The Black Lung Captain

A Tale of the Ketty Jay (Book 2) by Chris Wooding

The Disreputable crew of the Ketty Jay are back! Cap’n Darian Frey, orphan, gambler and pirate who values his freedom above all else! Jez, a girl the ability to read the wind but without a heartbeat! Malvery, an excellent surgeon on the rare occasions when he’s sober! Pinn, a gormless twit who aims to make his fame and fortune! Harkins, a nervous wreck after the previous war but still an excellent flier! Crake, a demonologist with a 10- ton golem at his command but with a strange emotional attachment to it.. And not forgetting Slag, the physcotic, battle-scarred cat that really owns the ship and suffers not a rat to live!

Having saved their nation from a coupe at Retribution Falls, what could this group of unlikely heroes be planning next? Erm… Robbing an Orphanage!?!?! It’s alright though, Frey’s an orphan and more needy then they are (in his unbiased view). This leads to the situation at the start of the book with the crew being chased through a dark forest by an angry mob wanting to introduce them to shotguns or pitchforks.

From their, the action starts moving with the exploration described on the blurb with the crew intrepidly carving their way into a new continent onto which few venture and fewer return to collect an artefact which will see them set for life (just as the mission was meant to achieve last time..). It goes without saying that it goes slightly awry and what would be the entire plot in most books is only the warm-up act for a tale of treachery, romance and political intrigue that takes in the entire beautiful air-punk world of the Ketty Jay stories* and leads to some deep questions being asked of the characters which doesn’t, however, stop it from being an excellent romp packed with action, demons and gunfights and dogfights coming out of the seams!

It also adds to the world, with more details of the political situation with the neighbouring “Sammies”, the nature of the preternatural marauding Manes from the North and the plans of the Awakeners to hold onto their power over the population against the countries own rulers. It also reveals more of the secretive motives of both the Demonists and Frey’s ex partner, the fearsome pirate queen.

Will Frey regain his prize and possibly his old flame along the way? Will Jez accept her Mane side and join the collective but forsake her humanity forever? Will Malvery stop drinking? Will Pinn track down the girl of his dreams? Will Harkins be able to stop Slag from suffocating him as he sleeps? Will Crake be able to defeat his internal demons long enough to deal with those from beyond? Will Slag avoid Harkins trap? Will the crew be able to survive, save the Duchy and be millionaires by Christmas? Find out this and more in “The Black Lung Captain!”

*See my review of Retribution Falls (here: http://hagelrat.blogspot.com/2010/09/retribution-falls-by-chris-wooding.html) for an introduction to the world.

If you enjoyed this consider reading:

I gave most of my books of a similar type for perusal up in the Retribution Falls. However, the chase sequence did remind of one thing:

Freefall by Mark Stanley: Not a book, but a webcomic this is one of my favourite reads on the internet. A brilliant science fiction in the style of Asimov and the masters, it follows the Sentient Canine Florence Ambrose as she tries to keep the rustbucket spaceship “The Savage Chicken” from falling apart.

Actually, that’s just the day job. In her spare time, she needs to stop robots on the planet (all 8+ million of them, compared to a handful of humans) being lobotomised or revolting whilst undertaking planetry terraforming, stop her squidly captain from stealing everything on the planet that’s not nailed down and possibly find romance whilst at it. The link to the Ketty Jay comes from Sam, her captain who’s a rogue that Frey could be proud of. Stealing everything from wallets to giant robotic babies (!) Sam is often to be seen chased through the streets with his robotic accomplice Helix close by to hand out ice-cream to the Mobees. A thoroughly enjoyable sci-fi tale, the link for the first story is here: http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff100/fv00001.htm. Got Doggy?

Much Ado About Nothing (Manga Shakespeare)

Yep, I'm back on the Manga Shakespeare books. And this is the adaptation of one of my favourite Shakespeare plays- Much ado about nothing. It focuses on the story of a household thrown into delighted chaos as their group of victorious soldiers come to visit with their prince.

Young Hero, the daughter of the resident landowner, quickly falls in love with Claudio, one of the Prince's right hand men, while her cousin Beatrice uses to time to dabble in a "war of words" with her rival, Benedick.

Unknown to the happy party-goers, Don Pedro, the prince's illegitimate half-brother, is plotting to destroy the Prince and his friends- and will go to any length to make his brother as miserable as he. A plan that revolves around Hero's imminent engagement and marriage to Claudio...

Meanwhile, another, altogether more cheerful plan hatches to reconcile Benedick and Beatrice, whose constant sparring- while entertaining, is beginning to wear thin. Hero and Claudio talk with the Prince and plan to 'trick' the two into falling in love... After all-

"Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps."

The storyline is witty and clever, and the character interaction between Beatrice and Benedick is always a delight- with their characters so inherently brilliant that I can't help but love them as a couple, with banter and probably one of the most equal male/female dynamics I've seen in Shakespeare. I'd also like to point out that I'm a little bit in love with Benedick. If only for this line (read left to right- bear in mind it's a two page spread):

Hero and Claudio are a pretty good representation of young love- easily earned and easily lost, with an interesting play off between Claudio's love of Hero and his pride as a man, as Don Pedro's plan threatens to tear them apart.

As an adaptation, this story works particularly well with great illustrations by Emma Vieceli, making this a really fun and easy way to enjoy Shakespeare's classic tale of love and the fickle nature of humanity. In manga form it's charged with a real energy and good humour.

British and Western Manga is often overlooked, but campaigns such as Sweatdrop Studios' efforts and Manga Shakespeare (Self Made Hero) are producing brilliant, high-quality storylines and artwork in the Manga category. The influence of the genre is spreading and this is a good example of an industry thats beginning to take off in the UK.

The detail in the characters and the gorgeous expressions really bring this story to life, and anyone wanting to give Shakespeare (or manga) a go should really start here.

Sorry, not meaning to do the hard sell, but I just FREAKING LOVE IT! haha :)

Wizard Squared by K.E. Mills. Rogue Agent book 3

You could probably read the book as a standalone, however reading a book based on an alternate history of a previous book without having read that book can be slightly tricky, so I did go back and read the others.



