Stephanie Meyer - The Host

For those who enjoyed previous posts about Stehanie Meyers's Twilight, you'll be pleased to know she's got a new book out for adults called The Host. You can see Stephanie talking about the new launch on the US Borders website here. It's out from 6th May in hardback and available in all the usual places, with a rather intriguing synopsis on the Borders page: "An invading species threatens to control the human race by taking over the minds of the human bodies they inhabit. Melanie staves off Wanderer, the invader of her mind, through conscious resistance and thoughts of the man she loves. A fantastic read, The Host may be the first story ever to feature a love triangle involving only two bodies."

CNN interview - Iain M Banks

There's a pretty cool two-parter interview up on CNN for fans of Mr Banks. Here he talks to CNN's Linnie Rawlinson about being inspired by Sci Fi in his youth and the appeal of the SFF genre.

The video interview is here.

And is transcribed here for those with bands that are less-broad.

"Ahhh, smug mode"

As Kryton once said. Of course, if you're not a Red Dwarf fan then you won't know what that means and so you should probably leave, go buy a dvd box set, and come back when you've caught up... in about 3 months' time.

Good to see that the Gnu got in ahead of the Times Online in flagging up the new JK Rowling (apparently). Something tells me there are going to be a lot of them...

New SciFi site from NBC Universal

For addicts of the SciFi Channel, there is a new site launched this week which is promising all sorts of downloads, exclusive interview content, competitions and whatnot to satisfy you in the few spare minutes when you're not glued to.. the SciFi Channel.

Looks alot like every other TV channel site to me but hey, its SciFi goodness so we thank them for that. Oh yes.

I'll let you know if anything remotely exciting occurs once I join the "community".

Stay tuned....

Blog of the week

Ok, we don't really have a blog of the week - they're all great aren't they - but the Gnu just stumbled across the Toasted Scimitar blog whilst he should have been doing something far more constructive and found what is possibly the most comprehensive review ever of the entire Redwall series by Brian Jacques.

The Gnu was immediately transported to the days of yore where, as a baby Gnu, long before the smoking began, he indulged in the intrigues and traumas of Mattimo and Martin the Warrior. Darn that evil foxy gentleman.

Needless to say, it's a great and highly entertaining review. Now all we have to do is overcome the renewed desire to re-read the whole darn lot of them when I've got far too much to do (ie other books to read that I haven't read) and although I know that they'll never be as good when read with the cynicism of age... the Toasted one has got me tripping down memory lane to the local bookshop once again...

Robin Hobb - graphic novel a la francaise

Following on from yesterday's Robin Hobb post the Gnu has been drooling over Laurent Sieurac's upcoming graphic novel adaptation which was up on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist a few days ago. Some examples of other graphic work in the genre can be seen at the rivages maudits website - Gnu's speak french, it's one of their special powers.. but if you are not so lucky then just have a poke around and see what you can find - its a great site.

There's an interview with Laurent to be found here. When I have some free time I'll have a go at a Gnu-level translation for interested parties. And his other mighty works can be purchased on amazon.fr.

Robin's views on the whole business can be found here.

This interview was proposedby EdiFanoB who's blog I can't find to link to but here's the Gnu-shaped kudos for ya any way.

The new Harry Potter... allegedly..

This film, and the series of books by Stephanie Meyer which spawned it is set to be the next over-hyped teen fantasy obsessesion suggests Wired Magazine today. Revolving doors anyone?

According to Wired, the franchise already boasts a considerable fanbase who "dress up as Twilight characters and turn out in droves for book signings, start Twilight-themed rock bands and even celebrate lead character Isabella Swan's birthday"

Here's the new trailer. I can hear distant sound of parents' bank accounts being drained across the world...

Twilight in HD

Weird world - SFF meets Russian folk-art

Just for fun and the weirdness of the world take a look at the pics on this page and see if you can find a connection... no? well basically, some weird and wonderful person has redrawn SFF movie classics as Russian fairytale-style woodcuts. Work out what they all are before you read the highly amusing comment section..... go on I dare you.

Sorry no hints guys, Gnus don't speak Russian..

:(

Robin Hobb - The Liveship Traders

To be fair this one should have gone up a while ago but I guess best things come to those who wait etc. You don't have to wait until the bottom of the post for my two cents.. though you can if you're in to antic-ip........ation) because frankly the Gnu loves this series. In fact, if he had any say in it, he might marry this series and have lots of little Liveship babies but we're getting ahead of ourselves... We'll take the series as a whole just because.

Book info: (for Ship of Magic):

• Paperback: 896 pages
• Publisher: Voyager; New Ed edition (1 Mar 1999)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 000649885X
• ISBN-13: 978-0006498858

Synopsis:

Gripping first instalment of a new series from the author of The Farseer Trilogy. Wizardwood -- a sentient wood. The most precious commodity in the world. Like many other legendary wares, it comes only from the Rain River Wilds. But how can one trade with the Rain River Traders when only a liveship, fashioned from wizardwood, can negotiate the perilous waters of the Rain River? A liveship is a difficult ship to come by. Rare and valuable, it will quicken only when three family members, from succesive generations, have died on board. The liveship Vivacia is about to undergo her quickening, as Althea Vestrit's father is carried to her deck in his death-throes. Althea waits with awe and anticipation for the ship that she loves more than anything in the world to awaken. Only to find that her family has other plans for her...And dark, charming Kennit, aspiring pirate king, also lusts after such a ship: he well knows the power of wizardwood, and has plans of his own...


