The Book Plank

Selfies by Lavie Tidhar "Selfies", by Lavie Tidhar, is a creepy little horror tale about the fate of a young woman who makes the mistake of a lifetime when she buys a new phone in the local mall. It is only a few weeks back that I read a different but very interesting short story of Lavie Tidhar, Dragonkin . I found this story directly to my liking, the synopsis and build up of the story was unique and got me excited by it's less is more writing style. In the end this story for me had so much going on that I hope to see Lavie Tidhar exploring it even further. That aside, now its time for Selfies . I think I can now safely say that Lavie Tidhar is an author to watch out for, his stories will get you thinking and will scare you twice over.  I have been thinking a lot of the current situation with always being connected on social media and the likes. It's unavoidable. One thing that is connected with all of this is of course your smartphone, yes no longer a cell...

Pan Macmillan to publish new Naomi Novik novel Editorial Director Julie Crisp has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to  Uprooted  by Naomi Novik, the author of the New York Times bestselling Temeraire series.   Julie Crisp said of the deal: ‘I have been a huge fan of Naomi’s since reading the first novel in her thrilling Temeraire series. When I read her fantasy Uprooted I was absolutely blown away by the beautifully-written and richly-imagined world - it is in every way an enchanting read.’ Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life. Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood. The...

Guest Post: When the Dead Just Won’t Stay Down by Gail Z. Martin Dying might be the only way to ever get free of your cell phone. So far, neither  Verizon Wireless nor Vodaphone have come up with a signal that can reach across the River Styx. It’s not for lack of trying. I suspect that people have been trying to talk to the dead and bring them back to life since the very first death. Some want to reunite with loved ones. Others want the secrets the dead took with them to their grave, or want to enslave them for labor or armies. Whatever the reason, necromancy—magic that gives the user power over the dead—never goes out of style. For someone who’s pretty normal (twitch, twitch), I spend a lot of time thinking about necromancy. My first epic fantasy series was the Chronicles of the Necromancer. The main character, Tris Drayke, learns that he is a Summoner, with the ability to intercede between the living and the dead, and he has to learn to control that magic...

Ghosts of Manhattan by George Mann, The Ghost 1926, New York. Jazz. Flappers. Prohibition. It’s the roaring twenties but not as history remembers it. Coal-powered cars line the streets of Manhattan, while zeppelins and biplanes occupy the skies. And the US is locked in a bitter cold war with a British Empire that still covers half of the globe. This is the alternate vision of the most opulent era of New York. A 1920s that provides the setting for Ghosts of Manhattan and Ghosts of War . It’s a darker version of history. One steeped in fantastical steampunk innovations and a dark undercurrent of supernatural treachery. Organized crime rules the streets, with speakeasies on every corner. And while a run-down police force battles mobsters and their protection rackets, the “Lost Generation” is drinking away the recent nightmares of the World War. The United States finds itself locked in a diplomatic standoff with a British Empire who has only just buried Queen Victoria, her l...

Author interview with Stephen Gregory Author bio:  Stephen Gregory (b. 1952) was born in Derby, England, and earned a degree in law from the University of London. He worked as a teacher for ten years in various places, including Wales, Algeria, and Sudan, before moving to the mountains of Snowdonia in Wales to write his first novel, The Cormorant (1986), which won Britain’s prestigious Somerset Maugham Award and drew comparisons to Poe. The book was also adapted for film as a BBC production starring Ralph Fiennes. Two more novels, both set in Wales, followed: The Woodwitch (1988) and The Blood of Angels (1994). After the publication of The Blood of Angels, he worked in Hollywood for a year with Oscar-winning director William Friedkin (The Exorcist). More recently, he has published The Perils and Dangers of this Night (2008), and his new novel, The Waking That Kills, will be published in late 2013.  ----------------------------------------------- ...

Short Fiction Friday: Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza The Wild Cards universe has been thrilling readers for over 25 years. In Carrie Vaughn’s “Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza,” ace Ana Cortez discovers that sometimes to be truly healed, you must return to your roots. There is one universe where I just cannot get enough of is the Wild Cards universe. So far there have been published over 20 books in this world and numerous short stories written by the different authors. The latest book Lowball , Wild Cards #22 will be published next month and just to get in the reading mode I picked up this recently release short story by Carrie Vaughn Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza picks up after the events of the TV show American Hero which was the first storyline in the reboot series of Wild Cards and started with Inside Straight . Due to the publicity that the Aces got on the TV show they were assembled in a special team to quell some threats in Egypt. Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza sh...

Author interview Mark Charan Newton Author bio:  Mark Charan Newton was born in 1981, and holds a degree in Environmental Science. After working in bookselling, he moved into editorial positions at imprints covering film and media tie-in fiction, and later, science fiction and fantasy. He currently lives and works in Nottingham. His major label debut is Nights of Villjamur, which is published by Tor UK (Pan Macmillan) and Bantam Spectra (Random House). Hi Mark, welcome over at The Book Plank and for taking your time to answer these few questions for us.  BP: First off, could you give us a short introduction as to who Mark Charan Newton is? What do you like to do in your spare time, what are your likes and dislikes? MN: With the risk of this sounding like a dating profile, I’m a 33 year old who lives in Nottingham. In my spare time I run a whisky blog (malt-review.com) and spend a lot of time on my allotment. Likes include tweed, read...