Aaron's Story Recommendation of the Week :: Write What You Want by Eric James Stone

My Story Recommendation of the Week goes to Write What You Want by Eric James Stone, from the September 2012 issue of InterGalactic Medicine Show. This is Eric's second SROTW. His previous recommended story, "That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made," went on to be a Hugo nominee and Nebula Award winner, so the bar is set high for "Write What You Want."

The narrator of "Write What You Want" owns a magic shop, which is visited by a troubled young girl:

From the haunted look on her face, I don't think she's an aspiring magician interested in tricks. She's here for the real magic. . . . I hold up a hand and say, "Don't tell me. You're here because you want something so much it hurts."

To work this magic, the shop owner has the girl write down on a slip of paper what it is she wants so much. Interspersed through the story are the notes written down by previous visitors to the shop. The shopkeeper's magic really works, but not for everyone . . .

This is a very short piece, only slightly over 1000 words, but it succeeds on multiple levels. The key to flash fiction is to distill the story down to its essence. Eric James Stone does that effectively by telling us almost nothing about his characters except what they most want. He conveys what the young girl wants and needs in powerful fashion. He includes snippets that amount to microfiction stories about previous visitors to the shop: "I want the cancer to be gone so I don't die." / "I want to be thinner and prettier than Jasmine Rawlings." / "I want to be straight." And he ends with the narrator. All we know about her (or him) is her dearest, unselfish desire, a desire she tragically cannot always have.

"Write What You Want" is a beautifully written story, well worth the subscription price to IGMS.

As an aside, posting this today makes me eligible for Eric James Stone's contest to win his old Kindle. So yes, you can bribe me for a Story Recommendation of the Week, but only if you can write a kick-ass story like "Write What You Want."

Aaron's Story Recommendation of the Week :: Old Soul by Adria Laycraft

The Story Recommendation of the Week is for "Old Soul" by Adria Laycraft, from the anthology Tesseracts Sixteen.

Angelica is a young girl with an "Old Soul," despondent from the insistence of all the adults in her life that the shimmery figures she can see in the air around her are not real. The story nicely shows how a gift can be turned into a curse, by the unfair expectations of others:

"She's an old soul, Maria" a friend said as they sat in the kitchen drinking coffee. Angelica sat with a book in the very next room and wondered why adults thought children could not hear their conversations.

"She's a little girl with an active mind," her mother replied. "One day this will all be past and she probably won't even remember it."

This made Angelica close the book and lay her head back. She didn't want to forget the place of light, or Gloria. Trying to ignore these things hadn't made them go away like her mother said they would.

How Angelica learns to embrace her rare ability makes for heart-warming reading.

Tesseracts is an annual anthology series, showcasing Canadian science fiction and fantasy writers. The authors in Volume Sixteen range from established pros like Robert J. Sawyer to rising stars like Ryan Oakley to new voices such as Laycraft (as well as some of my fellow Writers of the Future alumni, including Stephen Kotowych and Melissa Yuan-Innes).

An Odyssey Workshop graduate, Adria Laycraft has sold stories to Neo-Opsis, James Gunn's Ad Astra, and other publications. She is also currently co-editing the Urban Green Man anthology.

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, Second Semifinal :: Silver by Rhiannon Held vs. The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear & five others

The second semifinal of the Summer 2012 Fantastic Reviews Battle of the Books matches Silver by Rhiannon Held against The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, E.D. deBirmingham, Erik Bear, Joseph Bassey and Cooper Moo. The book I most want to continue reading after 100 pages will advance to the championship round.

Silver: Tor trade paperback, June 2012, 317 pages, cover photograph by Trevillion Images. Rhiannon Held is a US writer. Silver, her first novel, is an urban fantasy. Silver made it to the semifinals by prevailing over Destroyer of Worlds by Mark Chadbourn in the first round, and by overcoming Age of Aztec by James Lovegrove in the second round.

Werewolf Andrew Dare tracked down an unknown lone werewolf who smelled of pain and silver. He found a deranged woman who can no longer change into a wolf. She told him that Death called her Silver. Someone harmed Silver by injecting her arm with silver.

Andrew coaxed Silver to go with him to the Roanoke pack house. Silver, who feared leading "the monster" to the other were, wanted to run away. Andrew wasn’t entirely welcome in the house due to werewolf politics and his bloody past.

Rory, the Roanoke Alpha, didn’t recognize Silver and didn’t want to deal with her. Rory ordered Andrew to get one of the Western packs to take Silver. Andrew phoned a number of Western alphas. Those who answered were unhelpful or unfriendly, and unaware of any missing were. Eventually, the Portland alpha, Michele, offered to take Silver. Andrew and Silver took a chartered flight west.

Determined to hunt down whoever hurt Silver, Andrew left Silver and headed to Seattle. Michelle thought the Seattle pack was acting atypically. Before Andrew encountered anyone, Michelle phoned because Silver wouldn't stop screaming. Andrew rushed back to Portland. The full moon was affecting Silver badly. Andrew risked bleeding Silver’s hurt arm, and it helped. But Andrew knew that neither he nor Silver should stay.

The Mongoliad: Book One: 47 North trade paperback, 448 pages. The Mongoliad was originally released in a serialized format online. Of the gang of seven authors, Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear are well known science fiction writers, and Mark Teppo is the author of an urban fantasy series. The Mongoliad: Book One made it to the semifinals by overpowering Casting Shadows by J. Kelley Anderson in the first round, and by edging out The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen in the second round.

The year is 1241, during the Mongol invasion of Europe. Cnán, a woman messenger, spies the gathering of the Order of Shield-Brethren near a ruined monastery. She informs the men, a group from different lands, that she was sent by Illarion, an injured friend of theirs.

Cnán guides several of the men on a trip to rescue Illarion. On their return, they cross the bloody ruins of Legnica, and manage to spook their way past a Mongol scouting party.

Illarion says that Onghwe Khan will not honor his word to spare Christendom if their champions can defeat the Mongols in the arena. His city’s champions won a similar challenge, but the Mongols destroyed their city anyway. Cnán mentions that all the Khans would depart for Mongolia upon the death of the Great Khan. This inspires Feronantus to split their group. Some will stay to fight in the arena competitions, but a party of twelve -- including Feronantus, Illarion and Cnán -- will travel east to kill Ögedei Khan.

Meanwhile in Mongolia, Ögedei Khan, son of Genghis Khan, is tired of dealing with bureaucrats. He complains to his wives. His brother sends an emissary, Gansuhk, to moderate Ögedei’s excessive drinking. Ögedei’s advisor arranges for a tutor, the Chinese woman Lian, to teach Gansuhk how to behave and gain influence at court.

The Battle: We have a contemporary urban fantasy going against an epic war fantasy set in the 13th century.

Silver is a more personal story. All the characters are werewolves. I like the tidbit that Andrew Dare is a descendant of the lost colonists of Roanoke. Andrew acts fairly reasonably, but between pack politics and his questionable past, he apparently has gotten on the wrong side of almost everyone. Silver’s mind is loopy, but sometimes she seems relatively coherent.

Here’s an excerpt of Silver talking with Death, when she and Andrew are flying to Portland.

     "At least the monster can’t track our scent," she told Death, trying to sound optimistic.
     "Why would he need to, when you’re going toward him?" Death said. Death didn’t mind flying, and not a hair ruffed out of place as he ran along the air beside them. "It would be better to give in now."
     Silver avoided Death’s gaze by looking at the ground below. That was almost worse. The rivers and paths looked like snakes. "I can’t run forever. I have to trust someone. Maybe I can only find my wild self if I go back to where she first ran, and follow her trail properly. I’ve been looking inside all this time. Maybe I need to look outside."
     Silver heard how little it sounded like she believed that. Death’s contempt for her self-delusion was clear. "He’s not helping you search. He’s hunting the monster."

There was more action in the second 50 pages, but this book is about the characters. Andrew and Silver seem to becoming more attached. But so far, there’s only one lead for the plot to chase.

The Mongoliad: Book One has a large cast of characters with diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise. It’s taking place in two, probably soon to be three, different locations. There are too many characters to really get to know at this point. I wonder if each of the seven authors brought their own fictional characters into the mix.

I like that women characters are featured. But Cnán’s role seems rather atypical. Perhaps a better explanation of the Binders, the fictional messenger group Cnán belongs to, would have helped. Yet I liked Cnán’s point of view, although I could have done without her crush on Percival.

