Fiction: The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins by Irvine Welsh

Irvine Welsh is not an acquired taste. But no matter what he’s writing about, he is consistent. He draws his images and ideas with big, bold lines liberally lubricated with profanity. If you liked or loved Welsh’s previous dozen novels -- Trainspotting, Filth, Glue and Skagboys among them -- then you will also like The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins (Doubleday) which is as smart, dark and nasty as any of his previous novels.

Now all of that is a relief, actually. When I heard that The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins was set in America, I’d feared that, nearly two decades after Trainspotting, Welsh’s debut novel, the author might have mellowed. But fear not. Welsh is as sharply observational in his latest novel as he has been throughout his career. Only this time, Welsh brings his laser eye to Miami and tells a tale that is one part bizarre crime fiction, one part celebrity culture observation and one part pure new world madness.

A Miami Beach-based personal trainer disarms a gunman and, overnight, she is cast as a hero. But the “crazed gunman” turns out to have been the victim of child abuse and the men he was chasing are serial pedophiles. When one of the pedophiles attacks someone, the hero’s transformation to villain is complete

Welsh tells his story with his usual verve and dark humor, but his sharp observations on American culture create an almost transparent sub-plot and, in so many ways, it becomes quickly apparent that The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins might be Welsh's best book yet.

New This Week: I’m the Man: The Story of that Guy From Anthrax by Scott Ian

Scott Ian must be one of the hardest working guys in metal. The rhythm guitarist cofounded the iconic metal outfit Anthrax with some high school buddies in 1982. That formation would lead to the beginning of the thrash metal movement along with Megadeath, Slayer and Metallica.

It was Ian who got the idea to get together with rap supergroup Public Enemy back in 1991 to record and then tour. He was also one of the founders of Stormtroopers of Death which fused hardcore punk with thrash metal for the birth of crossover thrash. In 2001, Ian became host of Rock Show for VH1. He hosted 48 episodes, interviewing many iconic guests including The Cult, Tenacious D, Ozzy Osbourne and others.

There’s more. Quite a lot of it. Ian is accomplished and passionate and seemingly always up for a challenge. What you might not know is he’s also tremendously funny, with a bright take on life that not only seems unexpected in a heavy metal icon, but that shines through every page of I’m the Man (Da Capo) Ian’s newly released biography. As he writes early on in I’m the Man:

I didn’t get into music for pussy. I got into it for music. Sure, there were girls along the way, but not like there were for those '80s hair bands. For the longest time, thrash metal was a dude scene; if there were any chicks at the show, they were usually dragged along by their boyfriends. Basically, I’m a guy who made a name for himself by working my ass off.

It sets the tone. Anthrax fans will enjoy Ian’s candid insights and surprisingly charming take on his full metal life.

Now 50, the metal legend is married to Pearl Aday, daughter of Meat Loaf and an accomplished musician in her own right. (Ian supported her on guitar on her album, The couple have one child, a son Revel Young Ian, born in 2001. ◊

SF/F: The Very Best of Tad Williams by Tad Williams

Though certainly not the household word that Game of Thrones creator George RR Martin has become, Tad Williams is one of the icons of the fantasy world.

Since the publication of his first novel, Tailchaser’s Song, in 1985, his dozen novels, eight works of non-fiction as well as the inclusion of his short fiction in various magazines and anthologies have showcased his thoughtful and imaginative prose.

The Very Best of Tad Williams (Tachyon) showcases the work of this engaging author. Most of the stories collected here have appeared in various magazines and anthologies. Bound together in this way, though, they create a sort of living retrospective of the author’s work. Obviously, Williams’ many fans will eat this up. However, those who have been thinking about reading some of his work but have been hesitating will find this book a great indoctrination, especially since many of his novels are massive in both size and scope. Beginning with a more bite-sized stories may well appeal to those wary of making the huge time investment into most of Williams’ novels.

