Mixed-up memory of a death
GNOMON by Nick Harkaway (Heinemann £14.99)
WHERE to start with this prowling deep-sea monster of a novel? A sci-fi detective procedural, violent thriller and multi-layered mystery combine brilliantly to pull us through a profound exploration of power and paranoia, technology and myth.
In a not-so-distant future world, where all is controlled by a benign cloud of artificial intelligence, Inspector Mielikki Neith must look into the death of Diana Hunter, a subversive novelist with a name as resonant as the author’s.
While the contents of Hunter’s mind have been downloaded for investigation, confusingly her memories are mixed up with those of a Greek financial whizzkid, a feted Ethiopian artist and a fifth-century Roman mystic.
Buried in these interlocking narratives are the clues to an earthshaking puzzle. Harkaway dazzles, baffles and teases before guiding us through bloody darkness into understanding.
THE BOOK OF SWORDS ed. Gardner Dozois (Harper Voyager £25) HERE be dragons, godlets,
trolls and swords by the score in a rich and blood-soaked collection of tales.
In K.J. Parker’s hands, sword typology and swordsmithing are forged into a mini epic of regret, revenge, folly and wisdom.
Robin Hobb and George R.R. Martin prove themselves once again to be, respectively, the mistress and master of the backstory.
Hobb’s hero FitzChivalry Farseer appears in a chilling tale featuring seaborne medieval zombies, while Martin weaves yet more bright threads into the Westeros mythos with a new account of Targaryen power-lust, duplic- ity and dragons. All the stories weave a potent spell, as heroes and heroines face down devils, demons and humdrum skullduggery.
But watch out especially for Garth Nix’s pithy contribution, C.J. Cherryh’s take on Beowulf and Lavie Tidhar’s brilliant Waterfalling.
STRANGE WEATHER by Joe Hill (Gollancz £16.99)
IN THESE four novellas, Joe Hill shows himself to be a highconcept übermaster.
From a single i dea, he weaves brilliantly inventive and character-driven stories that enthral and thrill. In Rain, gentle showers become murderous needles and our doughty heroine must cope with this hard rain.
A cross between Miss Marple and Rocky, she sets off to solve a series of puzzles, kick a lot of butt and save the world.
In Aloft, a lovelorn parachutist with a tendency to build castles in the sky lands not on earth but on a cloud. There he must confront his demons, until leaving becomes a raw matter of survival.
Elsewhere, Loaded takes on gun control with bloody prescience, and in Snapshot a bullied teenager learns to stand up to a psycho with a soulsucking Polaroid camera.