Gansukh, the young warrior sent to get Ögedei Khan to drink less, plays a much larger role in the second 50 pages than I expected. Maybe more words should have been put into his introduction.

I like the audacious idea of a quest to kill the Great Khan.

     "Is there nothing else in the minds of these Khans," Feronantus asked, "other than to go on conquering until, as Raphael put it, the ocean washes their ponies' hooves?"
     "In large part, they have a free hand, as must be obvious to you," Cnán said, "but they obey commands from the center, and they compete against each other"
     "What sort of completion worthy of the name can exist between one Khan and another who is on the other side of the world? Their domains seem to be clearly marked out; one never sees two Khans trying to conquer the same place."
     "You misunderstand," Cnán said. "When I speak of competition, I do not mean to say that they compete for the same spoils. For a man of such wealth and power, there is only one prize remaining that is worth attending to, and that is to become the next Khagan – the Khan of Khans."

For me, this battle was close. I’d like to find out where the story in each of these books goes. Perhaps it was the touches of humor, or maybe the greater sense of danger. I'll go with the medieval Mongol conflict.

THE WINNER: THE MONGOLIAD: BOOK ONE by by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear and five others

The Mongoliad: Book One advances to meet The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis in the finals.

To see the whole bracket, click here.

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, First Semifinal :: The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis vs. Taft 2012 by Jason Heller

The first semifinal of the Summer 2012 Fantastic Reviews Battle of the Books matches The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis against Taft 2012 by Jason Heller. The book I most want to continue reading after 100 pages will advance to the championship round.

The Coldest War: Tor Books, July 2012, 251 pages, volume two of The Milkwood Triptych, cover art by Chris McGrath. The Coldest War is a fantasy alternate history book set in 1963 after a different WWII. The Coldest War got here by edging out Fair Coin by E.C. Myers in the first round, and prevailing over Faith by John Love in the second round.

Gretel and Klaus, who have Nazi-developed special abilities powered by batteries, escaped a high security Russian research facility. Gretel is a seer and Klaus can "ghost" through walls. They crossed Russian occupied Europe to England. In London, Gretel located their former associate, Reinhardt. Gretel offered to give Reinhardt pieces of a battery blueprint for his unspecified future help.

William Beauclerk, younger brother of the Duke of Aelred, is haunted by things he did for Britain during WWII. He heads a foundation to improve relations between the UK and the USSR. Will and his wife Gwendolyn are invited to a reception at the Russian embassy. Will has a private talk with the ambassador and the cultural attaché. Gwendolyn is uneasy because she suspects the attaché is KGB. Will regrets that he hasn't yet been entirely truthful with Gwendolyn. Will is hurt in a taxi accident.

Gretel and Klaus turn themselves in, in startling fashion, to the Secret Intelligence Service. Gretel won’t talk until they bring in Raybould Marsh, who hasn’t worked for MI6 for years and is currently down on his luck. Marsh isn’t exactly happy to meet Gretel again, but he’s secretly thrilled to be asked to return to intelligence work. Gretel informs them that the Soviets are killing Britain’s defending warlocks.

Taft 2012: Quirk Books paperback, June 2012, 249 pages, cover illustration by Doogie Horner. Jason Heller is a culture journalist and author. Taft 2012 is his first novel. Taft 2012 got here by defeating Hunter and Fox by Philippa Ballantine in the first round, and overcoming Songs of the Earth by Elspeth Cooper in the second round.

Former President William Howard Taft mysteriously appeared covered in mud at a White House press conference in 2011, almost a hundred years after he went missing. Taft's identity was confirmed by DNA tests and his knowing a secret presidential ID code.

Secret Service agent Kowalczyk runs Taft’s security, and Prof. Susan Weschler is his transition liaison. When Taft goes out, he is immediately recognized and mobbed like a rock star. Kowalczyk unsuccessfully tries to make Taft incognito.

Congresswoman Rachel Taft (Ind.-OH) invites her great-grandfather to Thanksgiving dinner in Cincinnati. There’s tension when Taft meets Rachel’s husband, who is African-American, but it’s broken by Rachel’s daughter happily calling Taft "grandpa". Their dinner includes Fulsom TurkEase, which is reconstituted turkey, and afterward almost everyone suffers severe indigestion.

Taft goes on a TV program, Raw Talk with Pauline Craig. He hopes to help Rachel’s cause. Pauline surprises Taft by announcing a new grassroots political party; the Taft Party. When leaving the studio, Taft is surrounded by reporters and supporters of his candidacy. Taft saves Susan from the crush of the unruly crowd.

The Battle: We have a fantasy alternative history set in 1963 going against political satire set in an alternative 2011 featuring a Republican President from a century ago.

Taft 2012 utilizes a man from the past to poke fun at society today.  President Taft is portrayed as a likable, grandfatherly man, humorously rolling with the changes. I liked that Taft visited with a 105-year-old woman because she remembered the old days.  Taft cleverly becomes a media celebrity, inspiring clip-on Taft mustaches and Taft dolls. This book is a fast read.

Here’s an excerpt about Taft complaining about makeup for his TV appearance:

      "Susan," said Taft once the shears had been stashed and the makeup artist had left. "I won't argue with you about the need for this" -- he waved his hands around his face -- "this peacockery. But there's something unnatural about it. Do all politicians in this day and age subject themselves to such ostentatious falseness? Do masks now make the man? Are we all thespians?"
     "Oh, really, Mr. Taft." Susan sipped her tea and shook her head. "When has politics not been theater? In any case, the makeup doesn't show on camera. It just makes you look . . . normal. More like yourself."
     Taft snorted. "This century's infatuation with irony knows no bounds, does it?"
     "Scoff all you want, but the outcome of at least one presidential election -- between Nixon and Kennedy in 1960 -- was influenced by makeup. Or the lack thereof."

The Coldest War is, in my opinion, well written. The plot is developing in ways I didn't expect, such as when Gretel and Klaus turned themselves in. I like that Klaus is puzzled by Gretel's motivations. There's tension building and the characters display strong, believable emotions. That I can follow the book, when it’s book two in a series, without a recap or an info dump, shows that the author is weaving in the backstory well.

Here’s an excerpt, Marsh is approached by two men while working on a gardening job:

      Help? No, not solicitors, then. But the way they carried themselves . . . Government men. Which raised another possibility.
      Finally, Marsh said, "It’s Milkweed, isn’t it?"
      And he knew he was right, because the quiet man, the one who hadn’t yet spoken, glanced nervously over his shoulder at Fitch. Milkweed: the dirtiest of Whitehall’s dirty little secrets. Milkweed: the real reason Britain survived the war. Milkweed: the org for whom Marsh had faced demons and supermen; the org for whose secret war he’d lost his only daughter; the org that had spit him out when he was no longer useful.
      "If you’ll come with us, sir."
      Marsh turned his back on the government men and returned to digging holes in the mud. Over his shoulder he spat, "I don’t do that work any longer."
     "She said you’d say that."
      Marsh froze. Rainwater trickled down his face. Quietly, carefully, he said, "What?"
     "The woman who asked for you. She said you’d say that. Also told us to remind you she once said you’d meet again."

Both these books are good and interesting.  After reading 100 pages, I would recommend them both.  I want to read them in their entirety.

I like Taft 2012, but partially because I (Amy) prefer reading books with more fantastic elements, I like The Coldest War more.

THE WINNER: THE COLDEST WAR by Ian Tregillis

The Coldest War advances to meet either Silver by Rhiannon Held or The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear & five others in the finals.

To see the whole bracket, click here.

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012 :: Final Four

We are (finally!) down to the Final Four in the Summer 2012 Fantastic Reviews Battle of the Books:

The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis vs. Taft 2012 by Jason Heller

Silver by Rhiannon Held vs. The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear & five others

This sixteen-book bracket contained a number of interesting books. All the books but one were by authors I (Amy) hadn't read before. Stopping reading good books after only 25 or 50 pages for Battle of the Books was sometimes difficult, but it allowed me to sample a wider selection of books and spread the word about more new books.

Only two of the four "seeded" books made it to the Final Four: The Coldest War and The Mongoliad: Book One. That's fewer than in the previous two brackets. Perhaps this was partially because the "seeded" books were selected by Aaron, and they were the books that he was most looking forward to reading.

