10 Authors That Deserve More Buzz

This list was originally inspired by the post I stumbled across by M.L. Brennan who in turn was inspired by a Top Ten Tuesday by Danielle over at Coffee and Characters. So, you know all those times you read an amazing, incredible book, but then when you rush out to hit up your bookish friends to find out what they think you discover that - SHOCKER! - hardly anyone has read it or even knows about it? You know what we mean! That idea evolved into this topic, in which Mogsy and Wendy list some authors plus the books they've written that we think should be getting waaaay more attention!

Wendy's Picks:

BLAKE NORTHCOTT: I discovered Northcott's first book, vs. Reality, via her Twitter feed, lured in by her sense of humour, obvious geek status and home girl pride. She writes novels about superheroes from a really unique angle. In fact, her first book was meant to be a comic, but when plans fell through, she converted it to a novel and has followed through with that concept for two more books in the series, plus an all new book, Arena Mode.

N.K. JEMISIN: The Killing Moon currently appears on numerous awards lists. I'm sure it's there with good reason, but I couldn't appreciate the book enough after reading her Hundred Thousand Kingdoms first. I loved that book so much that I read it twice within two months. A unique and diverse world with beautiful characters that have had a huge emotional impact on me. I haven't started the second book in her Inheritance trilogy because I'm not yet ready for the emotional trauma!

JASON M. HOUGH: If you're looking for a good place to jump into sci fi, or if you're already a sci fi fan, get started on Hough's new Dire Earth Cycle series. I think of it as down-to-earth sci fi that has all the necessary elements of space, technology and aliens, combined with action, drama, suspense and mystery. I love the diversity and the unpredictability that keeps me turning the pages.

MARTHA WELLS: Wells has already made a name for herself, writing within various popular fandoms, including the upcoming Star Wars: Razor's Edge. But she has a number of books of her own that I bought in one big rush after finishing The Cloud Roads. Her worldbuilding is amazing and I love the physical and cultural uniqueness of her characters.

KAREN LORD: I love the subtly of Lord's work. Her forays into science fiction (The Best of All Possible Worlds) and fantasy (Redemption in Indigo) might not seem to be science fiction and fantasy enough for some, but I really enjoyed her writing. Reading about her worlds and the characters within them made me feel like I was joining a bunch of friends on a comfy couch as they told me their tale.

Mogsy's Picks:

WILL McINTOSH: I recently finished a book that arguably was what motivated me to start up this post in the first place, Love Minus Eighty. If you're looking to read a sci-fi novel guaranteed to give you a strong emotional reaction, then this one is it. It's a very human story despite the futuristic high-tech setting, and it made me want to check out more of Will McIntosh's work. My mind is still blown.


M.L. BRENNAN: And speaking of motivation to write this post, my discovery of M.L. Brennan's own list was what clued me in on this topic in the first place. I thought, "How apropos!" because I knew if I had to make my own list of "Authors that deserve more recognition", M.L. Brennan would definitely be on it. I read Generation V this summer and it's already rocketed itself up my list of essential Urban Fantasy. She's so funny and creative, and it comes out in her writing and characters. I just cannot stop raving about this book to everyone I know who loves UF!

BEN H. WINTERS: Being the author of the New York Times bestseller Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, Ben H. Winters has already made quite a name for himself, but I still couldn't help but notice that while a lot of my friends have his books on their to-read lists, only a few have actually taken the plunge! Though his "humor" books are probably still more well known, I personally adore his Last Policeman series which I'm glad to see is gradually gaining more attention.

TERESA FROHOCK: Seriously, whenever the topic of Miserere comes up, I find it really difficult to shut up about how amazingly good this book is. So, before I forget myself and write a whole essay about how much I love Teresa and her book, let's just say that she single-handedly reaffirmed my decision to always finish every novel I start. Miserere takes its time to build up, but then rewards you in spades! The story is just so, so beautiful. And freakin' look at that gorgeous cover! Read this, you must!

DJANGO WEXLER: You know how there's epic fantasy, and then there's EPIC fantasy? The latter goes beyond just transporting you to a different world and time, it also sweeps you up into an experience that's truly grand, immense and awe-inspiring. Django Wexler's The Thousand Names that I read earlier this year was one of those books for me. Keep an eye on this author and his series, because I have a feeling he's gonna go places!

Book Review: Countdown City by Ben H. Winters

Countdown City by Ben H. Winters

Genre: Sci-Fi Apocalyptic, Police Procedural

Series: Book 2 of The Last Policeman

Publisher: Quirk Books

Date of Publication: July 16, 2013

Author Information: Website | Twitter


What would you do if the world was going to end in a little less than three months?

Being a wimp, I’d probably hide in the basement closet with a comforter over my head, praying that it’s all a bad dream. Most likely I’d be depressed and wouldn’t be able to go about my everyday life like everything was normal. I definitely wouldn’t be like Hank Palace, the main character of this novel, because even with an asteroid hurtling through space towards earth threatening to wipe out all life on the planet, he’s still out there patrolling the streets trying to be the best damn policeman he can be.

