Review by David Rudden

So this is where it started.

Twenty three books in and the ‘Horus Heresy’series have become the Black Library’s flagship series. The accolade is deserved for the most part as the majority of the books have been strong, at least as good as anything else BL produces and with the added fan service of dealing with the conflict that basically sets up the 40K universe. It’s a little hard to imagine what reading these is like for a newcomer; there are enough in-jokes and winks to current 40K lore that I definitely wouldn’t recommend these for a newcomer to the Black Library.  But ‘Horus Rising’is the book that starts it all, and for a novel tasked with not only world-building but subverting an already-built-and-familiar world, it does a pretty good job.

So to summarise: it is the 31^st millennium, and everything is just lovely. The birds are singing, the bees are buzzing, and humanity is out there kicking the universe into shape, led by the Emperor of Mankind. (Handy he was already called that, really. Parents clearly had high hopes.) If you’re familiar with the grim, everything-is-skulls-and-wrong  tone of the Black Library then this might seem a little incongruous to you, but that’s natural. This is a very different universe, and it’s characterised by the hopeful nature of its characters until…

Until everything goes to hell.

And this is what I like about the ‘Heresy’series. In the other 40K books everyone is resigned to doom and the only victories are pyrrhic. In ‘Horus Rising’, under Abnett’s keen eye for detail and strong characterisation, we are shown how things are meant to be had not humanity been… well, humanity. ‘Rising’gives you a lot to take in, but you never feel overwhelmed. There are some excellent set pieces and concepts flying around, and a real sense of the characters being lost as things start to go wrong. There are a few problems with the novel; the ending is a bit of an anti-climax, except for the last line of the book (which probably won’t make a whole lot of sense to new fans either) but the plot just kind of trails off. This is very clearly BOOK ONE of a long series, but I think with the sheer amount of already established canon to choose from they could have chosen a slightly ballsier introduction to the Emperor’s soon-to-be-traitor son.

(Sorry, spoiler. Although they’ve sort of given it away already)

This book’s a foundation. A starting point. And that’s fine, but you’re going to have to read on to get a completely satisfying experience. Which I guess, having read the other twenty two books in the series, is no bad thing.

Reviewed by Sandra Scholes

Some stories are filled with horror and dread, while some have an atmosphere about them that seems to suit the subject matter at hand. In Ulrika the Vampire Bloodforged, Nathan Long continues his story with a sequel telling the life of Ulrika, a vampire who did no want to be so, but who strove to be a better vampire than she once was. Though Ulrika is a vampire, she is not one of the bad kind, and most regular vampires don’t take steps to tame themselves the way she does, but in her case, she has to as she doesn’t want to attract an angry mob of humans who might bay for her head. The vampires along with Ulrika have their own willing victims who lend their blood to them, so they do not have to kill senselessly.

When Ulrika visits Praag, she finds a dangerous presence there, a Slaaneshi cult that threatens to destroy all they have come to know. Interestingly enough, there is a lot to be discovered about how vampires operate in this novel, as when humans are made into vampires, they have to undergo certain changes afterward. The usual ones apply, teeth, and eyes, but they also get the newborn vampires to change their appearance, dye their hair or blonde it, dress it in a different way and change the clothing. The countess also organizes them to go under different names, and this is necessary cover as they do not want anyone to find out these men or women have become vampires.

Ulrika as a vampire often feels walled-up and stifled by Gabriella and the other vampires. She wants to be free of their oppression, but dare not go against the wishes of her mistress. She had fondness for a man she was supposed to make her blood slave, or as they are called in here, swaine, but Ulrika preferred him as he was before. Ulrika is naturally defiant and curious but she does have a point as to going out of her mistress’s house; her mistress denies freedom of most of her vampires, yet she and trusted members of the Lahmian order are allowed to accompany her wherever she goes on business. To this end, Ulrika is prevented from living what she considers a full life, even when Gabriella promises that she will have the freedom she desires later. By the sound of it, it will be many years later, and she isn’t prepared to stay in the house while she goes crazy. Even the promise of young men whores to feed on and women to entertain them is of small consolation for the newly made Ulrika who still maintains that a coffin is still a coffin no matter how you try and dress it up.

The whole matter of swain is in dispute with her, but not the others; in fact only one other vampire sees eye to eye with Ulrika, Famke. Vampires in her court enjoy the benefit of swain, they can be fed upon at any time, but Ulrika finds them repulsive, they have their appeal to others when they fawn over their mistresses, but she would rather they had their own minds and personalities.

Gabriella’s reluctance to let Ulrika have her friend, Famke around her, and the fact she keeps her inside is enough to make her want to escape, but where will she go if she does.

It is great that the front cover depicts Ulrika in her riding garb, a gift from Gabriella, She looks so fierce, and fearless. The background image of Kislev also makes it an interesting piece of artwork by Winona Nelson.

Bloodforged is an eerie sequel to a very atmospheric and haunting first book. This novel has timing, presence, pacing, atmosphere and horror in abundance, yet you can understand why the characters act the way they do.

Reviewed by Stewart Horn

I almost think it’s cheating.  Other compilers ask for submissions and plough through a mountain of slush to scrape together enough good material to fill an anthology.  Stephen Jones apparently has the contacts (and the budget) to simply call some of the world’s most accomplished and best known authors and have them send him stories.  In fairness, Jones is rightly renowned for his previous work, including the splendid “Best New Horror” annual anthology, so he’s worked for a long time to get to this position.

The book contains thirteen new stories from masters of the genre, including Stephen King, Dennis Etchison, John Lindqvist, Ramsey Campbell, Lisa Tuttle – all thirteen are world class authors and they’ve all delivered the goods here.

There are updates on the Victorian ghost story, the gothic tale, American pulp and Blackwoodian weird, spliced among more contemporary horrors.  There is humour, satire and deadly earnestness, and chilling prods at the banal domestic things most of us are really afraid of.  There is quiet subtlety and there is gruesome nastiness.  In short, it’s an anthology with no theme – the only thing the stories have in common is consistently high quality.  It’s as if Stephen Jones approached the authors and said “Just give me something scary.”

A brilliant, properly frightening book, and a good indicator of what state the top end of the genre is in.

Reviewed by Mario Guslandi

Jeani Rector, the editor of The Horror Zine, must be congratulated for assembling a hefty volume which represents a veritable feast for horror lovers.

The book, foreworded by Ramsey Campbell,  includes thirty-seven horror stories both by renowned authors and by comparatively newcomers, the average quality of which is uncommonly good.  To mention  and to comment upon all of them would be impossible, thus I will take advantage of  my privilege as a reviewer to focus only on what I consider  the very best.

To me the highlights  of the anthology are two.   The first one is  Joe R Lansdale’s “Incident On And Off A Mountain Road” (also adapted on the screen for the Masters of  Horror  television series) ,a superlative horror story, suspenseful and terrifying as it could be, featuring a fearless woman fighting madly to save her life. The other one is  “Scream Queen” by veteran, terrific storyteller Ed Gorman, a memorable tale where some videogeeks meet their utterly changed idol, a B-movie sexy actress.

Other outstanding pieces are “The Soldier” by Shaun Meeks , a strong example of graphic horror where a amortally wounded German soldier has to face terrors more appalling than war, and Graham Masterton’s “What The Dark Does” a superb, scary tale revealing the truth about the dangerous, murderous creatures  getting alive in the dark.

Phillip Roberts contributes  the excellent “Proper Payments” a well crafted story where alien horrors and standard human crime merge perfectly, while  Cheryl Kaye Tardif provides “Skeletons in the Closet”, an accomplished mystery with a horrific taste and various twists in the tail.

Scott Nicholson’s “Homecoming” is a gentle, melancholy ghost story in which regrets and parental love sadden an old couple and Susie Moloney’s “The Audit” is a splendid, extremely original tale where true horror is represented by being audited by the Revenue  Tax Office.

Other very good stories worth mentioning are Stewart Horn’s “Filmland”, an entertaining piece of urban horror, Christopher Nadeau’s “Always Say Treat” , a terrifying but dismal tale of Halloween terror, KA Opperman’s “Corn” an offbeat story of agricultural horror and, last but not least, “The Lost Sheep” by Jason Reynolds, an atmospheric yarn where a man looking for his sheep flock during a blizzard discovers  the truth about himself.

The book also includes  a bunch of dark poetry (that I’m not qualified to judge),  various interesting interviews with famous genre writers such as  Tim Lebbon, Graham Masterton and Joe R Lansdale( just to mention a few) and some effective and disquieting artwork.

A must for any horror fan.

Reviewed By Steve Dean

Each spring, Orion, forest-king of the Athel Loren wood elves, is reborn to rule and protect his kingdom. This year, something is wrong, he has been cursed, something is rotten in his core. If that wasn’t enough, outsiders, in the form of bull-headed chaos beings, have invaded the realm and seem to have inside help. Some of the defenders mobilise to face the threat, mainly the elite shadow-dancers, but the main army is left idle because the rulers don’t believe the wood is in any danger. Meanwhile, the distracted Orion stomps around the woodland in search of answers from a variety of beings, good, bad and neutral.

I know what you’re thinking, “damn, wood elves again!” but this time we have something different. These elves aren’t your noble, high and mighty Tolkienesque beauties, with fresh pixie dust in their underwear. No, these are snobby, arrogant and deluded individuals, divided by class and status. And the wood itself is a living thing, filled with spirits who have their own agenda.

Overall, this is mythic fiction as it should be, a high-magic, high adventure, with flawed, believable characters, a good story line and a decent, fast pace.

I will certainly look forward to reading book two when it comes along.

Reviewed by David Brzeski

At the time of writing this review, ‘Book One: Chained’ is available in paperback and kindle versions. ‘Book Two: Quest’ is available in a kindle edition, but there is a paperback forthcoming. ‘Book Three: Secrets’ will be available soon. There are to be six books in all.

The first thing the reader can’t help but notice is that there’s a strong influence of fantasy role-playing games throughout. That would normally be enough to put me off, but these are tightly plotted, very well-written books, with a multitude of engaging characters.

Emilia is a serving girl, a slave really, but one with hidden depths. She escapes her servitude in the company of a pair of adventurer thieves, Jem and Huron. They take Emilia on as an apprentice. She soon proves to be a natural in swords craft, thievery and wild magic.

They live in a world that isn’t ours. It has four moons! It’s a weird amalgam of Earth, Middle Earth, Barsoom and who knows what other fantasy worlds. We have fighters, druids, wizards (of various flavours), monks, thieves, horses, dogs, griffons, bird men, lizard men, demons, ghasts and vampyrs.

It’s classic high fantasy/sword and sorcery adventure, in that it involves the bringing together of a disparate group of adventurers of varying races and skills and sets them on a quest to prevent a great evil from overwhelming their world. There are various sub-groups within this group. It’s the evolving relationships between these various sub-groups that really makes the series work so well. The interplay between the duo of Jem and Huron, for instance, reminded me somewhat of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, albeit the actual characters weren’t all that similar. It’s actually the female characters that really grab the reader’s attention though. Predisposed to detest each other due to their circumstances and upbringing, they gradually begin to meld into a major force for good in the world. Kitson handles this gradual coming together with great skill.

I could say much more about the plot, and describe many more of the characters, but I prefer to let readers meet them for themselves. There are characters and races introduced in book one that still haven’t reappeared by the end of book three. Ross M. Kitson has built a complex and convincing world here. Frankly, I wouldn’t recommend just picking up just the first book, or even the first two books. Get all three, because you’ll be chain-reading them. Thankfully, book three ends at a reasonable stopping point. Suffice it to say, I found the story completely involving through the first three volumes and fully intend to keep up with the forthcoming books in the series.