And it won’t surprise Williams’ fans one bit to hear that the author may well be on the cusp of an even broader readership. Williams’ very charming debut novel, Tailchaser's Song, a fantasy set in a world peopled (ahem) by cats, is currently under development as a feature-length animated film. More news on that as it develops. ◊

SF/F: Lovecraft’s Monsters edited by Ellen Datlow

I can’t imagine that there is a serious reader of SF/F and horror fiction in the English language that does not know Ellen Datlow’s name.

Not only is Datlow a sharp and observant writer, for 30 years she has been one of the ranking editors in the genre. She was the fiction editor at OMNI and is the editor of over 50 anthologies, many of which have been featured somewhere in January Magazine over the years. (Often under my byline. And I’ll admit it: I’m a fan.) So needless to say, when a book with Datlow’s name on the cover enters my world, I sit up and pay attention.

In this case, though, there was more than one reason to take notice. In Lovevcraft’s Monsters (Tachyon), Datlow brings together some of the top SF/F and horror writers working today and has them play in Lovecraft’s bizarre world. And that’s a delight. To see the likes of Neil Gaiman, Joe R. Lansdale, Elizabeth Bear and many others writing what is, in one way, very much like Lovecraftian fanfic is very little short of wonderful.

Nor is this Datlow’s first foray in this sub-sub genre. In 2009 she edited Lovecraft Unbound, a book that contained “mostly new stories inspired by Lovecraft.” In Lovecraft’s Monsters, Datlow says she feels she has pushed “thematic boundaries to the breaking point,” with stories from some authors not known for the type included in the anthology.

The stories are weirdly wonderful. But so, also, is the artwork: spectacularly rendered original illustrations appear throughout John Coulthart.

If you loved Cthulhu, Shoggoths, the Deep Ones and the other monsters that haunted Howard Phillips Lovecraft’s sad and creepy vision, you’ll gobble up Lovecraft’s Monsters.

New Yesterday: Dying is My Business by Nicholas Kaufmann

Imagine that you can not die. That no matter what you did -- or did not do -- after your final breath, another would come. If this were the case, it might determine the course of your whole life: or what was left of it. And that’s just what Trent has done, working for a gangster doing the sort of jobs that get people killed. Well, most people, anyway. For Trent there is no risk. Every time he dies, he wakes right back up again.

Even so, the business of coming back from the dead isn’t entirely painless. Here, in the opening scene of Dying is My Business (St. Martin’s Griffin), we see the process from Trent’s perspective:

It’s not as easy as it looks to come back from the dead.

It’s a shock to the system, even more than dying is. The first new breath burns like fire. The first new heartbeat is like a sharp, urgent pain. Emerging from darkness like that. the sudden light is blinding, confusing. Coming back from the dead feels less like a miracle than like waking up with the world’s most debilitating hangover.

Depending on your perspective, there are worse things about that process than the pain. Trent himself doesn’t even know how it all works, only that it does. Part of the reason might just be that his own memory only goes back about a year. Everything before that is a big question mark. One thing he does know: the process -- whatever it is -- is not without cost. In the first place, he can not sleep. Ever. In the second place, someone always has to die. If not him, then someone else and one thing Trent always sees when he comes back from the dead is someone else’s corpse. It doesn’t always make sense -- to him, at least -- but it is always the case.

When Trent’s boss, Underwood, sends him out on a mission to retrieve an antique box from some squatters in an abandoned warehouse, he thinks it will be a piece of cake. But the “squatters” turn out to be a great deal more than the homeless people they appear to be and Trent finds himself in a mad world of bad magic and evil creatures where he must take part in an almost myth-like battle between good and evil. The only thing that has him even believing his eyes is the oddness in his own history.

As much as I enjoyed Dying is My Business I’ve had an awful time trying to write about it: everything I say makes it sound trite and lame (witness “myth-like battle between good and evil”) and even cliche. The only thing that makes the book move beyond the expected is author Kaufmann’s fine sense of urban fantasy, plus a sharp, dark humor and a pure inventiveness that keeps you wondering just what the hell could happen next.

