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I think this book is actually, objectively awesome. How it could not be? It’s a book about bad ass lady pirates menacing the high seas with genetically engineered monsters at their call. It’s also rife with moral ambiguity, making tough choices, and the search for one’s true self–however ugly or unwanted that truth may be. So, Kim, why “only” three stars? Well, I actually find I don’t enjoy pirate stories all that much. At this point you’re wondering why I even read this book, then, and also why you are continuing to read this review. I really, really wanted to love this book and one of the key reasons I wanted that to happen is because this book features an f/f romance. Oh yes, and it’s pretty delicious, too. But we’ll get to that later. I was also very intrigued by the dystopian setting, and the monsters weren’t a hard... Read more »
A scorched desert planet, politics, rebellion, and star crossed love. What could go wrong? Plenty, as it turns out. Beyond the Red is a love story disguised as political science fiction, but not a particularly effective one. To make matters worse, there is a love triangle. Let’s take a look at the many ways in which this novel does not work. The story is told in dual POV. We have Eros (seriously, that’s his name. Why?), the half human, half Sepharon outcast who is captured and enslaved to the Sepharon elite. We also have Kora, the Sepharon queen fighting to hold onto her throne. When Kora and Eros meet, he is taking a beating for being an insubordinate and unruly slave. For reasons that are completely indeterminate, Kora decides this insubordinate stranger would be the ideal personal guard. She knows him barely several minutes, and barely tests his combat skills,... Read more »
Robert Sawyer said, "I care deeply and passionately about this genre [science fiction]" during a presentation I attended at the Ontario Library Association Conference. And it was obvious he does. I was, however, more than a little surprised by the passion he exhibits to defend his vision for the SciFi genre--although I have to agree [...] Continue reading...
Well, this one took me completely by surprise. I had enjoyed The Bone Season, but with reservations, considering how long it took me to really understand the incredible world Samantha Shannon has built for us. It took me very little time at all, however, to disappear into the pages of this second installment of the genre bending series. At once futuristic and Victorian, The Mime Order is a fantastical, dystopian, paranormal murder mystery, and I couldn’t get enough of it. This a lush and opulent storyworld, one that unfolds in intricate detail and rewards the reader for their patience. It is perfect for character readers and for anyone who would love a series that offers a “crash course” in the nuances of its world (like me! I am one of those people!). Reading this, and even though it is third person, I felt like I was walking with Paige through... Read more »
I’m so glad I started the new year off right by reading The Stolen Moon. I’ve been eagerly anticipating this sequel ever since I devoured its predecessor, The Lost Planet, in one sitting last January. Well, I loved this installment even more. There are scenes of breathtaking action, as well as heart aching tenderness, against the backdrop of an ever expanding and politically complex universe. More please and thank you! We pick up not long after where we left Chase safely onboard the starship Kuyddestor and reunited with his sister Lilli. With still no memory of his old life, his parents, or how he got into this predicament, there are still plenty of answers to pursue. And as it turns out new danger is lurking just out of sight. As a reader who is largely driven by characters and how much I do or don’t connect with them this book was... Read more »
This book. This book, you guys. I wanted angst, and torment, and heartbreak across dimensions. Instead I got a sort of weird sci-fi light story, mixed with historical fiction, and a half-hearted love triangle to boot. The basic gist is that consciousness swapping across multiple universes is real and scientifically supported. If you like any sort of novel in which the character escapes reality and is able to visit other worlds this will immediately appeal to you. But where the story began to lose me is that it dumps you into the “after the fact” of the protagonists’ emotional journey. She is already in deep mourning for her father who was apparently sabotaged by his graduate student, Paul. There is an attempt to make up for this by showing us flashbacks of family interactions and how Paul, and Theo, another grad student, interacted with Marguerite’s family before, but everything after... Read more »
