Archive for Angry Robot
One Insane Piece of Genius (and 6 sane ones)
Posted by: | CommentsA few reviews that we’ve not yet mentioned…
King Maker is gathering momentum, and is already being touted as potentially some people’s book of the year. Author Adam Christopher has this to say:
probably the first true urban fantasy…
Broaddus’s story is grim and gritty, a world of gang crime, guns and drugs. The characters of the King Arthur legends are wonderfully and originally transposed to this setting… King Maker is a fascinating novel, a true urban fantasy in the literal definition of the term, and with assured prose and strong characters, should be on every SF fan’s shelf.
For Guy Adams’ wonderful, “insane and exciting” The World House:
Another pearl within this brilliant narrative is Sophie. Whenever the story is told from her perspective, it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. She has a special way to see and think about the world, you’ll see…
if you enjoy strange and bizarre tales and especially if you love Neil Gaiman’s work and wonder what his tales would be like on a bad trip, get yourself a copy of The World House
from DailySteampunk.com (although the book isn’t Steampunk, of course).
Moving across to Tim Waggoner’s Nekropolis:
this is still a blood [sic] good book, and you’re unlikely to read anything else like it. It will make you grin with delight and make you want to visit the strange world of Nekropolis. It’s the perfect travel-guide
(from Stanley Riiks). Remember: the sequel – Dead Streets – is published in the UK tomorrow!)
Lateral Books seems to like Lavie Tidhar’s steampunk romp, The Bookman:
His writing is easy on the mind, and deceptively smooth. His vision is surprising, and intricate within a simplistic frame. There’s a lot of nods to popular steampunk inspirations, and plenty of opportunities for you to chuckle at his references and the marvellous way he weaves his references into his novel. And it even has pirates, too. I mean, it has it all. Except ninjas. For now.
Angry Robot keep pushing the boundaries of fantasy and scifi. They have an incredible eye for what works and what doesn’t, and… they work to surprise you with a depth and creativity you know has been slowly dwindling from fantasy and scifi.
Aww, shucks… Now you got us all a-blushing.
Booksquawk, reviewing Aliette de Bodard’s Servant of the Underworld tells us that
de Bodard weaves a substantial air of magic and wonder into her narrative.
And genre powerhouse, Elizabeth Bear says of it:
Her characters are engaging, and (based on my limited knowledge) her worldbuilding and research seem absolutely impeccable… a fascinating look at a culture and setting rarely used in modern fantasy.
Dan Abnett’s swashbuckling yarn, Triumff: Her Majesty’s Hero gets a once-over at WarpCore SF:
Abnett’s verbal fencing is a delight. He’s one of the few writers who can go on for five pages about rain, and still have you hooked like a salmon on a crack-dosed worm.
Triumff invites inevitable comparisons with Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books, thanks to its Britishness and highbrow humour… Although the gags are often cheesier, the slapstick dafter and the puns more outrageous, this novel is easily in the same league as Pratchett, or indeed of any other comic fantasy author.
Writer Gareth L Powell has just enjoyed Lauren Beukes’ Moxyland:
Lean, sharp, and tightly written, Moxyland keeps raising the stakes, from the opening chapter to the uncompromising finale. And with its electronic panopticon, it gives us a dystopia to rival 1984 or Stand On Zanzibar – a future horrifying for its very plausibility.
That’s all for now!
Regrets
Posted by: | CommentsStolen from With thanks to Mark Charan Newton and Dan Abnett on Twitter for pointing this out.
Head over to Moronail.net for some more great inspirational posters!
(Warning: some of them are NSFW)
Hugos there?
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Over at Whatever, John Scalzi has invited people to recommend authors and works for the current round of Hugo nominations.
For those of you who are eligible to vote in this year’s Hugos, this is the list of Angry Robot people and titles that are eligible for consideration.
