In which the reader shares his thoughts on the books that possess his imagination throughout the year.
As we rapidly approach All Hallow’s Eve my short fiction reading has been focused on science fiction stories with a chilling edge. In my Short Fiction Friday review on SF Signal I review two stories from the recently released anthology In Space No One Can Hear You Scream and two stories from the October/November 2013 double issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction. I would love it if you took a moment to check out the review.
Hope everyone has a wonderful, story-filled weekend.
In the year 1889 the sister of Bram Stoker and the niece of Sherlock Holmes are called together by the only woman to ever best the great detective to undertake a secret assignation for Queen and country. Evaline Stoker is a young woman active in London society who carries the burdens and responsibilities of a great and powerful legacy. Mina Holmes longs to overcome the stigma of age and gender to prove that the powers of observation and deduction are not restricted to the male sex. Together these young women must lay aside their solitary natures and distrust of one another to determine why other young society women are either disappearing or being killed before more lives are lost.
Colleen Gleason, author of the successful adult paranormal romance Gardella Vampire Chronicles, debuts her first title written for teens. The Clockwork Scarab is set in a steampunk-infused London and blends together elements familiar to the subgenre with paranormal and science fictional tropes to create a story that delights in its world-building but is successful because of the strength of its two female protagonists. Adults and young people alike will find Gleason’s characters at once familiar and refreshing in that they embody the characteristics of their fictional and non-fictional ancestors while being established as believable heroines in their own right.
I became a fan of Colleen Gleason’s work after first befriending her online and then moving outside of my comfort zone to read the first of her Buffy-and-Jane-Austen-inspired Gardella novels. My enjoyment of each subsequent novel increased and I was excited when she announced that she would be breaking into teen fiction with a steampunk novel. Having just spent much of the last 24 hours lost in an alternative Victorian London I can safely say that this is her best work to date. 8.5/10 stars.
The book releases September 17th. Go grab a copy right away. Tis’ the season for compelling mystery and adventure.
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is fighting a losing battle. His once respected homicide department, the pride of the Quebec de Surete, has been decimated, good officers replaced by those who don’t care. People he nurtured and trusted may no longer be in his camp. The investigation into a bigger conspiracy is going nowhere and the always stable facade of Armand Gamache is starting to crack. What better time for a murder to take his mind off of his current problems?
It is Christmas time and a Montreal murder with ties to his favorite idyllic village takes Armand Gamache back to Three Pines and the comfort of long-time friends. As he struggles to unravel the threads of a life suddenly and violently ended, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache senses that the shadowy events that have dogged his every step for years will finally be coming to light, for good or for ill.
Louise Penny’s latest novel, the ninth in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, may be her most satisfying read to date, particularly after the controversial choices made in her last novel, The Beautiful Mystery. How the Light Gets In is a layered, complex and compelling novel packed with moments of gut-wrenching drama and heart-racing suspense. By setting it in the village of Three Pines, Penny is able to bring in beloved characters from previous novels which gives the tension-filled story a much needed foundation of comfort and familiarity upon which to build. Though I questioned the legitimacy of the handling of one of the series’ prime characters in The Beautiful Mystery, the end result of those choices makes How the Light Gets In the kind of page-turning novel that kept me up until 1 a.m. this morning, having tread the last two hundred pages of this roughly 400-page novel in one sitting.
I closed the book after reading the last dozen or so pages with tears streaming down my face and the kind of satisfied smile that can only come from being immersed in a cracking good read. Those reviewers who were disappointed by The Beautiful Mystery and vowed to never read Louise Penny again are missing out on a novel that reaffirms just why people fell for Louise Penny’s creation in the first place.
My rating: 10/10 stars
On February 4th 2013 Neil Gaiman embarked on a fantastic art project in partnership with BlackBerry and millions of his fans. He tweeted twelve questions to the world, one for each month of the year. From the tens of thousands of responses he received, Neil picked his favourite answers and wrote twelve short stories inspired by them. Releasing these back to the world, Neil asked people to contribute art to illustrate the stories.
Yesterday morning I finally took the time to experience this wonderful project. The website for “A Calendar of Tales” is highly interactive, giving you the opportunity to read each story, listen to Neil Gaiman read each story, or do both, as I did. The site also has examples of fan artwork for each story and a few videos fans made to go with various stories.
It is a really creative project and was a delight to listen to. I got home last night and fired up the site again and listened to them with my wife Mary. She was also impressed.
I have a non-spoiler review of the project over on SF Signal today. I covet your comments over there if you have already experienced “A Calendar of Tales” or have any thoughts on it whatsoever.
With their financial woes and the ongoing mystery of their missing mother Harriet, the de Luce family is ripe for any kind of distraction and the 500th anniversary of the death of their beloved St. Tancred, coupled with the Easter holiday is just the distraction they need.
To a degree.
For nothing really distracts eleven-year-old chemist and amateur sleuth Flavia de Luce except a really good mystery. Fortunately for her, that comes along fairly quickly with her discovery of the missing church organist, Mr. Collicut, in the burial chamber of St. Tancred himself! Or fairly near it, at any rate. As is always the case in the life of Flavia de Luce, one mystery begets another and before the crime, or crimes, are solved she will acquire more knowledge about life, the human condition, her family relationships and herself than she ever bargained for.
This, the fifth novel in the Flavia de Luce series, is arguably the best yet, though to be fair the ongoing de Luce saga in each novel provided the foundation for the character growth in Speaking From Among the Bones. With a shocking set up for the next novel, due out in January 2014, this story arc is set to wow when The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches is released.
The mysteries in the Flavia de Luce series are always entertaining, but the real treasure of Alan Bradley’s novels is the de Luce family themselves, with Flavia in the forefront and faithful retainers Dogger and Mrs. Mullet along for good measure. I fell in love with this 1950’s world and all its characters with the release of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and that love has grown with each volume, enhanced over the course of these last two stories by experiencing them through their unabridged audio versions. Jane Entwhistle is a delight in her voicing of the characters. I cannot get enough of her reading, listen to the books like my life depends on it, then lament the fact that they are over when I am done in a matter of days.
Another 10/10 star effort for Alan Bradley
Continue reading Speaking From Among the Bones ~Alan Bradley