Monday, May 05, 2014

The View From Monday - May 5, 2014


Happy 1st Monday in May. I hope everyone had a great weekend between Free Comic Book Day and Star Wars Day.


Over the weekend I finished reading The Forever Watch by David Ramirez. I have mixed feelings about this novel. Some of the writing and the basic story were very good, but the novel dragged and I spent too much time waiting for the other shoe and other shoe and other shoe, etc. to drop. I knew that there would be a big reveal at some point after the smaller reveals. It was almost what I suspected. The novel is set on an interstellar ship named the Noah, which is carrying the last of humanity to a new home centuries away. Cue music - all is not what is seems. The main character Hana Dempsey is a City Planner.  She is somewhat engaging in the beginning of the book and I did come to like her at the end, but she annoyed me almost as much as I liked her. Her friend and then boyfriend Barren is a terrific character who I wish had gotten a bit more to say in the novel. He's really the catalyst for a lot of what Hana does. I think I would have enjoyed the novel more if it got to where it was going a bit faster. There were so many ideas presented in the novel that, for me, it got itself tangled up a bit. Having said that I'm glad I read The Forever Watch and will definitely pick up Ramirez's next novel.




Now on to this week's releases. It's a big release week and you may find a PDF of the releases by clicking here to open and print a PDF from Google Drive.

There are five debuts this week:

Path of the Dead (Hungry Ghosts 1) by Timothy Baker;

American Craftsmen by Tom Doyle;

The Bees by Laline Paull;

Gemsigns (Revolution 1) by Stephanie Saulter;

and

Magnificent Vibration by Rick Springfield.


From formerly featured Debut Author Challenge Authors:

Sworn in Steel (Tale of the Kin 2) Douglas Hulick;

The Enceladus Crisis (Daedalus 2) by Michael J. Martinez;

The Crimson Campaign (Powder Mage 2) by Brian McClellan;

A Tiger's Tale (Call of the Wilde Mystery 2) Laura Morrigan;

The Silk Map (Gaunt and Bone 2) by Chris Willrich;

and

Blind Faith (Sin Brothers 3) by Rebecca Zanetti.




May 5, 2014
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
Path of the Dead (D) Timothy Baker DF - Hungry Ghosts 1