If you enjoy time parallel universe/time travel stories, A Thousand Pieces of You is probably on your TBR list already–and it’s a book that will likely appeal to fans of All Our Yesterdays and Every Day, particularly if you like romance! I’m a big fan of Claudia Gray’s Evernight series so was very excited to hear she had a new book coming out. I was also tickled to find that this story takes Marguerite to many different locations and time periods as she tries to solve the mystery behind her father’s murder, including a visit back to the Romanov empire. There have been several YA books with Russian settings this year, but this one definitely stands out with its scifi elements. As part of the official blog tour hosted by Rock Star Book Tours, the author is with us today to share why she felt absolutely compelled to write this... Read more »
Breq is a spaceship. Or, rather, she used to be. Once the AI consciousness of the ship known as Justice of Toren, Breq is now contained in a single ancillary (the how and why of which is detailed in Ancillary Justice). Perhaps some more explanation? An ancillary is a human body (most often a civilian casualty) with a ship’s consciousness and some rather tricked out implants that make them super soldiers. Ancillaries are an extension of the ship and see and know everything the ship does. Ships have many ancillaries and they are all collectively the same entity. When a human becomes an ancillary the person they were is dead forever. Through such means the Radchaai Empire has been able to conquer and colonize much of humanity. Okay, that’s as simple a primer I can do without giving too much away! Man, I just love this series. Finally, finally! Here... Read more »
“A dinosaur fighting a robot on a spaceship crashing into earth with a musical instrument fighting a closet ogre.” This is what happens when you combine ALL the dailysketch suggestions into one.
Artrage, a few hours.
0 Comments on A dinosaur fighting a robot on a spaceship crashing into earth with a musical instrument fighting a closet ogre as of 1/1/1900
Plasma Frequency Magazine, Issue 9, December 2013/January 2014
SO excited to announce my adult sci-fi short story DUST, just published in Plasma Frequency Magazine! It was by far one of my favorites to write, and I’m so glad it found a home with Plasma Frequency.
Interestingly, I wrote the story while I was getting used to a new migraine medicine. One of the side-effects of the medicine was vibrating gold spots behind my eyelids whenever I closed my eyes. This side-effect, among others, became the inspiration for some of the side-effects of DUST. Luckily, I’m no longer taking that med, so the pharmaceutical-induced hallucinations and periodic brain fog are long gone.
I did get a nice story out of the experience. You just never know what’s going to get that imagination stirring.
You can get a hold of a copy for Kindle here or a Print copy here. Just remember kiddies, this is an adults only story…
Writer’s Digest is having as Popular Fiction Award Contest. There are six genres: Young Adult Fiction, Romance, Mystery/Crime Fiction, SciFi/Fantasy, Thriller/Suspense, and Horror. The catch is to keep it to 4000 words. Not an easy thing to do when you are used to writing a 65,000 word + novel.
Here’s the scoop:
The Grand Prize winner will receive a $2500 cash prize, plus a trip to the 2013 Writer’s Digest Conference in New York City.
Each of the six category winners will receive a $500 cash prize.
Get your story published in Writer’s Digest, as well as on writersdigest.com
$100 off a purchase at writersdigestshop.com.
A copy of the 2013 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market.
It was back in September 2009 that The National reported that teenage fiction in Arabic "doesn't exist". Publisher Dareen Charafeddine, of the Sharjah-based Arabic publishing house Kalimat, said: "If you find any [such books], they are very traditional. Nobody knows how to write for this age group. Children's literature in general isn't very developed in the Arab world."
It was due to this lack of so-called "young adult" science fiction novels in Arabic that Noura Al Noman first decided to write her own. She scoured bookshops in search of suitable books in Arabic for her daughter and found none, and so her novel Ajwan was born.
"For something to be popular, it has to first exist. If you look for English novels in the genre, you'd find plenty, and I believe it is popular - it was popular for me when I grew up in the late 1970s and early 1980s. But if you look for Arabic sci-fi then you will find that it is virtually non-existent," said Al Noman.
