Cover art - "L’Ange de la Nuit" (Night Angel) by Brent Weeks

Once again I go to the French market, because this month Bragelonne released the third novel in the Brent Weeks’ “Night Angel Trilogy”, “Beyond the Shadows” (Au-delà des ombres). Like the first two novels “Beyond the Shadows” benefits from a fantastic cover artwork, one of the best cover artworks I’ve seen this year and one that would certainly whisper sweet words of buying in my ear if I was seeing it in a book shop. The three covers of the series are made by the French artist Frédéric Perrin and are looking exceptionally well. I only wish to see more such amazing covers.

Book trailer - "The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart" by Jesse Bullington

I don’t know exactly how this title skipped my radar, but it is better that I found it later than not at all. “The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart” is the debut novel of Jesse Bullington, was released by Orbit Books a few days ago, and comes with an intriguing and interesting synopsis, one that picked my interest as soon as I read it. The novel has a very catchy trailer too, which I enjoyed quite a lot, and if you are interested in an excerpt of the novel to get another image of the novel you can find one at Orbit’s website. I already put this novel on my next shopping list.

In the plague-wracked and devil-haunted darkness of Medieval Europe, an elite few enjoy opulent lives while the majority eke out a miserable existence in abject poverty. Hungry creatures stalk the deep woods and desolate mountains, and both sea and sky teem with unspeakable horrors. For those ill-fated masses not born into wealth, life is but a vicious trial to be endured before the end of days.
Hegel and Manfried Grossbart could give a toss. Being of low birth means little, after all, when the riches of the mighty wait just inside the next crypt. The grave-robbing twins know enough about crusading to realise that if one is to make a living from the dead, what better destination than the fabled tomb-cities of Egypt?
But the Brothers Grossbart are about to discover that all legends have their truths, and worse fates than death await those who would take the red road of villainy . . .

Interview with Sebastian A. Corn

This interview and the "Adrenergic!" review are also cross-posted on The World SF News Blog.

Sebastian A. Corn is the literary pseudonym of Florin Chirculescu, who was born in 1960 in Bucureşti, Romania. He studied medicine and in the everyday life is a thoracic surgeon. He made his debut with the short story “Snorky” in 1994 in Jurnalul SF (The SF Journal) and since then he published stories in different Romanian magazines and publications. He published 6 novels under the pseudonym Sebastian A. Corn and one as Patrick Herbert:

“2484 Quirinal Ave” (1995), “Aquarius” (1996), “Dune 7 – Cartea Brundurilor” (Dune 7 – The Brundurs Book, 1997) as Patrick Herbert, “Să mă tai cu tăişul bisturiului tău, scrise Josephine” (To cut myself with the edge of your scalpel, wrote Josephine, 1998), “Cel mai înalt turn din Baabylon” (The highest tower in Baabylon, 2002), “Imperiul Marelui Graal” (The Empire of the Great Grail, 2004) and “Vindecătorul” (The Healer, 2008).

Sebastian A. Corn was rewarded with almost 40 local awards for his works, such as Quo Vadis!, RomCon, Dan Merişca, Supernova, Helion, Nemira and Vladimir Colin, but also with The Award for the European Debut at the Eurocon in 1995 at Glasgow.

Mihai (Dark Wolf): Thank you very much for the opportunity of this interview.

Some authors write for money, some for fame and some for pleasure. Why are you writing? What made you start putting your thoughts on paper?

Sebastian A. Corn: I don’t know for sure… During my first years of writing, I just had an urge to write, that was all. The main idea was that I enjoyed spending some good hours, each day, in a world of my own. I enjoyed building this world and that was the most forceful drive.

Mihai (Dark Wolf): You’ve studied medicine and you work as a surgeon. How does medicine get along with the writing career? How does your medical experience influence your writing?

