26
Aug
Sirantha Jax is about to learn that breaking the Corp’s hold on the world was just the beginning of her troubles. Sure she’s gotten justice for the death of her lover and crew, and exposed the crash that the Corp arranged and tried to pin on her to the Conglomerate. But now a powerful piece of the world government system is missing and visionaries and bullies from all over are trying to take up the slack.
So when the Conglomerate offers to make her an ambassador, Jax finds herself not only in need of the job, but also in a unique position to be one of the first Conglomerate citizens to make it to the home world of a notorious race of insect-like beings. If only she can get past the space pirates, civil wars, the Syndicate and her own mother first.
Like Grimspace before it, Wanderlust is more than just a story about a girl who navigates space ships through the unfathomable depths of grimspace (something akin to wormholes and subspace pathways combined). This story is about Jax, shattered spirit and failing body, in the middle of a complete life upheaval trying to figure out which pieces fit, which don’t and what to do with her new sense of responsibility and loyalty. It’s hard not to be paranoid and hopeless when everyone seems to either want to kill you or kill for you, when even your body is betraying you and life seems unwilling to give you the time to heal. Aguirre takes readers there, to a flashy science fiction world with a dark side where even the planetary civil wars, human-eating aliens and missions to save the world fade under the compelling clutches of the small band of characters that have come together under enormous pressure and against monstrous odds just to do what they think is right.
Wanderlust is an exciting new tale in the science fiction genre which captures the humanity in even the most odd of aliens and takes the reader for a nonstop action ride that’s hard to put down.
25
Aug
As a promo for the release of Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland St. Martins is giving away an exclusive free prequel story to the novel. You have to sign up for their newsletter, but if this promo sounds like your thing here’s a chance to try before you buy:
Elizabeth Phoenix once used her unique skills as a psychic to help in the Milwaukee Police Department’s fight against injustice. But when Liz’s foster mother is found viciously murdered—and Liz is discovered unconscious at the scene—her only memory of the crime comes in the form of terrifying dreams…of creatures more horrific than anything Liz has seen in real life. What do these visions mean? And what in the world do they have to do with her former lover, Jimmy Sanducci?
While the police question Jimmy in the murder, Jimmy opens Liz’s eyes to a supernatural war that has raged since the dawn of time in which innocent people are hunted by malevolent beings disguised as humans. Only a chosen few have the ability to fight their evil, and Jimmy believes Liz is among them. Now, with her senses heightened, new feelings are rising within Liz—ones that re-ignite her dangerous attraction to Jimmy. But Jimmy has a secret that will rock Liz to her core…and put the survival of the human race in peril.
Description taken from Amazon.com
August 4, 2008
“Just an Old Man” by Maurice Broaddus is a moody, creepy tale of a man, lost in memories and rage, who sits in a mall crowd watching. Though it’s slightly disappointing that certain ideas raised are never really explained it does add to the feel of anonymity and plainness that makes the tale work so very well.
Also short and packed with a punch “House Cleaning” by Wrath James White is a revenge story, one done very well. Invoking classic stories, such as Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”, it manages to show both the imbalance of the main character and the fury in an increasingly creepy way.
August 10, 2008
George Mann’s “The Nature of Blood” is almost a monster tale, an unexpected find under the Apex label. It briefly leads the reader on, bringing to mind two of the three big movie monsters, then veers out into territory of its own. In the end this is a small story, a microcosm of science fiction with limited effect on the world and a lead character that seems almost blank, despite being the victim of a very special sort of identity theft.
August 17, 2008
“Through Thy Bounty” by Lucy. A. Snyder is horror from word one, opening with a child on a butcher block, just waiting to be prepared for the fiendish Jagaren, a race of aliens who have taken over Earth and enslaved or killed much of the human race. Moody, disturbing, but also beautiful, it shouldn’t be missed.
As part of a cross promotion campaign with Permuted Press Apex also hosted “The Finger” by Matt Hults in this issue. This story capitalizes on the aspect of zombies that I worst fear–the fact that you can chop them to bits and the bits will still come after you. In a dark, almost humorous tale of a con gone wrong Hults manages to turn the stomach and the lips with a skewed version of zombie and redneck horror.
If you’re not reading Apex you’re missing out on some fantastic (and free) speculative fiction.
I know I’m behind on this one, but while looking for a digital copy of the cover for issue 5 I discovered a link to the taster issue put out after issue 3 came out. If you’ve been wanting a look at Murky Depths before buying click the cover below (opens a pdf).
19
Aug
I found The Conquerer Worms disappointing so it took me a while to pick up Dark Hollow by Brian Keene. And once again I’m disappointed, but this time it’s because I put it off reading this book for so long.
Dark Hollow is the tale of a small town in Pennsylvania, once a farming community, now home to Adam, a midlist mystery writer, his wife and their dog. But their town is also home to something else, an other-worldly creature, summoned long ago and finally awakened again with the first day of spring.
Dark Hollow is a very compelling tale. Sure there’s a monster in woods, and some creepy carnivorous demon trees, but the real horror is in the effect the events of the story have on the characters, particularly Adam and his wife. Keene is able to drive a man’s loyalty into very dangerous places, pitting his own nature against his ideals. The conflict made Dark Hollow hard to put down and held up through the very last line.
It’s easily my favorite Keene work so far. While it counts as horror, there’s less gore and violence and far more dread and conflict, which is exactly why Keene seems ready to cross the line into a position rare for a horror author–mainstream acceptance.
Fans of Wrath James White and Maurice Broaddus will find exactly what they’re looking for in this collaboration, Orgy of Souls. While Samuel, a minister dying of AIDS, struggles to cope with God’s chosen path for him, his brother, Samson, useless in most things other than being pretty and being loyal to Samuel, decides to take fate into his own hands and attempt to bargain directly with God…
14
Aug
Scarecrow, the short story that earned me my first ever print credit, is now available in an amazing audio form at Pseudopod.org.
I’m listening to it right now and I have chills.
14
Aug