Thanks again to all the authors and publicists sending us great books to consider. If you're an author or publicist, click here for the rules and an address to send your book if you'd like to be included in a future bracket.

We have had a tremendous response to the Battle of the Books format; we already have enough new books to fill out three more brackets!

I've enjoyed judging this bracket, but I wish I was a faster reviewer. I haven't yet finished the summer bracket and we're already well into fall. I'll be handing Battle of Books back to Aaron for the next couple brackets. Aaron has already judged a handful of contests for the upcoming fall bracket, so stay tuned!

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, Second Round :: The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen vs. The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear & five others

For our final second round match, The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen squares off against The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, E.D. deBirmingham, Erik Bear, Joseph Bassey and Cooper Moo. The book I most want to continue reading after 50 pages will be the last entrant in the Final Four of this bracket.

The Land of Decoration: Henry Holt and Company hardcover, 306 pages, April 2012. Grace McCleen is a UK author and singer-songwriter. The Land of Decoration is her first novel.

In the first 25 pages, we were introduced to Judith McPherson a 10-year old British Jehovah’s Witness being raised by her father. In her room, Judith was constructing a model world out of collected scraps which she called The Land of Decoration. At school, a boy threatened to push Judith's head down the toilet. Judith worried herself sick over the threat. At the Meeting Hall, an impressive visiting speaker preached how faith can move mountains.

Judith remembers that school closed once because of snow. She thinks hard about snow. Judith creates model snow over her Land of Decoration using things such as white cotton, flour and shaving foam. A voice urges her on. The next morning it snows. School is cancelled and she doesn’t have to face the bully. Judith thinks the snow was a miracle produced because she had faith. Her father thinks she’s imagining things. Judith decides to test whether the snow was a coincidence. She models snow over her Land of Decoration for a second time. After a long day’s wait, it snows again.

The Mongoliad: Book One: 47 North, trade paperback, 448 pages. The Mongoliad was originally released in a serialized format online. Two more books are forthcoming in the series. Of the gang of seven authors, Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear are well known science fiction writers, and Mark Teppo is the author of an urban fantasy series.

The year is 1241, after the Mongols defeated the Europeans at the Battle of Legnica. Cnán, a woman messenger, spies the knights of the Shield-Brethren near a ruined monastery and she is spotted by their sentries. She informs the men, a group of about a dozen men from different lands, that she was sent by Illarion, an injured friend of theirs.

The physician Rafael, hunter Finn, and young fighter Haakon accompany Cnán on a several days long trip to rescue Illarion. A Mongol has cut off Illarion’s right ear, thinking Illarion was dead. On the group’s return, they end up passing through the bloody ruins and refugees of Legnica. Illarion spooks a Mongol scouting party into thinking they are ghosts.

Meanwhile, in the capital of the Mongol Empire, Ögedei Khan, son of Genghis Khan, is tired of dealing with bureaucrats. He complains to his wives that all he does is eat and talk. His brother is rightfully worried about Ögedei’s drinking. Ögedei has a flashback to the decades earlier battle of Khalakhaljid Sands, where he was seriously wounded.

The Battle: Again, we have two very different books. The Land of Decoration features a religious girl who believes she can make miracles happen. The Mongoliad: Book One is set during the 13th Century invasion of Europe by the Mongols.

The Land of Decoration is certainly readable. Judith is an introverted girl with an interestingly skewed point of view.

     I know about faith. The world in my room is made out of it. Out of faith I stitched the clouds. Out of faith I cut the moon and the stars. With faith I glued everything together and set it humming. This is because faith is like imagination. It sees something where there is nothing, it takes a leap, and suddenly you’re flying.

If this was a genre fantasy book, I’d think Judith’s "miracle" snow was some kind of sympathetic magic. But since The Land of Decoration is mainstream fiction, and an Oprah.com Book of the Week, I expect a more mundane explanation is forthcoming.

The Mongoliad: Book One is a gritty, medieval epic.

     With a sweep of his arm, Illarion drew back the cloak that had swathed him for much of the last two days and hurled it aside, where it spun and flew for an uncanny number of yards, like a bat, then fell-–to precisely drape the picked skeleton and conical helm of a Polish knight.
     A knight who had almost made it to the forest before taking three arrows in the back.
     All heads turned, mesmerized by this.
     Bones rattled. The round hump of the skull shifted under the cloak, as if finding new life.
     Illarion reined his horse just to the left of the Mongol chief and canted his head with a careless jerk, exposing the swollen earless right side of his face....

The Mongoliad: Book One deals with violent times and contains unsettling scenes, such the group seeing the remains of the children of Legnica, who were killed to prevent them being captured by the Mongols.

I can't recall reading a book with this historical setting. I was intrigued enough to reference Wikipedia. So far, The Mongoliad: Book One appears to follow history.

This decision wasn’t easy for me. The Land of Decoration is good, the story is developing, and it certainly isn’t violent. On the other hand, The Mongoliad: Book One is brutal, it features a large cast of characters, and I want to find out more. Ultimately, it came down to this: The Land of Decoration is too close to the real world for my personal tastes. I (Amy) prefer books that take me further from reality.

THE WINNER: THE MONGOLIAD: BOOK ONE by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear and five others

The Mongoliad: Book One advances to meet Silver by Rhiannon Held in the semifinals.

To see the whole bracket, click here.

Aaron's Story Recommendation of the Week :: Your Cities by Anaea Lay

The Story Recommendation of the Week is for "Your Cities" by Anaea Lay. "Your Cities" first appeared in the June 2011 issue of Apex Magazine, but I didn't stumble across it until a year later. Luckily, it's recently been republished in audio form at Tina Connolly's Toasted Cake podcast, which gives me a fresh opportunity to recommend it.

"Your Cities" is set in a near future when cities have inexplicably started wandering about, trampling folks in their paths. The narrator addresses the tale to a former lover, who she(?) believes is somehow responsible for these bizarre occurrences. The lover vanished in New Orleans, just before that city awoke:

I’ve tried to picture it ever since, you strolling into a city anybody with any sense had long since fled. You whistled; I’m sure you whistled. But then what? Did you crawl into the city’s bed and stroke its shoulder, nibbling on its ear and whispering tidings of morning, the way you would for me? Did you wrap your arms around it and speak of love and sex and waffles, coaxing it past the foggy stages of fresh wakening and into the warmth of your voice?

In the space of only about 1500 words, Anaea Lay creates a wonderful mood to this piece, effectively using the collapse of our urban and suburban civilization to frame the narrator's personal loss. Who can't identify with a failed relationship that makes you feel like the whole world is crumbling?

I believe "Your Cities" was Anaea Lay's first professional sale, but she has since appeared in Penumbra, and has stories forthcoming at Strange Horizons, Apex (again), and Shock Totem. I met her at Worldcon and told her I liked this story——she adamantly denies instantly turning beet red, but her giddy tweet moments later about her first fan contact is a matter of public record. I believe Anaea will soon be winning over a great many more fans.

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, Second Round :: Age of Aztec by James Lovegrove vs. Silver by Rhiannon Held

The second round of the Summer 2012 Battle of the Books continues with Age of Aztec by James Lovegrove against Silver by Rhiannon Held. Whichever book I most want to keep reading after 50 pages will advance to the semifinals.

Age of Aztec: Solaris paperback, 507 pages, cover art by Marek Okon. Age of Aztec is a standalone SF adventure novel in the Pantheon series. James Lovegrove is a British author of a number of SF, horror and dark fantasy books. Age of Aztec advanced to the second round by defeating The Ultimate Game by Sean Austin.

In the first 25 pages, an Aztec blood rite at the London ziggurat was attacked by the terrorist called the Conquistador. The Jaguar Warriors blasted what they thought was the Conquistador with their lightning guns, but it was just his empty armor. The Conquistador escaped. Chief Kellaway of Scotland Yard killed the inspector responsible for the debacle. Inspector Mal Vaughn was promoted and given the Conquistador case.

Mal Vaughn and her assistant Aaronson go to London ziggurat. Mal determines that the Conquistador avoided capture by hiding for hours among the dead bodies of the sacrificial victims.

Rich English businessman Stuart Reston takes an aerodisc flight to Palermo. He’s interested in purchasing an obsidian mining company on the slopes of the volcano Mount Etna, and tours operations. The mining company’s Italian CEO thinks Reston is an uptight, but no nonsense type of guy.

