Review | The Mangrove Legacy by Kit Marlowe

The Mangrove Legacy
by Kit Marlowe

This is a slightly silly book. There are kidnappings, pirates, ghosts and several swoonings, a light tone, a little romance and a very silly girl called Alice, with a far more sensible cousin called Lizzie. The Mangrove Legacy is a comedy gothic romance and it’s a joy. Extremely well written with some very entertaining asides from the author, especially early on and around Alice’s character, it’s a book you can fly through in a relaxing, self indulgent afternoon.

Although Alice is largely a bit silly and Lizzie while more sensible is hardly the most solid and down to earth character ever, I did find myself very fond of them both and somewhat invested in their well being during their chaotic adventures. Of course they had me at ‘fall in love with not entirely suitable men’.

This is a genuinely entertaining, superbly crafted, somewhat silly and utterly wonderful book. An antidote to too serious romances with ludicrous plots, knowingly tongue in cheek and yet still offering characters you can’t help but like and empathise with and adventures that have you almost skipping ahead to check everyone makes it out ok. It also makes a very serious point about pockets.

Heartily recommended to anyone who has a sense of humour, even if comedy, gothic and romance are three genres they firmly shun under normal circumstances.

Review | Plague Town by Dana Fredsti

Plague Town
by Dana Fredsti
pub: Titan Books

Ashley Parker is a mature student (ok not that mature, but technically) dating a nice slightly younger guy and starting classes a week later after a nasty bout of flu. Ashley is lucky, she shakes the flu just fine, but plenty of others in the area are finding it a killer. The thing I love about Fredsti is that no matter what genre she is writing in she has a knack for writing people I adore, I mean really utterly want to move in next door to, hang out with every friday for pizza and movies and just squish with hugs adore. I love the humour and warmth of her leads and the less likeable characters always give me some amusement. Add to that an excellent action packed and well considered zombie story, a bunch of pop culture references that are spot on for me, a pinch of karmic justice, great writing and a generous splash of gore and i’m a happy reader. Why yes Dana I am your target demographic and you find me well and happy and having fever dreams about dealing with the zombie apocalypse.

This is going to be a fantastic series, zombie novels for the Buffy generation and remember folks… Ripley and the cat both survived!

 

The Chosen Seed – Sarah Pinborough

The Chosen Seed
By: Sarah Pinborough
Pub: Gollancz
375 Pages

The third book in the Dog-Faced Gods trilogy brings things to a close in fine form.

The story has taken an interesting course across the three books, with the mix of crime and the supernatural initially weighted towards the crime end of the spectrum, and shifting over the course of the series to a considerably more supernatural footing.

After taking a bullet to the shoulder and being framed for murder Cass Jones is most definitely on the other side of the fence now. The former Detective Inspector’s old colleagues are on his trail and while some doubt his guilt, others are certain of it.

Cass is still after the Network, the organisation responsible for the kidnapping of his nephew. Headed by the elusive and ageless Mr Bright the tangled skein of the Network’s control runs deep, from their ownership of The Bank to the manipulation of governments. Despite this apparently overwhelming nexus of power around them Cass is none the less determined to bring them down.

Forced to keep away from his old haunts and colleges Cass has fallen back onto his criminal contacts to further his quest. There’s some honour between thieves but not quite enough to keep Cass safe it seems.

The Network is not the cohesive group it once was, and Mr Bright has to worry about internal politicking as well as his continuing plans for Cass. Not only are individuals challenging his power, but there are other more supernatural matters forcing his hand.

London is again at the heart of the book, and provides the hunting ground of a third serial killer, who’s infecting people with the lethal Strain II virus, filling hospital wards and spreading panic. This time the formula that’s been used in the last two books holds true but is presented in a different way, taking advantage of the readers shift in perspective over the series.

The final book really does bring things together very well. The tempo set in the series  increases and there’s a feeling of foreboding that permeates the book. The bleakness of the world Cass inhabits only grows with the streets of London stewing in their own fear, as well as the more personal issues of Cass’s new status as a fugitive.

The plot brings in new threads that are integrated into the whole smoothly, but Cass remains the centre of the book. The hardened character introduced in the first book has become even more tightened down as the books have progressed, but there are chinks to be found in the façade.

