What is The Blue Blazes?

The Blue Blazes
Chuck Wendig
Angry Robot Books
UK Print
Date: 6th June 2013
ISBN: 9780857663344
Format: Medium (B-Format) Paperback
R.R.P.: £8.99
US/CAN Print
Date: 28th May 2013
ISBN: 97808576633518
Format: Small (Mass-Market) Paperback
R.R.P.: US$7.99 CAN$8.99
Ebook
Date: 28th May 2013
ISBN: 9780857663368
Format: Epub & Mobi
R.R.P.: £5.49 / US$6.99

Chuck Wendig's latest novel is the first in new series, about a gangster named Mookie Pearl.  It's an over the top blend of fantasy, horror, and noir wrapped inside a family drama.  This is what urban fantasy for guys looks like, although I'm sure a number of ladies will enjoy it as well.

Mookie is a gangster who has a special skill set.  He deals with problems the Organization has with the Great Below, the underworld where several supernatural races live and scheme against humanity.  He's divorced, hasn't spoken to his ex in years, and is trying to build a relationship with his estranged teen daughter who's building a criminal empire of her own.  Somehow she's learned that the head of the Organization, The Boss, is dying of cancer.  This is not yet public knowledge.

When the Boss's appointed heir and nephew asks Mookie to try and find a way to cure The Boss in the Great Below, Mookie knows it's a fool's errand, but really, what choice does have?  The Blue Blazes of the title refers to a blue powder mined in the Great Below.  When rubbed on the temples, it allows a person to perceive the supernatural world around them.  There are other substances, all of them with colors in the name, that are rumored to exist but by and large believed to be mythical by most people.  It's one of these the nephew wants Mookie to find in order to save his uncle.

The task would be bad enough, but there are other who are also aware of The Boss's impending demise.   And they're moving to take advantage of it.  Including Mookie's daughter.

The action in this one moves fast and furious.  Wendig has crafted a compelling mystery, a suspenseful thriller, and a gritty urban fantasy with a dash of Lovecraft.  And along the way he manages to make Mookie Pearl a sympathetic character in spite of the fact that Mookie isn't the sort of man who would want to invite to dinner.

The secondary cast are well developed.  While the story is told primarily from Mookie's viewpoint, Wendig shows us the other characters' thoughts and motivations. Mookie's friends and enemies are an assorted lot, including mobsters, ordinary, humans, and even a dead man (that Mookie had killed).

The major plots lines were all resolved, but things won't be going back to the status quo.  It's going to be interesting to see where Wendig takes this one.  And in case you're wondering, no, he hasn't abandoned the Miriam Black series (reviewed here and here).  There's an announcement of the next one, The Cormorant, in the author bio.

I'd like to thank Angry Robot for the review copy.  Below is an excerpt.  Check it out. 

Open publication - Free publishing - More criminal

An Open Letter to Stephen King

The Wall Street Journal published an article (link may expire) yesterday in which Stephen King announced that his next novel, Joyland from Hard Case Crime, won't have an electronic edition.  As you can imagine, there's been no end of comment on the web.  After reading some of the remarks, both supportive and not so supportive, I thought I'd put my two cents in, specifically where he said "...let people stir their sticks and go to an actual bookstore rather than a digital one."

Dear Mr. King,

While I doubt you'll ever read these words, or care very much if you did, I still would like to go on record responding to the comments you made recently regarding Joyland not having an electronic edition. 

I've read a number of your books over the years, and I've enjoyed most of them.  I particularly appreciate your publishing Joyland through Hard Case Crime as Hard Case is one of my favorite publishers.  Your association with them is sure to strengthen their sales, helping to insure they continue to publish more books.  And for the record, I've been intending to buy a print copy of Joyland, if for no other reason than I like they way the look on the shelf and have an almost complete set.

I'm not going to chastise you for holding onto the digital rights to your book.  More power to you for doing so.  I only wish all authors had that choice.  Nor do I wish to take you to task for taking control of your career.  I only wish more authors would.  Then maybe publishers wouldn't try to slip so many draconian terms into their contracts.

Over what I do wish to take issue with you, sir, is the statement you made in which you said "...let people stir their sticks and go to an actual bookstore rather than a digital one."  I find that to be highly insulting.  The are multiple reasons why I feel this way.  Please allow me to explain. 

Return to Starvation Lake

The Hanging Tree
Bryan Gruley
St. Martin's
tpb $15.00
electronic $9.73 Kindle $10.93 Nook

Last summer I picked up a mystery, Starvation Lake, by newcomer Bryan Gruley.  I was impressed.  A few weeks ago I finally got around to buying the sequel.

I concluded my review of Starvation Lake with speculation about the sequel, mentioning the fact that sequels sometime don't live up to the standards set by their predecessors.  That's not the case here. 

