I’m almost back! :-)
Hey Guys and Girls, sorry, once again for the silence! But in my defence, I’ve been working on quite a bit – and here are the details:
First of all, I’ll have a new review for you, A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin, up soon! 
Then, some more news from Angry Robot!
More Wheel of Time Graphic Novel news!
And then, aimed squarely at South African SFF fans: the first ever GIVEAWAY!!! and a post that’ll tell you all you need to know about what books to look out for that’ll hit our shelves in April!
And plenty more in the works! Back soon!
Be Fantastic!
Steven Erikson – Dust of Dreams Update!
Just saw this on Pat’s blog and thought I’d post it here, too – after all, this is the Malazan Book of the Fallen we’re talking about!
Most of the manuscript has been handed in, except for some of the final chapters – why? Well, Mr Erikson is busy with some “massive battle scenes”!
Awesome news! Now I’ve just gotta get myself in gear and finish my second read-through of the series!
As always, I’ll update you as more news breaks.
Be Fantastic!
P.S. Look out for Toll the Hounds, hitting the shelves in paperback soon!
My Blog is Fabulous! :-)
Yè, you read right! Thanks to Graeme, my blog is fabulous, too! Thanks Graeme!
But, it’s all well and good stating that – once you’re nominated, you have to stick to the rules, so…
Five things I can’t live without:
1) Star Wars, be it the movies, games like Knights of the Old Republic, the odd comic I find, my collection of novels,
2) Cigarettes. Yè, I’m a smoker, have been for about ten years now. I know, I know…
3) My Blackberry – It’s imperative to have a phone like this in a third-world country!
4) My girlfriend, Leana! This month our 4-year Anniversary is coming up, and I’m still head-over-heels in love and still the happiest guy on the planet!
5) My books. I once had to sell off all the books I had when we moved (I was about 16 and we just didn’t have space), but never again. Without books I would probably die. Yè, I’m pretty sure of that! 
And now I have to tell you all about 5 blogs which I consider to be fabulous, too!
3) Nethspace
4) The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent
There we go!
Be Fantastic!
Review: Chronicles of The Raven: Dawnthief – James Barclay
First things first – this was one hell of a ride!
When I sat down to read Dawnthief, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I hadn’t read any of the author’s work before, so I had nothing to expect except a good yarn. And I’ll admit this, too – this is the first Heroic Fantasy novel I’ve read, and now that I have, well, lets just say that I’m going to enjoy catching up!
Since the series of books dedicated to The Raven are plentiful and I’m ten years late in reading the book, I wont rehash the plot – just google it, or better yet, follow the link to James’ site at the end of the review and check it out there. Instead, I’ll dive right into my impressions of the book.
The cover of the edition I have is wonderful, first of all. Its elegant and uncluttered, though I’ll admit that I would have liked to have seen a Raven on the hilt, or even etched into the blade.
Between the covers: The strength of this book is the characters. Without a doubt, The Raven are some of the most colorful, engaging characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of traveling with! When we meet them, they’re in a very tight spot, but that’s nothing if not what The Raven are used to – they stand firm, keep to their way of doing things, and press through…
…. just in time for one of them, Hirad, to stumble into a situation that would have had me soiling myself. When we first meet Hirad he’s no-nonsense and a hard, unforgiving bastard, not to mention a bit dumb when it comes to sorcery and Mages. By the end of the book, he’s gone through so much and survived that if he hadn’t changed I would have thrown the book down in disgust; but Hirad, along with his fellow Raven, are expertly handled – their actions make sense, their thoughts conform to who they are, where they came from, etc and they are all engaging! You’ll find yourself rooting for all of them, and then you’ll be sitting, stunned speechless, when they start dying –
Whoops! Don’t worry, even though I gave that away, most of it occurs early on in the book, and by the time you reach the end, well, lets just say that sometimes a character has to die to become really badass! And here’s another thought regarding The Raven: if they could join forces with the Bridgeburners they would become an unstoppable force. Goodbye, Sauron, goodbye, Shaitan, it was great knowing you.
These guys are really such a cool group that you’ll want to read about them all the time, and I defy you not to have a favourite before hitting page 50.
The action: is incredible! Gore in all the right places, none of it overdone, tension everywhere and some awesome imagery!