Reviewed by David Brzeski

“I don’t do demographics!” It’s a regular phrase I use, whenever I’m faced with any attempt by anyone to tell me what books I should, or shouldn’t be reading. I’ve been known to enjoy all sorts of books, as long as they’re well-written. I don’t generally care if it’s meant for kids, or it’s chic-lit, or whatever.

However, never have I been made quite so soundly aware that I’m not the target readership for a book than with this one! It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it at all. It’s just that I found all the teen angst just a tad, shall we say…. tedious. It’s entirely possible that I would have felt differently had I not been a male in his fifties reading a book evidently aimed at girls less than half my age.

The story is actually an interesting one, and I’m going to have to tread carefully to describe it without giving away too many key plot points.

Emma is a heartbroken seventeen year old girl. She witnessed the death of her boyfriend in an horrific accident and she’s not doing too well at getting over it. Alex Frank is a new boy at school, with a mysterious past and scars all over his body. He and Emma are strangely drawn to one another. Alex reminds Emma of her dead boyfriend. He has similar mannerisms, and knows just how to open her jammed locker for her, the same way Daniel did.

The first three-quarters of the book is pretty much non-stop teen angst, with Emma agonizing over her conflicted feelings. It’s only in the last twenty-five per cent or so that we finally get to the real story that the author had been laying clues about all through the book. Honestly, there were no great surprises in the book. I caught all the clues and had worked out where it was going well in advance of it getting there. I don’t believe the author intended it to be difficult to work out though. It’s a romance/horror story crossover, not a whodunnit.

For example, at one point, Emma is instructed to read one of a list of gothic novels she’s given for her English class and write an essay comparing it to Dracula, which they’d all previously read in class. It’s pretty easy to work out what the book she picked was, and I was ready to bring the author to task over such an obvious surprise reveal when it came. However I was wrong. The name of the book in question was never mentioned. The reader was obviously expected to be able to figure it out.

While I found all the emotional heart-wringing somewhat tiresome, and I knew where the story was headed, I still found myself wanting to finish the book to find out what Emma and Alex did after the anticipated horrors came to light.

The book has been compared by some to the ‘Twilight’ series. It’s easy to understand why, but even given the elements I found a little boring as an old bloke, I still much preferred the underlying concept of this book to Ms. Meyer’s work. In fairness though, I have to point out I’m basing that opinion on the Twilight films, having not read the original books.

Reviewed by David Rudden

The fourth in a series of anthologies focusing on the Space Marines, ‘Treacheries’ focuses rather unsurprisingly on the darker side of humanity’s defenders. (‘When Space Marines Go Wild’ was discussed as a title, and then dismissed) Anthologies like this are always hit-and-miss; for every gem you come across, there’ll always be a lacklustre, by-the-numbers effort. Unfortunately with ‘Treacheries’, the bad far outweighs the good.

The majority of these stories are forgettable, the details blurring into each other a few moments after you’ve finished reading. There’s also a couple of reprints and the text of an audiobook, which is nice I suppose if you’re not a huge fan of audiobooks (which I’m not) but which also strikes me as a bit lazy. A few of the stories are entertaining; Matthew Farrer’s and David Annandale’s are solid, and Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s is good if you haven’t already shelled out for the audiobook or MP3. Anthony Reynolds’ story sees the return of two relatively vintage Black Library characters, which I was pleased to see if only for nostalgia’s sake.

My pick of the bunch would have to be Farrer’s; it’s got an imaginative voice and has a touch of humour as well. However the fact remains that for the price this is a very patchy affair. I’d read three of the stories before and only one of the rest was in any way interesting. Give this one a miss.

Reviewed by David Rudden

Well now.

I’m not going to lie, when this book appeared on the review list I snapped it up so quickly my left mouse-button broke in half. This is a follow-on to two of the best trilogies the Black Library have ever produced, incorporating some of its best-known characters and written by (arguably) their most consistently good writer. The ‘Eisenhorn’ and’ Ravenor’ trilogies are what got me into the Black Library; they’re full of strong character development, clever pacing and some excellent action sequences combined with Abnett’s ability to eke real horror and imagination out of the 40K universe.

So. Expectations running at an all-time high. I want daemonhosts. I want psyker battles.  I want small-scale grit instead of grand-scale gore.

I don’t get either.

What we do get is a slow and measured introduction to a brand new story. Where the first ‘Eisenhorn’ and ‘Ravenor’ novels were self-contained after a fashion, this is very much the first book of a longer story. Abnett is in no rush to explain things and this suits the voice of the novel, which is still first-person but very different from the voices in either ‘Eisenhorn’ or ‘Ravenor’. This works for the novel; there’s a purposeful step taken away from what’s gone before.

I won’t go into the plot because this is a novel rewarded by the slow reveal of information, the twists and the turns. It starts quite slow, establishing the world and a whole new cast of characters, and at times this became trying. If you were looking for Eisenhorn vs. Ravenor, (which in fairness is the tagline) you’ll need to trawl through a lot of scene-setting first. However, about two-thirds of the novel through the reader is hit with a lot of plot points very quickly and while Abnett handles it skilfully enough that we end up feeling confused along with the main character rather than at odds with them, don’t expect closure when the final page turns.

There’s a lot to love about this novel. Abnett lets his imagination run wild and there’s some great characters and villains, combined with some very unexpected turns. I can honestly say I have no idea where this trilogy will end up and that’s a very good thing. I’d be very interested to see how much more confusing the book would seem if I didn’t already know about the Cognitae and the inquisitors in question, and there’s also a surprise reference to another of Abnett’s books that muddied the water further.  You’ll get the most enjoyment out of the novel if you read ‘Eisenhorn’ and ‘Ravenor’ first, but I can almost guarantee after reading ‘Pariah’ that you won’t be able to help yourself anyway.

Reviewed by David Rudden

One of the strengths of the Horus Heresy BL series is that they can take battles and characters that previously only existed as bullet points in codex timelines and flesh them out into proper stories. There’s a lot of material here, and potentially dozens of different viewpoints, aside from also (eventually) depicting the single most important event in the whole canon.

And it’s that ‘eventually’ that’s forming the problem.

I’ve written before that the HH series does a nice job of setting aside the typical grim nature of the 40K universe and focusing on the early days, back when most of human civilisation wasn’t on fire. Knowing how things are going to turn out, it’s gut-wrenching to watch characters blindly walk into mistakes, to see all the missteps and betrayals play out in front of you. However, there is a limit on this, and ‘Fear to Tread’ is teetering on the brink of it.

The book focuses on the Blood Angels Legion and their primarch Sanguinius, who are in safe hands with author James Swallow, who has been almost exclusively dealing with the Angels for the last few years. This is probably the best Angels novel Swallow has written to date; there are some excellent characters (my favourite being two of the main antagonists and their endless bickering) and some quite sinister moments, even if Sanguinius is a bit lacking in character. It’s said roughly every two paragraphs that he is special, and angelic, and wonderful, but he’s not half as well characterised as some of the other HH characters.

My other main problem with this novel is that we’ve dealt with the idea of a loyalist primarch being exploited – walking into a trap – managing to escape/is severely inconvenienced before, and it’s getting slightly old. It can be ignored when the story is especially essential to the Heresy or if it’s very well-written (see ‘Prospero Burns’) but the series as a whole made a misstep when they rushed through Horus’s fall and then took a step backwards to tell everyone else’s story. ‘Fear to Tread’ is a serviceable novel that at times is very entertaining, but in the wider scheme of things it comes across as filler. Yes, a couple of important plot points are nailed in place for later, and this is the only real canon early Heresy event for the Angels that’s been previously mentioned, but the basic plot of ‘Of course we trust Horus, he definitely isn’t evil, hang on, BETRAYAL’ is getting old, especially combined with the basic Blood Angels plotline of ‘must control blood-thirst.’ (Part of me wonders whether including the mad desire to drink blood in a legion of ubermensch was really a good call on the Emperor’s part.)

If you’re a particular fan/collector of the Blood Angels or you’re looking for something to tide you over until the next HH release, then you’ll enjoy this. Just don’t expect it to soar.

Reviewed by David Rudden

I’m not as big a reader of the Warhammer Fantasy series as I am of their far-future line, but occasionally if an area I’m particularly interested comes up or if it’s a book by one of my favourite writers I’ll give it a shot. The whole setting has a rather interesting dark-Germanic-Tolkien feel to it, but I haven’t really been pulled into a series since the Malus Darkblade books a few years ago and so I wasn’t approaching ‘Luthor Huss’ with any expectations.

This outlook was rewarded as, though ‘Huss’ is a solid novel and I don’t really have any complaints with it, it wasn’t the most memorable of books. It follows the training and crusade of Sigmarite priest and core canon character Luthor Huss and its intersection with the investigation of Witch-hunter Eichmann, who ended up being an altogether more interesting character in the end. Eichmann reminds me of Inquisitor Glokta in Joe Abercrombie’s ‘The First Law’ trilogy; a man jaded by digging in the filth of humanity, burnt out by the evil he must do to keep humanity safe and beyond that, pure. The opening scenes, where the weary witch-hunter seems to be cracking under his vocation, numbly torturing one heretic after another while being curtailed by his own superiors’ politics, are some of the most fascinating in the book.

Huss’s parts, while more action-filled and typically Black Library, are a lot less interesting. There is one great twist at the end which I definitely didn’t see coming and got a gleeful little snigger out of me but in the end it’s the supporting characters that are the most interesting here; from the survivors of devastated towns to mercenaries to those who grew up around the uncompromising fanatic Huss.

The set pieces are impressive, if pulled from standard fantasy fare and Chris Wraight’s writing is reliable as always. There’s nothing stopping me from recommending this book; it’s just not as inspired as Wraight’s other work or other books in the Black Library. An entertaining read when you’re already a fan or want to read something solid from the fantasy side of things, but not unmissable.

Reviewed by David Rudden

The majority of Graham McNeill’s books for the Black Library haven’t impressed me. They’re far too quick to jump to ‘rivers of blood’ and ‘mountains of skulls’ and while those phrases fit nicely in the over-the-top Gothic nature of the 40K universe, they become slightly lacklustre after they’re used for the fiftieth time. Surely skulls are far too difficult to stack to get to mountain status, and ‘hillock of skulls’ just sounds silly.

‘Priests of Mar’s is therefore a welcome change. McNeill’s clearly been influenced by other BL writers like Dan Abnett, and descriptions here avoid hyperbole and instead couch the plot in intricate detail, rather fittingly for a novel about the 40K universe’s scientists and technologists. Maybe it’s because there aren’t that many set-pieces in the novel, but the focus here is on the interplay between factions preparing to explore the dangerous and unknown Halo Scar region, and the whole book reads more as a political thriller than a story of the far future. This is in the book’s favour though; war and death have been adequately covered by the Black Library and it’s fun to read a novel that mostly intrigue instead.

The characters are interesting, though as this is obviously the first of a series plenty of questions are brought up and not answered. There was enough left hanging that I was actually disappointed when the novel ended. It avoids McNeill’s usually too-florid style (in ‘Fulgrim’ for example, he describes how ‘hundreds of men were dying per second in a battle between a hundred thousand men, and how the battle went on for hours. I realise that it probably wasn’t the time to be doing simple maths, but it was still slightly jarring) and as the priests of Mars are rarely dealt with besides being sinister almost-allies, I thoroughly recommend Priests as a surprisingly good start to an intriguing drama.   