In the first book in the series, Gerald Dunwoody is fired from his job as a hum-drum civil servant (having worked as a civil servant I’m not sure if I resent or resemble that remark!) after accidentally blowing up the country’s premier Wizards Staff manufacturer, akin to blowing up Roll’s Royce in this world. Following the accident, his inventor friend Monk Markham lands him a job as the Court Wizard in a former colony of Ottosland (Gerald’s home-country, roughly akin to 1920’s-40’s Britain in attitudes and technology, give or take the magic!). Gerald, however isn’t the same as he was before the accident. His Magical abilities have been amplified to rogue level, making him almost unstoppable and a major concern of his home country’s MI5B equivalent. His new powers are soon put to the test when he has to confront the mad king of the colony (New Ottosland) who has the stolen potentias (magical aptitude/soul/power base) of the previous 3 wizards in Gerald’s job, backed by knowledge from a collection of forbidden knowledge previously owned by one of the wizards. During the showdown Gerald has a choice. Should he use the forbidden grimoires and use fire to fight fire but risk corruption, or should he try something different. In the first book, he makes the latter choice and ends up employed as an agent by the civil services. In the third book we encounter his equivalent in an alternate universe who made the other choice and has become mad with power, trying to re-shape the world as he imagines it should be and making “examples” out of those who don’t conform.

The Gemini Factor | Paul Kane

The Gemini Factor
by Paul Kane
Pub: Screaming Dreams
Cover: Steve Upham
270 pages

I was struck first by the dark poetry of Kane's writing. Then I was grabbed by the story and the characters.

When Sergeant Deborah Harrison visits the family of a murder victim she is shocked to find herself staring at the dead man's face. It quickly becomes evident that all the killer's victims are one of twins. Then there is Jack Foley, whose link to the killer is bizarre and unbelievable.

The Gemini Factor is dark, a crime novel with a horrific supernatural twist. It's intense, Kane doesn't give his characters or us much of a breather, a handful of domestic moments to ground us and keep us with the characters are all the respite the reader gets.

The characters themselves, Inspector Mason is not especially likeable but he's not meant to be. Foley and Harrison are the leads in this really and they are easy to empathise with, easy to like. The Sergeant is torn between her work and the possibility that Foley may be telling the truth, the need to solve the crime. Foley just wants to finish this, to stop seeing what his brother left in his head.

It's a good story, with good characters and great writing and for all that there is a supernatural aspect, it's the human element in the book that provides the real horror.

To experience Paul's writing for yourself see the short story Baggage we posted and for more on Paul's influences visit his Writers Reading post. For more on Paul Kane generally visit his website.

Brian Jaques - Redwall

by Harbinger,

I’ve always wanted to be a writer, its one of those secret fantasies people have like playing for England or suffocating Tony Blair….perhaps I should not have mentioned that one. Even as a child I wanted to write, from three Brave nights in search of a sacred Pork pie, to a well meaning man driven to shooting an ex-Prime Minister… (off I go again). I may never have been able to write much more than I could fit on the back of a beer mat, but the object of my inspiration remains with me today.

As a child I remember reading the Redwall books which I am unashamed to admit I still read today. When I have had a stressful day and feel sad an depressed that a civilised country could bring a person like Tony Blair into existence, it is good to regress into a child like state and forget everything. Brian Jaques is undoubtedly a great author, taking an old fashioned fantasy setting and making the characters take the form of animals. His first book (Redwall) is embryonic indicating that his world might take place in ours but in later books this disappears. 

Interview | Tom Lloyd

Tom Lloyd is the author of the excellent Twilight Reign series starting with The Stormcaller which we recently reviewed. I was delighted when he agreed to be interviewed and I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Your hero in Stormcaller is a white eye, predisposed to unusual size, strength and agression. Is it difficult to balance the neccessary characteristics of a character like that with creating a lead the reader can empathise with? Were you at all concerned that readers simply wouldn't connect with Isak?

Honestly, I didn't think about it much when I started writing - I was teaching myself to write at the time and was years off being published, so there were bigger issues to work on! Isak is different to the average white-eye though, it's the ones with a bit more personality that get elevated because they need some people skills to succeed and most simply don't have that. It is sometimes a tricky balance, but most of the time Isak's not trying to be vicious and I think that's what would have put people off.

Luckily most readers seem to have twigged and accepted what I was aiming for - a teenage boy not so unusual in personality to the rest. The size and strength he's go only highlights his need to control that temper, but most people growing up get a bit more time to realise they can actually hurt someone badly if they don't learn self-control.

Jordan Reyne | How the Dead Live

On Un:Bound we are all about stories. Those stories mostly come to us through , but there are many traditions of story telling and I see no reason we should be exclusive to the printed page.

Today then I am doing somethin a bit different. I want to draw your attention to a more traditional and often overlookd method of storytelling. The combining of a narrative with music to share history and myth.


Jordan Reyne is a New Zealand musician who tells stories through her albums. Her latest was commissioned by the New Zealand arts council and is a 'noir folk' album that tells the story of one of New Zealands first pioneers and sets her against the character 'History'.


Jordan's voice and haunting music create an incredible sense of atmosphere. There is a clear narrative thread and the battle with 'History' gives fantastic shape to the story. The lyrics are evocative and beautiful and the music sets pace and mood controlling the emotional journey.  Each track is a pleasure but listening to the album as a whole is the experience of listening to a bard at work, drawing you in and holding you while the story unfolds.

There is no doubt that Jordan is a storyteller as much as she is a musician.

You can find out more about Jordan and listen to some of her music here.

Fantasy Con 2010 - Audio recordings.

I only recorded a smattering of things from this years fantasy con but they are worth a listen.

First up, 'In the begining' focussing on the importance of opening lines. We lost the first few minutes to technical difficulties (holes in the hotel's wires).

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Then I got Guy Adam's interview with Garry Kilworth

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The Grass Is Greener was an entertaining and insightful discussion on genre hopping and comercialism.