May 6, 2014
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
Deadly Shores Taylor Anderson SF - Destroyermen 9
Storm Surge (h2mm) Taylor Anderson SF - Destroyermen 8
Grendel's Curse Alex Archer UF - Rogue Angel 48
Jupiter War (h2tp) Neal Asher SF - Owner Trilogy 3
Polity Agent (h2tp) Neal Asher SF - Agent Cormac 4
End Program James Axler (Rik Hoskin) SF - Deathlands 116
Necropolis James Axler (Douglas P. Wojtowicz) SF - Outlanders 69
Doctor Who: The Wheel of Ice (h2tp) Stephen Baxter SF - Doctor Who
The Goodbye Witch Heather Blake PCM - Wishcraft Mystery 4
Mirror Sight Kristen Britain F - Green Rider 5
Steadfast Jack Campbell SF - The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier 4
The Kraken King Part IV: The Kraken King and the Inevitable Abduction (e) Meljean Brook SPR - Iron Seas
Omega Days John L. Campbell PA/Dys/Z
Treasure Planet Hal Colebatch
Jessica Q. Fox
SF - Man-Kzin Wars
Sung in Blood (ri) Glen Cook F
The Unforgiven (e) Alyssa Day PNR - League of the Black Swan 2
Klingon Art of War Keith R. A. DeCandido SF - Star Trek
The Three Emperors William Dietrich HistTh/F - Ethan Gage 7
American Craftsmen (D) Tom Doyle UF
The Sea Without a Shore David Drake SF - RCN / Lt. Leary 10
The Adversary (h2mm) Erin M. Evans F - Forgotten Realms: Sundering 3
The Oversight Charlie Fletcher UF - Oversight Trilogy 1
Slightly Spellbound Kimberly Frost PNR - Southern Witch 4
Vampire's Thirst Cynthia Garner SFR - Awakening 2
People of the Morning Star W. Michael Gear
Kathleen O'Neal Gear
HistF - North America’s Forgotten Past 21
End of Days (h2tp) Robert Gleason Th/P
War Crimes Christie Golden F - World of Warcraft
Midnight Crossroad Charlene Harris UF - Midnight, Texas 1
Witches in Red Barb Hendee F - Mist-Torn Witches 2
Writers of the Future Volume 30
SF/F - Anthology
Mammals James Robert Herndon F
The Secret Woman (ri) Victoria Holt Go
SynBio Leslie Horvitz MedTh
Sworn in Steel Douglas Hulick F - Tale of the Kin 2
The Guild Jean Johnson FR - Guardians of Destiny 3
Children of Fire (h2tp) Drew Karpyshyn F - Chaos Born Trilogy 1
Zombie, Indiana: A Novel Scott Kenemore H/Z - Zombie 3
Alien Collective Gini Koch UF/SF - Katherine “Kitty” Katt 9
Starship Grifters Robert Kroese SF
Crucible of Fire, The Dark Need, The Rising Dead Mel Odom
Stant Litore
Stella Green
Lee Goldberg
William Rabkin
H - The Dead Man 7
The Wrath of the Just Manel Loureiro Dys - Apocalypse Z 3
The Enceladus Crisis Michael J. Martinez SF - Daedalus 2
The Crimson Campaign Brian McClellan F - Powder Mage Trilogy 2
Sparrow Hill Road Seanan McGuire UF - Ghost Stories 1
Close Reach (e) Jonathan Moore Th/H
A Tiger's Tale Laura Morrigan PCM -Call of the Wilde Mystery 2
The Time Traveler's Wife (ri) Audrey Niffenegger TT/R
Secret of the Stars Andre Norton SF - Omnibus
The Bees (D - US) Laline Paull F/Dys
The Mothers of Voorhisville: A Tor.Com Original (e) Mary Rickert F
Gemsigns (D - US) Stephanie Saulter SF - Revolution 1
Fire Kin M. J. Scott F - Half-Life City 4
The Bone Season (h2tp) Samantha Shannon F - Bone Season 1
Science Fiction: 101: Exploring the Craft of Science Fiction Robert K. Silverberg SF - History and Criticism
The Whispering Muse (h2tp) Sjón F
Magnificent Vibration (D -Fiction) Rick Springfield UF
Dragon Princess S. Andrew Swann F
Her Perfect Mate Paige Tyler PNR/Th - X-Ops 1
Indistinguishable from Magic Catherynne Valente F
Authority Jeff VanderMeer SF/Th - Southern Reach Trilogy 2
Possession (h2mm) J.R. Ward PNR - Fallen Angels 5
Freehold (Signed Limited Edition) Michael Z. Williamson SF - Freehold 1
The Silk Map Chris Willrich F - Gaunt and Bone 2
Scars (h2tp) Chris Wraight F - Horus Heresy
Blind Faith (e) Rebecca Zanetti SFR - Sins Brothers 3



May 7, 2014
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
Magic City: Recent Spells Paula Guran (ed) F - Anthology
The Madonna of the Abattoir: A Tor.Com Original (e) Anne M. Pillsworth F
Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome: A Tor.Com Original (e) John Scalzi SF



May 8, 2014
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
The Myth of Persephone in Girls' Fantasy Literature (h2tp) Holly Blackford History and Criticism
Science Fiction: A Guide for the Perplexed Sherryl Vint SF - History and Criticism


D - Debut
e - eBook
ed - Editor
h2tp - Hardcover to Trade Paperback
h2mm - Hardcover to Mass Market Paperback
ri - reissue or reprint


DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FR - Fantasy Romance
Go - Gothic
H - Horror
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HistTh - Historical Thriller
MedTh - Medical Thriller
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PCM - Paranormal Cozy Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
R - Romance
SF - Science Fiction
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
SP - Steampunk
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy
Z - Zombie


2 comments:

  1. I've been seeing reviews for Gemsigns just about everywhere for ages now, and it's one that I want to read. I wonder if I'll have enough spare money in my paycheque this Friday so that I can go out and buy myself a copy. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. We're going to have a review of the novel up tomorrow and an interview with Stephanie on the 7th. (Had the interview date wrong!)

    ReplyDelete