This week I’ve binged a bit (well binge might be a bit too strong a word) on some Aussie fiction, all of it published by Twelfth Planet press. 

The first of these books was Dirk Flinthart’s New Ceres novella, Angel Rising.  The New Ceres concept, that is a planet where technology has been limited to the 18th Century, wasn’t one that really sparked my interest.  I mean, I liked the idea that New Ceres is a sort of open source shared Universe which has been developed by a number of authors.  But the whole concept of stories set in the 18th Century on an alien planet seemed a bit pointless.  Why not just set those stories on Earth and be done with it.

Of course, I was just being narrow minded and simplistic.  As Dirk aptly shows, New Ceres is more than just an excuse to have people ponce around in bodices and breeches (or whatever people wore in the 18th Century).  It’s actually an excuse to have characters ponce around with illegal technology and deal with ninjas and warrior nuns.  And all of this through the eyes of George Gordon, the Poet Laureate of New Ceres, who has the job of making sure that illegal technology doesn’t proliferate throughout the planet.  Oh, and he’s genetically enhanced.  And he has a cool sword.

Dirk obviously loves George and the New Ceres Universe, and it shows in his plotting of the story.  There’s plenty of hijinks and shenanigans, with George being sent to the Sunrise Isles (an 18th Centiry Japan) to find the survivor of a crashed space pod.  And the story does go through a number of interesting turns as George finds out that the survivor of the crash isn’t what she seems. 

Where Angel Rising lets itself down, at least in my view, is how often the story gets bogged down in its own eplanations and plotting.  At times, there’s too much exposition, too much explaining what’s going on.  I can see why there’d be the tendency for this to occur.  Dirk’s packing allot into 51 pages and he wants to make sure that the reader isn’t completely lost.  But, I could have dealt with another 20 pages of text if it meant giving the story an opportunity to breathe.

But, overall, Angel Rising is a good introduction to the New Ceres Universe.  It’s fun.  It’s a bit crazy.  And there are some nice revelations.  Especially at the end.

Angel Rising put me in good stead for New Ceres Nights, a collection of short stories set in the New Ceres Universe.  Because Angel Rising had paved the way I was intrigued to see how authors played in the same sandpit.  And I wasn’t let down.  There’s only one story in the entire collection that didn’t do it for me.  (Sylvia Kelso’s Sharpshooter, seems like a good story, but I struggled with her writing style). 

The other 13 stories range from good to great and make an excellent argument as to why New Ceres is a Universe worth perservering with. 

  • I just loved Dirk’s story Debutante, which I actually thought was more fun and better written then Angel Rising, 
  • Thoria Dyer’s The Widow’s Seven Candles, was a lovely fable about a candle maker with a bit of tear jerker ending. 
  • J.C.Hay’s Code Duello, while not the strongest story, was still good fun. 
  • Aliette de Bodard’s murder mystery, Murder in Laochan, did a very good job in providing all the elements of a good murder mystery but in a very short space. 
  • Kaaron Warren’s Tontine Mary was easily one of the highlights of the collection and had me a bit weepy toward the end 
  • Fair Trade by Stephen Dedman was good, ‘economic’ fun and gave me a real hankering for great coffee (even if I only drink Decaf because of the migraines). 
  • Matthew Farrer’s A Troublesome Day for Jacky Midnight has a bit of the Bruce Willis about it and was very entertaining.
  • Prosperine When It Sizzles, by Tansy Rayner Roberts, is probably the blueprint of New Ceres stories, with its rompishness, and dashing around and cross gender heroes (sort of).   
  • Sue Isle’s Candle to the Devil was wonderfully post modern in that it was a slice of meta – meta fan fic, if that makes any sense.  Really clever stuff. 
  • Martin Livings pulls no punches with Blessed Are the Dead That the Rain Falls Upon, which is easily the most violent and grim story in the collection – which was no problem for me because I like violent and grim and Martin writes it very well
  • Smuggler’s Moon by Lee Battersby is another clever story of resistance and quiet rebellion, with another weepy ending.
  • Finally, Angela Slatter’s The Piece of Ice in Miss Windmere’s Heart, is the New Ceres version of fan wank, (in a good way) with an appearance by Gordon and the Lady Governor and filled with plot and revelations and all sorts of goodies in the space of 14 pages.  By the end you’re wanting more.  Which is a good way to end a collection.

As you can see, I genuinely liked most of the stories on offer.  If I had one problem with the collection is that although the ethos of New Ceres is well communicated, it still feels like a fractured shared Universe by the end of the collection.  While I wasn’t expecting the same two characters to appear in every story, I think it would have been nice if we’d seen a sense of connection between the stories.  New Ceres feels like a very, very large place where lots of things are going on but none of them seem to connect together.  

But other than that holistic shared Universe feel, as a collection fo cracking good yarns, New Ceres Nights delivers.

And now we come to Peter M Ball’s Horn, the second Twelfth Planet press novella.  As a big fan of Jim Butcher and Tim Pratt, Horn did ring my bell.  It’s about freelance consultant Miriam Aster who is one of the few people who has had direct involvement with the supernatural and not gone totally bonkers (though she has been damaged, but to say more would be a spoiler).  She’s called into a case (to her great reluctance) involving a dead 14 year old runaway, the Fey and an oversexed Unicorn.  The title has more than one meaning.

This is a very accomplished book, with a number of nice twists (which I won’t spoil) and quite a bit of graphic violence.  There’s one scene in particular (which I also won’t spoil) which could have been ridiculous and ludicrous but comes off as very disturbing.  If I have a problem with the novella it’s that Miriam Aster is a very one note character.  She doesn’t develop enough in the course of the book to give me an idea of who she is, other than the fact that like all good hero’s of noir and detective fiction, she smokes, she drinks and she won’t take shit from anyone.  In other words, the characterisation lacks subtlety.  I’m also not sure whether there’s enough going on in this novella to differentiate Horn from the plethora of other supernatural detective series that are currently on the market.

That said, it’s a novella and so, in a sense, a taster of the Universe, the character and what Peter is capable of.  Too be fair to Peter, authors like Hamilton, Butcher and Pratt have had multiple novels to build up their universes and make their characters come alive (or in the case of Laurel K, come alive and then be smothered by kinky sex).  I’d definitely buy a novel featuring Miriam Aster just to see how her story develops.

In short then I can easily recommend all three books – Angel Rising, New Ceres Nights and Horn.  Alisa and those who have helped her should be applauded for putting their money where there mouth is and producing good quality Aussie speculative fiction.  And  as a result I’m looking forward to more New Ceres fiction, and Deb Biancottis collection – which I know will be marvellous.

That was a long review and now my fingers hurt.  I thought you’d all like to know.