Amazon review:

Robin Hobb, author of the Farseer trilogy, has returned to that world for a new series. Ship of Magic is a sea tale, reminiscent of Moby Dick and Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series in its details of shipboard life. It is also a fantasy adventure with sea serpents, pirates and all sorts of magic. The "liveships" have distinct personalities and partner with specific people, somewhat like Anne McCaffrey's Brain ships and their Brawns, though these are trading ships and have full crews.

Hobb has peopled the book with many wonderfully developed characters. Most of the primary ones are members of the Vestritts, an Old Trader family which owns the liveship Vivacia. Their stories are intercut with those of Kennit, the ambitious pirate Brashen, the disinherited scion of another family who served on the Vestritt's ship, and Paragon, an abandoned old liveship believed to be insane. The sentient sea serpents have their own story which is hinted at as well.

Though Ship of Magic is full of action, none of the plot lines is resolved in this book. Readers who resent being left with many questions and few answers after almost 700 pages should think twice before starting, or wait until the rest of the series is out so that their suspense won't be too prolonged. But Hobb's writing draws you in and makes you care desperately about what will happen next, the mark of a terrific storyteller. --Nona Vero --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Reviews:

Yes, as a rarity in recent posts, this does read as an original work and that's the first thing most reviewers pick up on. It is also, as one reviewer so eloquently pointed "a story that grabs you by the shorts and gives you an atomic wedgie". Another important point is that, unlike the initial Farseer (IMHO) it doesnt leave you hanging or wallowing in almost unrealistic and certainly unsatisfying endings (hurrah for the Tawny Man though) and indeed "All the different plots and characters got interwoven into a great and believeable finale, leaving me very satisfied." I have to disagree with Foothills however - that "this is a complex book with a cast of thousands, lots of complex relationships, and pots of action. I had to read it slowly; as always, Hobb is extremely hard on her characters, and small doses go down better." half of the joy of Hobb's writing is that she tries to drown you in to the worlds and the characters she creates.


My two cents:

This was without a doubt (IMHO again) far superior to the Farseer Trilogy. Possibly because it deviates so far from the traditional fantasy material, possibly just because Robin Hobb is really getting in to her swing or just letting herself go but it's a wonderful read that draws you in without feeling like a light read that you could take to the beach and not really concentrate on. So much so that there are elements in the style and story telling that permeate the Tawny Man series which was concluded after this one.

Just writing this makes me want to read them all over again.

Tor site relaunch

Thanks to Aidan at Dribble of Ink for flagging up this site - shortly to relaunch the Tor.com SFF community and review site which claims to be:

"A science fiction and fantasy site not quite like any you’ve seen before, mixing news, commentary, original stories and art, your own comments and conversations, and more. A place on the net you may find yourself wanting to visit—and participate in—every day.

Once you register, you’ll receive our newsletter and a link to download a digital book, as well as free wallpapers from bestselling and award-winning SF and fantasy authors and artists. And you’ll receive a link to another new book, and new wallpapers, every week. Additionally, you’ll be entered in our Watch The Skies Sweepstakes to win the very cool Asus Galaxy EEE mobile PC.*"

Every day huh? not sure how much work will be done in Gnu towers once the site goes live..

Aidan's tip is to sign up for the newsletter to get yer greasy mitts on some free ebook love - done done and done. He has the links up to download previous ebooks so I won't post them here - get on over Dribble and get em yerself .

Terry Brooks - Magic Kingdom for Sale, Sold!

Not to be put off by the minor disappointment of the Sword of Shannara Trilogy the Gnu has recently been at the receiving end* of "Magic Kingdom for Sale, Sold!" and thought we'd have a traipse across the blogosphere to see what has been said.

This book though written back in the mists of time (1992) was re-released last year on Orbit.


Book info:

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Orbit; New Ed edition (14 May 2007)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 1841495557
• ISBN-13: 978-1841495552
• 
  

Synopsis:
Landover was a genuine magic kingdom, complete with fairy folk and wizardry, just as the advertisement had promised. But after he purchased it for a million dollars, Ben Holiday discovered that there were a few details the ad had failed to mention. Such as the fact that the kingdom was falling into ruin. The barons refused to recognize a king and taxes hadn't been collected for years. The dragon, Strabo, was laying waste to the countryside, while the evil witch, Nightshade, was plotting to destroy no less than everything. And if that weren't enough for a prospective king to deal with, Ben soon learned that the Iron Mark, terrible lord of the demons, challenged all pretenders to the throne of Landover to a duel to the death - a duel no mere mortal could hope to win. But Ben Holiday had one human trait that even magic couldn't overcome. Ben Holiday was stubborn...