I just finished illustration a children’s book full of dozens of spaceships, and I wish I had this book to use as a resource when I was doing my initial concept work.
Hardware: The Definitive SF Works of Chris Foss collects the art that originally graced the covers of paperback scifi books from the 70s and 80s. Foss’s designs are both strangely organic and severely industrial.
The book features forewords from Moebius and Alejandro Jodorowsky whose collaboration on the comic book The Incal directly influenced the film The Fifth Element.
I’m keeping this on my reference shelf for the next time I need to draw dozens of spaceships.
I'm having fun with this less than 500 words thing. Two weeks ago I posted a Western, this week it's Science Fiction. Stick around, there might even be a mystery.
Black lightening twisted across the red sky. “Winter,” Cantú mumbled. She thumped the control panel and Sanitex snapped over the window.
She tightened her tunic as though the silver crystals had already started to fall. The rigo skin deflected moisture but it was useless for warmth.
“What do I expect from a flying pig?”
She trudged around the accumulated junk spread throughout the Shak3. Pumps and pipe sections blocked the rear exit. Somewhere in the clutter a sand monkey huddled among discarded circuit boards. The smelly thing treasured scrap as food. Cantú appreciated that it had quit screeching and jabbering at her.
The portable shelter trembled. Cantú twitched when she heard the high-pitched whine.
She tapped Latif’s numbers on her digi-tel. Her partner’s hairy face glowed from the small screen.
“What the hell are you doin’ out there? Can’t you feel that wind?”
Latif’s voice cracked through Cantú’s headphones. “I’m trying to get back, but in case you hadn’t noticed, it’s a little tough moving around this goddamned planet. The Oscar is stuck in some kind of mush and I don’t really want to walk in the open. I’m waiting out the wind in a crag hole. I’m not that far away.”
“What do you mean, waiting out? This could go on for weeks. What about the wind snakes? You want to hassle with those?”
The screen blinked, then faded to gray. Either Latif had hung up or the wind had cut off access, again.
What a nightmare assignment. Acrid, metallic atmosphere that caused coughing fits; weird, hungry creatures; and a climate fit only for rocks and scrub weeds. But there was oil – at least something that might be used as oil. The lab boys called it Synth, short for synthetic she figured, but it floated naturally on the puddles of smoking liquid that dotted the otherwise barren landscape. She and Latif had been told to never touch the stuff – the standard bureaucratic caution. No one knew what Synth was, but that didn’t matter to the Company. The potential payoff canceled any concern about the actual risks. If the wages weren’t so good, she would have quit a long time ago.
Latif’s scream wrenched her eyes from the digi-tel. Her co-worker stumbled into the Shak3. Synth clung to Latif like a mercurial cocoon.
“I fell ... I can’t breathe.” Latif clawed at his own chest.
Cantú jumped back as Latif burst into flames. The burning man collapsed at Cantú’s feet. A trickle of blue flowed from the crackling corpse. The thin stream moved towards Cantú. She turned to run but a slimy chord grabbed her ankle and she could not move. The fluid latched onto her legs and crawled up to her mouth. Her teeth were forced open and oil filled her throat.
A small, furry face peered from under a pile of useless computers. It watched Cantú burn.
“I tried to warn them,” the ambassador later reported. “It’s not my fault.”
________________________________
Later.
