From the author of The Fog Diver comes a new epic fantasy series, delivering a thrilling combination of adventure and humor! Beast & Crown is a sweeping two-book series filled with goblins and ogres and magic, in which a daring group of friends must decide if it’s worth sacrificing a few to protect the many.
Sally is tough. Roz is smart. But thirteen-year-old bootboy Ji is sneaky.
And after years of scrubbing at muddy soles and untangling laces, Ji is done with being a servant. He doesn’t want to polish leather, he doesn’t want to bow and scrape. All he wants is freedom - for himself and his friends.
So he risks everything for a chance for them to accompany a young nobleman to the Diadem Rite, a magical ritual that chooses the heir to the Summer Crown. Ji doesn’t care about crowns or ceremonies; but he vows that this expedition will grant them all new lives, far away from stables and boots and servitude.
But Ji doesn’t know that he and his friends have a crucial part to play in the Diadem Rite. One that will change them forever.
Read more: Beast & Crown - Joel Ross
A review of John Gribbin's Don't Look Back
- Written by Seregil of Rhiminee
- Category: Reviews
John Gribbin's Don't Look Back was published by Elsewhen Press in a digital edition in May 2017. The paperback edition will be published in August 2017.
Information about John Gribbin:
John Gribbin was born in 1946 in Maidstone, Kent. He studied physics at the University of Sussex and went on to complete an MSc in astronomy at the same University before moving to the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge, to work for his PhD.
After working for the journal Nature and New Scientist, and three years with the Science Policy Research Unit at Sussex University, he has concentrated chiefly on writing books. These include In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat, In Search of the Big Bang, and In Search of the Multiverse.
He has also written and presented several series of critically acclaimed radio programmes on scientific topics for the BBC (including QUANTUM, for Radio Four), and has acted as consultant on several TV documentaries, as well as contributing to TV programmes for the Open University and the Discovery channel.
But he really wanted to be a successful science fiction writer, and has achieved that ambition with books such as Timeswitch and The Alice Encounter, and stories in publications such as Interzone and Analog. But as John Lennon’s Aunt Mimi so nearly said “Sf is all very well, John, but it won’t pay the rent”. Another thing that doesn’t pay the rent is his songwriting, mostly for various spinoffs of the Bonzo Dog Band.
John is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, as well as being a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical and Royal Meteorological Societies.
Links:
John Gribbin’s Science blog
Information about Don't Look Back:
John Gribbin, widely regarded as one of the best science writers of the 20th century, has also, unsurprisingly, been writing science fiction for many years. While his novels are well-known, his short stories are perhaps less so. He has also written under pseudonyms. Here, for the first time, is the definitive collection of John’s short stories. Many were originally published in Analog and other magazines. Some were the seeds of subsequent novels. As well as 23 Science Fiction short stories, three of which John wrote with his son Ben, this collection includes two Science Fact essays on subjects beloved of science fiction authors and readers. In one essay, John provides scientifically accurate DIY instructions for creating a time machine; and in the other, he argues that the Moon is, in fact, a Babel Fish!
The stories, many written at a time when issues such as climate change were taken less seriously, now seem very relevant again in an age of dubious politicians. What underpins all of them, of course, is a grounding in solid science. But they are also laced with a dry and subtle wit, which will not come as a surprise to anyone who has ever met John at a science fiction convention or elsewhere. He is, however, not averse to a good pun, as evidenced by a song he co-wrote for the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band: The Holey Cheeses of Nazareth.
Despite the exhortation of this collection’s title, this is a perfect opportunity to look back at John’s short stories. If you’ve never read any of his fiction before, now you have the chance to acquaint yourself with a body of work that, while being very much of its time, is certainly not in any way out of date.
A REVIEW OF JOHN GRIBBIN'S DON'T LOOK BACK
Read more: A review of John Gribbin's Don't Look Back
A review of Kieran Shea's Off Rock
- Written by Seregil of Rhiminee
- Category: Reviews
Kieran Shea's Off Rock was published by Titan Books in April 2017.
Information about Kieran Shea:
Kieran Shea is the author of the Koko series of science-fiction adventures: Koko Takes a Holiday and Koko the Mighty. He has been nominated for the Story South's Million Writers Award twice. Follow him on Twitter @BlackIrishBlarn.
Information about Off Rock:
In the year 2778, Jimmy Vik is feeling dissatisfied.
After busting his ass for assorted interstellar mining outfits for close to two decades, downsizing is in the wind, his ex-girlfriend/supervisor is climbing up his back, and daily Jimmy wonders if he’s played his last good hand.
So when Jimmy stumbles upon a significant gold pocket during a routine procedure on Kardashev 7-A, he believes his luck may have changed - larcenously so. But smuggling the gold “off rock” won’t be easy.
