THE NIGHT SHADE BOOKS SALE: IT'S NOT JUST THE AUTHORS WHO ARE OWED MONEY

   If you have been following what is happening with Night Shade Books (NSB), you probably caught this article by Rose Fox on Publishers Weekly's blog. In it she mentions an e-mail from Marty Halpern, an e-mail I got too. Here it is in full:

Hello,

Since you published a blog post on the Night Shade sale/fiasco, I thought you might want to consider the other side of the equation as well:

What you may not know is that I worked for Night Shade on a freelance basis as an editor/line editor/copy editor for **ten** years -- probably the only freelancer who stayed with NS throughout all that time. And for the past half-dozen or so years, it was like pulling teeth every month to get payment from them toward my growing unpaid invoices. But I had faith in Jason Williams and Jeremy Lassen that they would work this out, that they would do the right thing (eventually), and books would get sold, authors and freelancers would get paid.

But all the focus online this past week has been the deal that Skyhorse and Start are offering the Night Shade authors. Authors. Authors.

There has been absolutely no mention, nor commitment made, to all the artists, designers, editors (including myself), and others who are owed tens of thousands of dollars -- and seem to have been forgotten in all this "discussion" over the authors' deal.

And now that NS is essentially closed and in "escrow" for this potential sale, the money that is owed to me (for invoices dating back to October of last year) -- and all the other production people -- may never get paid.

There would be no books to speak of if there weren't editors, artists, and designers willing to work continuously for Night Shade for just the promise of pay. We are a dedicated lot and deserve to have our story told -- and responded to -- as well.

I'm afraid that when all is said and done, and the authors make their decisions -- some will join S/S, others will not -- those of us production people who helped put Night Shade books on the shelves and in ereaders, may be left holding a lot of empty invoices and bills.

Best,

Marty Halpern

 

   Marty offers up a very important point, there's quite a few other people involved in producing the books from NSB than just the authors. And they have been neglected in the coverage of the NSB deal, by myself included.

   Personally I'm very much for well produced books, and that of course includes editing, design and any art associated with them. And I very much want the people who do those jobs to make a decent living too, as well as the authors. 

   I hadn't really thought of the situation for the production staff, like everyone else I was caught up in the author's side of the deal, so I'm very thankful that Marty Halpern offered a gentle nudge to get me thinking about that side of what was happening. And I'm sad, but not surprised, to see that the freelancers who have worked on producing the best books possible for NSB are coming off as bad as they are in this deal.

 

   In the Publishers Weekly article, Rose Fox quotes Jarred Weisfeld at Start Publishing saying: "Nobody’s going to be left high and dry. The deal is contingent on those individuals getting paid." Something he later clarifies as: "...if the deal goes through, settlements for creditors will likely be in the 30%–50% range." Something that to my mind is a bit of backing down from the original statement.

   Personally I had gotten the impression that everybody would be paid what is owed them in this deal, but then again only authors were previously mentioned. As Halpern says on his comment on Publishers Weekly, 30-50% "better than zero". But it leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth that the deal isn't really about making sure everyone is paid what they are owed by NSB. 

   I can't help but wonder, like Halpern does, if there is really a legal commitment to pay people. And again I have to state my wonder at  if there is such a deal, why it doesn't include paying everyone in full? Is there really such a high amount of money owed that it was impossible for Start/Skyhorse to offer enough to cover payment for everyone who have payments outstanding?

 

   I'll continue to follow developments on this deal, and will be posting more about it later. I'm already looking at one angle that could be worth a blog post.

 

NOTE: My previous post on NSB can be found here.  

WHO ARE THE PEOPLE NIGHT SHADE BOOKS IS SELLING TO?

 So the news about Night Shade Books is all over the internet now, and a lot of details have started "leaking" out today. Some of the posts can be found here, here, and here. I didn't write anything here about this yesterday (since I had a headache and wasn't up to it), but I did post on the AW forum, and that was linked to by Publishers Weekly.

   Today this was posted by a literary agent at the JABberwocky Literary Agency. The post gives a detailed rundown of the contract offered to the Night Shade Books authors, a contract that has now been put on Scribd. (And I have confirmation that is the real contract).