Best Novel
* Slights by Kaaron Warren
* Book of Secrets by Chris Roberson
* Nekropolis by Tim Waggoner
* Kell’s Legend by Andy Remic
* Angel of Death by J Robert King
* Triumff: Her Majesty’s Hero by Dan Abnett
* Winter Song by Colin Harvey
* Sixty-One Nails by Mike Shevdon
note: Moxyland isn’t eligible this year as it was originally published in South Africa in 2008, though it will become eligible again next year (following its US release).
and for the John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer
(not a Hugo, but presented with the Hugos):
* Lauren Beukes (for Moxyland)
* Mike Shevdon (for Sixty-One Nails)
and Best Editor (Long Form)
* Marc Gascoigne for:
Slights
Book of Secrets
Nekropolis
Kell’s Legend
Angel of Death
Triumff: Her Majesty’s Hero
Winter Song
Sixty-One Nails
and the following artists:
* Joey Hi-Fi for Moxyland
* Stephan Kopinski for Slights
* Vincent Chong for Nekropolis
* Head Design for Angel of Death
* Adrian Smith for Kell’s Legend
* Chris Moore for Winter Song
* Larry Rostant for Triumff: Her Majesty’s Hero
* Argh! Nottingham for Sixty-One Nails and Book of Secrets
examples of all these covers (and links to larger versions) can be found in the far right column.
News and reviews Round-up
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Kaaron Warren certainly seems to be getting the attention she deserves. As well as being shortlisted for the Aurealis Award for Best Horror novel, her debut novel – Slights – is in the preliminary ballot round for Superior Achievement in a First Novel in this year’s Stoker Awards. Don’t forget that Kaaron’s second novel – Walking the Tree – is out now!
Now we discover that she’s one of the authors in a new book of short fiction – Tails of Wonder and Imagination (Night Shade, edited by Ellen Datlow). Pretty impressive, when you consider that co-contributors include Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, George R R Martin, Graham Joyce, Michael Marshall Smith and Tanith Lee!
Guy Adams’ debut for Angry Robot – The World House is starting to get a lot of love around the blogosphere. The first full review we’ve seen is at sciencefictionandfantasy.co.uk. They liked it!
The World House is a utterly original, quite crazy and simply brilliant piece of fiction. 5*****
Over at Free Thinking: A Journal of Popular Culture, Lavie Tidhar’s The Bookman is held under the microscope:
This is Tidhar’s first novel, though he has written much short fiction, and he has set himself quite a standard to live up to. A sequel is in the offing and I can hardly wait. I could write much more but I want you to discover this novel’s delights for yourself. Do I need to add that this is highly recommended? 5*****
Meanwhile, seven months after its UK release, and three months before its US publication, Lauren Beukes’ critically-acclaimed debut, Moxyland continues to delights and impress new readers.
Specusphere.com have this to say:
Her style is distinct, comprising short, almost staccato sentences that mimic the pace of the people and the society itself that seems to spin frenetically like a gerbil on a wheel… Beukes has done a fabulous job of world building, although it’s a world I’m glad I don’t inhabit!
I highly recommend this novel for fans of William Gibson and others who are fascinated by a talented new writer with a distinct style.
Those fine people over at Lateral Books have taken a look at Aliette de Bodard’s Servant of the Underworld:
I am finding it rather difficult to express my opinions of this novel without resorting to gushing like a schoolgirl about it… It is a book which is like a fresh breeze of crisp air.
Thankyou, Angry Robot. They’ve done a great job in unearthing some of the most exciting books of last year, and no doubt will be digging up some more future giants this year. I fully expect Ms De Bodard’s name to be huge.
I just can’t wait. Now, excuse me. I’m off to sacrifice something for Ms De Bodard’s continued success.
You know, I think they rather liked it!
This week’s signing, plus competition reminder
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Remember that this Friday at 6.00pm, there is an opportunity to meet with Angry Robot authors Aliette de Bodard and John Meaney at the Forbidden Planet Megastore in London. You can pick up signed copies of their books (Aliette’s Servant of the Underworld and John’s Edge – written under his alter-ego’s name: Thomas Blackthorne).
While there you can pick up a competition entry form to win one of two great prizes – a stone replica of an Aztec calendar (to tie in with Servant of the Underworld) or the opportunity to have a character named after you, and killed in Point – the sequel to Edge, published later this year!
Also, don’t forget this week’s competition, celebrating the release of Guy Adams’ The World House, alongside Kaaron Warren’s Walking the Tree and Thomas Blackthorne’s Edge.
Write a short story about any subject you like. The only rules are:
- 1) It has to be 13 sentences long
- 2) The first word of the first sentence must begin with T, the first word of the second sentence must begin with H, the first word of the third sentence must begin with E, and so on, so that the first letters of the sentences, printed one under the other, spell out “THE WORLD HOUSE”.
The best entries will be sent to Guy Adams for judging, and the winner gets an Angry Robot USB drive plus a choice of any book Angry Robot published in 2009. No geographical restrictions.
Send your entries (in Word or RTF format) to: theworldhouse [AT] angryrobotbooks.com
Competition ends Sunday 14th February.