Sebastian A. Corn: Medicine is extremely time consuming. Writing is also time consuming. At first sight, medicine and writing don’t seem to get along that well. On the other hand, medical studies offer you a scientific background (I talk about fundamental sciences connected with medicine) that always makes you ask: what if…? Besides, practicing as a doctor enables you to meet all sort of people who are willing to communicate more thoroughly about their problems. In a way, a doctor is connected to a various array of characters and this helps a lot in writing. Bottom line, medicine is a humanist profession and it certainly loads you with lots of unsolved problems. I try to solve those problems in writing.

Mihai (Dark Wolf): Why the choice for the science fiction literature? What attracted you towards the speculative fiction?

Sebastian A. Corn: I just liked it. I just love to build specific worlds of my own into which the usual, daily problems have a more straightforward manner to express. I regard science fiction as a shortcut to express such problems. Mainstream literature contaminates the fundamental problems of mankind by embedding them in colloquial situations.

M(DW): Which are your favorite authors and who influenced your style of writing the most?

SAC: Philip K. Dick, Frank Herbert and Gerard Klein. Hugo Pratt, as a cartoonist also influenced me a lot.

M(DW): You work under pseudonym. Why did you choose to use a pseudonym? From where does the pseudonym Sebastian A. Corn originate?

SAC: A cousin of mine made me an anagram while we were kids. It came out as FC Corn. Sebastian is a name I like very much and A. stands for Aaron.

M(DW): How difficult was for you to make the debut in the publishing market? How did you feel when your first work was published?

SAC: It took me a year to penetrate on the Romanian market by publishing in magazines. Then, I began to get local literary prizes. When I had my first book issued, “2484, Quirinal Ave”, I was really exhausted and I could not even celebrate the event.

M(DW): You published works in both short and long form of fiction. With which one do you feel more comfortable?

SAC: The novels, of course.

M(DW): From all of your works so far which one is closer to your heart? Which one do you consider to be the best so far?

SAC: “Vindecatorul” (The Healer), my last novel is the closest to my heart. I also consider it the best so far.

M(DW): I read that you are rewriting one of your novels, “Imperiul Marelui Graal” (The Empire of the Great Grail) and that you plan to write a series starting with this novel. What made you rewrite your novel? Does it happen for you to be unsatisfied with the result of your writing and to change the work you did until that moment?

SAC: I am dissatisfied with many of my works. Concerning “Imperiul Marelui Graal” (The Empire of the Great Grail), I am in love with its world and characters and I think they deserve some good couple of more drafts in order to make this novel really readable.

M(DW): You wrote under the Patrick Herbert pseudonym a novel set in the Dune universe. What made you want to write in the Dune universe? How difficult is to approach an established series in the personal style?

SAC: It was an offer from Nemira Publishing House. Back then, I had already written a novel, “Cartea Brundurilor”, when they made me this offer. Unfortunately, a certain haste, let’s say, from their part made us lose the terrific momentum which the Dune Universe carried in itself. The project is one of the most dissatisfying in my career because in my opinion, immersing in Frank Herbert’s universe deserved more work, more collaboration with those who translated the series in Romanian and so forth, in order to accommodate a specific text to the needs of Herbert’s universe. Sometimes, the publisher’s rush to issue a title is not the best thing in the economy of writing a book. Unfortunately, I learned this only too late.

M(DW): I know that you are working also on a mainstream novel. Do you like to experiment in other genres as well? Do you think that an experience in other genres can help improve the writing of an author?

SAC: Let’s say that the ideas that drive me nowadays are best expressed by a mainstream text. However, I consider that transgressing the genres is most helpful for a writer.

M(DW): In 1995 you were rewarded with the Eurocon Award for the European Debut. Do you think that that award changed your career? Does the fact that you won numerous awards (almost 40 if I am not mistaken) set a higher standard for you and your works?

SAC: That award surely eased my relationship with the publishers. However, the standards of anyone’s works are not related to the awards a specific writer got in his career. A writer always writes with the purpose of offering his best, each and every time he writes.

M(DW): Which is the award that took you by surprise and which does it please you the most?

SAC: The Vladimir Colin Award.

M(DW): You have experience also as editor, critic and translator so may I ask you, as an inside opinion, how do you think that literature is seen in Romania? How about the speculative fiction?

