Monthly Online Book Review and Listings Magazine ~ May 2009
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Top literary prize goes to study of women’s writing A study of Welsh women writers in the nineteenth century has been awarded the prestigious Roland Mathias Prize for 2009. The £2,000 prize goes to Jane Aaron, Professor of English at the University of Glamorgan, for her work on Nineteenth Century Women’s writing in Wales: Nation, Gender and Identity (published by the University of Wales Press). The prize for Welsh writing in English is awarded every two years in the fields of poetry, short stories, literary criticism or Welsh history. It is the first time the prize has been awarded for a work of literary criticism. The winning book introduces readers to a hundred Welsh women authors at work during the years 1780-1900, some writing in Welsh and some in English. The chair of the judges, the former broadcaster Glyn Mathias, said: “We were immensely impressed with the scholarship and the lively writing that went into this work. Jane Aaron paints a crowded canvas, rescuing some authors from undeserved neglect and identifying the important role played by many others in Welsh society and culture at the time.” Describing it as a work of literary history as much as literary criticism, he said: “The range of writing covered in both languages – in magazines as well as books - demonstrates the degree of influence women writers had in Wales during much of that period.” Jane Aaron has published books in both English and Welsh and is the editor of the Honno Classics series of reprints of Welsh Women’s Writing in English. The award of the prize was announced at a ceremony in Brecon, supported by BBC Wales and hosted by Nicola Heywood Thomas, presenter of Radio Wales Arts’ Show. The shortlist, all of them women writers, included poet Sheenagh Pugh, short story writer Carys Davies and academic Sarah Prescott, who had published a study of eighteenth century Welsh writing. The Roland Mathias Prize was established in honour of the poet and author who played a major part in establishing Welsh writing in English as a distinctive literary genre. He died in 2007. The next Roland Mathias Prize will be awarded in 2011 for a work published during 2009 and 2010. It is open to any writer born in Wales or currently living in Wales.
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KELLEY ARMSTRONG: THE AWAKENING (Orbit PB) Chloe Saunders used to be a normal teenage girl - or so she thought. Then she
learned the shocking truth - she is a walking science experiment. Genetically
altered at birth by a sinister group of scientists known as the Edison Group,
Chloe is an aberration - a powerful necromancer who can see ghosts and even
raise the dead, often with terrifying consequences. Even worse, her growing
powers have made her a threat to the surviving members of the Edison Group, who
have decided it's time to end their experiment - permanently ...Now Chloe is
running for her life with three other supernatural teenagers - a charming
sorcerer, a troubled werewolf and a temperamental young witch. Together they
have a chance for freedom - but can Chloe trust her new friends? Just arrived - reviewed next month...
SEAN WILLIAMS: ASTROPOLIS - THE GRAND CONJUNCTION (Orbit PB) Imre Bergamasc is lost. His search for answers has led him up an alley so
blind even his sense of self has become uncertain. Before he can save the galaxy
from ruin, he must find the strength to carry on and reclaim his ultimate
purpose. But more than two million years in our future, the fight has changed.
Former allies are now enemies, and enemies have taken on entirely new forms.
Chased from the very edge of humanity's vast empire into the heart of an ancient
conspiracy, he must finally come face to face with Himself, for without the
truth of his past humanity's future will never be secured. Just arrived - reviewed next month..
TOM HOLT: MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF MAGIC (Orbit HB) There are all kinds of products. The good ones. The bad ones. The ones that
stay in the garage mouldering for years until your garden gnome makes a home out
of them. Most are harmless if handled properly, even if they do contain traces
of peanuts. But some are not. Not the ones that contain traces of magic. Chris
Popham wasn't paying enough attention when he talked to his SatNav. Sure, she
gave him directions, never backtalked him, and always led him to his next spot
on the map with perfect accuracy. She was the best thing in his life. So was it
really his fault that he didn't start paying attention when she talked to him?
In his defence, that was her job. But when 'Take the next right' turned into
'Excuse me,' that was when the real trouble started. Because sometimes a SatNav
isn't a SatNav. Sometimes it's an imprisoned soul trapped inside a metal box
that will do anything it can to get free. And some products you just can't
return. Just arrived - reviewed next month..
TOM HOLT: THE BETTER MOUSETRAP (Orbit PB) It touches all our lives; our triumphs and tragedies, our proudest
achievements, our most traumatic disasters. Alloyed of love and fear, death and
fire and the inscrutable acts of the gods, insurance is indeed the force that
binds the universe together. Hardly surprising, therefore, that Frank Carpenter,
one of the foremost magical practitioners of our age, felt himself irresistibly
drawn to it. Until, that is, he met Emily, a high-flying corporate heroine with
an annoying habit of falling out of trees and getting killed. Repeatedly. It's
not long before Frank and Jane find themselves face to face with the greatest
enigma of our times: When is a door not a door? When it's a mousetrap. Just arrived - reviewed next month...