Dying is My Business is very, very good. And it makes me suspect that there will be more just like it to enjoy some time soon. ◊

Non-Fiction: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Heaven: (Or, How I Made Peace with the Paranormal and Stigmatized Zealots and Cynics in the Process) by Corey Taylor

I’m betting that a lot of people will come to A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Heaven (DaCapo) for an inside glimpse of Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor and stick around for Taylor’s charm, wit and 21st century philosophizing.

We already knew Taylor could write. Back in 2011 he wowed his fans with Seven Deadly Sins: Settling the Argument Between Born Bad and Damaged Good. Yes, that book was memoir. But it was more, as well. This new book takes that original concept and amps it up. Way up, in fact. Here again, Taylor himself is the lens, but we’re looking way beyond the man and his music now. In fact, we’re looking beyond this very life.

In A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Heaven, Taylor takes us on a tour of his personal paranormal: the oddities he’s encountered, some unexplained things that have happened near him and how, in many ways, he’s made peace with the bizarre and unknown. Taylor’s view is beyond religion. As he points out:

Is is now 2013. I am here to tell you that if you still need a guidebook that was written when people were still trying to marry camels, you have bigger issues than how to live your life. The human race has been gifted over the centuries with fantastic minds: philosophers of such extraordinary knack that we have thrived in leaps and bounds with each generation …. But it is almost always the elders of our race who cling to this horseshit like flies at an outhouse, and those same people are almost always in positions of power, using the “good word” to control the minds -- and the votes -- of the flock.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Heaven is an odd book to try and categorize or even talk about. In fact, I’m having a problem thinking about where we might catalog it on January. It could, in a way, be considered Art & Culture as the author’s background certainly warrants it. I toyed with the thought of Biography, but really, the book is so much beyond that. We don’t have a Self-Help section, but if we did, this book wouldn’t really belong there.

Like Taylor himself, the book is different and unique. Not one thing but many. It might uplift you. It might nudge at your worldview. But it will certainly engage you and strike you once again at the odd wit and wisdom of this deeply talented man. ◊

Biography: Official Truth: 101 Proof: The Inside Story of Pantera by Rex Brown and Mark Eglinton

A decade after they were torn asunder, super metal group, Pantera, has more than seven million Facebook fans. Numbers like would be a major feat for an active group, never mind an essentially dead one. And make no mistake, though three of the original four bandmembers are still alive, Pantera is no more, nor will it be. That much is clear from Official Truth: 101 Proof: The Inside Story of Pantera (DaCapo).

Of course, the pivotal moment in Pantera’s story comes near the end. It’s a part that was documented in Zac Crain’s very compelling Black Tooth Grin: The High Life, Good Times, and Tragic End of “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott.

Abbott was the founder of Pantera, an act that seemed as turbulent and fraught as the decade that gave the band its biggest success. Pantera was metal in the age of grunge and they were unapologetic.

What helps give Official Truth its authentic ring is the voice of co-author Rex Brown, the bass player who joined the band in 1982, just a year after the mercurial Abbot brothers put the outfit together. The fact that the voice grates at times is apparent almost from the very beginning. And though he’s earned -- he can walk that walk -- Rex Brown’s rock god arrogance can be a little hard to take.

Though it doesn’t sound like life in Pantera was ever much of a party (other than the very nastiest kind),
in 2004, Darrel Abbot was killed by a deranged fan while he was onstage, putting a dramatic finale on a story that seemed headed for tragedy almost since the very beginning.

Official Truth is a proper rock biography, but it’s not for the faint of heart. Some readers will find it a little too gritty and a little too real and, certainly, the F-bomb gets thrown around sometimes more than one would ever have thought possible. But it’s a portrait, of sorts. And if you ever thought the world of a rock god was sexy and golden, read Official Truth and think again. ◊


Lincoln Cho is a freelance writer and editor. He lives in the Chicago area where he works in the high tech industry. He is currently working on a his first novel, a science fiction thriller set in the world of telecommunications.

Fiction: Apocalypse Cow by Michael Logan

“Forget the cud, they want blood!”

