Smorgasbord Fantasia

Madeline Ashby is a name I am familiar with, but I've never had the chance to read her mind-boggling and 'compelling' science-fiction books series, Machine Dynasty [ io9 review terms it to be 'the most messed up book about Robot Consciousness'] So when I heard her latest, Company Town is going to be released in May, [The book released on May 17] I jumped in and put in a request. And now, I am a fan for life!  Seriously, Company Town is an engaging, intelligent and extremely accessible, science-fiction thriller set in the near-possible future, an oil-rig company-owned town called New Arcadia off the coast of Canada. Featuring one of the most enigmatic female leads I’ve read in recent times, The Company Town works at different levels as a novel. Starting off sedately in a possible science-fictional set-up, it almost turns the way of a homicide thriller chase as the body count goes up, mixed up with corporate intrigue but ultimately goes back to its cor

It's June, damn! We're already done with half this year. Don't you get this nagging feeling that every year, as it goes by, goes a little faster than the previous one. No seriously, you're so involved in getting by from one day to the next that you fail to realize that months are rolling past. Fast. Anyways - it's time for a breather and take a look at all the June books lined up on the read and review table. It's another doozy of a month with some fantastic titles lined up [ oh wait! B&N says we got a whooping 56 titles launching this month!!] and here's what I am looking forward to: Wheel of Oshiem by Mark Lawrence The Red Queen's war comes to a spectacular finish with this one! And that's a series I still haven't got started on. [ As of now, I quarter way through with Prince of Fools , and Jalan and Snorri seem to be rollicking company for the rest of the series. On board and Away!] I am rectifying this, soon enough this month. S

Hatching , the new book (Coming out in July from Emily Bestler books in US and RandomHouse Penguin Canada) by Ezekiel Boone is going to be the new poster-book for an apocalyptic extravaganza -A deftly written thrill-ride that focuses on a horde of man-eating spiders devouring the world one city at a time and will definitely have you cringing and gasping in fear.  It's the ultimate pulpy fun - Ezekiel writes in a fluid fast fashion that really appeals to your heart, at the same time twisting that freak-show dial way up. The story has a bunch of realistic characters banding together to fight against a freaky horror-show, without a clue as to how to stop the marauding army of arachnids and that impending sense of doom holds sway throughout.  Spiders and the end of the world?  It really does seem a bit far-fetched right? And yet, the way Ezekiel has his story unspool, you cannot but get carried away. It all starts in the jungles of Central America where a wealthy Americ