Release Date: 14/07/11
SYNOPSIS:
After long voyages, encountering hurricanes and sea monsters, Criston Vora from Tierra and Saan of Uraba race to the legendary promised land of Terravitae. Saan's quest is to find the Key to Creation, a weapon that may defeat Uraba's enemies, and Criston wants vengeance against the monstrous Leviathan that ruined his life long ago. Back home, two opposing continents and religions clash for the remnants of a sacred city, unleashing their hatred in a war that could end both civilisations. Queen Anjine and Soldan-Shah Omra are driven by mutual loathing, heaping atrocity upon atrocity in an escalating conflict that only their gods can end. And amidst the carnage, the secretive Saedrans follow their own agenda, manipulating both sides with the ultimate goal of completing the Map of All Things, which will bring about the return of the world's Creator.
REVIEW:
The concluding book in Kevin’s epic Terra Incognita series and one that proves that the author not only plays for keeps but that the cast must deal with behind the scenes players as their nefarious schemes near fruition. It’s been a real fantasy ride and its one that I think could pick Kevin up a nomination or two in some of the fantasy awards out there.
Back this up with great pace, some wonderful description and a sense of adventure that the reader will just love as they spend time in this war torn world that approaches an apocalypse of an immense magnitude. Cracking adventure on land, sea and of the mind. Top notch.
Release Date: 03/02/11
SYNOPSIS:
Only the most desperate would ever dare to make a new home on Hellhole, a planet ravaged by natural disasters. Persistent volcanic eruptions, destructive storms and recent damage inflicted by asteroid impact make the planet a dumping ground for undesirables, misfits and charlatans. But its location out on the wild frontiers of the Constellation, among the Deep Zone worlds, makes it the final refuge for those fleeing from the rule of Diadem Michella Duchenet - a tyrant with a sweet face, but a dark and heardened heart. General Adolphus, the military leader exiled to the planet when he was defeated in the first revolution against the Diadem, is determined to transform Hellhole into a place of opportunity. While the colonists are diligently working to develop the planet, the General is forging secret alliances with the leaders of the other Deep Zone worlds. He dreams of turning his prison into the centre of a new coalition of planets free from the Diadem's iron grip. Back on the decadent capital planet of Sonjeera, surrounded by corruption and consumed by the plots and feuds of the old guard nobles, Diadem Michella is confident that the General has been neutralized. She has no idea of the revolt growing in the Deep Zone ...or does she? But what no one knows is this: the planet Hellhole, though damaged and volatile, hides secrets of historic magnitude. Lurking beneath the surface are the remnants of an obliterated alien civilization, detailing an unrecorded past, which, if unearthed, could tear the fragile human civilization apart.
REVIEW:
Readers of Kevin and Brian’s joint projects will be aware of a number of things, firstly that they play for keeps and are not adverse to killing off characters, secondly that the cultures are on a turning point and above all else there are some single minded individuals determined to do their best to change things for the better.
Back that up with some descent prose alongside a reasonable pace and it’s a Science Fiction book by the numbers that will please readers of the genre. Whilst it’s not exactly ground breaking it does do what these two authors do well and presents the reader with a story that will entertain to while away the hours. All in a good bit of fun although I’m expecting a few twists along the way in further titles with the Saturday Matinee endings that will leave the reader clamouring for the next title in the series.
Release Date: 03/06/10
BOOK BLURB:
Between the end of Frank Herbert's Dune and his next novel, Dune Messiah, lies an intriguing mystery: how a hero adored by a planet became a tyrant hated by a universe. Paul Atreides is the man who overthrew a corrupt empire and then launched a terrible jihad across the galaxy, shedding the blood of trillions. The now-hated tyrant, the blind emperor Paul Muad'Dib, has walked off into the endless desert of the planet Arrakis, known as Dune, leaving his turbulent empire without guidance. It is up to his mother Jessica, with her daughter Alia, the brave troubadour-warrior Gurney Halleck, the resurrected Duncan Idaho, the Fremen leader Stilgar, as well as Paul's wife-in-name and biographer, Princess Irulan, to try and hold an empire together even as it tears itself apart from within and without.
REVIEW:
Since the series began, many people have often wondered how Paul Atreides went form hero to tyrant. Here in this offering we get this untold offering and when it fits so well into an already well established universe, it’s a tale that many fans will be more than satisfied in receiving.