Somehow that coverline puts the nature of Apocalypse Cow (St. Martin’s Griffin), Scottish journalist Michael Logan’s debut novel, into perspective. Because even if you were about to wonder if Logan’s lighthearted tale of a bovine zombie apocalypse was meant seriously, you have to know that any time someone rhymes “blood” and “cud” on any book cover anywhere, someone’s tongue must be jammed firmly into their cheek.

And so it is here. What surprises is that, despite the morbidly screwball presence, Logan’s dark take on mad cow disease is actually surprisingly entertaining.

Apocalypse Cow mines the same vein as the comedic British film that launched Simon Pegg’s career, 2004’s Shaun of the Dead. Like that film, Apocalypse Cow takes a decidedly unfunny premise and (ahem) milks it for all it’s worth, ringing laughter from situations one would not think could hold any. And amid the madness of a plague of cow zombies threatening the future of the world, Logan manages to insert an unexpected stylishness as well as some very real humor: both sly and otherwise.

Let’s face it: a book featuring bovine zombies is not going to have many socially redeeming qualities. But if you’ve ever liked the sort of humor that skates you right to the edge and tries to push you over, this is one that you’re likely to enjoy. ◊


Lincoln Cho is a freelance writer and editor. He lives in the Chicago area where he works in the high tech industry. He is currently working on a his first novel, a science fiction thriller set in the world of telecommunications.

Art & Culture: Vintage Tomorrows: A Historian and a Futurist Journey Through Steampunk into the Future of Technology by James H. Carrott and Brian David Johnson

“A futurist and a cultural historian walk into a bar.”

The name of the first chapter is like a lead in to a joke, but is instead the set-up for a deeply interesting book deeply enmeshed in the culture of “what if?” Early on in Vintage Tomorrows (Make) the authors explain their journey in a way that sets the whole book up:

It begins, like so many great ideas, over a beer. A futurist and a cultural historian have a pint in Seattle and start talking about the future and the past. They’re both technologists, so it’s hardly surprising when the conversation drifts into the topic of steampunk, a modern day mashup of the future and the past, technology and culture….

So over a beer historian James H. Carrott and futurist Brian David Johnson ask themselves: What can steampunk teach us about the future? What happens when we look backward in order to look forward?

Over the next couple of years the pair traveled the world asking that question. And, face it, if it should be anyone asking this stuff, it’s these two. Johnson is a futurist at Intel where he does “future casting” to “provide Intel with a pragmatic vision of consumers and computing.” Carrott, meanwhile, has brought humor and theater into his work as a historian and he was for a time global product manager for Xbox 360 hardware. They are geek princes, clearly. Exactly the correct duo to set upon this journey. And they did it up right.

Is Vintage Tomorrows sometimes a little uneven? It is. And certainly parts of the book seem more gripping and convincing than others. For instance, when they are interviewing “experts” like William Gibson, Cory Doctorow, Bruce Sterling, James Gleick and Margaret Atwood, they are at their best. Later, when they talk about their documentary-in-progress, they are less engaging. (But perhaps, by then, there was less to say?) For the most part, though, this is a worthwhile, if challenging, journey and definitely a book with something to say. ◊

Lincoln Cho is a freelance writer and editor. He lives in the Chicago area, where he works in the high-tech industry. He is currently working on a his first novel, a science-fiction thriller set in the world of telecommunications.

Books to Film: John Dies at the End

Back in 2009 I quite liked a breakout bestseller called John Dies at the End by an author who was billed as David Wong, but wasn’t. In part, this is what I said:

At a time when many writers are pushing at the edges of the novel, trying to redefine what the word means and what it is, David Wong sort of does. This comes in part from the publication history of his first novel, John Dies at the End (St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne), one of those weird Internet success stories you hear about. In fact, this might be one of the best yet.

John Dies at the End started out as a Web serial in 2004. The story appeared in book form for the first time in 2007, as a paperback from “Horror and Apocalyptic Book Publisher” Permuted Press, an independent publisher whose area of specialization you can pretty well guess at. John Dies at the End would have fit right in with their line.

