When was the last time you read something out loud, more than just a few words? A poem, a story, even just a page or two from a book. For those without children at home or in the classroom, the answer could well be quite a long time ago. As adults we tend not to do a lot of reading out loud, unless we work as actors, teachers or news reporters. Once we finish our education and are no longer forced to partake in read-throughs of Shakespeare or classic literature, we tend to confine our reading to the insides of our own heads. Personally, I think that’s a shame.
Japanese Poems Steal Brains – Haiku Salut
For a band who describe themselves as “Baroque-pop-folktronic-neo-classical-something-or-other”, releasing a book of haiku probably isn’t too much of a stretch, creatively. Especially when that band is Haiku Salut, the Derbyshire three-piece who tour their aforementioned mixture of musical styles around the UK in an old postal van, playing songs like ‘Sounds like there’s a Pacman crunching away at your heart’ to an ever-growing fanbase. Illustrated by Katrine Brosnan, ‘Japanese poems steal brains’ is a collection of 100 haiku written by the band whilst on tour over the last three years.
Game of Thrones? No thanks…
Yesterday I wrote a blog inspired by the upcoming release of books by Ben Aaronovitch and Patrick Rothfuss, in which I talked about the problem with books in series, and how I often have to keep re-reading them to remember what happened each time a new book is released. I briefly mentioned George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series, and I thought I ought to expand upon the mention I made. So the thing is, I have to admit it…I’ve not read any of them. Not one. Or watched the TV show. I know, I know…call myself a fantasy fan! I can hear the sharpening of knives from the GoT fanboys already, but before anyone ‘accidentally’ bumps me off like one of George’s characters, let me explain…
Death and Defiance – Black Library Anthology
As Black Library’s Horus Heresy series rolls inexorably onwards, reaching thirty novels with the release this year of The Damnation of Pythos, the authors’ output seems matched only by the appetite of the fans for new stories. The latest release in the series is Death and Defiance, a collection of five short stories from Nick Kyme, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Guy Haley, Andy Smillie and James Swallow. It’s a novella-sized collection, of a similar length to Sedition’s Gate, but unlike that and The Imperial Truth, which were limited-edition event-only releases, this is in the same ‘Collector’s Edition’ hardback as the novels are now initially released in.
Reading Series, or I Can’t Remember What Happened in the Last One…
As a fan of science fiction and fantasy I’m no stranger to the series; from the 40 books of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld to the 14-strong Wheel of Time saga, from Black Library’s ever-growing Horus Heresy series to Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series, I’ve read and enjoyed a great many books that live within wider ranges. I only really draw the line at Michael Moorcock (I read most, if not all of the Elric series then baulked at the dozens upon dozens of linked books) and George R.R. Martin (I know, I know. I have my reasons…).
A Slip of the Keyboard – Terry Pratchett
According to Neil Gaiman’s foreword, behind the ‘jolly old elf’ veneer that many people see from meeting him at signings, conventions or interviews, Terry Pratchett is in fact filled with and driven by fury. Fury at injustices from the casual disinterest of unimpressed teachers to the baffling legal structure that doesn’t let a terminally ill patient choose the time and place of their death. When you look at his work in this light, you realise that Gaiman has a point. A Slip of the Keyboard collects together essays, articles and speech notes from across Pratchett’s whole career, from wet behind the ears journalist to Knight of the Realm, and while the topics vary wildly it’s a collection that showcases pretty much everything that makes him such a wonderful and well-loved writer.
Echoes of War – a Space Marine audio drama collection
As the Echoes of War fade (see what I did there?!), the Space Marines hang up their armour and the dreadnoughts are shuffled back into their long slumbers, it feels worth recapping on a week of excellent audio dramas from Black Library. For me, this collection came at a perfect time; the week before I had been digging around on my PC and found Hunter’s Moon and Thief of Revelations, neither of which I had previously listened to. Having devoured those in short order, it was with a sense of delightful serendipity that I saw Echoes of War listed on the Black Library website, and I didn’t need much persuading to get involved.
Fearsome Magics – edited by Jonathan Strahan
Magic can mean a great many things, and take endless forms; from legerdemain to magic rings, from hidden worlds to hiding in plain sight, a system of magic is a stock tool for many a writer, fantasy or otherwise. In Fearsome Magics, the latest Solaris Book of Fantasy, Jonathan Strahan collects together stories from fourteen authors, each dealing with magic in their own way. Given free reign to incorporate the theme into their stories however they wish, the authors involved here have contributed tales ranging right across the spectrum of styles and settings, showcasing breathtaking variety in the resulting collection.
True Name – David Annandale (audio drama)
The fifth and final audio drama of Black Library’s Echoes of War collection, David Annandale’s True Name brings us back to the forces of good, in this case the Grey Knights of Titan. Picking up immediately after the events of Maledictus, Annandale’s Sanctus Reach novella, we follow Epistolary Gared as he struggles against an insidious psychic attack from the daemon Ku’gath Plaguefather. Caught between the daemon and an inbound ork fleet, still bloodied and reeling from their last battle, the Grey Knights face a challenge that will test both their strength and their faith.
Ahriman: The First Prince – John French (audio drama)
Originally released as part of Black Library’s Echoes of War collection, John French’s The First Prince is part of the wider Ahriman series and has since been released in prose as well. Running to 45 minutes, it’s set some time after the events of the novel Ahriman: Exile, and like most of the other shorter stories within that arc it’s not told from the perspective of Ahriman himself. Instead it focuses on Ctesias, another Thousand Sons sorcerer, who’s balanced precariously on death’s threshold. An unwise choice in the past has led him to a dangerous place, but Ahriman is determined not to see him fall.