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I first put pen to paper as Nathan Brazil, when writing to the letters pages and forums of various SF websites. Most of the people out there are nice, but the Net does attract a few nutters. So my aim was to separate this area of interest from my every day activities, at least as far as e-mail was concerned. For those who do not recognise it, Nathan Brazil is a name borrowed from the lead character in a series of excellent SF novels by the late great Jack L. Chalker. Out of the blue, an editor contacted me to ask if I'd ever thought of writing reviews. I hadn't, but as the deal meant I got free books, I decided to give it a go. The rest, is histrionics. |
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'Marla Mason shows every sign of edging ahead of her competitors, both in the fictional world, and in the world of publishing.' 'Part Zatanna, part Elektra, with a dash of American Psycho.' 'An entertaining, effortlessly captivating read, dripping with what Alannah Myles once called a slow southern style.'
' For those intrigued by the idea of a bawdier, post-apocalyptic radioactive version of Friends.'
'An accomplished light fantasy, that from the outset is above most of its contemporaries.'
'The Dasati made Feist's original Rift enemies, the Tsurani, seem like Girl Guides.'
'The unstoppable comedic juggernaut that is Robert Rankin rumbles onward, this time set to music.'
'A terrific example of how well publishing can work when a publisher is blessed with the brains to spot a good thing.'
'Less appealing than the idea of Christopher Tolkien turfing out his old man's stuff, to write New Hobbits in the Hood.'
'Produces a sense of disbelief suspended by its neck, only to be saved by the author's well honed story-telling powers.'
'A striking, animated, eloquent first novel, destined to take its place among the best of its contemporaries.'
'A good showcase for Stirling's imagineering, research and attention to detail.'
'A genuinely exciting project, which may well be a glimpse into the future of SF publishing.'
' I couldn't help but feel that many readers will end up wondering if anyone got the number of the truck!'
'I felt like I was reading Chessie Bligh and the Wibbly Wobbly Plot.' 'A virtually invincible, scaly, trans-dimensional, super-hero adventurer. A whole lot of fun.'
'There are better, fresher ideas available to readers, from authors not content to trade on past glory.'
'Rolls like a safari though the fantastic land of his imagination.'
'It was usually done in such a fashion as to bleed out the joy.'
'There's a fine line between a superpower and a chronic medical condition.'
'Just enough spookiness to require a night light.'
'Cooler, intellectually laced intrigue, aimed at readers comfortable with subtle minutia and artfully crafted characterisation.'
'Another load of fey sexploitation, masquerading as fantasy.'
'Intriguing and irritating in equal measure.'
'Seminal examples of how short SF should be written, and more importantly, a terrific read.'
'I can heartily recommend The Best of Philip José Farmer to anyone who enjoys aerobics of the imagination.'
'Six or seven heads are better than one, unless you're a Joker.'
'Birmingham never loses sight of the personal stories, the tragedies and triumphs, without which all the action could easily be just another movie on paper.' 'If Bear wants to compete with the likes of Tom Clancy and Dan Brown, the evidence here is that he is up to the task.'
'There's an evil sparkle here, brighter and hotter than any of Feist's works since the Magician trilogy.'
'An astonishing work which reinterprets and redefines the definition of a modern classic fairytale.'
'A meticulously deconstructed history of essential Potter,'
'I can recommend it to fellow travellers, be they in motion or merely passing through time.' 'When it works, it's good fun, when it doesn't the author drops into witty conversation mode that grates as often as it entertains.'
'Depth, insight, clever characterization, fascinating answers to the alien abduction mythos, are all completely absent from this book.'
'A new virus, agricultural ruin and invasive biotech, complicated by radically altered religious and political divisions.'
'Reminiscent of a promising SF TV show, which gets cancelled before all the interesting threads are explained.'
'Fifteen writers give their views on where the series came from, what it is trying to tell us, and where it's ultimately headed.'
'You've got to love a writer who has one of his main characters soul sucked by something unpleasant lurking in her wardrobe.'
'Holes big enough to swallow a politician's ego.'
'Has just enough going for it to push it above the mainstream.' 'In addition to vampire clans, the backdrop includes human mages, demons, were creatures, ghosts, pixies, and allegedly, elves.' 'Last Sons is a Bernard Matthews special, in other words, it's a turkey.'
'Mixes precision engineered imagination with a dash of the author's personal experience.'
'A worthy addition to the collection of any comic book fan, young or older, who favours superior script over flashy scribble.'