An Aztec priest is brutally murdered, along with his two bodyguards, at Heathrow Airport. The TV News questions if it was the work of the Conquistador. Later, at Regent Park amphitheater, there’s a stage performance containing aspects of Aztec mythology.

Silver: Tor book trade paperback, June 2012, 317 pages, cover photograph by Trevillion Images. Rhiannon Held is a US writer. Silver, an urban fantasy, is her first novel, and start of a planned series. Silver advanced to the second round by defeating Destroyer of Worlds by Mark Chadbourn

In the first 25 pages, Werewolf Andrew Dare tracked down an unknown lone werewolf who smelled of silver. He found an injured, scrawny, somewhat deranged woman who talked to herself. She can no longer change into a wolf. She told him that Death called her Silver. Andrew coaxed Silver come with him. Someone hurt Silver by injecting her arm with silver.

Andrew decides to take Silver to the Roanoke pack house. He hopes that she’ll become more lucid if treated by their doctor. But Silver fears she will lead “the monster” to the others.

Andrew, who works outside the pack as an enforcer, isn’t entirely welcome in the Roanoke house. Rory, the Roanoke Alpha, doesn’t recognize Silver and is unwilling let her stay because she’s a madwoman. They don’t know where Silver is from, but Rory wants one of the Western packs to take her. Andrew queries several unhelpful Western alphas about possible were disappearances.

The Battle: We have a alternate world, military SF novel going against a contemporary urban fantasy with werewolves. Two very different books.

The first 25 pages of Age of Aztec was filled with brutal action scenes. The start of the next 25 pages wasn’t and dragged. The characters, for me, couldn’t carry the pace. But the next action scene worked, although it featured an Aztec priest getting murdered in the toilet.

I had problems getting into the characters. It didn’t help me that the first thing I learned about Inspector Mal was about her one-night stand. I disapproved of the Italian CEO’s demeaning jokes about his wife. I’m not sure of Stuart Reston's motivations.

The bit about the Aztec Empire using fusion plants to control eruptions of the world’s volcanoes seemed implausible.

Silver, on the other hand, is character driven, and not action packed. Death’s only appearance is in a speaking role in Silver’s mind. There’s been minimal action, only a slap away of an unwanted hand, and a slap in the jaw for insubordination. Shifting forms between human and wolf isn’t traumatic.

I found Andrew Dare to be a likable character. Andrew wants to do the right thing for Silver and investigate the threat. Silver is an interesting, but damaged character. Silver thinks her silver-injected arm contains snakes. I like that Death talks to her using the voices of dead people, and that Death takes people to get their voices.

This battle comes down to which I’d personally rather read: brutal action or slow-paced character building. Age of Aztec is more of a thrill ride, but I personally care to find out what happens with the werewolves.

THE WINNER: SILVER by Rhiannon Held

Silver by Rhiannon Held advances to meet either The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen or The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear & five others in the semifinals.

To see the whole bracket, click here.

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, Second Round :: Songs of the Earth by Elspeth Cooper vs. Taft 2012 by Jason Heller

We continue the second round with Songs of the Earth by Elspeth Cooper versus Taft 2012 by Jason Heller. The book I most want to continue reading after 50 pages will move on to the semifinals.

Songs of the Earth: Tor Books hardcover, March 2012, 467 pages, cover illustration by JS Collaboration, Book One of The Wild Hunt. Elspeth Cooper is a UK writer. Songs of the Earth is her first novel.

In the first 25 pages, Gair, a novice Church knight with inborn magical ability, was found guilty of witchcraft. Gair was granted clemency, to the protest of Elder Goran, and sentenced to branding and banishment instead of death. A stranger, an older man named Alderan, helps Gair. Unfortunately, a witchfinder is already on Gair’s trail.

Gair must leave the parish by dusk. Alderan gives Gair back his lost clothes and sword. Gair and Alderan hurry, only to have their horses slowed by traffic near the city gate. Gair gets anxious. Later, in the hills near the parish boundary, the road is blocked by knights who are Goren’s men, and the witchfinder. Gair refuses to be taken. Gair and Alderan manage to outwit and pass through the other men.

Elsewhere, the Gatekeeper Masen learns that the Veil, the boundary between our world and the Hidden Kingdom, is weakening. He captures, using a magical net, a magnificent stag that a came through a Gate when running from a hunter on other side. Masen returns the stag to the Hidden Kingdom where it belongs.

Taft 2012: Quirk Books paperback, June 2012, 249 pages, cover illustration by Doogie Horner. Jason Heller is a culture journalist and author. Taft 2012 is his first novel.

In the first 25 pages, Former President William Howard Taft mysteriously appeared covered in mud at a White House press conference in 2011, almost a hundred years after he went missing. Secret Service agent Kowalczyk shot Taft in the leg. Taft's identity was confirmed by DNA tests and his knowing a secret presidential ID code.

Taft is moved to a secure DC apartment, designated Big Boy One. Agent Kowalczyk commands his security detail. Taft gets annoyed with history Prof. Susan Weschler. Congresswoman Rachel Taft (Ind.-OH) invites her great-grandfather to Thanksgiving dinner. Kowalczyk brings in a (Wii) game console so that Taft can play golf. Taft is recognized and mobbed like a rock star when walking toward the Library of Congress. Next time going out, Kowalczyk makes Taft incognito in T-shirt and baseball cap. Taft shares a table at a deli with an African-American woman.

The Battle: These books are very different in subject and tone. Songs of the Earth is a medieval-like fantasy with a powerful church and outlawed magic. Taft 2012 is a modern-day political satire about a former US President back after apparently hibernating for nearly a hundred years.

In Songs of the Earth, I really liked that magic was termed song and used by the power of will. I’m curious about the Hidden Kingdom, which seems peopled by fey or elves. But, on the other hand, I found it odd that Alderan would decide to ride with Gair, a convicted man, and leave the city. When Gair used his magic, I liked the special effects on Gair, but it didn't much alter the situation.

I liked the readability of Taft 2012. The inclusion of snippets from other media humorously added other points of view. Historical facts about Taft and his comments about our society were inserted interestingly. But not much really happened to advance a plot.

Both books are good in their different ways. I could have continued with either. But after some thought, I decided that I’d rather continue reading about former President Taft.

THE WINNER: TAFT 2012 by Jason Heller

Taft 2012 by Jason Heller will advance to meet The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis in the semifinals.

To see the whole bracket, click here.

Aaron's Story Recommendation of the Week :: Gastrophidia by Nathaniel Lee

The Story Recommendation of the Week is for Gastrophidia by Nathaniel Lee, from the September 2012 issue of Ideomancer.

"Gastrophidia" is about a fellow named Hurley, who has a snake in his belly. Specifically, a viper. Sharing his body with a snake gives Hurley a crotaline perspective on things; for instance, he likes his tiny apartment because he thinks of it as a den——no sense having more space than you need.

The snake emerges at night, although perhaps Hurley is dreaming:

It slipped along Hurley’s pock-marked skin, brushing against him with the susurrus of scales on flesh. It was warm from its time inside him, and he felt it coil down one leg and up the other with a tingling shudder. Its feathery tongue danced along the sensitive skin along his side, down his thighs, on the bottoms of his feet, and Hurley clenched himself tight in an agony of glee, unwilling to twitch or flail and risk injuring the snake. It lay itself along the length of Hurley’s body, its tail-tip wrapped around one ankle, its blunt, blood-slick snout next to Hurley’s ear, and began to sing to him. The snake had a woman’s voice, deep and husky, and he could never quite recall the words to the song the next morning. Hurley knew, though, that the snake loved him and thanked him for his pains . . .

Hurley's life becomes complicated when the snake takes exception to Hurley's overbearing boss.

"Gastrophidia" is a short, fun story, but thought-provoking at the same time. It's well worth checking out. I also note that this is the third SROTW to come from Ideomancer, which consistently finds very interesting work from relatively new authors.

Nathaniel Lee, who sometimes shortens his name to Nathan Lee and other times expands it to Nathaniel Matthews Lee, has published short stories in such venues as Daily SF, InterGalactic Medicine Show, and Abyss & Apex. He seems to prefer writing at short lengths, and posts flash pieces at nearly a daily rate on his Mirrorshards site.

