My most recently announced debuts now appear in a widget in the rightmost sidebar. It seems somewhat slow; if it seems to bog down the blog too much I’ll take it down. But if it works, I think it could be cool to look through if you’re looking for a new book to read.
Blogcritics.org has just posted my first exclusive article for them, and I’d be thrilled if you guys would go over there and leave all kinds of comments on it. The subject is something you guys should all be familiar with.
Three Reasons Why You Should Read Debut Novels
Go forth! And thank you!
Slaves of the Shinar (Amazon USA – UK – Canada)
by Justin Allen
Overlook Press
Hardcover – 25.95
Review copy provided by the author
Justin Allen’s second novel, Year of the Horse, just came out in October.
I remember hearing about Slaves of the Shinar back when I first started Fantasy Debut, and although I saw fine reviews for it everywhere, I did not read it at the time. Over the summer, the Justin Allen contacted me with a question and after an email conversation, he offered to send me a copy.
Slaves of the Shinar is billed as an epic fantasy of the ancient world. It’s hard to find a better blend of ingredients that are sure to hook me. It takes place in an unspecified location somewhere in Africa. There are two main characters, a black man named Urik and a white man named Ander. Urik is trying to escape his destiny — literally. He is on the run from a prophesy, one that makes him a tragic and engaging character right from the start. And no, no, no, this is not the sort of prophesy you are thinking about. It’s a very personal prophesy — not one in which Urik fights a dark god or saves the world.
Ander is a slave of the Niphilim who is determined not only to escape, but to get revenge on his cruel captors. And he’s willing to use anyone to achieve this goal.
Both Ander and Urik are grown men. Stick a pin in me, why don’t you? A fantasy novel about grown men! It’s almost eek-worthy! (For those of you who are new here, I have long lamented about the over-abundance of young boys in fantasy novels.)
Anyway.
On his flight from destiny, Urik encounters a dog, which becomes his most faithful companion. He pulls off a daring theft early on in the story that reminded me me of Conan the Barbarian. The jewel he steals enables him to trade for a special sword — one made of iron rather than bronze.
For the Bronze Age is rapidly coming to an end. The Niphilim have the secret of steel (again, a Conan moment, but I want to be clear, it was for me, not Mr. Allen. He NEVER referred to it that way, and it was actually iron, not steel) and they are using it to conquer the Shinar. They are white, but are also referred to as giant-like. One of the reasons Urik stands out is because is is as big as a Niphilim. Those of you who are conversant in The Bible will recognize the term niphilim. The Nephilim were descendants of fallen angels. There is no indication in Slaves of the Shinar of any angelic origin. The resemble the Biblical Nephilim in their name, their stature and their superhuman strength. The religion in this novel are gods and goddesses — some of them with recognizable names, like Baal — and they don’t have any direct influence on the characters’ lives.
The Niphilim and another tribe simply referred to as the savages are the only outright fantasy elements in this novel. I’m not really sure what the savages are, but it is clear that they aren’t entirely human. Perhaps they are Australopithecines, but Mr. Allen doesn’t say. Whatever they are, they are terrifying and pity-inspiring all at once because the Niphilim use them as shock troops, driving them into battle with whips.
A great deal of this novel is about battles. Ander proves to be a charasmatic leader, and after helping a town unsuccessfully fight the Niphilim, he recruits a couple of priests to help him form an army. Ander and Urik never actually meet, and if they did, they probably wouldn’t like each other. But they are both ultimately after the same goal.
I just have a few critiques. For Ander’s scenes, the point-of-view was almost someone other than himself. This allowed the reader to see him from the viewpoint of other people, but it did mean that the point-of-view switched often. When there is one point-of-view per scene, this is fine, and for the most part, Mr. Allen kept us high and tight inside one person’s head. But there were several scenes where the point-of-view roved about confusingly, and in one scene between Urik and a woman he rescued, Adah, the point-of-view switches from sentence to sentence. However, this didn’t happen very often.