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And finally the very silly panel show The Unbelievable Truth

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I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

The Chronicles of King Rolen’s King Book 3 “The Usurper”

Wow! Having gotten of to a tentative start (in my eyes) with the The Kings B******and developed strongly in the Uncrowned King the series’ third book is worth of being made into a stomping film, without losing any of the moral quandaries, elements of distance, or humanity that made it’s predecessors fascinating. It also has a gloriously swashbuckling ending, definitely in level 13 fencing territory.*

But I wouldn’t want to blow the gaff. The book follows on from the predecessor in that it continues to develop the world the characters exist in and how the dynamics of the different country’s (see prior reviews for details) run as they all approach crisis points. Rolencia is in the grip of an invading force against which the rightful king (Byren) needs to remove and take his treacherous** cousin from the throne. Merofynia’s king is aging and Duke Palatyne (formerly a mere warlord from and outlying Spar) is planning to take both power and the Kingsdaughter, despite her wishes and those of Piro, Rolencia’s Kingsdaughter who disguised as her maid (read the second book to find why!) and finally the Ostron Isle is also facing a power struggle as the elector approaches his death and the merchant families circle like sharks*** scenting blood.

Once again the characters develop. Byren is the rightful king but doesn’t like to be, and his image has been destroyed in neighbouring nations by Duke Palatyne (History is written by the victor) making his restoration to power difficult, particularly as he has to persuade the Spar Warlords to follow him when he has no army or kingdom to his name.

Fyn, Byren’s younger brother is meanwhile put into a situation where he has to ask a rogue mage for help, despite having been taught that non-abbey affinity is evil and dangerous. He also has to cope both with the group of Pirates who are acting as both his body-guards and captors and with his own affinity ability’s.

Piro, meanwhile, has to thwart Duke Palatyne without revealing her own identity or developing affinity skills, all the while under the eye of Lord Dunstany who initially took her as a servant.
As aforementioned, all parties have to wrestle their conscious and make tough decisions, rather then “The Enemy is EVIL, get him” mindset shown often shown. Admittedly, the enemy aren’t fluffy and likeable, with a policy of “hostile or not, a peasant can’t stab us in the back if he’s missing his right hand, can he?” forcing Byren to decide between his importance as ruler of the country and the livelihoods of the people in it.

For posing questions like the last and combining it with excellent action sequence uninterrupted by the overwhelming introspection I described in its predecessors, The Usurper makes a truly great read. Whilst it would probably stand alone, to learn the reasoning behind the characters viewpoints it would be best to go back and read the others and watch them develop, from youths in a fairly simple kingdom to players on the world stage, making hard choices and choosing what they believe in a world where very little is as it seams.

If these sounds of interest to you and you get the book, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
All the best!

*For the uninitiated, fencing grading runs up to level 9 where you can teach a class by yourself. Level 13 is suggested to be “Princess Bride” or “Zorro” level and involves jumping of things swinging from the chandeliers and other theatrics .
** And I mean treacherous. Grima Wormtongue could take lessons from this one, and he’s good-looking to boot!
*** I won’t insult vultures, they’re smart creatures. Squabbling, yes but not scheming or treacherous. Disney owes them an apology!

RR- Wednesday - Gone Surfing

Seriously. Your hostess Inara is in San Diego with her boyfriend Kilt Kilpatrick on a week's vacation. Every morning is about the surfing (neither of us is very good, but we're having fun) and the rest of the time is about catching up with friends and family. So this is a fly by night sort of post, a placemark for those who'd like to stop by and chat even though I will be out most of today doing that vacation thing.

The topic is also about surfing, or rather, doing something that scares you, but that you either love or else find something about it motivating enough to face your fears and persevere. For instance, I have always been scared of the ocean even though I'm drawn to it and feel uncomfortable if I live too far away from it. Learning to surf terrified me. But the first time I caught a wave on my board and rode it in on my stomach, I was hooked. So I've continued to push myself through that fear. I can't go as often as I'd like, but I will continue to surf as long as I can carry a board out into the water, whether I ride it in standing, crouching, on my knees or on my stomach.

What about you all? Pull up a chair/couch/pillow/chaise lounge/fainting couch and talk about it! You know where the bar is... :-)

Fantasy Con 2010 - Round up

Well, Fantasy Con has been and gone again and after last years taster I was keen to be there for the whole weekend this year. In fact we had four members of the Un:Bound team there, as Vince, Chris W and MangaCat also attended.

I am delighted to say that Un:Bound was permitted to record some of the panels and interviews by the organisers and participants, so we tried to gather a decent sample of the weekend to share with you all and some are already up on our podbean site. Here is a sample.

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We also have a videoed interview with Robert Shearman coming up from the event.

For me personally it was, as these things so often are, a wonderful opportunity to meet up with existing friends, make new ones and immerse myself in the world of genre fiction for a few days. My apologies to everyone I didn't get to speak to for nearly long enough, I shall hopefully see you all soon. For Kat it seemed to be a good chance to get lots of people wearing cat ears, which you can see on the flickr stream. I am tempted to make it a new feature. Lee was particularly glam in them and wore them a good chunk of the night.

The Un:Bound flickr stream includes all our event photos and has been ipdated with FCon silliness and panel shots. (added after ManaCat's comment)

Un:Bound was asked to record the awards and ended up covering video too after the usual archivist was sadly separated from his camera (hope it turned up Martyn). A playlist has been created on youtube and it's broken down by award. My huge thanks to Vince for manning the main camera and doing all the hard work afterwards and to Kat for being camera number 2 twice that day. Also thanks to Angry Robot's Lee Harris for providing camera number two.

BFS have done a round up of posts too, there are some in theirs that I didn't get so check it out.

Amanda discusses Peter Hamilton's response to the accusation that SF is dying over at Floor to Ceiling as well as offering up an overview of the Con.
Adrian gives a big ol' report on fantasy con where I am horribly slandered, or exposed or something.
The awesome Alasdair Stuart covers the event on the SFX blog and did an awesome job of interviewing Peter F Hamilton.
A view from the inside on Shiny by the lovely Jenny.
Sharon at Dark Fiction Review covers the weekend thoroughly and lists the winners.
Adam Christopher notes the strong presence of horror this year.
At Rambling to the Tattooed Head FCon becomes the yardstick by which the friendliness of all con's will be judged. I like this idea, next year we should all be saying, 'it was about a 0.7 on the Fcon scale of friendly'.
Rhube covers the Con and the book I, Zombie
It was over way too soon for Gary Greenwood, but he got some good snaps.
Kai Savage went to a good chunk of the programme.
The lovely Lou Morgan covers the event both before and after sleep.
Thoughts on the event from the Eloquent Page
A good overview at Follow the Thread.
Stuart Young let's us know how he found the event

as does the lovely Jo at Always Been a Dreamer.


