Release Week: The Human Division and Robin Hobb's Rain Wilds Chronciles conclude; two outstanding 2013 anthologies come to audio; and The Far Time Incident

← Sam's Listening Report: January 2013
The Human Division Listen-A-Long! Episode 12: The Gentle Art of Cracking Heads →

Release Week: The Human Division and Robin Hobb's Rain Wilds Chronciles conclude; two outstanding 2013 anthologies come to audio; and The Far Time Incident

Posted on 2013-04-10 at 20:29 by Sam

Earth Below, Sky Above: The Human Division, Episode 13 | [John Scalzi]APRIL 3-9, 2013: While overall the release week lacks splashy concurrent new standalone releases, it’s still quite a week with the conclusions both of John Scalzi’s serial novel The Human Division, with a 2-hour Episode 13, Earth Below, Sky Above (cover, left), and of Robin Hobb’s Rain Wilds Chronicles, as well as two outstanding anthologies (ok, one is a collection) from a bit earlier in 2013 (ok, the collection is from the summer of 2012), and! a Mary Robinette Kowal-voiced novel of time travel and intrugue, Neve Maslakovic’s The Far Time Incident. I bemoan most the “missing audiobook” for League of Somebodies by Samuel Sattin, but in a fairly quiet week overall for publishing, the “missing” list isn’t terribly long, either. On to…

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Blood of Dragons: Volume Four of the Rain Wilds Chronicles by Robin Hobb, narrated by Anne Flosnik for Harper Audio, the concluding book in Hobb’s series of dragon queens and derring-do. “Years ago, the magnificent dragon queen Tintaglia forged a bargain with the inhabitants of the treacherous Rain Wilds. In exchange for her protection against enemy invaders, the humans promised to protect an unhatched brood of dragons. But when the dragons emerged as weak and misshapen hatchlings unable to fend for themselves, dragonkind seemed doomed to extinction. When even Tintaglia deserted the crippled young dragons, the Rain Wilders abandoned the burden of caring for the destructive and ravenous creatures. They were banished to a dangerous and grueling journey in search of their ancient dragon homeland, the lost city of Kelsingra, accompanied by a band of young and inexperienced human keepers, also deemed damaged and disposable.”

Blood of Dragons: Volume Four of the Rain Wilds Chronicles | [Robin Hobb] Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales | [Yoko Ogawa]

Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder, and narrated by Kaleo Griffith and Johanna Parker for Tantor Audio. Coming in at about four-and-a-half hours is this short anthology published earlier this year by Picador, which I’ve been interested in since reading about it at WeirdFictionReview.net. “An aspiring writer moves into a new apartment and discovers that her landlady has murdered her husband. Elsewhere, an accomplished surgeon is approached by a cabaret singer, whose beautiful appearance belies the grotesque condition of her heart. And while the surgeon’s jealous lover vows to kill him, a violent envy also stirs in the soul of a lonely craftsman. Desire meets with impulse and erupts, attracting the attention of the surgeon’s neighbor - who is drawn to a decaying residence that is now home to instruments of human torture. Murderers and mourners, mothers and children, lovers and innocent bystanders - their fates converge in an ominous and darkly beautiful web. Yoko Ogawa’s Revenge is a master class in the macabre that will haunt you to the very end.”

Next up is a collection, The Woman Who Married a Cloud: The Collected Short Stories of Jonathan Carroll by Jonathan Carroll, published in exquisite hardcover by Subterranean Press late last July, here narrated by Robin Bloodworth and Suehyla El Attar for Audible Inc. “Thirty-eight extraordinary stories from award-winning author Jonathan Carroll. For more than 30 years, Jonathan Carroll’s writing has defied genre conventions. Known for his novels—including The Land of Laughs, Bones of the Moon, Sleeping in Flame, and many other compelling and often surreal stories—Carroll has also created an eloquent body of short fiction. The Woman Who Married a Cloud brings his stories together for the first time. In the title story, a matchmaking effort goes awry and leads one woman to a harrowing moment of self-discovery. In “The Heidelberg Cylinder”, Hell becomes so overcrowded that Satan sends some of his lost souls back to Earth. And in “Alone Alarm”, a man is kidnapped by multiple versions of himself.By turns haunting, melancholic, and enchanting, Carroll’s richly layered stories illuminate universal experiences, passions, and griefs. Described by NPR’s Alan Cheuse as “so richly imaginative, so intellectually daring,” The Woman Who Married a Cloud is essential for Carroll fans and short-story lovers alike.”