   But what is more interesting is a couple of names mentioned in the brillblogger post (and elsewhere). Here's a quote from the brillblogger post:

"Is SFWA aware that Jarred Weisfeld is also a principal in a literary agency, Objective Entertainment, and is this information that SFWA might wish to provide?"

   Objective Entertainment has been a subject of a post on Writer Beware in the past.
   Jarred Weisfeld has also been the subject of his own post on the site Lipstick Alley, in relation to a lawsuit, and an article in The New York Observer, having to do with the same lawsuit.
   All three of the above links are four years old, so things may have changed since they were written. But there is more recent information on Skyhorse Publishing over on the Absolute Write Forums, where the newest information is from March this year. (Starts at post #19.)

   As a humble blogger, I find the information I have gotten a bit disturbing. This doesn't actually look like someone that would be desirable to work with, and I'm a bit amazed if this is the best Night Shade Books could do for its authors.

   I'll be following developments, and if I get any more information that has not come up in the discussion about Night Shade Books, I will blog about it here

EDIT 11 April: I've posted more about this here.

REVIEW: BATTLE ROYALE

BATTLE ROYALE

BY

KOUSHUN TAKAMI

ORIGINAL TITLE:

BATORU ROWAIARU

TRANSLATED

BY

YUJI ONIKI

ISBN: 978-1-4215-2772-7

Pages: 576 (+extras)

Publisher Haikasoru

First published: 1999

First English publication: 26 February 2003

This edition published: 17 November 2009

   Aided by the 2000 movie based on it, this is a novel that became an almost instant Cult Classic. Or rather the movie did, I don't actually think that many people have read the novel. Which I find a bit sad, since the novel is in many ways very different to the movie. (As are most novels with a movie based on them.)

   The novel doesn't waste time, it isn't long before the setting is established and the action starts. Interestingly, and often ignored, the setting is Alternate History (,the novel is set in 1997), and it is a world that is much more brutal than the one we live in. Takami doesn't shy away from the brutality of the "program" depicted in the book, descriptions of deaths are on level with what you usually find in Horror books.

   Adding to the visual descriptions of the deaths are the glimpses we get into the thoughts of both victims and killers. We get really close up to what is going on in a way that makes the impact greater, and that can get uncomfortable at times. You will be thinking about what is happening, these are not Hollywood deaths, but "real" deaths. They get even more real in a way because you get an insight into why a group of schoolchildren do these things, there are some fairly philosophical thoughts on this in the novel.

   Paranoia, fear, and distrust pervade the novel. The characters are put in a really extreme situation, one they cannot escape and which effects each one in different ways. There are three characters that are the main focus of the story, but there are lots of short chapters that see things from other individuals point of view. This means that even smaller players gets their thoughts across and leave their mark on the reader.

   Takami writes very good characters, and they will get under your skin. Even though the situation they are put in is so extreme as to be almost absurd, the characters remain relatable. I became very invested in the main characters and what they went through, halfway through the book they felt like old friends.

   One of the strengths of the book is showing how desperation can lead ordinary people to do extreme acts, there's plenty of that here, and there is no cushioning of that. But the structure of the book explains many of the motives the characters have for their actions. Even the "villains" of the story are explored in quite a bit of detail.

   At the surface this story can be simply described as "students are forced to kill each other", but that doesn't even begin to describe this novel. I've already mentioned above how it is a story about ordinary people in an extreme situation, and that gets closer to the essence of it. But there's even more to it. There are lots of themes touched upon in amongst all the carnage, and despite being action-filled in some ways it reads much more like a  philosophical novel. Especially representative of this are the glimpses we get of  the alternate world the story is set in.

   The story has a lot of tension to it. Structurally there are lots of shorter chapters, with many of the cast getting their own viewpoint. This structure makes you get closer to the overall story, while at the same time never being sure who is really a relevant player.

   Towards the end there are several twists and turns. It's hard to know what is really going to happen, and at least some of the developments will not be expected.

(Note: Seeing the movie will ruin some of this. If you haven't seen it yet, I can't urge you strongly enough to wait until after you have read the novel. -If you have seen the movie, as I had, it's best if you read the novel when it has been a while since you saw the film. Going directly from the movie to the novel is a really bad idea.)