And a quick reminder that you can also hear the 2010 Alt.Fiction podcasts here.

The Chronicles of King Rolen’s King Book 2: The Uncrowned King

I suspect I owe Rowena Cory Daniels an apology. Whilst my comments in the previous review (http://hagelrat.blogspot.com/2010/07/kings-bstrd-chronicles-of-king-rolens.html) concerning some over-the-top soul searching on the behalf of the characters still stands (but to a lesser degree) I underestimated how good the book really was. My apologies!

The second Book continues to follow the King Rolen’s Kin as their lives and their kingdom come to pieces around their ears due to the treachery of their cousin and the ambitions of the invading Merofynian/Spar army*.

One of the very clever features of the books is that they reveal the difficulties of communicating across a country of any size without technology or (reliable) communication magic. No-one is entirely sure where the other is, leading to situations where a character goes to ask for aid or deliver news to discover the destination already to have fallen or that the situation has drastically changed from how they left it. This puts some reason behind the introspection apparent in the first book as the sibling really have no idea what happening to the others, relying only on hearsay and hostile propaganda or actions to determine the fate of the others.

Short Story | Baggage by Paul Kane

Our lovely Writers Reading guest from Friday Paul Kane has allowed Un:Bound to post a short story. He also featured on Everybody's Reading with an excellent piece about the sense of place, where he talked about setting books in his local area the East Midlands.

Many thanks again to Paul for letting us use this and please check out his website for more on this Dark Fantasy and Horror author.

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Baggage by Paul Kane

He was just carrying around too much baggage, that was the problem.
It was worrying Nicholas, even right now. If this worked one out the way he thought, he’d give up completely on finding any kind of happiness. Resolve himself to a life of being alone.
That was what had motivated him to start looking in the first place; that he’d probably end his days sad and lonely; no wife, no kids. Nothing. If he could only make some kind of a relationship work, then-

It wasn’t so easy, though, was it? Nicholas couldn’t help feeling bitter about his previous failures – especially those in his youth. It wasn’t as if he was hideous or anything, in fact he’d been told he was quite attractive. He was just incredibly shy, and liked to treat girls with respect. Inevitably, that had led to them either taking him for what little money he had… or taking him for granted.

Tom Holt - Blonde Bombshell

Blonde Bombshell - Tom Holt

Blonde Bombshell
Tom Holt
pub: Orbit
363 pages

Meet Lucy Pavlov, programmer extraordinaire responsible for Pavsoft, the operating system that has swept the world. She's a woman with almost everything, even a possibly illusionary unicorn. The one thing she hasn't got is all her memories.

George Stetchkin is also missing something. Mainly answers for his boss and his next drink. The question George's employer wants to know the answer to is who is stealing the banks money, from secure vaults, and how they are doing it. It’s the literal fifty trillion dollar question.

George and Lucy are not alone. In an x-files sense.
The dog-like inhabitants of Ostar have been receiving the radio waves broadcast from Earth. The Ostar society has been crippled by the music they received, unable to function as tunes and rhythm invade their brains. Seeing this as an attack, rather than just noisy neighbour they retaliate in kind, launching a smart bomb at Earth. When this attack fails for unknown reasons, Mark Two is launched. Mark Two isn't just any smart bomb, but one with a level 10 AI, capable of making decisions and, as we find, mistakes.

And that's just about where the story begins.

Blonde Bombshell delivers everything you'd want and expect from a Tom Holt book, following the interweaving plot lines of the main characters across locations on Earth and beyond. For readers new to Tom Holt, he combines brilliant, labyrinthine plots with humour that's on the nail, poking fun at the modern world, everything from Internet forums to hangovers. There’s at least a gag a page and usually a good one. And also, play a game your bound to fail and try and guess the next twist. 80% you just won't see coming. Two however are a little obvious which spoils it a bit.

If you’ve already read Tom Holt, Blonde Bombshell is more of exactly what you’ll want. If you’ve no idea who he is, and are looking for a good easy read go and pick it up.

Hopefully I'll be back to posting fairly often now I'm not stuck on a tractor for what felt like weeks at a time. Coming soon The Last Wish and The Left Hand of God.

Writers Reading | Paul Kane

Writers Reading is a feature where we ask writers to let us have a poke around their bookshelves and share something of their reading tastes with us. It's been a fun and fascinating feature so far and looks set to continue that way.

This weeks guest is Paul Kane an East Midlands based Horror and Dark Fantasy writer. He recently contributed a pieace on the importance of place in writing for Everybody's Reading which looked at his take on the Robin Hood legend. We will be hearing again from Paul on Un:Bound over the next week or so as he has very kindly let Un:Bound post a short story. There will also be a review in the very near future. Paul also has another book coming out about now! More on that later. First of all though Paul on his favourite books.