The ending perhaps provides too much of a direct explanation of the world, but it does serve to tie the series off well.It’s certainly not the end to events that I envisaged, or when planned for by Cass or the Machiavellian Mr Bright.

If you’ve read the first two book this finishes them off very well indeed. If you’ve not read the series, go have a look at what your missing.

Comics – 18th April 2012

The Night Of Owls begins in the New 52. Spilling out of the pages of this month’s Batman, Bruce Wayne’s fight against the Court Of Owls engulfs all of the Bat family bar Batwoman in frantic battle. They even appear in the Justice League this month. It’s going to provide  useful spike of continuity across many of the issues. It’s also good to see an event that doesn’t overtake the whole of DC’s output as these things are sometimes want to do.

DC – New 52 #8 Part 3
Batman
Birds Of Prey
Blue Beetle
Green Lantern Corps
Justice League
Nightwing
Red Hood & The Outlaws
Supergirl
Wonder Woman

Not Reviewed
Captain Atom
Catwoman
DC Universe Presents
The Legion Of Superheroes

Marvel
Incredible Hulk #7

Other
Dominique Laveau: VoodooChild

Skipped To The End…
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Alt.Fiction 2012, as the dust settles

I meet a childhood hero thanks to Pat Kelleher

Well, I am home, tired, relaxed and happy having almost completed my duties for altfiction 2012.

As the dust settles I want to share a few thank you’s, or as I like to call it ‘My Gwyneth Paltrow Oscar moment’

First of all a big thank you to all the participants, I am always delighted by how the alt fic community is willing to give their time and energy to events like this, to share their knowledge and experience with other writers and fans. Particularly impressive are those who along with Paul Cornell attended a mere week after Eastercon, heroic effort folks and we appreciated it. Thanks to Keith Large for letting us have fun with his play the Carrot Nappers. Everyone was spectacular and our guests of honour Ken MacLeod and James Swallow brought Saturday night in, in spectacular fashion.

@mygoditsraining, @fiskerton, Catherine Rogers, Jim Worrad

Second the Volunteers and my team of Minions and Catherine from WEM who all provided ad hoc support particularly Alasdair Stuart who played host, compere and sound engineer as well as panelist over the weekend. I received awesome amounts of support from my crack squad this weekend which helped things run very smoothly.

Huge thanks to Constable Robinson, PanMacmillan, Gollancz and SFX magazine for all their support and the big boxes of stuff that came for the goody bags and to Forbidden Planet London for the bags. Thanks to everyone who provided fliers, bookmarks and the like for the bags.

A special mention too for @mygoditsraining and @franterminiello for bringing baked goods to add to te festival of cake that we like to run on the sidelines.

Coz that's how we roll!

Thanks to the Phoenix and staff for hosting the event and having us back next year and for being cheerful and charming throughout and not running out of booze.

Over the last few months Del Lakin-Smith has done a fantastic job with the website so thank you to ‘Beyond the Blurb’ for their ongoing support.

A thank you to to the ride leaders and Peter for organising the Adrian Mole bike tour and to Leicester Cycle City for sponsoring it.

Most of all thank you to everyone who paid to attend our event, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and that we will see you again in May 2013, back at Phoenix Square.

It couldn’t have happened without all of you and no doubt a lot of other people I haven’t picked out here.

Comics – 11th April 2012

There’s a bit of a run on 2000AD this week as clickwheel is now up to date, so rather than have three issues lost in this review they’ll be getting a special post later in the month. There’s quite a bit from the New 52 to review as well, and a fair number of very good comics from the publishers outside the big two. Here we go…

DC – New 52 #8 Part 2

Batgirl
Batwoman
Deathstroke
Demon Knights
Green Lantern
Legion Lost
Resurrection Man
Suicide Squad
Superboy

Not Reviewed
Batman & Robin
Grifter
Mister Terrific
Frankenstein Agent Of S.H.A.D.E.