Reviews:

The Landover series seems somewhat (inevitably?) dwarved by the ongoing Shannara franchise however those that stumble across it seem to leave rave reviews across the net. This is mainly because it seems to appeal to the inner fantasy-reading child in all of us. Definitely one to read to the kids it has a pretty safe PG rating, minimal violence and only the occasional naked sylph and hormonal rumblings. In fact, there's not a lot said against it to even warrant a quote - even the blogs seem unwavering in their support.


My two cents:

It has to be said, the Gnu plugged in on this one out of sheer boredom because it was on one's audible.com download list and we were on a long journey... Gnu's are commuters too you know... Having said that, I didn't switch off immediately, head lolling against an unnecessarily vibrating train window because actually this was quite good! Yes there is a fairy tale, formulaic (we've covered this before, ok - it just works!) kids bedtime story to it but then if this had been baby Gnu's bedtime reading then the lights would not have been out by the prescribed hour. It was fun, it was easy and it was entertaining. Sure, there were no major life-altering philosophical insights, no significant fantasy or literary boundaries pushed but for sheer entertainment alone - hurrah!

We'll certainly be investing in the next in the Landover series however, might be old-school paperback as not sure we can take another 20 hours of poor attempts at British accents...



There is, rumour has it, a movie version of the first Landover title in production as we speak so we'll keep an eye out for that one..





* audiobooks - the TV equivalent of "reading"?

New Jim Butcher series coming...

...to a bookshelf near you. Orbit books have announced that they've signed a new four book deal to publish Jim Butcher's Codex Alara which claims to be something more in the vein of traditional fantasy epics rather than the swashbuckling urban fantasy of the Dresden Files that makes you feel like you've just run a marathon, or tried to watch every episode of Cracker ever produced... in 10 minutes. It will be interesting to see how his style carries across and the Gnu will certainly post some kind of summary once it arrives and is suitably digested.

In the meantime, here's the description from the Orbit site:

"The Codex Alera is a series of epic fantasy novels set in a world where courage and ingenuity may yet triumph over magic and power. For a thousand years, the people of Alera have united against the aggressive races that inhabit the world, using their unique bond with the furies - elementals of earth, air, fire, water, and metal. But now, Gaius Sextus, First Lord of Alera, grows old and lacks an heir. Ambitious Lords manoeuvre to place their Houses in positions of power, and a war of succession looms on the horizon.

Far from city politics in the Calderon Valley, young Tavi struggles with his lack of furycrafting. At fifteen, he has no wind fury to help him fly, no fire fury to light his lamps. Yet as the Alerans’ most savage enemy - the Marat - return to the Valley, his world will change. Caught in a storm of deadly wind furies, Tavi saves the life of a runaway slave. But Amara is actually a spy, seeking intelligence on possible Marat traitors to the Crown. And when the Valley erupts into chaos - when rebels war with loyalists and furies clash with furies - Amara will find Tavi invaluable. His talents will outweigh any fury-born power - and could even turn the tides of war."

Great free(ish) book sites

For those who are fed up watching their pay packet go down the Amazon drain whilst their house fills up with books please have a look at these two excellent sites:

www.bookmooch.com/
A nice free book exchange site - minus the posting cost of course. Imagine it - a constant stream of fresh literature without suffocating under the weight of pulped wood.. but if you can't find what you're after, there are always the links to amazon onthe site and our friends and Book Mooch get a little summat for their troubles. Nice.

Here's some of their blurb:
"BookMooch is a community for exchanging used books.

BookMooch lets you give away books you no longer need in exchange for books you really want.

Give & receive: Every time you give someone a book, you earn a point and can get any book you want from anyone else at BookMooch. Once you've read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back into BookMooch for someone else, as you wish.

No cost: there is no cost to join or use this web site: your only cost is mailing your books to others.

Points for entering books: you receive a tenth-of-a-point for every book you type into our system, and one point each time you give a book away. In order to keep receiving books, you need to give away at least one book for every three you receive."

www.bookcrossing.com
Ok, this one requires a little bit of effort. If you don't fancy the idea of treasure hunting your books across the world (though, lets face it, we could all do with burning some additional calories) then this one might not be for you. However, if you are after a novel way to get your hands on... a novel... then get going!

Here's a synopsis from the site :

"At BookCrossing, you can register any book you have on the site, and then set the book free to travel the world and find new readers.

Leave it on a park bench, at a coffee shop, at a hotel on vacation. Share it with a friend or tuck it onto a bookshelf at the gym -- anywhere it might find a new reader! What happens next is up to fate, and we never know where our books might travel next. Track the book's journey around the world as it is passed on from person to person."

Radio 4 SFF audio heads up

Anyone who's not glued to the box/the match/some darn SFF book this weekend, you might want to hit pause, suspend disbelief and find something to use as a bookmark and tune in to Radio 4 tomorrow, Sat April 12th at 1430 for the new show of Journey into Space that kicks off this weekend. The Gnu spotted this one listed on SFFaudio (great blog and being added to the roll in about 3 seconds time) which also links to the wikipedia entry for those not familiar with this classic of the fifties.