The plot: be prepared to be hit by plenty of surprises along the way! Not only will you see all of Balaia and meet a great cast of supporting characters, but you’ll enjoy the ride! There’s no info-dumping here where it isn’t needed: as the tale progresses you get told what you need to know to understand, and none of it overwhelms the action or the characters.
The magic system: one of the best I’ve ever wished I had the ability to use! The Mages in Dawnthief manipulate mana, have all sorts of cool names for what they create, and the descriptions of what is happening during a casting are also damn cool. You actually see the magic forming around you and wince at its effects!
My only issue with the book has nothing to do with the tale itself – it seemed to me that maybe this edition was rushed onto the shelves because I caught, here and there, maybe once every thirty or forty pages, mistakes in the type-setting that made it through to the finished product. They aren’t so glaring that they completely derail you, I promise, but they’re there nonetheless.
All in all, this was a great book, and fans of Steven Erikson and Glen Cook should enjoy it, too; this is a tale about a group of tight-nit soldiers who know do what they do by giving us plenty of moments of laughter, sorrow, jaw-hanging-open exclamations of ‘WOW’ and above all, a tale that anyone who is a fan of fantasy in general will enjoy!
I’ll definitely be getting copies of all The Raven titles – these are awesome, fun books by an author who knows how to grab you by the cajones and make you enjoy it!
8/10!
Check out James’ site here, and check out this site, focusing on Balaia and The Raven, but beware of spoilers on both.
Order you copies of Dawnthief here (for those of you in the States) and here (for readers in the UK and Europe).
Dawnthief
New Genre-Imprint: Angry Robot!
Hey Guys and Girls, here’s some cool news for you!
Angry Robot
This is for immediate release:
Press Release
9 th March 2009
For Immediate Release
Angry Robot Announces Launch Titles
Angry Robot is HarperCollins’ new imprint devoted to all that’s new in SF, F and WTF?! Publishing worldwide, as books, eBooks and downloadable audio, its mission is to bring a contemporary edge to traditional genre fiction.
Angry Robot launches in the UK in July 2009, and in the US and the rest of the world from September. Ebook editions will be available worldwide from July. Its first titles are a mix of genres, from street smart neat-future thriller to ultra-dark horror to wild modern fantasy. Its authors, too, fulfil its mission: two men and two women, two new writers and two established, and from all corners of the globe – in this case the USA, Fiji and South Africa.
July 09
Moxyland – Lauren Beukes (Science Fiction)
Slights – Kaaron Warren (Horror)
August 09
Nekropolis – Tim Waggoner (Urban Fantasy)
Book of Secrets – Chris Roberson (Modern Fantasy)
More information on specific authors and/or titles can be found at
www.angryrobotbooks.com
For more details, read on…
LAUREN BEUKES: MOXYLAND
UK/eBook: July 09 US/RoW: Sept 09
You think you know what’s going on? You think you know who’s really in power?
You have No. Fucking. Idea.
Moxyland is an ultra-smart thriller about technological progress, and the
freedoms it removes. In the near future, four hip young things live in a world where your online identity is at least as important as your physical one.
Getting disconnected is a punishment worse than imprisonment, but someone’s got to stand up to government inc., whatever the cost.
A stunning first novel from critically acclaimed South African author Lauren
Beukes, Moxyland takes its cues from Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross… and kicks their ass.
About the Author
Lauren Beukes is a writer, TV script-writer and recovering journalist. For the sake of a story, she’s jumped out of planes and into shark-infested waters, and got to hang out with teen vampires, township vigilantes, AIDS activists and homeless sex workers, among other interesting folk.
Praise for Lauren Beukes and Moxyland
“A Technicolor jazzy rollercoaster ride into a dazzling hell.” – André Brink
“This fast-paced sci-fi trip has intriguing characters, big ideas, a new lexicon… but serves as a global warning.” – GQ
“Lauren Beukes is a startling new voice.” – Something Wicked magazine
KAARON WARREN: SLIGHTS
UK/eBook: July 09 US/RoW: Sept 09
A Wasp Factory for the misery memoir generation.
Stephanie is a killer. After an accident in which her mother dies, she has a
near-death experience, and finds herself in a room full of people – everyone she’s ever pissed off. They clutch at her, scratch and tear at her. But she finds herself drawn back to this place, again and again, determined to unlock its secrets. Which means she has to die, again and again. And she starts to wonder whether other people see the same room… when they die.
