HIGHLIGHTS OF MY BLOGGING YEAR 2013

   I was toying with the idea of making a more normal "Best of 2013" post, but when I looked back at what I actually posted in 2013 I quickly decided to drop that. What I instead will do is highlight some of the books I blogged about last year that I for some reason or other feel deserves a second mention. So, here goes:

   Let's start with Stephen King. I reviewed seven King books this year, and they were actually all quite different. It would be hard for me to pick just one of them, fortunately I don't really need to. What I will do is recommend Joyland, the book that was actually published in 2013. It's a great novel that should be suited to everyone who likes a good story.

  On the Science Fiction front I reviewed far from the amount of books I intended, but I still managed to review twelve books who got that tag last year. Again it would be hard to pick just one of them, but I will go with the same criteria as above, and pick one that was actually published in 2013. Uhm...screw that, I'll have to pick two. Control by Kim Curran, and Then Will the Great Ocean Wash Deep Above by Ian Sales. They are very different books, and while I enjoyed both of them I am sure not everybody will. But check them both out and chances are one of them will be worth it for you.

   On the Fantasy side of things I managed to review fifteen books. Not a lot, and not any real choices when it comes to those published in 2013. My choice there would have to be the fourth book in Robin Hobb's The Rain Wilds Chronicles, Blood of Dragons.

   I managed to review thirteen Alternate History(/Steampunk) books last year. [Note to self: Do a post on Alternate History/Steampunk one of these days.] And...I'm having trouble picking just one book here, so I'll go with two; Fiendish Schemes by K.W. Jeter and The Prince of Lies by Anne Lyle. Two books set in completely different eras that are excellent examples of this SFF subgenre.

   I also reviewed three tie-in books last year, two Star Wars, and one Doctor Who. I haven't read tie-in fiction for a couple of decades, but these three all gave me the incentive to explore that often neglected segment of SFF further. The one that I would highlight of the three is Star Wars: Razor's Edge, the first Empire and Rebellion novel, by Martha Wells.

   I only reviewed one anthology last year, but I want to highlight that once again, and I urge you to pick it up; Tales of Eve edited by Mhairi Simpson.

   Of course I didn't only review books that were first published in 2013, and I absolutely have to give you another heads up on some of those that were published earlier.

   First of them is The Red Knight by K.T. Davies. It's an Epic Fantasy novel I think you really shouldn't miss.

   Secondly I have to remind you of a really fun Urban Fantasy novel that is set outside the usual place such novels go, Snake Agent by Liz Williams.

   I could have mentioned several other books here, but instead of getting overlong I'll just suggest you take a look at the posts I did last year and see if anything catches your eye.

   This year I'll try to get more reviews up than I did in 2013 (, no promises though). I will continue to do a mix of new and older books, and my quest to review every Stephen King book published will continue.

REVIEW: FIENDISH SCHEMES

Cover by John Coulthart

FIENDISH SCHEMES

(INFERNAL DEVICES 2)

BY

K.W. JETER

ISBN: 978-0-76537-402-8

Pages: 350

Publisher: Tor Books

Published: 15 October 2013

On the cover:

(Taken from the publisher's website.)

The world Dower left when he went into hiding was significantly simpler than the new, steam-powered Victorian London, a mad whirl of civilization filled with gadgets and gears in the least expected places. After accepting congratulations for his late father's grandest invention—a walking, steam-powered lighthouse—Dower is enticed by the prospect of financial gain into a web of intrigue with ominously mysterious players who have nefarious plans of which he can only guess.

If he can locate and make his father’s Vox Universalis work as it was intended, his future, he is promised, is assured. But his efforts are confounded by the strange Vicar Stonebrake, who promises him aid, but is more interested in converting sentient whales to Christianity—and making money—than in helping George. Drugged, arrested, and interrogated by men, women, and the steam-powered Prime Minister, Dower is trapped in a maelstrom of secrets, corruption, and schemes that threaten to drown him in the chaos of this mad new world.