For those too lazy to click through, here's the basics:

"Journey Into Space was a BBC Radio science fiction programme, written by BBC producer Charles Chilton. Three series were produced, which have been translated into 17 languages and broadcast worldwide.In the UK it was the last radio programme to attract a bigger evening audience than television"

^{And according to the listing, it's still written by the original writer, Charles Chilton.}

Time to kill?

If you're reading this instead of doing... whatever it is you should be doing... then pop over to 365 Tomorrows for a bit of literary SciFi indulgence.
So what is it? Well, in its own words: "365 tomorrows is a collaborative project designed to present readers with a new piece of short speculative ‘flash’ fiction each day. Using the broad palette of science fiction, our vision of the future creates a diverse pool of stories with something for everyone to enjoy."

Mmm bite size SciFi fun with forums, podcasts, competitions.. what more could you ask for? An archive with hours and hours of reading materials? done!

Good stuff.

Futurama geekfest

Always one for a little extreme geekism of a weds lunchtime, the Gnu stumbled upon an insanely good entry on everything2.com which is so cool it deserves a post all of its own.

Now some of you may have seen enough episodes of the mildly implausible futuristic Simpsons-come-Star Trek sci-fi soap that is Futurama to know that it is... shall we say... a bit of a challenge to keep any grasp from season to season as to what happened when to whom.. and how many of the characters Zoidberg has eaten for example.

So Sam 512 gets full kudos for mapping the entire and ultra-confusing chronolgy of events in the whole Futurama series. Now, do not underestimate this feat - there are a lot of shitty versions out there that claim to be accurate but this guy has really wrapped his brain around multiple dimensions simultaneously in such a way that I'm not sure the whole world won't turn inside out.

If you don't believe me, take a look for yourself.

Karen Miller - interview on "Book Swede"

As the Gnu continues (**the shame**) to plow its way through Karen Miller's second in the King Maker, King Breaker duology we are still very pleased to see that there are more titles coming from this author in the summer and only hopes that the mountain of fantasy titles next to one's bed, under one's desk and in the big crisp box from Amazon that is still unopened lessens somewhat to enable us to jump on Empress as soon as it arrives hot foot from which ever online store can ship it fast enough. (Let's hope it's straight to paperback... hardbacks take up more space than is strictly necessary... if the Gnu's humble abode sported hardbacks there would be enough to build a sizable extension... to put books in)

For those who have less patience that the Gnu, there's a great review on the Book Swede's blog. Enjoy!

Douglas Adams - ahead of the game

Today we are raising a small trumpet to our pursed Gnu-like lips to herald the 30th anniversary of Mr Adam's Hitchikers Guide books and radio series. No doubt there will be further hurroo later in the year about the milestone but Wired brought it to my attention and there it will stay.

The best thing about this article is the connection it draws to H2G2, a project Adams championed in league with that ageing behemoth, the BBC. Wired asks if this was the predecessor of Wikipedia and if, with a little more energy behind it, it might have superceded Wiki in the online, open source, user-generated world?

Given that H2G2 appears to have less than 100 entries covering "Life, the Universe and Everything" - a somewhat reductionist reflection on the world and all the wonders held therein - it would probably have needed more of a marketing boost that the Beeb are prepared to invest in any untried and untested concept.

Still, all hail Mr Adams. Just like so many of the great writers and thinkers we've lost recently, especially in the SFF world, he remains our favourite "all-around smart-arse" and a man ahead of his time.

D&D gets political...

Today we are mostly loving Wired's celebrity D&D characters, though we're not sure that Mr Bush should have scored quite so highly on level...? Paris Hilton is pretty spot-on due to her utter pointlessness and lack of contribution to the human race (outside of lower quality news reporting and teenage YouTube obsessions) but we reckon that Dawkins would make the ultimate fighter... the Gnu could take him though, you understand...

The reality of SciFi

For those oddballs among you who like a bit of reality with your SciFi, here's an excellent blog entry from the New York Times

Personally the Gnu's head is firmly entrenched in a bucket of sand when it comes to all things rational however this will make interesting fodder the next time I bump into a particle physicist.

Hugo Awards nominations

For those who haven't spotted them elsewhere, the Hugo Awards nominations listings are up - here's the top of the list but you'll need to go to the main site for the rest of them.

Best Novel

• The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins, Fourth Estate)
• Brasyl by Ian McDonald (Gollancz; Pyr)
• Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer (Tor; Analog Oct. 2006-Jan/Feb. 2007)
• The Last Colony by John Scalzi (Tor)
• Halting State by Charles Stross (Ace)

Best Novella

• “The Fountain of Age” by Nancy Kress (Asimov’s July 2007)
• “Recovering Apollo 8″ by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Asimov’s Feb. 2007)
• “Stars Seen Through Stone” by Lucius Shepard (F&SF July 2007)
• “All Seated on the Ground” by Connie Willis (Asimov’s Dec. 2007, Subterranean Press)
• “Memorare” by Gene Wolfe (F&SF April 2007)

An homage to Arthur C

It seems there's a lot of it about at the moment as we bid a final farewell to Arthur C Clarke and reflect on the man and his legacy. Wired, as always covers the passing and links to this vid on YouTube which is from December last year.

