Over at the 50 Watts site they have published a collection of Japanese SF Art under the title of Space Teriyaki - a mixed bag, some of it marvellous, some slightyly old-school, or weird, or simply creepy.
Nice collection, and a site to check occasionally, I think.
Charles Stross' Laundry Files series (to which The Jennifer Morgue belongs) is a polymorphous beast that's hard to pin down – it consists of 3 Novels so far, plus x number of Novellas, Novellettes, Short Stories etc., some of which have been included in some (but not all) editions and publications of the novels, and in compilations, and... well, you see. Either way, this is the 2nd Novel in the sequence, yet again featuring our favourite geek, Bob Howard, suffering from a hefty dose of James Bond this time, which really cramps his style. er...
But let's start at the beginning – the story kicks off with a flashback, to an unsuccessful attempt to raise a sunk Russian Golf-II Submarine from the Abyssal Plains. It doesn't fail for technical reasons, but because another agency, living on the bottom of said Abyssal Plains decides to exercise their salvage rights under the Bathic treaty, and grabs the submarine back from the salvage rig. Ah.
It deals with a defecting agents from a secret organization who collects (steals?) spare moments from people who don't use them - all in the name of survival of humanity, as time is a limited resources, and given the population growth we're going through it faster and faster, soon we'll be running out of it entirely...
Well written, gripping, and thought provoking. Telling from this short sample I'd say that we'll hear more, much more, from this writer in the future!
Here's another old-ish and previously published review, this time for The Skinner, the first book in the Spatterjay series (3 books so far) by Neal Asher; I found it to be fast paced, captivating, fascinating, and, in classic Neal Asher vein, slightly gory and OTT. Good stuff, then…
The book kicks off with Keech, Janer, and Erin arriving on Splatterjay, named after its most (in)famous founder/settler/criminal’s nickname (Jay ‘Spatterjay’ Hooper), although the name is also the defining characteristic for the planet’s rather unusual and violent biology.
The three protagonists are not your standard fare, either… Keech is (was?) an ECS (Earth Central Security) Monitor, hunting Hooper and his former gang of slave traders for the last 700+ years – and heading for some surprises on Splatterjay. Problem is – he is dead. Has been for a good part of these 700 years, which he spent as a Reif, a re-animated corpse, partially biological (the bits that survived his assassination), and partially machine. Janer is carrying two Hornets, as he’s in the pay of a Hornet Hive Mind, after being indentured to the Hive Mind for two years as punishment for killing a Hornet.
Erin is the only one not new to Splatterjay. She’s been here, she is a ‘Hooper’ (ie carrying the virus that theoretically can make you immortal), she was here when the skinner was beheaded (but not killed… body and head now live independently. Told you the fauna was unusual…), and she has some unfinished business with Ambel, one of the old captains.
This story is part of the anthology Clockwork Phoenix 3 (cover image on the right), and appears to be a take on Steampunk from a pre-industrialization point in time; ie we're looking at a mix of legent/myth and steampunk.
It look interesting - don't wait for me to read it (although I will) and write about (because I most likelty won't), but go ahead and have a look yourself, and if you like the story, consider to obtain the whole anthology
The White Rajah is Tom William's first published Novel. And in contrast to the book of the same name by Nigel Barley this is NOT the story of James Brooke, known as the White Rajah, but, as the only internally displayed subtitle (Being a true and honest account of my life with James Brooke of Sarawak by John Williamson) indicates it is an account, nearly a confessional, purportedly written by John Williamson, one of Brooke's sailors and his main translator (and, later, lover – no, the blurb gives this away, so I don't think that's much of a spoiler...). It is available from the publisher directly, or from Amazon (links below). Londoners can also acquire it from Foyles, no idea if any other bookshops stock it, too.
The story tells how John Williamson first met James Brooke in England, and hired on his first ship to head out East, where he stays at the end of the expedition. They meet again when Brooke returns with his 2nd ship, and Williamson joins him again for his trip to Borneo, to the (to James Brooke) fabled Sultan of Brunei. When Brooke helps him put down a rebellion in one part of his huge island he is given, in return, Sarawak to rule as his own. So the country now has its indigenous population (Dyaks), a ruling class (Malays), foreign traders (Chinese), and now also an English ruler – racial tensions and prejudices are programmed into the set-up from the word go. And so, after the initial adventures and victory they now get caught up in day-to-day business of ruling a country, of administration, taxing, and petty court politics and plotting.
The White Raja
