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A Realistic Assessment of The Blade Itself

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Grasping for the Wind chimes in on Joe Abercrombie’s debut fantasy epic, The Blade Itself (The First Law: Book One).They key off barbarian warrior Logen Ninefinger’s catch phrase, “You have to be realistic about these things,” noting the various elements of our own history woven into Abercrombie’s fantasy setting. (For my money, the novel also weaves aspects of Tolkien and Arthurian mythos together quite expertly.)

They say that Abercrombie is “a skilled writer whose clever turns of phrase are darkly funny… Each character’s motivations are different but compelling, and the fight scenes are impressively described.” Finally, they conclude, “The story is wickedly funny, the fight scenes memorable, and the characters fascinating. Nothing in this novel is as it seems, and Abercrombie’s contribution to the genre is sure to endure.”

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Selling Out: The New Bionic Woman

Here’s a rather amusing fill-in-the-blank style review of Justina Robson’s Selling Out (Quantum Gravity, Book 2)up at Wistful Writings. They say the book is, “an excellent read that’ll challenge imaginations and hook its talons deep.”

My favorite bit:

The cover sez and shows: The New Bionic Woman II striking a pose. I think it’s for a magazine ad. For Swiss Army knife arms. All the rad these days with the kiddos.

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Roberson Rambles on Brasyl

Author Chris Roberson (Paragaea,Set the Seas on Fire) has started “Book Report Monday.” In his inaugural report, he looks at Soon I Will Be Invincible, Eisenhorn, and Ian McDonald’s Brasyl.The latter shares enough structural commonalities with his forthcoming End of the Century that I, as he points out, advised him not to read it until he’d finished that manuscript. Now that he has, he finds Brasyl “highly recommended. If you’ve been looking for a story featuring bisexual transvestite wheeler-dealers in the future, kick ass Irish Jesuits in the past, and complex TV producers in the modern day, complete with knives that will cut through the bonds of space-time and secret conspiracies across the multiverse, then Brasyl is the book for you. And if you haven’t been looking for that story, then you should be now.”

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Hey, I Can Write Too! Concatenation on Fast Forward 1

Here’s a review of my anthology Fast Forward 1: Future Fiction from the Cutting Edgeon The Science Fact & Science Fiction Concatenation that doesn’t talk about any of the stories. Instead, the reviewer Tony Chester says, “I hope you will forgive me for not going into the story contributions in great detail, partly because it would be a pain to come up with one or two line comments on 23 stories… but mainly because the ‘hook’ for me of this particular anthology is actually the introduction by Anders.”

Tony then spends the bulk of his “review” talking about why science fiction is important and illustrating how to communicate this to the uninitiated with a personal example. I got to say, the point of the book is the fiction, so I’m glad there are plenty of reviews that concentrate on that (or even mention it), but, as an anthologist who puts a lot of work into my introductions and then wonders “Does anybody even read this?” the once-in-a-blue-moon review that favorably calls out the intro is much appreciated.

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Various and Sundry

Great Publishers Weekly review for Joel Shepherd’s forthcoming Killswitch, the third and final (?) book in the Cassandra Kresnov series. PW loves the book, which they describe as, “Robert Ludlum meets Elizabeth Moon in this classic military SF adventure, buoyed by Shepherd’s knack for balancing crisp action with characters you can really root for.”

Nothing to argue with there, right?

Meanwhile, Fantasy Book Critic proclaims that “not only was The Blade Itselfbetter than I could have hoped for, but I find it hard to imagine anyone not liking this fantasy extravaganza…” Most appreciated are the comparisons to Glen Cook, Scott Lynch & Steven Erikson, as is the sentiment that, with it’s traditional quest set up, Abercrombie’s book is “simultaneously an homage to fantasy of old, a satirical riff on clichés common within the genre, and a contemporary revision.”

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Kay on the Road

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Kay Kenyon’s touring again.

First up, catch her at VCon (October 19 – 21 in Vancouver, Washington).

Then Kay is one of several authors taking part in a group signing, November 14, at 7pm at the Powells Beaverton Bookstore

3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd.
Beaverton, OR 97005 USA

Immediately after, she’s teaching a workshop entitled “An Evening With Kay Kenyon” at the Dialogue Workshop for Oregon Writers’ Colony, November 15th, at 6pm.

Cost is $20 and includes conversations with Kay, pizza, beer and wine.

Then she’s back on the con circuit with Orycon 29 (November 16-18 in Porland, Oregon).