The colour of marketing

So unless you've been living on a mountainside in a fantasy-style alternative reality you may have noticed that Sky have been doing a bit of promotion for the new adaptation of Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic.

We'll reserve judgement until we see it but if you want to get a sneaky peek, the Times Online has a clip up and if you're really hardcore you can submit a picture of yourself dressed as "Rinsewind" (sic) to try and win the full audio back catalogue. Now where did I put my camera....

Harper Collins Survey

Hey y'all, there's a Harper Collins fantasy survey doing the rounds if you feel so inclined.

Dungeon master, nerd king...

A quick nod to the big news story of the last week - the passing of Gary Gygax who, for those of you who didn't indulge in D&D goodness in the world before Playstation, was the creator of what Wired refers to as "the most influential game ever made".

There have been a number of articles reviewing his contribution to the world of SFF and gaming from the reverent to the irreverent but one thing's for sure - there isn't a Playstation game around today that could appeal so directly to a core audience or build so great a following and passion.

And you gotta love the guy for his opinions on Frodo alone.

Article - SFF World Building

For those of a creative writerly bent, the Gnu brings you an interesting article on creating SF worlds from SFF.net. The emphasis here is on SF rather than Fantasy with the onus on facts, planets, "the future" and other technological wizardry. A word of warning - its written by a published SF author so is a little on the heavy side but if you can get past "SF is that class of Fantastic Literature where this divergence is the result of a rational extrapolation of a change in the writer's reality" then you'll enjoy this little nugget.

Innocent Mage - Karen Miller

Working through the mountain of books, at various stages of "read", piled up at a number of locations around Gnu towers, we have dug out orbit book's and the UK's best selling SFF title of 2007 "The Innocent Mage" by Karen Miller and though it has been blogged to death on the blogosphere there is simply no way the Gnu is not going to raise its squeaky voice amidst the clammer and give you an overview of what the bloggers blogged. Oh yes.

Book Info

• Paperback: 613 pages
• Publisher: Orbit (5 April 2007)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 1841496049
• ISBN-13: 978-1841496047

Synopsis

Enter the kingdom of Lur, where to use magic unlawfully means death. The Doranen have ruled Lur with magic since arriving as refugees centuries ago. Theirs was a desperate flight to escape the wrath of a powerful mage who started a bitter war in their homeland. To keep Lur safe, the native Olken inhabitants agreed to abandon their own magic. Magic is now forbidden them, and any who break this law are executed. Asher left his coastal village to make his fortune. Employed in the royal stables, he soon finds himself befriended by Prince Gar and given more money and power than he'd ever dreamed possible. But the Olken have a secret; a prophecy. The Innocent Mage will save Lur from destruction and members of The Circle have dedicated themselves to preserving Olken magic until this day arrives. Unbeknownst to Asher, he has been watched closely. As the Final Days approach, his life takes a new and unexpected turn

Reviews

Well the book certainly achieved great commercial success so well done Karen Miller and Orbit books and given the reviews on amazon joe public was suitably impressed. Having said that, the bloggers reaction is mixed. Fantasy Sci Fi Book Review describes it as "all kinds of awesome" and points out that she actually does a great job with accents and the depiction of class without resorting to stereotypes.

However most bloggers picked up on the reliance on classic fantasy structure and debate the ways in which she has countered this - or not - as the case may be. To quote from Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
"‘The Innocent Mage’ isn’t the most original work of fantasy that you’ll ever read but after you’re done you will have enjoyed it too much to care"


Interview
A write up of an interview with the author can be found here.


YouTube
And you have her chatting on the (You)Tube here


My two cents

One of the reasons that this was a top seller is probably due to its wide-spread appeal to a number of different audiences - by taking a classic structure and making it her own. Yes it uses a standard fantasy plot structure but it does it in a way that appeals to a wider audience. There has been some criticism of a lack of "action" despite the mention and threat of war that adds to the tension throughout the first book.

Perhaps this is where it deviates from the norm and makes the tale more magical, the characters more endearing and the character development much more entertaining without resorting to the diet of war/death/carnage/severed-heads-being catapulted-over-the-fortress-wall which we have been fed since the LOTR trilogy came out at the cinema.

How long is a....

Today the Gnu draws your attention to a discussion happening on A Dribble of Ink about the optimum length of novels, particularly those of the SFF persuasion so if you have an opinion on the matter go on over there and make yourself heard! It's also nice to see Brian Ruckley of Winterbirth fame getting in on the blogging action and making a couple of very valid points.

Wired article - Gnu clambers onto soapbox

The Gnu's favourite geek-rag has an outstanding article this month entitled Take the red book: Why Sci-Fi Is the Last Bastion of Philosophical Writing

The basic premise of the article is that modern contemporary fiction is just recycling the same themes over and over again within the confines of the reality in which it is based. For example - can you honestly recal the title of the last contemporary novel that you read that was about someone working in a large city and hating their job? how about the one before that? As anyone who works in a big city and hates their job will tell you - reality is dull and limiting. As the article states "And there are, at the risk of sounding superweird, only so many ways to describe reality."