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It’s not until someone asks you to list your favourite books, or novels that have had a particular impact on you, that you realise how hard it is to actually narrow this down. I’ve been collecting and reading books all my life, and the amount I’ve amassed is scary – especially when put together with my wife Marie’s collection. I could list dozens upon dozens, hundreds that have had an effect, and that have influenced me as a person and writer. But, as I’ve only got room for five here, I’ll do my best to choose wisely. Though don’t be surprised if I cheat a little ;-)

Clive Barker’s Books of Blood

First cheat. I was recently asked to take part in Horror Re-animated’s ‘Book I’d Like to be Buried With’, and seeing as I chose Clive Barker’s novella The Hellbound Heart for reasons that should be apparent if you read the piece here (http://www.horrorreanimated.com/2010/07/05/paul-kane-the-book-i-would-like-to-be-buried-with/#more-1619 ) that leaves the option open for me to pick that other favourite tome of Clive’s... or should I say tomes. Yes, cheat number two: I’m going for the entire six volumes of Books of Blood, as collected by Stealth Press in a very nice hardback edition. At the risk of repeating myself about the impact Clive’s work had on me as a teenager, this collection turned things around and made me realise just what could be done with the horror genre. You could make people laugh (in tales like ‘The Yattering and Jack’) make them think (in stories like ‘Human Remains’), make them question their very humanity (‘The Skins of the Fathers’) or sanity (definitely in ‘Age of Desire’). You could also put your own spin on stories from the past, as Clive did with ‘New Murders in the Rue Morgue’, something I followed suit with for the anthology Return of the Raven (a modern take on Poe’s ‘Red Death’ in ‘Masques’ – yes, I love the classics too, including Lovecraft, M.R. James, Machen, Blackwood, Dickens... sorry, cheating again). And you could create your own mythologies, because the seeds for the Hellraiser saga were most definitely planted in ‘The Inhuman Condition’. Simply put, eighteen stories: one big inspiration.

Dune

For me Frank Herbert’s Dune is a massively important book. I first read it during my ‘absorb everything genre-related’ period which began when I was about nine or ten and finished... well, it hasn’t yet really. I was just blown away by the scope of the story, which included its very own glossary at the back! This was a totally immersive depiction of the future and I was in there, with the sandworms and ‘thopters, with all the different Houses and the Fremen. Most importantly, I was captivated by the story of this young man – Paul Atreides – who, like Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, had this destiny to be a kind of superhuman. It’s the story of an underdog who comes good, an outsider who not only wins round people that don’t understand him and can’t relate to his background, but also goes on to lead them. To me, it’s at least as influential as Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, or Asimov’s Foundation series – another couple of faves (cheat!).


The Rats

I’ve long been an admirer of James Herbert, and his work. What James did with The Rats was take a tired horror genre and create something fresh within it that was copied again and again – something he’s still doing to this day. The Rats was probably the first horror book I ever read, and I loved it! The terrifying notion of these giant killer rats plaguing London made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. It still does, frankly. When recently it was reported that giant rats the size of dogs had actually been found I said to myself: James was right all along! There was also the sense that when you were reading The Rats you were doing something forbidden. To be fair, I probably was – reading gore and sex scenes at such a tender age – but boy was it a ride. I can’t mention The Rats, though, without including Lair and Domain; in fact I might as well include all three books as one choice, really (cheat, cheat!). Oh, and it wasn’t long after this that I read The Shining, which had a similar impact on me but for different reasons, so I could have picked that one just as easily... (oooh, cheating cheater)

Smoke and Mirrors

Another big cheat in the form of a collection – but for my money Neil Gaiman’s Smoke and Mirrors is one of the finest genre collections ever written. It’s definitely up there with Christopher Fowler’s wonderful Flesh Wounds, Simon Clark’s Salt Snake and Other Bloody Cuts, Joe Hill’s 20th Century Ghosts, Brian Lumley’s The Taint, Stephen Gallagher’s Out of his Mind, Peter Straub’s Houses Without Doors, Richard Matheson’s Nightmare at 20,000 Feet and a whole bunch of others I could go on listing all day (see what I did there...). Let’s get this straight, though, I love Neil’s work: I love his comics, his novels, his ‘children’s’ books (which are tons better than some adult books I’ve read)... but I especially love his short stories and poems. I don’t think I could pick a favourite out of the collection, but the ones that really made me go, wow this bloke is something else, are ‘Murder Mysteries’ (angels investigating the first ever killing) and ‘The Wedding Present’ (a kind of Dorian Gray deal, tucked away in the introduction – I’d never seen that done before). I also love it when writers give an insight into why they wrote a story and luckily Neil’s one of those... It’s probably why I did the same thing at the end of Touching the Flame.

The Hobbit

As much as I love its older brothers – the Lord of the Rings books (cheat, cheat, cheat!) The Hobbit for me has special connotations. I read this even before I got the thirst to read every genre book going, and was enchanted by the Hobbits, by Gandalf, by the Dwarves, by Gollum and the Dragon. It’s a much simpler tale than LotRs, which is probably why it took me so long to get into those books after reading this, and it caught me at just the right time in my life for it to become a novel I’ll keep returning to. I’m really looking forward to the movie version if it’s anything like the others, because it’s going to bring that six year old kid alive again in the audience.





The Silence of the Lambs

Damn, can you get any more of a polar opposite? Although it’s quite fun to imagine Hannibal Lecter running round causing mayhem in the Shire... no, don’t even go there, Paul. To me, the serial killer, crime thriller, whatever you want to call it, has always been as terrifying as any horror novel. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy the more mystery-based ‘whodunnit?’ type of book (Colin Dexter’s Morse novels, for example, hugely influenced my own Gemini Factor... I know, another big flipping cheat!), but I also have a soft spot – if that’s the right word – for the more extreme crime fare. I’m only just recently catching up with John Connolly (shame on me!) and loving his stuff so I could have chosen Every Dead Thing, his stunning debut, or I could have picked books by Mo Hayder, Boris Starling, Tess Gerritsen... oh, sorry, I’m doing it again... The novel I have gone for in this vein is what I consider to be the pinnacle of the police procedural/serial killer sub-genre. I have to say, I read this – back to back with Red Dragon – after seeing Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster strut their Oscar-winning stuff, so it was always them saying the lines, but there was so much more to the novel than the movie. More character background stuff, more about Lecter and Starling’s relationship, more about the investigation, more... if you’ll pardon the expression considering Hannibal’s appetites, meat on the bones. Thomas Harris doesn’t write many books, but when he does he turns out belters.

So there you have it, my list of favourites – though many more than five, and many more I could have mentioned on top of that... But I hope it’s given you a bit of an insight into who’s influenced me and my own writing. Till next time...

Upcoming!

I am off to Fantasy Con tomorrow so won't be around much over the weekend but to keep you all entertained Paul Kane is our Writers Reading guest this friday. Paul has also let us share a short story with you all which will go up on Monday.
I hope you enjoy all of that and next week there will be plenty of FCon stuff to share with you all.
Have a lovely weekend, if you are at the Con come and say hi, if not then we will do our best to bring the event to you next week.