As fun a success story as that was, as it turned out, it was only going to get better. That 2009 novel did very well and was published in multiple forms. John Wong (actually senior editor and columnist at Cracked.com, Jason Pargin) came up with a sequel, the also quite successful This Book is Full of Spiders, published last fall. By then, the film version of John Dies at the End had long been completed. In fact, it was screened at Sundance last January and goes into general release next week: on January 25th. And, from everything I hear, director Don Coscarelli’s (The Beastmaster, Bubba Ho-Tep) John Dies at the End has been quite faithful to the novel.

The action in John Dies at the End all centers around soy sauce, a mysterious and fairly unstable drug that alters not only the mind, it seems to have an effect on time and eventually opens a portal to a pretty hell-like place. After you take it, in the book Wong tells us, “You might be able to read minds, make time stop, cook pasta that’s exactly right every time. And you can see the shadowy things that share this world, the ones who are always present and always hidden.”

Despite the screwball-sounding premise, the novel version of John Dies at the End has some genuinely frightening moments. From everything I hear, the film version does, as well. Though reviews thus far have been mixed, this is not the sort of film that will live or die by advance notice. And despite the fact the film is currently available streaming on Amazon and iTunes, moviegoers will determine this one’s fate after January 25th.

Meanwhile, Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Griffin, have released a movie tie-in edition of the book. Nothing new there but the cover which includes illustrations of the movie’s stars including Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Paul Giamatti and Clancy Brown.

My 2009 review of John Dies at the End is here. ◊

Lincoln Cho is a freelance writer and editor. He lives in the Chicago area, where he works in the high-tech industry. He is currently working on a his first novel, a science-fiction thriller set in the world of telecommunications.

SF/F: The Year’s Best Science Fiction edited by Gardner Dozois

The 29th publication of The Year’s Best Science Fiction (St. Martin’s Press) edited by Gardner Dozois annual needs little announcement, yet not discussing it at least a bit would seem like an oversight. Every year, Dozois rounds up the very best of SF/F from the previous year, offering readers the chance to see what genre masters are up to plus giving us a glimpse of where things are headed with the best of the best from the brightest of young things.

As usual, the anthology begins with a summation of the previous year by the editor. This time Dorzois puts emphasis on the importance of the e-book on various trends in SF/F, but also the importance of magazines that publish fiction, regardless of format. “If you’d like to see lots of good SF and Fantasy published every year,” the editor admonishes, “the survival of these magazines is essential, and one important way that you can help them survive is by subscribing to them.”

It’s a good point, too. Especially in this context, since almost all of the fiction in this anthology was initially published in a periodical of some description. This time out, the more than 300,000 words in the anthology includes short stories by Robert Reed, Alastair Reynolds, Maureen F. McHugh, Pat Cadigan, Elizabeth Bear and others. Gardner has a demonstrated talent for finding the best of the best and this year’s offering is no exception. ◊

Lincoln Cho is a freelance writer and editor. He lives in the Chicago area, where he works in the high-tech industry. He is currently working on a his first novel, a science-fiction thriller set in the world of telecommunications.

Fiction: A Book of Horrors edited by Stephen Jones

The purpose of the anthology A Book of Horrors (St. Martin’s Griffin) would seem to be, at least in part, to take a stab back at all those sparkly vampires. “What the hell happened to the horror genre?” editor Stephen Jones asks in his introduction. “These days our bloodsuckers are more likely to show their romantic nature, werewolves work for government organizations, phantoms are private investigators and the walking dead can be found sipping tea amongst the polite society of a Jane Austen novel.”

While Jones acknowledges an audience for that sort of horror fiction, he makes it clear that sort is not his sort… nor is it what you’ll find in A Book of Horrors, a space where Jones has come to “reclaim the horror genre for those who understand and appreciate the worth of a scary story.”

And there is much here to be scared of. Jones opens with a story by the master, Stephen King, in good form here with “The Little Green God of Agony.” Included, also, are stories by Caitlin R. Kiernan, Peter Crowther, Angela Slatter, John Ajvide Lindquist,  Elizabeth Hand and others.