Clive Thompson argues that it is only in the genre of SFF that we can leave the confines of reality and actually discuss some of the deeper socio-philiosophical issues that are of real interest and relevance in the contemporary world.

Thompson believes the reason for this is that the main audience for SFF is the teen market - with most readers "growing out of" fantasy. Is this a sad reflection on society that we are beating the imagination our of people only to replace it with bland, despressing navel-gazing that fails to connect with us on a deeper level?

I think Thompson is right - you shouldn't need "books [....] adorned with embossed dragons" to look at alternative interpretations of reality. This is something that the urban fantasy genre has been pegging away at recently - you only have to look at Neil Gaiman or Jim Butcher's work to see that. Surely by turning to the unreal - we can gain a more realistic perspective?

Reality, after all, is subjective.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions - PSP

There has been endless hype over this game which at launch shot to the top of the PSP charts before anyone had even read the back of the box. And I have to say, it's not entirely undeserved.

The reason it did so well from the outset of course is a result of the Final Fantasy nostalgia to which I am no more immune than others. Imagine if you will, those who have hung-up their sweaty teenage keypads to get "sensible jobs" in "the real world" - those of us not lucky enough to get jobs working for Nintendo - who have been secretly stashing a PSP in their glove box for the day that Final Fantasy came back to stay.

The game initially, as is inevitable given the hype, disappoints. It would be daft to let nostalgia overrule the fact that the game play animation is boxy and not what today's PS3/xbox/Wii gamers expect - though the movie-style cut throughs are pretty cool.

The thing about this game is just to keep going. Yes it is difficult and you'll begin the game eiether losing several characters in every battle or just quitting over and over and going back to the beginning to get through the first few levels in tact. My favourite quote on the web (from Portable Video Gamer) is that "they keep the gamers picking their PSPs out of the fresh dent in the wall and back into their easy chairs for another go". Bucket of plaster, anyone?.

However, once you get through this tedious initial phase - once the faithless have been culled from the gaming herd, with a bit of patience and a little tedious level grinding you will reap the rewards. I promise.

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

This review refers to the author's preferred edition, published by Headline in the UK.

Book info:

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Headline Review; New Ed edition (19 Sep 2005)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 0755322800
• ISBN-13: 978-0755322800

Synopsis: Under the streets of London there's a world most people could never even dream of - a city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, and pale girls in black velvet. Richard Mayhew is a young businessman who is about to find out more than he bargained for about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his safe and predictable life and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and yet utterly bizarre. There's a girl named Door, an Angel called Islington, an Earl who holds Court on the carriage of a Tube train, a Beast in a labyrinth, and dangers and delights beyond imagining...And Richard, who only wants to go home, is to find a strange destiny waiting for him below the streets of his native city. This title includes extra material exclusive to Headline Review's edition.

Reviews:
This book always gets compared to the TV/DVD version which of course it would, having been first a screenplay that was adapted to the book but I would recommend anyone who missed the box version to read the book first.

As with the Anasi Boys there is a dark thread running throughout Neverwhere that is characteristic of Gaimans work and which adds a real grittiness to the plot which twists and turns like a twisty turny thing keeping you hooked from beginning to end where some more traditional fantasy novels can leave you feeling like you are just going through the motions of the classic fantasy structure.

If you're not familiar with Gaiman then, like Eye on Everything you might get put off by his "weird surreal dream sequences" which are again characteristic of his style and something you just have to go with. Though I would agree with Fantasy Cafe that some of the "characters themselves are not explored in depth" - perhaps something to do with TV vs book formats - with a series you have the opportunity to develop characters in a slower progression however the main character, Richard, as the main focus undergoes an interesting and quasi-spiritual evolution that borders on socio-political comment. Those who have worked as graduates in London will pick this up no doubt. If you want to read about the TV series, until I get round to it, take a look at Piaw's blog entry.

My two cents:
This is the first book in a long time that I've read in one sitting - sitting in bed to be precise when I should have been getting my eight hours so that I could function the next day. I didn't care (almost) it was a fantastic read that kept me hooked the whole way through from beginning to end. Yes, the ending itself was inevitable but hey, you need a happy ending at 5am.

Going Postal - Terry Pratchett

Never one to miss the opportunity for a bit of extra time amongst the books, I downloaded Going Postal to my Blackberry via Mobipocket.com which anyone who hasn't should check out because it has a surprisingly good selection of SFF titles as well as a number of classics that you can download for free.

Now, technology evangelism aside, here is the review:

Book info:

• Mass Market Paperback: 429 pages
• Publisher: Corgi Adult; New Ed edition (26 Sep 2005)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 0552149438
• ISBN-13: 978-0552149433

Synopsis:
Moist von Lipwig is a con artist...and a fraud and a man faced with a life choice: be hanged, or put Ankh-Morpork's ailing postal service back on its feet. It's a tough decision. But he's got to see that the mail gets through, come rain, hail, sleet, dogs, the Post Office Workers' Friendly and Benevolent Society, the evil chairman of the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company, and a midnight killer. Getting a date with Adora Bell Dearheart would be nice, too...

