in the way of stylistic or emotional frills. If that appeals to you, give this book a try. But for my own part, I must confess I like my frills. Read the rest.

Infernal Devices: A Mad Victorian Fantasy by K.W. Jeter

George Dower’s father was a watchmaker, but he didn’t just make watches. Some of his special customers knew he was a genius with all sorts of gear work. When his father died, George inherited the watch shop. Unfortunately, he didn’t inherit his father’s genius. He can sometimes manage to fix a customer’s watch if he sees that a part has worn out, or something else obvious is wrong, but that’s about it. He’s completely flummoxed when a strange brown man brings in something he’s never seen before — something George’s father made. George has no idea what this infernal device does, but when he agrees to help, he’s soon embroiled in a wild adventure that involves a secret London district with fishy-looking citizens, the Royal Anti-Society, the formidable woman who heads up the Ladies Union for the Suppression of Carnal Vice, a robot doppelganger, and a man and woman who speak 20^th century American slang. George is starting to realize that his father may have been involved in some rather shady business. Read more »

This coming Sunday is a big day in American football, and is by far the biggest day in American sports for the year. The streets in Boston and New York will be vacant as fans are glued to their TV screens to watch the big game. Sports are important to the entire human race. One only needs to be outside the United States during the World Cup to realize exactly how important it really is. I personally love American football, MMA, and I even watch the  English Premiere League Football on the Soccer Channel whenever I can. I’ve also been known to watch basketball, baseball, tennis, cricket, Aussie Rules, X-Games, and even Curling.

It’s obvious I’m a sports fan, so it’s no surprise that I enjoy reading about cool new sports in fantasy novels. There have been some incredible games created in the realms of fantasy and science fiction. Perhaps the most famous recent example is Quidditch from J.K. Rowling‘s HARRY POTTER series. Science fiction readers love their futuristic sports, such as in Matt Forbeck‘s BLOOD BOWL series.

Tell us about a sport you’ve read about in a fantasy or science fiction novel that you wish you could watch or play. If you like, tell us about your plans for this weekend’s festivities, whether it be the Superbowl, or the Chelsea vs. Manchester United match. Or maybe you just plan on locking yourself up in a quiet place with a book until it all goes away?

Commenters will be entered for a chance to win a choice from our stacks.

Dark Victory by Michele Lang

Magda Lazarus has killed Adolf Hitler’s pet wizard, the Staff, but not before the Staff stole a fragment of the powerful Book of Raziel and used magic to reconstitute a corrupted version that is now in the hands of the Reich. Dark Victory begins as the invasion of Poland is imminent, and Magda is trying to decide on her next course of action. In the early chapters, it seemed that Dark Victory wouldn’t be as compelling as Lady Lazarus. Magda’s decision-making process is a large part of the problem… The book becomes impossible to put down once Magda finally starts to act! … After the first few chapters, Dark Victory is a good read, in which Magda grows in her magical abilities and faces hard choices and horrific situations. I continue to be interested in what happens to her and her loved ones, and to what extent the course of history will be changed by her actions. LADY LAZARUS is a trilogy and will conclude with Rebel Angels, which I look forward to reading. Read the rest.

In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Great Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Who Never Wrote Sequels or Trilogies: Io9 continues to publish interesting articles pertaining to our favorite genres. You have to dig for them a bit since they tend to get buried quickly.

2) ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ Turns 50: A classic and the introduction to genre fiction for many readers turns 50 and is making a lot of people feel very old.

3) Science Fiction Pioneer Homer Eon Flint Gets Second Chance at Publishing Career: I’ve never heard of him, but feel like I should. Glad someone is paying tribute by republishing his work.

4) Writing Tips by Henry Miller, Elmore Leonard, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman & George Orwell: A solid set of rules for writers to follow.

5) Hey, GRRM agrees with me!: Aidan over at A Dribble of Ink emphasizes the need to keep new media part of the Hugo Awards, and George R.R. Martin apparently agrees with him.

Eyes Like Leaves by Charles de Lint

Charles de Lint wrote Eyes Like Leaves in 1980, but he didn’t publish it then. In 1980, he explains in the foreword, he had written two “alternate world” stories and one contemporary fantasy; de Lint thought that a third alternate world fantasy would typecast him, and he didn’t want to be restricted. Thus the book languished for thirty years before being brought out… Shifting points of view make for a very choppy read at times, especially when de Lint throws in italicized flashbacks. Seeing how rough the technique is, I was reminded how much de Lint has perfected the mosaic technique in later books. As always, though, de Lint’s story is filled with music, elegant prose and clever turns of phrase… In the forward, de Lint says that although he went through the manuscripts and made grammar changes, he did not change the plot. I enjoyed the book and I think the classic Good versus Evil plot still holds up, but Eyes Like Leaves is most interesting as a look back at a gifted writer’s beginnings. Read the rest.