Burn Me Deadly, by Alex Bledsoe

Burn Me Deadly
Alex Blesdoe
Tor: 2009

Burn Me Deadly opens with a damsel in distress and a suspicious Eddie LaCrosse just the man to save her, which looks great on paper, but does not go so well for either the damsel or Eddie. The damsel mentions “Lumina” and is murdered. Eddie is beaten and thrown off a cliff. So is his horse. Eddie lives, the horse does not. Near death, Eddie is rescued by the kindness of a stranger who returns him to town for healing.

This second Eddie LaCrosse novel from Alex Bledsoe is set approximately two years after the events of The Sword-Edged Blonde. Where the first novel was an active case for Eddie, to use a cliché, this time it is personal. Like any hard-boiled dick, Eddie has a thing for the dames. He’s loyal to his woman, that damsel in distress will get him every time. Twice if she’s dead.

Burn My Deadly is a quest of revenge and mystery. The revenge part is obvious, but the mystery is that Eddie doesn’t know who was behind the murder of Laura Lesperitt (the damsel) or who to go after. But he’s got ideas. Some “dragon cult”, for starters. With each passing chapter the scope of what is really going on grows and the stakes increase accordingly. What begins as a relatively simple story of revenge becomes much bigger than that.

That doesn’t address what readers really want to know here. “That’s great, Joe, but is it any good?” Hell yeah, it’s good. Fans of The Sword-Edged Blonde will be delighted with Burn Me Deadly. The action is just as good, the story is bigger, and the mystery stays fresh. Like Glen Cook before him, Alex Bledsoe deftly works a hard-boiled detective story in a traditional fantasy setting and he does so with style and verve. Eddie cracks wise, he gets into scrapes, his life is continually in danger, and through it all he retains his moral center and gruff edge. He’s the hero you want on your side, but it’s better if you don’t need him. It’s also better if you can pay. Reading about Eddie LaCrosse is a delightful experience if you like your delight with a bit of snark.

The bottom line is that there is not a lot of hard-boiled fantasy / mystery blends out there and if that sounds at all appealing you should check this out. If it doesn’t sound at all appealing…you should check this out.


Reading copy provided courtesy of Tor.


Previous Review
The Sword-Edged Blonde

Stuff: 11/13 Edition

Stephen King has a new story up at The New Yorker: "Premium Harmony"

Mary Robinette Kowal will be editing the first volume of The Hugo Award Showcase, the "2010" edition, which one imagines will be for the 2009 fiction.

Here's a compilation of Q&A sessions between Brandon Sanderson and the Storm Leaders on the current Wheel of Time tour. There's not a lot of new here, but it's interesting all the same.

Scott Westerfeld contributes to The Big Idea over at Scalzi's blog. I've GOT to read this one.

Clarkesworld Magazine is having a Citizenship Drive.

October 2009 Reading

Here's my monthly wrap-up of what I read the previous month. Links, as always, go to the reviews.

Books
99. Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan
100. Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell
101. Crossroads of Twilight, by Robert Jordan
102. Night of Knives, by Ian Cameron Esslemont
103. Outcast, by Aaron Allston
104. The Ebb Tide, by James Blaylock
105. Chasing the Dragon, by Justina Robson
106. Burn Me Deadly, by Alex Bledsoe
107. Odd and the Frost Giants, by Neil Gaiman
108. Imaro, by Charles Saunders
109. Seven for a Secret, by Elizabeth Bear
110. Ace in the Hole, by George R. R. Martin (editor)
111. Jhereg, by Steven Brust
112. Knife of Dreams, by Robert Jordan
113. The Gathering Storm, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Reviews are forthcoming for Imaro and Ace in the Hole.


Graphic Novels
79. Fables: The Dark Ages, by Bill Willingham
80. Star Wars Legacy: The Hidden Temple, by John Ostrander
81. DMZ: Friendly Fire, by Brian Wood
82. DMZ: The Hidden War, by Brian Wood
83. DMZ: Blood in the Game, by Brian Wood
84. Jack of Fables: Americana, by Bill Willingham
85. Jack of Fables: Turning Pages, by Bill Willingham
86. Ex Machina: Fact v Fiction, by Brian Vaughan
87. Transmetropolitan: Gouge Away, by Warren Ellis
88. Uptown Girl: All the Right Friends, by Bob Lipski
89. Mouse Guard: Winter 1152, by David Petersen
90. Transmetropolitan: Spider’s Trash, by Warren Ellis
91. Y: The Last Man: Ring of Truth, by Brian K. Vaughan
92. Preacher: Ancient History, by Garth Ennis
93. Girl Genius: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones, by Phil and Kaja Foglio
94. 100 Bullets: Split Second Chance, by Brian Azzarello

Previous Reading
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September

Jhereg, by Steven Brust

Jhereg
Steven Brust
Ace: 1983


Vlad Taltos is an assassin in the city of Adrilankha. He is a human in a land ruled by Dragaerans who have lives spanning thousands (upon thousands) of years. Vlad is a skilled assassin who has succeeded by virtue of skill, hard work, and with the good fortune of having some powerful friends. Besides being an assassin, Vlad also operates as mid-level mob boss in Adrilankha.

The primary storyline of Jhereg regards Vlad’s acceptance of a contract to kill a Dragaeran named Mellar, a member of the ruling Council of the Jhereg crime organization of which Vlad is ultimately a member. Mellar managed to steal the entire treasury of the Council and disappear. Vlad’s contract is not simply to kill Mellar, but to do so in a expeditious manner. Too many delays and word will get out that the Council can be hit, and that word may be enough to bring down the whole organization.