The Woman Who Married a Cloud: The Collected Short Stories of Jonathan Carroll | [Jonathan Carroll] The Far Time Incident | [Neve Maslakovic]

Lastly, The Far Time Incident by Neve Maslakovic, narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal for Brilliance Audio, out concurrent with the print/ebook release from Amazon.com’s 47North. (Amazon published Maslakovic’s earlier novel, Regarding Ducks and Universes, via AmazonEncore in 2011.) Here, it’s more science-infused, mind-bending space-time quandaries: “Thanks to the time travel lab at St. Sunniva University, history is no longer a mystery. But when the beloved co-inventor of the university’s time machine is inexplicably smeared across time, academic exploration and the future of St. Sunniva is thrown into doubt. As assistant to the dean of science, Julia Olsen is tasked with helping Campus Security Chief Nate Kirkland quietly examine this rare mishap…then, just as quietly, make it go away. But when the investigation indicates that the professor’s disappearance may have been a murder, those inspecting the incident unwittingly find themselves caught in a deadly coverup - one in which history itself is the weapon .From the snow-blanketed walkways of St. Sunniva’s campus to the sun-bleached cobblestone of ancient Pompeii’s roads, The Far Time Incident is a lively romp through history, science, and the academic world in the wake of a crime.”

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

Click here to view larger image Lord of the Isles: Lord of the Isles, Book 1 | [David Drake]

BLACKSTONE AUDIO: Code White By Scott Britz-Cunningham

AUDIOGO: Strangelets By Michelle Gagnon

MACMILLAN AUDIO: Inferno: Chronicles of Nick, Book 4 By Sherrilyn Kenyon

PENGUIN AUDIO: The Interestings: A Novel by Meg Wolitzer (Fiction)

HACHETTE AUDIO: Strange Fates By Marlene Perez; Zom-B City By Darren Shan; and Infinite Jest: Part I With a Foreword by Dave Eggers and Infinite Jest: Part II By David Foster Wallace, Narrated By Sean Pratt (previously released together last year)

RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO: (Fiction) Sick Puppy By Carl Hiaasen, Narrated By George Newbern

RECORDED BOOKS: Ghostwritten By David Mitchell, Narrated By William Rycroft

LISTENING LIBRARY:  The Flame in the Mist By Kit Grindstaff, Narrated By Rosalyn Landor

CROSSROAD PRESS: Shadowboxer By Trent Zelazny

GRAPHICAUDIO: Goblin Quest by Jim C. Hines

BRILLIANCE AUDIO: Five by Five By Kevin J. Anderson, Aaron Allston, Michael A. Stackpole, B. V. Larson, and Loren L. Coleman, Narrated By Phil Gigante; and Flesh Circus: Jill Kismet Series, Book 4 By Lilith Saintcrow

AUDIBLE INC: Wool By Hugh Howey, Narrated By Amanda Sayle (less than a year after author Howey published a previous recording by Minnie Goode via ACX? and a third recording, after the Random House UK edition made it two?); Some Things Come Back By Robert Morgan; (Teen) Hammer of Witches By Shana Mlawski; (Teen) The Secret Room By Antonia Michaelis, translated by Mollie Hossmer-Dillard; and (Fiction) The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald, Narrated By Jake Gyllenhaal

AUDIBLE FRONTIERS: Lord of the Isles: Lord of the Isles, Book 1 and Queen of Demons: Lord of the Isles, Book 2 By David Drake, Narrated By Michael Page (whew… I’d been worried that since I’d seen later books in the series show up first, that the first books wouldn’t be coming); Exile: Legend of Drizzt: Dark Elf Trilogy, Book 2 By R. A. Salvatore, Narrated By Victor Bevine; The Crimson Sky: Keepers of the Hidden Ways, Book 3 By Joel Rosenberg; A Path to Coldness of Heart: Dread Empire, Book 8 By Glen Cook, Narrated By Stephen Hoye; Warring States: Jurisdiction Universe, Book 6 By Susan R. Matthews, Narrated By Stefan Rudnicki; and (among others) The Remaking of Sigmund Freud By Barry N. Malzberg