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Multiple Pyr Reviews

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A host of Pyr reviews have come in over the last few days. Here are the highlights:

Ian McDonald’s River of Gods:

“…if you can stand the initial shock of a future India, described in breathtaking detail by McDonald, then you will find yourself immersed in the world that he has created. River of Gods is a rich, fascinating novel…fans of hard science fiction will find plenty to like…” –SciFiNow Magazine, issue 5

Ian McDonald’s Brasyl:

“Brasyl has been receiving high praise from just about everyone since it’s publication. It’s easy to see why. Not content with writing just one interesting story, McDonald gives us three… What’s even more amazing is that McDonald has taken these stories and wrapped them around a very hard science fictional idea. Namely that of the quantum computational view of cosmology.tackles big issues like free will and the heat death of the universe and places them in intensely personal stories, which serves to humanize these ideas and make them easier to understand… Brasyl rivals River Of Gods story-wise and surpasses it in science fictional terms. “-SFSignal, 4 1/2 stars

Justina Robson’s Selling Out (Quantum Gravity, Book 2):

“Provocative melding of fantasy and science fiction…her freewheeling language instills the plot with an unpredictability…limitless creativity and enthusiasm…” –SciFiNow Magazine, issue 5

“Robson continues, from Keeping It Real (2007), the story of super cyborg secret-agent extraordinare Lila Black as she follows her former charge Zal, the most famous rock star in Otopia, into Demonia…Clearly having fun in a world of elves, fairies, and high-tech toys, Robson has a great sense of rock and roll, too, which helps lots in this almost-over-the top confection.” –Booklist, September 1, 2007

Fiona Avery’s The Crown Rose:
“…a fascinating novel about a period in history imbued with mysticism, and it is exciting to read something so well encompassing that tradition. Fiona Avery has a marvelous talent for vivid characterization, and makes Isabelle and her family and servants glow with realism. This is a well-researched book, and it shows. Give yourself a trip to the thirteenth century and get this book!” –ReadertoReader.com, September 2007

Kay Kenyon’s Bright of the Sky: the Entire and the Rose: Book 1:
“Well written, with engaging, well-developed characters, Kenyon gives readers fascinating, alternative worlds on a breathtaking scale. Mind boggling worlds, deep plotting and characters—what more can we want from science fiction?” -SirReadaLot.org, September, 2007

Not bad, huh?

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Sagramanda: A Chef d’oeuvre for Sure

Norman Spinrad’s latest On Books column, this one titled “Buried Treasures,” is par for the course for his usual cogent discussion of the state of modern publishing. He looks at five books, one from a major house, three from the “small press”, and the fifth one from Pyr, whom he describes as a publisher that “seems to straddle, or perhaps in the end will erase, the distinction between such lists and the so-called major SF lines.”

Spinrad’s column begins with the assertion that “Whether you call it evolution or devolution, SF publishing has changed rather radically from what it was, say, a decade ago. Most of the changes have been negative in terms of accessibility to potential readers and income to writers. However, perhaps there will turn out to be a small improvement or two in terms of literary freedom as the center of gravity, to coin an entirely paradoxical metaphor, moves to the fringes.”

He then uses the five books in his review – The Good Fairies of New York, The Demon and the City, No Dominion, The Secret City, and our own Alan Dean Foster title, Sagramanda (A Novel of Near-Future India),as a penetrating look at the way books are bought (or not bought), packaged, and marketed. He also has some harsh words for media novelizations and warnings for writers of same, including an admission that Foster’s own work in media tie-ins prejudiced him against Sagramanda going in. I’m still digesting his column (though Louise Marley’s already up with some thoughts on it), and I’m not sure it’s my place to say anything here anyway. Though I would agree with Louise’s assessment that “If you love the genre, this article is worth ten minutes of your time.”

Meanwhile, Alan and I are certainly happy with this view of Sagramanda: “…by far the best thing he?s written thus far, a chef d?oeuvre for sure, and what?s more, colorful, exotic, and reasonably action-packed, too…. a very detailed, sensorily vivid, culturally and technologically convincing, portrait of his extrapolated India via characters who come alive with psychological depth. What more can you ask of a science fiction novel?”

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Prometheus Award (no relation)

We’ve just received word this morning that Adam Roberts’ brilliant near future novel of space colonization and revenge, Gradisil, has been nominated by the Libertarian Futurist Society for the prestigious 2008 Prometheus Award. Established in 1979, the Prometheus Award is one of the oldest fan-based awards in SF&F. Members nominated worthy works, a winner then determined by jury. The award, which is given out at the World Science Fiction Convention, is presented to “outstanding science fiction or fantasy (broadly defined) whose plots, themes, characters and/or specific issues reflect the value of personal freedom and human rights, or which seriously or satirically critique tyranny or abuses of power– especially unchecked government power.” For those wishing to congratulate Adam, stop by his blog.

No connection, we should point out, between Prometheus Books and the Prometheus Award, beyond a fondness for Greek Titans and their ideas.

Update: This is apparently just round one, as the Prometheus Awards have nominees, then select finalists from those nominees, then select a winner.

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