DC

The Shade

Marvel

Winter Soldier

Other

Saga
Saucer Country
Secret
Thief Of Thieves
Valen The Outcast

Skipped To The End…

Continue reading

Comics – 4th April 2012

Sadly 2000AD’s website seems to be suffering tech difficulties, or to quote one of there tweets “Our website has a Thrillsucker infestation, Earthlets. DO NOT PANIC! Droids are now sweeping the server sub-basement with electro-whips.”

Marvel starts Avengers vs X-Men proper this week, but I’m still not getting drawn in. Hopefully I can avoid it all being spoiled too much.

I’ve cut back hugely on the New 52 comics, possibly too harshly, but that’s how it is going to be. I’m not looking forward to making decisions about next week’s releases though, but I’ll burn that bridge when I get to it.

DC – New 52 #8 Part 1

Animal Man
Justice League International
Stormwatch
Swamp Thing

Not Reviewed

Action Comics
Batwing
Detective Comics
Green Arrow
Hawk & Dove
Men Of War
OMAC
Red Lantern
Static Shock

Other

Supurbia

Skipped To The End…


DC – New 52 #8 Part 1

Animal Man #8
Written by Jeff Lemire
Pencilled by Steve Pugh & Travel Foreman
Inked by Jeff Huet & Steve Pugh
Cover Color by Loverne Kindzierski
Lettered by Jared K FletcherIt’s not often I swear on here so understand the level of weirded out I am when I say fuck me sideways with a fish knife but the body horror returns in the most horrific of manners this month. Also bear in mind I don’t shock easy. I for one am glad the art is no more detailed than it is. You’ve been warned folks.

Surrounded by creatures of the Rot it’s time for Barry to make some hard decisions. The strong feeling of family comes to the fore once again as Buddy does what he can to protect his family, weight Ellen’s fear against Maxine’s increasing powers.

Animal Man is really looking like the best horror title out there at the moment. It is also far more than that. The heart of the book really emphasise the strain of the crazy world of superheroes has on a person and their family, especially the current nastiness. It something not seen often enough and serves to ground a book, and give depth that would perhaps otherwise be lacking.

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Comics- 28th March 2012

So this week sees the very beginning of the great war of our time. Avengers vs X-Men. (Well issue #0 at least) Thankfully I’m maintaining my stance on only really picking Marvel comics up in trade paperback, so it’ll be a year or so before I start going on about this.

I’ve cut back this week’s reviewing so let’s get to it.

DC – New 52 #7 Part 4

Aquaman
Blackhawks
The Flash
Green Lantern: New Guardians
Justice League Dark
I, Vampire
Teen Titans

Not Reviewed

All Star Western
Batman: The Dark Knight
The Fury Of Firestorm: The Nuclear Man
The Savage Hawkman
Superman
Voodoo

DC
Legion: Secret Origin

2000AD
Prog 1775

Other
The New Deadwardians

Skipped To The End…

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Comics- 21st March 2012

The Justice League returns to its usual spot this month, and delivers a mixed issue. Elsewhere the Court Of Owls story line demonstrates its reach in Batman and Nightwing and Green Lantern Corps takes a sombre turn.

DC – New 52 #7 Part 3

Batman
Birds Of Prey
Blue Beetle
Green Lantern Corps
Justice League
The Legion Of Superheroes
Nightwing
Red Hood & The Outlaws
Supergirl
Wonder Woman

Not Reviewed
Captain Atom
Catwoman
DC Universe Presents

2000AD

Prog 1774

Other

No Place Like Home #2
Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child

Skipped To The End…

Continue reading

Review | Money Shot by Christa Faust

Hard Case Crime
Money Shot
by Christa Faust

Angel Dare is an ex porn star and now runs her own, reasonably successfully agency. When a Romanian girl comes in asking to contact one of Angel’s models and swiftly followed by a couple of pushy thugs Angel has no idea the strong of events that have just been triggered or how it’s going to change her life.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read. It’s not a genre i’ve delved into much but I had fun. There were one or two small leaps of faith I had to make in Angel’s decision making as part of the set up for the action but it was easy to do and nothing that pushed me out of the story.

I liked Angel, she’s fun and in her own way very tough, she gets tougher too. There is heaps of action, some horrifying scenes that ensure the reader is absolutely morally behind Angel all the way and a slice of irreverent humour that is all Faust. I think all in all this is exactly what I wanted it to be.