Stacking The Shelves & What I'm Reading

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme being hosted by Tynga's Reviews, while Mailbox Monday is being hosted by Dolce Bellezza this month (see Mailbox Monday for each month's host). Both memes are all about sharing the books you've added to your shelves - physical and virtual, borrowed and bought. It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey, and it's focused on what's in your hands, as opposed to what's on your shelf.

With an average of two reads per week scheduled into the middle of August, I've been trying to hold off on adding to the TBR pile. However, there are a few titles with release dates outside that review window which I couldn't stop myself from requesting:



Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl

by David Barnett

Paperback, 352 pages

Expected publication: September 10th 2013 by Tor Books



Acquired via the publisher.











Under a Graveyard Sky

by John Ringo

Hardcover, 416 pages

Expected publication: September 3rd 2013 by Baen



Acquired via NetGalley











Three

by Jay Posey

Paperback

Expected publication: July 30th 2013 by Angry Robot



Acquired via NetGalley

Pharaoh: A Novel

by David Gibbins

Paperback, 400 pages

Expected publication: October 1st 2013 by Dell

Acquired via NetGalley

The Troop

by Nick Cutter

Hardcover, 368 pages

Expected publication: January 7th 2014 by Gallery Books



Acquired via Edelweiss

As for what we're reading, the team has reviews coming up over the next 2 weeks for:

 

What's topping your shelves this week?

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Waiting On Wednesday - Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl by David Barnett

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:



Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl by David Barnett

Sept 10, 2013 (Tor Books)



Nineteenth century London is the center of a vast British Empire. Airships ply the skies and Queen Victoria presides over three-quarters of the known world—including the East Coast of America, following the failed revolution of 1775.



London might as well be a world away from Sandsend, a tiny village on the Yorkshire coast. Gideon Smith dreams of the adventure promised him by the lurid tales of Captain Lucian Trigger, the Hero of the Empire, told in Gideon’s favorite “penny dreadful.” When Gideon’s father is lost at sea in highly mysterious circumstances Gideon is convinced that supernatural forces are at work.  Deciding only Captain Lucian Trigger himself can aid him, Gideon sets off for London. On the way he rescues the mysterious mechanical girl Maria from a tumbledown house of shadows and iniquities. Together they make for London, where Gideon finally meets Captain Trigger.



But Trigger is little more than an aging fraud, providing cover for the covert activities of his lover, Dr. John Reed, a privateer and sometime agent of the British Crown. Looking for heroes but finding only frauds and crooks, it falls to Gideon to step up to the plate and attempt to save the day...but can a humble fisherman really become the true Hero of the Empire?



David Barnett's Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl is a fantastical steampunk fable set against an alternate historical backdrop: the ultimate Victoriana/steampunk mash-up!





Imaginative title? Check. Interesting cover? Check. Intriguing cover blurb? Check. Admittedly, I don't know much about David Barnett, and I'm only a casual fan of the steampunk genre, but this one just connects with me on all levels. Here's hoping an ARC finds its way across my shelves.

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Dawn's Early Light Cover Reveal

Dawn's Early Light

Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Book Three

Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris



Cover Reveal May 29



Coming Soon



Working for the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, one sees innumerable technological wonders. But even veteran agents Braun and Books are unprepared for what the electrifying future holds…



After being ignominiously shipped out of England following their participation in The Janus Affair, Braun and Books are ready to prove their worth as agents. But what starts as a simple mission in the States—intended to keep them out of trouble—suddenly turns into a scandalous and convoluted case that has connections reaching as far as Her Majesty the Queen.



Even with the help of two American agents from the Office of the Supernatural and the Metaphysical, Braun and Books have their work cut out for them as their chief suspect in a rash of nautical and aerial disasters is none other than Thomas Edison. Between the fantastic electric machines of Edison, the eccentricities of MoPO consultant Nikola Tesla, and the mysterious machinations of a new threat known only as the Maestro, they may find themselves in far worse danger than they ever have been in before…

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About the Authors:



Philippa (Pip) Ballantine

Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Philippa has always had her head in a book. For this she blames her father who thought Lord of the Rings was suitable bedtime reading for an eight year old. At the age of thirteen she began writing fantasy stories for herself.



She first earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Political Science and then a Bachelor of Applied Science in Library and Information Science. So soon enough she found herself working in the magical world of libraries where she stayed for over a decade



Her first professional sale was in 1997, and since then she has gone on to produce mostly novel length fiction. In 2006 she became New Zealand’s first podcast novelist, and she has voiced and produced Weaver’s Web, Chasing the Bard, Weather Child and Digital Magic as podiobooks. Her podcasts have been short listed for the Parsec Awards, and won a Sir Julius Vogel award.



Philippa is the author of the Books of the Order series with Ace - Geist and Spectyr and Wrayth out now, and Harbinger to follow. She is also the co-author of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series with Tee Morris. Phoenix Rising debuted in May 2011 and The Janus Affair came out in May 2012. She also has the Shifted World series with Pyr Books, with the first book Hunter and Fox out now.



