Covers Unveiled for NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

Coming early in 2013 is Joe Hill's long awaited (by me at least) third full length novel after Horns, which is one of my favorite Horror novels of the last decade. In the US Hill's latest is being called Nos4a2 though in the UK they appear to be going with Nos4r2. Hill explains why in a tweet:

Joe Hill ‏@joe_hill:
The new novel is NOS4A2 in the US but for reasons of UK pronunciation is NOS4R2 on the other side of the pond.

US Harper/William Morrow Cover

UK Gollancz Cover

Both seem to do the job though the US has the clean "big book" look publishers go after when they don't want to turn anyone off while the UK goes for a nice atmospheric Horror cover. No official description is available, but Hill did discuss the book earlier this year at WorldCon in this video.

The estimated release date for the US edition of Nos4a2 is the end of April though that could change. No word on when the UK release will be, but something close seems likely. Add this is my list of CANNOT wait for titles in 2013.

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More Laird Barron is Always a Good Thing

While not a Horror aficionado I have been known to dip my toe in the area every now and again. One Horror author's work who I've found myself dipping into at regular intervals is Laird Barron. The man has won or been nominated for nearly every award he's been eligible, most notable winning the Shirley Jackson Award twice. His debut The Croning (released just last month) novel pretty much blew me away. It is a masterwork nailing the sense of dread combing folklore and Lovecraftian Cosmic Horror.

Around the same time The Croning was released I found out Barron was publishing a very limited (and expensive) edition of his long novella The Light is the Darkness and at over $200 it was out of my range. It is quite a beautiful edition that I found my mouse hovering over more than once. There's a couple photos of the lettered edition here. I held off knowing he'd probably include it in a future collection. I've just learned that there will be a trade paper release the middle of June for under $20 from Arcane Wisdom Press available through Miskatonic Books and other places like Barnes & Noble.

The blurb is below, but it is Barron. Just go and order it already and if you haven't gotten his collections Occultation or The Imago Sequence or novel The Croning get thee to a bookstore.

Conrad Navarro is a champion of the Pageant, a gruesome modern day gladiatorial exhibition held in secret arenas across the globe. Indentured by a cabal of ultra-rich patrons, his world is one of blood and mayhem, an existence where savagery reigns supreme while mercy leads to annihilation.

Conrad’s sister has vanished while traveling in Mexico. Imogene, a decorated special agent for the FBI, was hot on the trail of a legendary scientist whose vile eugenics experiments landed him on an international most-wanted list. Imogene left behind a sequence of bizarre clues that indicate she uncovered evidence of a Byzantine occult conspiracy against civilization itself — a threat so vast and terrible, its ultimate fruition would herald an event more inimical to all terrestrial life than mere extinction.

Now, Conrad is on the hunt, searching for his missing sister while malign forces seek to manipulate and destroy him by turns. It is an odyssey that will send this man of war from the lush jungles of South America, to the debauched court of an Aegean Prince, to the blasted moonscape of the American desert as he becomes inexorably enmeshed within a web of primordial evil that stretches back unto prehistory. All the while struggling to maintain a vestige of humanity; for Conrad has gazed into an abyss where the light is the darkness, and he has begun the metamorphosis into something more than human.

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Cover Unveiled for Never Knew Another by J. M. McDermott

Art by Julian Alday

Never Knew Another is J.M. McDermott's second novel after 2008's Last Dragon. I believe the art is by Santiago Caruso, but I haven't been able to confirm that. The ink and scratching technique is one of Caruso's know styles that he does exceptionally well and I'd call this piece exceptional.  Even if this isn't Caruso I love this cover as the two tone sepia sketch works really well and the touch of color draws me in.  UPDATE: The art is by Julian Alday who is new to me and the layout by Federico Piatti and Victoria Maderna.  Here is the description:

J. M. McDermott delivers the stunning new fantasy novel, Never Knew Another -- a sweeping fantasy novel that revels in the small details of life.

Fugitive Rachel Nolander is a newcomer the city of Dogsland, where the rich throw parties and the poor just do whatever they can to scrape by. Supported by her brother Djoss, she hides out in their squalid apartment, living in fear that someday, someone will find out that she is the child of a demon. Corporal Jona Lord Joni is a demon's child too, but instead of living in fear, he keeps his secret and goes about his life as a cocky, self-assured man of the law. Never Knew Another is the story of how these two outcasts meet.

I'd like a fuller description to know a bit more about the story and world, but this is one of those books where the cover is enough to get me to buy it. Never Knew Another is the first in the Dogsland Trilogy, which will be released in February 2011. This is another to add to the checkout list next year. This list keeps getting longer.

As an added bonus here is the unadulterated art called 'Jona's Tears', which is from Alday's blog.  Also, he did a write-up on the process for the cover.

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REVIEW | The Loving Dead by Amelia Beamer (Night Shade)

The Loving Dead is the fiendish page turning debut novel from Locus Editor Amelia Beamer. It was only a five years ago I thought I had out grown zombies, but then all of a sudden Max Brooks pulled me back and rekindled my joy of reading about flesh eaters. Now we have Beamer making shamblers all sexy-like spreading their STD of love.

Beamer's attempt at melding sex and zombies appears at first to be trying to mix two things that just don't belong together. Yet Beamer pulls off the trick and creates a cinematic story that is destined to be made into a film filled with gore, laughter, whips, and yes even heart.  Her zombies have bite, but also a sexy side that is hard to turn away from.

The Loving Dead takes place in San Francisco over the course of a day, which Beamer explores to the extreme going from the hills into the sky and finally out on to The Rock for a last stand. The story never staggers even as the characters are placed in some sticky situations that might unsettle your stomach or nerves. The Loving Dead centers on roommates Kate and Michael who both work at Trader Joe's because that is obviously where twenty-something's without direction end up working. After a night of partying some friends turn into zombies and than all the fun really begins.