   This is the sequel to Jeter's 1987 novel Infernal Devices (review). This book doesn't follow directly on from the previous one though, so you can jump straight to this one without a problem.

   Jeter is perhaps best known for inventing the term Steampunk, and this novel quickly shows it belongs to that genre by introducing a pretty fantastic steam-driven contraption very early on. Mind you, we are talking the original style of Steampunk here, there's a complete lack of werewolves or vampires.
   This story is firmly set in Victorian times, but not the rose-coloured version that we see in some modern Steampunk. Jeter's alternate 19th century Britain is a much darker place than that. There's room in this novel for the darker sides of industrial progress, and it doesn't ignore the plights of the working classes. This makes for a realistic alternate historical setting, at least when it comes to the societal side of things.

   While the setting is socially realistic, Jeter chooses to stretch things a bit beyond realism in some of the technology, and especially in this technology's interaction with humans. This is where the novel in some ways leaves Steampunk and veers into Weird Fantasy territory. Not that the former is ever gone from the novel, the latter is added to it.
   The weirdness of some aspects of the setting is something that really stuck with me, there are some really bonkers ideas in here. It does require a bit more of the reader to accept the weird things in this novel than perhaps is usual in Steampunk. But to me that is really a strength.
   Jeter's alternate Victorian London is in many ways an alien place, there's more than "window-dressing" that makes this London different to our London. The "steam" is much more integrated here than is usual, and the changes it has caused are huge. The technology also has effected the setting in a really significant way. All of which are done well, and in my opinion are significant strengths in this book.

   There is more to good Alternate History than just having a good setting. Without a story to back that up you are left with nothing much more than a technical manual. The story here is a very interesting one, and it makes great use of the world it is set in. The Weird Fantasy aspect of the novel is certainly present in the story as well as in the technology. It doesn't take long before we are introduced to concepts that requires a bit of outside the box thinking.
    The weirdness is also a reason why it's near impossible to predict what comes next in the story. After being introduced to a plot early on, the reader more or less just has to try to keep up with the twists and turns of the narrative. This is actually a great strength of the story. Unpredictability is a watchword here, and not knowing what happens on the next turn of a page is part of what makes this a very compelling read. It's not the only thing though, it really is a fascinating story for those that can handle all the weirdness.
   Our guide through this story, George Dower, is very much the person at the centre of events. Very little happens without him present, or him hearing about it. The latter is because Dower is the only viewpoint character of the story. This works very well on the story level, and adds a certain amount of suspense by not letting us know anything outside of what Dower himself is either experiencing, or is aware of. It is also a style choice that can make this book a bit of a hit or miss experience.

   Jeter has written this novel in a very distinct style, one that is also there in Infernal Devices. It takes some getting used to, as it is a step away from how modern SFF books are usually written. The style here is very Victorian in feel, something that I suppose could make the book feel old-fashioned. I however think it adds quite a lot to the atmosphere of the novel. The first person perspective becomes very close to what is happening because it gives you the feeling of reading something that is part of that time - even though what you read about is definitely not part of something that happened in our reality at that time.
   But as I mentioned above this can be hit or miss. The first person perspective means that there is quite a lot that has to be related to Dower, and depending on your personal preferences these passages can become a bit too much. I had some problems with it at first, not because it was badly done but because it does make the novel feel slow at times. However, when I got into this style of writing - because this is a feature, not a bug - I stopped having any problems with them.
   When you do get into the style, and the story starts flowing, it becomes natural that you have some wordy passages that explain things to our protagonist. And I must say that in retrospect I not only thought this worked very well, but I can't really see how the same effect could be accomplished by doing it in any other way.

