What is The Blue Blazes?

The Blue Blazes
Chuck Wendig
Angry Robot Books
UK Print
Date: 6th June 2013
ISBN: 9780857663344
Format: Medium (B-Format) Paperback
R.R.P.: £8.99
US/CAN Print
Date: 28th May 2013
ISBN: 97808576633518
Format: Small (Mass-Market) Paperback
R.R.P.: US$7.99 CAN$8.99
Ebook
Date: 28th May 2013
ISBN: 9780857663368
Format: Epub & Mobi
R.R.P.: £5.49 / US$6.99

Chuck Wendig's latest novel is the first in new series, about a gangster named Mookie Pearl.  It's an over the top blend of fantasy, horror, and noir wrapped inside a family drama.  This is what urban fantasy for guys looks like, although I'm sure a number of ladies will enjoy it as well.

Mookie is a gangster who has a special skill set.  He deals with problems the Organization has with the Great Below, the underworld where several supernatural races live and scheme against humanity.  He's divorced, hasn't spoken to his ex in years, and is trying to build a relationship with his estranged teen daughter who's building a criminal empire of her own.  Somehow she's learned that the head of the Organization, The Boss, is dying of cancer.  This is not yet public knowledge.

When the Boss's appointed heir and nephew asks Mookie to try and find a way to cure The Boss in the Great Below, Mookie knows it's a fool's errand, but really, what choice does have?  The Blue Blazes of the title refers to a blue powder mined in the Great Below.  When rubbed on the temples, it allows a person to perceive the supernatural world around them.  There are other substances, all of them with colors in the name, that are rumored to exist but by and large believed to be mythical by most people.  It's one of these the nephew wants Mookie to find in order to save his uncle.

The task would be bad enough, but there are other who are also aware of The Boss's impending demise.   And they're moving to take advantage of it.  Including Mookie's daughter.

The action in this one moves fast and furious.  Wendig has crafted a compelling mystery, a suspenseful thriller, and a gritty urban fantasy with a dash of Lovecraft.  And along the way he manages to make Mookie Pearl a sympathetic character in spite of the fact that Mookie isn't the sort of man who would want to invite to dinner.

The secondary cast are well developed.  While the story is told primarily from Mookie's viewpoint, Wendig shows us the other characters' thoughts and motivations. Mookie's friends and enemies are an assorted lot, including mobsters, ordinary, humans, and even a dead man (that Mookie had killed).

The major plots lines were all resolved, but things won't be going back to the status quo.  It's going to be interesting to see where Wendig takes this one.  And in case you're wondering, no, he hasn't abandoned the Miriam Black series (reviewed here and here).  There's an announcement of the next one, The Cormorant, in the author bio.

I'd like to thank Angry Robot for the review copy.  Below is an excerpt.  Check it out. 

Open publication - Free publishing - More criminal

New Acquisitions

Today a friend and I took my son hiking in Palo Duro Canyon while our wives stayed home doing whatever wives do when husbands are away.  (I don't want to know; that it involves spending money is enough.)  This will tie into a Dispatches From the Lone Star Front post later in the week after another road trip. 

When I go home, there was a package waiting for me.  It contained a copy of Ari Marmell's In Thunder Forged from Pyr Books.  Along with Wrath-Breaking Tree (James Enge) and Kindred and Wings (Philippa Ballantine) that came Thursday and Nebula Awards Showcase (Catherine Asaro, ed.), which arrived last week, that's four from Pyr in about ten days.  The Marmell and Nebula Awards will be reviewed first since the former will be out in a couple of weeks, and the latter is out already.  That's not to say some of the other review copies Pyr has sent me won't end up in the queue in the next couple of weeks.

I've also got several titles from Angry Robot in my ereader:  The Blue Blazes by Chuck Wendig (which I've already started and am loving), iD by Madelaine Ashbury, and A Discourse in Steel by Paul S. Kemp.

Finally, I'm looking forward to diving into No Return by Zachary Jernigan.  He was kind enough to send me a copy of his first novel.  This one got some good advance buzz, and I love the cover.  It's up Blue Blazes. 