Why Write?

Not so long ago, I read a blog post from a writer who was giving up writing. Slightly less long ago, I was told of a friend of a friend who gave up a well-paid job to spend two years writing a book. And then there was me, getting fed up with submitting to agents almost before I'd even submitted anything.

All of which led me to ponder the question: why do writers write?

And, more pertinently, are those reasons rational or based on self-delusion?

Before I went off to study for my degree, I had a summer job in a frozen pizza factory. It was grim. What helped sustain me through those 6am-2pm shifts were daydreams about my first book becoming a critically-lauded best-seller.

I finished that first book the very last night before I set off for three years of under-graduate education. It probably goes without saying that it did not become a critically-lauded best-seller.

Sixteen years later, I'm telling my friend about this Bubblecow article that quotes how the median earnings of a writer in the UK in 2008 came to £4,000 a year. I suggested that her friend's choice to give up his job to be a full-time writer was perhaps somewhat ill-advised.

I do know of one writer who gave up his job, sat down at his word processor with the express intent of writing a bestseller and duly did so, but to hold up the example of Lee Child is to ignore the millions of other writers who failed.

This is not to say that writing for fame and fortune is wrong. What's wrong is to miscalculate the odds of success. It's also wrong to simply assume that fame and fortune is a good thing.

'Stumbling upon Happiness' is a book by Daniel Gilbert that explores how innately bad we are predicting what will make us happy. Say that you did become a millionaire author. You buy the house, the car, that diamond-encrusted shitzu you've always wanted, how much happier will those things make you. Will that added happiness still linger a year later? Will those high-price possessions give you a nice warm feeling while you're sitting on a toilet, suffering with a head cold, in an antiseptic hotel room somewhere in the middle of your latest book-signing tour?

Will you be happy about the fact that you can no longer reply personally to the thousands of fan letters you get? What if you get so famous, the paparazzi start raiding your bins and tapping your phones?

Fortunately, happiness doesn't correlate with money or renown.

Even so, you don't need to make millions to be a successful author. Perhaps being read - getting your story out there - is the reason for writing. After all, hearing from someone who enjoyed your work is a great experience.

But... is it better to have two people say it's great instead of one? Does the satisfaction scale with numbers? Is 5000 fans better than 500? Does it matter if there are ten people who hate the book for every one person who loves it? Does matter if you're read by ten million, but never hear from any of them?

Is the real wish of those who want to be read simply that people keep saying to them 'you're great'? So it's not really a writing thing, it's an ego thing.

At this point, I'll admit that to some extent I write both to achieve fame and fortune and so people will tell me I'm great. I just try to be honest with myself about the facts. I know the odds of the success are slim and the ego thing means I'm self-serving and shallow. That's okay. Mainly because I'm great even when people fail to notice.

Still, there is another reason why I write and this reason is why I could not understand why someone would give up writing. For me, it's what makes fame and fortune and being read and being complimented inconsequential by comparison.

I saw Inception for the second time yesterday and there's a scene that sums it up quite nicely. Ellen Page's character Ariadne has been approached to be the architect for a dream. She walks away after her first experience of being an architect, but later...

Arthur: Cobb said you'd be back.

Ariadne: I tried not to come, but...

Arthur: But there's nothing quite like it.

Ariadne: It's just pure creation.

And that, for me, is reason enough to write. But what about you. Why do you write?

The Stormcaller | Tom Lloyd

The Stormcaller, book one of the twilight reign
by Tom Lloyd
Pub: Gollancz
Cover: Larry Rostant
497 pages


The fourth book in this series came out in August but I was advised to start at book one for reviewing so I went back to the begining.

Isak is white eye, born to a violent nature and a hard life growing up on a wagon train with a father who hates him. His only friends is the old Ghost, a one time royal guard. But Isak is marked out for greater things and destiny is determined to be played out.

The set up for The Stormcaller is typical of epic fantasy, the wagon brat with a destiny at the palace, impending wars, multiple players trying to manipulate the future, swordplay, magic and all the usual trappings. Beyond the basic shape of the novel though there is little here that is predictable. The brilliance of Stormcaller is that within the comfortable and familiar confines of epic fantasy Lloyd delivers a constant series of surprises and twists, many of them subtely changing the shape of the novel from the course the reader anticipates.

The characters are fascinating and in some cases charming and draw you through the novel easily. Typical of the sort of novel there is a fair sized cast, but they are strong, individual personalities, easy to differentiate and get involved with, following the different plot threads. The story is often dark, but there is a sense of humour at play here too which delighted me, offering brief moments of relief from an intense journey. Pleasingly the jumping around in time and place is limited so it's easy to settle in and follow the various strands of plot, although there are plenty of hints woven in that there is more to events than we are witness to. The Stormcaller stands well as a novel, although clearly the first in the series and i'm advised that it is easier to read this particular series in order. For once I don't see that as a weakness.

Tightly plotted, brilliantly executed and with fascinating characters I can't wait to get back to. The first of the Twilight Reign books stands out among the ranks of 'farm boy destined for greatness' crowd and is a genuinely compelling book.

I am delighted to say Un:Bound will be interviewing Tom Lloyd soon and we are really looking forward to having him on the site.

Artist Interview | Daniele Serra

This is inexcusably late, but with FantasyCon rolling round again it seemed an opportune time to revive it and finally post it.

At last years FCon I had the pleasure of meeting Dani Serra, who is one of my favourite artists and whose gorgeous, dark art work is presently making my spare room a far more beautiful and creepy place to be.

I couldn't be more delighted that he is back again this year to exhibit and would strongly recommend anyone going to FCon to go and spend a few minutes in the ar exhibition, there is always something worth seeing.


Dani answered my questions in Italian because he thought I might enjoy the challenge so I am putting the Italian versions up first. Scroll down for the English versions.



