Week in Review (June 2)

It’s been another good week around the book-blogosphere, and here are a few of the articles, interviews and so forth that stood out for me. We have Robert Jackson Bennett writing about characters; a two-part interview with China Mieville; Myke Cole shares 18 rules learned from his first year writing; Michael J. Sullivan reminisces about the last week’s Balticon; Chuck Wendig re-addresses self-publishing; and The Nation publishes its Amazon-&-Publishing special issue, with three key articles of note.

Week In Review (May 26)

Bit of a mix this week: an article about authors and Library eBook loans; Amazon & Waterstone’s; Special Needs in Strange Worlds (the series just keeps on going strong); a mini-article by S.G. Browne; a great review of Railsea by China Mieville; and an article by Sarah Pinborough.

Comics Round-Up (May 2)

’tis the week of new debuts!

Some of these have been highly anticipated for a while, ever since DC announced the second wave of New 52 titles, and ever since Dynamite announced the return of The Spider. Some issues I thought were meant to be out this week actually weren’t, so I think I’ll probably get them next week – Mind the Gap and Fury Max are the two titles in mind. I decided against buying G.I.Combat, the other second-wave New 52 title released this week. I just didn’t think it looked very good. Perhaps I’ll try it at a later date (same goes for Action Comics #9). But probably not.

Reviewed: Batman: Dark Knight #8, Batman: Detective Comics #9, Dial H #1, Earth Two #1, Epic Kill #1, Grimm Fairy Tales: Myths & Legends #16, New Avengers #24, The Spider #1, Superman #8, World’s Finest #1

[Titles in Bold are my Picks of the Week.]

Influences & Inspirations: MYKE COLE

A little while back, I posted an open invitation to any writers, publishers, and bloggers who might want to write for Civilian-Reader’s first (of hopefully many) guest post series “Influences & Inspirations”. The idea was to allow them the opportunity to write about the books, series, and authors who inspired them to read and write.

There has been some great interest in the question (so keep an eye out for more posts, coming soon), and I am happy to bring you the first offering, from author MYKE COLE, who’s debut novel – Control Point – will be published in February 2012. So, without further ado, I shall pass things over to Myke…

Fortnightly Acquisitions

It’s been a while since I did a post like this, but given the exciting stuff that’s arrived these past two weeks, I thought I’d share a bit. After being away from home for a week (which should explain the relative inactivity), there were a couple of nice surprises waiting for me, too! So, here’s the pile:

And some brief details on the titles, all of which have been on my radar for a while (some longer than others)…

CR’s May Picks

With the month of May (very) fast approaching, I thought I’d just share a quick post and some thoughts on next month’s most-anticipated releases.

So, without further ado, read on for a breakdown of my most-anticipated novels coming in May (in no particular order).

[Warning: A couple of the synopses have spoilers of varying detail.]

Spotlight: “Kraken”, by China Miéville (Tor)

An impossible theft. A legendary beast. A Holy War.

Deep in the research wing of the Natural History Museum is a prize specimen, something that comes along much less often than once in a lifetime: a perfect, and perfectly preserved, giant squid. But what does it mean when the creature suddenly and impossibly disappears?

For curator Billy Harrow it’s the start of a headlong pitch into a London of warring cults, surreal magic, apostates and assassins. It might just be that the creature he’s been preserving is more than a biological rarity: there are those who are sure it’s a god.

A god that someone is hoping will end the world.

Approaching China Miévelle’s Kraken at this point (after months of hardback reviews, and then more paperback reviews) is a rather daunting affair – both as a reader and reviewer. The list of praise and encomiums both in the paperback edition of the novel, as well as listed on the Amazon page, makes me wonder what on earth I could add to the discussion; the comparisons to literary figures and movements leaves me overwhelmed (having stopped studying English literature at aged 16) and intimidated. As a reader, if I don’t love it, I feel somewhat deficient.

I don’t have the most extensive experience with Miéville’s work – I read Perdido Street Station nine years ago (I found it quite heavy-going and not the easiest read), and I’ve also read The Scar twice (which I really enjoyed). Each time a new novel has been published, though, I’ve hesitated or been distracted by something else.

So is this a review or not? Well, no, not quite…

Reading Kraken, it is clear that Miéville’s prowess as an author has grown considerably since I read The Scar – his prose is superb, the flow of his story near-flawless; his characters are brilliantly realised and also realistic; the dialogue natural; his evocation of London (both real and fictional) is brilliant; the weirdness he puts in his novels delightfully twisted and original.

For me, however (and unfortunately), the novel didn’t grab me as much as it perhaps should. For starters, I have never been much of a fan of this genre, and the setting of an alternative London has never much appealed – largely because my experiences with the city are extremely limited, so I guess I can’t relate too well, and I simply don’t like London. This aversion to London-based novels (fantasy or otherwise) is not limited to Miéville’s novels – I couldn’t get into Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, Michael Shevdon’s Sixty-One Nails, or Kate Griffin’s Midnight Mayor. If you are a fan of any of these novels, then China Miéville’s Kraken and The City & The City will be perfect reads for you. However, for me, I just didn’t connect with the setting despite my appreciation for the authors’ talents as writers and storytellers.

Reading the first few chapters of Kraken, it is clear to me that the praise for Miéville’s writing and prose is entirely warranted, and it was impossible to not be impressed. He just happens to be writing in a genre that simply doesn’t appeal to me, no matter how many times I try to read a novel in it. The author’s imagination seems limitless, weird, darkly attractive, and his ability to transfer it on to the page is nearly peerless. But, despite my appreciation for his abilities and authorial skill, I just couldn’t get into the novel.

For me, Kraken just didn’t resonate. But, as a work of fantasy, it’s impossible to not recognise the author’s achievement and skill, not to mention why he’s won the Arthur C. Clarke award three times.

[Emma is going to give Kraken a try, and if she gets a chance, she’ll write a review of it, too.]

Couple of Exciting Things That Arrived in the Post Today…

Two interesting books arrived today in the post, both from Pan Macmillan. The first is the paperback of China Mieville’s The City & The City (left), which means I can finally get around to reading it myself (Emma has the hardback and should be getting me a review ASAP, so we’ll do a double if possible).

The second parcel that came in the post is something I had never even heard of. To begin with, it didn’t even look like a book at first. After tearing open the jiffy bag with the enthusiasm of a small child on Christmas day who’d just discovered coffee, this is what I found:

So far, so confused. I delved deeper into this shiny tin box…

Ah, now this is very interesting. Certainly one of the more interesting promotional items I’ve ever received. It’s the first book in Sam Fisher’s new action/adventure series, E Force. It’s described as “"Mainstream super hero action adventure with the appeal of Heroes, The X-Men and GI Joe.” So far, so very interesting.

I’ve got a couple of books now in this sort of genre (i.e. books described as being akin to X-Men), so I shall review them together – this one (State of Emergency) and also Ben Horton’s Monster Republic (Corgi):