Tired of sparkly vampires and romantic werewolves? The antidote is here. If you don’t find something here to scare you, probably nothing will. ◊

Lincoln Cho is a freelance writer and editor. He lives in the Chicago area, where he works in the high-tech industry. He is currently working on a his first novel, a science-fiction thriller set in the world of telecommunications.

SF/F: The Sword & Scorcery Anthology edited by David G. Hartwell and Jacob Weisman

In his foreword to The Sword & Scorcery Anthology (Tachyon), David Drake writes, “Good sword and scorcery has character and all the other elements of good fiction generally; but the thing S&S must have is story.” And then, as though to prove his point, the balance of the book goes on to illustrate the story of sword and sorcery from the very beginning, from Robert E. Howard’s 1933 short story, “Tower of the Elephant,” right through to “The Three Monarchs” by Michael Swanwick, which makes its very first appearance in this anthology.

With so much time and breadth to be represented in a single powerful genre, there is a great possibility for misstep, but seasoned editors David G. Hartwell and Jacob Weisman manage to stay on track, choosing stories that evoke the best of the evolution of the genre, while creating an anthology that’s really worth reading and that it seems likely will illuminate newcomers to sword and sorcery for many years to come.

The 20 stories here do a great job of representing sword and scorcery over the years. Michael and Linda Moorcock’s “The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams” from 1962 is an S&S classic, containing all the tropes and twists that would later come to hallmark what was then a fledgling part of the subgenre. Joanna Russ, Ramsey Campbell, Jane Yolen, George R.R. Martin and other authors who make up the very cornerstones of sword and sorcery are represented here. “This is storytelling as the Cro-Magnons practiced it,” Drake writes. “And this is the essence of sword and sorcery fiction.”

Hear! Hear! ◊

Lincoln Cho is a freelance writer and editor. He lives in the Chicago area, where he works in the high-tech industry. He is currently working on a his first novel, a science-fiction thriller set in the world of telecommunications.

SF/F: Under My Skin by Charles de Lint

Charles de Lint is one of the ranking names in SF/F. With 36 novels to his credit, as well as 36 collections of short fiction, he is prolific as well as fiercely talented.

While de Lint has published fiction for young readers in the past, those works have been much overshadowed by his novels and stories for adults. For instance, 2007’s Little (Grrl) Lost and The Painted Boy from 2010 seem to have been well enough liked by both readers and critics, but they didn’t ever get the kind of traction we know this writer is capable of. Under My Skin (RazorBill) is different and we can’t help but think that it will receive at least part of the attention a book with this pedigree deserves.

The premise is very good. Something is happening to the young people in a town called Santa Feliz. And the thing that is happening is so dramatic, it’s difficult to believe. The kids are changing shape: shedding their human forms and becoming various animals. Basically, if you can think of it, the animal is represented. These are shape-shifters with a difference.

The action focuses on Josh Saunders who shifts for the first time during an argument with his mother’s boyfriend that, from Josh’s perspective, goes from argument to Josh standing over the man, as blood drips from his mountain lion claws. Josh’s experience almost undoes him, but he will emerge from his experience as one of the leaders of the wildlings.

de Lint is credited with the creation of the urban fantasy and readers will encounter that in this story. The setting is perfectly contemporary -- anytown and any group of kids. In a way, that’s what makes the story so chilling and helps make it work this well.

As well, de Lint captures the voice and concerns of youth perfectly in this novel. The master storyteller at play. The book is a wonderful exploration of a very good idea, but it is also a deeply human tale. ◊

Lincoln Cho is a freelance writer and editor. He lives in the Chicago area, where he works in the high-tech industry. He is currently working on a his first novel, a science-fiction thriller set in the world of telecommunications.

SF/F: The Thirteen Hallows by Michael Scott and Colette Freeman

Whatever you’re expecting when you first pick up The Thirteen Hallows (Tor), lay it aside. This will never be the book you guessed it would be. And while that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s best to go in with your eyes open.

