The Book Plank

Night Music: Nocturnes Volume 2 by John Connolly, Nocturnes 2 A decade after Nocturnes first terrified and delighted readers, John Connolly, bestselling author of thirteen acclaimed thrillers featuring private investigator Charlie Parker, gives us a second volume of tales of the supernatural. From stories of the monstrous for dark winter nights to fables of fantastic libraries and haunted books, from a tender account of love after death to a frank, personal, and revealing account of the author's affection for myths of ghosts and demons, this is a collection that will surprise, delight—and terrify. John Connolly is best know for his Charlie Parker series a supernatural thriller series. A few years ago he released his first short story collection Nocturnes, this October he will add a the sequel, Night Music to the series. I have heard a lot of good new about John Connolly by several other bloggers. I have had his books on my to read list for a long time, but I have to ad...

Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King, The Dark Tower #5 Roland Deschain and his ka-tet are bearing southeast through the forests of Mid-World on their quest for the Dark Tower. Their path takes them to the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis. But beyond the tranquil farm town, the ground rises to the hulking darkness of Thunderclap, the source of a terrible affliction that is stealing the town's soul. The wolves of Thunderclap and their unspeakable depredation are coming. To resist them is to risk all, but these are odds the gunslingers are used to. Their guns, however, will not be enough.... So my journey has brought me to the fifth book of the stunning The Dark Tower series. A few weeks ago I was again taken by my enthusiasm of this series. As I said in all my reviews, this series of Stephen King is my favorite. The books that The Wolves of the Calla follows up on are The Gunslinger, The Drawing of Three, The Waste Lands and Wizard and Glass .  What has happened so far ...

The Book of the Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor, Who Fears Death #0.1 Phoenix was grown and raised among other genetic experiments in New York’s Tower 7. She is an “accelerated woman”—only two years old but with the body and mind of an adult, Phoenix’s abilities far exceed those of a normal human. Still innocent and inexperienced in the ways of the world, she is content living in her room speed reading e-books, running on her treadmill, and basking in the love of Saeed, another biologically altered human of Tower 7. Then one evening, Saeed witnesses something so terrible that he takes his own life. Devastated by his death and Tower 7’s refusal to answer her questions, Phoenix finally begins to realize that her home is really her prison, and she becomes desperate to escape. But Phoenix’s escape, and her destruction of Tower 7, is just the beginning of her story. Before her story ends, Phoenix will travel from the United States to Africa and back, changing the entire course o...

Wizard and Glass by Stephen King, The Dark Tower #4 Wizard and Glass picks up where the last book left off, with our hero, Roland, and his unlikely band of followers escaping from one world and slipping into the next. And it is there that Roland tells them a story, one that details his discovery of something even more elusive than the Dark Tower: love. But his romance with the beautiful and quixotic Susan Delgado also has its dangers, as her world is tom apart by war. Here is Roland's journey to his own past, to a time when valuable lessons awaited him, lessons of loyalty and betrayal, love and loss. Earlier this year I decided that I was going to continue with my earlier proposed reread of The Dark Tower series. I was left at The Drawing of Three, the second book in the series two years ago. I read The Waste Lands a month ago, the fourth book in line is Wizard and Glass . And as I had mentioned in the review of the first graphic novel of The Dark Tower, The Gunslinger...

Media Alert: Gateway welcomes many new authors!   Gateway to welcome classic SF & Fantasy authors from Orbit, Hodder & Stoughton and Headline Gateway, an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group and sister company to the UK's oldest science fiction publisher Gollancz, is thrilled to announce the addition of some of the world's finest SF & Fantasy authors, including Iain M. Banks, David Gemmell, and Jean M. Auel, amongst others, to the Gateway website. Gateway is an eBook publisher of classic SF and Fantasy.  It is part catalogue site, highlighting and promoting the thousands of eBooks; part gateway to online retailers from whom these eBooks can be bought; part social network for readers who wish to discuss and recommend authors. Gateway's parent company, the Orion Publishing Group is owned by the Hachette UK Group, which also owns Little, Brown, Hodder & Stoughton and Headline publishers, among others. Little, Brown is home to one of t...

The Waste Lands by Stephen King, The Dark Tower #3 In 1978, Stephen King introduced the world to the last gunslinger, Roland of Gilead.  Nothing has been the same since. More than twenty years later, the quest for the Dark Tower continues to take readers on a wildly epic ride. Through parallel worlds and across time, Roland must brave desolate wastelands and endless deserts, drifting into the unimaginable and the familiar. A classic tale of colossal scope—crossing over terrain from The Stand, The Eyes of the Dragon, Insomnia, The Talisman, Black House, Hearts in Atlantis, ’Salem’s Lot, and other familiar King haunts—the adventure takes hold with the turn of each page. And the tower awaits.... Roland, The Last Gunslinger, moves ever closer to The Dark Tower of his dreams and nightmares—as he crosses a desert of damnation in a macabre world that is a twisted image of our own. With him are those he has drawn to this world: street-smart Eddie Dean and courageous wheel...

Revival by Stephen King A dark and electrifying novel about addiction, fanaticism, and what might exist on the other side of life. In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs -- including Jamie's mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town. Jamie has demons of his own. Wed to his guitar from the age of thirteen, he plays in bands across the country, living the nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll while fleeing from his family's horrific los...

The Black Stone by Nick Brown, Agent of Rome #4 273 AD. Obsessed by the solar religions of the east, the emperor Aurelian sets out to obtain every sacred object within his realm. But one - a mysterious rock said to channel the power of the sun god - lies beyond his reach. Warrior-priest Ilaha has captured the legendary stone and is using it to raise an army against Rome. For imperial agent Cassius Corbulo and ex-gladiator bodyguard Indavara, stopping him constitutes their greatest challenge yet. Assisted by a squad of undercover soldiers and a Saracen chieftain, they trek south across the deserts of Arabia, encountering sandstorms, murderous money-lenders and a ruthless German mercenary. And when they finally reach Ilaha's mountain fortress, they face thousands of warriors who will give their lives to protect him ... and the black stone. About two weeks ago I read Nick Brown's short story, Death This Day , which takes place before the actual events of The Siege ...

Death This Day by Nick Brown, An Agent of Rome story 265 AD. In the blazing desert wastes of Roman Syria death is never far away. Following a vicious battle between his squad of legionaries and a band of brigands, Oppius Rufus Serenus finds himself at the mercy of enemy warriors hell-bent on revenge, with only his dagger and his wits to defend himself... Roman Fiction (not to be mixed up with romance fiction!) has always been a genre that I liked to read, I have been reviewing a lot of short stories from Tor.com but didn't find such a story there, so I went through the author of who I read Roman stories and I wound up with Nick Brown, one of my favorite authors when it come down to this genre and as luck would have had it, he has written two short stories so far set in his Agent of Rome series. Now I wont go into too much detail regarding this series but it focuses on the frumentarii, Rome's secret service and it is just what you seek in Roman fiction. Ok but now onto...