The Ant-headed God ‘The Great Maurr’ has ascended to rule the Earth and enslave the population. These are the chronicles of the last few survivors. Only three cities remain: Moscow, London and Hong Kong. All crumbling, dying versions of their former glory. The Great Maurr’s own City of Hell dominates most of North America. Its diabolical influence has turned ordinary citizens into torturers, debased slaves, lunatics and zealots. Since I started The Eloquent Page, I have reviewed a couple of collections that specifically cover the topic of the Apocalypse. Firstly there was the evil insanity of Zombie Apocalypse and then Pandemonium: Stories of the Apocalypse. Both were great examples of the genre and a lot of fun. They left me keen to explore more short fiction with an apocalyptic theme. Recently I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to read The City of Hell Chronicles Volume One. This collection contains eight stories all detailing the same apocalyptic event, and with the exception of the first, all are written by female authors. Genesis by Colin F Barnes – Franklin Garrett, a retired clockmaker, is obsessed with creating a machine he sees in his dreams. Haunted by the loss of his wife and driven by voices that only he can hear he is determined…

Son of a knight and aspirant to the Round Table, Alymere yearns to take his place in the world, and for a quest to prove his worth. He comes across the foul Devil’s Bible – said to have been written in one night by an insane hermit – which leads and drives him, by turns, to seek the unholy Black Chalice. On his quest he will face, and overcome dire obstacles and cunning enemies, becoming a knight of renown; but the ultimate threat is to his very soul. It’s typical isn’t it? It turns out that stories about knights are like buses. You wait for one to arrive and then two appear at the same time. No sooner had I finished King Death by Paul Finch, I then noticed that the next book on my TBR pile was The Black Chalice by Steven Savile. (Possibly not the best planning in the world on my part but we’ll gloss over that shall we?). The Black Chalice is the first in a series from Abaddon Books called Malory’s Knights of Albion. The premise of this series is outlined in the novel’s introduction and describes the set-up perfectly. Found in a church vestry…

In 1348, England is stricken by the Black Death. The worst pandemic in human history has reached the kingdom of the warlike Edward III, a monarch who in battle against human adversaries cannot imagine defeat. Two thirds of his subjects now perish. Woods become wild again, farmland goes to rack and ruin, villages, towns and castles are left empty, inhabited only by ghosts. Little wonder that fear of the supernatural reaches an all-time high. Little wonder stories ignite about witches and demons spreading the plague, about ‘King Death’, an awesome harbinger of doom from whom there is no protection.  Cynical opportunist Rodric doesn’t believe any of these. With reckless indifference, he sets out to enrich himself… The latest release from Spectral Press is a bit different from all the others that have preceded it. King Death by Paul Finch is the first chapbook to venture into the realms of historical fiction. The story opens with a knight watching impassively, as a caravan full of disease ridden corpses trundles by on a lonely road. This vivid yet bleak image sets a perfect tone to the remainder of the tale. Rodric, the knight, isn’t the nicest man you are ever likely to meet. He is only interested in saving his own skin and, if at…

Abyrne is a decaying town, trapped by an advancing wilderness. Its people depend on meat for their survival. Meat supplied by the processing plant on the edge of town. Meat is sanctified in Abyrne, a precious commodity eaten with devout solemnity by everyone except for a handful of people who won’t, who suspect that the town is evil, rotten to its core. A feud smolders between the town’s religious and secular powers – whoever controls the food supply controls everything. But the townsfolk are hungry, they must be fed. They must be fed. I thought wormed its way into my brain while I was reading Meat. I realised that it is quite rare that an author, and their writing, has properly freaked me out. I read a lot of what is described as horror, but I think in all honesty a lot of it is more horror-lite. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy reading it, but it is somewhat lacking when it comes to proper chills. I suppose most modern horror novels just aren’t that horrific. They might offer the odd shock and a bit of gore, but nothing that is what I would call genuinely unsettling. Meat is though,…