What Kevin and Brian do is bring a voice to the fore that has long since been silent and whilst it may have differed from what the original author had planned it is something that works well. The characters step from the page, the prose is damn good and the dialogue with the spartanesque descriptiveness is what this tale needed. A treat and definitely one to be enjoyed when you have the time.
Release Date: 10/06/10
BOOK BLURB:
After terrible atrocities by both sides, the religious war between Tierra and Uraba has spread and intensified - the series of skirmishes erupting into a full-blown crusade. Now that the Uraban leader Soldan-Shah Omra has captured the ruined city of Ishalem, his construction teams discover a priceless ancient map in an underground vault - a map that can guide brave explorers to the mysterious Key to Creation. Omra dispatches his adoptive son Saan to sail east across the uncharted Middlesea on a quest to find it. In Tierra, Captain Criston Vora has built a grand new vessel, and sets out to explore the great unknown and find the fabled land of Terravitae. But Criston cannot forget his previous voyage that ended in shipwreck and disaster ...and the loss of his beloved wife Adrea - who is now the wife of the soldan-shah in far-off Uraba, fighting to survive against palace intrigues and constant threats against her life.
REVIEW:
Known perhaps more for his Dune work, Kevin’s fantasy offering may not be something that you’re too aware of. Here in the second tale in his Terra Incognita series the tale picks up where the original left off leaving the reader without chance to gather breath.
The prose is sharp, the descriptiveness ideal and characters that really leap off the page to make them a cast that you just can’t wait to adventure with. Whilst there’s a great round up of previous events at the beginning you really have to read the original to get the most out of the careful world building as its on a similar scale to Erikson’s Malazan world. Hopefully some of the awards will recognise this as it really does deserve some recognition.
If there's one thing that you can say about Kevin, its that he's certainly prolific. With over a hundred books to his name you know that when you get a novel by the guy that its going to contain a high quality through and through. What many don't know is how hard he's worked to get where he is, which included mowing lawns to buy his own typewriter when he was ten. With the release of Journey to the Edge of the World, along with its unique music CD we just had to get a few words with him and to learn about his Guilty Secrets. That of the Micro Brew...Falcata Times: Writing is said to be something that people are afflicted with rather than gifted and that it's something you have to do rather than want. What is your opinion of this statement and how true is it to you?KJA: Well, it’s definitely something I “have to do,” like a compulsion or an addiction. I can’t NOT write. A day “off” when I’m not writing is not at all relaxing to me, because my mind is still creating stories. But I would still call it a gift, rather than an affliction, because I can’t think of anything else I would more enjoy doing as a career, and I love that it comes so naturally to me.FT: When did you realise that you wanted to be a writer?KJA: When I was five years old. I couldn’t even write yet, but I could draw pictures and tell stories aloud. Later, when I was 8, I typed my first novel on my father’s little manual typewriter. Then I saved up money and bought my own electric typewriter.FT: It is often said that if you can write a short story you can write anything. How true do you think this is and what have you written that either proves or disproves this POV?KJA: Oh, I think that puts much too much importance on short stories. I’ve written plenty of them, but I find that writing a novel, or a multibook series, is much more of a challenge, much more exhilarating, and allows you to dig deeper and sustain a whole universe and a large cast of characters. It’s the difference between telling a little tale around a campfire or putting on an epic extravaganza with a cast of hundreds, stage managers, multiple sets, etc. I started my career by publishing short stories, but it took me twenty years of effort, developing my craft, expanding my abilities, before I could even attempt something as ambitious as my Terra Incognita fantasy trilogy or my Saga of Seven Suns 7-volume epic.FT: If someone were to enter a bookshop, how would you persuade them to try your novel over someone else's and how would you define it?KJA: I write epic-sized stories with large events and lots of special effects, yet they are fast-paced with transparent prose, and very intimate characters whom readers can relate to.FT: How would you "sell" your book in 20 words or less?KJA: Sailing ships, sea monsters, the crusades -- and a companion rock CD.FT: Who is a must have on your bookshelf and whose latest release will find you on the bookshops doorstep waiting for it to open?KJA: I’m so far behind on my reading that, even when a much-anticipated book is released, I usually don’t make it to the bookshop right away. Some of my favorites are Peter F Hamilton, Dan Simmons, and Alastair Reynolds. Outside the science fiction genre, my favorite is the great American Western author Larry McMurtry.FT: When you sit down and write do you