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, Second Round :: Faith by John Love vs. The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis

Our initial second round match of the Summer 2012 Battle of the Books pits Faith by John Love against The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis. The winner will be the book I most want to continue reading after the first 50 pages.

Faith: Night Shade Books trade paperback, January 2012, 373 pages, cover art by Adam Paquette. Faith, a science fiction space opera, is the first novel by British author John Love. Faith advanced to the second round by defeating My Vacation in Hell by Gene Twaronite.

A single unidentified, seemingly invincible space ship called Faith has been making unexplained raids on systems in the Commonwealth.

In the first 25 pages, Faith blew up a cruiser defending the Bast solar system, leaving one mortally wounded survivor. Then in the Anubis system, Faith took control of an automated freighter convoy. The military cruiser Wulf was disintegrating freighters to prevent Faith from crash landing them onto a moon base.

After the shrouded ship Faith passes, and Wulf turns to follow. The remaining freighters stop. Faith doesn't attack undefended civilian targets. But She faces and destroys Wulf.

Commander Foord and First Officer Thahl of the Outsider class space ship Charles Manson are ordered to defend the Horus system from Faith. They know what happened at Bast and at Anubis. They’re also aware of recent events in the Isis system, where five warships and the Outsider ship Sirhan encountered Faith. Faith easily disabled all the Isis ships. Sirhan picked up the survivors and left. Then Faith uncharacteristically subjected the city of De Vere to a smelly and humiliating, but not deadly, attack. Commander Ansah of the Sirhan, a former love interest of Commander Foord’s, is charged with desertion and cowardice. The book relates Ansah’s trial.

Once in the Horus system, Foord visits Thahl’s Sakhran (non-human) home.

It’s stressed that only an Outsider class ship fighting alone and unconstrained has a chance against Faith. The Outsider ships are outside the normal command structures, and crewed by outsiders, including sociopaths and psychopaths.

The Coldest War: Tor Books, July 2012, 251 pages, volume two of The Milkwood Triptych, cover art by Chris McGrath. The Coldest War is a fantasy alternate history book. The Coldest War got here by edging out Fair Coin by E.C. Myers in the first round.

British warlocks and a handful of Nazis with superhuman abilities powered by batteries secretly fought in World War II. The Soviet Union took over most of Western Europe. Britain remains a free country. The year is 1963.

In the first 25 pages, brother and sister Gretel and Klaus escaped from a high security Soviet research facility with some help from their superhuman abilities. In England, Reinhardt, whom the children call the Junkman, was trying to reverse engineer a battery to regain his special powers. William Beauclerk, younger brother of the Duke of Aelred, apparently did wicked things for Britain during the war.

When Klaus and Gretel arrive in London, Gretel, who is a seer, wants to go to a rummage sale. There they run into Reinhardt, their former Nazi associate. Reinhardt reluctantly leads Klaus and Gretel to his junky flat. Gretel shows Reinhardt that she has a blueprint for the batteries, something Reinhardt desperately wants. Gretel rips the blueprint and tells Reinhardt that he can earn the pieces by doing errands for her.

Raybould Marsh was formerly a British MI6 spy. He and his wife Liv have grown apart and their marriage is stressed by their caring for their severely impaired son. Marsh drinks alone in the pub until he’s belligerent and gets thrown out.

The Battle: We have a military space opera set sometime in the future going against book two of a fantasy alternate history series set in a different not too distant past.

Faith gets a brownie point for outrageously having a posh city sprayed with synthesized sewage. The Coldest War gets a brownie point for speculating a Soviet space station, and for Marsh having Haggard books stashed in his garden shed hideout.

Faith upped its game this round, but emotions seemed held in check. Ansah showed mainly indifference at her trial, and seemed resigned to her fate. Foord gave his concerns for Ansah their allotted time.

More emotions were at play in The Coldest War. Klaus realizes that he never truly understood what freedom meant. Reinhardt gets ticked off by Klaus and Gretel. Marsh rages at the world for what his life has become.

I’m curious about the next encounter with the mysterious ship Faith. But the richer setting and deeper emotions displayed in The Coldest War, despite my lack of knowing the entire back story due to my starting this series with book two, were enough to overcome Faith in this battle.

THE WINNER: THE COLDEST WAR by Ian Tregillis

The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis will advance to meet either Songs of the Earth by Elspeth Cooper or Taft 2012 by Jason Heller in the semifinals.

To see the whole bracket, click here.

Aaron's Book of the Week :: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

Following up on last week's Hobbit post, the Book of the Week is the first American paperback of The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien, with cover art by Jack Gaughan. This is the infamous "pirated" edition, released by Ace Books in May 1965.

Ace initially did not pay Tolkien or his British publisher for the rights to Lord of the Rings, believing the books had unwittingly fallen into the public domain in the United States, due to the excessive number of copies imported here from Britain. (The validity of Ace's position apparently turned on whether one considers a book bound in the U.S. containing pages printed in the U.K. to be an imported edition.) Thus, the Book of the Week contains no copyright notice at all.

Ballantine subsequently published the authorized (and revised, so as to resurrect the copyright) paperback editions and launched a public relations campaign against Ace, with Tolkien actually comparing Ace Books to his villain Sauron. Ace relented and agreed to pay Tolkien for its edition and not to print further copies, thus assuring that the Ace editions would become the copies coveted by subsequent collectors.

Next week: the Ace edition of The Two Towers.

Aaron's Story Recommendation of the Week :: The N-Body Solution by Sean Williams

My Story Recommendation of the Week is for "The N-Body Solution" by Sean Williams, the second SROTW from the anthology Armored, edited by John Joseph Adams.

The best science fiction can inspire awe with galaxy-spanning concepts, while simultaneously pulling the reader into the story through the characters' personal dramas. "The N-Body Solution" is a wonderful example.

"The N-Body Solution" is set far in the future, as we learn on the opening page, when the first-person narrator Alex enters a bar to get "as plastered as the ancients," and describes the place as containing "humans, sub-humans, post-humans, poly-humans——every category I'd ever heard of, plus some types that probably weren't human at all."

At the heart of the story is "The Loop," a series of matter transmitters left behind by a vanished alien race, which allow you to step from one world directly onto another. Each transmitter, however, is one-way; you cannot turn around and retrace your steps. But the name "The Loop" implies that if you keep going forward, eventually you'll come back to where you started.

Except that on Cyernus, Loop Junction 163 is broken. It appears to be in working order, but when you step into the "wormcaster," you're still on Cyernus. Cyernus is a dismal little world, and people who expected to have a whole galaxy ahead of them to explore do not react well to finding themselves trapped there. The suicide rate is high.

On Cyernus Alex encounters Enforcer Ei, who has a female voice, but it's hard to know for sure, since she never removes her powerful mech suit. The failure of Loop Junction 163 affects Alex and Ei in a similar way——it keeps them from outrunning their pasts.

The ultimate explanation for what has gone wrong with The Loop is simple and elegant, one of those things that seems immediately obvious after you learn what it is. Equally important, the character development of Alex and Ei, and how their encounter plays out on an individual level, is most satisfying.

Sean Williams is perhaps the most decorated Australian author of science fiction and fantasy ever, with eight Aurealis Awards and seven Ditmar Awards. He is equally adept writing solo work, collaborations, and media tie-ins (his Star Wars work has hit #1 on the New York Times best-seller list). He is also a favorite of our book group after hanging out with us late into the evening one night during the Denver Worldcon, as we discussed his outstanding novel The Crooked Letter. "The N-Body Solution" demonstrates that, even after 35 books, the quality of his writing remains as strong as ever.

Aaron's Book of the Week :: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Book of the Week is The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.

I used to do "Book of the Week" posts highlighting some of the volumes from my personal book collection, in which I take absurd pride. I ran out of gas (but I sure as hell didn't run out of books) about three years ago——click on the "Book of the Week" tag if you want to sample some of the old posts——but I felt compelled to resurrect the Book of the Week today, when I read that this is the 75th anniversary of the original release of The Hobbit.

As any regular reader of this blog (and pretty much everyone else) already knows, The Hobbit is one of the most beloved classics of modern fantasy, and its author J.R.R. Tolkien arguably the most important fantasist of the Twentieth Century. Sadly, I wasn't around in 1937 to pick up the first edition of The Hobbit, which now runs to tens of thousands of dollars on the collectors' market. But I'm pleased at least to have the first American paperback, published by Ballantine Books in 1965, cover art by Barbara Remington.