The Loving Dead has spot on dialogue throughout. Funny and witty in the right places, but also naturalistic where needed. Many times it feels like these are conversations you and your friends have when hanging out. Some relationships could have been fleshed out more, but for the most part the characters are easy to connect with. Many times I found myself thinking this is probably how most people would react to a zombie outbreak in a city. But you can't leave until you take a Zeppelin ride to hell.

The epilogue is quite sad and surprising, but fills the void of a zombie pandemic that just ends without full resolution. If you are a fan of zombie fiction and think you've seen it all than look no further for that something new. Beamer effuses dark humor with a deft hand to bring us a modern take on zombies and the spread of a pandemic many of us are preparing for. I give The Loving Dead 7 out of 10 hats. I look forward to what Beamer has cooking next.

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REVIEW | Health Agent by Jeffrey Thomas

REVIEW | Health Agent by Jeffrey Thomas

This review is a little late. I read Health Agent a few months back, but when I moved back to my house the book got misplaced. But here now are my thoughts after a bit of a re-read and finding my original scribbles.

Health Agent is a very early version of Punktown. It was the first originally intended long form visit to Punktown by Thomas, but the first publisher dropped the ball. Now more than 20 years later we finally get a look at what Thomas had cooking, which has grown so much since Health Agent was originally written.

Health Agent is a penetrating read that sticks in your soul for a good, dark time. In many ways Health Agent is a very disturbing read. Firstly the subject matter is communicable diseases, which must be controlled or completely eradicated. Whores, both male and female abound in Health Agent along with hardcore drug use, depraved sex acts, and horrific blood chilling scenes of a very graphic nature, especially in the second half. In some ways it reminded me of some of the sicker scenes of the Saw movies, which for me is a bit too much, but I pressed through my discomfort because I had to know the out come which shows what a compelling story Thomas has here.

Health Agent is the story of Agent Montgomery Black and his partner Opal Cowrie. They are responsible for tracking down and arresting people infected with alien diseases in particular Mutstav 670, which is running rampant and causes death in every person infected in less than a year. While on investigation Black and Opal get infected in an odd arts show so they get to see how the other side fairs. This isn't a case of good agent gone bad, but of good agents thrown into the worst of circumstances and seeing a conspiracy wherever they look. Black eventually survives, which leads to the second part of the book where he is no longer an agent.  Now he is taking it easy working in a train station as a magazine seller when a beautiful girl catches his eye, but his skills as a detective quickly takeover as he notices she is injured sometimes when he sees her. This is the point in the story where the really bad and sick train rolls in to Punktown.  Black suspects connections between the art show that infected him and the show this girl is now involved in. The connections work well and the Sci-Fi aspect comes more into play as quite a few alien species get more involved with the story.

Health Agent is at its core a detective novel set in a Sci-Fi enviroment, but if you are sqeamish you might want to pass it over as it can get pretty extreme at times.  The ending wraps thing up well and shows there is redemption in Punktown. It is just hard to get and earn, but Monty eventually gets his due. I give Health Agent 7.75 out of 10 hats.  I found this fresher than even the more recent Blue War, but the Punktown shorts are still my favorites. All in all this gives a deeper insight into what Thomas has been brewing for over 20 years. Recommended for recent fans of Charlie Huston's Sleepless and other Sci-Fi mixed with Horror elements.


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REVIEW | Horns by Joe Hill (William Morrow)

Horns is a devilishly funny read that'll make you question the very nature of good and evil. Horns is even perhaps the best Horror novel I've ever read, which I finished in three sittings and nearly didn't go to a friend's party just to get further. Yeah, it's that good.

Now, I'll readily admit I'm not a huge Horror reader so take it for what it is worth. Hill's first effort Heart Shape Box was too unevenly paced and also went off on a few too many tangents for me. The whole ghost standing around all the time just didn't give me a creep factor either, which is why I wasn't expecting amazing things from Horns. Boy, am I glad to have been proven wrong here.

Joe Hill's sophmore effort is without a doubt one of the best books released this year.  I was totally engrossed from the second page in. Horns is dark, depraved, and fiendish in the most unexpected ways yet it is a Horror story with a heart. Two hearts in fact with the angst-ridden Ig and easily lovable Merrin both coming across as endearing and understandable characters whose deep love tear them apart.  Rather than go into the plot here is a bit of the description:

At first Ig thought the horns were a hallucination, the product of a mind damaged by rage and grief. He had spent the last year in a lonely, private purgatory, following the death of his beloved, Merrin Williams, who was raped and murdered under inexplicable circumstances. A mental breakdown would have been the most natural thing in the world. But there was nothing natural about the horns, which were all too real.

Ig's powers lead to particularly lurid conversations, which examine the human thought process in dark ways as seemingly everyday people are prodded to say exactly what demented things are on their mind. Multiple flashbacks give insight into many of the story threads including 3 different character's POV for one incident, which worked better than I anticipated.

Horns is a writing exercise in perfect subplots, pacing, and characterization that achieves on every level. This is one of the few books I can't find any fault with in anyway. Well, I did figure out one aspect within the first couple of chapters, but the reveal wasn't any less enjoyable for it, especially as Hill pulled a couple good rabbits out of his hat to make it work.

Hardcore Horror fans may feel Horns doesn't go dark enough, but the story goes as far as it needs to in order to achieve the depth it required, which is quite touching, sly, and immensely clever. Still there are some disturbing parts that'll make some turn away. I give Horns 10 out of 10 Hats. Hill has raised his game to lofty heights and he has now made me an unabashed fan. I can't wait to see what he does next.

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