Reviewed by Sandra Scholes

First in a trilogy of novels featuring female protagonist Ulrika Magdova, she is a vampire with a difference who desperately tries to control her bloodlust. A vampire countess of a coven seeks to help her, and protect others like her by accepting her into her castle so she can live in the eternal darkness she would come to know and embrace.

Author of Elfslayer and Shamanslayer, Nathan Long, it seems has concentrate on vampires, and it was a good decision as he brings out new life in what could be an over used genre. Firstly he uses a horror icon, the sensual female vampire and puts her into an unfamiliar fantasy setting. Under normal circumstances putting these two opposite genres together would not work, but Nathan has succeeded through clever crafting of the story and original use of characters.

He has created a character in a very Anne Rice way, as, like Lestat, Ulrika was made a vampire without her wanting the curse that would soon come, but this is where the similarity ends as this is a very deep, dark and brooding novel.

Adolphus Krieger a vampire in Drakenhof had found Ulrika attractive after she had come with her companions to kill him – and as a result, she is put into an impossible situation where his desire means her human death. She can no longer go back to her parents, her family or friends. As a vampire they would not accept her. Ulrika knows she has to leave her old life behind and adjust to her new life as a ravening beast complete with fangs and claws. Shocked at her own transformation from decent human being, she has no choice but to turn herself over to Countess Gabriella who will show her how to live as a vampire without causing alarm to the peasant townspeople, who Gabriella knows, would burn their place to the ground if they knew of their vampire heritage.

Nathan shows what Ulrika has to go through to understand the woman she has to be if she is to live as a vampire but she realises how defiant and deadly she is, and doesn’t like taking orders from the countess, even if she knows she is right.

Bloodborn takes the reader through Ulrika’s first experiences of being a bloodthirsty vampire, and her loathing of what she has become, even to the point of wanting to die as the thirst for blood becomes more and more potent it warps her mind. She feels soulless, and empty inside and wonders why Gabriella let her live in such a state. It could be said that is why she wanted to help her become the sort of vampire who can live a normal life, but Ulrika will have to come a long way before that can happen.

As well as Ulrika coping with her bloodlust, and Gabriella risking being found out for helping her, there is a new enemy in Nuln the two of them must destroy, or they might find themselves destroyed too. From the beginning of the trilogy, this is a very impressive start that goes further than just establishing Ulrika’s character, upbringing and later growth as a more humane vampire. It is well written and has scenes that are descriptively gory and close to the knuckle, but this is where the horror part comes in and is truly welcomed.

Reviewed by David Brzeski

I’d been meaning to get around to reading one of Ed Erdelac’s books for quite some time, when this advance review copy came my way. I’d already bought all three of his ‘Merkabah Rider’ series, but hadn’t yet found the time to get to them.

Professor Abraham Van Helsing in the Wild West! What more could one ask for?

Seriously, not much! This excellent novel follows Van Helsing as he travels to Texas to deliver the ashes of Quincy P. Morris to his brother Coleman.

On the way, he meets a beautiful Greek lady, who is en route to join her fiancé, a neighbouring Norwegian rancher. Relations are not good between the Morris’ and the Norwegians and the fact that  a mountain lion seems to be taking a dreadful toll on the livestock is not helping.

It’s not long before it’s not only cattle that are being killed and mutilated, and Van Helsing suspects the culprit is no mountain lion.

Brawling ranch-hands, a drunken newspaperman, a one-legged, one-handed, one-eyed, one-eared horse-trader and a native American shaman make up the numbers on Van Helsing’s side. On the other, we have a group of giant Norwegian Odin cultists just for starters.

Edward M. Erdelac tells the story quite brilliantly in the same sort of journal, letters, newspaper article style as Dracula and in certain sections, cuss words are censored in exactly the same way we’re used to seeing them in novels of the 19^th century. Details like this add enormously to the feel of the book. He melds these stylistic concepts perfectly with those of the classic western tales.

I enjoyed this book immensely and was very pleased to note all the hints that were laid for possible future books. The occasional mention of “the Great Detective” especially intrigued me.

Reviewed By Steve Dean

There are ten short stories collected here under the Time Of Legends series banner. Most of the authors you might recognise as BL regulars, with a couple of new ones thrown in.

Sitting here now in my tiny garret writing this review, I find myself reaching for the book to remind myself of what’s in it. The stories are that memorable. Ah yes, here we go.

Most of the stories involve pointless bloodshed, with slight plots, little characterisation and weak, telegraphed and/or nonsense endings.

The only story that stood out to any degree was by one of the newbies, at least to me, Philip Athans. “The City Is Theirs” is a story about a city besieged by Orcs and in danger of being over-run. An alchemist appears before the city’s rulers with two strange spheres he claims can wipe out all the greenskins in one go. The first sphere succeeds only in bringing down the city wall, and soon the inhabitants are running for their lives. It’s down to Kätzchen, a halfling, to take down the last bridge to give the townsfolk time to escape.

Otherwise, there is nothing here to see that hasn’t been seen before. Eight quid for one half-decent story is a bit steep. I’d give this one a wide berth, if I were you.

Reviewed by Sandra Scholes

This is labelled as a Warhammer: Heroes novel where Hinks’s Sigvald uses the two opposites of order and chaos, fusing them into his two main characters. What starts out as order is the Baron Gustav while chaos is represented by Prince Sigvald himself. He is a young man who as everyone knows when they see him is beautifully handsome, and exudes a sensuality none can resist, and when Gustav comes to his palace seeking refuge for his half-starved men he tells Sigvald he needs his help to quash the army of the Blood god Khorne.

If readers are already familiar with Sigvald’s story, then they will be in for a treat with this novel as there is a lot more to discover about Sigvald and his court. Sigvald is a product of chaos, and Slaanesh has given him pleasure for years, spoiling him with all he desired, but once the baron gives him the information about the helmet, he realises it was never enough. He had always desired more than he can handle, but how much is anyone’s guess. It does depend though on how strong his army is against Khorne, and if rumour is correct, then Sigvald and his men are in for a rough time if they are to break through their castle to find the prized helmet only one warrior holds.

Hinks’s book tells of Sigvald, but it also mentions the men who work tirelessly for him, and it also has touches of erotica with his ‘pets’ taking an interest in the baron, Sigvald’s wife and the sensuality of his court. This is Slaanesh inspired erotica complete with naked dreamers, evil scientists and devilishly sadistic surgeons. There is nothing normal about any of his friends and servants, from alien limbed women to women with serpent tongues. Sigvald, sits on his throne in his huge, ostentatious golden palace where he has all the pleasures he can sample after making a pact with Slaanesh the god of pleasure. It is no wonder he has everything, from his unusual women to wine and drugs to hand. The appearance of newcomer, Baron Gustav also heralds good news that interests the geld prince. It is the promise of power, and even though he already has power through Slaanesh, he is still greedy for more.

This novel acts as an expose of Sigvald as prince, romanticist, rake and hero, but he is an anti-hero as he cares nothing for his men, or the people of his court. He cares more about his appearance, which he checks regularly, and loathes the sight of blood on his face – like Wilde’s Dorian Gray, he is too consumed by his own pleasure to care about others. Despite this, you can’t help but like how the character has been developed by Hinks, as his opposite, baron Gustav is the one who unlocks his fighting instinct and inspires him to get on the battlefield.

Reviewed by Sandra Scholes

The Time of Legends series started with Nagash The Sorceror, where a sinister priest king wanted to find the ultimate power over both life and death. Mike Lee’s sequel novel features the prospect of an army led by an undead priest.  He comes across the Skaven almost by accident and wants to get his hands on the warpstone they are mining as it will give him more power long term. There are two stories running concurrently, and they can take a bit of following too. One is about Nagash’s rebirth, of him gathering his army for revenge, and taking the crown, while the other is about the Lahmian king and queen who are busy bickering at each other about the standard things, wanting an heir and preventing trouble in the kingdom.

Quite annoyed, Queen Neferata is woken from slumber by her handmaiden, Tephret who informs her king has returned and awaits her company with good news, yet when she gets there, she finds something more horrific than she can imagine. Lamashizzar has had his slaves bring back something he can use for his own ends as well as the elixir of immortality he took from Nagash. Neferata is unimpressed by her brother’s actions as she knows he will suffer the consequences of them in the future. He is an impulsive man who is used to getting his own way in an argument and takes no notice of her objections to what he intends to do with it, so it’s a case of it’s his own fault if anything goes wrong.

Nagash the Unbroken contains all the ingredients to make a Lahmian style tragedy, with Nagash as the usurper, he wants his brother’s crown as the need to rule runs through his veins. He despises the living, and those he once called friends. Bringing the Skaven into the mix is an added bonus as no one would have ever thought an alliance between Nagash and the Skaven would be possible. The story that runs along this one is just as powerful and concerns the Lahmian royal court and Queen Neferata’s constant feud with her brother, Lamashizzar. They both want what they can’t have; he wants ultimate power, and she wants some kind of peace. End result, no one can agree to anything as they are both stubborn. And, if Nagash gets what he wants, both of them, it seems could find their kingdom invaded by the undead.

Mike uses his grasp of arcane ancient knowledge to create the backdrop for this story with its heated nights, stormy desert and subtle dangers. In fact the setting is further enhanced by the richness of the characters. The description of Nagash is one that would force terror into the hearts of anyone who reads this book, one of three ending with Nagash Immortal, and with each as haunting as the next. Nagash cuts a dark figure who has risen from the ground, tormented, angry and out for revenge for those who usurped him and his destiny. He is a man who has nothing but hatred in his heart for the wrongs others have done to him, rather than concentrating on the evil he has done to others. Nagash is a dark and cruel villain, and he makes the story darker by just being there. He is a spectre in the distance while many talk about him and his evil exploits and the downfall of many influential people. He has long since left the trappings of humanity behind, leaving only an immortal soul that feeds off of lives and on discontent, rage and pain. He wants no ones help but sooner or later he has to form a bond with the Skaven in order to come back as the scourge he was many years ago.

Mike Lee’s grasp of descriptive fiction and use of powerful dialogue lends a lot of reading pleasure to this novel.

Hammer Books, p/b £6.99

Reviewed by David Brzeski

Like many of us, I’m a bit of a purist regarding adaptations of classic works, so the fact that Shaun Hutson chose to bring this adaptation forward to the present day and relocate it a long way south of the events of the original 1956 film filled me with no little trepidation.

Having said that, I hadn’t seen the movie for a very long time—probably sometime back in the late 60s—so I decided to watch it again first, so I could more easily see what changes had been made.

I’m pleased to report that the alterations actually work very well and, in hindsight, the book hangs together rather better than the original.

Freed from the constraints of the film board censorship, Hutson is able to be more realistic with the dialogue of the soldiers. He neatly adds material and characters which give more weight to the events of the film, without sacrificing anything. There are only two major changes, other than period and location. The first is in making the lead character somewhat younger than in the original, which I found perfectly logical. The second is right at the end, where he has Royston realise that his original plan for destroying the entity was simply not going to work and comes up with a better and more believable one.

I’d always thought the “monster” to be vaguely Lovecraftian in concept, and it’s evident that Hutson agreed, as he ends the book on a quote from the master himself.

To some extent, I regretted my decision to view the original movie version first, as it rather took all the suspense out of reading what turned out to be a very enjoyable SF/horror novel.

EXILE

Solaris. p/b £7.99.