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Charlaine Harris - Giveaway

Charlain Harris, best known for her Sookie Stackhouse books (now TrueBlood) also wrote a series of cozy mysteries. The light, entertaining Aurora Teagarden murder mysteries have now been collected in a gorgeous hardback omnibus edition.
I loved these stories and already had them in paperback so I have one beautiful, unread, pristine copy of the omnibus up for grabs. It contains the first four books, Real Murders, A Bone to Pick, Three Bedrooms One Corpse and The Julius House.
All you have to do is comment and make sure I can contact you by email. It'll be a random draw. I will give you till 4pm (GMT) Tuesday 21st September to comment on this post. I'll select a winner through randomiser and it's open worldwide.

Ravenous Wednesday with Special Guest Kit Marlowe!

So today we have another special guest ... one I've not yet met. She is a friend of our own Kate Laity and C. Margery Kempe, which means she's bound to be trouble on the hoof. In the best possible way, of course!

Ahem... :-)

I don't know what Kit's post will be about as this is a case of me begging for someone to write something for today's RR Wednesday. Yes, someone lost track of the time, day of the week, home address, you name it... So luckily for me Kate and Margery said they'd do the equivalent of a literary press gang and get Kit to be our guest.

I do know Kit is a writer of historical fiction with humor. How do I know? It says so on her website here. Being Kate and Margery's friend, I'm betting she enjoys a tasty alcoholic libation now and again. I will be very disappointed if all she wants is a pot of tea. I won't know this until a bit later - I've been told Kit will be sending me a post later this evening, which means this intro might serve as a placeholder to let everyone know we are indeed having Ravenous Wednesday today, but SOMEone (BAD Inara/Dana) didn't get her act together this week...

Ooh, and the placeholder can now give way to the actual post, so please welcome Kit Marlowe to Un:Bound!!

Cant, Argot and Jargon

Kit Marlowe

I love language!

I know, I know: all writers do, but I love the superfluity of language that supplies slang. I think in part it's like knowing a secret handshake or being part of an exclusive club. I specialize in rather obscure languages: for my graduate work I studied Old English, Middle English, Old Norse, Old Irish, Old High German, Middle High German, Modern German, Modern Swedish, Modern Icelandic and Latin (whew!).

But what I really love most are informal vocabularies that define a time or place. In my forthcoming novel, The Mangrove Legacy (coming in November from Tease Publications) I used a lot of Regency era cant even though I often stretched the narrative to a later time period. But the cant from that period was so much fun! I first learned it from the pen of Georgette Heyer, whom I first learned about from the fabulous Stephen Fry, who listed Heyer among his guilty pleasures on his 50^th celebration.

The slang from that time is so rich: "foxed" means you're drunk, as does "disguised" and "tap-hackled"—how quickly slang dates! But some terms can be easily understood even much later, like "swimming in lard" which refers to someone with considerable wealth, and "making a cake of yourself" which describes someone making a fool of themselves.

Often Cant and slang belong to a different—and often lower—class, marking out their standing verbally in any social situation, like rhyming Cockney slang—if you like your Tilburys pulled up as you head up the apple and pears or have done for yonks [I love the word "yonks"]. Like the thieves cant in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, the secrecy was a necessary part of things to keep from being caught.

Of course you can go to far and I always think of the Monty Python RAF sketch that shows what happens when people try too hard to develop a special patois for a given group and end up being completely incomprehensible. Sometimes, too, it comes back: a lot of the jazz age hipster terms I used in the novella I have coming out next month from Noble Romance, "The Big Splash" have not gone out of fashion.

Here's an excerpt:

It would have been quite impossible for Constance to account for such a thing, but about forty-five minutes later she slipped into the table next to Mr. Wood at the Lorne Acorn. "Darling, what a day I've had!"

"How late you are, Constance," Mr. Wood drawled, exerting as always as little effort as possible to make conversation, though his dark eyes caressed her form.

"I would have been much later had salvation not appeared this afternoon," Constance said, perusing the menu with an eager gaze. "You'll never guess what happened! How many martinis have you had?"

"Only two," Mr. Wood said, leaning toward Constance to rest his rather large hand upon her thigh.

Constance hid a smile. "Do be a dear and order me one immediately. I think I ought to have some kind of beef for lunch. Meat will bring me back down to earth after my extraordinary good luck. I am quite giddy!"

Mr. Wood nodded to the waiter who whisked himself off to accomplish this task. Her companion's fingers slipped across the ruffled length of her skirt to hook under its edge and begin drawing the fabric back to expose her stocking.

"Need I remind you that we are under the bright glare of luncheon lights, Mr. Wood?" Constance said severely even as the familiar tingle of desire warmed her thighs.

"I don't know what you mean, Constance," Mr. Wood said with a nearly believable tone of innocence.

"Why don't you order the brisket? I have enjoyed it many times." Why did nearly every thing he said seemed aimed to raise a blush? Or could it be merely his hand on her leg?

Constance closed her eyes to enjoy the sly touch of his fingertips along the top of her stocking and sighed happily. To think only this morning her life had been in disarray. Now everything had gone back to normal—well, as normal as her days ever got.

"Your drink, miss," the waiter murmured, setting the delicate stemmed glass before her.

"Very good," Constance said with a sunny smile, picking up the beverage with her slim fingers. "I shall have the brisket." With practiced ease, she threw back the martini, which struck her throat with a cool thrill then warmed the path to her stomach. "And another martini," she added. The waiter smiled, took her glass and backed away in silence.

"You're lucky they have long tablecloths here," Constance scolded quietly. Mr. Wood said nothing but leaned in to kiss her cheek sweetly even as his hand slipped deeply between her thighs, his pinkie just tickling the silk of her knickers as he did so. With an effort, Constance maintained her composure.

"Care for a cigarette?" Mr. Wood asked, a wicked smile curling his lips.

"Not at present," Constance said. "I feel a trifle warm. Ah, here comes my second martini." She put the cold glass to her lips and tried to ignore the insistent touch of Mr. Wood. "Don’t you even want to hear my news?"

"No, not especially at present," Mr. Wood said, wiggling his defiant finger in such a delicious manner that Constance no longer wanted to discuss the changes in her household staff, important though they might be.