GARRY KILWORTH: THE HUNDRED TOWERED CITY (Atom PB) What awaits Jack, Annie and Davey when they are transported back in time to
the gothic city of Prague, to search for their missing parents? Trying to avoid
capture by the secret police, they find themselves running through dark and
dangerous cobbled streets and meet some very shady characters. Where are their
parents and who has stolen the key to the time machine? Alchemists, mythical
creatures and a man with a hook for a hand hold the answers they're looking for.
Will our young heroes be in time to save their parents from eerie Karlstein
Castle? And even if they do, how will they return to the present day without the
key? Paperback reissue of last yaer's blockbuster...
TONY BALLANTYNE: TWISTED METAL (Tor HB) On a world of intelligent robots who seem to have forgotten their own distant
past, it is a time of war as the soldiers of Artemis City set out to conquer
everything within range on the continent of Shull, killing or converting every
robot they capture to their philosophy, while viewing their own wire-based minds
as nothing but metal to be used or recycled for the cause. Elsewhere, the more
individualistic robots of Turing City believe they are something more than
metal, but when the Artemisian robot Kavan sets out on a determined crusade to
prove himself, even Turing City can't stand against him.Increasingly tied up
with Kavan's destiny is Karel, a Turing robot with elements of Artemis'
philosophy already woven into his mind ...as well as Karel's wife Susan, and
their recently created child. Following the inevitable violence and destruction,
Artemisian ambition focuses elsewhere and a journey begins towards the frozen
kingdoms of the north ...and towards the truth about the legendary "Book of
Robots", a text which may finally explain the real history of this strange world
...In a completely alien but brilliantly realized landscape, here is a powerful
story of superb action, barbaric cruelty and intense emotional impact. Reminded me of a computer game. I found it difficult relating to non-human heroes and villains but the writing is taut and the story is good.
GREG KEYES: THE BORN QUEEN (Tor PB) War is coming. With the usurper Robert Dare having fled, Princess Anne has
finally ascended to the throne to the Kingdom of Crothney, but it may already be
too late to stop the approaching destruction. Dark monstrosities prowl the
countryside, and as the holter Asper soon discovers, the Sedos power that
granted humanity its freedom may now be responsible for the corruption that will
eventually destroy it. As the combined forces of Hansa and the Holy Church mass
against the Queen they claim to be an unnatural shinecrafter, Anne's mother
Murielle sets out on an embassy of peace to Hansa, accompanied by the knight Sir
Neal MeqVren. But, there is more to Murielle's mission than first appears, a
fact that puts both of them at the mercy of Hansa's unstable king, and the
unkillable Robert Dare. The world has been poisoned, and only the one who gains
control of the legendary Sedos Throne can heal it. Anne knows that it must be
her, but as she embraces her powers, and the violent impulses they bring, she
finds herself changing. Only she can stand against the forces that threaten
Crothney, but the cost of her victory may be too great for the world to
bear. Keyes just gets better and better...
NEIL ASHER: SHADOW OF THE SCORPION (Tor PB) Raised to adulthood during the end of the war between the human Polity and a
vicious alien race, the Prador, Ian Cormac is haunted by childhood memories of a
sinister scorpion-shaped war drone and the burden of losses he doesn't remember.
Cormac signs up with Earth Central Security and is sent out to help restore and
maintain order on worlds devastated by the war. There he discovers that though
the Prador remain as murderous as ever, they are not anywhere near as
treacherous or dangerous as some of his fellow humans, some closer to him than
he would like. Amidst the ruins left by wartime genocides, Cormac will discover
in himself a cold capacity for violence and learn some horrible truths about his
own past while trying to stay alive on his course of vengeance. I'm not an Asher fan myself, but his legion of admirers will relish this new volume, of course.
