Release Date: 27/10/16
Publisher: Gollancz
SYNOPSIS:
Award-winning author Simon Morden's stunning quest continues, unravelling magic and uncovering secrets on the way . . .
LET'S FACE IT, NONE OF US DESERVE TO BE SAVED.
Since escaping London's inferno, Mary and Dalip have fought monsters and won - though in the magical world of Down, the most frightening monsters come from within.
Now they hold the greatest of treasures: maps that reveal the way to the White City, where they can find the answers they're looking for, and learn the secrets of Down.
But to get there they must rely on Crows, who has already betrayed them at every turn. As they battle their way towards the one place in all of Down without magic, they must ask themselves how far they will go to find their way home.
After all, if there's one thing the White City offers those brave enough to enter, it's more than they bargained for.
SIMON MORDEN'S DOWN STATION WAS AN EXTRAORDINARY QUEST FOR MEANING AND IDENTITY. NOW HE'S LEADING US TO THE KIND OF TRUTHS THAT LEAVE US CHANGED.
REVIEW:
Having found the previous outing Down Station, a bit of a let down due to the supporting cast, I picked up this book apprehensively hoping that with the world mainly set up that this one would concentrate on what for me were the weaker area's in order to allow me to fully enjoy my reading experience.
What occurred within I felt was more of the same sadly and whilst I was prepared for the supporting cast to let me down, I did find that the pacing problem that haunted the original was stil there leaving me feeling quite flat. I do love the authors creativity in bringing new worlds to life, I still love how he breathes life into his principle characters but with the same problems recurring again, I don't think I'll be continuing with this series and wait for his next series instead.
Release Date: 18/02/16
Publisher: Gollancz
SYNOPSIS:
A small group of commuters and tube workers witness a fiery apocalypse overtaking London. They make their escape through a service tunnel. Reaching a door they step through...and find themselves on a wild shore backed by cliffs and rolling grassland. The way back is blocked. Making their way inland they meet a man dressed in a wolf's cloak and with wolves by his side. He speaks English and has heard of a place called London - other people have arrived here down the ages - all escaping from a London that is burning. None of them have returned. Except one - who travels between the two worlds at will. The group begin a quest to find this one survivor; the one who holds the key to their return and to the safety of London.
And as they travel this world, meeting mythical and legendary creatures,split between North and South by a mighty river and bordered by The White City and The Crystal Palace they realise they are in a world defined by all the London's there have ever been.
Reminiscent of Michael Moorcock and Julian May this is a grand and sweeping science fantasy built on the ideas, the legends, the memories of every London there has ever been.
REVIEW:
I’ve read Simon’s work before and with a new book coming out I thought that I’d be in for a treat at the beginning of a new year. After all nothing says a kick in the teeth from an author like “New Year, new book.” As with Simon’s other writing the thing that really makes this title sing is Simon’s principle characters. They’re the sort of people you think you could actually meet, feel real and entice you into caring about their tale as Simon twists his evil authorly mind into all sorts of shapes to make things hard for them.
That said, and whilst the book did give me a reasonable read, I felt that for me the supporting cast were pretty flat and with such an exciting new world to discover felt that they really needed to be better fleshed out so that you cared when something happened. It is a twist on a “what if” type of title and with a world that can be heaven or hell depending upon how you see things all round generates a read that was a solid title if a little underwhelming in places.
All round, whilst this is a middle of the road book for me as I had some problems with pace within the pages I do feel that it’s a set up for a longer sequence and with a lot of the background already established now, perhaps these errors will be fixed in the next outing.
Release Date: 28/03/13
Publisher: Orbit
SYNOPSIS:
WELCOME TO THE METROZONE Post-apocalyptic London, full of street gangs and homeless refugees. A dangerous city needs an equally dangerous saviour. Step forward Samuil Petrovitch, a genius with extensive cybernetic replacements, a built-in AI with god-like capabilities and a full armoury of Russian swear words. He's dragged the city back from the brink more than once - and made a few enemies on the way. So when his adopted daughter Lucy goes missing in Alaska, he has some clue who's responsible and why. It never occurs to him that guessing wrong could tip the delicate balance of nuclear-armed nations. This time it's not just a city that needs saving: it's the whole world.