"Can we have the brisket to take away?" Constance asked the waiter with a sweet air when he arrived with the steaming plate. Within a few moments, the two were headed out onto the busy street where a cab arrived at once as if aware of their urgency. They made it all the way to her parlour before Mr. Wood dropped the neatly boxed lunch, grabbed Constance and pulled her into a kiss that was anything but polite.

"My mother does not approve of you," Constance whispered fiercely when Mr. Wood extricated his tongue long enough for her to do so.

"Your mother can go hang," Mr. Wood said unfeelingly as he reached under her skirt to run his hand down the front of her knickers, slipping two fingers under the elastic band and putting an end to any further commentary from Constance apart from a very quick "oh" that sprang from her lips…

Anniversary!!!!

by Harbinger,

On the 4th of September 2009, a timid, scruffy and badly dressed student removed a dust book from his shelf. He sighed the sigh of a man resigned to his fate and switch on his old PC. The keyboard covered with suspicious stains. He leaned back in his chair and nervously picked at his ear, as he waited the half an hour it took for his Computer decrepit systems to splutter into life.

Nervous thoughts flashed through his caffeine addled brain.

"Will I be any good?"

"Can I spell well enough"

"Well my two Sister-in-laws ever stop engaging me in discussions about my Sex life (or lack there of)."

"And why do my beloved brothers have to find it all so funny."

So the boy from the Black Country (Now living in exile in deepest darkest Derbyshire), began work on his first Post Ian McDonald's Desolation Road. The next day having read all the wonderful and slightly sickening praise (there is a very fine line between love and nausea), he began to develop something rather like Stockholm Syndrome. The rest (as people who can't think of an engaging end to their stories say) is History.

The scruffy student is obviously me. I am delighted to have been writing here for 12 months as I never thought people would be interested in my ravings and droolings. I'd like to thank Haglerat (afore mentioned sister - in - law) and every body else at Un: Bound and not forgetting My literally dozens and dozens of fans.

I shall be doing a few more Sci-fi books and histories. However, despite my father's insistence I will not do Dan Brown, I would rather review an in-flight magazine.

I leave you with the words of Kenneth Williams, "It's been a pleasure having me here!"

TTFN

An Alternative History of Balesley Green | Vincent Holland-Keen

An Alterntive History of Balesley Green
by Vincent Holland-Keen.
unpublished

Chronologically, Balesley was written before Lost and Found and I read it a few months before, but it's getting reviewed second for no particular reason. I should also point out that this manuscript is the reason Vince ended up being nagged, bullied, stalked and harassed into becoming part of the Un:Bound team in the first place (after being nagged, bullied, stalked and harassed into sending it through). It's brilliant, and Lost and Found is a little more brilliant and I can't wait to see what he does next. In the mean time of course there will be more Wednesday fun to keep us all amused.

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After spending one childhood summer in Balesley Green, Sam returns 20 years as executor of a will to find himself assailed by memories. While he tries to separate facts from the fiction, current events become increasingly odd.

Sam is a sympathetic lead and an easy narrator, easy to like and understand. A good guide through Balesley past and present. His childhood friend Montgomery Badger is more charismatic and deeply unusual, adding a streak of mischief to Sam's life. Then there's Alice, the girl Sam has always been in love with, who is wonderfully entertaining and buries her private melancholy under silliness and joy. The village is otherwise populated by a range of petty, bizarre and generally suspicious characters, pretty much like any proper English village.

There are a series of minor mysteries in the book: what is in the crypt under the church, who really wrote the Alternative History and just how sharp are the teeth of the local sheep? The overwhelming questions though are what happened in the school and who is Monty Badger?

The book convincingly conjures the cozy and dubious charm of an English village, where you know all your neighbours (and think you know all their secrets) while at the same time breeding strange prejudices and stranger characters. This is village life at its darkest and most brutal, nobody asking the right questions at the right time, ignoring the evil and unnatural goings on with a grim determination to maintain the appearance of a pleasant and proper existence.

Vincent's stories are always an easy, fun read with characters no one could quite call heroes, semi-apocalyptic events, twisted humour and vivid, evocative world-building (once again our world, but slightly madder). A genuine affection for his leads carries to the reader and he resists the temptation of the expected ending to fit a few last twists into the final pages.

The Office of Lost and Found | Vincent Holland-Keen

Ok, those of you who have been following us a while will know that once in a while I find someone whose writing gives me so much pleasure I hound them until they give in and send me stuff in segments just to keep me quiet. This means once in a while I read an unpublished manuscript just for the joy of it. A while ago Chris V and I both reviewed Steven Savile's London Macabre which is presently seeking a home. We both loved it in case you are wondering.

Next up for the unpublished review treatment is creator of Un:Covered and Un:Bound regular Vincent. His writing is the reason I had to have him on here and I am delighted to have his permission to post my thoughts on his most recently completed manuscript 'The Office of Lost and Found'.

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A toaster that burns its love for a widow into the bread, a cat with a strong sense of justice, a woman who rediscovered her free will when the tumble dryer broke (and subsequently shot her husband) and a child on whom the fate of the universe may hang.

Through all of this chaos Thomas Locke and his shadowy partner run the Office of Lost & Found. Locke finds things, Lafarge loses them and Veronica wants her husband lost. Permanently.

It’s hard to describe Lost & Found. It’s undoubtedly fantasy, centred around a number of mysteries. It’s at times a little chaotic and absurd but everything is so vivid, clear and beautifully tied together that it’s easy to be drawn through this half dream-state version of reality without stopping to question the existence of the Umivatoré, the malevolence of The Ties that Bind or indeed a small boy’s intense religious faith in road-works.

Lost and Found is darkly funny in places, in others just dark, cynical, but with an odd joyfulness to it. There are also some genuinely beautiful and emotive moments - Veronica trying to change her tune, Locke and Constance trying to have the life that should have been.

At the beginning it feels almost as though the book is a series of interlinking tales, but as it builds towards its final showdown the threads pull together and, well, if all doesn’t become clear exactly, it delivers a dramatic, emotional, punch in the gut of an ending.

It has something in common with early Robert Rankin but is less self consciously clever, relaxing instead into excellent storytelling, compelling characters and unrelenting movement. Fans of Robert Rankin and Christopher Moore, or Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently series, should find a lot here to love.