   All in all this is a very powerful novel. It is brutal in many ways, for some perhaps too brutal, but it never feels gratuitous. It will however get under your skin in some way. And the story will stay with you for a while, there are underpinnings that demand that you think about them.

   In many ways this is a novel that defies traditional genre classification. It's Alternate History, Near Future Science Fiction, Dystopic Science Fiction, and definitely a comment on society and human nature.

   This is a novel that in my opinion deserves to be read by many more people, and I urge everyone who reads this review to give it a try. It should be required reading for anyone who likes any of the subgenres, or themes, that I have mentioned above.

LINK: Haikasoru

COVER REVEAL ROUND-UP (VII)

   It's been a long time since I did one of these posts so these aren't necessarily newly revealed, but they are covers I want to spread around. And I could easily have done at least twenty more, so there is some selection process going on here...but anyway...let's just get on with the book cover porn.

   This one was actually published on Monday (25 March), by Anachron Press. The cover art is by Sarah Ann Langton. I think it's a good cover that suits the title very well. It certainly made me curious. -And let's face it, who doesn't like a skull.

   From Atom we have the cover to the Second book in the Finishing School series by Gail Carriger, with a release date of 5 November. I reviewed the first book yesterday, and I think this cover suits the series very well. It also fits in nicely with the first book's cover.

   The Hodder (UK) cover for King's follow up to The Shining, coming 24 September. It's a new Stephen King novel, so they could basically have put anything they wanted to on it, but I think this one is very good. (I like cats.)

 

   These are the covers to the first two books from Angry Robot's Crime imprint Exhibit A, they'll be out 2 May. I really like them both, especially the one for Penance. And I'm also looking forward to reading these, I read too little Crime these days.

   From PS publishing, this cover is by Pedro Marques, the book is at the printer right now and should be out shortly. It's got a "Comic Book feel" to it (, and reminds me of The Preacher). I don't know anything about the book, but this cover makes me want to find out more about it.

   From Tor UK we have the cover to the first book in a new series that will be out 10 October. I like it a lot (, which may have a bit to do with my interest in heraldry), it evokes an imperial feel -and I want to see where Newton has gone with that.

   The cover for the fifth book in the Clockwork Century, coming from Tor in November. I really like this series, and I love this cover. Really can't wait to see what this one's all about.

   Cover by Martin Bland for the sequel to vN, it should be out 25 June  It's in the same style as the cover to the first book, and it's a great one. Really liked the first book, and has been looking forward to more from Ashby, this cover makes me want to read the book now!

   From Strange Chemistry and ARGH!, Oxford comes this cover, the book is out 7 May. I love Astronomy photos, so  this cover is a big hit with me.

   This cover, by Sarah J. Coleman,  is for the sequel to The Assassin's Curse. The book will be out 4 June from Strange Chemistry. Same style as the first book, and since I have read that I think it's a style that fits very well with the story. And I for one look forward to reading about the creature depicted.

   Cover by Michael Karcz for Orbit, release date 3 September. I'm pretty much a fan of landscapes on SFF books. But I'm not sure this really is an SFF book since it says "A Novel of the Ice Age" and I have no further info on it. It doesn't really matter though, the book will find it's way into my home and a part of  the reason for that is because of the cover.

   Out from Little Brown 22 October. I really like this cover. Again it's landscape, and the red at the bottom of it seems to suggest this will be a Horror novel. Based on the cover alone I would be getting this. And since I have read the cover copy, I will definitely be getting it.

  Lastly for this time, there's the cover to the follow up to The Long Earth, coming from Doubleday 20 June. I felt the first book had a lot of potential it didn't quite live up to, but judging by this cover I think this one is going to be really good.

   As usual I welcome any comments you may have. Is there any covers that really caught your eye?

REVIEW: ETIQUETTE & ESPIONAGE

ETIQUETTE & ESPIONAGE

FINISHING SCHOOL BOOK THE FIRST

BY

GAIL CARRIGER

ISBN: 978-1-907411-58-8

Pages: 312

Publisher: Atom

Published: 5 February 2013

On the cover:

It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly.

It's quite another to learn to curtsy and

throw a knife at the same time. 

Welcome to finishing school.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners, and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's young ladies learn to finish . . . everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but they also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage - in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education...