   Overall this a novel that is a great example of Steampunk as Alternate History, and the added Weird Fantasy aspects makes this feel very much fresh despite the old-fashioned style it is written in. Jeter gives us something quite different from what is expected from modern Steampunk, and this novel is all the better for that. It may not be the easiest book in the world to get into, but when you do it does reward you for the slight effort.
   This is a thrilling ride into a very strange Steampunk world, and I would heartily recommend this to anyone who likes either Steampunk or Weird Fantasy. Jeter shows he is still a master of the SFF subgenre whose name he coined,
  

NOTE: I got an e-ARC of this book from the publisher/NetGalley.

REVIEWS: Infernal Devices  Morlock Night

LINKS: K.W. Jeter  Tor Books Tor/Forge Blog

COVER REVEAL ROUND UP (VIII)

   It's been a while since I last did one of these (as usual), so some of these covers will have been revealed quite some time ago. I will however start with some covers that have just made it into the public eye.

   This is an absolutely lovely cover by Paul Young for Student Bodies, Sean Cumming's sequel to Poltergeeks. As with the cover for the first book, I really love this one. The novel will be out 3 September from Strange Chemistry.

   A totally different type of cover for another 3 September release from Strange Chemistry. This one is by Argh! Oxford for When the World Was Flat (and we were in love) by Ingrid Jonach. I like that it is "clean", basically it stands out by not being anything special when every other cover seemingly tries to be.

   Next is the UK cover to Jo Nesbø's Police. What I like most about this is that the picture is actually of the correct prison in Oslo (Botsfengselet). That matters to most Norwegians, who are very familiar with the image because of a long running film series. Lots of credit to the UK publisher for commissioning an Oslo photographer to take the photo. -And let's face it, it is a pretty good cover for a crime novel of that type even if you are not already familiar with the image.

   The last of the recent images (, all four were revealed yesterday as far as I know) is this cover by John Coulthart for Fiendish Schemes by K.W. Jeter. If it looks familiar it's because it is the same artist, and same style, used for the covers for Jeter's two books from Angry Robot Books, this book will however be released by Tor Books on 15 October.

   Creepy clown time! Not really any need for me to say anything else about the cover, except that it is by SL Johnson. -This is a collection edited by K.A. Laity coming from Fox Spirit Books this Saturday (13 July).

   This is the kind of cover that will always get me interested in looking closer at a book. Art by Steven Wood. The Woken Gods is written by Gwenda Bond, I loved her debut Blackwood so I am definitely looking forward to this one. Out 3 September by Strange Chemistry.

   I've previously had the UK cover for Stephen King's Doctor Sleep in one of these posts, and here is the US one. As a King fan I would have read it if it was just the name of the novel in crayons, but this is a good one in my opinion.

   The third Owner novel by Neal Asher has, according to what I think we can call tradition at this point, gotten a Jon Sullivan cover. I really like Sullivan's covers, and you can read more about the creation of this one in this post on the Tor UK blog.

   This cover is for a Historical Fantasy by Mark Barrowcliffe M.D. Lachlan Mark Alder. The cover isn't too much to write home about (or in a blogpost about for that matter), but it fits very well with the book description I've read, and I like this simple style for an Historical Fantasy novel.

   A really nice cover for the follow up to Katya's World. Love this cover, and I'm really excited to read the novel. It's coming 5 November from Strange Chemistry. (November?!? I don't want to wait that long!)

   Larry Rostant has made the cover for the third Night's Masque novel, like he did for the first two. I think all three covers are great, but this one is my favourite.

   Finally, there's two covers for novels released by Strange Chemistry on 1 August.

   This is the sequel to Shift, the art is by Larry Rostant. Another great cover by him.

   I like the magic associations in this cover by Steven Wood, makes me want to read the book.

REVIEW: MORLOCK NIGHT

Cover Artist: John Coulthart

MORLOCK NIGHT

BY

K. W. JETER

ISBN: 978-0-85766-099-2

Pages: 314

Publisher: Angry Robot Books

Originally published: 1979

This edition published: 7 April 2011

On the cover:

JUST WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THE TIME MACHINE RETURNED?

