Shiny New Covers For Gary Gibson's Shoal Series

Gary Gibson's Shoal series (Stealing Light, Nova War and Empire of Light) gets shiny new covers. I liked the old covers (especially the cover of Empire of Light) however the new artwork looks pretty good. Furthermore the new covers look more harmonious together. What do you think?

Stealing Light (The Shoal Sequence - Book 1)

For a hundred and fifty thousand years, the alien Shoal have been hiding a terrible secret behind a façade of power. In the twenty-fifth century, they dominate the galaxy and control all trade and exploration, possessing the secret of faster-than-light travel. Mankind has established just a handful of interstellar colonies; their freedom and knowledge of the galaxy limited by the Shoal’s punitive colonial charter. 

Dakota Merrick is a machine-head pilot on the run from one of the Consortium’s most powerful criminals. Desperate for escape, she contracts to ferry an expert team to a remote star system. Her passengers hope to scavenge a functioning FTL-drive from a derelict starship – rumoured to pre-date the Shoal. But they’ll expose an ancient genocide the Shoal will do anything to hide. And Dakota will be forced to face demons from her own military past.

Nova War (The Shoal Sequence - Book 2)

Found adrift far from Consortium space, pilot Dakota Merrick and Lucas Corso are taken prisoner by the alien Bandati. There, Dakota discovers that humanity’s knowledge of the galaxy is frighteningly inaccurate. The Shoal has apparently been fighting a frontier war with a rival species, the Emissaries, for thousands of years. As yet, the latter seem unaware of their FTL technology’s full destructive capabilities. But the Bandati now have this information, and they will use it for profit.

Dakota realises, to her shock, that the Shoal may therefore hold the Galaxy’s best chance for peace. Forging an alliance with Trader, a Shoal-member, she’s determined to prevent the Bandati’s deadly knowledge from reaching the Emissaries. Yet despite her efforts, a nova war now seems inevitable – a war that will destroy millions of inhabited worlds.

Empire of Light (The Shoal Sequence - Book 3)

The nova war spreads across the galaxy, as the Emissaries wage a fierce and reckless campaign. They’ve already reached human-occupied space and forced the alien Shoal into a desperate retreat. And when Dakota leaves to pursue a lead, Corso’s luck turns bad. Now commanding a fleet of human-piloted Magi ships, his authority crumbles before assassination attempts and politically motivated sabotage. Their best hope lies with Ty Whitecloud, currently light-years beyond Consortium borders. Only Ty can decipher messages left behind by ancient star travellers – which could be crucial to their cause.

But Whitecloud is imprisoned onboard a dying coreship, awaiting execution for war crimes against Corso’s own people. For humanity’s very survival, Corso must get to Whitecloud and keep him alive … if Dakota doesn’t kill him first.

Adam Nevill's New Three-Book Deal

Adam L. G. Nevill

There are only a handful of writers whose books I would buy without even reading their blurbs and Adam Nevill is one of them (I'm currently reading his The Last Days. I'm nearing the end of it and I'm loving it). Therefore you can imagine how glad I was to hear about Nevill's new three-book deal with Pan Macmillan.

According to the press release, after the upcoming (May 2013) House Of Small Shadows, two more books will be published in 2014 and 2015. Nevill's Banquet For The Damned will also be re-published as a paperback.

Here's the official press release:

Pan Macmillan acquires two new horror novels by British author Adam Nevill

Julie Crisp, Editorial Director at Pan Macmillan, has concluded a world rights deal for two further horror novels by British author Adam Nevill with agent John Jarrold. The deal also involves re-publication of Adam’s first novel, BANQUET FOR THE DAMNED, as a Pan paperback. The new books will be published in 2014 and 2015.

Adam Nevill’s novels APARTMENT 16, THE RITUAL and LAST DAYS have already been published by Pan Macmillan, with HOUSE OF SMALL SHADOWS due for publication in May 2013. THE RITUAL won best horror novel at this year’s British Fantasy Awards and the Guardian recently dubbed Adam ‘Britain’s answer to Stephen King.’

Julie Crisp said: ‘I’m absolutely thrilled that on the perfect day for it – Halloween – we’ve acquired the next two books from Adam Nevill. We have a proud tradition of publishing horror at Pan Macmillan and Adam is a shining example of brilliant – and terrifying – British horror writing!’

Adam Nevill said: ‘I am thrilled about this opportunity to keep building a body of work with a terrific publisher, and one with such a significant legacy in the field of British horror fiction. On Halloween too. Perfect timing. In celebration, sacrifices will be made to strange gods.’

For further information, contact Chloe Healy at Pan Macmillan:

c.healy@macmillan.co.uk

00 44 20 7014 6186

@UKTor

Don't Do It If You Can't Kill It With Science!