SAC: Literature is having some bad time lately in Romania, just as in other cultural areas. To be sincere, I am not so sure that books as we know them will still be a desired, hm, “object” in, let’s say, 25 years from now. Speculative fiction finds an easier way to the public through the PC games, unfortunately.

M(DW): What do you think that the future has in store the speculative fiction in our country, especially for the Romanian writers? Do you think that it is possible in the future for a Romanian author to be a professional writer?

SAC: A professional writer needs a market in order to live on his books and nowadays, these markets are the English language, the Spanish language, maybe the Chinese etc. Considering this, it seems very hard for a Romanian writer to earn a living by publishing.

Speculative fiction ( I see that you prefer this term :) ) in Romania has some specific traits and the writer who will be able to transgress the language barrier besides the ability to use a good old story telling expertise will maybe make a breakthrough in the literary market. Unfortunately, this seems a remote perspective. I know of some Romanian writers who got awards in Canada – I think that they have the chance to rebuild the confidence in the Romanian SF literature.

M(DW): What do you think that are the differences between the Romanian speculative fiction and the English one?

SAC: The main difference is the way the plot is built. Romanians are more prone to develop and express “smart ideas” on behalf of the story telling. I don’t find this as a good solution when writing literature because I still believe that a reader wants to read THE story. I also had these drawbacks and not only once…

M(DW): Do you think that in the future some of the Romanian speculative fiction will be published on the English market? Do you hope that your works will be translated in English?

SAC: I hope so. There are some titles which could be translated and receive a good critic, I think, but this depends on more things than simply writing a novel.

M(DW): At what are you working in the moment and what future projects do you have?

SAC: We talked about SF literature up to now, but my future project is a mainstream novel. I can’t yet decide on the title… Will it be “Parsifal”, or “Nolli’s Plan”? However, at this moment, I do only the research. I will start writing it next spring, I think.

Thank you very much for your time and answers. It has been a pleasure.

"Adrenergic!" by Sebastian A. Corn

"Adrenergic!"

by Sebastian A. Corn

Format: Paperback, 112 pages

Publisher: Millennium Press

The review is based on a bought copy of the book

Sebastian A. Corn is one of the most important Romanian science fiction authors, with 7 novels awarded by the Romanian speculative fiction community and with important appearances on the speculative fiction magazines. “Adrenergic!” is a novella first published in 1994 in “Jurnalul SF” (SF Journal) and printed this year in its own volume.

In the future, in South Sabrata, Tamerlan Banks, the honorific director of the United T-Skell Spaces company, is dissatisfied with his new position, being an honorific director means a more respected and a better financial rewarded position, but no power of decision. Jealous on Hugh Secada, the new executive director of the company, for his new position and for marrying Priscilla Ydriss, Tamerlan plans to show his invaluable knowledge of the virtual reality and to discredit his rival.

“Adrenergic!” is a cyberpunk novella and one in which Sebastian A. Corn proves to be a very talented and imaginative author. The world created by Corn is very interesting and its concepts appealed to me the instance I discovered them. Everything in South Sabrata, the setting of the novella, is improved with biotechnological implants, which are modified live tissues through genetically engineering. And these implants work as a spying system as well, since almost every street, building and piece of furniture can sense and identify a human presence through different senses, be it visual, auditory, olfactory or tactile. Humans may benefit from these biotechnological implants too, the main character Tamerlan Banks has one, but they are rather seen as rebellious acts.

On the other hand we have the virtual reality, where every structure present in the real world is sustained by microorganisms, turboskells, in order to work. The new and improved turboskells are the work of Tamerlan Banks, but these ones tend to break the agreements they reach with the humans and build new virtual spaces that slow the system. The interaction between the realities is made through the spacefors, humans that go into tanks full with normal saline solution connected to cables and communicating with the virtual reality. But the humans who spent too much time as spacefors reached a vegetative condition.