ALAN CAMPBELL: IRON ANGEL - VOLUME TWO OF THE DEEPGATE CODEX (Tor PB) Order has collapsed in Deepgate. The chained city is now in ruins, and the
Deadsands beyond are full of fleeing refugees. Meanwhile, the Spine militia is
trying to halt the exodus of panicking citizens through brutal force. Rachel and
the young angel Dill are dragged off to the Temple torture chambers ...but
strange things start to happen as a foul red mist rises from the abyss beneath
the city. For the god Ulcis' death has left the gates to Hell unguarded, and
certain forces in the fathomless darkness beneath Deepgate have noticed an
opportunity. Only the offspring of the dread goddess Ayen understand this new
danger. Already, Cospinol, god of brine and fog, is coming to save his brother's
temple - and to hunt down Ulcis' murderers. His foul, fog-wreathed skyship has
already reached Sandport, bringing along its own version of hell. By now, Rachel
just wants to keep her companion alive. Escaping their prison, and with enemies
closing in on all sides, she is forced to undertake a perilous journey across
the Deadsands towards the distant land of Pandemeria. But there the battlefield
at Coreollis is fated to witness a clash of powers - a contest between men and
gods and archons and slaves, all forced into desperate alliances. A much shorter volume two than the huge volume one, nevertheless all the elements of excellent fantasy are here.
ALISON GOODMAN: THE TWO PEARLS OF WISDOM (Bantam PB) Under the harsh regime of an ambitious master, candidate Eon is training to
become a Dragoneye - a powerful Lord able to master wind and water to protect
the land. But Eon also harbours a desperate secret...Eon is, in fact, Eona, a
young woman who has endured years of disguise as a boy for the chance to
practice the Dragoneye's Art. In a world where women are only hidden wives or
servants, Eona's dangerous deception is punishable by death. Still in disguise,
Eona's unprecedented talent thrusts her into the centre of a lethal struggle for
the Imperial throne. Summoned by the Emperor to the opulent and treacherous
Court, Eona must learn to trust her power and find the strength to face a
vicious enemy who would seize her magic...and her life. Inspired by ancient
Chinese lore and sharing the wonders of films such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon", this thrilling novel is set in a brilliantly envisioned world where
both appearances and loyalties can prove so very deceptive... Goodman's writing is terrific, it's just my personal dislike of oriental philosophy and way of life that prevents me from enjoying this as much as I wanted to.
DAVID GUNN: DEATH'S HEAD ~ MAXIMUM OFFENCE (Bantam PB) The Aux have been dropped on a far-flung planet called Hekati, only it's in
Uplift space and not really a planet at all. As for their mission, it's so damn
secret that General Jaxx hasn't even told Lieutenant Sven Tveskoeg what it's
about. It appears a citizen of the United Free, an empire not only more vast
than Octo V's but far more technologically advanced, has gone missing on this
artificial world and it's up to Sven and the Aux to find the poor soul. But
Hekati is a realm where nothing is quite as it seems and no one can be trusted.
Smelling a rat, Sven is so not happy - and when he's not happy is when bad
things start to happen - and the body count starts to rise...The devil-may-care
not-quite 100 percent human mercenary soldier-cum-killing machine Tveskoeg and
the Death's Head squad are back: cue more extreme violence, a mega death toll,
dirty sex, fiendish plot twists and explosive, non-stop action! Another computer-game novel - will probably appeal to late teens but I don't think it will garner a big following amongst SF enthusiasts.
JOHN EVERSON: SACRIFICE (Leisure PB) They're coming. They are a race of sadistic
spirits known as the Curburide, and they are about to arrive in our
world, bringing with them horrors beyond imagination. The secret to
summoning—and controlling—them has fallen into the hands of a
beautiful, sexy and dangerously insane woman.
Ariana has dedicated her life to unleashing the demons in our realm
through a series of human sacrifices, erotic rituals of seduction and
slaughter. As she crosses the country, getting ever closer to
completing her blood-drenched mission, only three figures stand in her
way: an unwilling hero who has seen the horrors of the Curburide
before, a burgeoning witch...and a spiteful demon with plans of his own.
Pulp horror at its absolute best; reminiscent of
JADE LEE: DRAGONBORN (Dorchester PB) ONE PROTECTOR
When dragon power flows through your veins, when dragon thoughts burn
in your mind, you can accomplish anything. Natiya knows, for she
carries one of the last eggs in the land disguised as a jewel in her
navel. Day by day the Unhatched grows, and when at last it births they
will be joined in a sacred and eternal bond. Gone will be the barmaid
forced to dance for pennies; born will be Dag Natiya, revered Queen.
Take her body or her soul, nothing will stop them.
ONE SLAYER
When dragon power flows through your veins,
when dragon emotions trample your soul, you become a monster. So knows
Kiril, for one destroyed his cousin. No matter how kind or joyful, all
beings must succumb to the power of the wyrm. That is why Kiril vowed
to destroy dragonkind—and he has almost succeeded. Only one egg
remains. But there is an obstacle he did not foresee: love.
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