When not writing or podcasting, Philippa loves reading, gardening, and whenever possible traveling. With her husband, Tee and her daughter, she is looked after by a mighty clowder of three cats.





Tee Morris

Tee Morris began his writing career with his 2002 historical epic fantasy, MOREVI The Chronicles of Rafe & Askana. In 2005 Tee took MOREVI into the then-unknown podosphere, making his novel the first book podcast in its entirety.



That experience led to the founding of Podiobooks.com and collaborating with Evo Terra and Chuck Tomasi on Podcasting for Dummies and its follow-up, Expert Podcasting Practices for Dummies.



He won acclaim and accolades for his cross-genre fantasy-detective Billibub Baddings Mysteries, the podcast of The Case of the Singing Sword winning him the 2008 Parsec Award for Best Audio Drama. Along with those titles, Tee has written articles and short stories for BenBella Books’s Farscape Forever: Sex, Drugs, and Killer Muppets, the podcast anthology VOICES: New Media Fiction, BenBella Books’ So Say We All: Collected Thoughts and Opinions of Battlestar Galactica, and Dragon Moon Press’ Podthology: The Pod Complex.



Tee bought all these skills to the award-winning Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series which he wrote with his wife, Pip Ballantine. When he is not writing, Tee enjoys life in Virginia alongside Philippa Ballantine, his daughter, and three cats.

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Right now Pip and Tee are also running a Kickstarter for a brand new anthology and a roleplaying game set in the world of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences.



Check out the project here http://bit.ly/ministry-initiative

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Waiting On Wednesday - Steampunk III: Steampunk Revolution by Ann VanderMeer

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:



Steampunk III: Steampunk Revolution edited by Ann VanderMeer



Playfully mashing up the romantic elegance of the Victorian era with whimsically modernized technology, this entertaining and edgy new anthology is the third installment in a bestselling steampunk series. Featuring a renegade collective of writers and artists—from beloved legends to rising talents—the steam-driven past is rebooted and powered by originality, wit, and adventure. 



Lev Grossman offers a different take on the Six Million Dollar Man who possesses appendages and workings from recycled metal parts, yet remains fully human, resilient, and determined. Catherynne M. Valente explores a new form of parenting within the merging of man and machine while Cherie Priest presents a new, unsettling mode of transportation. Bruce Sterling introduces steampunk’s younger cousin, salvage-punk, while speculating on how cities will be built in the future using preexisting materials and Jeff VanderMeer takes an antisteampunk perspective as a creator must turn his back on an utterly destructive creation. 



Going beyond the simple realms of corsets and goggles, this engaging collection takes readers on a wild ride through Victoriana and beyond. (Dec 1, 2012)



I've been looking forward to this one for a while now, and since I just got my ARC in the mail, I figured this week was a good one to celebrate it.

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The Constantine Affliction by T. Aaron Payton (eBook Review)

Offering up an interesting mix of genres (with an abrupt change of course in the last act), The Constantine Affliction is a fun, engaging, imaginative read that manages to succeed despite the relative blandness of its main character. That's not to say Pimm isn't an interesting character on his own, but he lacks the quirks and personality traits that make the other characters leap off the page.



T. Aaron Payton, better known as T.A. Pratt, has put together a story here that is equal parts thriller, mystery, horror, comedy, and adventure. At the heart of it lies the aforementioned Pimm (an aristocrat who likes to play detective - when not drowning his sorrows), the far more engaging Winifred (his best friend turned spouse - thanks to the gender-changing Constantinopolitan Affliction), and the rather remarkable Syke (investigative reporter and feminist heroine - for whom the glass is always half-full). Facing off against the unlikely trio of heroes is an even unlikelier trio of villains in Abel Value (criminal overlord), Sir Bertram Oswald (the Queen's consort), and Mr. Adams (cousin to Frankenstein's monster). Throw in some clockwork courtesans and some extra-dimensional monsters, set against the backdrop of a London under siege from darkness and disease, and you have yourself one heck of a tale.



There is an awful lot going on here, but Payton manages to keep it all on track, all the while building towards a pair of key revelations that quite cleverly connect the dots between the mixed genres. At times chilling, amusing, and altogether fascinating, this is the kind of book where you just have to give yourself permission to settle in and enjoy the ride. It is paced exceptionally well, so much so that you never begrudge Payton the opportunity to explore a few bizarre tangents - and of those there are aplenty! Perhap's Skye's intimate investigation of the clockwork courtesans goes into a bit too much detail, but it is fascinating, and it does help to justify some plot elements further on. Similarly, Mr. Adam's researches into life-after-death may be a bit too grotesque for some readers, but you'll come away believing in the possibility for romance with a disembodied brain.