2 Comments on SciFi In Less Than 500 Words, last added: 6/19/2011
What's next?Is it time for La Bloga's new mag:El ChicMexLat Annual SpecLit Journal?"All the SciFi, Fantasy, Horror & Magic Realism the U.S. press won't publish"RudyG
Who, we sometimes ask, at the dinners and debates of the intelligentsia, was the 20th century’s more insightful prophet — Aldous Huxley or George Orwell? Each is best known for his dystopian fantasy — Huxley’s Brave New World, Orwell’s 1984 — and both feared where modern technology might lead, for authorities and individuals alike. But while Huxley anticipated a world of empty pleasures and excessive convenience, Orwell predicted ubiquitous surveillance and the eradication of freedom. Who was right? —William Davies, New Statesman, August 1, 2005
Image: Lisa Jane Persky
By Jeffrey Wasserstrom
The long-standing Huxley vs. Orwell debate got a 21st century New Media makeover in 2009, courtesy of cartoonist Stuart McMillen. In May of that year, he published an online comic entitled “Amusing Ourselves to Death” that quickly went viral. At the top of this strip, which has been tweeted and re-tweeted many times and can now be found posted on scores of websites, we see caricatures of the two authors above their names and the respective titles of their best-known novels. Below that comes a series of couplet-like contrastive statements, accompanied by illustrations. The top couplet reads: “What Orwell feared were those who would ban books; What Huxley feared was that there would be no need to ban a book, for there would be no one who would want to read one.” The first statement is paired with a picture of a censorship committee behind a desk, with a one-man “Internet Filter Department” off to one side, a wastebasket for banned books off to the other. The illustration for the second statement shows a family of couch potatoes waiting for The Biggest Loser to return after a word from its sponsors.
McMillen’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death” might best be called an homage, or perhaps a reboot, for the lines in it all come straight from media theorist Neil Postman’s influential 1985 book of the same title, which made the case for Huxley’s famous 1932 novel being a superior guide to the era of television than Orwell’s from 1949. But Postman himself was far from the first to play the Huxley vs. Orwell game. The tradition of comparing and contrasting Huxley and Orwell goes back to, well, Huxley and Orwell, two writers who — though this is not mentioned as often as one might expect — knew one another from Eton, where Orwell was Huxley’s pupil in the 1910s.
Orwell had not yet written 1984 when he first questioned his former teacher’s prescience. In the early 1940s, a reader of his newspaper column solicited Orwell’s opinion of the danger that consumerism and the pursuit of pleasure posed to society. Orwell replied that, in his view, the time to worry about Brave New World scenarios had passed, for hedonism and “vulgar materialism” were no longer the great threat they once had been.
In October 1949, just a few months after Orwell published 1984 (a work that presumably spelled out the more pressing threats he had in mind), Huxley wrote to his former pupil to make the opposite point. Orwell’s book impressed him, he said, but he did not find it completely convincing, because he continued to think, as he had when crafting Brave New Word, that the elites of the future would find “less arduous” strategies for satisfying their “lust for power” than the “boot-on-the-face” technique described in 1984.
Huxley wrote that letter in Britain during a month that began with a momentous event taking place a
0 Comments on Orwell and Huxley at the Shanghai World’s Fair as of 1/1/1900
Okay, so Koushun Takami's cult classic Battle Royale comes up every single time The Hunger Games is mentioned within a three-mile radius of anyone with even the slightest leaning towards hipsterism:
"Blah blah blah Hunger Games blah blah."
"Excuse me. Just give me a moment to adjust my skinny jeans and Elvis Costello glasses. Now. Why on earth would you want to read that YA tripe when you could just read Battle Royale?"
"Um. Because despite the broad similarity in premise, they're actually completely different books, and were written with completely different audiences in mind? And maybe you should think about how ass-y it makes you sound when you dismiss an entire genre without even attempting to explore it?"
And yes, that made me kinda want to read the book.
In the Greater Republic of East Asia, every year 50 third-year junior high school classes are chosen for the program. Ostensibly, it's a a research program for the military. In reality, it's a form of control. Students are given a pack with water, food, a weapon (weapons vary from a fork to a machine gun) and the last one standing wins a salary for the rest of their lives and a signed card from the dictator.
Battle Royale follows the fate of Third Year Class B, Shiroiwa Junior High School.