For one thing, the book is surprisingly violent. Again, that in itself might not be a dealbreaker, but it’s a good thing to know before you start to read. If you are the type of reader who is put off by careful and graphic descriptions of violence, this might be a journey you’d best not begin. But will it be a worthwhile journey, in the end? Well, this whole reading thing is pretty subjective, isn’t it? Some readers will be so put off by those details, they won’t ever forgive these authors. And, in a way, that’s not surprising. They write so well that even readers normally comfortable with a certain amount of graphic this and that might at times feel close to losing their lunch.

Just in case you’re getting the wrong idea, there’s more to The Thirteen Hallows than violence. A lot more. The title’s thirteen hallows refer to a series of carefully guarded artifacts. Alone, each one is powerful but their combined power could be unthinkable. Because of this, they have been watched over by their Keepers since the Second World War. But now the Keepers are being murdered; the hallows compromised.

One of the Keepers convinces a stranger to deliver her Hallow -- a broken sword -- to her nephew, inadvertently involving two innocents into a mystery centuries old.

Prolific novelist Michael Scott (who also writes as Anna Dillon) co-authored The Thirteen Hallows with international playwright Colette Freedman and the result is electrifying.

There is a bit of confusion about where this book should fit on bookstore shelves. Though I’ve heard the book described as a thriller, stack this one with fantasy, albeit a thrilling one. The Thirteen Hallows is an exciting beginning to what should prove to be an engaging series. ◊

Lincoln Cho is a freelance writer and editor. He lives in the Chicago area, where he works in the high-tech industry. He is currently working on a his first novel, a science-fiction thriller set in the world of telecommunications.

SF/F: The Children of the Sky by Vernor Vinge

Fans who have been waiting for a follow-up to Vernor Vinge’s stellar A Fire Upon the Deep have been waiting a long time. A long, long time. Certainly longer than any marketing savvy publicist would tell an author to make readers wait because, let’s face it: no matter the universe, 20 years is a long time.

But, actually, it is only in our universe that 20 years have passed. There is only a single decade between the events in A Fire Upon the Deep and Vinge’s new book, The Children of the Sky (Tor).

I wonder if I would have liked The Children of the Sky better if I’d never read A Fire Upon the Deep. And I acknowledge the possibility that all of that waiting and anticipation set me up for something wonderful. It’s hard, coming from that headspace, not to be disappointed.

While the sequel is good, in some ways it’s only good enough. Fans will certainly enjoy the newer book. But will it amaze them with the majesty of the whole thing the way the first book did? I don’t think so. It certainly didn’t me. It will sound odd to those who haven’t read either book but, The Children of the Sky didn’t make me feel as small as did A Fire Upon the Deep. Didn’t make me feel as inconsequential. It’s good, sure. It’s interesting. But it didn’t blow me away as the first book did. Though, as I said, it’s possible I came to the book with impossible expectations.

Another element worth thinking about is that of completion. Those hoping that The Children of the Sky would, at long last, give us some resolution will be disappointed. There are several threads that are not resolved in the sequel. For example, we never find out what happened with Nevil’s settlement and the matter of the zone shifting is not dealt with in a conclusive way. What that might mean for readers I don’t dare say. If we have to wait another 20 years for a third book, the suspense may well kill us! ◊

Lincoln Cho is a freelance writer and editor. He lives in the Chicago area, where he works in the high-tech industry. He is currently working on a his first novel, a science-fiction thriller set in the world of telecommunications.

Children’s Books: All Good Children by Catherine Austen

In Catherine Austen’s new novel we spend a lot of time breaking out of dystopia. The story harkens back to the very best elements of Ira Levin’s 1975 novel (later made into a couple of astonishingly bad movies) Stepford Wives.

At the center of the 21st century, select children of the well-behaved city of New Middletown line up and take their medicine. The treatment turns them into the well-mannered and obedient citizens the city has come to expect. Best friends Max and Dallas watch in panic as friends and siblings are turned into well-behaved “zombies.” What can they do about it? Clearly nothing, because they can see that something larger than themselves is at play.

It will surprise no one at all that Catherine Austen, author of All Good Children (Orca), studied political science and environmental studies. And it seems possible that, unlike many in her graduating classes, Austen is actually using what she learned for something: imagining this dystopic future where the unimaginable has become the norm.