I'm a software engineer. And there's a cheeky but widely used principle in our industry, especially among people working with servers (on the server-side): KIWI or "Kill It With Iron". When one has a scalability (hear "performance") problem, one of the options is usually applying KIWI, meaning throwing more server at it.

Where am I going with that? Well... I watched Total Recall last weekend (it is the remake of 1990 movie with the same name starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone. It is loosely based on the 1966 short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick). Once again "the believability" of yet another sci-fi movie busied my mind.

I think, in Science Fiction, the author (or the director, if it's a movie) has the option to explain something with "advanced science". Drilling a tunnel from the UK to Australia through the earth is amazing. With enough resources and sufficiently advanced technology it is also probably achievable.

However if one has to rely on free fall, it is easy to imagine that 17 minutes won't get you from one end to the other. I'm not going to waste my time on precise calculations, but I'm pretty sure gravity would decrease as the shuttle gets closer to the core and the whole journey would take much longer than just 17 minutes.

Even if we think that the speed is linear and we accept that the passengers can get from one end to the other in 17 minutes (assuming the distance is earth's diameter for simplicity's sake) then this would correspond to a speed of approximately 28,000 miles/hour (45,000 km/hour). Can you imagine blowing a hole through the window, sticking your head out to shoot, climb a ladder etc. with that speed? Come on!

The moral of my complaint is: "Don't Do It If You Can't Kill It With Science". If you want to stretch what's acceptable or believable, try throwing science at it. If it doesn't work, just don't do it.

-----

P.S. I'll deal with a different type on scientific progress in a future post:

Cover Art: The Mad Scientist's Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke

The Mad Scientist's Daughter is Cassandra's second book. The author's first novel, The Assassin's Curse (released October 2012 from Strange Chemistry), has been garnering some wonderful reviews, with praise for her elegant prose and sweeping lyricism.

Here's the blurb:

There’s never been anyone - or anything - quite like Finn.

He looks, and acts human, though he has no desire to be. He was programmed to assist his owners, and performs his duties to perfection. A billion-dollar construct, his primary task is to tutor Cat.

When the government grants rights to the ever-increasing robot population, however, Finn struggles to find his place in the world.

The Mad Scientist's Daughter is being released in February 2013 from Angry Robot Books.

Blood And Feathers by Lou Morgan

This is a beautiful cover art. Beautiful! The first time I saw it, it reminded me of the cover of Chuck Wendig's Blackbirds.

Lou Morgan's debut novel Blood and Feathers has been on my radar since the first time I read about it on Solaris' Blog. It is going to be published next week and it has been getting excellent reviews. So I really hope that I'll have an opportunity to read it.

"What's the first thing you think of when I say 'angel'?" asked Mallory. Alice shrugged. "I don't know... guns?"

Alice isn't having the best of days. She was late for work, she missed her bus, and now she's getting rained on. What she doesn't know is that her day's about to get worse: the epic, grand-scale kind of worse that comes from the arrival of two angels who claim everything about her life is a lie.

The war between the angels and the Fallen is escalating; the age-old balance is tipping, and innocent civilians are getting caught in the cross-fire. If the balance is to be restored, the angels must act - or risk the Fallen taking control. Forever.

That’s where Alice comes in. Hunted by the Fallen and guided by Mallory - a disgraced angel with a drinking problem and a whole load of secrets - Alice will learn the truth about her own history… and why the angels want to send her to hell.

Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Solaris (Aug 2, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1781080186
ISBN-13: 978-1781080184

Joe Abercrombie's Red Country Has A Map

Yes! Joe Abercrombie's upcoming book, Red Country, has a new map and a very beautiful one it is.

I am a big fan of Abercrombie's. And I love it when fantasy books contain maps. Therefore it's no surprise that when one of my favourite authors publishes a map for one the most anticipated books of the year I get very excited.


As you've probably noticed, the map is the one that is used as the background of the wraparound cover art. I simply love its folds and creases, and its worn and torn state. It just adds to the realism. 

Red Country will be published on 18 Oct 2012. Pre-order it now: Amazon (UK) - BookDepository (Worldwide).

Book Review: The Devil's Nebula (Weird Space) by Eric Brown

Title: The Devil's Nebula
Author: Eric Brown
Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Abaddon Books (29 May 2012)
ISBN 10: 1781080232
ISBN 13: 978-1781080238

Starship Captain Ed Carew leads a carefree life of smuggling, gun-running and other illicit pursuits in a far future ruled by the fascistic Expansion Authority. But when an Expansion judiciary ship captures Carew leaving the planet of Hesperides, an out-of-bounds world now governed by the fearsome Vetch extraterrestrials, Carew and his crew are sentenced to death...

Unless they agree to travel through Vetch territory in pursuit of a human vessel that set off for the Devil’s Nebula one hundred years ago. Why are the Expansion authorities so eager to track down the ship? Will Carew and co. survive the journey through Vetch territory? And what might they find when they arrive at the Devil’s Nebula?

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