   Etiquette & Espionage is set in the same world as the Parasol Protectorate series. However it is not necessary to read any of those books before you read this, it is set before them but is not a prequel. But if you have read the Parasol Protectorate series, you will welcome seeing characters from that series making an appearance.

   The novel contains a lot of the same combination of humour and action, in a Victorian Steampunk setting, that has made Miss Carriger a name in SFF circles. If you are unfamiliar with that, a short description would be Humorous Alternate History Victorian Steampunk Fantasy. (That is not really an established SFF subgenre by the way.)

   The tone of this novel is set early on. By the end of the first chapter we have gotten a good glimpse into the feel of the novel. We have also learned quite a bit about where Sophronia comes from and what kind of person she is. But that is just the beginning of the story, as the book progresses, we follow Sophronia on what is essentially a discovery of one of the hidden sides of the world she lives in.

   Miss Carriger has a knack for creating characters that it is pleasant to spend time with. I found Sophronia to be a very enjoyable character to follow. She's smart, tough, resourceful, and not afraid to go her own ways when she feels it is called for. That doesn't mean she's perfect, but the flaws she has make her all the more realistic and relatable.

   Sophronia is joined by quite a diverse group of supporting characters, most of which are more than interesting enough to follow in their own right. Although some of them exist to fulfil certain task in the narrative, they still come across as believable characters. And the whole cast of this novel put together makes for great company in your reading.

   From early one it's clear that the story contains both action and mystery. Mostly we follow Sophronia's unravelling of what is actually going on, something that is handled very well,. The revelations come naturally, and that Sophronia is ignorant of what the school really is allows us discover it along with her instead of in infodumps. This makes the narrative flow more organically.

   I have to make a brief mention of the setting, or more precisely, the school. I won't tell you what form it physically takes, because I thought that was a very nicely done revelation in the book. But I will tell you that I really liked the way the school functioned. It seems natural when you get it described in the way it is, despite of course being wholly fantastical in nature. Miss Carriger has really managed to create something that feels realistic while still being a wonderful Fantasy creation. In some ways the school itself becomes a character itself, and it has several layers to it.

   So to sum up, another brilliant novel by Miss Carriger. A seamless blend of Steampunk, humour, and Victorian boarding school drama -with a good dollop of action, mystery, and adventure. Definitely a recommended read for those who like their Steampunk to have a sense of humour, and anyone who likes a good rollicking story. It is a great starting point for anyone not familiar with Miss Carriger's work.

   Fans of Miss Carriger who have put off getting this because of the Young Adult label should head for the nearest bookstore at once (, or maybe wait until tomorrow if it's not open). This doesn't fall short in comparison to the Parasol Protectorate books in terms of depth (, although to be fair...there's a lack of werewolf sexing in it.)

   After reading this book, I must say that the knowledge that there's three more books to come in this series is very welcome, this is the beginning of what looks to be another greatly enjoyable series from Miss Carriger.

REVIEWS: The Parasol Protectorate books

LINKS: Gail Carriger  Atom

REVIEW: KATYA'S WORLD

 Cover art by Lee Gibbons

KATYA'S WORLD

THE FIRST BOOK OF THE RUSSALKA CHRONICLES

BY

JONATHAN L. HOWARD

ISBN: 978-1-90884-412-5

Pages: 352

Publisher: Strange Chemistry

First published: 6 November 2012

This edition published: 8 November 2012

On the cover:

The distant and unloved colony world of Russalka has no land, only the raging sea. No clear skies, only the endless storm clouds. Beneath the waves, the people live in pressurised environments and take what they need from the boundless ocean. It is a hard life, but it is theirs and they fought a war against Earth to protect it. But wars leave wounds that never quite heal, and secrets that never quite lie silent.

Katya Kuriakova doesn’t care much about ancient history like that, though. She is making her first submarine voyage as crew; the first nice, simple journey of what she expects to be a nice, simple career.

There is nothing nice and simple about the deep black waters of Russalka, however; soon she will encounter pirates and war criminals, see death and tragedy at first hand, and realise that her world’s future lies on the narrowest of knife edges. For in the crushing depths lies a sleeping monster, an abomination of unknown origin, and when it wakes, it will seek out and kill every single person on the planet.

