(no subject)

I'm caught in a bit of a bind. There are two groups of books I can't review: books by friends, and books that I might have to judge for the Aurealis Awards. And yet, I want to give that overview of Angry Robot books - I promised it to myself when they started and I'm not ready to give up on it. My solution is a simple one, for I am a simple person: I will write a post that lists those books and link to the publishing information and let you know they're out there, and I will do it before I actually read the books. All information will be from AR's site, not my brain. My judgement and bias does not enter into and etc.

I will be reading them all, of course (and had actually intended to read one when I bought it, which was before it actually technically appeared in Australia, but Europe intervened) and, if you wait until after the awards are made, you can ask me my personal opinion over coffee. I might even write about them elsewhere. I'll still be doing the completist thing and will have read every single AR book and understand how their imprint is developing. And one day I'll talk about this and where they're heading and how they're getting there. I'm just doing it in a slightly different way. It's no use pointing to the need for boundaries between public critic and private friend/move in same circles if I don't observe them myself, after all.

I do hope that made sense!

The post that will come (because I'm out of time right now - this was just to explain things) will be AR's new Australian offerings. Not offerings for Australia, but sacrifices of Australians laid on the altar of popular consumption. I'm happy for other people to comment on the books in response to my post, but all my post will be is in an overview of these new releases.

And now you are warned...

Angry Robot - the books that won't be reviewed (alas)

I have puzzled over what to say for this post way longer than if I were posting actual comments about the books themselves. It's daft. I don't want to just present lists of books, sans annotations. It would be even dafter, though, to give public opinions about books that are still being judged or where I might have significant bias (and from a personal blog, where one expects the personal to dominate). I have to admit, though, that I'm looking forward to reading all of these and that Angry Robot has not exactly produced bad books. I keep saying about some of the previous books I've read "Oh, you have to read this," and thrusting copies at my long-suffering friends. I don't enjoy all Angry Robot books equally (in fact, the two I read while I was in Sydney I only enjoyed moderately, as I will be reporting in due course*) which is really not a useful piece of news.

Yes, I'm still finding it hard to introduce books without giving my specific opinion on particular books. I will ponder each novel muchly and they will creep into my work in other ways (since at least two of the authors below read this blog, I am going to insert a sneaky mwa ha ha, because they haven't escaped my evil attention) because just because I won't review certain books doesn’t mean I won't read them critically and that they won't help form my opinions. Also, it doesn't absolutely and entirely mean I can't say anything…

What strikes me is how many women there are in this line-up. It's a healthy number from AR publishing perspective (yay for strong women writers) but I do wonder if they will get equal numbers of reviews and shouting. It bugs me that I can't review these novels, simply for that reason. It's a very strong reason for sending you all out to read (and comment on your blogs) for yourselves. Publishers will seek strong writers from wider backgrounds if those writers get the attention and sales - if we all concentrate on white male writers of a certain background, then that's what we'll see on our shelves.

This makes me think that, really, these writers need reviews. If anyone needs a place to post a review and would like to do one, email me. I'm happy to have guest reviews.


Jo Anderton Debris - it's a Veiled World book. I don't yet know what a Veiled World is. All I have is a few words…
"In a far future where technology is all but indistinguishable from magic, Tanyana is one of the elite.
She can control pions, the building blocks of matter, shaping them into new forms using ritual gestures and techniques. The rewards are great, and she is one of most highly regarded people in the city. But that was before the “accident”.
Stripped of her powers, bound inside a bizarre powersuit, she finds herself cast down to the very lowest level of society. Powerless, penniless and scarred, Tanyana must adjust to a new life collecting “debris”, the stuff left behind by pions. But as she tries to find who has done all of this to her, she also starts to realize that debris is more important than anyone could guess."

It's being released in October. This makes me wonder - will Ms Anderton be at Conflux? (navicat, are you there? will you be here?)


Kaaron Warren Mistifcation
Kaaron is a Canberran. I don't know if this shows in her writing. I don't know if it shows in mine, or Maxine McArthur's, or any of the many other Canberra writers. If it shows up in any of us, though, I suspect Kaaron would be the one, simply because she crafts place into her tales in a very particular way.
"Marvo is a stage magician. His magic is real.
Marvo grows up without knowing his parents, without knowing his heritage, without knowing much about life.
The magicians have always been with us, since the beginning of civilisation. They fill our heads with the mist, keeping us from witnessing the stark reality of existence. But are things so bad that Marvo will bring it down on all of us, forever?"

Trent Jamieson Roil
I don't think I've actually met Trent, so he's not in this list because I know him but because of the Aurealis thing. He's probably lucky that he's not getting a review, since he might have got me in a snarky mode and a simple quotation from his cover is far, far safer (it's a far, far safer thing I do?)
"Shale is in trouble dying. A vast, chaotic, monster-bearing storm known only as the Roil is expanding, consuming the land.
Where once there were twelve great cities, now only four remain, and their borders are being threatened by the growing cloud of darkness. The last humans are fighting back with ever more bizarre new machines. But one by one the defences are failing. And the Roil continues to grow.
With the land in turmoil, it’s up to a decadent wastrel, a four thousand year-old man, and a young woman intent on revenge to try to save their city – and the world."

Aliette de Bodard The information for Master of the House of Darts doesn't want to appear when I click on it (either it's not up yet, or it's very shy) so here's the page for the author, instead: http://angryrobotbooks.com/our-authors/aliette-de-bodard/ . It's the third book in de Bodard's very dark Aztec trilogy. I'm still very curious to see what she writes after this, but I'll be reading this (of course - all these books will be read by me in the near future, that's the whole idea) with an especial focus on how she builds her world and how she reaches out to readers from her world. This is because of what she does with that world, which I talked about here, ages ago, in looking at the first book.






*In due course may well mean when I find my notes.