Anyway, those are the novels from publishers and authors I've agreed to read and review.  I still plan to increase the amount of short fiction I review.  (Sooper Seekrit Project #2 requires me to do so.)  I'm also going to stick in some novels just because I want to read them.

Think all that will keep me busy?

Mockingbird Sings an Original Song

Mockingbird
Chuck Wendig
Angry Robot Books
UK/RoW
6 Sep 2012
384pp B-format paperback
£7.99 UK

US/CAN
28 Aug 2012
mass-market paperback
$7.99 US $8.99 CAN

eBook
28 Aug 2012
£5.49

Class? Let me have your attention please, class.  We're going to start today's session with a quiz.  The topic is Chuck Wendig's forthcoming novel, Mockingbird.  This will be multiple choice.  Mockingbird is a) relentless, b) creepy, c) compelling, d) surprising, e) likely to keep you up too late finishing it, f) all of the above.

No looking on your neighbor's paper.  Please pass them to the aisle when you're done.

Do I have all the papers?  Good.  The answer, of course, is f.

Recommendations from the First Half of 2012

There have been a lot of lists posted or published, depending on the format, in the last few weeks, claiming to enumerate the best books/stories/graphic novels/dirty limericks/ransom notes/whathaveyou from the first half of 2102.  To which, I say, yeah, right.  Unless these lists were compiled by committee, no one person could have read enough novels to say their list is the best.  And if the list were put together by committee, well, we all know what too often comes out of committee.

Now I'm not saying those lists don't have value, just the title "Best" is misleading.  So I'm going to call the list that follows simply my recommendations for the first half of 2012.

First, a couple of ground rules.  I'm going to limit myself to novels, and with one or two exceptions which were self-published, novels published in 2012.  I'm making an exception for the self-published novels because they sometimes need a little time to develop some momentum.  Anyone paying attention to the trade publishers should be aware of forthcoming novels.

I'm also going to take the coward's way out and not try to rank them.  I started to, but quickly ran into the issue of trying to decide between two books I thoroughly loved but for entirely different reasons.  I could bite the bullet and give them rankings, but tomorrow I'd probably change my mind.  Instead the books will be listed alphabetically by title.

So here are my recommendations from the first half of 2012, along with an occasional cheeky synopsis.  If more than one book in a series came out in the first part of the year, I've only listed the first book.

Blackbirds Coming Home to Roost

Blackbirds
Chuck Wendig
Angry Robot Books
UK/RoW
3 May 2012
320pp B-format paperback
£7.99 UK

US/CAN
24 April 2012
320pp mass-market paperback
$7.99 US $8.99 CAN

eBook
24 April 2012
£4.49

This is a novel that will most likely appeal to fans of Joe R. Lansdale.  It's a high octane ride through the dark recesses of humanity, a smashing blend of noir and the supernatural that combines the best of classic crime novels with downright genuine creepiness.

I absolutely loved it.  With one small exception.

The Next Week or So

I'm getting over a sinus infection at the moment, something that isn't helped by the dust and the wind here on the South Plains.  Unless something major happens tomorrow, I probably won't be posting anything new until Sunday night or more probably Monday evening.  I'll be attending ConDFW this weekend and will give a full report when I get back.  I'm also reading Mark Finn's updated biography of Robert E. Howard, Blood and Thunder, and Matt Forbeck's Carpathia.  They're both great reads, and I'll review them next week.  I had hoped to finish one of them in time to write a review before the con, but being sick has slowed me down some.

In the meantime, this Saturday will see the first guest post here.  Author Ty Johnston is doing a blog tour to promote his new book, Demon Chains, the latest in his Kron Darkbow series.  I'd like to thank Ty in advance for his column.  I've read it, and it's good.  Check it out.  And if you haven't read any of his books, start with City of Rogues, which I reviewed a few months ago.

Coming up after the report on ConDFW, I've got commitments to review (not necessarily in this order) Shadow's Master by Jon Sprunk,  Thief's Covenant by Ari Marmell, The Alchemist of Souls by Anne Lyle, Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig, Trang by Mary Sisson, and Rise and Fall by Joshua P. Simon.  I'll probably look at some short fiction in the midst of all that, plus the occasional essay.