REVIEW:
I really fell for Simon’s Sci-Fi last year when I read his Metrozone trilogy and to be honest its felt like one hell of a long wait to see what he’d return with. After all when an author’s writing style not only grabs you by the hand but by the unmentionables and threatens to crush you, you can’t help but get taken along for the ride and boy, was it one of those within.
As with Simon’s other titles, the prose is razor sharp, the character does his own thing and when the reader is treated to dialogue its snappy enough to make a crocodile worry. Back this up with a lead character that you can’t help but like, some cracking action sequences and of course an author who knows what he’s going to do the reader with the tale all round gives you not just an exciting story but one you just can’t let go. Great stuff.
We here at Falcata Times, always love an author with a twisted sense of humour and judging by his latest novel, Simon Morden more than fits the criteria to become one of our firm favourites.
Here we chatted to him about the complexities of writing by the seat of your pants, crazy characters and how "all proper authors have cats..."Falcata Times: Writing is said to be something that people are afflicted with rather than gifted and that it's something you have to do rather than want. What is your opinion of this statement and how true is it to you?Simon Morden: I can’t imagine anyone really sitting down, rationally weighing up their options, and coming up with author as a career choice. Writing really, really doesn’t cut it: you closet yourself away for hours on end, week after week, with no prospect of earning so much as one red cent, all the while having to do a different job to pay the bills. So, yes. It’s a stupid way to even attempt to make a living: authors have to be driven by something other than money or success. That other thing is often sheer pig-headedness and their refusal to roll over as rejection after rejection piles up. Those that survive the process aren’t exactly the most well-adjusted of people…FT: When did you realise that you wanted to be a writer?SM: I know you hear tales of authors who only ever wanted to be an author: I came to this quite late on, and by a very roundabout route. I was – am still, when I get the time – a voracious reader of science fiction and fantasy, but I was a reader, not a writer. I discovered Dungeons and Dragons in my early teens, and played an awful lot. Many years later, at university, I started running campaigns myself: the whole epic history, maps, cultures, races thing. From there, it was a natural progression into writing, but that didn’t happen until I was so disgusted at a sequel to a well-loved book that I decided I could do it better. So I did.FT: It is often said that if you can write a short story you can write anything. How true do you think this is and what have you written that either proves or disproves this POV?SM: Ooh, tough one. A novel is more than a series of short stories, one after another. Novels are (or at least, ought to be) more complex, deeper, wider, richer. Shorts are inexplicably sharp, they are the surgeon who makes a single cut and it’s over before you realise. Novels are wine to the short story’s crack. I’ve done both (long and short fiction – not cocaine!), and they’re very different disciplines. Some novel writers can’t do the short form, and some celebrated short story writers just can’t write long. I’ve never written a short, then expanded on it for a novel – what I have done is used the shorts as a sort of prequel, like I’ve done for the Metrozone trilogy.FT: If someone were to enter a bookshop, how would you persuade them to try your novel over someone else's and how would you define it?SM: Ah, good morning, sir, madam. May I interest you in a fine piece of future fiction? Not your usual read? Certainly, there are other books available in this emporium, some of them even rooted in the traditions of Wollstonecraft, Verne, Wells, Huxley, Orwell and Bradbury, but only I can promise you fencing, fighting, torture, true love, hate, revenge, giantesses, hunters, bad men, good men, beautifulest ladies, pain, death, brave men, coward men, chases, escapes, lies, truths, passion, Stalin lookalikes and giant fighting robots. The till? Certainly: this way. A wise choice, if I may say so.FT: How would you "sell" your book in 20 words or less?SM: It won’t stop hurting your eyes unless you open the book and start reading the words.FT: Who is a must have on your bookshelf and whose latest release will find you on the bookshops doorstep waiting for it to open?SM: Bradbury. People must be getting sick of me saying that now. Ray Bradbury is brilliant. Ken MacLeod is funny and wise. Michael Marshall Smith. Neil Gaiman. That kind of thing.FT: When you sit down and write do you know how the story will end or do you just let the pen take you? ie Do you develop character profiles and outlines for your novels before writing them or do you let your idea's develop as you write?SM: I’m very much a seat-of-the-pants