Overall, I found this a very engrossing, fast-paced read (even though it's almost 600 pages long). It starts with a bus full of students who think they're on their way to a study trip and ends shortly after the Program does. There is a bit of info-dumping in the dialogue, usually when describing what happened in the various students' lives before the Program began. There's also some weird voice/word choice things that I can't tell if it's the author, cultural, or a translation issue. Like, a 15-year old popular girl with a rebel aesthetic refers to someone she's been "buddies" with for a number of years, but she's talking about a very close friend. I'd stumble across a few weird things like that and it would take me out of the story a bit.
BUT! I did really like it. It follows all 42 students and shifts who it's following pretty frequently, although it mainly focuses on three students trying to find a way to escape the island. There's a student list in the front and I found it pretty useful to photocopy it and then cross off students as they died. There's also a map (score!) and various zones become forbidden at different times, and it was useful for me to photocopy that and mark of the zones on the map, just like the characters were doing.
My real complaint is with book design. At the end of every chapter, in bold it says "X Students Remaining." It's really hard when you turn the page in the middle of a battle for your eye not to be drawn over
At Suvudu, we’re aware that getting your work into the hands of a professional editor can be a major hurdle in the road to publication. Many New York publishers do not accept submissions except from literary agents. That’s why we’re making available this limited opportunity to put your best manuscript of science fiction, fantasy, horror, or paranormal romance into consideration by the Del Rey/Spectra staff.
Del Rey/Spectra through Suvudu will be accepting submissions from now through March 18, 2011, of previously unpublished manuscripts of no more than 150,000 words. Over the next few months, they will be judged on the basis of originality, creativity, and writing style. The top submission will receive a full edit of the submitted work by Betsy Mitchell, Editor-in-Chief of Del Rey Publishing, and the story will be considered for publication. Three runners-up will receive a set of Del Rey/Spectra titles selected by Suvudu.
DEADLINE: March 18, 2011 (EST), and open only to legal residents of the United States, excluding Puerto Rico, who are age 18 and over as of January 18, 2011.
The winners will be announced on May 18, 2011.
Now I know there are a lot of good manuscripts in this genre, so go for it. Good Luck!
In a spring 2010 La Bloga post I mentioned Ernest Hogan, author of Cortez on Jupiter, a 1990 science fiction novel that "treats its Chicano protagonist in the way a Chicano would write it." I threatened to do an interview of Hogan, even though I tend to get out of sync and fall into gonzoismos. If you want to read regular interviews of Hogan, go here or here.
Entonces, Hogan had two novels (Cortez and High Aztech) picked up by Ben Bova's Discovery Series from publisher Tor. If you don't know about Ben Bova and Tor, you're no sci-fi reader, but FYI Tor is huge corporate publisher of spec lit. So 20 years ago Hogan broke into the spec fiction market in a big way. La cosa es, the vato's a Chicano.
I read Cortez years ago and dug the holymadre out of it. In years, what I found were Anglo sci-fi readers who knew of Hogan but didn't know he was Chicano. Al otro lado, I found NO Chicano literati who knew about him or his books. When I got in touch with Hogan, I told him I'd thought he was dead.
He responded: "Now and then I find these 'What ever happened to Ernest Hogan?' things online. Guess I have some work to do."
While Ernesto works on re-informing the sci-fi world he's not dead, I'm working on informing the Chicano world that we've had a 'mano we could have been proud of and reading, for the last 20 years, but we just didn't know about him. Truism: "Chicanos don't read sci-fi", so that's why they don't know about Hogan? That could be a topic for another time or conference.
When you learn how Hogan plays with Spanish, Spanglish, Náhautl, when he hear how he worked the immigration issue in far-futuristic stories, when you read about his crazy vato-heros playing god with the universe, you might forget "Chicanos don't read sci-fi" and try to win the autographed copy of Cortez on Jupiter we're giving away next Sat. To enter, send us an Email with the answer to the question below. If you win, we'll contact you for surface mail info. In the meantime .
5 Comments on Interview 1 - Ernest Hogan: charla with the most-unknown Chicano author, last added: 8/9/2010
Rudy, how nice to meet Ernesto through your eyes. Makes me wish I were a fly on the wall when you two sat down to talk. Great article. Can't wait to read his work. Chicano Sci-fi...who knew???