The novella follows the conflict between Tamerlan Banks and Hugh Secada, a conflict that goes from the real world into the virtual reality and has at its core the desire to control the turboskells. “Adrenergic!” has a steady rhythm, Sebastian A. Corn managing to keep a steady pace from the beginning until the end. However, I find the second part of the novella to be a bit too flat and a bit repetitive. The conflict reaches an end that is quite predictable and that didn’t offer me any surprises. Also, Sebastian A. Corn uses a language throughout his story that I can define as hard. I slowly engaged into his novella because Corn doesn’t explain any notion to the reader and therefore every concept has to be learned from the bits of information scattered along the story. In my opinion this aspect might drive a few readers away from the novella.

I admit that I enjoy more fantasy literature than the science fiction one, but I like exploring the second from time to time. I have to admit also that from the sub-genres of science fiction cyberpunk appeals the least to me, with only a few pieces that stick to my memory. Still, Sebastian A. Corn’s “Adrenergic!” is a novella that reminded me of the works of the heavy names of science fiction, especially Philip K. Dick, and of the Matrix movies, but you have to consider that Corn’s novella is written with 5 years before the first Matrix movie. And although on the personal level “Adrenergic!” didn’t offer me the best of readings I believe that the fans of science fiction in general and cyberpunk in particular will find it to be a valuable piece of fiction.

"Locke & Key: Head Games" by Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez

"Locke & Key: Head Games"

Written by Joe Hill

Illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez

Format: Hardcover, 160 pages

Publisher: IDW Publishing

The review is based on a bought copy of the book.

New York Times bestselling writer Joe Hill and artist Gabriel Rodriguez, the creators behind the acclaimed Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft, return with the next chapter in the ongoing tale, Head Games. Following a shocking death that dredges up memories of their father's murder, Kinsey and Tyler Locke are thrown into choppy emotional waters, and turn to their new friend, Zack Wells, for support, little suspecting Zack's dark secret. Meanwhile, six-year-old Bode Locke tries to puzzle out the secret of the head key, and Uncle Duncan is jarred into the past by a disturbingly familiar face. Open your mind - the head games are just getting started!

One of the readings that satisfied me in fullest this year was the graphic novel written by Joe Hill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, “Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft”, so I grabbed a copy of the second volume in Hill and Rodriguez’s series, “Locke & Key: Head Games” as soon as I’ve got the chance.

I was very pleased to meet again the Locke family on their estate of Keyhouse in Lovecraft, Massachusetts and to find once more the characters I liked in “Welcome to Lovecraft”, along with a couple of new ones. I was also pleased to see the characters gain more depth, because Joe Hill builds them further on with explorations in some of the characters past, explorations that contribute in their development in full and make their presence even stronger. Taking shape through the same explorations is the setting of the novel, Lovecraft, adding new and interesting elements to the story, also bringing in a mystery, very well kept along novel’s pages, that made my fingers itchy for turning the pages.

I was eagerly waiting for the second novel in the Locke & Key series because the story caught me in its spell from the first volume and after opening the “Head Games” I wasn’t disappointed. Joe Hill brings new elements within the story that will make it a bit darker and keeps the tension building, but also plays once again with the fantastic in a delightful way. And I refer here especially at the head key, concept which found an admirer in me as soon as I discovered it and which left me wondering about the existence of such a key way after finishing the reading. The process of removing and adding to one’s head ideas and emotions found in “Head Games” is very interesting and left my imagination go wild. And this process brought one of the scenes that I loved the most in the novel, both disturbing and funny, the scene involving Kinsey Locke and the relationship between fear and crying.

Once again “Locke & Key” benefits not only from the story and the fiction built by Joe Hill, but from the wonderful art of Gabriel Rodriguez too. Gabriel Rodriguez brings once again his contribution in making “Head Games”, and the entire “Locke & Key” series, a wonderful graphic novel and a great reading experience. It is difficult to miss the excellent collaboration between Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez, because the art backs the story all the way from the start to the end. The characters gain from their graphic depiction and their appearance is in concordance with their emotions and the events surrounding them, the scenes gain more power from the visual impact. It is true that some of the images are a bit hard and violent, but it is nothing that goes beyond the story or that exaggerates it. And I have to say that again the scenes involving the head key are my favorites and, again, with a plus for me for the same one involving Kinsey Locke and the relationship between fear and crying.