Note that this cover has very little to do with the story of The Hobbit——you will search the text in vain for any mention of the ostrich creatures or the goofy-looking lion that appear on the front of the book. Tolkien particularly disliked the lion, and at his request it was airbrushed out of later printings. Artist Barbara Remington had not yet read The Hobbit when she did the cover. This is not quite so irresponsible as it sounds; Ace Books had recently beaten Ballantine to the American market with unauthorized paperback editions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Ballantine rushed The Hobbit to press so as to forestall another pirated Ace edition.

For the next Book of the Week entry, I'll show you the unauthorized Ace edition of The Fellowship of the Ring.

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, First Round :: Casting Shadows by J. Kelley Anderson vs. The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear & five others

This battle, the last one in first round of the Summer 2012 Battle of the Books, features Casting Shadows by J. Kelley Anderson going against The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, E.D. deBirmingham, Erik Bear, Joseph Bassey and Cooper Moo. The winner will be whichever book I most want to keep reading after the first 25 pages.

Casting Shadows: World Castle Publishing, trade paperback, 230 pages, February 2012, cover art by Rhea Ewing. J. Kelley Anderson is a US writer. Casting Shadows, his first novel, is a contemporary, dark urban fantasy. The first 25 pages covers a little over three chapters.

Edward Kelly, who is in his mid-twenties and living in a small town in Ohio, apparently wanted revenge for the murder of his sister and the deaths of his parents, so he got involved in malevolent magic. On a rainy night, Edward summons a servant into a body buried in the local cemetery. The creature becomes a black skeleton with dark flames in his eyes. Edward calls him Vincent.

Edward orders Vincent to kill the cemetery groundskeeper and his wife. But Vincent does nothing because he senses that Edward didn’t really want to hurt them. The groundskeeper thinks Edward is acting weird so he calls the police. Edward walks home with Vincent following. Edward is surprised that skeletal Vincent can talk to him telepathically, and is amazingly rational. Police Officer Michael Miller drops by Edward’s house and cusses out Edward for being in the graveyard. The policeman, Michael, is an old school buddy of Edward’s, and probably his only friend.

Edward needs to contact Seth, his unseen black magic teacher. Edward lights ritually prepared logs in the fireplace. Edward communicates with Seth through the fire. Seth is upset that Edward didn’t start a killing spree. Seth attacks Edward with blue flames. Vincent rescues his Master and battles Seth. When Edward is knocked unconscious, he dreams of two young girls and their grandmother. The grandmother has a skeletal helper that looks strangely like Vincent.

The Mongoliad: Book One: 47 North, trade paperback, 448 pages. The Mongoliad was originally released in a serialized format online. Two more books are forthcoming in the series. Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear are authors well known for their many works of speculative fiction and science fiction. Mark Teppo is the author of an urban fantasy series. E.D. deBirmingham has written historical fiction. Joseph Brassey teaches medieval fighting techniques. Erik Bear has written for a video game and Copper Moo has written magazine articles. The first 25 pages covers a chapter and a half.

The year is 1241, months after the Battle of Legnica where the armies of Christendom were decisively defeated by the Mongols. Near Legnica, which is now in Poland, a woman messenger/spy spots a group of men near the ruins of a monastery. They are training with swords and bows. They appear to be the knights of Shield-Brethren whom is she is seeking. She is cornered by their sentries. Feronantus, an older man who seems to be in charge, recognizes her as one of the Bindings, not a Mongol. She informs the men that Illarion, a friend of theirs, is hurt and she can lead them to him.

Meanwhile, in Karakorum, the capital of the Mongol Empire, Ögedei Khan, Khan of Khans, the third son of and successor to Genghis Khan, is in his palace. His brother Chagatai Khan has sent an emissary because he’s rightfully worried about Ögedei’s drinking. Ögedei tells his wives that he dreams of riding a strong pony across the grassy steppes instead of talking to an endless parade of bureaucrats and court officials.

The Battle: Casting Shadows had a uphill battle against The Mongoliad: Book One.

In Casting Shadows, Edward abuses someone’s grandfather's corpse to make a skeletal servant and has murderous thoughts. That’s not typical protagonist behavior, especially for a character that’s apparently not all bad. I think that more should have been done to explain what drove Edward down this evil path. If Edward was somehow brainwashed by Seth, that should have been better conveyed.

The layout of Edward’s house was described in more detail than I needed. Edward’s dream sequence, which was presented without introduction and printed in all italics, was initially confusing to me.

The Mongoliad, Book One in chapter one introduces an unusually high number of characters. There’s a fighter in monk’s robes, a hunter wearing animal skins, and a handsome knight in armor. There’s an Irishman, a man who looks like a Saracen, and men that by their names seem to be Hungarian and Norwegian. The woman messenger/spy apparently speaks, of all languages, Tocharian.

The portion of chapter two that I read encouraged me to look up Ögedei Khan on Wikipedia. He’s a historical figure.

Casting Shadows gave it a try, but it was simply outmatched by The Mongoliad. Even though I don’t know where the story of The Mongoliad is going yet, the writing is solid, the cast is interesting and I want to read more.

THE WINNER: THE MONGOLIAD: BOOK ONE by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear and five friends.

The Mongoliad, Book One will advance to meet The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen in the second round.

To see the whole bracket, click here.

Aaron's Story Recommendation of the Week :: The Green by Lauren Beukes

With Amy taking over the current Battle of the Books, I've had some time to catch up on my short fiction reading, which means the Story Recommendation of the Week is back for at least a few weeks. The first of our new SROTWs goes to Lauren Beukes for "The Green," from the anthology Armored, edited by John Joseph Adams.

Armored is a Baen Books anthology involving future (well, mostly future) soldiers in powered battle armor. I'm not a big military SF reader, so I wasn't sure this would be my cup of tea -- I should have had more faith in J.J. Adams. This is a very strong anthology. While there is enough straight military SF in here to satisfy readers looking for that, Armored features a surprisingly broad range of different styles and approaches to the "armor" theme. More importantly, it contains a lot of terrific writing. I'm going to highlight two of the individual pieces here, beginning with "The Green."

"The Green" has a military feel, but without any organized enemy. Rather, the story's armed soldiers are explorers and miners, searching for commercially useful alien flora in the tropical region they call the "Green":

Green is the wrong word for it. You'd only make that mistake from the outside. When you're in the thick of it, it's black. The tangle of the canopy blocks out the sunlight. It's the murky gloom after twilight, before real dark sets in. Visibility is five meters, fifteen with headlights, although the light attracts moths, which get into the vents. Pollen spores swirl around you, big as your head. Sulfur candy floss. And everything is moist and sticky and fertile. Like the whole jungle is rutting around us.

One remarkable form of native life is a type of slime mold that can animate the dead. Our characters' base is haunted by several of these reanimated corpses, which the corporate employer charmingly designates OPP's ("Organically Preserved Personnel") but the soldiers call Pinocchios.

I love the voice of this piece. Lauren Beukes creates a miserable setting, but the story is still fun to read, thanks to our first-person narrator and her wise-guy 'tude.

South African writer Lauren Beukes made a big splash with her first novel Moxyland, and her second novel Zoo City won the Arthur C. Clarke Award. She also writes for film, TV, comics, and non-fiction magazines, all of which we hope won't keep her from writing plenty more of her distinctive fiction.

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, First Round :: The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen vs. Pure by Julianna Baggott

This second to last battle in the first round of the Summer 2012 Battle of the Books features The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen going against Pure by Julianna Baggott. The winner will be whichever book I most want to keep reading after the first 25 pages.

The Land of Decoration: Henry Holt and Company hardcover, 306 pages, April 2012. Grace McCleen is a UK author and singer-songwriter. The Land of Decoration, her first novel, won the Desmond Elliott novel prize for debut fiction published in Britain. The first 25 pages consists of nearly six unnumbered chapters titled by topic.

Ten-year-old Judith McPherson builds a model of a land in her bedroom out of various bits and pieces. She calls it the Land of Decoration, after a description of the biblical Promised Land. She and her father are Christian fundamentalists living in Wales. They read and ponder the Bible every day.

On the playground, bully Neil Lewis threatens to push Judith's head down the toilet, but then the school bell rings. Judith spends the next days of the weekend worrying about what will happen on Monday. She practices holding her breath, fearing her head will be pushed underwater. She wonders what dying is like and can’t eat much. She briefly considers telling her father, but she doubts he’d believe she’s in danger.