This is a brutal novel, but I was not overwhelmed by blood and gore. There is no sex and only a hint of romance. I found the quality of writing literary, yet the pacing equal to more commercial fiction. Most of the major characters are men, but Mr. Allen makes up for this by making the major villain an absolutely kick-ass Niphilim woman, and we even get to spend some time in her head. Adah comes into the mix rather late in the novel, but I liked her a great deal. My favorite character was Urik and the scene where he meets his destiny was especially heart-wrenching.
In an epilogue, Mr. Allen attempts to tie some of the characters to The Bible and a Babylonian epic poem, Gilgamesh and Enkidu, which I am certainly now going to reread. I’m not sure if Mr. Allen was entirely successful, for it made me think that there is a sequel to come, and perhaps, one day, there will be.
Slaves of the Shinar is a keeper for the reread shelf. If you like blends of ancient history and fantasy, this is something you are going to enjoy. I can recommend it highly.
Don’t forget I have a contest going for Maria Lima’s Blood Lines series. Click the link and enter!
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Some of you have joined Google Friend Connect on this site. And I thank you. This week, they rolled out a bunch of new features, some of which are especially interesting to self-hosted sites like this one. The most interesting new feature is the ability to send a newsletter. This makes me take more than a casual interest in Friend Connect, because I’ve long thought about adding a monthly newsletter to my site, even when I blogged at Fantasy Debut. It would contain, at the very least, tidbits of all the debuts released during that month, plus whatever else sounds fun, like shout-outs to other blogs, Comment of the Month and who knows?
If this interests you, please join Debuts & Reviews using the Join this Site button to the right —>.
If you have already joined, please indicate whether or not you would like to receive the newsletter, also to the right. Heck, everything’s to the right.
UPDATE: The poll was a bit premature, so I took it down.
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Up early next week: an epic fantasy debut. After that, I’m not sure what I want to read (other than a certain fiction magazine), the second volume in a recent epic fantasy debut, or the first volume in an intriguing mystery series.
Also up next week: an article for Blogcritics on why you should read debut novels.
And finally thank you, Graeme’s Fantasy Review for sending me so many visits with your recent shout-out!
In an effort to have a more eclectic blog, I promised to review stuff like music and movies in my Review Policies. I thought I’d start by finding out if there are any classical music lovers here. And if not, I thought I’d try to persuade some of you to give it a try. Hence the title of this post.
When I was a kid, my father listened to classical music, but it didn’t really rub off. It wasn’t exactly cool. Then, sometime in the 80s, a friend of mine brought over Amadeus to watch. I was absolutely spellbound. It lit the fire. I wanted more. But where to begin?
I bought recordings, but you have it easy. You have YouTube. This is an introduction, so I’m going to stick to major composers.
I began with Mozart. And I think you should too. You already know much of his music without even realizing it. That snappy tune that they play in the movie trailers for every romantic comedy ever released? That’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, which means A Little Night Music. The opening theme to Amadeus is his Symphony 25 in C Minor, which you’ve also probably heard. His best-known piano sonata is also known as Rondo Alla Turca, or Turkish March. If you read sheet music, it’s fascinating to listen to this while following along.
Start by following the above links, and then follow the “related” video links. And you’ll get some nice exposure to Mozart. He wrote a lot of stuff, and I do mean a LOT, so you could entertain yourself for quite a while. I could do an entire blog post on Mozart, but I won’t, at least not yet.
Mozart belongs to the Classical era of Classical music. There are several eras. Here are the distinctions between the major eras.
Baroque. This is the early stuff. Bach and Handel both belonged to the Baroque period. It is often heavy organ music (Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor), but also can be string ensembles. There is often a harpsichord. Here is the Hornpipe from Handel’s Water Music, which is one of my favorite pieces from this period. Another huge favorite is Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (here is Summer). And of course, Pachelbel’s Canon, which every musician learns, but which almost every musical snob hates. And I probably did a disservice to Bach here, who composed tons of music, from dance music to church music.
Haydn preceded Mozart in the Classical era, and he sounds much like Mozart, in my opinion. I don’t know a lot of Haydn’s work, but I do have Jacqueline DuPre playing his Cello Concerto. And here is a trumpet concerto.