INDIE: The Adventures of Amanda Love By Devlin Church and Michael Angel; Rise and Fall: Book One of the Blood and Tears Trilogy By Joshua P. Simon, Narrated By Jonathan Waters; and Rig: A Novel of Terror By Bryan W. Alaspa

SEEN BUT NOT HEARD:

  • Anthology: Weird Detectives: Recent Investigations by Simon R. Green, Neil Gaiman, Joe R. Lansdale and Paula Guran (Prime Books, Apr 3, 2013)
  • League of Somebodies by Samuel Sattin (Dark Coast, April 9) -- "Lenard Sikophsky’s father has been feeding him plutonium since the age of six in the hopes of making him the world’s first bona fide superhero. First, he must pass the unusual tests of manhood locked in the centuries old tomb, The Manaton, a secret relic passed down for generations. Falling in love with the beautiful, compulsively suicidal Laura Moskowitz doesn’t make his life any easier. But with the guidance of the Sikophsky men, the antiquated rulebook, and of course a healthy amount of plutonium, Lenard accepts his fate as an exactor of justice. . . . Twenty years later, Lenard’s son Nemo is introduced to the same destiny as his father, only this time the violent entity called THEY are in dangerous pursuit. Lenard’s life and the legacy of his family are put to the test when he is forced to defend everything he loves." -- Comes with quite a blurb: "League of Somebodies is so rich with originality that it's actually radioactive. If you captured Owen Meany in a literary time machine and fed him a strict diet of comic books and plutonium, you would come up with a main character a hell of a lot more well-adjusted than Lenard Sikophsky. Read at your own risk and beware: laughter is the first sign of infection." –Mat Johnson, author of Pym, Incognegro, and Dark Rain
  • Reaper’s Legacy by Tim Lebbon (Pyr Teen, April 9) -- "Young adult post-apocalypse novel, second in a series after London Eye (2012)" (via Locus Online)
COMING SOON:

A Stranger in Olondria You

MAY:

The Kings and Queens of Roam: A Novel The Shambling Guide to New York City

JUNE and LATER:

The Shining GirlsNorth American Lake Monsters: Stories

  • The Shining Girls by (Mulholland Books, 6/04/2013) — “A time-traveling serial killer is impossible to trace–until one of his victims survives. In Depression-era Chicago, Harper Curtis finds a key to a house that opens on to other times. But it comes at a cost. He has to kill the shining girls: bright young women, burning with potential.” No audio news.
  • Abaddon’s Gate (The Expanse) by James S.A. Corey (Orbit, Jun 4, 2013)
  • In Thunder Forged: Iron Kingdoms Chronicles (The Fall of Llael Book One) by Ari Marmell (Jun 4, 2013)
  • Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X) by Richelle Mead (Penguin Audio, Jun 4, 2013)
  • Fiction: The Blood of Heaven by Kent Wascom (Grove Atlantic, Jun 4, 2013) — “an epic novel about the American frontier in the early days of the nineteenth century”
  • Siege and Storm (Grisha Trilogy (Shadow and Bone)) by Leigh Bardugo (Henry Holt, Jun 4, 2013)
  • After the End: Recent Apocalypses by Paolo Bacigalupi, Cory Doctorow, Margo Lanagan and Nnedi Okorafor (Jun 5, 2013)
  • THE WINDS OF ALTAIR by Ben Bova, read by Stefan Rudnicki for Blackstone Audio (Available 15 June 13)
  • ATTICA by Garry Kilworth, read by Simon Vance for Blackstone Audio (Available 15 June 13)
  • The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel by Neil Gaiman (William Morrow and Harper Audio, Jun 18, 2013)
  • Before the Fall by Francis Knight (Orbit, Jun 18) — book two in a trilogy to be published in its entirety in 2013, starting with (already out) Fade to Black
  • The Long War by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter (Harper, Jun 18, 2013) — sequel to The Long Earth
  • Wisp of a Thing by Alex Bledsoe (Tor, Jun 18) — coming to audio read by Stefan Rudnicki, this is book 2 after 2011′s The Hum and the Shiver
  • The Shuddering by Ania Ahlborn (47North and Brilliance Audio, Jun 18, 2013)
  • The Quarry by Iain M. Banks (Little, Brown and Co., June 20, 2013)
  • The Adjacent by Christopher Priest (Orion UK, Jun 20, 2013) — no US release news
  • Divinity and the Python by Bonnie Randall (Panverse, June 21)
  • Cold Steel (The Spiritwalker Trilogy) by Kate Elliott (Orbit, Jun 25, 2013)
  • Anthology: Aliens: Recent Encounters by Alex Macfarlane (Prime, Jun 25, 2013)
  • THE INTEGRAL TREES by Larry Niven, read by Tom Weiner for Blackstone Audio (Available 1 July 13)
  • Channel Zilch by Doug Sharp (Panverse, July 2013) — “Mick Oolfson trashed his astronaut career by stunt-flying a shuttle during re-entry. He’s miserable as a groundling, so when testosterone-surfing geek goddess Heloise Chin offers him an astronaut gig on Channel Zilch, a pirate orbiting reality show, Mick jumps at the chance to return to space, though it means denting his Boy Scout scruples by stealing space shuttle Enterprise from the Smithsonian. CHANNEL ZILCH is a near-future hard science fiction caper with heart and purpose, the first book of The Geek Rapture Project. Book 2, HEL’S BET, will be published by Panverse later in 2013.”
  • Thieves’ Quarry by D.B. Jackson (Tor, July 2) — sequel to Thieftaker
  • Neptune’s Brood by Charles Stross (Ace, Jul 2, 2013) — “The year is AD 7000. The human species is extinct—for the fourth time—due to its fragile nature. Krina Alizond-114 is metahuman, descended from the robots that once served humanity. She’s on a journey to the water-world of Shin-Tethys to find her sister Ana. But her trip is interrupted when pirates capture her ship. Their leader, the enigmatic Count Rudi, suspects that there’s more to Krina’s search than meets the eye.”
  • A Discourse in Steel by Paul S. Kemp (Angry Robot: 2 Jul 2013)
  • Woken Gods by Gwenda Bond (Jul 2, 2013)
  • The Thousand Names: Book One of The Shadow Campaigns by Django Wexler (Roc Hardcover, Jul 2, 2013) — “Enter an epic fantasy world that echoes with the thunder of muskets and the clang of steel—but where the real battle is against a subtle and sinister magic.”
  • Anthology: Wastelands II: More Stories of the Apocalypse by John Joseph Adams (Night Shade Books, Jul 2, 2013)
  • North American Lake Monsters: Stories by Nathan Ballingrud (Small Beer Press, July 16)
  • Beacons edited by Gregory Norminton (Oneworld Publications, Jul 16, 2013) — “Beacons throws down the gauntlet, challenging best-selling and award-winning authors to imagine where we, and out planet, might be headed and, in imagining, help us transform the way we look at our world and change things for the better. From Joanne Harris’ powerful vision of a near future where ‘outside’ has become a thing of history to Nick Hayes’ beautifully illustrated tale of the bond between man and nature, Beacons sees the coming together of dystopian satire, speculative and historical fiction, metaphorical flights of fancy, quiet tragedy, and farcical comedy in stories that are as various as our possible futures. Provocative, encouraging, and deeply moving, Beacons represents the best of short story writing — and collectively illuminates the immediacy of the ecological problems at hand. All author royalties will go to the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, one of the largest groups of people dedicated to action on climate change and limiting its impact on the world’s poorest people.”