Anonymous said, on 8/7/2010 4:05:00 PM
Great interview. I'm a big fan of Ernest Hogan's work and hope part two of this interview will cover his third novel Smoking Mirror Blues which really throws a non-anglo spanner into post cyberpunk beat SF. It's partly the mashed up vocabulary but also the exuberance of Hogan's ideas that lead me to describe him as Hi-NRG SF. Kev Mcveigh
Rudy, Thanks for posting this. Excellent work! Look forward to the 2nd part. BTW, a manito writer by the name of Arthur Tenorio published a SiFi novel by the name of Blessing From above in 1971. Lomeli &n I did a brief review of the work in or Chicano Perspectives in Literature bibliography in 1976. Saludos de Donaldo Urioste
I'm excited to be part of Lucan Blog Tour! Please welcome Susan Kearney. A veteran romance writer, Susan Kearney has worked with the industry giants to publish over fifty novels within the romance genre. Her works spans historical romance, contemporary, romantic suspense, paranormal and science fiction. Lucan is the first in the Pendragon Series. Without further ado, let us welcome Susan Kearney!
oOo
Susan Kearney Guest Post on September 2009
I've always been a little strange, always had a vivid imagination. Getting into the future is easy for me. I just think about all the things I want. A starship would top my list. I've always wanted to travel in space - but not the way our astronauts do it. You see I want my creature comforts and I want to get there fast.
That’s why I invented a hyperspaceship for LUCAN.Once Lucan found a star map on Earth that would direct him across the galaxy to the Holy Grail, I didn’t want him to waste years in traveling.I wanted him to get there quickly so I could delve into the new world of Pendragon.
Creating a new planet is so much fun—especially one based on Arthurian legend.I got to think about religion, architecture, politics, economics, dragons, and love.The world-building in LUCAN was a first for me because this planet had to be both familiar and yet not too familiar.So I drew some parallels to Earth, but only a few.Mostly I let my imagination roam free.
The name Pendragon means master of dragons.So I knew I needed at least one very powerful, shapeshifting dragon.I decided that honor should go to a female, Cael-- who is a special lady—The High Priestess of Avalon.I wanted her to yearn for love—but although her people revere her, she’s denied having a mate.According to tradition, she’s not allowed to touch or be touched.
But of course our sexy, hero doesn’t know the rules of her world.
To make things interesting, they’re both after the same treasure. And oh, what a treasure.The Holy Grail.
The really fun part is pushing my characters’ buttons in ways I could never do in the present.Because in the near future, Lucan comes from an Earth where humanity is dying.And in the end he has to choose between saving Earth or the woman he loves.
And yes, this is a romance so we have a happy ending even in space.
Sometimes I write far-out stories, but the people still have to cope just the way we do.They may have a spaceship, but the engines break.They may have dragon shapers, but being so strong creates powerful appetites.And falling in love when you are far from home holds its own consequences.
So I hope you’re in the mood to be swept away by romance, adventure, and danger and that you’ll give LUCAN a try. You can see a cool video and read excerpts at www.susankearney.com
oOo
About the Author, courtesy of her website:
Susan Kearney is known for her Rystani warrior books, The Challenge, The Dare, The Ultimatum, and The Quest, a series of paranormal romances set in the future. In September 2009 Kearney begins the Pendragon Series with Lucan, a futuristic romance. She follows up with Rion in December and Jordan in March 2010.
Kearney a native of New Jersey, writes full time and has sold books to the industry's top publishing houses. As an award winning author, Kearney earned a business degree at University of Michicgan. Kearney's knowledge and experiences spans throughout the romance genre, her fifty plus books include contemporary, romantic suspense, historical, futuristic, science fiction and paranormal novels. She resides in a suburb of Tampa with her husband, kids, and a Boston terrier. She is currently plotting through her 54th work of fiction. You can reach her through her website at http://www.susankearney.com/contact.html
To enter, please comment on Susan's guest post below.