But what’s a concerto? An orchestra with a soloist.
On to Beethoven. Where to begin? Start with the 5th. Just start up the video, turn out all the lights, and do nothing but listen. Especially listen to the melodies going on in the background. There’s a reason why it’s a classic.
Then, you really must give the Moonlight Sonata a listen. What’s a sonata? One or two instruments. In this case, the piano. Often, a sonata will have a star instrument with a piano as accompaniment. I think of the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata as watching a moonlit lake. The second movement (or part) is very brief and light–a dance by moonlight. And the third movement? It’s like being chased by a werewolf!
Beethoven could also be playful. Try Rage Over a Lost Penny (played by a 10-year-old!).
Wow; this took a lot of time. Since I’ve given you a lot to listen to, I’m going to split this in several parts. Please let me know what you think!
I have all three copies of Maria Lima’s Blood Line series to give away to one Urban Fantasy lover. This contest is only open to recipients in the United States (because I’m footing the postage). I will pick a winner using random.org on Sunday night. Consider 6:00 PM EST your deadline, but in reality, I won’t rule anyone out as long as you get your entry to me before I draw a winner. I won’t draw a winner before 6 on Sunday evening. Please only enter one time.
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED!
I participated in John Ottinger’s latest Inside the Blogosphere feature. He was looking for opinions on the best endings. Check it out!
At present, I’m running low of debuts on my calendar. Since I have not yet moved my debut submission form to this blog, I wanted to point out that the form is still available and operative at Fantasy Debut, on this post:
I would like to add that I now intend to announce debuts in most print genres. However, because I’ve been a science fiction and fantasy blogger for so long, I only know about SciFi/Fantasy debuts. Until I get more knowledgeable, and until publicists and authors of those other genres learn of this blog, these weekly debut round-ups will skew heavily toward fantasy and science fiction.
So, here we go!
Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she’s a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.
Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire — and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.
With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London’s high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?
SOULLESS is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.
This sounds great fun, although I’m a bit concerned about the soulless part. According to a review at Enduring Romance, this might be less dire than it sounds. I love, love, love historical fantasy, but I’m not so into vampires. This is a strong maybe. It released on October 1st, which means my debut calendar was off by an entire month.
The Drowning City by Amanda Downum
Hat Tip: Yunaleska
Symir — the Drowning City. home to exiles and expatriates, pirates and smugglers. And violent revolutionaries who will stop at nothing to overthrow the corrupt Imperial government.
For Isyllt Iskaldur, necromancer and spy, the brewing revolution is a chance to prove herself to her crown. All she has to do is find and finance the revolutionaries, and help topple the palaces of Symir. But she is torn between her new friends and her duties, and the longer she stays in this monsoon-drenched city, the more intrigue she uncovers — even the dead are plotting.
As the waters rise and the dams crack, Isyllt must choose between her mission and the city she came to save.
Oooh. Revolutionaries. Spies. And any city that is “drowning” is bound to be interesting. My good blog buddy Graeme was a bit disappointed in it, but still looks forward to the next volume. This novel came out in September.
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Ok, I hope you aren’t disappointed by the lack of cover art. When I review a book, it will get the full cover art/link-up treatment. These are just little newsy items to help you learn about new debuts. The quicker I can get the posted, the more I’ll be able to do. And I hope I didn’t annoy you by having the links pop up in separate windows or tabs. I did this because I’m hoping you’ll want to read the rest of the post when you’re finished chasing the link.
If you know of a debut that should be on my calendar, please inform me of it using this form at Fantasy Debut. I will give you credit for the tip, as I did here for Yunaleska. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. That sort of thing.
I’m ramping up to re-start my freelance writing career, and in order to do so, I’ve needed to build up my bio. Therefore, I’ve applied to start writing for Blogcritics.org, and they’ve accepted me. I used my recent interview with John Brown for my first article.