Good luck, and have fun!
The World House – Chapter One Podcast
Posted by: | CommentsMr Guy Adams is a talented fellow. A former actor, he’s now a full-time writer, but his former occupation always through in everything he does. If ever a voice was built for podcasting, it’s his.
Ladies and gentlemen, turn up the bass, take a seat and enjoy Guy Adams reading Chapter One of The World House (published tomorrow in the UK).
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If you’d prefer to download it, the file can be found here. Download and save to your desktop in the usual way, then transfer it to your MP3 player of choice.
Enjoy…
Walking the Tree – now with free novella!
Posted by: | CommentsAngry Robot set its stall out from the very start as an imprint that would be trying different approaches to delivering stories. Over the last year we’ve been fortunate to be in a prime position to take advantage of the surge in eBook editions. Now here’s another idea we’d like to run past you.
While writing Walking the Tree, ace AR author Kaaron Warren naturally concentrated on her central character, Lillah. But as she explored that woman’s incredible journey around Botanica’s immense Tree, she became just as fascinated with the story of one of her young companions, Morace.
So fascinated, in fact… that she rewrote the whole book from Morace’s point of view! Well, we couldn’t just hide that away and so, if you buy a physical copy of Walking the Tree you’ll find, amongst our usual swathe of extras and freebies at the end, the first two chapters of his story… and a secret download link and password, that will allow you to download or read the entire novella. And if you get the eBook edition, well, you get the whole thing as an added extra.
Who knows – perhaps this sort of thing could catch on. I’m sure we could all think of secondary characters whose adventures we’d like to read from their POV. And plenty more who we wouldn’t, of course.
And now… more fabulous art
Posted by: | CommentsAre you getting bored of this yet? We’re definitely not. It seems like pretty much every day in the Angry Robot office is a “woah, that’s just awesome!” day at the moment, and as long as the weather remains cold and wintery long may that little flash of sheer joy continue to light up our chilly world.
Today’s wonderful specimen is the cover art for Dan Abnett’s September title, Embedded. Our artist is the almost supernaturally talented Larry Rostant, who also provided the cover image for Dan’s most recent book for us, that wild historical fantasy romp extravaganza, Triumff; Her Majesty’s Hero.
Embedded is the first of Dan’s original novels in the vein of his bestselling military SF tie-ins for the Black Library, being set on the battlefield of a future war. In this case, we’re on a desert planet just a few hundred years from now. Rebellious first colonists are fighting back against more recent arrivals, and the war is getting grim. A journalist manages to get himself to the front line by being chipped into the brain of a combat soldier… but when that soldier is killed, he has to take over the body and get himself back home again somehow, broadcasting on an open feed the whole time.
You want hardcore future war? You got it. As per usual, click on this image to get a larger version. Try not to dribble.
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And another *stunning* piece of art
Posted by: | CommentsToday it’s the cover for Ian Whates‘ first fantasy novel, City of Dreams & Nightmare. The cover is by Greg Bridges, the Australian artist who also graced us with the cover for Kaaron’s Walking the Tree.
This time we’re in the land of brass and clockwork, amongst the many towering spires of Thaiburley, City of a Hundred Rows – a setting that is as much of a character in the novel as any of the people. We see a vast metal and glass heart that appears to be running the city through some mysterious alchemical process, while through the great iron-worked windows you can glimpse a brief part of the vast city. To our minds, this is just stunning.
Click this image for a bigger version and check out all that incredible metalwork detailing. Seems almost a shame to shove lettering all over it.
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More gorgeous cover art
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OK, so there’s been a “healthy debate” recently about the featuring (or the avoidance of featuring) characters from non-white cultures on fantasy and SF books. For us, well, perhaps we’re being a tad naive but it never occurred to us. Zinzi, the “girl who finds things” in Lauren Beukes’ very urban fantasy Zoo City, is a black South African, so of course that’s what she looks like on John Picacio’s cover.
And King, the hero of Maurice Broaddus’ superb resetting of the King Arthur mythos among the drug gangs of an American inner city, well, how else could you possibly portray him? If this was a movie – and these incredible books damn well should be! – we wouldn’t blink at a movie poster showing Denzel or Will in the role of our hero. So anyway, here’s the cover art for book two, King’s Justice, which ain’t even out for months and months. Artist once again is the superb Steve Stone. Damn, he’s good.
And here’s our Maurice on his own reaction to the process of depicting his characters in these illustrations.
[As usual, click for a bigger version.]