From the Back Cover:
Moist von Lipwig is a con artist…

… and a fraud and a man faced with a life choice: be hanged, or put Ankh-Morpork’s ailing postal service back on its feet.
It’s a tough decision.
But he’s got to see that the mail gets through, come rain, hail, sleet, dogs, the Post Office Workers’ Friendly and Benevolent Society, the evil chairman of the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company, and a midnight killer.
Getting a date with Adora Bell Dearheart would be nice, too.
Maybe it’ll take a criminal to succeed where honest men have failed, or maybe it’s a death sentence either way.
Or perhaps there’s a shot at redemption in the mad world of the mail, waiting for a man who’s prepared to push the envelope…

Reviews around the web:
Well what can you say about the 33rd book in a series that just keeps getting better and better? As usual the majority love this one. Pratchett's loyal and committed following love everything he produces but to be fair, as Fantasy Cafe points out, his work has matured nicely with a slightly more serious/political undertone if you look for it - moving away from the silliness of Rincewind (though I still want to adopt "the luggage" - there are a few hotel porters I would set it on) Pratchett introduces a host of new characters in the later discworld books that are as full and developed as any you'd expect to see from a man at the top of his trade.

My two cents
Yes, I loved it but then I'll always have a soft spot for the Discworld series. I think I lost interest somewhere around Wyrd Sisters for a while (for reasons stated above) which is why I'm so pleased that in more recent books Pratchett has been able to create whole new pocket universes, even justwithin Ank-Morpork which fit seamlessly into the world he has created without ever having to excuse their late arrival.

Matter - Iain M Banks

Now I normally favour fantasy over SF but this extract from Iain Banks new book, on the Orbit website has set the saliver glands going... it's definitely on my wish list...

reviews around the blogosphere are also most favourable, with one blogger stating quite categorically that "Iain M. Banks' New Novel Kicks Ass on a Galactic Scale"
SF Signal has a slightly more Earth-bound approach but overall I think this is going to be one to add to the nominations next year.

BSFA Awards

Following on from my previous post about the editors' and readers' picks on SF Site, I thought I'd regale you with BSFA's 2007 nominations and shortlists so you can draw your own conclusions.

Here are the lists in full for those of you with a pile of cash in your pocket and Amazon on speed-dial (or the online equaivalent, whatever that should be...)

2007 BSFA Awards: Shortlists.

The shortlists for the 2007 British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) awards were announced on 21 January 2008, as follows:

Best Novel

• Alice in Sunderland – Bryan Talbot (Jonathan Cape)
• Black Man – Richard Morgan (Gollancz)
• Brasyl – Ian McDonald (Gollancz)
• The Execution Channel – Ken MacLeod (Orbit)
• The Prefect – Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz)
• The Yiddish Policemen’s Union – Michael Chabon (Fourth Estate)

Best Short Fiction

• ‘Lighting Out’ – Ken MacLeod (disLocations)
• ‘Terminal’ – Chaz Brenchley (disLocations)
• ‘The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate’ – Ted Chiang (F&SF, September)
• ‘The Gift of Joy’ – Ian Whates (TQR)
• ‘The Sledge-Maker’s Daughter’ – Alastair Reynolds (Interzone #209)

Best Artwork

• ‘Cracked World’ – Andy Bigwood (cover of disLocations, ed. Ian Whates; Newcon Press)
• ‘H P Lovecraft in Britain’ – Les Edwards (cover of chapbook by Stephen Jones, published by the British Fantasy Society)
• ‘Lunar Flare’ – Richard Marchand (cover of Interzone #211)
• ‘Metal Dragon Year’ – Kenn Brown (cover of Interzone #213)

BSFA Fiftieth Anniversary Award: Best Novel of 1958

• A Case of Conscience – James Blish (Ballantine)
• Have Spacesuit, Will Travel – Robert A Heinlein (first published in F&SF, August – October 1958)
• Non-Stop – Brian Aldiss (Faber)
• The Big Time – Fritz Leiber (Galaxy, March & April)
• The Triumph of Time – James Blish (Avon)
• Who? – Algis Budrys (Pyramid)

Ian Irvine - Song of Tears Series on YouTube

You gotta love technology! - here is a "trailer" for the Ian Irvine series posted on YouTube. If I hadn't read 'em I'd be heading for Waterstones...

The best of last year (according to The SF Site)

For those into really contemporary SFF, here's the editors' picks from 2007 as posted on the SF Site. And the readers' can be seen here.

There are some striking similarities between the two... though I'm surprised to see how many great books are in the "honorable mention" section whilst Harry Potter is right up there - is there no end? Well... apparently...

Here are the editors picks:

1. Brasyl by Ian McDonald
2. The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod
3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8 by Joss Wheadon, et al.
4. Thirteen - or- Black Man by Richard Morgan
5. The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
6. Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff
7.Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Harry Potter, Book 7 by J.K. Rowling
8. In a town called Mundomuerto by Randall Silvis
9. The Servants by Michael Marshall Smith
10. Territory by Emma Bull
11. One for Sorrow by Christopher Barzak

The Dresden Files - TV series

Ok so I finally got my paws on the first episode of the Dresden files and frankly I don't see it making it on the small screen this side of the pond unless we grow another 200 channels and they need a low budget Buffy wannabe to fill them with.

