by Craig Lunnon

Picked up in an Amazon 99p sale, if memory serves, last year. I was in the mood for something light-hearted and this didn’t disappoint. Its certainly coming from a different angle than the usual urban fantasy genre. It cracked along at a fair pace, with some excellent wise cracking asides. I felt the author was channeling the likes of Robert Rankin, Tom Holt and the like, with aspirations to Kadrey and Aaronovitch.

Nothing from him since, so I wondered if it was self published via Amazon, but it appears not.

By Peter Morwood

The second of the prequels to the Horse Lord series (it turns out he’s aiming for three), I bought it when they were having a sale, well before the embargo, I think. I was looking forward to it, in part because I was hoping that Morwood would spend more time on Sorcery and The Art Magic – in fact, this is left to the last third, if not quarter, of the book, before things start hotting up, which left me a little frustrated.
No reflection on the author, after all, he’s not to blame for my expectations, but its an area that’s only hinted at, and I’d much enjoy a book in that world, set from the perspective of an practitioner of The Art Magic, as not much more of made of Bayard’s Talent, which I also found frustrating.

I think what fascinates the author is the interplay of honour and tradition in such a setting, which while it informs it, is not the draw for me.

I’ll purchase the last one of course, and the next in the Horse Lord series, should he actually write it (as mentioned on his books page).

By Cory Doctorow

I bought this as part of the Humble eBook Bundle; it was one of the bundle that I’d been meaning to get round to reading. It took me some time because its YA; which Doctorow seems to be writing more and more of (can’t blame him; I hear its the most lucrative market, which makes sense). The problem is, I have a low embarrassment threshold, and as I identify/emote easily with the protagonists, being reminded of teenage years is never a good thing!

Anyway, it took me some time to get into, mostly because of the YA and the fairly gut wrenching start of the protagonist ruining his family’s life by getting them cut off the internet.
Actually, even though this is the main point of the book, this law has never made much sense to me – there are just so many ways round it these days – but I’m probably missing stuff Doctorow’s seen, since he’s a smart cookie and no mistake. However, I pretty much tore through the last third

This is less of a pean to technology than, say, Little Brother (and I’m pleased to have finished this just in time for Homeland, the sequel to that, to be released), as its more about civil rights, but there is some of Doctorow’s signature technical fetishism as well, which I always enjoy. Few people write about technologies potential to do cool stuff as well or with such passion as Doctorow, and its why I always come back to his work.

On that note, I would be remiss to remind people that Cory makes his works available free to download under a creative commons license, so go and read it, as well as all his other works here, and then take advantage of the network he’s setup, to buy a copy for a library, or school or so forth that has asked for one – this is a great idea that more eBook pundits should consider!

I will add ‘For The Win’ to my to-read list, as I’d been holding off reading another YA, and am not wildly interested in MMORPG’s, both of which this features, even though it also features the economics of the same and China, both of which I *am* interested in..

By Saladin Ahmed

I plain loved this book. The characters weren’t stereotypes, the plot wasn’t a pean to the authority of the Khalif, and the bad guy was suitably evil. It has such verisimilitude in the phrases used, the descriptions of the city and the desert, that I was immersed in the world immediately.

I love Arabic world stories, evoking the little travel I’ve done there, but most that I’ve read have been written by westerners, so its a refreshing change to read one from an Arabic American author.

I’ve blogged before on Ahmed’s works, and this is of no lesser quality – and has enough hooks left over that the end for more than one sequel, I hope.

I do prefer the US cover, though.

Bought on pre-order before my self imposed curfew, delivered after. I don’t think this voilates the letter, but it somewhat bends the spirit..

By Charles Stross

I bought this just before my self imposed purchase curfew (such as it is), on the 31st and have been avidly munching through through it since then, and just finished.

I really enjoyed this – and judging by the way Stross wrote the sequel in four months flat last year, when he normally takes a year or so in between, so did he!

Stross has mentioned in the past that he writes each Laundry novel inspired by a different spy character. I’d not read any ‘Modesty Blaze’ books, but I liked the influence it brought this time round.

I shall be pre-ordering the next one when it comes out on Kindle, which is likely this year (wait, damnit! Er. Does pre-ordering count?).

By Saladin Ahmed

I’d been waiting for Ahmed to release a short story collection since I was fortunate enough to get a bundle of his short stories as part of the Hugo Voters Packet last year, upon his nomination for the Cambell award.

I’d come across his work first via Podcastle, with their reading of ‘Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela‘, a disturbing, haunting tale that was very ’1001 Arabian Nights’ and its own thing – as evocative of what little Arabic culture I’d seen as Ted Cheung’s ‘The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate’. They must have bought up all his short stories at the time, because
‘Mr Hadj’s Sunset Ride‘ followed a while later, and then ‘Judgment of Swords and Souls‘, with ‘Iron-Eyes and the Watered Down World‘ getting the ‘Podcastle Giant’ treatment.

They were all excellent, and, apart from all incorporating Islam and the Arabic world in some way, completely different in style and subject. I’d already donated to Podcastle, so this collection was a chance to put some cash his way, as well as get some short stories I’d not otherwise seen. Indeed, the one that opens the collection, a prequel to his novel ‘Throne of The Crescent Moon’, got me even more interested in reading the same (and I’d heard uniformly good things), as soon as I can whittle down the to-read pile somewhat…