Reviewed by Elloise Hopkins.

King Charald is in a temper again, pacing and demanding his Warrior’s-voice, but Sorne is still recovering after the ritual to seek out his last vision for the king, and his choice-brother Zabier does not have Sorne’s skills in calming the raging monarch. With the king ever more prone to bouts of madness and irrational fury, Sorne knows Charald is losing grip on the kingdom and it is only a matter of time before the hungry barons that surround him learn the truth.

Imoshen is all-mother now, surveying the damage in the aftermath of attack, and with theCelestialCitybesieged it is clear the hatred of the Wyrds runs deep. The ever-separate brotherhoods and sisterhoods realise their only choice against King Charald is to elect a causare to unite them. With three candidates in the running Imoshen is looking favourite for the role, but Gift-tutor Vittoryxe is still close by, still watching Imoshen’s rise through the sisterhood.

Like Imoshen, Ronnyn and Aravelle have been raised by their parents outside of the usual boundaries of the T’En society, but their peaceful solitude cannot last. Ronnyn is a T’En boy born to Malaunje parents and is close to coming into his powers. As his gift begins to manifest in uncomfortable ways the family knows it will not be long before they have to return to the life they once fled and give him up to the brotherhoods for training.

Exile is the second instalment in The Outcast Chronicles and this book takes place in a much narrower time span than its predecessor. The result is a story that is tension-filled from the start with none of the pacing issues that hindered Besieged. The introduction of some new and highly admirable characters really lifts the story and solidifies this series as an impressive fantasy epic. The exploration of gender and hierarchy continues in a society that is brutal and unforgiving.

The magic system is still one of this world’s greatest strengths and we are granted new insight into the vast powers available to the T’En, this time through such intimacies as sharing and reliving memories as well as experiencing untamed gift power and its effects through Ronnyn’s storyline. On the other hand we are also shown what life is like for the True-Men and can begin to understand a little more the misconceptions they live under and why they so fear the T’En.

There are four main threads to the story, following the action in both the magic and non-magic communities, and the plot is handled expertly always placing the protagonists for each thread in the midst of the action and switching between them at appropriate points so that the reader always had a clear understanding of the issues each of them face. The four threads of course converge and lead to an immense climax that has laid the tracks for a fantastic conclusion to the story in book three.

BESIEGED

Solaris. p/b £7.99.

Reviewed by Elloise Hopkins.

When Oskane is witness once again to a political cover up at the expense of innocent lives, he does the only thing possible and sacrifices power and position to become protector of the king’s unwanted half-blood son. Oskane has played court politics well all these years, but this time he did not read the others’ moves fast enough and it has cost him. He may be estranged from the king until the boy comes of age, but with him safe for now he can begin to plot his revenge on those who crossed him.

To all-father Rohaayel’s Brotherhood a child is birthed, but this is a T’En female and that spells disaster for the men. The strict ways of life among the T’En mean that males and females are raised apart to ensure they do not become addicted to the others’ gifts and destroy themselves. Rohaayel is set on a plan that will mean this child does not have to be given away to the Sisterhood, but it will mean bringing the displeasure of all the T’En down on him if he goes through with it.

Sorne has overcome the odds and claimed high esteem amongst the True-men to have the ear of the king himself. Using his visions from the gods he is able to rise in status, but when he sees first hand how deep the hatred for the T’En runs his loyalty begins to waver. Imoshen has lived all her life outside the traditions of her people, but it is not until she grows into her power that she realises how very wrong their lives have been. Now the truth has become clearer will Sorne and Imoshen be able to change things or has hatred run too deep across the kingdoms?

The events in Besieged span decades, following the progress of the two young protagonists and the many allies and antagonists that cross their paths. This really is a sprawling epic and time is handled well for the most part with events jumping forward into the future fairly frequently, particularly in the early part of the book. Occasionally the time shifts seemed slightly too abrupt, characters being propelled into their future without warning, and thus feeling momentarily disorientating, but without these shifts in time the plot would be nowhere near as complex or impressive as it is.

The magic system is unique and adds a great underlying sense of danger throughout the narrative, mostly because the reader is only given a surface-level understanding of how things are and why; as the characters learn and explore, so do we. The empyrean plane is only accessible using gift magic and it takes skill and talent to survive there. Skill and talent which the characters have to varying degrees. The Outcast Chronicles give us a world that is so segregated and so set in following ancient rules and beliefs that it is as frustrating as it is fascinating, and is a great study of loyalty and belief.

Power is a main theme here and within each hierarchy there are those who crave power for their own advancement rather than for the good of all. The conflict and tension caused by their actions is rendered well throughout the book, but there are so many characters with conflicting goals that as a result there is extensive exposition and background information to be delivered, which inevitably slows the pace.

Once the intricacies of the relationships between the different races and genders have been explained sufficiently, however, we are left with a book that becomes addictive and really ups the ante towards the end, building to a conclusion that has set this up to be an expansive and fulfilling trilogy. If you like epic fantasy it does not disappoint.

Reviewed by Mario Guslandi

In addition to the commendable task of reprinting in elegant hardback editions classical gems of the past, Tartarus Press during the years has been also devoted to discover and launch  new literary talents . Fine examples are Mark Samuels, Quentin S Crisp and Angela Slatter, just to mention a few.

The author of the new Tartarus collection, Jason A Wychoff, is an American writer whose work, so far, has never appeared in print, not even in magazines. Therefore, this represents an incredible and fortunate discovery because the sixteen tales featured in the volume offer an extraordinary treasury of weird fiction of high literary value.

The title story, “Black Korse” is an offbeat, mysterious piece  told in a perfect narrative style, revolving around a horse inherited by a man who has with the animal an ambivalent, complex relationship.

“The Highwall Horror” is an uneasy  tale which would have pleased both Franz Kafka and Dino Buzzati, where a man discovers an alien, impossible reality behind the wall of his office, while “Intermediary” is a tense story where an archeological expedition in the Andes results in a tragedy brought about by greed.

In “The Bells, Then The Birds” a haunted town is retraced by a young man following the source of a melancholy folk song, while in the puzzling but enticing “The Trucker’s Story” some people unaccountably lose a portion of their lives.

“The Night of His Sister’s Engagement” is a fascinating  piece imbued with an enchanted, dream-like atmosphere, in which minor events taking place around a lake acquire a threatening meaning.

“The Mauve Blot” – where an inadequate mother tries to cope with a new job and her children’s care after leaving a gambling husband- is an excellent mainstream story slightly spoiled by the unconvincing intrusion of a paranormal aspect.

Much more accomplished is “A Willow Cat in Meadowlark” an insightful , unnerving tale featuring a young woman fleetingly become the beneficiary of a dead woman wrongly identified as her mother.

The atmospheric “Hair and Nails” is a story of black magic where a treasure buried in a cemetery by a deceased undertaker is finally unearthed.

Among so many great stories my own favourite remains “Knott’s Letter” the charming report of an unlucky, tragic expedition on the Sasquatch’s trail  across forbidding mountains and hidden caves.

This is an astonishing debut book by a superb writer, whose stories remind us how rewarding and bewitching good fiction can be.

Reviewed by Jeff Jones

I have never before read any Warhammer books and it was with some trepidation that I volunteered to review this one expecting it to be outside my comfort zone and not to my liking, but nothing could be further from the truth.

The story starts with an elf being washed ashore on Ulthuan, land of the High Elves, presumably having been involved in a shipwreck. He is found by Kyrielle, daughter of Anurion, a mage of Saphery. He cannot recall his name or what happened to him, the only clues being the uniform he is wearing and the pledge ring he is wearing. Although he cannot remember why he claims he has to see Teclis, Lord of the White Tower and the most powerful mage of Ulthuan

Anurion reluctantly agrees to try and restore his memory, but fails, discovering instead that the stranger’s memories have been locked away deliberately by use of some powerful magic. Intrigued, Anurion and Kyrielle agree to take him to see Teclis and seek his help.

Elsewhere on the island, Caelir’s former lover, Rhianna and his brother Eldain, have been mysteriously summoned to the White Tower and are being escorted there by the Swordmaster, Yvraine.

Eldain is fearful that his betrayal and deceit has been discovered. After their father was killed by the High Elves’ ancestral enemy, the Druchii, Caelir and Eldain led a raid on the Druchii homeland. In the course of the raid, Caelir was wounded but instead of saving his brother, Eldain rode away knowing that it would mean a slow and painful death for Caelir. Eldain also knew that it would be his chance to steal Rhianna away from his brother.

Unravelling the secrets of Caelir’s mind is not the only concern of the High Elves, however. The Druchii have been raiding the southern coast of Ulthuan in their terrifying Black Arks and a deadly assassin has infiltrated the key Eagle Gate fortress and killed the commander.

When Caelir arrives at the White Tower, Teclis attempts to help him but in doing so unleashes a terrifying evil that was locked away in Caelir’s mind. Fearsome demons attack and kill many of the mages and Swordmasters before they are eventually defeated.

Distraught at what he has unwittingly done, and fearful of reprisals, Caelir flees catching a brief glimpse of Eldain and Rhianna whom he still doesn’t recognise. Knowing that she is the only person left who might be able to help him, Caelir makes his way to the forest realm of the Everqueen. Upon meeting her, the true purpose of the dark magic inside him is revealed.

Meanwhile, in the west and south, the Witch King and the Hag Sorceress Morathi, have invaded Ulthuan with their vast armies of Dark Elves and corrupt humans. The war for Ulthuan has begun.

What I particularly loved about this book was the depth of the characters and the fact that they were so well-defined. It was nice to read about the emotional side of them for a change, instead of the stoic almost bland way they are sometimes portrayed.

Shelflings #2 has been compiled by Stephen Theaker from reviews edited by Craig Lockley, Phil Lunt and Jay Eales for the BFS website. It features almost 30,000 words of reviews by Carl Barker, Chris Limb, Craig Knight, David A. Riley, David Brzeski, David Rudden, Elloise Hopkins, Glen Mehn, Jacob Howard, Jay Eales, Katy O’Dowd, M.P. Ericson, Mario Guslandi, Matthew Johns, Mike Chinn, Pauline Morgan, Phil Lunt, R.A. Bardy, Rebekah Lunt, Selina Lock, Steve Dean and Stewart Horn. It is available to members in epub and mobi formats.

Creators reviewed include: Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill, Alison Littlewood, Christopher Priest, Dan Abnett, David A. Sutton, Frances Hardinge, Gary Fry, Howard Hopkins, Jilly Paddock, Joseph Nassise, Kim Lakin-Smith, Maynard Sims, Nancy Kilpatrick, Nick Kyme and Gav Thorpe, Paul Magrs, Reggie Oliver, Richard Davis, Shaun Jeffrey, Terrance Dicks, and many others.

Hodder & Stoughton, p/b, £7.99

Reviewed by Pauline Morgan

History is littered with occasions that, with hindsight, people think changed the future: incidents that if changed, would make the world a different place. Usually we think it would have been better – but there is no way of knowing. A frequent thought is that if Hitler had been killed earlier, or that one of the assassination attempts had succeeded there would have been no Second World War. The SF term for such a pivotal event is a Jonbar Hinge. In 11.22.63, Stephen King considers such an event.

As most people know, the 11th of September 1963 was the date on which President Kennedy was killed in Dallas,Texas. A lot of us remember what we were doing when we first heard the news. I was making peppermint creams to give as Christmas presents. Many have wondered what would have happened if he had survived.