  • Anthology: Carniepunk (Pocket Books, July 30)
  • Three (Duskwalker Cycle #1) by Jay Posey (Angry Robot, July 31, 2013) -- cover reveal and excerpt up at io9
  • Anthology: Impossible Monsters edited by Kasey Lansdale (Subterranean Press, July 2013) — “The Lansdale name is legendary in the horror field. Now acclaimed musician and actress Kasey Lansdale follows in her father’s footsteps, making her editing debut with this anthology of monstrously innovative stories. The twelve creatures that stalk the pages of Impossible Monsters spring from the twisted imaginations of a dozen of today’s most noted authors.” This anthology includes Neil Gaiman’s “Click-Clack the Rattlebag” among other tales.
  • Hollow World by Michael J. Sullivan (Kickstarter, July 2013) — “Ellis Rogers is an ordinary guy who has always done the right things and played by the rules. But like many, his life didn’t turn out as he had planned. Facing a terminal disease, he’s willing to gamble that a cure could exist in the future, and although it is insanely dangerous to try, he really has nothing to lose. There are many books that explore what life might be like many years from now, and they cover the spectrum from the idealized world of the original Star Trek, with its progressive stance on equality and civil rights, to Huxley’s dystopian Brave New World. For years I’ve been fascinated by the observation that perception can make people see the same thing in very different ways. So I created a future, which if I’ve done my job properly, will be seen by some as a utopia and by others as exactly the opposite.”
  • Darwen Arkwright and the School of Shadows (Darwen Arkwright #3) by AJ Hartley (Razorbill, August 1)
  • The Crown Tower (The Riyria Chronicles #1) by Michael J. Sullivan (Orbit, August 3)
  • The Emergence of the Digital Humanities by Steven E. Jones (Routledge, Aug 3, 2013)
  • Wrath-bearing Tree (A Tournament of Shadows Book Two) by James Enge (Pyr, Aug 6, 2013)
  • Emperor of Thorns (The Broken Empire) by Mark Lawrence (Ace, Aug 6, 2013)
  • Kindred and Wings (A Shifted World Novel) by Philippa Ballantine (Pyr, Aug 6, 2013)
  • The Third Kingdom by Terry Goodkind (Tor, Aug 6) — direct sequel to The Omen Machine
  • Blood of Tyrants by Naomi Novik (Del Rey, Aug 13, 2013)
  • Collection: Celestial Inventories by Steve Rasnic Tem (ChiZine, Aug 15)
  • The Time of Contempt (The Witcher) by Andrzej Sapkowski (Orbit, Aug 27, 2013)
  • Billy Moon: A transcendent Novel Reimagining the Life of Christopher Robin Milne by Douglas Lain (Tor, Aug 27, 2013)
  • The Swords of Good Men by Snorri Kristjansson (Jo Fletcher Books, August 2013) — a “Viking fantasy novel” by a new Icelandic author
  • Super Stories of Heroes and Villains edited by Claude Lalumiere (Tachyon, August 2013) — Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola, Jonathan Lethem, Cory Doctorow, Kelly Link’s “Origin Story”, Carol Emshwiller, Gene Wolfe, GRRM, …
  • The Daylight War: The Demon Cycle, Book 3 by Peter V. Brett (GraphicAudio, August 2013)
SEPTEMBER and LATER:
  • Shaman: A novel of the Ice Age by Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit, 3 Sep 2013) — UK release date, US date not confirmed for this historical fiction “novel set in the ice age, about the people who made the paintings in the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave in southern France, about 32,000 years ago”
  • Constellations: A Play by Nick Payne (Faber and Faber Plays, Sep 3, 2013) — already available in Kindle and in the UK — via an interesting review on Tor.com
  • Monsters of the Earth (Books of the Elements #3) by David Drake (Tor, September 2013)
  • Anthology: Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales edited by Paula Guran (Prime Books, September 11)
  • Fiddlehead by Cherie Priest (Tor, Autumn 2013)
  • The Rose and the Thorn by Michael J. Sullivan (Orbit, Sep 17) — Riyria Chronicles #2
  • Doctor Sleep by Stephen King (Scribner and Simon & Schuster Audio, September 24) — King returns to The Shining
  • Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, Sep 24, 2013)
  • The Incrementalists by Steven Brust and Skyler White (Tor, Sep 24)
  • Dead Run, The by Adam Mansbach (HarperCollins, Sep 24, 2013)
  • Hero by Alethea Kontis (Harcourt Children’s Books, October 1)
  • Pandemic by Scott Sigler (Crown, Oct 1, 2013)
  • Ghosts Know by Ramsey Campbell (Tor, Oct 1)
  • The Republic of Thieves (Gentleman Bastard, #3) by Scott Lynch (Spectra, October 8)
  • A Dance of Cloaks by David Dalglish (Orbit, Oct 8) — originally self-published, now being re-published by Orbit
  • Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction by Jeff VanderMeer and Jeremy Zerfoss (Abrams Image, Oct 15, 2013) — an audiobook for this doesn’t make sense and so there isn’t one and won’t be one, but definitely a project I’m looking forward to
  • Copperhead by Tina Connolly (Tor, October 15, 2013) — follow-on to Ironskin – cover revealed
  • Fiendish Schemes by K. W. Jeter (Tor, October 15) — “The long-awaited stand-alone sequel to the seminal novel Infernal Devices by one of the founding fathers of steampunk”
  • Two Serpents Rise by Max Gladstone (Tor Books, October 29) — book one is in audio from Blackstone
  • The Violent Century by Lavie Tidhar (Hodder UK, October 2013) — just announced — “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy meets Watchmen in Tidhar’s The Violent Century, the thoughtful and intensely atmospheric novel about the mystery, and the love story, that determined the course of history itself. The Violent Century is the sweeping drama of a time we know too well; a century of fear and war and hatred and death.  In a world where everyday heroes may become übermenschen, men and women with extraordinary powers, what does it mean to be a hero? To be a human? Would the last hundred years have been that much better if Superman were real? Would they even have been all that different?”
  • Collection: Kabu Kabu by Nnedi Okorafor (Prime, October 2013)
  • Parasite by Mira Grant (Orbit, November 1) — I know nothing about his other than the quite interesting cover…
  • Twenty-First Century Science Fiction by David G. Hartwell and Patrick Nielsen Hayden (Tor, Nov 5, 2013)
  • Fortune’s Pawn by Rachel Bach (Orbit, Nov 5)
  • Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (Tor, November 12) — book 2 in The Stormlight Archive after The Way of Kings
  • Apparition by Trish J. MacGregor (Tor, Nov 12)
  • Watcher of the Dark by Joseph Nassise (Tor, November 19)
  • Bloodstone by Gillian Philip (Tor, Nov 19)
  • Arcanum by Simon Morden (Orbit, Nov 19) — “A historical fantasy novel of medieval Europe in which the magic that has run the world for centuries is disappearing– and now the gifts of the gods must be replaced with the ingenuity of humanity.”
  • The Land Across by Gene Wolfe (Tor, Nov 26)
  • Last to Rise by Francis Knight (Orbit, Nov 26) — concluding volume in a new trilogy which started with Knight’s debut Fade to Black in early 2013
  • Anthology: Dangerous Women edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (Tor, Dec 3) — table of contents includes Joe Abercrombie, Lev Grossman, and Pat Cadigan, among others
  • Maze by J.M. McDermott (Apex, January 2014)
  • Leaving the Sea: Stories by Ben Marcus (Knopf, January 2014)
  • The Crimson Campaign (The Powder Mage Trilogy, Book 2) by Brian McClellan (Orbit, February 2014)
  • The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman (Viking, Early 2014) — book three after The Magicians and The Magician King
  • Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2014) — the first of three “Southern Reach” novels being published in 2014 — “For thirty years, Area X has remained mysterious, remote, and concealed by the government as an environmental disaster zone even though it is to all appearances pristine wilderness. For thirty years, too, the secret agency known as the Southern Reach has monitored Area X and sent in expeditions to try to discover the truth. Some expeditions have suffered terrible consequences. Others have reported nothing out of the ordinary. Now, as Area X seems to be changing and perhaps expanding, the next expedition will attempt to succeed where all others have failed. What is happening in Area X? What is the true nature of the invisible border that surrounds it?”
  • City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett (Crown/Broadway and Recorded Books, April 1, 2014) — “a second-world story of spies, subterfuge, and statesmanship set in a nation of dead gods.”
  • The Moon King by Neil Williamson (Newcon, April 2014) — Debut novel: “The story of The Moon King grew out of its setting, the sea-locked city of Glassholm, which is a thinly veneered version of Glasgow, Scotland where I live. Glasgow is a city of mood swings, brilliant with sun and warm sandstone one minute and dour with overcast and rain soaked tarmac the next. Summer days are long and filled with light. The winter months pass mostly in darkness. Living here, your spirit is tied to the city’s mood. As soon as I hooked that almost bipolar sense to the idea of natural cycles, the story blossomed. In Glassholm, the moon never sets and everything, from entropy to the moods of the populace, is affected by its phasing from Full to Dark and back to Full again. I wanted to know what would life be like there, what quirks nature might throw into the mix. And what would happen if it was discovered that the cyclic euphorias and depressions were not natural after all.”
Posted in Release Week