   Howard's world is an interesting one, not because it is a water planet, but because of how society works there. Much of the worldbuilding is done in the prologue, which is essentially a brief history of the planet of Russalka. I really like that approach to avoiding infodumps. It sets up the scene without slowing down the story, and it cuts down on the need for clunky conversations that exist only to impart information in the story. (I wish more writers of SFF would use this approach.)
   Science Fiction worlds that have been colonised but are not fully developed will unavoidably have at least a shade of the American "Old West" feel to them, but here that is absolutely minuscule. Society here is built not on the usual US/Western, or world government that we so often see in Science Fiction, but instead on Russia. This, along with a non-uniform range of settlements and sub-societies, makes the world Howard has created feel far fresher and more original than a quick glance will make it seem.

   This being a Young Adult novel, the heroine is of course a teenager. And Katya being a teenager is in some ways essential to the plot here, the novel would read very differently if she was an adult, and I don't think it would work as well as it does. Katya's portrayal is not in any way unrealistic, considering how she is described as growing up she acts in a way that feels very natural. She doesn't suffer from the "stupid when it serves the story, but super-intelligent when it's called for" disease that many teenage (, and adult for that matter,) characters suffer from. Instead she comes of as a well rounded person that in many ways is not very different from the people you meet in real life.
   The supporting characters in the novel are also well portrayed. They are fully formed human beings, all of them with their own agendas and histories, there's no cardboard cut-outs whose sole purpose is to fill out the scenery.

   The story doesn't waste time, already in the first chapter there's things happening that are not part of the daily routine for the characters involved, and soon after that it becomes very clear that we are in for quite an adventure.
    Once things start to happen they don't take much of a break before you reach the end of the story. There's plenty of action and a lot of suspense throughout, and Howard handles both of those elements very well. Plenty of tension is created by not really having a clue of where the story is headed, although I must admit there were a couple of minor incidents that were a bit predictable. But overall this isn't the sort of novel where all the tension comes from how things are going to happen, the story gives little away and it's not really clear where the story is headed. There's plenty of twists and turns making for a really good read.

   To sum up, this is a great Science Fiction story. It belongs to the Space Opera side of the Science Fiction genre but it doesn't have many implausible elements, making it a good read for anyone who enjoys Science Fiction -whatever their age is.
   Anyone who's come into SFF from Harry Potter and/or The Lord of the Rings shouldn't hesitate to pick this up to discover more of what the Science Fiction side of SFF has to offer.
   For me this was a thoroughly enjoyable read, and I look forward to getting my hands on future installments of Katya's story.

LINKS: Jonathan L. Howard  Strange Chemistry

REVIEW: EMPIRE STATE

Cover by Will Staehle

EMPIRE STATE

BY

ADAM CHRISTOPHER

ISBN: 978-0-85766-192-0

Pages: 416 +Extras

Publisher: Angry Robot Books

First published: 27 December 2011

This edition published: 5 January 2012

On the cover:

THE EMPIRE STATE IS THE OTHER NEW YORK

 It's a parallel-universe, Prohibition-era world of mooks and shamuses that is the twisted magic mirror to our bustling Big Apple. It's a city where sinister characters lurk around every corner, while the great superheroes who once kept the streets safe have fallen into deadly rivalries and feuds. Not that its colourful residents know anything about the real New York...until detective Ray Bradley makes a discovery that will change the lives of all its inhabitants.

   If you have read Crime Noir, you'll recognise both the atmosphere that this novel creates and its 20th century setting. But it's not as simple as that, this isn't "just" Crime Noir but rather a mix of genres. Christopher blends Crime Noir with superheroes and parallel universes, and he does it in such a way that his novel retains the rugged realism of Crime Noir.

   The story starts off in a way that isn't out of place in any 1930s set crime novel, but that changes very quickly, and we are soon transported into the realm of SFF. Structurally however the story stays in the realm of Crime Noir. It moves rather slowly, and it can feel frustrating at times that the answers to all the questions the novel poses take a long time to get answered. But that is not a flaw, Christopher deliberately holds his cards to his chest while he builds the characters and setting.