In this novel King gives his narrator, Jake Epping, the opportunity to find out. Jake is a divorced English teacher who frequents a particular burger bar because the food is not only cheap but also good. When he hurries over after an emergency call, Jake is shocked by the owner’s appearance. He has aged considerably and is terminally ill with lung cancer, yet Al Templeton was fit and healthy the day before. Al explains and asks a favour of Jake.

In the back of Al’s store room there is a hole between 2011 and 1958. Al has been using it to go back in time to buy cheap meat. Every time he goes back, the past resets itself so every time is the first time as far as the inhabitants of 1958 are concerned. However long Al spends in the past, only two minutes elapse in the present. Al has proved that it is possible to change the past even though events resist his interference. From press records, Al discovered that a young girl would be crippled in a shooting accident. When he stopped the hunter being in the woods that day, the girl remained healthy although the path of her life followed a similar track. The favour Al wants from Jake is for him to go back and stop the assassination of Kennedy. It would mean living five years in the past. Al tried but was defeated by his illness. Jake agrees.

From this point the novel becomes a mixture of genres. The main thrust is that of a ‘stranger in a strange land’. However much historical research is done, hearsay is never a substitute for the real thing. Jake is going back to before he was born so doesn’t even have his own memories to help him. He has to pick his way through an alien landscape without making too many mistakes. Although he has the facility of going back and starting again he is actually living those years. King’s research, as far as I am aware, is immaculate. On top of Jake’s mission is layered romance. Although his intention had been to interact as little as possible with the past, he meets Sadie and falls in love (five years is a long time to stay aloof). It is this section that gives the book its humanity as a lot of the plot is already known and Jake is following a well marked trail.

To complete his mission, he needs to prove that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone; otherwise taking him out of the equation too soon would allow conspirators to put someone else in place to carry out the deed. This means shadowing Oswald, being in places where he will be, watching unobtrusively, trying not to come to the attention of the authorities who also have Oswald under surveillance as a dissident (he had spent time as a defector in Russia and now plans to emigrate to Cuba).

Then there is history itself. It does not want to change. It is like an elastic band. Jake is distorting it; history wants to snap back into its proper conformation. Change puts obstacles in Jake’s path. It is as if it knows what he plans and will go all out to stop him.

As with so many of King’s novels, this is a big book (734 pages). Perhaps it could be reduced in length by judicial pruning but as King is a consummate story-teller, it flows easily. Ultimately, it is worth spending time with.

Reviewed by David Brzeski

The best horror stories are based upon the fear of the unknown. They don’t have clearly defined monsters, with clearly defined strengths and weaknesses.

There is evil at Battle View Farm. It started for Lester and Gordon MacAuley when they were sent to stay there one summer, while their parents recovered from the trauma of a miscarriage. Grandma Vivian is acting oddly and she’s getting worse. She talks to dead flies and they tell her things.

The story of the two young boys’ terrifying experiences, as their grandmother spirals into madness is alternated with the events of fifteen years later when they return to the farm to follow Gordon’s ambition to start a business, brewing Bourbon.

Things start well, but there are hints that something is awry and gradually the madness starts again.

Peter N. Dudar alternates between these two separate events, gradually revealing more of what happened in a truly masterful manner, which keeps the reader gripped in suspense, while formulating theories of their own that may, but probably won’t be borne out.

This may be his first novel, but Peter N. Dudar has been writing and publishing horror fiction for some ten years and it certainly shows in this excellent book.

The Grey Knights space marines are a secretive bunch of super human soldiers, possessing powers of the mind that are banned in others. They are called in to fight demons and other such Chaos critters when normal soldiers or other space marines would be over-matched.

The story follows Hyperion, one such Grey Knight, in service to the Inquisition. They stumble across a space hulk, and while aboard discover a message sent by the original owners, of impending doom on the planet of Armageddon.

The first half of the novel follows Hyperion and his chums as they deal with assorted Chaos scum, then suddenly shifts focus to a brewing civil war between the Inquisition forces and the Space Wolves, who are trying to protect a bunch of civilians who might have seen the Grey Knights, an event punishable by death, apparently.

This apparent shift in the focus of the novel, from a few marines to a galaxy wide conflict, is where things really start to go wrong. The first half is ok, nothing exceptional, but readable. The second half is filled with logical inconsistencies, contrived face-offs and the general forcing and shoving of events that don’t really fit.

Mr Dembski-Bowden has produced some excellent novels over the last few years, this one is something of a let-down. I got the feeling that the plot was devised by a committee, then given over to the author to write. Overall, it doesn’t work as a Grey Knights story, or as a picture of wider events. Don’t bother, would be my humble advice.

P.S. Papyrus is made from sedge, not trees.

Reviewed by Glen Mehn

Ian Sales combines considerable talent with a vivid imagination and serious research to bring us ‘Adrift on the Sea of Rains’. This novella, coming in at 75 pages, manages to combine classic hard SF, including historical detail (hint: use the glossary of abbreviation in the appendices) to create an alternate present with real, vivid characters.

This novella shares a skeleton with stories like ‘Apollo 13′. At its most basic, it is a story of humans struggling against the most hostile environment possible: outer space. The characters come to life through their struggles. The story takes place on the moon, in a world where the Apollo programme has continued on, as has the Cold War. Nuclear annihilation has taken place on the planet, and all that seems to exist of humanity are the remaining 9 (of a dozen who’d initially survived – the others had “rotated out” in Sales’ typical military euphemism for suicide) American astronauts, their supplies running low as they fruitlessly go through the motions of their posting.

Fortunately, one of them has a Nazi Wunderwaffe: A relic from the war which no one understands, but there is a scientist, completely out of his element and his depth, who has been researching it some years. It has the power to move the group through to alternate universes. Their task, the only task that matters, is to seek and find a live world they can return to. For eighteen months they have been searching, and nothing is going right. In fact, like Shackleton’s voyage, everything goes wrong, even when it goes right.

The magic of the story happens in the characters’ minds: Sales has captured with aplomb the minds of intelligent men given over to the rigours of military life; those men are put into a hopeless situation and must work together against odds to return home, a return which a thousand difficult tasks need to go right. The men are cracking under the strain, slowly.

The hopelessness of the Cold War seems like ancient history now, but there was a time – just twenty years ago – that global thermonuclear war was assumed; in primary school, we learned that “Stop, Drop, and Cover” wouldn’t do us any good, but that we still could destroy the world a dozen times over, with no end in sight. There was a sort of fatalist optimism in the mind, and Sales has taken that sense and laid it on top of of these men.

Sales builds the characters and situations up from many layers, military manhood, Cold War paranoia, Armageddon, hope in the face of grim reality, Yankee ingenuity, laid carefully on each other to create a gripping alternate present that you don’t want to visit, but that you’ll be thrilled to read about.

It is billed as the first of the Apollo Quartet, and I look forward to the following three.

n.b. – I’ve read the ebook version and the print version of this: Do yourself a favour and get the print version. About the size of your ereader, but the print version was done with real care, and is a joy to behold.

Reviewed by M P Ericson

Brilliant swordsman and military leader, the Duke of Aquitaine falls victim to a vampire…and becomes the Red Duke, feared and hated destroyer of all living things. King Louis defeats the duke’s undead army at the legendary battle of Ceren Field, but like a damned fool inters the duke’s corpse in a magically-warded tomb instead of burning it with the rest of the accursed. Which means that five hundred years later the Red Duke is set free by a gang of power-hungry cultists, and we have a story.

And an enjoyable one it is. The narrative cuts back and forth between past and present, but the separate timelines are clearly distinguished and easy to follow. The Red Duke himself, crazed by his long interment, is less well-oriented. He often confuses events and enemies of the past with aspects of his current campaign. This leads to the occasional touch of welcome humour, but is also a significant plot component as a hastily-assembled army attempts to lure him back to Ceren Field for a final confrontation.

The body count is high, but Werner makes excellent use of the implications of necromancy: brave defenders can change into dreadful enemies, and frequently do. It’s hard to get attached to any of the characters because so many of them die, and the ending is disappointingly weak. Overall, though, the elegant structure and intelligent plot carry the story. Well worth a read.

Reviewed by David Rudden

Indulge me for a moment and imagine the Black Library books as action films. There’s a lot of similarities; main characters who shrug off bullet wounds and broken ribs like they were a bad haircut, large-scale conflicts that are inevitably pared down from the thousands-in-peril level to the battered protagonist throwing himself at the bad guy, and of course more explosions than BBQ & Fireworks Night at the oil rig.

In this (increasingly laboured) analogy, quite a few of the BL books are the Die Hard 4, the Collateral Damage, the anything-by-Steven Seagal; enjoyable at the time but not memorable, not mold-breaking. Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s books, however, are the equivalent of Taken. Same basic structure, but a head above the rest due to imagination, a willingness to spend some time on depth and motivation and a flair for imaginative violence.

I was eager to see him take on a Horus Heresy novel as his style of writing really lends itself to that nod-and-wink-to-crushing-doom sense the best Heresy novels have. He really does not disappoint; I expected to react in a number of different ways to the story of Lorgar falling from his father’s grace and looking for something else to worship, but I didn’t think I’d feel pity.

The novel brought out this glorious feeling of helplessness as you watch Lorgar and his Word Bearers search for meaning, as you see them make mistake after mistake in an attempt to belong to something. One of the strengths of the Heresy series is that everything’s an introduction; this is the start, this is how things were meant to be. You experience the wide-eyed horror of an idealistic human empire finding out that the universe is far more screwed-up than they ever could have imagined and, thanks to Dembski-Bowden’s talent for horror, you feel for them. The author’s always had a talent for pared-down horror. He doesn’t give you a mountain of skulls or a river of intestines, (they show up in 40k books more than you’d think) he gives you the kind of greasy, wrong-edged ideas that stay with you for a lot longer.

The hum of a Space Marine’s armour making your gums ache.

An entire bridge complement staring at their consoles, holding back tears, vomit and insanity at the daemon coiled behind them giving directions.

Catching us with the little things rather than going for the sheer overkill that other BL writers do is what makes this book stand out. The book does not miss an opportunity to twist the knife, and of all the things I expected to feel when reading this, it wasn’t pity. You feel awful for the characters as they make one bad choice after another.

I have very few complaints with ‘The First Heretic‘. There is the problem that if you aren’t familiar with the backstory you are going to miss a lot of the in-jokes and references, but this is more a problem with the ‘Heresy’ series as a whole; they’re not meant for new BL readers, they’re for the fans to coo over when each new twist in the Horus Heresy is revealed. That said, it’s completely worth reading up on the series simply so you can enjoy ‘The First Heretic‘. Anything else would be… well, heresy.

Reviewed by David Brzeski

This is a huge and beautiful book. I suspect a good number of people who buy it will be doing so, despite the fact that they already have two thirds of it in paperback. For any who don’t, frankly it’s a bargain.

It consists of Philip José Farmer’s two Khokarsa novels– ‘Hadon of Ancient Opar’ and ‘Flight to Opar’– plus, after a 40 year wait, the final book in the trilogy– ‘The Song of Kwasin’– which has been completed with the help of Christopher Paul Carey.

While the main characters, Hadon and Kwasin are Farmer’s own creations, the trilogy is based around characters and places first encountered in the African adventure stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs and H. Rider Haggard. Many will recognise Opar from ERB’s Tarzan novels and the city of Kôr from HRH’s classic Aalan Quatermain novels. However, these books are set in the distant past, millennia before the Alan Quatermain and Tarzan books.