Lots of exciting things afoot in the realms of publishing at the moment. The shiny metallic automatons who are cross have some interesting news to share.  Angry Robot announces new YA imprint, Strange Chemistry Angry Robot, the award-winning publisher of SF, F and WTF are pleased to announce their newest venture – a sister imprint, Strange Chemistry, which will publish Young Adult genre fiction. The imprint will launch in September 2012, with five titles appearing before the end of that year, before settling down to one book each month. Strange Chemistry will follow AR’s strategy of co-publishing its books simultaneously in the US and UK, in both eBook and paperback formats. Subject matter will include fantasy, science fiction, supernatural and horror, and as with Angry Robot the lines between those genres are likely to be very blurry at times. Running the imprint will be Amanda Rutter, until recently best known as the tireless blogger behind genre review site, Floor-to-Ceiling Books. She takes up her position in Angry Robot’s headquarters in Nottingham on December 12th. Angry Robot’s managing director Marc Gascoigne said: “The key to any truly successful genre imprint is the personality of its editors. In Amanda we’ve found the perfect mix of…

Please note The Cross is a direct sequel to Uprising and this review may contain minor spoilers for those of you who have not read book one. Consider yourself warned and read on at your own peril. An Ancient Evil Rises Again… The cross of Ardaich, feared by vampires, was believed to have been destroyed during the bloody war between the Vampire Federation and the Trads. But its accidental rediscovery could be catastrophic. Detective Joel Solomon can’t forgive VF agent Alex Bishop for making him a vampire. Yet when the Federation arch enemy Gabriel Stone enlists a vicious killer to retrieve the cross, the couple and their human allies become the only defence against pure evil. If the cross is used to gain power by the Ubervampyr, the sadistic and primeval race of the undead, it isn’t just ordinary vampires like Alex and Joel who will be in danger. Things could be about to turn very nasty for the human race… The Cross picks up immediately after the events at the end of it predecessor, Uprising. The reader is immediately thrust into the fallout of the previous novels conclusion. Each of the sides in the conflict has retreated to their respective…

The following press release dropped into my mailbox today and as I’ve enjoyed and reviewed a couple of Anarchy Books previous releases I thought I woud pass this info on. ANARCHY BOOKS PRESS RELEASE  Saturday 19th November is a date for your diaries, with Anarchy Books releasing not one wholesome SF novel, but two! First comes New York Nights by SF Heavyweight, Eric Brown. “New York 2040 is a city of the lost. So, a good place to work in Missing Persons. But business is not so good that Hal Halliday can forget his sister, burned alive when she was a child. Now, only VR offers the chance to bring her back. The future may yet allow Hal to live in the past – if he can survive his next job…” Described by Peter F. Hamilton as “the name to watch in SF“, and Brown’s novel HELIX described by Stephen Baxter as, “a classic concept – a built world to dwarf Rama and Ringworld – a setting for a hugely imaginative adventure. Helix is the very DNA of true sf. This is the rediscovery of wonder”, this first digital release of New York Nights is available as a PDF, EPUB or MOBI format, for the low price of…

Michael struggles to come to terms with the death of his wife. He has visions of her calling to him, inviting him to the beyond. At the Bereaved Partners’ Group, he learns that he is not the only one left behind who can hear the departed beckon them… to the Mill. Over the last twelve months I have rekindled my interested in reading short stories. I’ve been lucky enough to read some marvelous anthologies and some fantastic stand-alone work. I was first exposed to Mark’s writing when a read the anthology Ill at Ease. I thoroughly enjoyed his entry Come See My House In The Pretty Town. I recently got the opportunity to read another one of his short stories, The Mill. It has always struck me that sadness and grief can be incredibly difficult emotions to convey in writing. When it is successful, however, it can produce work that is not only incredibly effective but also deeply moving. Personally I have only come across writing like this a few times in the past, I think I am going to have to include Mark West on this very short list.  The reader gets glimpses of the emotional turmoil that surrounds Michael at…

