Recent and forthcoming books

 

Al Ewing – Pax Omega (A Pax Britannia Book) Abaddon £7.99

Aidan Harte – Irenicon (Book 1 of The Wave Trilogy) Jo Fletcher Books £18.99

Stephen King – The Wind Through the Keyhole (A Dark Tower Novel) Hodder £19.99

David Logan – Half-Sick of Shadows (joint winner of the Terry Pratchett Prize) Doubleday £14.99

Michael Logan – Apocalypse Cow (joint winner of the Terry Pratchett Prize) Doubleday £14.99

R S Russell – Dead Rules (“She loved her boyfriend to death”) Quercus £6.99

Scott Sigler – Nocturnal (“Think twice before you go out tonight”) Hodder £12.99

The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King

Volume 4.5 of Stephen King’s Dark Tower sequence is published in April by Hodder & Stoughton (£19.99).

In his introduction, King numbers it volume four-and-a-half due to it’s position in the Gunslinger’s saga. The Wind Through the Keyhole follows the adventures of Roland Deschain and his band of companions – the ka-tet – as they continue their search for the Dark Tower. The Wind Through the Keyhole is “a story within a story, within yet another. For as Roland is telling his companions the story about himself when he was young, the young Roland is telling another boy a story, too...”

This edition includes some lovely illustrations by Jae Lee. I wish more publishers would similarly embellish their publications.

Half-Sick of Shadows by David Logan

There were two joint winners of the Terry Pratchett “Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now Prize”: Apocalypse Cow and by Michael Logan and Half-Sick of Shadows by David Logan (they are not related, we are assured).

Half-Sick of Shadows is published by Doubleday in May at £14.99. David Logan comes from Ireland, has a BA in English Literature and Language, and has run his own magazine.

“On the eve of Granny Hazel’s burial in the back garden, a stranger in his time machine – one that bears an uncanny resemblance to a Morris Minor – visits five year-old Edward with a strange request… Time waits for no man, and yet it came back for Edward.”

Apocalypse Cow by Michael Logan

Yes, it’s true: Apocalypse Cow is the title of Michael Logan’s new novel (due in May from Doubleday, £14.99). It is the joint winner of the Terry Pratchett “Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now Prize”. Pratchett said: “Apocalypse Cow made me snort with laughter.”

The writer is a journalist who has worked in Bosnia, Tajikstan, Kenya, Sudan and Somalia. Apocalypse Cow is his first novel.

“When scientists with warped imaginations accidentally unleash and experimental bioweapon that transforms Britain’s animals into sneezing, bloodthirsty zombies with a penchant for pre-dinner sex with their victims, three misfits become the unlikely hope for salvation…Forget the cud, they want blood.”

Supernatural Tales 21

Supernatural Tales 21 – the summer 2012 issue – is now available. This smart-looking chapbook, edited by David Longhorn, contains eight stories including two by Steve Rasnic Tem and Steve Duffy.  For more details, visit their website.

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

Charlaine Harris' new Sookie Stackhouse novel, Dead Reckoning, is out on Gollancz (£7.99).

"Sookie has a knack for being in trouble's way, not least when she witnesses the firebombing of Merlotte's. the bar where she works. Since Sam Merlotte is known to be a shape shifter, suspicion falls on the anti-shifters. But Sookie suspects otherwise. Before she can investigate, something else -- something even more dangerous -- comes up."

Blackout by Connie Willis

"Oxford in 2060, and Mr Dunworthy's time travel lab is a chaotic place, sending scores of historians to the Crusades, to Rome, and to World War II...

When Michael, Merope and Polly reach their destinations they discover that no amount of study could have prepared them for the reality of daily life in World War II. It's not just the incessant air raids, the blackouts and frightful rations; the once-reliable mechanics of time travel are showing significant glitches ... and everything is spiralling out of control."

Blackout by Connie Willis is out soon on Gollancz for £8.99. Her companion volume All Clear will also see publication by Gollancz.

The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King

Coming in April 2012: The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King -- A Dark Tower Novel -- published by Hodder & Stoughton (£19.99).  It will also be available as an eBook and an audio-book, read by the author.

"Roland Deschain, Mid-World's last gunslinger and his small band of misfit warriors have crossed the desert following the Path of the Beam, searching for the Dark Tower. Now they have reached a run-down battered ferry. Old Bix, the ancient Ferryman, hasn't had customers for longer than he can remember...

The Wind Through the Keyhole is a story within a story within yet another. For as Roland is telling the story about himself when he was younger, the young Roland in his tale is telling another..."

The Paladin Mandates - revised edition

The updated edition of Mike Chinn's The Paladin Mandates is now available as an eBook – specifically as a Kindle book viaAmazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.

Mixing generous dollops of The Scorpion, The Shadow and Dominic Fortune, with a fascination for old airplanes, a taste for '30s detective fiction ... enter Damian Paladin, ghost hunter, supernatural sleuth. This revised edition features seven Paladin stories including a brand new tale, “There’ll be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight”.

The Mammoth Book of Body Horror

In his introduction to The Mammoth Book of Body Horror (edited by Paul Kane & Marie O’Regan [Robinson £7.99]), Stuart Gordon reminds us that “Body Horror” is not about the dead, it’s about your body malfunctioning, becoming different. Your body rebels against itself. See this in movies such as Shivers, The Human Centipede and The Fly.

But we’re in Literature Land here. We’re dealing with prose, short stories. The MBO Body Horror collects 25 tales by folk ranging from Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe and H P Lovecraft through to Clive Barker, Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, Neil Gaiman, Nancy A Collins, Brian Lumley and Michael Marshall Smith (and more).

It does as it says on the cover: “25 horrific tales of transformation, mutation and contagion.”