Rules: Please include your email address, so that I can contact you if you win. No email address, no entry. The contest is limited to US and Canada only. No P.O. boxes. The contest ends at 6 pm on September 30, 2009.
22 Comments on Blog Tour of Susan Kearney's Lucan + giveaway, last added: 9/13/2009
Oh Gaby, What a wonderful post!!! You know you can count on me to pimp you out!!! It will be on my right sidebar!!! And yes, please toss my name in the hat! alliwantandmorebooks(at)gmail(dot)com
Thanks for the super contest!! Hope you all have a great night!
What a wonderful excerpt you have there!! Thanks for the tip!
Manuel Ramos is buried under a ton of deadlines, and as soon as we can find a shovel to dig him out, he'll be returned to this, his regular posting day. Speaking of Ramos, I'm not into cop/detective/crime fiction like he is, but at last summer's Denver WorldCon, I was lucky enough to share some food, time and drink with local-writer-made-good Warren Hammond. For a güero, the guy's charming, friendly and, despite a Clark Kent veneer, worth being around.
Because of that, I got copies of his futuristic noir KOP and Ex-KOP novels. Since I love noir and science fiction I figured at least those aspects of his work would be worth my time and money. I was wrong.
KOP contains some of the strongest prose, striking noir, and original world I've read in years.
As far as SciFi, it's not your typical, formulaic future world. Check this: the planet Lagarto (Spanish for lizard because this tropical-like world's got one on or under every doormat and kitchen shelf) was colonized by Mexican scientists! Not Spanish conquistadores or Mexican drug lords, but científicos. This alone was refreshing, at least to this reader.
To deal with one question La Bloga readers might be asking--cultural appropriation--I've got to say Warren maybe's deduced what a lot of cultural-appropriating novelists have yet to figure out: it's better not to exploit too much of what's foreign to you. To his credit, Warren doesn't try passing his world off as Chicanolandia. He doesn't stretch his premise about the planet's name and founders much into the body of the work. Yes there are surnames and references, but all incidental or extraneous to the plot. Even what I think is the biggest "inconsistency" in his Lagarto world--the absence of dialogue influenced by Spanish--works for me. Otherwise, I might have felt differently.
Now, about the writing. From the cover quote: "KOP is about as good as noir crime gets since Dashiell Hammett stopped writing. Yes, I know what I just said." (David Drake) If this was on the cover of Warren's second book Ex-KOP, I'd agree with this Drake guy. But the writing in KOP is better, more sophisticated than Hammett's. Yes, one day even the classics get replaced, and should be. Instead of just telling you what I think, I give you a little of Warren's own words. What you need to know first is that KOP is replete with this style, crazily filled with his choice of language, bien gordo with this richness hidden in a SciFi novel. Now, sit back and let these words pica your lips and saturate your tongue, swish them around some, and then let them storm your literary gullet, and you'll see why Mario Acevedo, of X-Rated Bloodsuckers notoriety, said about Warren's writing: "Raw. Visceral. Compelling. As unforgettable as a stabbing." I'd add, you'll find yourself repeatedly rubbing that wound with pleasure. All quotes below are from KOP, wherein I find a more masterly prose than its sequel. (Sorry, Warren, I call them as I confuse them.) These are not favorite passages; they're just what I randomly flipped to.
What the planet's like: I crossed the street, weaving between the puddles and piles of rotting garbage. Geckos scattered out of my way, running for cover under green weeds that had pushed up through the rippled pavement. Every few months, the city would come through on a slash-and-burn. They used to poison the encroaching jungle growth until people started to notice tumor-ridden fish belly-up in the Koba Riber. Citizens' groups got worked up over their health and forced the city to change methods. Now, they blasted the streets with flamethrowers, crisping anything green, leaving only the smoldering stench of burned trash and vegetation in their wake. (p 13.)