The readership age here is intended to be young adult, but anyone who enjoys being taken out of their every day should find lots to recommend about All Good Children. ◊


Lincoln Cho is a freelance writer and editor. He lives in the Chicago area, where he works in the high-tech industry. He is currently working on a his first novel, a science-fiction thriller set in the world of telecommunications.

New this Month: The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson

I’ve been following the work of fantasy author heir apparent Brandon Sanderson since 2009’s Warbreaker. Though Sanderson hasn’t been around very long, his impact on the fantasy genre has been intense and far-reaching. Something likely to continue when he completes Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. Even if Sanderson were not a terrific writer in his own right, being tapped to complete Jordan’s work would make this an author worth watching. And in all ways, he is.

The Alloy of Law (Tor) will do nothing to turn fans away. The fourth book in Sanderson’s highly acclaimed Mistborn series, this new novel zooms us 300 years ahead of the most recent Mistborn novel, The Hero of Ages.

Even though this is a Mistborn novel, those who haven’t been following this series can enter here because, since the action in The Alloy of Law is set so far in the future, this book really does stand alone.

A note here, though: if you haven’t been reading this series, you might want to reconsider: it has been terrific in every way. This is epic fantasy with a strong steampunk vibe. Science, magic and technology all have a place in this strong and original series. Don’t miss it. ◊


Lincoln Cho is a freelance writer and editor. He lives in the Chicago area, where he works in the high-tech industry. He is currently working on a his first novel, a science-fiction thriller set in the world of telecommunications.

Holiday Gift Guide: Archie: The Married Life

It’s a sliding doors world for Archie Andrews in Archie: The Married Life (Archie Comics) where we look at two possible realities for the eternal teen as he moves into adulthood. In one thread he marries the rich and sultry Veronica Lodge. In the other, he ties the knot with perpetual girl next door, Betty Cooper.

In both possible realities, we see the well-loved characters respectfully and interestingly treated. Long-time fans of the Riverdale teens won’t feel alienated by either the stories or the artwork. The comic retains the wholesomeness that brought the series such a large fanbase throughout its 70 year history, while gently moving it -- finally! -- into another era of his life.

This is the first dozen issues of the Archie: The Married Life comics bound into a single paperback volume. The resulting graphic novel will please old and new fans alike. ◊

Lincoln Cho is a freelance writer and editor. He lives in the Chicago area, where he works in the high-tech industry. He is currently working on a his first novel, a science-fiction thriller set in the world of telecommunications.

SF/F: American Apocalypse by Nova

An Internet success story when it was self-published, now in an edited and redesigned edition from Ulysses Press, this newly published edition of American Apocalypse: The Collapse Begins makes dystopia a little more stylish.

One of the things I find difficult to understand about the book is its success. After all, in many ways, it’s hitting a little too close to home. Like any good post-apocalytpic novel, a disaster has occurred and the people of the world are picking up the pieces and figuring out how to survive. But rather than the natural or technological disasters we’re used to seeing, what we witness here is the beginnings of global economic meltdown. Sound familiar? All of American Apocalypse is like that. It’s an interesting mental exercise… and it’s a little too close to home.

It is the not-too-distant future and the world has moved on. As things get underway, our narrator is looking back on his old life with a kind of wonder. “I was never rich by the prevailing standards of the time,” he tells us. “I had a job, a car, some cool toys, a girlfriend, and a condo -- what I thought of as the basics of life. Nowadays… well, we all know; the standards changed -- and changed so very fast.”

Now the world looks very different -- think almost any Kevin Costner movie from the 1990s -- and all anyone can hope to do it survive.

At worst, American Apocalypse is a gripping, entertaining read. At best it is a handbook for the future. Either way, those who enjoy dystopic stories will find a lot here to like. Look for further installments, some already published. It turns out there is a need for disaster fiction that looks a little too much like home. ◊

Lincoln Cho is a freelance writer and editor. He lives in the Chicago area, where he works in the high-tech industry. He is currently working on a his first novel, a science-fiction thriller set in the world of telecommunications.