Slights is a deeply intense, disturbing read. The misery memoir craze of the last few years has overshadowed horror fiction’s impact with (allegedly) real-life experiences. Now it’s time for genre fiction to fight back.
About the Author
Slights is Kaaron’s first novel, and the first of three to be published by Angry Robot. She is an award-winning
writer of short fiction, and her stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies, including the British Fantasy Award-winning The
Alsiso Project and Ellen Datlow’s recent Poe. Other short fiction awards include the Ditmar Award
(twice) and the Aurealis Award. She is an Australian, but currently lives in Fiji.
Praise for Kaaron Warren
“Kaaron Warren is a fresh, amazingly talented voice out of Australia. You must read her work.” – Ellen Datlow
“I’ve never seen anyone capture sordid human nature so clearly… Powerful stuff. So powerful, in fact, that my throat is hurting with my attempt to keep my emotions under control. I get like that sometimes with a good movie; not for a long time with a book. I was completely drawn in, totally immersed. I felt ill much of the time.” – Russell Fitzpatrick on Slights
“Deliciously spooky.” – SF Signal
Her Writing Blog, and her Life-in-Fiji Blog.
TIM WAGGONER: NEKROPOLIS
UK/eBook: August 09 US/RoW: October 09
Meet Matt Richter. Private eye. Zombie.
His mean streets are the city of the dead, the shadowy realm known as Nekropolis. And in this first case, Richter must help a delectable half-vampire named Devona recover a legendary artifact known as the Dawn-stone, before it’s used to destroy Nekropolis itself.
That is, if he can survive the myriad
horrors that infest the city itself. Pulp and proud, cracking wise like we just dug up the rotting corpse of Dashiell Hammett and put him back to work at his typewriter, Nekropolis is just the first of a series of extraordinary urban fantasies Angry Robot will be bringing you from the mighty Tim Waggoner.
About the Author
Tim Waggoner is a novelist and college professor. His original novels include Cross County, Darkness Wakes, Pandora Drive, and Like Death. His tie-in novels include the Lady Ruin series and the Blade of the Flame trilogy, both for Wizards of the Coast. He teaches composition and creative writing at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio and is a faculty mentor in Seton Hill University’s Master of Arts in Writing Popular Fiction program in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
Praise for Tim Waggoner & Nekropolis
“It’s hard to say if this singular novel, which boasts a wicked sense of humor to round off the horror, should be eligible for an Edgar Award or a Bram Stoker or both.” – Elliot Swanson, Booklist
“[Nekropolis] is an atmospheric and exciting mystery.” – SF Site
CHRIS ROBERSON: BOOK OF SECRETS
UK/eBook: August 09 US/RoW: October 09
Reporter Spencer Finch is embroiled in the hunt for a missing book,
encoun-tering along the way cat burglars and mobsters, hackers and monks. At the same time, he’s trying to make sense of the legacy left him by his late grandfather, a chest of what appear to be magazines from the golden age of pulp fiction, and even earlier.
Following his nose, Finch gradually uncovers a mystery involving a lost Greek play, secret societies, generations of masked vigilantes… and an entire secret history of mankind.
This tremendous modern fantasy is like The Da Vinci Code rewritten by the
Coen Brothers. A lost classic, originally self-published by Chris as Voices of Thunder back in 2001, this revised, definitive edition, from the author’s preferred text, is published for the mass-market for the first time.
About the Author
Chris Roberson is obsessed with superhero comics, pulp fiction, puppetry, animation, history, and science, and has a Bachelor of Arts in English and Liberal Arts Honors from the University of Texas at Austin, 1992. His books include the novels Here, There & Everywhere, The Voyage of Night Shining White, Paragaea: A Planetary Romance, X-Men: The Return, Set the Seas on Fire, End of the Century, Iron Jaw and Hummingbird, The Dragon’s Nine Sons and Three Unbroken, and the comic book mini-series Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love. He lives in Austin, Texas.
Praise for Chris Roberson
“Chris Roberson is one of that bold band of young writers who are taking the stuff of genre fiction and turning it into a whole new literary form – a form for the 21st century. A talented storyteller, he has a unique ear, a clever eye, an eloquence all too rare in modern fiction.” – Michael Moorcock
Check out Angry Robot here!
Angry Robot!
P.S. I apologise that the post isn’t as neat as it should be – everything looked perfect, but as soon as I previewed it it buggered up somewhere. 
Get your copy of The Warded Man today!!