‘Hadon of Ancient Opar’, according to the ‘Chronology of Khokarsa’ in the back of the book, is set circa 10,000 BC. Hadon is one of three athletes from Opar who travels to the city of Kho to compete in a brutal variant on the Olympics to win the position of Queen Awineth’s new king. It’s no spoiler to reveal that he wins, as once the participants reach a certain stage of the games, the only other way out is death. The incumbent king, however, has no intentions of giving up his position and engineers a quest for Hadon to complete before taking up his crown. Hadon has to find a group of wanderers, one of which is reported to be an exiled immortal– Sahhindar. The true identity of Sahhindar will be immediately apparent to pretty much everyone as soon as he is described. Those interested to know exactly how he ended up in the distant past can find out by reading ‘Times Last Gift’, which is one of the Farmer books recently reissued by Titan Books. After two years, Hadon returns with the other wanderers, including the beautiful Lalila, who he is now in love with. Naturally, things go awry and the book ends in a neat cliffhanger.

‘Flight of Opar’ picks up the story where Hadon left off and takes us into a rapidly expanding and bloody civil war, with the supporters of Kho, the Mother Earth Goddess, beset on all sides by the supporters of Resu, the sun God. Lalila, now Hadon’s wife, is pregnant and on hearing the prophecies of the high priestess of Kho, finds that they have to have the child born in the temple in Opar. I realised who this baby was destined to be as soon as I read the prophecy, as would, I imagine, anyone very familiar with Edgar Rice Burroughs’ work. It’s a testament to the power of Farmer’s prose that I still felt a thrill as the baby was named in the very last sentence of the book.

In ‘The Song of Kwasin’, the final book of the trilogy co-written and completed by Christopher Paul Carey, the story takes a divergent path. We leave Hadon and Lalila in Opar and instead follow Kwasin, a secondary character in the first two books. Kwasin is an interesting hero; flawed to say the least. It can be hard at times to decide if he’s a hero, or an arrogant thug. Indeed, one of the strengths of the entire series is that there are no clearly delineated good and evil sides. Many of the characters united in fighting the mad king Minruth actively despise each other. Farmer and Carey tell a realistically complex tale of a religious war in which whichever side ultimately wins, countless people lose and their world is left devastated. While the trilogy is brought to a satisfying conclusion, we are left with many questions and much scope for future books. We meet the ancestor & namesake of the daughter of Hadon in a book ERB published in 1913. There are some 12,000 years of the history of Opar to be filled in. What of Sahhindar, the time traveller? He was around for some 2000 years, before the events of ‘Hadon of Ancient Opar’, but when did he finally die, if indeed he did? Was it before he was born some 10,000 years later? Hopefully some of these stories will follow, with the kind permission of Farmer’s Estate.

In the meantime, I have several books by Edgar Rice Burroughs and H. Rider Haggard I want to reread. A fact which I know would please Philip José Farmer no end.

Reviewed By Steve Dean

This is the third book in the Night Lords trilogy, and it pretty much carries on as expected, with much bloodshed and violence.

The Night Lords, for those who don’t know, are a Chaos tainted legion, alone in space after the death of their primarch, who was killed on the planet of Tsagualsa. Talos, prophet of the surviving members of the legion, has a vision which forces him to return to the planet, to face his and the chapters destiny.

Unexpectedly, they find a thriving colony on the planet they expected to be barren after it was purged all those years ago. The Night Lords descend to the surface to punish the colonists for trespassing on their sacred world.

Acting on a prophesy, Eldar ships attack the Night Lords vessel while they are butchering the humans, and they are forced to break off and run. The Eldar follow the Night Lords, seeming to be always one step behind the Chaos marines. Talos decides it’s time to make a last stand, and orders the Night Lords back to Tsagualsa, to fight to the death in the planet’s catacombs.

Although very well written, this is not an easy book to read. The Night Lords are a murdering bunch of amoral, torturing pirates of the worst kind. The part where they capture and flay a group of astropaths is particularly disturbing. This leaves us with a problem, as we don’t really care what happens to the Night Lords, indeed, I found myself gratified when any of them were killed.

The book does have two characters to cheer for, the slaves Septimus and Octavia, a pair of untainted humans. This does offset the violence to some degree.

Overall, I would still recommend this book. It’s compelling, adult material, a real page turner, filled with atmosphere and menace. With a lesser writer, this could have been just sensationalised nonsense, but the author manages to tell an excellent story despite the horror.

Reviewed by Glen Mehn

I got all excited when I saw this pop in to the reviewer’s queue. I’d read – perhaps devoured is a more appropriate word –  ‘Blackbirds’ a couple of months ago, and enjoyed it. Grit. Horror. Laugh-out-loud dark humour.

It did not disappoint.

For those of you new to this game, go read ‘Blackbirds’ first. While it’s not absolutely necessary, it’s worth the read.

Miriam Black knows when you will die, if she touches you. This is a mixed blessing, at best, and when combined with her difficult upbringing leads Miriam to live a vagabond’s life on the road. Without getting too spoilery, ‘Blackbirds’ ends with Miriam attempting to settle down.

‘Mockingbird’ starts off by letting us know it didn’t work.

‘Mockingbird’ starts off on page 1 with Wendig doing what he does best: drawing the reader into the life of Miriam Black, and a typical situation for her, involving her angry, clever wit and demonstrating Wendig’s mastery of words.

That’s when the first killer turns up, and we’re drawn into 384 pages of non-stop action, plot, and more of Miriam’s defensive mouth.

There’s a particularly inventive killer, and some especially vulnerable girls in danger, and Wendig grabs you by the face and drags you through those 384 pages, with the pacing of a craftsman – setting up interesting questions and cliffhangers and then stepping aside for an interlude.

It is a fun, playful ride and a bloody good book.

It’s not perfect. I found it troubling at times – there are some places where the continuity falls apart, and some “I’m not quite sure I buy it” words coming from Miriam’s mouth – she revels in her lack of education though betrays this by showing herself to be smarter than she lets on. The biggest issue that I had with this book is that, although there are more revelations about Miriam, we don’t get to see her as a human being grow as much as we find out about her powers and her place in the universe.

All of these are fairly minor niggles, though – all in all, this book delivers on the promises Wendig has laid down with ‘Blackbirds’ and other earlier work.

Reviewed by Katy O’Dowd

When I first heard of this book, for some reason an image of I Dream Of Jeannie popped into my head, whereupon it morphed into a conversation between Jeannie and Samantha from Bewitched, scrunching up her cute little nose ready to wiggle it and cause magical mayhem.

And while ‘I Am A Magical Teenage Princess’ leaps off the pages within its interlinked stories with a highly 60s feel of glorious Technicolor, dreamboats and petticoats it ain’t.

Rather, Luke Geddes, through some really excellent – and at times exceptionally tender – writing has projected our favourites from cult to classics through a rather distorted lens of the trials and triumphs of teenagedom, rejects and misfits, hopes and dreams. The stories are therefore shown through a less than rose coloured lens, to great impact.

‘Surfer Girl’ meets the Big Kahuna with less than desirable results. The fabulous ‘He’s A Rebel’, one of the highlights of the collection, reduces James Dean and his wannabes to something less than perfect. ‘Mom’s Team v. Dad’s Team’ is an interesting take on morals, or lack thereof, while Geddes takes ‘Betty And Veronica’ rather further along than you might be used to. Now I’m not a boy, but could imagine fans of comic book girls rather enjoying this one.

‘The Party Don’t Stop’ is a rather bittersweet tale of a man/child not wanting to grow up. ‘Invasion’, another of the book’s highlights, puts a spin on the devil’s own music and on locking up your daughters – one you probably won’t expect. ‘Bongo The Space Ape’ was particularly poignant, especially as I had read the autobiography of Tarzan’s Cheeta not so long ago. Poor old Bongo, there but for the grace of money and fame went he.

‘Another Girl, Another Planet’ centres on Stacey, the only girl in the universe, onboard a spaceship with buffoon-like teenage boys. It’s a shame she couldn’t have enjoyed the stars and left behind her insecurities, but such is being a teen.

‘Wonder Woman’s Tampon’ brings the Amazon into the human realms and ‘Habit Patterns’, by far the most chilling story in the book if you ask me, is all about Barbara who is stuck in one of those instructional hygiene films from the way back when. It’s a TV’s life in ‘The Enormous Television Set’ as seen through the goggle-box’s eyes, and ‘The Modern Stone Age’ is a fabulous story based on the devolution of the Flintstones.

‘Defunct Girl Gangs Of North American Drive-Ins’ reminded me of Russ Meyer’s busty beauties, ‘Express Lane’ spotlights a supermarket cashier you’d probably not want to meet, and the wonderful ‘And I Would Have Gotten Away With It If It Weren’t For You Pesky Kids’ rounds this superb collection off, telling the monster’s side of the story in a Scooby and Co. tale.  A highly enjoyable selection of stories, wonderfully told.

Reviewed By Steve Dean

‘Accursed Eternity’ by Sarah Cawkwell starts off this collection of four novellas. The titular ship is a semi-legendary space hulk, floating around and general causing a nuisance wherever it goes. The Star Dragons space marines are sent onto the hulk when it is finally located. The story itself is well written, but there’s nothing really new here. A space hulk, a demon, whispers in the dark, that kind of thing, and the ending is an off the peg size R, the one where it’s the same as the beginning.

‘Sanctus’ by Darius Hinks is next. This tells the story of the Relictors space marines, sent down to the shrine world of Ilissus IV to find a legendary library. The planet is tainted by Chaos and subject to Exterminatus by the Inquisition (Space, not Spanish), so the marines have to get a move on. Things are, naturally, not what they expected, and soon everything is going awry. This one also is well written, but also has the same off the peg regular ending.

‘Endeavour of Will’ by Ben Counter, tells of the eponymous star fort and its twin The Bastion Inviolate. Shon’tu, Chaos warsmith, has decided to take out the two forts. The Imperial Fists marines stand in his way. This is also well written, but this time is actually a decent story, with some original set pieces and an unlikely saviour. It has a proper ending, some decent characters and good action. By far the best story in the book, and almost worth the asking prize.

‘Fateweaver’ by John French, has the White Consuls space marines summoned by an astropathic message warning of a Chaos attack on a space station. When they arrive they find nothing amiss, but the station is soon under attack from the creatures of the warp. The writing is good, and the action is well described, but I found it ultimately unfulfilling, mainly because it seems to lose its way at the end and just fizzle out.

Taken together, this book doesn’t really work. It’s a shame the one good story is weighted down by the unimaginative stodge of the others.

Macmillan Children’s Books, h/b, £12.99

Reviewed by Rebekah Lunt

This is a children’s book. I’m not a child. However, I loved this book! There, I said it, now we can move on to the rest of the review…

Seriously, though, I know a lot of us ‘adults’ turn off the moment we realise a book is for children (or secretly go searching for the version with the adult cover!) This annoys me somewhat because if you are seriously into reading and stories, the only issue that should matter is whether the story is good or not; and this is.

Anyway, back to A Face Like Glass: it’s a sweet little onion of a story – layer on layer of plot, and characters, and realisations – about Neverfell, a girl who turned up out of nowhere in Master Grandible’s cheese tunnels in Caverna seven years ago, and who has to wear a mask because of her ‘face like glass’.

Caverna – the location in which Neverfell arrives – is, as its name suggests, a series of caves underground. In this alien environment the residents don’t develop in the same way people in the ‘overground’ would do: they are unable to respond naturally through their facial expressions but instead wear learned faces that they choose from their available repertoire, thus having the ability to mask their genuine responses. Neverfell breaks through all this with her ability to show everything in her face, giving a window onto her feelings and thoughts that is alien to, and distresses, the Cavernans.