   The slow pace is wonderful for the atmosphere of the book, and Christopher really pays back the readers patience when he gives us the answers to the many mysteries we are presented with along the way. It's impossible to predict what will happen, or what role many of the characters eventually will have in the story. This makes each revelation more powerful, and adds a lot to the depth of the story.
    Although the pace is slow, the story never gets dull. Christopher's writing is great throughout, and he's very good at holding on to the readers interest. And more importantly there's no authorial cheating. When the answers come they do so in a way that feels natural to the story, and there is no revelations that come out of the blue.

   There is also quite a bit of action in the book, especially towards the end. The action is very well done, it is written in a way that creates a lot of tension, and the change of pace from the slower build up gives it a very nice urgency.

   When there's a mix of different genres, like in this novel, there's always a danger that some element of it feels like it is put there as an afterthought. That is not the case here at all, the SFF elements and the Crime Noir flow together seamlessly, and it is definitely all needed to make the novel a whole.
   I never felt that anything suffered in the mix either, there's full development of all the genre parts of this novel.  The crime, superheroes, and parallel universe all are fully developed. And together they make something that feels fresh and exciting.

   All in all this is a wonderful debut novel, there's not really any flaws at all. Whether your preference lies in parallel universes, crime, or superheroes, this is a novel that should find its way into your hands at the earliest opportunity. The world, the characters, and the story are all excellent and together they will give you a great reading experience.

LINKS: Adam Christopher  Angry Robot Books

REVIEW: POLTERGEEKS

Art by Paul Young

POLTERGEEKS

BY

SEAN CUMMINGS

ISBN: 978-1-908844-09-5
Pages:  320

Publisher: Strange Chemistry

First published: 2 October 2012

This edition published: 4 October 2012

On the cover:

(Taken from the Strange Chemistry website)

15-year-old Julie Richardson is about to learn that being the daughter of a witch isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. When she and her best friend, Marcus, witness an elderly lady jettisoned out the front door of her home, it’s pretty obvious to Julie there’s a supernatural connection.

In fact, there’s a whisper of menace behind increasing levels of poltergeist activity all over town. After a large-scale paranormal assault on Julie’s high school, her mother falls victim to the spell Endless Night. Now it’s a race against time to find out who is responsible or Julie won’t just lose her mother’s soul, she’ll lose her mother’s life.

   I was planning to review this book on release, but then I went into my unplanned blogging hiatus. And when it comes to reviewing this book, I'm glad that happened. It gave me time to get a better perspective on the book. You see, I didn't really connect with it. And when I first planned to review it I blamed that solely on the book. Now that I can look at it from a distance of a few months, I've realized that it was actually mostly down to me, and I am capable of giving a much more objective review.

   Lets begin with what I didn't like, or more correctly what made me not connect with the book. There's a romantic angle to the story that is given quite a lot of space. I'm not generally a fan of romance in SFF, and the way it was done here was not to my taste at all. Not because it was badly done, it isn't. Cummings has captured pretty much dead on the awkwardness of teenage/first love. And that was why I had such a problem with it. You see, I'm rapidly approaching forty and am done with that a long time ago. In fact I've turned into quite the cynical bastard when it comes to awkward love, and teenage style drama. (I could go into details here, but this is a book review, not my autobiography.) That it is captured pretty much exactly as it actually is, when seen in retrospect, made it uninteresting to me.

   This problem was magnified for me by the feeling I got that the "love angle" took away from the main story. The "drama" did slow down the other parts of the story, and that was annoying for me considering how I felt about it in the first place.

   But as I said above, this was my personal feeling about something I didn't connect with. Something I perhaps, as someone about twenty years older than the main target audience for the book, wasn't really the right person to connect with anyway. So I'll say again, that this part of the story was both well done, and realistic. So if it is something you like, it will definitively be something that should make you pick up the book.

   The book literally gets off to a flying start. The reader is thrown right into the middle of things without any form of setup at all. This can be a bit jolting, but it works very well in pulling you in and hooking you into the novel. There's an instant "need" to see where this is heading.

   Cummings writes very good action sequences, and the book is at its best when there's paranormal events going on. As you can gather from the title, this events are poltergeistly (, surely that is a word,) in nature for the most part. But we do get to see the main character, Julie Richardson, engage in a more direct confrontation in the later stages of the novel. This is also very well handled, and Cummings manages to convey a lot of tension when he writes the action.