Not that Hank’s even a policeman anymore; he’s been relieved of his duty, after what’s left of law enforcement in the country went through some major restructuring. In the time between Countdown City and the previous book The Last Policeman (my review here), things have gotten worse. Even the last vestiges of institution and pockets of civilization are starting to break down, with electricity gone now and water about to be next.

Hank, though, is still on the job, taking on a missing-persons case to find the husband of Martha Cavatone, the woman who used to be his babysitter. Much like he was in the last book, he becomes rabidly obsessed with the case, but is this merely due to his personal connection to Martha? Or it this just Hank’s own version of hiding in the basement under the covers? I get the feeling that beneath his focused exterior, he’s just as crazy with panic as everyone else. To me, this made him a very interesting breed of unreliable narrator.

Once again, I’m just floored by Winter’s interpretation of a pre-apocalyptic America. While I’ve read tons of apocalyptic novels, most of these take place after the destructive event has already happened, or they take place just before. Very rarely do you see a book like this where everyone knows the end is coming, but the catch is that it’s not coming for a while yet, and the world has to suffer through this plodding march towards doom like watching a slow death.

In circumstances like these, anything can happen, really. But the author makes it so realistic, showing a wide variety of human reactions to the killer asteroid. There’s Hank, who immerses himself in work, and there are also people like his sister, who still believes there’s hope and joins a commune. As you’d expect, there are also those who just lose it and commit suicide (thus giving us the basis of the first book) as well as a significant portion of the population that goes “Bucket List” (which forms an interesting theory for this book). As Hank notes, cases that seemed mundane under normal circumstances take on a whole different meaning in these new times, because there’s no such thing as “normal circumstances” anymore.

A police procedural set against a backdrop like this takes on a brand new twist – and I think this is the key to why I enjoyed this sequel even more than its predecessor. The Last Policeman had a good story, but I felt the details of the case Hank worked on in that book had very little to do with the social climate or the situation with the asteroid. This book, however, has those elements all over his missing-persons investigation. It made the impending armageddon an integral part of the case rather than just the background. Clock’s ticking and it’s getting real now, and this book really makes you feel it.

4 of 5 stars

Book Review: The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

This was a book I picked up for a couple of bucks in the Kindle store earlier in the week. I was immediately intrigued after taking a look at the synopsis and seeing what it was about, and who can argue with that price, right? Anyway, now that I've read it, the next thing I'm going to say will probably make this review sound a little harsh, but know that it is not my intention because the book was actually quite good. Truth is, though, the blurb made the book sound a lot more interesting than it really is. 

At its heart, The Last Policeman is a police procedural following new detective Hank Palace's investigations into a suspicious death by hanging. But there's a twist, because all the while there is a killer asteroid hurtling towards the earth, set to end all life on the planet when it impacts in six months. As you can already guess, there have been a lot of suicides since the news broke, which is why Hank seems to be the only person taking this case seriously.

The book is a fascinating interpretation of what the country would be like if everyone knew the end was coming. I find it's actually handled quite realistically; I mean, in a world of billions, it only makes sense that some portion of the population might give up, while others go crazy. Still others might become ambivalent to everything around them, quit work, start living dangerously or hit their bucket list to do everything they've ever wanted to do before the world ends. Humans are so unpredictable. They will react to different situations in very different ways. So really, it's not so unbelievable that there will also be folks like Hank Palace who just want to get on with their lives and give a hundred percent at their jobs like it was any other day.

For me, it was this pre-apocalyptic scenario that made the book so entertaining, not the actual detective story itself. The fun was reading about the general social climate of the country, the descriptions of how society is slowly breaking down, little pockets of order and civility holding on while everything else crumbles around them. People are now thrown in jail for life without trial for even the most minor of offenses. Churches are packed, cell phone coverage is spotty, commodities like gas, alcohol and certain food products are hard to come by. All this creates a context for the "whodunit" story that slowly unfolds, but at a certain point the setting became bigger than the mystery. Ironically, the world became more important to me than actually finding out about "whodunit".

That's not to say that the case itself wasn't interesting to follow. It's your classic mystery plot, well laid out and suspenseful, but quite honestly, without the background of doomsday and all that, I'm not sure that there's anything really that special about it. The book certainly wouldn't have held my attention as much as it did. I just wished there was more of the science-fiction aspect involved in the investigation of the case, with the scenario of the asteroid playing more into the mystery plot. As it is, I didn't get much of that until the very end, practically at the epilogue. The insufficient connection to the sci-fi angle left me somewhat underwhelmed.

Still, the book leaves enough potential for development. It was a very quick and easy read, which made me surprised when I found out that it is actually the first book of what I think is going to be a trilogy. It basically ends with a promise of much more to come. I'm definitely going to pick up the sequel because I'm dying to find out what happens, and something also tells me that the next book will have more of that sci-fi and apocalypse aspect in the mix.

Final verdict:

 3.5 of 5 stars