To do it, Jimmy will have to contend with a wily criminal partner, a gorgeous covert assassin, the suspicions of his ex, and the less than honorable intentions of an encroaching, rival mining company. As the clock ticks down, treachery and betrayal loom, the body count rises, and soon Jimmy has no idea who to trust.
Part screwball comedy, part heist novel, and part homage to B-cinema sci-fi... Off Rock is a hilarious, lightning-fast adventure of the most entertaining and irreverent kind.
A REVIEW OF KIERAN SHEA'S OFF ROCK
Read more: A review of Kieran Shea's Off Rock
A review of G.S. Denning's Warlock Holmes: The Hell-hound of the Baskervilles
- Written by Seregil of Rhiminee
- Category: Reviews
G.S. Denning's Warlock Holmes: The Hell-hound of the Baskervilles was published by Titan Books in May 2017.
Information about G.S. Denning:
G.S. Denning was born in Seattle, Washington. He has published articles for games company Wizards of the Coast, worked as an editor, written a video-game script for Nintendo, and written and performed shows at the Epcot Center, Walt Disney World. With a background in improv, Gabe has performed with Ryan Stiles and Wayne Brady, and he currently has a play running in Seattle. He now lives in Las Vegas with his wife and two children.
Click here to visit his official website.
Information about Warlock Holmes: The Hell-hound of the Baskervilles:
The game's afoot once more as Holmes and Watson face off against Moriarty's gang, the Pinkertons, flesh-eating horses, a parliament of imps, boredom, Surrey, a disappointing butler demon, a succubus, a wicked lord, an overly-Canadian lord, a tricycle-fight to the death and the dreaded Pumpcrow. Oh, and a hell-hound, one assumes.
A REVIEW OF G.S. DENNING'S WARLOCK HOLMES: THE HELL-HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES
Read more: A review of G.S. Denning's Warlock Holmes: The Hell-hound of the Baskervilles
An interview with Yoon Ha Lee
- Written by Seregil of Rhiminee
- Category: Interviews
Risingshadow has had the honour of interviewing Yoon Ha Lee about Raven Stratagem (Solaris Books, June 2017), which is the sequel to Ninefox Gambit (Solaris Books, June 2016).
Information about Yoon Ha Lee:
Yoon Ha Lee is a writer from Houston, Texas, whose work has appeared in Clarkesworld, Lightspeed and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. He has published over forty short stories, and his critically acclaimed collection Conservation of Shadows was released in 2013. He lives in Louisiana with his family and an extremely lazy cat, and has not yet been eaten by gators.
Click here to visit his official website.
Links:
Ninefox Gambit:
Amazon UK | Amazon US | www.rebellionstore.com/products/ninefox_gambit
Raven Stratagem:
Amazon UK | Amazon US | www.rebellionstore.com/products/raven_stratagem
Publisher:
www.rebellionpublishing.co.uk
facebook.com/rebellionpublishing
@rebellionpub
AN INTERVIEW WITH YOON HA LEE
Read more: An interview with Yoon Ha Lee
GUEST POST by Yoon Ha Lee: Generals in Space?
- Written by Seregil of Rhiminee
- Category: Guest Post
Risingshadow has the honour of publishing a guest post by Yoon Ha Lee, who is the author of Ninefox Gambit (Solaris Books, June 2016) and Raven Stratagem (Solaris Books, June 2017).
Information about Yoon Ha Lee:
Yoon Ha Lee is a writer from Houston, Texas, whose work has appeared in Clarkesworld, Lightspeed and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. He has published over forty short stories, and his critically acclaimed collection Conservation of Shadows was released in 2013. He lives in Louisiana with his family and an extremely lazy cat, and has not yet been eaten by gators.
Click here to visit his official website.
Information about Raven Stratagem:
War. Heresy. Madness.
Shuos Jedao is unleashed. The long-dead general, preserved with exotic technologies and resurrected by the hexarchate to put down a heretical insurrection, has possessed the body of gifted young captain Kel Cheris.
Now, General Kel Khiruev’s fleet, racing to the Severed March to stop a fresh incursion by the enemy Hafn, has fallen under Jedao’s sway. Only Khiruev’s aide, Lieutenant Colonel Kel Brezan, appears able to shake off the influence of the brilliant but psychotic Jedao.
The rogue general seems intent on defending the hexarchate, but can Khiruev - or Brezan - trust him? For that matter, can they trust Kel Command, or will their own rulers wipe out the whole swarm to destroy one man?
Links
www.solarisbooks.com/post/1830
www.rebellionpublishing.co.uk
facebook.com/rebellionpublishing
@rebellionpub
GUEST POST by Yoon Ha Lee: Generals in Space?
Read more: GUEST POST by Yoon Ha Lee: Generals in Space?