The OF Blog: St. Patrick's Day Book Porn

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

St. Patrick's Day Book Porn


Although there's nothing really "green" about these covers, I thought today (tonight?) would be a good time to show the latest arrivals. Four review copies and one purchase this time, with more likely arriving later in the week. At least four and possibly all five of these books will be read over the next few weeks. Now to explore the real treasure at the end of the ra...err, something:

Left: Mark Charan Newton, Nights of Villjamur (I've been curious about this book for several months now, even though for the moment it will be UK-only. I've come to know Mark through his other job as a publicist for Solaris and his love of SF literature is really deep and since we share many of the same favorites, I'm very piqued to know how his influences may appear in this opener to a secondary-world trilogy. Will read/review in a couple of weeks, as I'm trying to reserve this for one of my spring break reads); Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast (second volume in the series. This is a replacement copy and while I couldn't get a hardcover first edition - not paying $200 - I probably will have read and reviewed this tradeback 2007 edition by the weekend).



Left: Andrew Fox, The Good Humor Man (this book from Tachyon seems so out there that I have to read to find out what Elvis's preserved body fat could mean in this tale. Will read this in a week or two); Nick Gevers and Jay Lake (eds.), Other Earths (original anthology of alt-history stories from several of my favorite authors, including Gene Wolfe, Jeff VanderMeer, and Theodora Goss, among others. Will read/likely review in the very near future.); John Zakour and Lawrence Ganem, Ballistic Babes (apparent omnibus of two short novels by Zakour and Ganem. Don't know much about this one and might wait a while before investigating further).

So...any of these strike your fancy?

4 comments:

Jeff C said...

I'm looking forward to NoV, too. Mark had also helped put me in touch with someone to get a copy. And, since I had a contact now, I asked for 3 other UK specific books. I'm lookin forward to all of them. NoV will be a little different for me, so I'm looking forward to my reaction. Sounds like a book you will like, at least from the reviews I've read so far.

RobB said...

Nights of Villjamur is probably the most intriguing to me - it seems to be universally praised.

I thought Other Earths was "just-another-themed-DAW-anthology" but then I saw the contributors when my copy arrived. Wow.

Andrew Fox wrote a couple of enjoyable humorous Vampire novels a few years back Fat White Vampire Blues and Bride of the Fat White Vampire and I thought he disappeared. Glad to see a new book from him.

Liviu said...

Just finished NoV and put up mini-reviews on sffworld/goodreads as well as do the FBC full review to be posted later and I loved it a lot.

I had high expectations and they were exceeded; the book is not particularly dark or explicit, while it's very inventive and with great characters.

The one complaint is that it ends with a big To Be Continued sign, though not on a cliffhanger

Larry Nolen said...

Yeah, I've been interested in Mark's book for several months now, ever since I learned about its impending publication. Plan on starting it in earnest in a little over a week, when I'll have 9 days off work for spring break.

Rob,

I had the same reaction, but I've been waiting for this one for a couple of month, ever since Jeff blogged about it on his website. Cool to hear that Fox has a good rep, as the blurb does seem to be indicative of a change-of-pace sort of book that I occasionally need.

Liviu,

Looking forward to that review. And if that's the one complaint you have, I guess Mark will be happy while he starts his Mr. T/RuPaul-laden novel ;)

 
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