I have to admit that “Locke & Key: Head Games” is a bit slower than “Welcome to Lovecraft” and that it concentrates more in the development of the characters and story, but I enjoyed it a lot nonetheless. It clarifies a thing or two from the first volume (I would recommend starting with that one), leaves much for the next ones and me with a great reading and a desire to see how the Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s story continues, and ends eventually.

In the mailbox

Here is a new post about the latest arrivals in my mailbox, with my thanks for their senders:

- "The Other Lands" by David Anthony Durham (through the courtesy of Transworld Books);

The Other Lands begins a few years after Acacia, and Queen Corinn Akaran is firmly in control of the Known World. Her primary goal is to topple the Lothan Aklun and so she sends her brother Daniel, disguised as a slave, on an exploratory expedition to the Other Lands.

Daniel soon discovers a mainland that is a more lush, exotic, and expansive than the Known World; and the ruling tribe, the Auldek, are more numerous and powerful than the Numrek. But unbeknownst to the Corinn and her siblings, the Numrek and Auldek are ancient ancestors and their inevitable alliance could mean the downfall of Acacia.

In this bold and imaginative sequel to Acacia, Queen Corinn must unite the battered and abused peoples of the Acacia Empire against the powerful tribes of the Other Lands.

- "Year's Best Fantasy 9" edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (through the courtesy of Tor.com);

- "The Immortals: Evermore" by Alyson Noël (through the courtesy of Pan Macmillan);

Seventeen-year-old Ever is the sole survivor of a car crash that killed her entire family. Living with her aunt in Southern California, she's plagued by the ability to hear the thoughts of those around her, and haunted by the ghost of her little sister. She tries to tune everyone out, shunning her old lifestyle as the pretty, popular cheerleader, but somehow she can't hide from Damen, the new guy at school. Stunningly handsome, clever and not a little bit intimidating, there's something about him that doesn't quite add up. Ever realises he's hiding something, but nothing could prepare her for the truth - especially when the truth involves past lives, murderous enemies, everlasting love and the secret of eternal youth . . .

- "The Temporal Void" by Peter F. Hamilton (through the courtesy of Pan Macmillan).

The Intersolar Commonwealth is in turmoil as the Living Dream’s deadline for launching its Pilgrimage into the Void draws closer. Not only is the Ocisen Empire fleet fast approaching on a mission of genocide, but also an internecine war has broken out between the post-human factions over the destiny of humanity.
Countering the various and increasingly desperate agents and factions is Paula Myo, a ruthlessly single-minded investigator, beset by foes from her distant past and colleagues of dubious allegiance...but she is fast losing a race against time.
At the heart of all this is Edeard the Waterwalker, who once lived a long time ago deep inside the Void. He is the messiah of Living Dream, and visions of his life are shared by, and inspire billions of humans. It is his glorious, captivating story that is the driving force behind Living Dream’s Pilgrimage, a force that is too strong to be thwarted. As Edeard nears his final victory the true nature of the Void is finally revealed.

Thank you all very much!

Book trailer - "Under the Dome" by Stephen King

Lately I enjoy more and more seeing book trailers. I know that this is a type of publicity and not always my experience with the movie trailers (because these are the ones I see more) is not the best, but because of them I have a better idea about the movie. With the book trailers it doesn’t go the same, because I have more information about the novels in question before seeing the trailer, but from the all kinds of publicity I think that the trailers are the one I get along with best. The latest book trailer I saw is for the Stephen King’s novel, “Under the Dome”, released two days ago, on 10th of November and I have to admit that it is one of the best I’ve seen. I really like it and it is close with what I have in mind about this novel. And it added yet another reason (I believe that Stephen King was a reason enough for me anyway) for me to pick the novel, leaving me wondering only if I should wait for the paperback edition or order the hardcover one.