know how the story will end or do you just let the pen take you? ie Do you develop character profiles and outlines for your novels before writing them or do you let your idea's develop as you write?KJA: Writing a big novel without an outline is, in my opinion, like trying to construct a tall skyscraper without first drawing up a blueprint. I develop all of my character backgrounds, my histories, my government structures, cultural backgrounds, and that development process often leads to new ideas and additional characters or plot threads.In a practical sense, since I often collaborate with other authors -- such as Brian Herbert on the new Dune novels -- unless we both have a map, we can’t take the same journey. We need to both have the same detailed story in our heads before we can write it together.FT: What do you do to relax and what have you read recently?KJA: I love to go hiking in my beautiful Colorado mountains (but since I write while I’m doing that, does it count as relaxing?) I also enjoy watching movies. I’m currently reading, and very much enjoying, Peter Hamilton’s FALLEN DRAGON.FT: What is your guiltiest pleasure that few know about?KJA: I haven’t been too secretive about my enjoyment of fine microbrew beers, particularly India Pale Ales. I love to sit alone in a brewery/pub with a pint and a book and just relax. While this is perfectly acceptable in the US, I have found in my trips to the UK and Scotland that people tend to look oddly at a man alone in a pub. It’s not because I don’t have any mates--I like to be by myself and enjoying a bit of quiet without conversation.FT: Lots of writers tend to have pets. What do you have and what are their key traits (and do they appear in your novel in certain character attributes?)KJA: We have a cat household. My stepson and his girlfriend have worked for a long time rescuing kittens and finding homes for them, and now we’re babysitting their cats as they’re off for five months teaching at an orphanage in Africa. Of the six adult cats, each trying to define their dominance and territory (sometimes in unpleasant ways), they all have very distinct personalities. In THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, I introduced a cat named Tycho after my own beloved pet of 18 years who died shortly before I wrote that novel. (I also like dogs and other animals very much, but cats are my preferred household and creative companions.)FT: Which character within your latest book was the most fun to write and why?KJA: Villains are always the most intriguing. Prester Hannes in THE EDGE OF THE WORLD is one of the most violent and destructive people ever to come out of my imagination -- a devoted, fanatically faithful, determined religious spy who is honorable in his own way…and utterly murderous when it comes to people with a different belief system.FT: How similar to your principle protagonist are you?KJA: I don’t tend to have a single principle protagonist -- my novels have a great many characters, all of whom have a different perspective on the primary conflicts. Neither “Saga of Seven Suns” or THE EDGE OF THE WORLD has a clearcut good guy and bad guy, but each one believes his or her own point of view.FT: What hobbies do you have and how do they influence your work?KJA: I like to hike as often as possible, and I dictate my chapters into a digital recorder as I walk out in the wilderness. The scenery, and the solitude, inspires me to create broader and more exotic landscapes in my mind.FT: Where do you get your idea's from?KJA: How do others stop them from coming? Every news story, every person I meet, every strange place I visit, all contribute to the ingredients from which I draw my stories.FT: Do you ever encounter writers block and if so how do you overcome it?KJA: I work on several projects at once, all of them very different. They are all captivating to me, but if I slow down on one project or have a difficult time with the story or characters, I can clear my mind by working on something else. I never encounter writer’s block.FT: Certain authors are renowned for writing at what many would call uncivilised times. When do you write and how do the others in your household feel about it?KJA: Because writing is my full-time job, I can work at rather civilized hours. I am a morning person, so I like to get up and have my coffee at about 7:30 AM, and then I do my writing before noon, then edit in the afternoon. Not too uncivilized, is that?FT: Sometimes pieces of music seem to influence certain scenes within novels, do you have a soundtrack for your tale or is it a case of writing in silence with perhaps the odd musical break in-between scenes?KJA: For THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, we did something even better than that by creating a *real* soundtrack, a rock CD called “Terra Incognita: Beyond the Horizon.” Adapting one of the storylines from EDGE, my wife and I wrote the lyrics and noted keyboardist/composer Erik Norlander wrote the music for 13 tracks on the CD. Shawn Gordon at ProgRock Records produced the CD and we have fine vocal performances from James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Michael Sadler (ex-Saga), John Payne (Asia featuring John Payne), and Lana Lane. Other musicians included David Ragsdale (the violinist from Kansas), Gary Wehrkamp (guitarist from Shadow Gallery), Martin Orford (from IQ and