The rest of the novel works like many an urban secondary world detective novel, only here the successful conclusion of the case will result in the death of the target, rather than the resolution of a mystery. Of course, Jhereg predates Glen Cook’s Garrett PI novels by half a decade, not to mention later works from Alex Bledsoe. I mention Cook and Bledsoe because they are very much in the vein of Jhereg and they are the easiest comparisons to what sort of novel Jhereg is.

With that said, Steven Brust did it first and he is very much his own man here.

Jhereg was my first real experience reading the fiction of Steven Brust (his Firefly fanfic novel nothwithstanding). I had seen the man twice at the Fourth Street Fantasy convention and was impressed by Brust in person, and plenty of people there spoke highly of his fiction, but somehow over the last two years I still delayed reading Jhereg. It’s one of those novels you put off reading for no good reason and then realize when you’re done that you were a damn fool for waiting because it’s really that good.
Jhereg really is that good.

The novel opens slowly, with a bit of history of the character, and Brust takes his time setting up the central conflict. The initial impression is that Brust is clever with dialogue, but the reader will expect to be merely satisfied by the end of the novel. But here’s the trick Steven Brust pulls off. The longer you stay with Jhereg the better it gets. The world becomes deeper and richer, the characters more compelling. Vlad Taltos becomes an old friend who you don’t mess with. Brust lures the reader in chapter after chapter. Before you know it, you’re hooked and you don’t want to put Jhereg down for fear you might miss what’s in the next chapter, and the next.

There is really no better way to be introduced to Steven Brust. This is the first of twelve novels featuring Vlad Taltos and if Jhereg is any indication (it should be), once you read one, you’ll want to read the rest.

If you haven’t read Brust before, you should. Fans of Glen Cook and Alex Blesdoe owe it to themselves to find the early Vlad Taltos novels and give them a shot (the first three are also collected in the omnibus edition The Book Jhereg).

The Edge of the World

My review of The Edge of the World, by Kevin J. Anderson is up at Fantasy Magazine.

Go check it out!

September 2009 Reading

Here's my monthly wrap-up of what I read the previous month. Links, as always, go to the reviews.

I'm a little behind in putting out the list. Clearly.

I broke out the graphic novels from the rest of the books.

Books
90. We Never Talk About My Brother, by Peter S. Beagle
91. Invincible, by Troy Denning
92. Millenium Falcon, by James Luceno
93. It, by Stephen King
94. Winter’s Heart, by Robert Jordan
95. Mage-Guard of Hamor, by L. E. Modesitt, Jr
96. Pandemonium, by Daryl Gregory
97. Purple and Black, by K. J. Parker
98. Filter House, by Nisi Shawl


Graphic Novels
63. Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days, by Brian K. Vaughan - September
64. DMZ: On the Ground, by Brian Wood
65. Y: The Last Man: One Small Step, by Brian K. Vaughan
66. Crisis on Infinite Earths
67. Transmetropolitan: The New Scum, by Warren Ellis
68. Bone: Eyes of the Storm, by Jeff Smith
69. DMZ: Body of a Journalist, by Brian Wood
70. Y: The Last Man: Safeword, by Brian K. Vaughan
71. Jack of Fables: Jack of Hearts, by Bill Willingham
72. Ex Machina: Tag, by Brian K. Vaughan
73. DMZ: Public Works, by Brian Wood
74. Echo: Moon Lake, by Terry Moore
75. Jack of Fables: The Bad Prince, by Bill Willingham
76. Transmetropolitan: Lonely City, by Warren Ellis
77. 100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call, by Brian Azzarello
78. Bone: The Dragonslayer, by Jeff Smith


Previous Reading
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August

Forthcoming 2010: Q1

Welcome to the latest installment of "Stuff I'm Looking Forward To This Year". As always, I take my information from the Locus Forthcoming list, plus a little bit of extra research when I'm aware of things that should be on the Locus list and are not.


January
Prince of Storms, by Kay Kenyon: This is the conclusion to Kenyon's series The Entire and the Rose. It's some of the best science fiction being published today.

The Best of Joe R. Lansdale: Does the title not say everything you need to know about this? Lansdale is one hell of a writer and a Best Of will surely be one of the year's best publications.

Iorich, by Steven Brust: Last month I read Jhereg, the first Vlad Taltos novel from Steven Brust. Iorich is the twelfth novel in the Vlad Taltos series and there are six other ancillary novels set in that world. So, even though there is no chance I am going to be caught up with Brust by the time this novel is published, it is a mark of just how much I liked Jhereg that Iorich is on the list.


February
Mirror Kingdoms, by Peter S. Beagle: I have only just discovered Peter Beagle and this is a career retrospective collection from SubPress. Count this as one of the year's essential collections.

Horns, by Joe Hill: You've read Heart-Shaped Box, right? On the strength of one novel, I'm ready to go anywhere Joe Hill is willing to take me.

The Iron Khan, by Liz Williams: This is the fifth volume of the Detective Inspector Chen series. I've read the first three and have the fourth begging me to be read.


March
Bone and Jewel Creatures, by Elizabeth Bear: C'mon now, it's a new novella from Bear. Click on the link and check out the cover.

Chill, by Elizabeth Bear: Chill is the follow up to last year's novel Dust. It's one of the few Elizabeth Bear novels I haven't read, but I do have a copy, so I'll try to catch up before Chill is published.

Warriors, by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois: Military SFF, edited by GRRM, and featuring a new Dunk and Egg story? Not to mention the rest of the contents of the antho.

The Trade of Queens, by Charles Stross: This is the concluding volume to The Merchant Princes. I don't consistently love the execution of this series, but I'm generally interested enough to want to know what's next. Well, this is what's next.


I am also hard at work in compiling a list of the top books I'm anticipating for all of next year. I'll publish that list in late December or early January.