For centuries, vampires walked the earth undetected, feasting on humans in keeping with their ancient traditions, but now 21st century technology has left them open to detection… To establish order, the Vampire Federation is born, policed by special agents like vampire Alexandra Bishop, authorised to hunt down those who violate the new code. But rebel vampire Gabriel Stone doesn’t play by the rules and declares war against the Federation, throwing Alex and her team into turmoil. Oblivious to the chaos in the vampire world, human Detective Inspector Joel Solomon is drawn into and unlikely alliance with Alex when he investigates a series of gruesome corpses drained of their blood. Together they are plunged into a war of good versus evil, taking them from the streets of London to the mountains of Transylvania in a battle that threatens to destroy them all… The blurb on the back cover of Uprising boldly proclaims that this will be “a perfect read for fans of films such as Blade an Nightwatch”. Curious to see if this claim would prove to be true I was looking forward to reading this novel. The concept of vampires living secretly amongst humans has been done before, and I’m sure it will…

Humanity has always believed it is the only intelligent species of life in the universe. But while excavating in Israel, an archaeologist unearths a tomb that has remained hidden for 7,000 years. Inside lies a secret of such magnitude that the story of mankind is instantly rewritten – and its future thrown into terrible danger. Only one man can piece history back together again. Only one man will risk everything to prevent a catastrophe that could tear the world apart.  That man is Ethan Warner. I always envisaged that putting together a decent thriller novel is much like making a cake. There is a recipe that outlines all the key ingredients that need to be included to make it turn out perfectly. The instructions would probably read something like this. Start with a slightly jaded hero, if you can get one who has a troubled past so much the better. Add a couple of dashes of political intrigue and, if you have it, a sprinkling of potentially controversial subject matter. Mix well with a secondary narrative that will eventually shed additional light on the first, then after around six hundred pages you’ll have an ideal thriller. Covenant is a pretty good example…

Barricaded into a city block called The Station, two hundred souls have survived the apocalypse. So far. Was it a bomb? A biological attack? Phase one of an invasion? No one knows. The Long Silence has begun.  After dark, thousands of the city’s inhabitants – neither living nor dead – prowl the streets snatching survivors. The Station is under constant threat. Each day a lottery decides the seven members of The Kill Crew – a night shift of civilian soldiers. Their mission is simple: Extermination.  Sheri Foley, a nobody in the days before the Long Silence, discovers she has the heart of a survivalist. She becomes one of the toughest members of The Kill Crew. But there are enemies inside the Station too. The evils of the old world persist and Sheri Foley must fight them all. If you’re a regular visitor to the site you’ll know that I am a big fan of apocalyptic fiction. I enjoy reading it because I am slightly obsessed about survivor’s stories.  I also use this as an excuse to try out authors whose work I have never been exposed to before. I reckon if you can tackle the end of the world as a theme then…

Welcome to Pandemonium. Ragnarok, climate change, Skynet, Mayan prophecies, zombie hordes, swine flu, reality TV, Gozer the Gozerian, the youth of today, the rise of the apes, no phone coverage, rogue asteroids and the Fox Network cancelling your new favourite TV show. Whatever your end-of-days desire, humanity has a knack for summoning an apocalypse to fit. So what kind of Judgement Day junkie are you? When I heard that some of the team behind Pornokitsch, one of my favourite websites, were putting together an anthology of short stories I was interested. Their geek culture, book, and film reviews are always a delight to read and tend to offer great insight into the topics they cover. Then I discovered that the theme of this collection was going to be the end of the world, a subject very close to my heart, I was very keen to get my hands on a copy. This first Pandemonium collection is inspired by the evocative, apocalyptic artwork of John Martin (19 July 1789 – 17 February 1854). Eighteen short stories have been commissioned to coincide with Tate Britain’s John Martin: Apocalypse retrospective. More so than any other anthology I’ve read this year, I actually found it difficult to pick my favourite stories from this collection. Not…