About the gritty protagonist: She listened with rapt attention as I open-booked my life for her. I could tell her anything--judgment free. I told her about Tenttown. I told her how my father would tie me up while he beat my mother. I showed her the rope-burn scars. I told her how I was always getting kicked out of school for fighting. When she asked if I had any regrets, I told her that I wished I had killed my father before his liver beat me to it.
"Really? You wouldn't feel guilty killing your own father?"
"The bastard deserved it. I deserved the chance to kill him myself. His liver robbed me of my vengeance. It was my only chance to see the world as a fair place.
She wouldn't let it drop. She kept asking questions about my father and how I could possibly kill him, my own flesh and blood. He beat my mother. I didn't know how much plainer I could make it." (p. 113)
Cover-wise, while the artwork is fine, I couldn't help but see a disgruntled Pierce Brosnan in the Kop portrayal of protagonist Juno. That said, it fit his character. What's funny is that the sequel's Ex-Kop cover of a more hardened, down-and-out Juno reminds me of a hung-over Bruce Campbell, half of which is in keeping with the second installent, where Juno's lost his career and turned private eye. Judge yourself from the side-by-side pics below.
Here's the publisher's blurb: "Juno Mozambe is a dirty cop... The colony world Lagarto boomed when an indigenous plant was discovered to yield a uniquely intoxicating brandy...but when Earth synthesized a copy, Lagarto's economy crashed. Now, like many Lagartans, Juno lives in quiet desperation. But it wasn't always like this. When he was a young cop in capital city Koba's Office of Police, he and his partner worked to break the drug trade. Now, his old partner is the beleaguered chief of police, and Juno is a cop on the take, broken in body and in spirit. "Despite his past sins and present problems, some small part of Juno has not given up hope. He and his beautiful, young rookie partner are assigned to a particularly ugly murder case that makes no sense...until he realizes that it's a setup to get rid of him and the chief. But it's also a chance to blow the lid of a huge scandal—an offworld plot to crush the slim hope Lagarto has to regain its economic independence. If he can break the case it would mean a new beginning for him and his world...if the conspirators don't break him first." (DOR, Tom Doherty)
Warren Hammond bio from his website: "Warren grew up in the Hudson River Valley of New York State. Upon obtaining his teaching degree from the University at Albany, he moved to Colorado, married his wife Kathy, and settled in the Platt Park neighborhood of Denver where he can usually be found typing away at the local coffee shop or browsing the selection at the Tattered Cover.
"His first novel, KOP, was published by Tor Books in 2007. Its sequel, Ex-KOP, hit shelves in October 2008. Currently he is writing KOP Killer, the third book in the KOP series. Splitting his time between devouring science fiction and classic crime noir, he lists among his important influences Arthur C. Clarke, Orson Scott Card, Jim Thompson and James Ellroy. Warren is a serious music listener, specializing in blues, reggae and surf. Always eager to see new places, Warren and Kathy have traveled extensively. Whether it’s wildlife viewing in exotic locales like Botswana and the Galapagos Islands, or trekking in the Himalayas, they’re always up for a new adventure." It's too late for me to recommend this as a Xmas present (although I did gave away a couple), but at the start of New Year 2009, which we may describe to our great grandchildren as the Worst Depression, reading Kop and its sequels may be the perfect way to increase your tolerance for pain, hardboil your heart against depression, and still stoke the fires of a hope that American (gringo) originality, genuine passion(ate writing) and creative talent are not following the economy into mediocrity.
Ex-KOP = Bruce Campbell?
RudyG
0 Comments on KOP & Ex-KOP by Warren Hammond as of 1/9/2009 3:11:00 AM
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Another job across another border . . .
What's next?Is it time for La Bloga's new mag:El ChicMexLat Annual SpecLit Journal?"All the SciFi, Fantasy, Horror & Magic Realism the U.S. press won't publish"RudyG