Friday, July 16, 2010

Holidays: 3 Books & 3 Reviews

Finally!!!

As you may have noticed, my blog has been quieter these last past few weeks. It's just that work has been so hectic, I've barely found some time to breath. But tomorrow, I'm going on a well-deserved holiday. I'm going to be away for 2 weeks. I may not be able to read as much as I wish due to the nature of the holiday but I'm bringing with me 3 Books:


The King's Bastard by Rowena Cory Daniells

The Kingdom of Rolencia sleeps as rumours of new Affinity Seeps, places where the untamed power wells up. By royal decree all those afflicted with Affinity must serve the Abbey or face death. Sent to the Ab bey, the King’s youngest son, Fyn, trains to become a warrior monk. Elsewhere others are tainted with Affinity and must fight to survive. Political intrigue and magic combine in this explosive first book in an exciting new fantasy trilogy.

Hawkwood and the Kings by Paul Kearney

The world is in turmoil. In the east the savage Mer duks, followers of the Prophet Ahrimuz, have cap tured the holy city of Aekir. The western kingdoms are too distracted by internecine bickering to intervene and the Chruch seems more obsessed with rooting out heresy. It is an age where men go to the stake for the taint of magic in their blood, where gunpowder and cannon co-exit with werewolves and sorcerers. It is the turning point when two get reilgions will fight to the death and the common folk will struggle to merely survive.

Animythical Tales by Sarah Totton

In this elegant volume, award-winning author Sarah Totton takes her readers on speculative journeys of the heart and mind that will both challenge and engage you. Within these tales, readers will learn the meaning of darkness and pain and fear. Yet they will also learn about love and happiness and laughter. Sarah Totton explores the full kaleidoscope of the human heart and peels it back, one layer at a time. She offers her readers a full palette of emotions and stories to sift through, never settling, never holding back, and never flinching. Whether she is writing about the loss of innocence through dark revelations, the point to which a human mind can be stretched before succumbing to the magic of faerie, or something as preposterous as cloud-fishing in a world with pink yaks, the stories in Animythical Tales are always told with an eye toward revealing something important about the human condition. If you have ever yearned to fall into fabulous adventures in unforgettable worlds, Animythical Tales is the collection for you.

And When I come back, I am going to post 3 Reviews:

Dante's Journey by J C Marino

A flash of light and Detective Joe Dante steps through. No longer on the cobblestone streets of 1961 Boston, Joe finds himself in a horrifying new world-Hell itself. Joe was in hot pursuit of his family's killer, drug lord Filippo Argenti, when both were killed, and isn't about to let a little thing like death slow him down. So, with a healthy dose of New England stubbornness and the help of a mysterious guide, Virgil DiMini, Joe must evade angry demons, and search ever-lower through the rings of the original Dante's Inferno in hopes of finding justice for his wife and children. However, Joe will soon discover that behind every sin lies a secret and each secret revealed could land Joe in an eternity of hot water... VERY hot.

Kraken by China MiƩville

Deep in the research wing of the Natural History Museum is a prize specimen, something that comes along much less often than once in a

lifetime: a perfect, and perfectly preserved, giant squid. But what does it mean when the creature suddenly and impossibly disappears?

For curator Billy Harrow it's the start of a headlong pitch into a London of warring cults, surreal magic, apostates and assassins. It might just be that the creature he's been preserving is more than a biological rarity: there are those who are sure it's a god.

A god that someone is hoping will end the world.


No Man's World: Black Hand Gang by Pat Kelleher

On November 1st 1916, 900 men of the 13th Battalion of the Pennine Fusiliers vanish without trace from the battlefield only to find themselves on an alien planet. There they must learn to survive in a hostile environment, while facing a sinister threat from within their own ranks and a confrontation with an inscrutable alien race!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Book Review: Necroscope: Harry and the Pirates by Brian Lumley

Title: Necroscope: Harry and the Pirates - The Lost Years
Author: Brian Lumley
Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Solaris (13 May 2010)
ISBN-10: 1906735646
ISBN-13: 978-1906735647

Harry Keogh makes his long-awaited return as the Necroscope in this collection of novellas ans short stories. Set during the fan-favorite Lost Years era of Keogh's career, these tales see the Necroscope do battle with horrors both real and imagined, eternal et ethereal. In "For The Dead Travel Slowly" Harry Keogh's encounter with an old school friend leads to a fight for his very soul against an ancient evil lurking in the woods. "Harry and the Pirates" finds the Necroscope hearing the confession of a long-dead pirate but is all as it seems or is Harry being taken for a fool?

"The world is full of dead things. How would you feel if you could hear their thoughts?"

Please find the rest of the review on Speculative Book Review...

Monday, July 5, 2010

SFF Blog Recap

28 Jun - 4 Jul

Welcome to this week's SFF Blog Recap! I enjoy gathering these very interesting posts every week. I hope you enjoy reading them too.

Please go to Speculative Book Review to read the entire post.