Where the story faltered a bit, for me, was in the Lovecraftian insanity of the final act. It almost seemed as if, having so deftly handled so many genres already, Payton simply couldn't resist the urge to go all the way with his monstrous finale. He manages it well, and the strength of his characters keeps it from becoming too fantastic, but it was so far removed from what I was expecting that I struggled a bit to keep my disbelief willingly suspended. It does give Winifred a chance to shine, and does allow for a fitting resolution to the character of Mr. Adams, but it also cast Pimm a bit further out of the limelight.



All-in-all, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read, with enough plot lines to fill a trilogy of novels. Hopefully Payton will give us more adventures in his alternate London, and if he can follow through on Pimm's seeming revival at the end of the story, he may just be a protagonist worthy of both his wife and his girlfriend.

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Waiting On Wednesday: Clockwork Angels by Kevin J. Anderson

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:



Clockwork Angels by Kevin J. Anderson



A remarkable collaboration that is unprecedented in its scope and realization, this exquisitely wrought novel represents an artistic project between the bestselling science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson and the multiplatinum rock band Rush. 



The newest album by Rush, Clockwork Angels, sets forth a story in Neil Peart’s lyrics that has been expanded by him and Anderson into this epic novel. In a young man’s quest to follow his dreams, he is caught between the grandiose forces of order and chaos. He travels across a lavish and colorful world of steampunk and alchemy with lost cities, pirates, anarchists, exotic carnivals, and a rigid Watchmaker who imposes precision on every aspect of daily life. 



The mind-bending story is complemented with rich paintings by the five-time Juno Award winner for Best Album Design, Hugh Syme. (September 1, 2012)



Okay, I'm gonna let my inner Canadian geek out here . . . it's a novel based on the strongest Rush album in years . . . this one may as well be required reading. :)

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eBook ARC Review: The Janus Affair by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris

As the second Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel, The Janus Affair more than delivers on the promise of last year's Phoenix Rising, even if the story at the heart of it isn't quite as strong. With the preliminaries out of the way, Ballantine & Morris are able to spend more time exploring their steampunk society, developing the relationship between Books and Braun, and building upon some of the plot threads teased but left dangling in the first instalment.



Let's start with the steampunk elements. While present in the first book, they were either a part of the background or they stood out awkwardly. Here, not only are they far more prevalent, but they blend very well into the overall story. They're still cool and exciting (particularly the train at the beginning of the book and the motorcycle near the end), but they just seem to fit better. You just get the sense that Ballantine & Morris felt a bit more relaxed here, making it a bit easier to draw the reader into the fun.We also get to see more of the other agents from the Ministry, which is a trend I hope continues in subsequent books.



As for the characters, they are truly why this second volume shines. First of all, we find out just what was up with Bruce Campbell in the first book, and even if his story isn't perfectly resolved, it's handled very well. As for Books and Braun, we get to explore more of their respective backstories, particularly with Books - by the time you're done this book, the haunting voice of his father will make much more sense, and the origin of his James Bond style skills and experience will be satisfactorily exposed. The two flirt with the idea of romance much more than in the first book but, in the tradition of the best stories of the genre, it remains just that - flirting and fun. There's still a healthy dose of antagonism and distrust between them, but it's balanced with genuine friendship and admiration.



It's just a shame the story behind it all - the reason for our two heroes to get out of the Archives - isn't as exciting or as compelling as that of Phoenix Rising. It all starts out promising enough, with the very public disappearance of several women, all in a very 'flashy' manner (to say the least). The problem is the mystery of the disappearances is dragged out for too long, one woman disappearing after another, with little in the way of investigative progress or narrative exposure of the dastardly villains and their motives. The politics of it all are interesting, if a bit heavy-handed at times, but they tend to get in the way of moving the story forward. It must be said, however, that while the climactic set-piece isn't quite as exciting as the first book, Books does get a far better opportunity to shine.



All-in-all a fun, exciting read that bodes well for future instalments in the series. Well worth a read.

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Waiting On Wednesday: The Janus Affair by Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:



The Janus Affair by Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris



Evildoers beware! Retribution is at hand, thanks to Britain's best-kept secret agents!!



Certainly no strangers to peculiar occurrences, agents Wellington Books and Eliza Braun are nonetheless stunned to observe a fellow passenger aboard Britain's latest hypersteam train suddenly vanish in a dazzling bolt of lightning. They soon discover this is not the only such disappearance . . . with each case going inexplicably unexamined by the Crown.



The fate of England is once again in the hands of an ingenious archivist paired with a beautiful, fearless lady of adventure. And though their foe be fiendishly clever, so then is Mr. Books . . . and Miss Braun still has a number of useful and unusual devices hidden beneath her petticoats. (May 29, 2012)



The first Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences novels, Phoenix Rising, was one of those books I picked up on a whim and ended up breezing through in a weekend. Kind of a steampunk take on the old Avengers TV show with Patrick Macnee & Diana Rigg, it was fun, fast, and clever enough that I'm eager to take on the sequel.

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