Book Beat: New on shelves…

Updated on October 27, 2008 By Ken Begg 8 Comments

Neat. 

Meanwhile, fans of the wizard Harry Dresden may miss this one, because it’s an 80 page novella, and it stars not Harry but his vampire brother Thomas. So you may wish to get that one through your library:

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  • jzimbert

    Coincidentally, I just started reading the Dresden Files last week, since Amazon has been pushing them on me for months. I’m not LOVING “Storm Front” yet, but it’s holding my interest. I have to say, though: $12.78 for an 80 page novella? And that’s AFTER a 36% discount? Yikes.

  • Yeah, that novella thing is getting increasingly popular (Janet Evanovich puts one out between every novel), but I agree the price is just stupid.

    I agree with you. The Dresden books are mildly enjoyable, but I don’t really find them to be good writing. Simon Green is another author like that. I stick with them because I like the genre and the books are quick reads. (On the other hand, neither has gone unreadably nuts like Laurel K. Hamilton–although given how successful she’s become, they probably wish they had.)

    That’s why I mentioned Scott Lynch and Joe Abercrombie last week, because those guys really do write well. Closer to the mark in terms of Butcher and Green is Kim Newman, who is a very good writer. He’s kind of a less insane and angry Alan Moore.

  • fish eye no miko

    I’ve never head of Robert Howard, but the Page has a recommendation from no less than H.P. Lovecraft! O_O
    I’m a bit strapped for cash this month, so maybe I’ll look at it next week… I can still use this link, right?

  • Petoht

    Honestly, Storm Front is where Butcher is getting his bearings, too. It doesn’t really kick in until the third book, when he had a real contract, and started working on the over-plot. Of course, my personal favorite would be Dead Beat, but that just has some delightfully insane destruction in the climax.

    Supposedly, there’s to be another ten(!) books after the latest (Small Favor), followed by another 3 book apocalypse cycle(!!).

    If nothing else, it’ll provide plenty of light reading for the next decade or so. To say nothing of potential novellas and the graphic novels they seem to be planning (Welcome to the Jungle was… okay).

    And, honestly, given his contract and following, I don’t seem him going the Hamilton-smut route. It’d probably kill his following, go against the nature of the characters, and, frankly, ruin a very enjoyable series.

    (hope this doesn’t double-post… bloody server errors)

  • Ericb

    I bought the Howard book just for the creepy cover. I hope that monster appears in one of the stories.

  • It would suck if it didn’t!

    I was never a big Conan fan, but I do like Solomon Kane. If you’d like to let us know how the horror book is, feel free.

  • Ericb

    Sure thing. I’ve actually never read any old pulp stuff before (unless you count Lovecraft) so I guess it will be a bit of a literary adventure for me.

  • jason hyde

    Actually, I just finished a different Robert E. Howard horror collection (The Haunter of the Ring and Other Tales, from Wordsworth Editions’ excellent Tales of Mystery and the Supernatural series). Overall, it was very good, although there were about two too many stories where someone got hit on the head and relived their past as a barbarian, which allowed Howard to basically write some Conan in the middle of a horror story. And there were two obviously Sax Rohmer-inspired tales that were derivative, yet still pretty ripping yarns. The more overtly Lovecraftian tales were good, but I think the best ones were things like ‘The Horror from the Mound’ ‘Black Talons’ and ‘Pigeons from Hell’ (later adapted for TV on Boris Karloff’s Thriller), where Howard’s distinct voice really seems to come through without his influences getting in the way. Those tales, with their rough-hewn and/or hardboiled heroes really couldn’t have come from anyone else. The tougher the hero, the more Howard you get.

    I imagine the contents of this book are pretty similar to the Wordsworth book. If so, it’s definitely worth picking up if you’re at all interested in weird fiction.