Congratulations to the Nebula Award Winners

The winners of the 2012 Nebula Awards were announced over the weekend in San Jose, California.

They are: 

NOVEL:  2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
NOVELLA: After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress (Tachyon)
NOVELLETTE: “Close Encounters” by Andy Duncan (The Pottawatomie Giant & Other Stories)
SHORT STORY: “Immersion” by Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 6/12)
RAY BRADBURY AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DRAMATIC PRESENTATION: Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin (director),  Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Abilar (writers), (Journeyman/Cinereach/Court 13/Fox Searchlight)
ANDRE NORTON AWARD FOR YOUNG ADULT SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY BOOK: Fair Coin, E.C. Myers (Pyr)
2012 DAMON KNIGHT GRAND MASTER AWARD: Gene Wolfe
SOLSTICE AWARD: Carl Sagan and Ginjer Buchanan
KEVIN O’DONNELL JR. SERVICE TO SFWA AWARD: Michael H. Payne

A complete list of the nominees can be found on the SFWA website.  

Adventures Fantastic would like to congratulate all the nominees and especially the winners.

New Acquisitions

Today a friend and I took my son hiking in Palo Duro Canyon while our wives stayed home doing whatever wives do when husbands are away.  (I don't want to know; that it involves spending money is enough.)  This will tie into a Dispatches From the Lone Star Front post later in the week after another road trip. 

When I go home, there was a package waiting for me.  It contained a copy of Ari Marmell's In Thunder Forged from Pyr Books.  Along with Wrath-Breaking Tree (James Enge) and Kindred and Wings (Philippa Ballantine) that came Thursday and Nebula Awards Showcase (Catherine Asaro, ed.), which arrived last week, that's four from Pyr in about ten days.  The Marmell and Nebula Awards will be reviewed first since the former will be out in a couple of weeks, and the latter is out already.  That's not to say some of the other review copies Pyr has sent me won't end up in the queue in the next couple of weeks.

I've also got several titles from Angry Robot in my ereader:  The Blue Blazes by Chuck Wendig (which I've already started and am loving), iD by Madelaine Ashbury, and A Discourse in Steel by Paul S. Kemp.

Finally, I'm looking forward to diving into No Return by Zachary Jernigan.  He was kind enough to send me a copy of his first novel.  This one got some good advance buzz, and I love the cover.  It's up Blue Blazes. 

Anyway, those are the novels from publishers and authors I've agreed to read and review.  I still plan to increase the amount of short fiction I review.  (Sooper Seekrit Project #2 requires me to do so.)  I'm also going to stick in some novels just because I want to read them.

Think all that will keep me busy?

It's All Over but the Crying

Well, not quite, but almost.  I turned in grades for graduating seniors (as well as for a few who thought they were) today plus most of my other grades.  There are a few loose ends to tie up, some student inquiries about why they barely passed when they all the papers they got back were A's (uh-huh, yeah, right), a blatant case of academic dishonesty to crack down on, and that sort of thing.  But for the most part, my semester is over.

I'm not going to get much time off.  As lab director, I work all year because we have summer classes.  I'm not teaching this summer, so I should have some time for fun before things get hectic in the fall when I've got another overload.  In the meantime, I'm going to get some rest, get caught up on reading, increase my blog output, and get back to writing my own fiction.  Hopefully, I'll have some of my own fiction up for sale within a few weeks.

A couple of ARCs from Pyr were waiting for me when I got home this evening that I'm looking forward to diving into, I want to read some of the Nightshade titles I've not gotten to in an effort to show support for them with all they've gone through lately, and I have some eARCs from Angry Robot to read.  Plus a couple of indie titles. 

Does it sound like I'm going to be busy?  I got tired just thinking about it.  I'm probably not going to dive into any of that until next week sometime.  I'm going to read for my own pleasure for the rest of the week, something along the lines of noir and/or space opera and let my mental batteries recharge.  (There's a blog post in there that ties in with something Tobias Buckell wrote the other day.)  I'll probably blog about whatever I choose to read, but for now I want to relax.

So that's how things stand with me.  What's up with you?

Blogging Conan: The Scarlet Citadel

It's been quite a while since I wrote a post on Conan.  All I can say, "Where did the time go?"

Anyway, there are times when you just need to get back to basics.  This weekend has been one of them.

The Frazetta art for "The Scarlet Citadel", shown at right and originally appearing on the cover of Conan the Usurper, has always been one of my favorites.  Perhaps it's because I don't like snakes.  If that were me chained up, I probably be a blubbering mass of jelly.  Anyway, even though it isn't exactly faithful to Howard's description, it's still a masterpiece. 

"The Scarlet Citadel" was the third Conan story published in Weird Tales, following "The Phoenix on the Sword" and "The Tower of the Elephant", although "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" and "The God in the Bowl" were probably written before Howard wrote "The Scarlet Citadel".  (Links are to my posts about those stories.)