Neverfell’s biggest problem – at least to begin with – is that she doesn’t have any memory of who she is or where she came from, and this is what gives rise to the enticing, intriguing and beautifully written layers of the story, as Neverfell gradually gains knowledge and understanding of herself and the world around her.

Neverfell is a very engaging character – it’s very easy to read her, in every sense of the phrase – and it is so refreshing to have a female protagonist who is really the centre of everything.

I’m not going to tell you any more about the plot or characters because I found that one of the best things about the book is that you experience Caverna and the story through Neverfell. Hardinge creates a fascinating world for her wonderfully nuanced characters; her writing is like a mix of Neil Gaiman and Jeanne DuPrau. I can absolutely imagine the story and characters continuing into sequels as Hardinge has clearly put in the groundwork in establishing every aspect of this world.

I would genuinely struggle to find any negative criticisms about this book, and I’ll be seeking out Frances Hardinge’s previous works to add to my shelves very soon.

Angry Robot, p/b, £7.99

Reviewed by Carl Barker

When attempting to construct a book in an already well-established genre, it can be argued that a writer needs to either create something new and engaging, or to reiterate something old very well. Madeline Ashby may well have achieved both with this, her debut novel.

vN takes many of the familiar trappings and plot strands of the artificial intelligence sub-genre and succinctly weaves them into a tightly coiled narrative which evolves at break-neck pace. Like all good science-fiction, it’s not so much what happens that’s important, but rather the questions that it asks when it does.

Littered with numerous pop-culture and literary references, from the obvious (Dick, Asimov, Terminator 2, The Matrix) to the more unexpected (The Prisoner), Ashby’s story follows the fate of Amy, an immature humanoid android, on the run since she ate her grandmother alive in defence of her mother. This initial act of absorbing her grandmother’s consciousness provides a wonderful platform for ongoing discussions about Amy’s state of mind, and her constant struggle to prevent her aggressively violent granny from overriding her core systems is one of the more organic themes grafted onto the novel’s metal endoskeleton.

With an excellent grasp of her subject matter and much to say within the genre, Ashby looks set to become one of the most important new voices in this particular branch of SF, and I for one shall be awaiting her next book with great interest. Download to your system at the earliest opportunity.

Angry Robot, p/b, £7.99

Reviewed by Rebekah Lunt

I genuinely enjoyed this book. The plot is fairly basic which is not a bad thing as it allows for more character development and interesting tangents. Basically, the loveable rogues Egil and Nix are tomb raiders along the lines of Indiana Jones, but with less morals and more demon-y, fantasy-type stuff. They do a job which is supposed to be their last but in fact turns out to be the beginning of a forced adventure to the ultimate tomb-raid.

The story and characters are easy to get to know and follow, although I wish Kemp had focused more on the balance of Egil and Nix as Egil is much less prominent although just as, if not more, interesting as Nix. There are other characters who are incidental in this book, of whom I hope to see more in ensuing sequels. I do feel that even the incidentals are established quite well, even though you don’t get the full story or backgrounds for them.

There is, of course, the obligatory damsel in distress to rescue although there’s a twist here in that maybe one of the distressed damsels is not quite so helpless. In fact, there is quite a thread of anti-misogyny throughout the tale – leading to a questionable act of resolution for the villain of the piece which still has me wondering about whether it was ‘right’ or just – and it makes the whole piece quite refreshing.

To all intents and purposes this is a buddy movie waiting to happen, and I’m looking forward to reading the next installment. It kept my attention and interest throughout and has obvious potential to continue and develop.

Reviewed by Glen Mehn

The Eyes of Water comes in at all of 25 pages. I don’t think we’ve seen enough of novelette and novella forms in recent decades, and to my mind, they’re a welcome return to form – Spectral Press are delivering in this, bringing short-form chapbooks of creepy tales, including this one, which is already sold out. We can but hope for an ebook version.

Littlewood gives us Alex, a scuba diver on what appears to be a long dive trip in Mexico. The excitement of the dive is clearly wearing off by the start of the novelette. He meets his childhood friend Rick for a joyful swim in the centre of a cenoté – a place where rainwater collects and the source of freshwater for local people. Cenotés are both water sources as well as were sacred to the Mayans, precursors of modern Mexicans. Alex’s reunion with Rick sets off a chain of events that will prove profound to Alex’s life.

This is a perfect chapbook to read over lunch or a sunny afternoon in the park – it’s not a simple task to build real, engaging characters and situations in something this short which will hold our attention this long – Littlewood should be commended for her deft skill. Her sentence-level writing and her story structure builds a real world on top of one we already know.

She manages to capture the weariness of the tourist who’s seen it all – whether visiting world famous sites below the water or trudging down a dusty lane lined with tat sellers on the side. Alex is a timid diver, and has to try new, dangerous, life-threatening things – like diving a helocline (the place where salt and freshwater mix in a cave) and removing one’s tanks. There is a real sense of atmosphere and foreboding created in this book which builds towards its conclusion. While there may not be a massive surprise, there is closure and finality and a real sense of place.

‘Eyes of Water’ is a worthy addition to an ereader, and worth seeking out in physical for the collectible-obsessed, especially if you loved her earlier novel ‘A Cold Season‘.

Reviewed by Matthew Johns

A selection of chilling tales almost 40 years old, this reprint of a 1975 Corgi Books anthology is a relic of times gone by.  The ten tales owe a lot to the likes of Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected – the horror is left to the reader’s imagination, rather than explicitly portrayed in print as has proven to be so popular of recent times.

While the overall themes haven’t changed in almost 40 years, the way that they are depicted has – dramatically in some of the stories.  The titular ‘The Satyr’s Head’ is one such tale – it merely hints at homosexuality and that a character may be that way inclined, but 37 years ago, homosexuality was not something openly discussed.  A young man on his way to catch a bus meets a tramp afflicted with terrible sores, who sells him a stone satyr’s head that he claims to have found on the moors.  The young man is strangely attracted to it, and soon begins having strange dreams in which he is raped and sexually abused by the satyr.  Not long after, he starts to find himself feeling sick with strange aches, rashes and sores appearing on his face and body.

In another, cannibal brothers prey on unwary travellers in an unnamed American town until one of them meets a sticky end.  Another tells about Fred – a lonely man in a bar somewhere, who seems to be all but invisible to his fellow drinkers until he disappears in front of one of them.

If you’re tired of the torture porn and horror that leaves nothing to the imagination, then check out The Satyr’s Head – it’s likely that you’ll find solace in these tales from yesteryear.

Reviewed by Matthew Johns

A collection of six fascinating tales, beautifully bound from authors Len Maynard and Mick Sims – collectively known as Maynard Sims (the literary Brangelina, perhaps?).

This opens with the richly crafted ‘Double Act’ set in 1940s London.  Music hall act Coker and Hass have been working together for decades and think they know each other.  Straight man Charlie Hass writes the act, while his partner Wally Coker is the funny man in the misshapen suit with wild hair (think Max Wall).  Charlie passes away suddenly, and Wally begins to find that he didn’t know his partner at all.  Wally’s insecurities about just being the funny man and being lost with the death of his partner fade as he discovers Charlie was jealous of Wally’s ability to make the crowd laugh.  Charlie’s jealous ghost soon starts making Wally’s life difficult as it seeks closure.

In ‘Jealousy’, a drama teacher becomes obsessed with one of his female pupils, but is soon discovered hanged at home after being spurned by his pupil.  Then the pupil’s boyfriend also hangs himself.  A friend of the drama teacher soon notices a shadowy figure following the pupil around.

‘Assignment’ follows Robert Carter from Department 18 – a shadowy UK government organisation devoted to tackling paranormal and the associated psychic phenomena (a British X Files, if you like).  Carter is sent to a large country house to help its wealthy owner with some unusual problems, and discovers a foe he has faced before – an ancient evil.

Maynard Sims’ work is superbly detailed, and very well written.  I found myself falling into their spell within a page or two of opening the book and did not want to put it down.

Reviewed by Steve Dean

This collection contains the novels ‘Grudge Bearer’ and the short story ‘Ancestral Honour’ by Gav Thorpe, and the novels ‘Oath Breaker’ and ‘Honour Keeper’ by Nick Kyme. There’s also an appendix, called ‘Grudgelore’, which is pretty much what it sounds like.

First of all, I need to say that these are dwarfs as we all know them, the typical Tolkienesque, vertically challenged bearded folk, that live under the mountains, are grumpy and beat metal all day. Okay, got that out of the way, just in case you were expecting anything new, original or exciting. (There’s even a dwarf called Grimli, I kid you not!)

Putting that aside, let’s get to the novels themselves. First up, ‘Grudge Bearer‘, which isn’t a novel at all, but a series of short stories with some of the same characters. For the most part, they are average, unfulfilling, and leave you with a sense of ‘so what?’.

The short story ‘Ancestral Honour’ shows a bit more spark, is more readable, but is so predictable the author virtually waves the ending in your face right from the start.

‘Oath Breaker’ is slightly better, being the story of a group of dwarfs trying to reclaim a mine lost to rat men. The plotting is ok, it has a few decent set pieces, and it even features a female dwarf.

‘Honour Keeper’ tells the story of the dwarfs battling first with chaos and then with the elfs who were supposed to be their allies. This one was a tough read, I had to force myself to continue, for you, dear listener. It’s over-long, repetitive, and the combat completely wrong. Once the fighting starts, the author seems to forget they are small, and they fight just like barbarians.

Overall I found it very disappointing. There’s no originality here, no new insights or cultural flavour, nothing that makes them anything more than just another bunch of fighters. A wasted opportunity then, and one to avoid.

Reviewed by Steve Dean

This one is by Dan Abnett, so it’s obviously very good.

What? Okay, I’ll make it a bit longer.

Roboute Gulliman, primarch of the Ultramarines, goes to Calth to meet up with his brother Lorgar, big cheese of the Word Bearers legion. The planet and its surroundings are crammed with military personnel and hardware, ready for a fight against a swarm of orksies.

Unknown to the Ultramarines, the Horus Heresy is in full swing, and Lorgar is actually there to settle an old score with Gulliman. The Ultramarines are taken completely by surprise in every field as the Word Bearers begin their process of total annihilation.

It’s the descriptions of the opening few hours, the unrelenting one sided battle, that show Mr Abnett’s genius for this sort of work. The scene where a kilometres long space ship falls slowly backwards through the atmosphere and crashes into the planet is particularly superb. The rest of the novel keeps up this high standard. Plotting, characterisation and pacing are all perfect. Regular readers will know my opinion of the Horus Heresy thread, but this novel is not to be missed.

If there wasn’t such snobbery and prejudice against genre novels, this one would be a candidate for a major award. This is literary entertainment at its very best. If you have to sell some other books to buy this one, do it.

Reviewed by Steve Dean

Collected together here, we have the novel ‘Storm of Iron‘, the novella ‘Iron Warrior’ and five short stories. They follow the antics of Warsmith Honsou, general of the ruinous powers and not a great fan of the Ultramarines. The plot arc follows Honsou as he makes war against the Ultramarines, the threads intertwined with some of Mr McNeill’s previous Ultramarines novels, but from another perspective.