Although the plot stays close to the original, the special effects, as pointed out in the blogosphere are virtually nil. Like Buffy there is plenty of action and unrealistically pretty people raising perfectly pucked eyebrows (and that's just the guys) at each other but it really is a late night cable effort which needs some serious financial investment.

The TV critics of course seem to love it. Well, it fits nicely in to the genre and I imagine its easy enough to sell ad slots but given that the books are written like a decent TV series you'd expect the real TV series to be spot on.

Disappointing but reasonable light entertainment if you've just got in... at 3am.

Great Tolkien article and interview

This Guardian article from 1991 gives some wonderful insights in to the world of JRR Tolkien and his love for a small village near Birmingham that became the inspiration for the world's most groundbreaking Fantasy work. You can just see him, as a young fellow, chatting with the Hobbits over the garden fence.

The article has some snippets from a rare interview with the journalist including an insight into the cause of the sadness and nostalgia that thread their way throughout Tolkein's works.

Which only makes it all the more tragic that the Tolkien family are having to fight for a share of the $6bn film franchise.

New "Indi" Film

Indiana Jones as you've....seen him several times before...

"Cut" - Megan Lindhom (Robin Hobb)

Robin Hobb fans might be interested in this short story available online. Published as Megan Lindholm.

Storm Front - Jim Butcher

Book info:

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Orbit (1 Sep 2005)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 1841493988
• ISBN-13: 978-1841493985

Synopsis:
Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Reasonable rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment. Harry Dresden is the best and technically the 'only' at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal capabilities, they come to him for answers. For the 'everyday' world is actually full of strange and magical things - and most of them don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a - well, whatever. The first six Dresden files novels will be published over three months - a great introduction to Harry Dresden, a modern-day wizard who manages to get into some seriously tricky situations.

Reviews:
Reviewers like the pace and grittiness of this series with the right balance of modern violence and traditional SFF structures.

The Gravel Pit points out that this is meant to be a light read and shouldn't be over critiqued for its literary greatness and contribution to SFF literature so read it with a bucket of salt. This is backed up by several reviews simply referring to it as a "page turner".

A final criticism of the series as a whole is that its yet another Wizard called Harry. Regular readers will know my feelings about that particular series.

My two cents:
Generally considered to be better than the TV series, modern urban fantasy with a clearly identifable formula and plenty of action. You need to read these in order to avoid being confused.

Butcher does for Chicago what Rankin did for Ealing - taking an existing world and building a new one within it which saves a lot of time in SFF and allows for more time to be spent on character development.

After you've read the first one, you'll be tempted to go right out and buy the next two or three but be warned that the forumla becomes more and more obvious by the third and you can easily get bored so mix them up with other authors to get further in to the series.

Graham has an overview of the series and makes a couple of interesting points, like how annoying Dresden's monologues become as the series goes on, which may just be an attempt at character development but which I agree can be tedious. Just looking at the amazon reviews you'll see that people are wetting themselves over the characters in the first book, but that there is a desire amongst readers for deeper, more developed characters, which possibly aren't compatible with the pace and style of the books?

Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman

Book info:

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Headline Review; New Ed edition (8 May 2006)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 0755305094
• ISBN-13: 978-0755305094

Synopsis:
Fat Charlie Nancy is not actually fat. He was fat once but he is definitely not fat now. No, right now Fat Charlie Nancy is angry, confused and more than a little scared - right now his life is spinning out of control, and it is all his dad's fault. If his rotter of an estranged father hadn't dropped dead at a karaoke night, Charlie would still be blissfully unaware that his dad was Anansi, the spider god. He would have no idea that he has a brother called Spider, who is also a god. And there would be no chance that said brother would be trying to take over his life, flat and fiancee, or, to make matters worse, be doing a much better job of it than him. Desperate to reclaim his life, Charlie enlists the help of four more-than-slightly eccentric old ladies and their unique brand of voodoo - and between them they unleash a bitter and twisted force to get rid of Spider. But as darkness descends and badness begins, is Fat Charlie Nancy going to get his life back in one piece or is he about to enter a whole netherworld of pain?

Reviews:
Opinion is divided as to whether Anansi Boys is as good as or better than American Gods. Funny, contemporary and occasionally dark this is still a well received effort from Gaiman and his writing fits nicely between Mr Pratchett and Mr Rankin for those who are fans of either, though by no means considered to be his best work.

My two cents:
Sadly not as good as Good Omens (how could it be). Maybe it lacks Practchetts vivid imagination to take it beyond a basic comic tale. The relationships between the characters however are interesting because of the cross over between social commentary and fantasy that is the hallmark of SFF works set in contemporary society. Not as fast paced as, say Jim Butcher's Dresden Files but this is quite possibly a good thing as unlike Butcher, Gaiman is able to explore the characters and their relationships in a much more interested way - both comic and insightful.