Release Date: 30/05/13
Publisher: Coronet Books
SYNOPSIS:
A young girl called Tozi stands at the bottom of a pyramid, waiting to be led to the top where her heart will be cut out...Pepillo, a Spanish orphan who serves a sadistic Dominican friar, is aboard the Spanish fleet as it sails towards Mexico...This is the epic story of the clash of two empires, two armies and two gods of war. Five hundred desperate adventurers are about to pit themselves against the most brutal armies of the ancient Americas, armies hundreds of thousands strong. This is a war of gods and men. Dark powers that work behind the scenes of history show their hand as the prophecy of the return of Quetzalcoatl is fulfilled with the arrival of Cortes. The Aztec ruler Moctezuma fights to maintain the demands of the war god Huitzilopochtli for human sacrifice. The Spanish Inquisition is planning an even greater blood-letting. Caught up in the headlong collision between two gods of war are Tozi, Pepillo and the beautiful sex slave Malinal whose hatred of Moctezuma runs so deep she will sell out her own land and people to destroy him.
REVIEW:
To be honest I was quite looking forward to this book as I was wondering what the author would do when he moved from factual titles through to the fiction genre and whilst I loved certain aspects of this such as Graham’s research to try and add authenticity, I did feel that he didn’t quite bring the reader into the story with the characters.
For me they felt a little flat, that there was no real connection for me as a reader and to be honest without that, I always find it hard to get to grips with a story. Don’t get me wrong the idea was solid, the pace acceptable but all round this sadly wasn’t a book that will draw me in to more of Graham’s fiction but that said I will try again to see if the next story improves.
Release Date: 11/10/12
SYNOPSIS:
A modern retelling of the Charles Dicken's classic A Christmas Carol, by the author who inspired the film The Day After Tomorrow.George Moore is a modern day Scrooge, a futures trader who drives his staff hard, and won't let his assistant go home to look after her autistic son on Christmas Eve.Like Scrooge he is mean with money, but he is also mean with his sympathies and his time. He has to swerve to avoid putting money in a charity box and also crosses the road to avoid a family he thinks are probably gypsies on his way to dinner at a cheap cafeteria. An old man sitting nearby looks as if he might be looking for the warmth of some human contact. George refuses to meet his eye and hurries home.Various slightly odd, even disconcerting things happen. He encounters a nun who looks like an elderly child. He sees a Santa in the window of a department store, who seems to emerge from his Grotto, look confused, and is then surrounded by small elf-like figures who drag him back behind the curtains. Finally, when he arrives back in his apartment the old man from the cafeteria suddenly appears and reveals himself as George's old mentor in trading and in greed. Bill Hill reveals that he is dead and that he has come to give George a warning. He warns George he will have three visitors that night, and then in a flash he disappears.So it comes about that, as Bill Hill said, George receives three visitors that Christmas Eve, just as Scrooge was visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. But these are not the ghosties and sprites that frightened Dickens's readers. George's visitors are more ambiguous, more frightening to a modern sensibility. They are visitors that will give even today's reader goose bumps.They take George on an emotional journey that like Scrooge's journey - and the journey in another Christmas story, It's a Wonderful Life - teaches him the true value of Christmas, the true meaning of life and finally ...how to love. This new classic is both very scary and very Christmassy.
REVIEW:
At this time of year, thoughts always turn to old classics that have become entrenched with the memories of Christmas past as well as having earned a place in your heart for their messages. Here in this book by Whitley Strieber Dicken’s epic Christmas Carol is brought up to date with the added bonus of humour. Its definitely quirky, something to make you think and when added to an authorly style that feels like that warm mug of mulled wine in your hand, is a book that I was more than happy to spend time with. Great stuff all round.
Release Date: 04/08/11
SYNOPSIS:
This is the story of a bricklayer. A master of his craft, he keeps its sacred teachings secret. For him a house is the dwelling place of a soul, and a house must be built in the right spirit or the soul inside it will suffer. The building of an arch is a ritual to obtain a right relation with the earth and a connection with the truth. The bricklayer recalls his previous life as a Druid priest. He talks about the creation of the sacred landscape of these islands; how even a simple stick lying on the ground would tell people the direction they needed to go in; how when people stared at the stars, they were staring at their own mind. The reader sees the world through the eyes of this great, magical being at the time of the Roman invasion, and learns how he tricked Julius Caesar and set in train the series of events that would lead to Caesar's assassination on the Ides of March. But as the bricklayer continues, he worries he is losing his ancient, sacred powers. The vision begins to fray at the edges as we learn how he has recently taken violent revenge on yobs who have mocked him. Is he really connected to a once living Druid priest, or is he gradually losing himself in his own fantasies?
REVIEW:
Leon Jenner’s Debut is a title that is unusual in that it’s a novella rather than a full story. It’s cleverly written and the fact that it’s more the tale of one man reminiscing makes this a book that relies on the reader’s apathy for the character as he worries about his own mental health.
Add to this some wonderful prose, decent descriptive's and of course an authorly voice that carries the story through from start to finish to make it memorable. All in, this tale was one that I was pleased to have read and whilst quite Avant-guarde in its inception, it was one that raised questions that made it thought provoking. Definitely a title for someone seeking something a little different.
