For millennia it has lain there undiscovered. Now the time has come… Research scientist Evelyn Edwards always knew the Antarctic held deep secrets but the discovery of a 40,000 year old body buried under the ice caps surpasses even her wildest expectations. But just as her team begins extracting the body the dream turns into a horrific nightmare as they are targeted for death by someone who wants to keep this secret buried. Evelyn barely escapes with her life… On the run, alone and desperate, she turns to her ex-husband Matt Adams, a former member of an elite government unit, for help. Soon, they find themselves caught up in a frantic race against time, which takes them from Area 51 to the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, as they try to uncover the biggest conspiracy of all time before it’s too late for everyone… If mankind thought it knew its origins, the time has come to think again because its every belief is about to be challenged… I enjoy including the occasional thriller in my reading, especially when I’m looking for a break from fantasy or horror. There are a couple of things that make an effective thriller for me….
Twenty eight florins a month is a huge price to pay, for a man to stand between you and the Wild. Twenty eight florins a month is nowhere near enough when a wyvern’s jaws snap shut on your helmet in the hot stink of battle, and the beast starts to rip the head from your shoulders. But if standing and fighting is hard, leading a company of men – or worse, a company of mercenaries – against the smart, deadly creatures of the Wild is even harder. It takes all the advantages of birth, training, and the luck of the devil to do it. The Red Knight has all three, he has youth on his side, and he’s determined to turn a profit. So when he hires his company out to protect an Abbess and her nunnery it’s just another job. The abbey is rich, the nuns are pretty and the monster preying on them is nothing he can’t deal with. Only it’s not just a job. It’s going to be a war . . . I suspect there are going to be the almost inevitable comparisons between Miles Cameron and the likes of George R. R. Martin and Joe…
It’s been over six months since the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. Alex and Darla have been staying with Alex’s relatives, trying to cope with the new reality of the primitive world so vividly portrayed in Ashfall, the first book in this series. It’s also been six months of waiting for Alex’s parents to return from Iowa. Alex and Darla decide they can wait no longer and must retrace their journey into Iowa to find and bring back Alex’s parents to the tenuous safety of Illinois. But the landscape they cross is even more perilous than before, with life-and-death battles for food and power between the remaining communities. When the unthinkable happens, Alex must find new reserves of strength and determination to survive. First an admission – I didn’t realise when I started reading Ashen Winter that this was the second book in a trilogy, bad research on my part. That said, I was up to speed pretty quickly, and though I may have missed some of the references to book one, I don’t think I suffered too much not having read part one. The main premise of this novel is a frightening one; in fact, probably the most realistic apocalyptic event I’ve read this month….
A man cannot live on apocalyptic fiction alone so for a bit of a change of pace here is some young adult fiction of a more adventurous nature… Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to another pirate clan. But that only prompts the scorned clan to send an assassin after her. When Ananna faces him down one night, armed with magic she doesn’t really know how to use, she accidentally activates a curse binding them together. To break the curse, Ananna and the assassin must complete three impossible tasks – all the while grappling with evil wizards, floating islands, haughty manticores, runaway nobility, strange magic… and the growing romantic tension. I have a bit of a soft spot when it comes to all things piratical. The Crimson Pirate starring Burt Lancaster is one of my all-time favourite films. (Seriously, if you’ve never seen it you really need to check it out, it’s a classic). When I discovered that The Assassin’s Curse featured not only assassins but also magic, wizards and boat loads of pirates I was sold. Ananna is everything a good pirate should be. Courageous, strong willed and fiercely independent. As…