In ‘Storm of Iron‘, we see Honsou before he was famous, laying siege to the huge fortress of Hydra Cordatus, mainly to get hold of something hidden inside. Despite this story being mostly about Honsou, the author cleverly gives us some good guys to cheer for, and one in particular to get behind. This is classic McNeill, well-written, fast paced and inventive. The plotting is superb and the novel is probably one of the best black library books I’ve read for a while.

If that wasn’t enough, you also get the other stories, all very good, if not quite as good, that follow the fortunes of Honsou as they wax and wane. Definitely one to recommend, good value and great entertainment.

Reviewed by Steve Dean

Ever since the Keeler comet passed through the eye of terror, its once elliptical orbit has become erratic. Now, everywhere it goes it causes a madness known as the cholercaust. And following on in its bloody wake is a fleet of chaos World Eaters traitor space marines.

On the cemetery world of Certus Minor, the fun has already started, the citizens turning into a zombie-like blood thirsty mob.

The only thing that stands between the planets total fall into chaos is a small group of Excoriators space marines and some battle sisters.

This one takes a while to get into its stride, with some back story about Kersh, a disgraced space marine. It’s not bad, but it does slow down the first part of the story. We soon get going though, and the rest of the book is pretty much what you’d expect from these Space Marine Battles novels. It’s well written, the descriptions are good and the battle as realistic as it can be. The ending is fairly original, there’s a nice touch or irony regarding the final fate of the surviving civilians.

Overall, probably not the best in this particular series, but it’s certainly good enough to take its rightful place among the others.

Headline Books, p/b, £13.99

www.adiscoveryofwitches.co.uk

Reviewed by Matthew Johns

The eagerly awaited sequel to the 2011 bestselling novel A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night continues the story of the witch Diana Bishop and her vampire husband, Matthew Clairmont. Their marriage is forbidden by the Congregation – a shadowy parliament of vampires, witches and daemons who exist in an uneasy truce; united only by their hatred of each other and fear of inter-species unions.

Beginning in 1590, this follows Diana and Matthew’s adventures in Elizabethan England after using Diana’s new found magic to travel back in time from the 21^st century. Diana continues her search for an elusive alchemical manuscript and tuition on how to use her powers, while Matthew finds himself embroiled in the political machinations ofElizabeth’s court and the Scottish witch hunts.

The book is filled with fantastically realised characters – both fictional and historical, including William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Queen Elizabeth (the first). Harkness’ passion for both history and London shine through her wonderfully scripted prose. Reading the book, one could almost imagine oneself wandering the streets of Elizabethan London, fully immersed in the sights, sounds and smells so richly described. Diana’s new adventures in alchemy and witchcraft under the capable tuition of local witches and a rare female alchemist are both fascinating and emotive.

As with the first book, comparisons to Twilight from previous reviewers do it no justice, and will only serve to alienate a large potential fan base. This is truly a gem of a book that deserves to stand on its own.

Gollancz, h/c £12.99, p/b £7.99

Reviewed by Pauline Morgan

It is always a pleasure to read a fantasy novel that steps outside the parameters of the usual formulae. It is no surprise that Richard Morgan is also an accomplished, award winning Science Fiction author. He has the inventive ability to take the mundane and layer it with complexity in order to produce an exciting story. The Cold Commands is a sequel to The Steel Remains in that it is set in the same world and involves the same characters.

The three main characters, Ringil, Archeth and Egar, come from different backgrounds and are unlikely friends but each would trust the others to watch their backs. They are survivors.

At the start of this novel Ringil is pursuing his own agenda. He is the disgraced scion of a noble house and a sorcerer (his crime is to prefer men to women for his pleasure). He leads a band of mercenaries that are attacking slave trains and killing the slave masters. What happens to the freed slaves is something he has no power over but the needless subjugation of others is something he abhors. The latest attack results in the death of an imperial legate and Ringil catching a cold which makes him vulnerable to his enemies.

Egar finds trouble in different ways. He is a rampant womaniser and is conducting an affair with the wife of an imperial commander. While her husband is at home he finds himself following up a dispute between two men hailing from his part of the world, discovering that the Citadel, the stronghold of the religious faction of the State, is hiring his countrymen as guards. Investigating starts a series of events that puts a price on his head but, unlike Ringil, everyone knows who they are looking for.

The third member of this unlikely trio of comrades is Archeth. She is the last known member of an ancient race that has always provided the Emperor with an Advisor. She in turn is advised by an entity known as a Helmsman. If this book was promoted as science fiction then a helmsman would be recognised as an Artificial Intelligence but on this low tech world it is a magical and mysterious being. Archeth is sent to collect a Helmsman that appears to have fallen from the sky. This entity warns of dire things heading their way.

Mixed up in this are the Dwenda, a race of sorcerers who everyone hopes have been defeated but who keep turning up to make life difficult for our heroes.

Morgan writes about complex characters and sets them in a complex setting surrounded by an intriguing plot in such a way that it is difficult to do justice to it within a review. Although ostensibly a fantasy world it is a long way from the neat, wish-fulfilment novels that are churned out by some writers. This is a nasty, gritty and brutal world. All the main characters have issues that follow them and colour their actions. They have histories and have done unpleasant things which were necessary at the time. They are all efficient killers, surviving in a world that is against so many of its citizens. Often their actions are not nice or guided by high morals but then Morgan has created a world that should not be judged by current standards of humanity. All the time there are hints of darker things to come and clues that this is not what it seems.  I look forward to the next volume.

Tor Books, h/b £14.39, p/b £5

Reviewed by David A. Riley

This is the first in a series of novels about a new occult hero, Jeremiah Hunt. Though set in the modern world, it is a world where ghosts, witches, demons and shapeshifters proliferate, unseen by the bulk of humanity. It could be our world, of course, because until Hunt takes part in a ceremony to enable him to “see that which is unseen” he is as unaware as the rest of us of its existence. This ceremony, part of his desperate bid to find his abducted daughter, has far reaching results. While it enables him to see the spirit world, in particular ghosts, at the same time his normal ability to see is destroyed. Burned out by visions of the full scope of reality, his eyes are blind in normal light and can only see in pitch darkness or via the eyes of ghosts.

Still searching for his daughter, Hunt is occasionally consulted by a local Boston police detective for his “psychic” abilities. The cases he becomes involved with eventually centre on a series of bizarre brutal murders which, piece by piece, he comes to realise have a bearing on the unknown fate of his daughter. In his search he finds help from two unlikely sources: a young, talented witch who is a worshipper of Gaia; and a huge Russian bar-owner with frightening abilities of his own. What they are up against, though, makes even their combined abilities seem puny by comparison. It’s an ancient evil, stretching back into America’s distant colonial past, which is manipulating Hunt without him realising how he is being used and bringing him closer to an horrific fate.

Fast paced, with plenty of twists and turns in its storyline, this is an accomplished novel of supernatural evil, with tenuous links to the author’s other series of occult novels involving modern Knights Templars. Jeremiah Hunt is a credible hero, deeply flawed but determined. It is a dark urban fantasy of the darkest, most horrific kind.

Murkee. £4.99.

Reviewed by Elloise Hopkins

Princess Ratiana Clementine Saint John of the submersible Victoriana is about to become a queen. Unfortunately to do so she has to get married and that is way down on her list of priorities behind learning to run the Victoriana, learning to fight with proficiency and most of all, vexing her parents. At 14 she is now old enough to become queen and awaits the arrival of her betrothed.

The Aesthetes are perceived as weak, precious perhaps, and Rat, as she likes to call herself, simply can’t imagine Prince Simeon being at all suited to her. It seems the prince has the same opinion of Princess Rat, with her boyish clothes and manners to match. The betrothal has to begin with a series of trials set by the four submerged communities, and Rat and Simeon will have to learn to work hand in hand if they are to triumph.

A young adult steampunk novella wouldn’t fall into my usual reading wish list but I’m always open to new suggestions and I have to say I’m glad I got hold of this book. It was a quick and enjoyable read and a pure run of escapism. The worldbuilding is its biggest strength by far and I found myself in a world where something as simple as looking at the time becomes a beautifully descriptive piece of prose.

Considering the length of the piece, the characters, even the supporting cast, are surprisingly well detailed and likeable in their not always favorable portrayal. The relationship between the two heirs is forced to develop as the trials go on and the result is a story that perhaps whilst not as tension-filled as it could be, is well told and blends elements of steampunk and our own world perfectly to create a believable alternate reality.

Crown/Hodder & Stoughton, p/b, £12.99

Reviewed by Stewart Horn

Monsters hunt nightly for human prey in San Francisco. They vary greatly in appearance, from the apparently human to assorted grotesques. Some seem part-animal, with claws or talons or the heads of wolves or snakes. And they’re super-strong, fierce and cannibalistic, somewhat like the Nightbreed from Clive Barker’s Cabal. Some human characters develop a telepathic bond with these creatures, and we join them in their exploration and discovery of the monsters, the horrors hinted at and gradually revealed. Sigler shies away from any supernatural element, preferring his own brand of pseudo-science, which isn’t really any more convincing than demonic possession or the like but it’s fun to read and lets us get some good scenes with the pathologist.

It’s a furiously paced, plot-driven horror thriller, very much in the style of early Dean Koontz or Stephen King. The imagery is striking and it seems designed to be filmed, as if he had one eye on an adaptation when he wrote it, or perhaps he just has a very visual imagination. Despite a hefty word count, this is a quick and easy read, and I enjoyed it a lot.

The characters are engagingly quirky. There is an overweight, foul-mouthed Chinese cop who is gathering material for the TV cop show he’s writing. His partner the terminator is a highly efficient killer of bad guys. The smutty one-liner dialogue between these two is the source of most of the novel’s humour, and that humour is welcome because the story is relentlessly dark.

I had a few problems with this book. The witty dialogue is great, but it didn’t always ring true: I couldn’t imagine such light-hearted banter at scenes of carnage and death. The monsters are bulletproof and superfast healers, but their invulnerability varies to suit the plot: If you’re going to re-write the laws of biology you should at least make the new ones consistent. Also, I saw the ending coming from two hundred pages away.

This is not Sigler’s masterwork but, nevertheless, it is a hugely enjoyable read by an author who continues to grow, and whom I shall continue to follow and enjoy in the future.

Angry Robot, kindle edition, £4.49

Reviewed by Carl Barker

Upon reading the blurb for Alchemist Of Souls, one might be forgiven for initially attempting to directly compare it with the first of Marie Brennan’s Onyx Court Series. Certainly, it’s true that both books revolve around a common theme – that of otherworldly creatures (here the Skraylings) inhabiting an alternate Elizabethan England – but to so pigeonhole Anne Lyle’s debut novel as ‘more of the same’ would be to do it a grave disservice. This first volume in a planned series is an entirely different animal, in that it chooses to downplay the fantastic side of its tale to an almost unnoticeable level, choosing instead to concentrate on embellishing the more recognisable trappings of history with an attention to detail and characterisation.

The three central characters of Mal, Coby and Ned are each well fleshed out in their own right, allowing the story to lightly dance between several different viewpoints as what begins as an absorbing drama slowly evolves into something more akin to a whodunnit by the end of the book. Many of the more well-known characters from the period are introduced at various points in the book, as down-on-his-luck swordsman Mal is recruited into the service of Sir Francis Walsingham and made bodyguard to the Skrayling Ambassador. Forced to repel both physical and political threats from a variety of sources, Mal must uncover the secrets of the Skraylings whilst at the same time attempting to unravel both his own past and that of his twin brother Sandy.

An outstanding debut and Lyle is certainly a name to watch for the future. I thoroughly enjoyed it.