   Being a book with a witch as the main character there's of course some magic in the novel. This is well handled, and has a solid foundation in real magic. But having said that, and having read quite a bit about magic myself, I did feel that it could have been a bit more focus on the hows and whys of magic in this story. There's a slight tendency to it being taken as granted. Or perhaps a better way of saying it, is that I felt like Cummings did take for granted that the reader was familiar with the basics of magic. To me this made the magic in the book a bit bland, it doesn't really have something that sets it apart from other books that contain Wicca style magic.

   That being said, there are some really interesting ideas about magic, especially when it comes directly to Julie, in this book. I expect that to be explored in a follow up volume.

   All in all, this very much has the feeling of a first volume. An introduction, or a set up, for a character. And it does that job very well, you come away with the feeling that this is  a setting, and a set of characters, that you would want to return to at a later date.

   I've mentioned the romantic angle of the book extensively. But despite my problems with that, I think this is a good book. It is worthy of a read, and there's enough in there to keep even the non-romantic interested.

   For those that are interested in witches working in modern times, I would say that this is an essential read. And the above mentioned romance should be perfect for those that like that.

   I know I will be returning to a follow up to this book, and I'm looking forward to see what happens next with Julie. (Hopefully she gets laid before the next book so there's not so much frustrating romance.)

NOTE: And ARC of this book was given to me by the publisher.

Links: Sean Cummings  Strange Chemistry

REVIEW: THE LONG EARTH

Cover photographs by Getty Images

Cover design by R. Shailer/TW

THE LONG EARTH

BY

TERRY PRATCHETT

&

STEPHEN BAXTER

ISBN: 978-0-857-52010-4

Pages: 344

Publisher: Doubleday

Published: 21 June 2012

On the cover:

1916: the Western Front. Private Percy Blakeney wakes up. He is lying on fresh spring grass. He can hear birdsong, and the wind in the leaves in the trees. Where have the mud, blood and blasted landscape of No Man's Land gone?

2015: Madison, Wisconsin. Cop Monica Jansson is exploring the burned-out home of a reclusive - some said mad, others dangerous - scientist when she finds a curious gadget - a box containing some wiring, a three-way switch and a...potato. It is the prototype of an invention that will change the way Mankind views his world for ever.

And that's an understatement if ever there was one...

   Parallel Earths isn't a new concept in Science Fiction, but the way it is handled here brings a new angle on it. The concept here is a great one, and it is something that can really be explored in a myriad ways. Unfortunately the way it is explored here leaves a lot to desire.

   The book starts out really slow, jumping back and forth in time, and doesn't really move forward for a very long time. There's too many threads at the beginning of the book, at times it felt like reading a collection of story ideas or a short story collection set in the same world. These different threads do add some flavour to the world the story is set in, but they do feel repetitive and they don't really add much to the novel overall.
   For me it was also frustrating that these different stories brake up the flow of the narrative. There is simply too many "false starts", making the book feel choppy and jumbled. Considering the relatively short length of the novel they felt more like padding added for length than anything else.

    Far from everything is wrong with this novel. I've already mentioned the great concept, and there are some interesting characters too. Perhaps the most interesting character isn't actually human at all, but an AI. It's kind of a bold move to have the main character play against an AI for large parts of the book, but it works very well.
   There are two interesting secondary characters too. One of them is introduced at the beginning, and the other we  meet much later in the story. Both of these seem well rounded, and they do serve to get the reader much nearer the main character. Apart from that one of them has quite an interesting story of her own that we get to follow.

   Where the novel excels, is in the worldbuilding/concept. The central idea of an endless number of parallel Earths is absolutely excellent, and what we learn about how that works is fascinating. It quickly becomes obvious that this is a setting in which anything can happen, and as such it's impossible to see where the story is going.
   And since I'm back to the story, I must mentioned that the ending was a bit of a letdown. Not because it isn't very interesting, because it is, but the cliffhanger ending comes as a disappointment when so much time has been "wasted" earlier in the novel. You are left with the feeling that you have read only half a novel, and that the story is really just beginning, by the time you turn the last page.

   Despite it's many flaws this is a novel that is worth reading. It presents a great setting, and just that would make it a worthy read. The story is really good to, when the authors allow it to move forward. As always, it is also very interesting to see Pratchett try his hand on a non-Discworld setting. And as this book has set up everything in detail, I have great hopes for the next volume, and will eagerly be awaiting it.