After spending the first seventeen years of his life in the under-ground world of the Lone Star Confederation, Steve Brickman, a newly-trained wingman, emerges to join a Trail-Blazer wagon-train selected to make the first deep-penetration strike into the territory held by the Plainfolk Mutes. The mission is part of a centuries-old conflict for possession of the blue-sky world in which both sides have fought with the ut-most ruthlessness. Steve is aware of the dangers but he has no inkling that his arrival has already been predicted by the enemy or that he is destined to embark on a perilous adventure; a test of courage and endurance that will totally change his life and cause him to doubt the truth of everything he has been taught since birth. Much as I enjoy a good old-fashioned zombie apocalypse, and I really do, there are plenty of other types of Armageddon that are just as worthy of consideration. Back in the early-to-mid eighties, Patrick Tilley wrote a series of six novels, collectively known as The Amtrak Wars, that follow various cultures in the Earth’s far future who have survived a global (probably nuclear) holocaust. The next apocalyptic work of fiction I want to…
THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT HAS CHANGED FOREVER THE REASON IS COLDBROOK The facility lay deep in Appalachian Mountains, a secret laboratory called Coldbrook. Its scientists had achieved the impossible: a gateway to a new world. Theirs was to be the greatest discovery in the history of mankind, but they had no idea what they were unleashing. With their breakthrough comes disease and now it is out and ravaging the human population. The only hope is a cure and the only cure and the only cure is genetic resistance: an uninfected person amongst the billions dead. In the chaos of destruction there is only one person that can save the human race. But will they find her in time? Unfortunately for the rest of humanity, there are some, most notably those pesky scientific types, who continue to be a spectacularly inquisitive bunch. Have they learned nothing from watching cats and their innate sense of curiosity? Based on the events that occur in Coldbrook the answer is a resounding no. It seems that as a race we just can’t help ourselves, we will go out of our way to fiddle with things that are best left alone. Coldbrook by Tim Lebbon is…
We are a house divided when it comes to classic apocalyptic fiction. I’m a huge fan of Swan Song by Robert McCammon while Mrs Cheesecake just can’t get enough of The Stand… First came the days of the plague. Then came the dreams.Dark dreams that warned of the coming of the dark man. The apostate of death, his worn-down boot heels tramping the night roads. The warlord of the charnel house and Prince of Evil. His time is at hand. His empire grows in the west and the Apocalypse looms. When Pablo Cheesecake said his annual October theme month was going to be apocalyptic fiction in honour of 2012, my mind immediately fell to The Stand, probably the first piece of apocalyptic fiction I ever read. For those that know me, they will probably not be surprised by this fact, as I am known to be a fan of Mr King. Originally published in 1978, and widely considered a masterpiece, The Stand was not the first Stephen King book I read – that honour goes to Christine. It probably does remain the largest book I have ever read. The 1000+ pages can be somewhat daunting, and even when I did eventually…
There is nothing to fear but fear itself… and zombies! Following the outbreak of Human Reanimation Virus – more commonly known as ‘The Death’ – from a hidden crypt beneath a south London church, the centuries-old plague quickly spreads throughout the world, turning victims into flesh-eating zombies. As we learn more about the mysterious Thomas Moreby – ‘Patient Zero’ – the surviving members of the human race begin their fightback against the legions of walking dead, and the Infected themselves begin mutating into something… different. Told through interconnected eyewitness accounts – emails, text messages, reports , diaries, found video footage and graphic adaptations – the remnants of humanity battle to survive in a world gone mad. This month The Eloquent Page will feature, along with regular reviews, a number of posts discussing my favourite genre subject – The Apocalypse. Pull up a seat for the End of the World… First up everyone’s favourite undead shufflers – zombies. Yes, I know that there is an awful lot of zombie fiction out there, but there are some books that really do stand out. Back in 2010 I reviewed Zombie Apocalypse and was pleased to discover a polished anthology that contained some first…
In 1981, Gaffney was terrorised by the Rainy Day Abductor. Local girls went missing. And two boys made a terrifying discovery. Now one of them has come home, to try and lay the past to rest. I read Mark West’s novelette, The Mill, last year and I was impressed by the author’s skill when it came to effectively conveying a sense of loss in his writing. What Gets Left Behind treads similar ground to The Mill, but rather than focusing on family this story is all about the bonds of friendship. West is part of a small group of authors that I’ve come across who are particularly gifted when it comes to capturing the sights and sounds of childhood. Part of the narrative is set in the early 1980’s and West’s writing certainly raises a knowing smile when he describes the boredom of a rainy afternoon when you were stuck indoors during the summer holidays. The other half of the tale plays out in the present day. The stories main protagonist, Mike Bergen, has spent many years trying to reconcile a horrific event from his childhood. He has purposefully stayed away from the town where he grew up. Circumstances draw him home and he is…