'I award it six out of ten fangs.'
'Flight of the Nighthawks rumbles along in customary fashion, and is never less than entertaining.' 'Thinking man's SF, without any of the stuffiness or lecturing that often spoils the harder side of the genre.' 'The consummate WYSIWYG author, he delivers time and again, just so much and no more.'
'Grab a copy now, and enjoy the days of future passed.'
'Somewhere between a comic book script aimed at older readers, and the Wild Cards novels'.
'Has the basis of a good story bursting to get out, but for some reason prefers to indulge in fantasy of a different kind.' 'I knew I'd had a good time reading, I just couldn't remember all the details.'
'If you are sick to the back teeth with humdrum fantasy fodder, hairy Hobbits and boy wizards, Mark Chadbourn is the cure.' 'As with his previous work, Dan Abnett entertains from the ground up.' 'The premise behind this novel is a bold one; what happens when God dies.'
'For readers who like their fantasy rammed through the gaps in the land of imagination.'
'A workman-like contribution to a genre which appreciates a certain amount of predictability.'
'I found myself hoping with each turn of a page that she'd keep her knees together for long enough to advance the more interesting plot elements.'
'The impression I got was that the instant sex was like instant coffee; okay for a quick fix but nowhere near as good as what you get from a percolator.' 'It is this factual basis which set Genesis above the also rans, and made it a precursor of TV shows such as The X-Files and Dark Skies.'
'A highly plausible alternate take on history, which reads more like an alternate historical record, than a story set in another timeline.' 'It's the Murkan nightmare, twenty centuries ahead, and just as ugly.'
'This book includes a little nugget of gold, or to be more accurate, white gold. Like Fox Mulder, Presley wants to believe, and his enthusiasm is infectious.'
'It's a plot with far less magic, as a story element, than in previous works.'
'Overall, the surgical precision of Harrison's work cuts deeper than most writers dare to go.' 'A fast paced character rich story, which feels like a slicker, updated version of an old, 50s SF movie.'
'It seemed more like fantasy by numbers, and some of them were in the wrong order.'
'Exile's Return is the equivalent of a bag of traditional British fish and chips; it may not be the finest fare, but it is crisp, mouth-watering, and impossible to resist.' 'Madness for the mainstream reader, but refreshingly different, perhaps, for those in search of chaotic escapism.'
'Long before The DaVinci Code, another writer was putting together puzzle pieces drawn from the most enduring mysteries of antiquity and modern mythology.'
'All of the major and much of the minor that comprises Middle- Earth is covered with meticulous attention to detail.'
'If at this point you're confused, and thinking that you may have been accidentally dosed with an hallucinogen, then you're probably just where the writer wanted you to be.'
'The story reads almost as if it might be a lost episode from the electrifying life of the world's most celebrated escapologist.'
'The supernatural characters move like stilettos among those who are wholly human though often inhumane.'
'The converted, I'm sure, will lap up this title, but it may disappoint new readers among today's more sophisticated public.'
'What makes these characters so good is that they are written as real people, desperately trying to cope with a complete shift of power, which has pushed humanity further down the food chain.'
'It's a great big meat grinder of a book, aimed at readers who enjoy realistic and gritty alternate history with no frills.'
'At turns mysterious, exhilarating, moving and humorous, it's a tale in which every cast member is made to matter, both to one another and the reader.' 'I'd like to see his next work pared down by about 150 pages, polished until it gleamed, and tightened until the nuts squeaked.' 'He doesn't so much nail readers attention to the page, as crucify it.' 'The authors take a fair, if not too original idea, and turn it into something that is hugely disappointing and politically correct to an almost painful degree.'
'It could have done with a much more vigorous polish and liberal shakes of the credibility cellar.'
'The premise mines the rich vein of alternate history, but with the added twists of sideways science, and the subtle hand of covert supernatural forces.' 'In terms of size, it's a novella, but it includes more entertainment than many books that are four times its length.' 'Faerie Wars is written with such fluency and style that several chapters go by before you remember you were only going to read a couple.' 'The book reads like a work twice its size. Mainly because the author takes the business of world creation seriously, and handles the task with consummate professionalism.'
'A charming, straightforward tale, set in 1935, when the world was a much more innocent place.'
'Lovegrove writes with a flowing, easy to read style,
big on realistic dialogue, sharp descriptive, and believable situations'
'The sense of magic and wonder is back, thanks to an interesting, ensemble cast, up to their necks in an inventive, never less than entertaining plot.'