writer. I start with a scene, sometimes just an image, and I have to work out who these people are, how they got there and what happens next. That scene can happen anywhere in the story, too. Once, I had an idea that gave me the final frame of a novel. That was hard work… The thing is, is that if I don’t know what’s going to happen and I’m excited by the narrative, some of that should come through in the words I’m using to describe it.FT: What do you do to relax and what have you read recently?SM: Relax? I don’t have time to relax! Not at the moment, anyway. Everything is stupid busy, even without the stress of having three books published in three months. However, when I can be persuaded… me and my disreputable writing friends go out drinking once a month. When I say, ‘Go out’ what I really mean is we sit in a pub and moan about publishers while drinking some particularly fine ales and eating Tyrell’s crisps. I also enjoy a good strategy game on the computer: something from the Total War series, or a spot of Civilisation. If I’m really letting my hair down, I have a guitar, and I (sort of) know how to use it. That’s the complete Rock’n’Roll lifestyle, right there. Go me! Woo!FT: What is your guiltiest pleasure that few know about?SM: This section is redacted for security reasons.FT: Lots of writers tend to have pets. What do you have and what are their key traits (and do they appear in your novel in certain character attributes?)SM: All Proper Authors have cats. Cats are full of win because they sleep half the time and never need taking for a walk. You can pretty much forget they’re there if you have to (deadlines or other such nonsense), and yet they’re always available for chin-scratching, ear-tickling or purr generating. They’ll let you know when they need feeding – usually by sitting in front of the computer monitor and staring really hard at you – and they even bring you gifts to show how much they love you! We have two cats, brothers from a litter of strays: one is a normal-sized moggie, the other has a passing resemblance to a Viking Longcat.FT: Which character within your latest book was the most fun to write and why?SM: Petrovitch is cool, in a ‘what the hell is the crazy bastard going to do next?’ sort of way. On one hand, he’s completely unpredictable: think of the most hair-brained scheme possible, and to Petrovitch, it’s a sure-fire plan. On the other hand, once you get inside his head, it All Makes Sense. He’s someone you’d want on your side when the chips are down, but I’d forbid my daughter to marry him.Epiphany Ekanobi doesn’t appear much, but has some fantastic lines, and in Book 2 (Theories of Flight), Valentina is just a complete star, in a very matter-of-fact, doggedly loyal way.FT: How similar to your principle protagonist are you?SM: I really hope the answer to that is not at all. My wife, however, has suggested that in Russia, Petrovitch is you. In reality, I’m nowhere near as smart, sweary, brave, stupid, careless or Russian as Petrovitch. Yes, we do have things in common, like an interest in science and gadgets, but I have far more patience than he does, I’m actually civilised, and I don’t drink vodka for breakfast.FT: What hobbies do you have and how do they influence your work?SM: Up until recently, writing has been a hobby – in that getting paid for it is a new thing. But I guess that’s not what you’re asking. I like making stuff. I live in an old house, so there’s always some sort of bodging to be done, if not a full-scale project that means knocking a room back to the brickwork and starting again. I also build things to take into school: I teach Y6 kids Design Technology, so there’s always bits and pieces of bridges, cars, rockets and hovercraft lying around.FT: Where do you get your ideas from?SM: I steal them from Charlie Stross books. All the cool kids are doing it these days.FT: Do you ever encounter writers block and if so how do you overcome it?SM: Yes. No. Maybe. There are times when I’ve written myself into a corner, and I have to take a couple of days to realise what happens next. I’m never worried, though. I have fantastically inventive characters.FT: Certain authors are renowned for writing at what many would call uncivilised times. When do you write and how do the others in your household feel about it?SM: There are other people living here with me? Really? That would account for the strange noises I hear occasionally and the missing food from the fridge. I’m not a morning person, in the way that vampires aren’t morning people. It normally takes several mugs of really strong tea to bring me round, so I tend to do ‘jobs’ – tidying, cleaning, putting the washing on, playing with the cats (important part of the day, you know!) – first thing, and slowly ease into the writing thing. If it’s not a school day (I’m a part-time teaching assistant), I tend to keep going till stupid o’clock. Some of my best work is done when everyone else is asleep…FT: Sometimes pieces of music seem to influence certain scenes within novels, do you have a soundtrack