On Sunday morning, Judith goes with her father to the Meeting Hall, which is a large metal shed. Her father’s congregation numbers about thirty, including some eccentric characters. They have a visiting speaker, Brother Michaels, who talks about faith moving mountains and miracles working best with ordinary things. Judith is very impressed with Brother Michaels, and afterword, asks him for some advice.

Pure: Grand Central Publishing, February 2012, 431 pages. Julianna Baggott is a critically acclaimed bestselling author who has written seventeen books, including novels for adults and younger readers, and collections of poetry. Pure is the start of a projected series. The first 25 pages consists of a prologue and a little more than two chapters.

The detonations (nuclear bombs) occurred about nine years ago. Pressia was just six then and hardly remembers. The detonations caused many of the survivors to be melded with various objects. Pressia was holding a doll, and the doll's head became one of her hands. Her grandfather got a small plastic fan lodged in his throat.

Pressia and her grandfather live in the back of a ruined barbershop. Pressia makes windup toy butterflies to barter. The local military regime, called the OSR, requires that all sixteen year olds turn themselves in or be taken in forcibly. Pressia will soon turn sixteen. Her grandfather has built Pressia a sleeping cabinet with a trapdoor to hide in.

Meanwhile, there are other people, the Pures, who were protected from the damaging detonations inside their Dome. Partridge and the other teenage boys at the academy are subjected to "coding sessions" to give them new skills. Partridge is pulled out of a history class to meet with his father, Ellery Willux, a head scientist. Partridge is not at all close to his father. During their talk, his father implies that Partridge’s mother, who supposedly died helping survivors outside the Dome, may still be alive.

The Battle: This match-up features two books marketed, more or less, as fiction. But the thing is, I (Amy) very rarely read mainstream fiction. Both books feature young protagonists. In The Land of Decoration, Judith’s father believes that it’s only a matter of time until someone blows the world up. In Pure, it's after the bombs have dropped.

The Land of Decoration is contemporary fiction that, so far, lacks in any fantastic element. The book is told in first person in a quirky manner. Despite the young age of the protagonist, this book isn’t written for a YA audience. Judith relates some peculiar personal details about the people she encounters. Some of the fundamental religious aspects, which may be about Jehovah’s Witnesses, make me want to grind my teeth in dismay. Judith's worldview seems so by skewed her religious beliefs.

Pure definitely has fantastic elements, but I found some of them to be unsettling, such Pressia’s doll head hand with the blinky eyes. This book, which has two teenage protagonists living in oppressive near-future societies, appears to be targeted at the YA audience. Yet it's a science fiction book with elements that don’t seem scientifically logical. Maybe it would have worked better for me if it didn’t mention real places, such as Baltimore and DC. I liked the jump rope rhyme of the children outside the Dome.

For me, this battle is a bit of a toss up. Pure has the genre content, but the The Land of Decoration feels more emotionally believable. Both books are well written. Guess I'll pick to continue reading about the Christian pre-teen instead of the post-apocalypse teenagers.

THE WINNER: THE LAND OF DECORATION by Grace McCleen

The Land of Decoration will advance to meet in the second round either Casting Shadows by J. Kelley Anderson or The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear & five others.

To see the whole bracket, click here.

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, First Round :: Destroyer of Worlds by Mark Chadbourn vs. Silver by Rhiannon Held

This battle in the Summer 2012 Battle of the Books features Destroyer of Worlds by Mark Chadbourn going against Silver by Rhiannon Held. The winner will be whichever book I most want to keep reading after the first 25 pages.

Destroyer of Worlds: Pyr Books trade paperback, May 2012, 382 pages, cover illustration by John Picacio, book three of Kingdom of the Serpent. Destroyer of Worlds was originally published in 2009 in the UK by Gollancz. This series is connected to Chadbourn's prior trilogies, The Age of Misrule and The Dark Age. Aaron sampled the first book of the Kingdom of the Serpent series, Jack of Ravens, in the Winter Battle of the Books, and the second book, The Burning Man, was in the Spring Battle of the Books. Mark Chadbourn is a UK writer of about seventeen novels. He has won two British Fantasy Awards for short fiction, and a handful of his novels have been British Fantasy Awards nominees.

Destroyer of Worlds commences with an eight page long summary of what has happened before. Good thing, because I haven’t read any of the books in this sequence of trilogies. From this recap I took, basically, that the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons have fought battles throughout the ages, back and forth through time, with and against various Gods, and they are brought back to life after death. I decided to call this section background information. For the first 25 pages I read the prologue and a small portion of chapter one.

The war to end all wars is coming, the battle against the Void. In Asgard, home of the Norse Gods, an army of terrible creatures is invading. Hunter, Brother of Dragons, advises the Aesir to run. Many Aesir die in battle before they are forced to abandon Asgard. Elsewhere in the Otherworld called the Far Lands, Mallory and Caitlin, Brother and Sister of Dragons, are in a great walled city under siege by Riot-Beasts. Young Virginia Dare, from the original Roanoke colony, promises to show Mallory a secret way into the Fortress of the Void.

Riding on the supernatural Last Train are five Brothers and Sisters of Dragons. Church, the Champion of Existence, talks with Veitch, who was previously a villain. Nature spirit Laura, seer Shavi and Ruth chat in another carriage.

Silver: Tor book trade paperback, June 2012, 317 pages, cover photograph by Trevillion Images. Rhiannon Held is a US writer. Silver, an urban fantasy, is her first novel, and start of a planned series. The first 25 pages is conveniently exactly three chapters.

Werewolf Andrew Dare tracks, in both human and wolf form, an unknown lone werewolf in New Hampshire. The lone werewolf smells of silver and pain. When Andrew finds her she’s in human form, and she’s scrawny and acting crazy. She can’t change, her “wild self” is gone. She claims Death calls her Silver.

Andrew decides against driving Silver far in his car. He checks them into a hotel and phones the Boston sub-alpha, and tells him that he found the lone and she’s more than he bargained for. When Andrew returns with some fast-food, Silver unsuccessfully tries to escape the hotel room. She argues that “the monster” is coming. Later, when Silver is resting again, Andrew looks at Silver’s hurt arm and sees an odd series of red welts. Andrew phones his Roanoke pack alpha, tells him that he found her, and it appears that someone injected her, a werewolf, with a liquid form of silver.

The Battle: We have a contemporary urban fantasy going against a world-spanning, epic fantasy which is the third book in trilogy. Werewolves seem to be in danger in Silver. The universe seems in danger in Destroyer of Worlds. Strangely, both books mention the lost English colony of Roanoke and contain characters with the last name of Dare.

Destroyer of Worlds starts with a dire situation, an eminent universal final battle. There are a host of characters with awesomely complicated pasts. Unfortunately, the characters I met in the first 25 pages of this book didn’t succeed in drawing me emotionally into the story. Maybe I couldn’t quite relate to their situations. Destroyer of Worlds suffers because it’s difficult to jump into a story in progress. Undoubtedly, this book would’ve worked much better for me if I had read the previous books.

Silver, on the other hand, is a more personal story. It’s set on a smaller stage. The idea of werewolves using silver as a weapon against other werewolves is different. I like that Andrew tries to minimize questionable appearances to avoid getting attention. Silver’s worship of The Lady, the moon, and her speaking with Death, who follows her, is interesting.

Someday I’d like to read more by Mark Chadbourn, but preferably something that begins a story, not ends one. So for this battle, I choose to go with werewolves.

THE WINNER: SILVER by Rhiannon Held

Silver will advance to meet Age of Aztec by James Lovegrove in the second round.

To see the whole bracket, click here.

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, First Round :: Age of Aztec by James Lovegrove vs. The Ultimate Game by Sean Austin

Moving into the bottom half of the bracket, the Summer 2012 Battle of the Books continues with Age of Aztec by James Lovegrove going against The Ultimate Game by Sean Austin. The winner will be whichever book I most want to keep reading after the first 25 pages.

Age of Aztec: Solaris paperback, 507 pages, cover art by Marek Okon. Age of Aztec is part of the Pantheon series, which are standalone military adventure novels featuring the gods of ancient mythologies. James Lovegrove is a British author of SF, horror and dark fantasy. He has written around a dozen novels, plus a similar number of books for children and young adults.