Jadis), Chris Brown (Ghost Circus) and many others.I have always been influenced by music; many of my stories and scenes were inspired by songs and performances. THE EDGE OF THE WORLD is itself dedicated to Neil Peart from Rush. Every time I’m at the keyboard, I have to have the stereo going.FT: What misconceptions, if any, did you have about the writing and publishing field when you were first getting started?KJA: I thought once I finally got a novel accepted for publication that it would be Easy Street from then on. Of course I sold another novel and another and anoher; I won awards, I hit the bestseller lists, but it’s still very hard work and I still don’t feel I can slow down. There’s no such thing as “making it.” There’s always another peak to climb.FT: If music be the food of love, what do you think writing is and please explain your answer?KJA: Writing is the food of the imagination, a way to live many different lives in a wide variety of places, to experiences dramas and joys and thought-provoking challenges -- all without leaving your reading chair.FT: What can you tell us about the next novel?KJA: THE MAP OF ALL THINGS is the second book in the “Terra Incognita” trilogy, after EDGE OF THE WORLD. An even bigger story, ratcheting up the action and the stakes, with more sea monsters, mammoths, and gigantic battles. That will be out in June 2010.My next novel to be published is THE WINDS OF DUNE, written with Brian Herbert, a direct sequel to the SF classic, DUNE MESSIAH. That comes out in September from S&S UK.FT: What are the last five internet sites that you've visited?KJA: Twitter.com, San Diego Comic Con homepage, Wikipedia for Jack McDevitt, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency HBO, and Lodging near Salida Colorado for this weekend’s hike.FT: Did you ever take any writing classes or specific instructions to learn the craft? If so please let us know which ones.KJA: I took classes in college, fiction workshops, but they proved less useful for my career as a writer than taking classes about a broad range of subjects, history, psychology, politics. A writer needs to know things to write ABOUT, not just techniques about writing.FT: How did you get past the initial barriers of criticism and rejection?KJA: Through persistence. I kept writing, kept submitting, kept improving my work, and finally I found editors who liked my writing. But even after getting published, I have continued to work on getting better with each novel.
FT: In your opinion, what are the best and worst aspects of writing for a living?KJA: Best: a great deal of freedom, and a lot of excitement to go different places for research and promotion. And you get to write all day -- how much better can it get?Worst: it’s still an uncertain profession, no matter how popular you are. Like any freelancer, you only get paid when the work comes in, and so you always have to keep looking for work. I need to earn enough money to pay for all that cat food.
BOOK BLURB:
War has raged for twenty years between the Broekari and the Aidenists. Divided by their worship of different gods - each sons of the Creator, Ondun - it seems likely that the war will never end. But then the Aidenists make a startling discovery. A merchant ship, sailing the very edge of the world, hauls aboard a large sea turtle. Inscribed upon its shell is an ancient map - a map that seems to show the way to paradise: the lost kingdom of Holy Joron, the third son of Ondun. Across the world, an ancient parchment is unearthed by the Broekari. This parchment also shows a map - a map that points the way to the Key of Creation, and thus to the kingdom of Holy Joron. And so the race is joined. Will the children of the sons of Ondun finally find peace in the fabled lost kingdom? Or will they take the hatred and death of two decades at war to paradise...?
REVIEW:
Renowned throughout the Sci-Fi World for his Dune, Seven Suns and Star Wars work, Kevin has tackled a for the first time a fantasy world in this, his latest release. What makes this novel different from the norm is that fact that it also has an accompanying CD of music rather than the obligatory playlist that some authors like to go with.
The book has a large number of positive aspects going for it:
1) The book covers a large period of time so we get to see how characters develop.
2) The characters within have real life issues that allow them to develop with the plot as well as emotionally
3) The novel is written from both points of view within the conflict and also deals with the politics involved.
Each of these aspects not only advances the story but also allows the reader the chance to explore the world in their own time. Add to the mix Kevin’s renowned writing style, his combat sequences and above all a kick ass plot and you’ve got a world that you can’t wait to explore which in places feels very much like one of the next gen of storytelling such as George RR Martin and Steven Erikson have become renowned for. The only reserve that I have and what I hope won’t happen, is that the characters become too powerful, almost godlike, as they have in other tales, that would take the humanity out of the story for me and that’s what Kevin sells very well in this offering. Finally add to the mix a unique CD to accompany this novel and you really will be surprised at the scope of this project.
Release Date: 14/07/11