for your tale or is it a case of writing in silence with perhaps the odd musical break in-between scenes?SM: I’ve tried to have music on when I write. I just can’t do it, even instrumental pieces where there aren’t any lyrics that might distract me. Not that I need silence –regular urban noises are fine, and in summer, I have the windows open and I get birdsong and lawnmowers, dogs barking and kids shouting. None of that is at all intrusive, but music (and speech radio) is a no-no. Other than that, I listen to an eclectic mix of early Church music, eighties electro-pop, rock and modern folk. YouTube has introduced me to all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff lately.FT: What misconceptions, if any, did you have about the writing and publishing field when you were first getting started?SM: I didn’t think it would be easy getting published. I didn’t think it’d be as hard as it was. I thought I could write a decent-enough story. I soon realised I had masses to learn. I thought I could work out what an editor wanted. I eventually discovered that they were as much in the dark as I was, and all I could really do is write the stuff I wanted to, then see if it sold.FT: If music be the food of love, what do you think writing is and please explain your answer?SM: It is the whole of creation, caught between a folded piece of card. Only when you open a book will the probabilities collapse into what is written. Until that moment, anything, quite literally, is possible. So choose wisely…FT: What can you tell us about the next novel?SM: Well, I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. How about the next, next novel: a wide-screen space opera mil-SF epic. It’s a cross between Dune and the Forever War.FT: What are the last five internet sites that you've visited?SM: BBC News, Ship of Fools, B3ta, Facebook and Google.
FT: Did you ever take any writing classes or specific instructions to learn the craft? If so please let us know which ones.SM: No. I would argue I was entirely self-taught, but when I look at my book shelves, I can see how much of a lie that would be. I learnt how to write by reading, reading and reading some more. That’s how it should be. Read anything. Read what works, read what doesn’t, work out the difference between the two. Go read some more. Eventually, you’ll realise what it is that makes a good story, and what makes a bad one. Resolve to write like the good ones and less like the bad ones. Go write some more.FT: How did you get past the initial barriers of criticism and rejection?SM: I used explosives, and lots of them. There’s nothing like controlled demolition for … hang on, different question. Humility by the bucketload comes in handy. Patience, likewise. But all of that has to be wrapped around a steely core of determination that you’re never going to give up until you’ve cracked it. By the time you’ve done that, stopping is unconscionable.FT: In your opinion, what are the best and worst aspects of writing for a living?SM: Best? Having an audience, no matter how small, who appreciate what you’re trying to do and encourage you to do more.Worst? The hours. Writing isn’t hard work like being a lumberjack or a brickie. But it is hard all the same.
Release Date: 07/04/11
SYNOPSIS:
Samuil Petrovitch is a survivor. He survived the nuclear fallout in St. Petersburg and hid in the London Metrozone - the last city in England. He's lived this long because he's a man of rules and logic. For example: GETTING INVOLVED = A BAD IDEA. But when he stumbles into a kidnapping in progress, he acts without even thinking. Before he can stop himself, he's saved the daughter of the most dangerous man in London. And clearly: SAVING THE GIRL = GETTING INVOLVED. Now, the equation of Petrovitch's life is looking increasingly complex: RUSSIAN MOBSTERS + YAKUZA + SOMETHING CALLED THE NEW MACHINE JIHAD = ONE DEAD PETROVITCH. But Petrovitch has a plan - he always has a plan - he's just not sure it's a good one.
REVIEW:
If you like a book where an author creates a memorable character then you really have to try this title by Simon Morden. Within this title you’ll meet Petrovitch, calculating, logical and above all else selfish, until the day he breaks his own rules and puts his life in danger. It’s a great story of human development as the tales hero has to adapt to the changes and it’s a title that really is fascinating purely for the fact that it relies as truly great tales do on few other characters which allows the reader to really get to know them. So much so that crazy is as crazy does in a world gone mad with full throttle Petrovitch in survival mode with his million to one shot plans.
Add to this a post-apocalyptic world where life is cheap and a fistful of people who’d do anything to maintain control backed with great storytelling alongside decent prose and you know that it’s a story that will thrill, excite and keep the reader entertained to its conclusion which made this a seriously great find from our friends at Orbit and a series that will have a lot to live up to.