Review: I Shall Wear Midnight

Links: Terry Pratchett  Stephen Baxter  Transworld Books

REVIEW: THE JUNGLE

Cover illustration by Larry Rostant

THE JUNGLE

OREGON FILES BOOK 8

BY

CLIVE CUSSLER

WITH

JACK DU BRUL

ISBN: 978-0-241-95989-3

Pages: 469

Publisher: Penguin

First published: 3 March 2011

This edition published: 1 March 2012

On the cover:

Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the Oregon are up against their smartest foe yet - but in their midst there is a traitor . . .

After losing their contract with the US government because of a daring raid too far, Cabrillo and his crew of mercenaries with a conscience are earning money the hard way: doing dirty, dangerous little jobs in the world's trouble spots. Now they've accepted a mission deep to find a missing adventurer deep in the jungles of Myanmar.

But it is not long before Cabrillo and his team realise that they have been set up.

Cabrillo - betrayed, tortured and played for a fool - is angry that he's been used as a pawn in someone's deadly scheme. But with the US nuclear launch codes up for grabs and a madman bent on using them to hold millions of lives to ransom, he hasn't time to worry about revenge.

He's got to save the world first . . .

   This is an Action Adventure book, and as such it follows certain rules of that genre. Among those are that what happens isn't necessarily going to be very realistic, and there is a certain amount of "coincidences" that are necessary to make the events in the book happen. In short, Action Adventure is a genre that isn't very realistic, but has much in common with Hollywood Action Thrillers. If you have seen a James Bond, Indiana Jones, or Die Hard movie, you will be aware of what level an Action Adventure novel is aiming for.

   Cussler's novels are characterised by there (almost) always being a certain archaeological element present. (Often a mythical treasure.) So is also the case here, but it isn't as central is it is in some of Cussler's books. Something that is a bit of a disappointment if you are as interested in archaeology and history as I am. Especially since the opening hints at a very interesting historical connection that would have been great to see explored further.
   But the historical artifact is connected to an element that is pretty much straight out of Science Fiction. The way the historical artifact is connected to the Science Fiction element is nicely done, and came as a surprising revelation. It wasn't at all what I expected from Cussler.
   However the Science Fiction element is also presented in a way that has been seen several times before, especially in the very end of the book, making the nice twist to the story loose much of its impact. At least for me.

   The action scenes are the strength of this book. They are well written, and give a sense of peril and suspense. But there is a feeling at times that some of the action would have worked better on the screen than on the page. The writing is very filmatic, and that doesn't always work as well in the text. 
   The slower scenes are not nearly as satisfying. There's is too much description of unnecessary details, and there's too much infodumping. On top of that the story does rely too much on coincidences and sudden "eureka-moments", even for an Action Adventure novel. I feel this could have been better if it was toned down a bit. As it stands, the level of suspension of disbelief is a bit too high.
   Even though I can usually be pretty forgiving when it comes to the level of realism in this genre of novels, there was a bit too much here that was over the top without having to be.
   I must also mention that there were a few chapters that I felt was unnecessary to the story. And they did actually hurt the level of suspense by revealing things a bit earlier than necessary.

   From what I've written so far this looks like a  novel to avoid, but that isn't really the full story. I have mentioned all the problems I had with the novel, but there's still quite a lot I like about it.
   There is actually a good story in this novel, if you look past its flaws. As mentioned before there is good action sequences, and there's some nice twists to the plot. It's fast paced Action Adventure that is good entertainment for some hours. And compared to other works in it's genre, I'd say that this isn't really suffering in comparison. Unfortunately it does suffer when you compare it to Cussler at his best, this is far from the best novel to bear his name.

   All in all it's a good novel for fans of Action Adventure who know what to expect from the genre, and are looking for a fast paced novel to entertain them for a few nights.
    If you are a fan of Clive Cussler, and the Oregon Files in particular, this is a novel that you should read. As a Cussler fan myself, I do hesitate to recommend it to newcomers to his book though. There are plenty of better novels from his hand if you want to explore his particular rand of novels.
   -So, not really a bad novel, but failed to live up to both its potential and what you would expect from Cussler.

Links:  Clive Cussler  Penguin