In Newcastle-upon-Tyne, AD 2142, Detective Sidney Hurst attends a brutal murder scene. The victim is one of the wealthy North family clones – but none have been reported missing. And the crime’s most disturbing aspect is how the victim was killed. Twenty years ago, a North clone billionaire and his household were horrifically murdered in exactly the same manner, on the tropical planet of St Libra. But if the murderer is still at large, was Angela Tramelo wrongly convicted? Tough and confident, she never waivered under interrogation – claiming she alone survived an alien attack. But there is no animal life on St Libra. Investigating this alien threat becomes the Human Defence Agency’s top priority. The bio-fuel flowing from St Libra is the lifeblood of Earth’s economy and must be secured. So a vast expedition is mounted via the Newcastle gateway, and teams of engineers, support personnel and xenobiologists are dispatched to the planet. Along with their technical advisor, grudgingly released from prison, Angela Tramelo. But the expedition is cut off, deep within St Libra’s rainforests. Then the murders begin. Someone or something is picking off the team one by one. Angela insists it’s the alien, but her new colleagues…
The floating city of Kesh rests above the uninhabitable planet of Vellern. For the Topsiders life is about luxury and opulence, while for those of the Undertow day to day survival takes precedence. Kesh City is a democracy by assassination, where the Angels – deadly state-sponsored killers – remove those unworthy to hold office. When Vanna Agriet accidentally spills her drink over an Angel it could spell death, but instead it leads to a rather peculiar friendship. The downsider Geal hopes for a better life topside, only to find herself embroiled in a ‘removal’ by the Angel Thiera. Downside, Isha’s brother Rakul brings a little black box home with him, and sets Isha on a journey that takes her to a meeting with the most powerful man in Kesh City. Larnia Mier, a talented topside musician and instructor, is injured after witnessing a removal first-hand. As her abilities diminish, new possibilities open up. This short story anthology features four individual tales all set in the fantastical city of Kesh. Collateral Damage – A chance meeting between two women in a bar acts as our introduction to the City of Kesh. Vanna is having trouble at home with her husband, while…
The police in Bristol have been confronted by a series of the most perplexingly elaborate deaths they’ve ever encountered in all their years of murder enquiries. The only thing which connects them is their seemingly random nature and their sheer outrageousness. As Detective Inspector Longdon and his assistant Sergeant Jenny Newham (with the help of pathologist Dr. Richard Patterson) race against time to find the murderer, they eventually realise that the link which connects the killings is even more bizarre than any of them dared to think… Imagine a British police procedural with a dark, sinister undertone, and a villain who delights in staging devilishly macabre crimes. Like the bastard son of Hammer House of Horror and A Touch of Frost, with just a dash of Tales of the Unexpected thrown in for good measure, The Nine Deaths of Dr. Valentine is the latest from small publisher Spectral Press. Outlandish as it is engrossing, I’ve read it a couple of times now and I reckon it’s a perfect little gem of a story. Who should read this then? Well, personally I think everybody, but if you are a fan of the likes of Hammer and Amicus (especially the films of Vincent Price) then you’ll be particularly…
In a big house in the English countryside, a reclusive and increasingly unstable author toils over a book which will close the best-selling trilogy of Jade Nexus fantasy novels. Speculation and rumour are rife among hardcore Jade Nexus fans that their heroine will die at the hotly-anticipated novel’s conclusion – a possibility against which they have begun to loudly protest via social media as the release date nears. How do you deal with such intense pressure? How do you cope with distractions to your work such as a violent intruder, panicked messages from your agent and a potential love interest moving into the cottage across the field? And far worse than any of those problems… what do you do about the Beast in your basement? Occasionally I like to throw caution to the wind and take a chance when it comes to my reading. I have a long list of authors whose work I enjoy, but I am always on the look out for new names to add. One of the best ways I’ve found to indulge this devil may care attitude is with short fiction and novellas. Its low risk, has a quick turnaround and every so often you’ll come…