Freelance writing is basically nonfiction writing, sometimes with a byline, but often without. My goal is to never retire, to simply write until my brain is fried. I intend to build up my bio until I’m 45 (another year!) and then go for the juicy (i. e. money-paying) jobs.
The Stepsister Scheme (Amazon USA – UK – Canada)
First Chapter (pdf)
DAW Books
The Mermaid’s Madness (Amazon USA – UK – Canada)
First Chapter (pdf)
DAW Books
by Jim C. Hines
Reviewed by Superwench83.
These are no ordinary princesses.
Jim C. Hines’ latest novel, The Mermaid’s Madness, came out recently, and since I’d not read the first in the Princess series, I bought them both at once [The Stepsister Scheme and The Mermaid's Madness] and read them back-to-back. These books turn the three most celebrated princesses in fairy tale tradition into heroines rather than damsels in distress. With fast-paced plots, whimsical settings, and clever dialogue, it’s no mystery why so many people love Hines’ books.
In The Stepsister Scheme, Cinderella (named Danielle) has married her prince and is looking forward to her happily ever after. But when her stepsisters kidnap the prince, Danielle teams up with Sleeping Beauty (Talia) and Snow White (Snow) to save him. As the queen’s secret agents, Talia and Snow are trained for this sort of thing. Talia is a martial arts master, Snow a powerful sorceress. (Don’t call her a witch. She hates that.) Their rescue mission takes them deep into Fairyland, where they encounter strange creatures, dazzling scenery, and the dangerous new magic Danielle’s stepsisters have acquired. Even with all their skill, Talia and Snow may not be a match for what awaits them. And Danielle the cinder girl may have to save them all.
In this first book in the Princess series, I felt that the character development wasn’t quite up to par, with the exception of Snow. Talia was too irritable and moody, Danielle too sweet and naïve. While Talia does have a troubled past that comes out during the novel, I never got close enough to her to truly understand why she has such an attitude, which prevented me from feeling fond of her. (Hines solves that problem in The Mermaid’s Madness by making her a point-of-view character.) With Danielle, I just wanted to shake her sometimes, because her naivety caused a lot of problems. I felt that the plot relied a bit too heavily on that, making her more naïve than was believable. Snow, however, was very well characterized, and after two books, she remains my favorite of the three.
The Mermaid’s Madness is a far cry from the original The Little Mermaid and the Disney version of the tale. Lirea is one p.o.-ed mermaid princess. She was scorned by the man she loved, and now there’s hell (or Davy Jones’ locker?) to pay. Once again, Danielle, Talia, and Snow set out to stop a crazy, magic-wielding menace before she hurts the people they love, along with many others. And the further they sail from home, the stranger—and more dangerous—things get.
Not to say things weren’t strange and dangerous before they left. The queen has suffered a severe wound from Lirea’s magical spear. Should Danielle, Talia, and Snow fail to stop Lirea, the queen will die, and the kingdom could find itself at war on land and sea.
I found the characterization much improved in The Mermaid’s Madness. Talia makes more sense, while Danielle is learning that not everyone is as nice as she. The secondary characters are deeper and more interesting as well. Not to mention the villain. Villains are much more engaging when they evoke your sympathy.
The thing that makes these books stand out is that touch of fantastic whimsy. The Stepsister Scheme and The Mermaid’s Madness both feature settings, creatures, and magic spells that call out that sense of wonder. The girls ride to Fairyland in a basket hung round a falcon’s neck. They seek allies in a pixie saloon. They turn into mermaids and swim alongside kelpies. It’s stuff like this that brought so many of us into the fantasy genre, those “ooh” moments that make you feel like a kid again.
The Stepsister Scheme and The Mermaid’s Madness were both fun to read. I can’t say I loved them, but I did enjoy them. They cast well-known fairy tales in a fresh and humorous light and offer a fast-paced adventure full of magic and surprises. Red Hood’s Revenge comes out next year, and there is potential for Jim C. Hines to continue the series for quite some time.
Tia’s Notes:
Dang it! I knew this would happen! Now I must read them. And I have long wanted to read Jig the Goblin, too. Thanks for the review, Katie!