In Age of Aztec, the year is 2012, but the world is not as we know it. The setting is a mashup of modern Britain and the historic Aztecs. For instance, there are pubs and coca-leaf tea, plasma lightning guns and sharpened obsidian weapons. In this world, the Aztecs were never conquered by Cortez. Britain was subsumed into the Aztec Empire, and St. Paul’s Cathedral was demolished to build the City of London ziggurat. The weather in London is strangely tropically hot. The first 25 pages covers about a chapter and a half.

An Aztec blood rite is held at the London ziggurat. Thousands throng the streets for the festivities. A hundred participating volunteers queue for sacrifice. The officiating priest ritually dispatches sacrificial victims then the acolytes remove the victims’ hearts. A TV network aerodisc broadcasting the event dips low, unusually close to the temple. Out of the aerodisc jumps the terrorist called The Conquistador, and chaos ensues. Quote: “people were getting killed who weren’t meant to be getting killed.” The Jaguar Warrior police blast the temple and The Conquistador. Afterwards, in the debris they don’t find the Conquistador’s corpse, only pieces of his empty armor.

Upon reporting for work the next day at Scotland Yard, Inpector Mal Vaughn mets her DS (Detective Sergeant), Aaronson, who jokes about her having a casual sexual encounter, and tells her that Chief Superintendent Kellaway is looking for her. Mal witnesses Kellaway’s displeasure with Chief inspector Nyman for mishandling security at the blood rite. Kellaway kills Nyman with a macuahitl, an Aztec sword. Then Vaughn is promoted to Chief Inspector and given the dreaded Conquistador case.

The Ultimate Game: AAA Reality Games paperback, March 2012, 281 pages. Book One of Echo’s Revenge. This seems to be a tie-in novel for a future game from AAA Reality Games. This is first novel, for author Hart Getzen (aka Sean Austin). The first 25 pages cover an author introduction, a prologue, and little more than two chapters.

The author Sean Austin claims that this book is a report of an ongoing investigation, that some names and locations were changed to protect his sources.

Fourteen year old Reggie King and his eleven year old brother, Jeremy, of Washington state play an online multi-player game called ECHO’s Revenge, featuring a huge predator in body armor called ECHO (E-6) and mechanized ghouls. The game is an escape for the boys from their dysfunctional home life. Their mother, Jennifer Edna, called Jeda, is somewhat clueless and works late. Asa, Jeda’s live-in unemployed boyfriend, who is supposed to look after the boys, drinks and is abusive.

Reggie, aka Waiting for You, is one of top players of ECHO’s Revenge. He’s invited by AAA Reality Games LLC (interestingly the publisher of this book) to join a focus group with other Master level players, travel expenses paid. But Reggie doesn’t see the letter until the night before because his mean step-father, Asa, hides it from him. Of course, Reggie isn’t allowed to go. So early the next morning, Reggie sneaks away from home, leaving his brother Jeremy to cover for him, and catches a bus to AAA Reality Games lab, which is a couple hours away.

The Battle: We have a brutal alternate world SF novel, and a young adult gamers adventure book.

In the first 25 page of Age of Aztec, there’s already a sizable body count with gruesome onstage deaths. As in many recent British books, the profanity f*ck is used, in my opinion, over abundantly in conversations. I probably wouldn’t have picked up this book on my own.

In The Ultimate Game, the boys are likable characters, although some of the things they do seem a bit unbelievable, such as jumping out a second story window in winter to avoid their angry step-father. In my opinion, the writing seems a bit wordy and unpolished. But then again, this is a book targeted at young male tween and teen gamers, which I’m not.

For this battle, I have to go with Age of Aztec, even though it’s brutal, because I got to admit it’s a page turner.

THE WINNER: AGE OF AZTEC by James Lovegrove

Age of Aztec will advance to meet either Destroyer of Worlds by Mark Chadbourn or Silver by Rhiannon Held in the second round.

To see the whole bracket, click here.

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, First Round :: Hunter and Fox by Philippa Ballantine vs. Taft 2012 by Jason Heller

Continuing the Summer Bracket of the 2012 Battle of the Books, the fourth matchup pits Hunter and Fox by Philippa Ballantine against Taft 2012 by Jason Heller. Per our contest rules, I have read the first 25 pages of both, and the winner will be the book I most want to continue reading.

Hunter and Fox: Pyr Books trade paperback, June 2012, 274 pages, cover illustration by Cynthia Sheppard, a Shifted World novel. Philippa Ballantine is a New Zealand author and podcaster living in the USA. She is co-author of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences novels with Tee Morris. She is the author of the books Geist and Spectyr in the ongoing Books of the Order series. The first 25 pages cover a little more than two chapters.

The Caisah, ruler of the shifting land Conhaero, destroyed the native Vaerli people, taking away most of their magical powers. The Vaerli woman called Talyn the Dark, who rides a fearsome green steed, became the Caisah’s Hunter, killing and capturing people for her enemy. For her dirty work, Talyn is rewarded with pieces of a mysterious golden puzzle which Talyn believes is the only hope for her people.

Meanwhile, Finbarr the Fox, who is a talespinner and mage of sorts, tells an audience about life before the Caisah, how it was a golden time, even if the lands were less stable. He tries to raise sympathy for the Vaerli. His story earns him a beating from the Caisah’s Rutilian Guard. Then Finn travels to the city Perilous and Fair, where he spots Talyn, the Hunter herself, entering the Caisah’s citadel.

Elsewhere, Talyn’s lost brother Byre is called “Vaerli scum” and escapes an angry mob.

Taft 2012: Quirk Books paperback, June 2012, 249 pages, cover illustration by Doogie Horner. Jason Heller is journalist and author living in Denver. I live in the same metro area, but I have not met him (but fellow Fantastic Reviewer Aaron says he's a good guy). Heller is the author of The Captain Jack Sparrow Handbook. Taft 2012 is his first novel. The first 25 pages include a prologue, three chapters, and various informational tidbits.

In Taft 2012, unlike in our world, President William Howard Taft mysteriously disappeared in March of 1913, the morning of the inauguration of his successor, Woodrow Wilson. For years, Taft was missing and presumed dead. The last thing Taft remembers is being exhausted and lying down to sleep on the Ellipse. Next, a confused Taft is pulling himself out of the mud, heading towards the fountain, and he gets shot in the leg.

Secret Service agent Kowalczyk saw a oversized, muddy man lurching towards a White House press conference, not halting when ordered, and so he shot the intruder. The water of the White House's South Lawn fountain and the rain reveal a man wearing a dirty tweed suit who improbably looks and acts like President Taft. He is taken into the White House to recuperate. The date is November 2011.

Taft is questioned by men in suits. Taft's identity is confirmed by physical traits, DNA tests, and his knowing a secret presidential ID code. Taft's great-granddaughter, who is a congresswoman from Ohio, wants to know what the hell is up. A panicked Taft momentarily mistakes a woman who is a history professor for his wife Nellie.

The Battle: We have a fantasy set on another world featuring magic and a brutal ruler, and a book set in the modern day about an improbably resurrected US President from a hundred years ago. These are two very different books, in tone as well as subject matter.

Hunter and Fox begins with a smorgasbord of fantasy concepts and world building. Various intriguing magic talents are presented, such as Talyn’s time-sense. I like the idea of the Chaoslands, with various peoples seemingly from different worlds. It’s interesting that the Caisah is immortal while the Vaerli are long-lived. Many things are touched upon, perhaps too many.

In the first 25 pages, the character of The Fox, Finn, is likable but I can only guess at his motivations. The Hunter Talyn appears set up to become an antihero.

Taft 2012 takes a preposterous idea and runs with it. There's no attempted explanation of how President Taft could appear after nearly a hundred years. No one yet is claiming Taft is a government conspiracy. Quotes, letters, memos, radio transcripts and other bits are nicely used to help tell the story. The character Taft believably speaks in an old-fashioned manner. I like the humorous touches, such as Taft's appreciation of Twinkies.

After reading a short sample of these novels, I asked myself in which book was I more curious to learn what happens next. I enjoy the escapism of reading books set in unreal fantasy worlds, but in this case I found I'd rather continue reading the book set in something resembling reality.

THE WINNER: TAFT 2012 by Jason Heller

Taft 2012 moves on to the second round, where it will meet Songs of the Earth by Elspeth Cooper.

To see the whole bracket, click here.