The Warded Man
Thats right, Guys and Girls, its available right now!!
So go here to order it at Amazon and here to order from Barnes & Noble! Trust me (and all the other bloggers that have read it or its UK equivalent, The Painted Man) you wont be disapointed!
Here’s a link to an interview with the author, so you can get behind the process of writing the book and into his head a bit,
and if you want to read a few chapters before buying the book (you cheat, you!), follow this link.
And last, but not at all least, check out this Launch Day link to Peter V Brett’s blog!
This was the book, albeit it’s UK equivalent, that started this blog! And It’s a book that will always be one of my favourites! READ IT!
Be Fantastic!
Review: Watchmen – The Movie
I typed this up last night, after we got back. And a warning for those who have yet to watch it – THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!!
Watchmen
We just got back from watching one of the best comic-adaptations I’ve ever seen. There, I’ve said it. I thought the movie was incredible. It didn’t start well, though. The Comedian was getting thrown-around, punched-around, etc and the movie died. The screen went black. Silence. And I, of course, could not fight the temptation. I turned and said to my friends, “Who’s watching the Watchmen? No-one!”
But I suppose that, in the heat of this moment, it’s almost easier to remember the flash and dazzle on the big screen than the panelled pages of a graphic comic. Then again, Watchmen is not exactly a comic, is it? No, it’s something more, much more deep than that. So let’s get to my impressions, shall we?
The beginning of the movie was very, very good. Not only does Zach give us a succinct what-we-need-to-know-in-that-moment history of the Minute Men, he also shows us that the world of the Watchmen is deeply different to our own. Case in point, The Silhouette kissing the nurse – Zach took an absolutely iconic moment and changed it, not only foreshadowing The Silhouette’s demise, but ramming it home just how different their world is. Silk Spectre’s likeness on the bomber that wiped out Hiroshima, too, was a nice touch. Then we get to The Comedian.
Hats off to Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Not only did it seem as if Zach had gotten someone who looked exactly like The Comedian to play the part, it seemed as if The Comedian himself had risen from his alternative-historical grave and taken on the part. Brilliantly acted! And showing how broken he actually is, so early in the movie, worked for me; the Hustler lying on the floor (or the table), drove it home that much harder along with the alcohol and the bathrobe. And don’t even get me started on the Smiley – pure brilliance! Panels from the graphic novel flashed before my eyes, and that excitement led to me realizing – shit, okay, The Comedian is gonna fall, soon, but that’s okay, because Rorschach is coming!
Rorschach. He has to be one of the best characters ever imagined, and seeing him in the flesh, basically, was a creepy, creepy delight. Even when he was just walking with his placard, or watching. Rorschach is, more than any of them, the Watchmen. Jackie Earle Haley did an absolutely incredible job of portraying Rorschach. I realize, of course, that CGI can do a lot to change someone’s appearance, but c’mon, didn’t he look like Rorschach? Wasn’t he just born to play the part?! Even the voice was how I heard it in my head while reading! Damn good job! And the mask…. Oh my lanta (to steal a phrase from the great House of El podcasters), the mask was divine. I will admit here that I didn’t notice the mask changing in the graphic novel; it went right over my head! One of the most important aspects of who and what Rorschach is, and I missed it. But I’m actually glad I did, because Zach brought it home with a sledgehammer. When you look at me, what do you see? A pretty butterfly? A cloud? Awesomeness. His back-story was also handled well – I’m sure many people will agree that his story is the most affecting. I did hope, though, that we could have seen his apartment and the placard – I think that many people won’t make the connection at all, sadly.
Mr Manhattan. I get a chill just thinking about it. The CGI was incredible, the eyes, the expression-less face, the voice, even the nakedness (and this might sound weird, but I’m very happy that Zach chose to keep it – though, too, people who haven’t read the graphic novel wont understand why he is naked, especially after the scene in Vietnam with The Comedian). Seeing him bursting Vietcong, then them kneeling before him in surrender, and then the incredible violence of the scene in the club – they all worked, because you just knew, without a doubt, that everything that had been human about him was dead. Foreshadowing the climax… His back-story could have been done a bit better, though. It didn’t really come through clearly that he was experiencing his memories, past present and future, as he does in the graphic novel. The scene with his father and the watch-pieces seemed a bit lost, too, without enough there to understand why it was such an important memory to him – but, I will admit, Zach did use it brilliantly as the means for John to die and to be resurrected.