'This first book in the Dark Age sequence shares the same earthy, realistic dialogue, and skillful characterisation of its predecessors. Yet it differs in a number of ways, stylistically.'
'Chadbourn does a fine job of showing how religion can easily become corrupted by the agendas of unstable fundamentalists, and that blind faith in leaders -- or anything -- will get you killed.' 'Meepers reminded me of the noise Roadrunner makes to Wile E. Coyote, and Gwarulch is the sound of something nasty squelching underfoot in a field full of cows.' 'Nirvana's Children is the kind of book that makes me glad I learned to read.' 'More common, as the book progresses, is the author's nanny-like insistence on the use of nonsense swear words, in place of the real thing. Bliddy, plackett, sniking, crike and graspole all make appearances.
'I felt like I was being bombarded with channels, when what I wanted was the news.' 'The book works for readers of all ages, skipping between the Analogue World and the Realm of Faerie, with the emphasis on characterisation, for which Herbie Brennan has a gift.'
'Blake is tough yet sexy, she likes men, but only on her own terms, and she's pricklier than a box full of hedgehogs.'
'Mark Chadbourn is the anti-Tolkien. His Age of Misrule trilogy grabs standard fantasy fodder by its danglers, and squeezes hard.' 'Lee is brave enough not to sanitise God, or sidestep what some may see as evidence of psychosis in His demands. Angels such as Angelese have their wings amputated as a mark of their devotion.'
'How to bottle lightning, that's the theme at the heart of this book. Terry Brooks comes across as a likeable, genuine sort of bloke, who freely admits what a major part luck played in his early success.'
'The action is fast paced and frequent, but allows for some skilful character development, dry humour, and savage lessons in the life of a soldier.' 'The back cover blurb describes the book as The Matrix meets A Fistful of Dollars, but that soon proves to be an overly optimistic appraisal.'
'It's a wonderfully literate story, economically told in well under 300 pages, by a master craftsman. If the job of a novelist included gunfights, Pullman would leave most of his competition dead in the dust.'
'In conclusion, King of Foxes lacks the credibility, complexity and extra bounce per ounce which the author has previously delivered.' 'The author of Pharos has an unusual style that will drive some readers doolally, while others will no doubt find it a refreshing change to the norm.'
'Readers living outside the U.S., with different cultural values, may perceive Anita as having testosterone poisoning.'
'In summary, if you imagine 24 with a supernatural slant, starring Eliza Dushku, that’s what to expect from Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter.'
'Every so often, I come across a novel which looks like it might be quite interesting, and turns out to be even better. It’s a cinematically presented story, not unlike an episode of The Sopranos, but on acid.'
'Much of the comedy is derived from the reverse prejudice of the fiercely insular Bhamra family, who are all but oblivious to Western society.'
'He stood apart from the other great soul singers, because there was something about him that conveyed a sense of inner darkness.'
'It was with great surprise that I found myself somewhat bored, and disappointed by the lack of anything recognisably Feistian. Had the body-snatchers done away with Raymond?'
'If I may drop into Swiss Tony mode, this trilogy was very much like making love to a beautiful woman. Sabriel smouldered with the promise of fire beneath. Lirael was hours of slow foreplay. Abhorsen arched its back like a cat and screamed "Read me. Read me now!" 'The author's reverence for her subject is clear, and we're given lots of comments from those who adore Whedon. This is very much a book in praise of its subject, rather than about him.'
'The most stifling conspiracy theory of all, Presley suggests, is the conspiracy of silence.' 'The Human Front is a novella-sized work, but includes so many ideas that it seems much bigger. ' |
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Nathan Brazil |
The photos to the left have elicited some amusing responses. One woman - perhaps visually impaired - said of the seated pose, "You could've been a film star." One man, clearly insane, said the close-up made me look like a 'manic Conservative Member of Parliament.' If Nathan Brazil were dyslexic, he'd be the dog of the Well world. In reality, he's an English bloke who lives on an island, reading, writing and throwing chips to the seagulls. The above text is a tag line that appears on all my SF Site reviews. As a note of explanation for readers who wonder what it means, the original and best Nathan Brazil was also the 'God of the Well.' Brazil was the last of a primal super-race, left behind as caretaker for the Well World. This Nathan Brazil is presently based on the Isle of Wight, which is the rock you see on maps, under the middle of England's southern coast. |
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Vehicle courtesy of Rainbow Motors |
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Images,
concepts and sound © Adam Webb. All rights reserved |
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