Forthcoming

I've just finished reading, and hope to review shortly, The Mechanical by Ian Tregillis.  The first books of his I read were a kind of alternate history of the Second War War where the British conjured demons to fight against unnaturally enhanced Nazi supersoldiers.  Then he went on to write a noirish detective mystery about angels trying to unpick the nature of reality.

Now he's onto clockwork robots, powered by alchemy, in a world where Holland is the main power, relying on those robots, which an outclassed French regime-in-exile resists from North America.  The book is great fun, has an incredible zip to it, and fits in some fairly profound debates about both freewill and the duty we owe to sentient life, if we create it.

Next weekend I'm also hoping to do a review of David R Ross's The Last Days of Disco, as part of another blog tour.  It's a really funny, effecting and, at time, sad account of boys growing in 1980s Ayreshire, against the background (and occasionally, the foreground) of the Falklands War.

The book's getting plenty of attention from some great blogs... as well as this one.

Then... well... I have to go to Paris for a few days for work. (Tough, but somebody had to, and I can actually be quite assertive when I try) so I'll get a bit of reading time on the Eurostar - and I just happen to have this copy of the new Kate Atkinson book, A God in Ruins, companion to her Life After Life.  So THAT IS GOING TO GET READ and then I will let you know what I think.

Then... maybe the new V E Schwab book, A Darker Shade of Magic, or those Neil Gaiman short stories... so may books, so little time!