More on the climax later…
Dan slash Nite Owl II. The hair, the expressions, the mannerisms, the silent anger, all acted brilliantly by , thought I did think of bumbling Clark Kent a bit too much. The costume was cool, but cool for comics, not for Watchmen. Though it was great to see the proper costume in that one scene, that made me happy. The dream sequence – awesome! Jaw-hanging-open-drooling-in-amazement moment, no doubt. His moment with Rorschach perfect – finally coming to an understanding and giving Rorschach his one moment of painful humanity.
Silk Spectre II: ahhh, me not like so much. But then again, she was one of the weakest characters in the graphic novel, too. And come on, Zach, she smokes! How could you do the Archie flame-thrower scene and not have her trying to light her cigarette? She looked the part, shiny costume and all, and played the part well, but, like, I said, she’s a weak character, something I guess future rereads might change.
Ozymandias: once again, the costume was an issue for me. Too Batman Forever. I was looking for nipples, and I was happy when I saw them in the proper places. But that was Veidt, through and through. Acted im-peccably! It’s so easy to understand, now, how someone evil is also good. He was portrayed as more inhuman than Dr Manhattan, though, in my opinion, and lacked too much emotion.
Which brings us to the climax. Mr Moore, your ending is gospel, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But damn, didn’t Zach make it believable?! The message behind choosing Manhattan as the scapegoat instead of an engineered alien attack – sheer brilliance! The point of it, I’m sure, came across very well; some evil is, indeed, necessary.
And then back to Rorschach. Man, I almost started crying. That he realizes he is going to die, that he knows he would have done all he could to get the truth out – and then succeeding, too, with New Frontier – but still taking it… the best and saddest moment of the movie for me.
There’s much I haven’t spoken about – the soundtrack, the Mars-sequence, Bubastis, Nixon’s nose , but I wanted to talk about what was, for me, the important aspects of the movie. I’ll be watching it again this coming week, and I think I’ll take a similar tack to Christopher Lee – instead of reading Lord of the Rings every year, I’ll be reading Watchmen. And damn if that DVD isn’t going to be making the walls shake when I get it!
9/10
Be Fantastic!
The Watchmen
New Theme
New and regular visitors to the blog will have noticed by now (I hope, ) that I’ve chosen a new theme for the blog.
I quite like this colour scheme, and what’s even better about this theme is that it has space for three sidebars, instead of just space for one, as I had previously – that’ll allow me to add some widgets, change things a bit, hopefully making it more accessible and easier to navigate.
But I’m still a newbie at this, so if I bugger something up, drop me a line and let me know?
Be Fantastic!
**UPDATE: I changed the theme again. Mark and Tara filled me in on what wasn’t working with the previous theme, and I choose the one you’re seeing now instead. Doesn’t look too bad. Looks great, in fact!
The Desert Spear – First Draft Completed!
The Desert Spear
Some wonderful, awesome news from Peter V Brett: he has completed the first draft of The Desert Spear, Book 2 in The Demon Trilogy and sequel to the incredible soon-to-be-bestseller The Warded Man!
But before you start asking when The Desert Spear will be available, read this honest, heart-felt post from Peat.
And you guys and girls in the US who weren’t at the New York ComicCon, make an appointment with your local book retailer for the 10th of March:
That’s the day The Warded Man is being released! Trust me, guys, and girls, you’re all in for an awesome reading experience!
The Warded Man
Be Fantastic!
Star Wars Fate of the Jedi Abyss Cover-reveal!
Saw this at ClubJade, followed the link to the official site, and nabbed the spoilery blurb, too!
Star Wars Fate of the Jedi Abyss
BEWARE! DON’T READ FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED!
Tensions are heightening across the galaxy as more Jedi Knights seemingly go insane and anti-Jedi sentiment, fed by fear and mistrust, spreads from world to world. Han and Leia Solo have their hands full helping the Jedi Order keep the affected Knights out of the grip of government security — whose only solution is to freeze the offenders in carbonite.
Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and his son, Ben, arrive in the mysterious part of space called the Maw, in search of more clues to whatever it was that caused Jacen Solo’s fall to the dark side. It is here, in the Maw, that they will confront the members of a lost Sith tribe who are determined to kill Luke.And it is here, too, where Ben will meet the Force ghost of his dead mother, Mara Jade.
I am positively DYING to read this series! Sounds great!
Be Fantastic!