Having acquired a device for themselves, the brutish Morlocks return from the desolate far future to Victorian England to cause mayhem and disruption. But the mythical heroes of Old England have also returned, in the hour of the country’s greatest need, to stand between England and her total destruction.

   This book starts out right after events in H.G.Well's The Time Machine. And it does

seem from the first chapter that this will be a direct sequel. But it soon turns out this is not the case.

   Jeter manages to bring in elements of post-apocalyptic science fiction, Arthurian legend and a lost underworld reminiscent of Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth and mix them together to make a thrilling story. Jeter's writing drives the story along all the time, and the choice of first person narrative works perfectly.

   There are several places in the book that the story takes an unexpected turn, and that is one of its strengths. Another is Jeter's take on the Arthurian legend, something I really fell for. I'd go so far as to say that this is an essential book for anyone with more than a passing interests in Arthurian legend.

    Steampunk fans will also be glad to know that there are quite a few steampuk elements along the way too.

   I really enjoyed this book and thought it was a great read. Both as a (sort of) sequel to The Time Machine, and as an original story in itself. I felt that the connection to The Time Machine is almost incidental. It does not suffer if you know nothing of H.G. Wells' novel when you read it.

   I don't hesitate to recommend this book, and will leave you with the final of my review notes on the book:   Did absolutely not see that end coming!

NOTE: An ARC of this book was supplied to me by the publisher.

Links: K. W. Jeter  Angry Robot Books

REVIEW: INFERNAL DEVICES

Cover Art: John Coulthart

INFERNAL DEVICES

BY

K. W. JETER

ISBN: 978-0-85766-099-2

Pages: 384

  Publisher: Angry Robot Books

Original Publishing Date: 1987

Re-issue Publishing Date: 7 April 2011*

On the cover:

WHEN GEORGE’S FATHER DIED, HE LEFT GEORGE HIS WATCHMAKER SHOP – AND MORE.
 
But George has little talent for watches and other infernal devices. When someone tries to steal an old device from the premises, George finds himself embroiled in a mystery of time travel, music and sexual intrigue.  

   This book is a bit of a peculiar acquaintance. It is written in a style that is distinctly Victorian, and I would not have been surprised if it was originally published in 1897 based only on how it is written.
   It is written in a style that is reminiscent of both Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, and to some extent H.P. Lovecraft's tales. We get a protagonist that tells the story himself after everything is over. Not as a diary, but as if he himself was writing this story of what happened.
   And I found this helped a great deal to set the mood, and transport me to the time when the story is set.

   There is absolutely no doubt that this is a steampunk story, the whole story revolves around clockwork creations. But Jeter has not limited himself to just this aspect, there is also a distinctly Lovecraftian(-ish) element here. Both elements are handled very well, and they compliment each other rather than taking attention away from each other.

   Jeter is great at getting the reader going. The narrator's hints at things that for him has happened, but is still to come for the reader, makes you want to read on to find out what has happened. And there are several mysteries introduced early on, and there are more to come.
   The story takes several twists and turns I did not see coming, and you will never quite know which characters will turn out to be friend or foe.
   When there is action, and there is quite a bit of it, it is handled very well. The first person narration puts you in the middle of what is happening and at times this takes you on quite a ride.

   The only problem I had with the book was the ending. It felt a bit rushed, and although it was pretty fulfilling, I felt it lacked a bit compared to the rest of the novel. But that being said, it is by no means so weak as to make the novel anything less than highly enjoyable.
   If you are the least bit interested in steampunk this is certainly a must-read novel. And it is Victorian enough that it should be in the collection of everyone who likes science fiction from that period.

NOTE: An ARC of this book was supplied to me by the publisher.

* 7 April 2011 is the UK and e-book release date. USA and Canada release date is 26 April 2011.

LINKS: K. W. Jeter  Angry Robot Books