Teaser Tuesdays: To Be Taught, If Fortunate
July 28, 2020 August 2, 2020 | proxyfish
Welcome to Teaser Tuesdays – a weekly feature hosted by The Purple Booker. Expect a new teaser every week!
| Teaser Tuesdays: July 28 |
A Novella
by Becky Chambers
Science Fiction | 136 Pages | Published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2018
"As an astronaut, you know conceptually that you're going to another world, that you're going to see alien life. You know this, and yet there is nothing that can prepare you for it."
~ Page 58 | To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
At the turn of the twenty-second century, scientists make a breakthrough in human spaceflight. Through a revolutionary method known as somaforming, astronauts can survive in hostile environments off Earth using synthetic biological supplementations. They can produce antifreeze in sub-zero temperatures, absorb radiation and convert it for food, and conveniently adjust to the pull of different gravitational forces. With the fragility of the body no longer a limiting factor, human beings are at last able to explore neighbouring exoplanets long suspected to harbour life.
Ariadne is one such explorer. On a mission to ecologically survey four habitable worlds fifteen light-years from Earth, she and her fellow crewmates sleep while in transit, and wake each time with different features. But as they shift through both form and time, life back on Earth has also changed. Faced with the possibility of returning to a planet that has forgotten those who have left, Ariadne begins to chronicle the wonders and dangers of her journey, in the hope that someone back home might still be listening.
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Teaser Tuesdays: Ashes of the Sun
Ashes of the Sun
Book One of Burningblade & Silvereye
by Django Wexler
Fantasy | 592 Pages | To be published by Orbit on 21st July 2020
"He dug a firestarter out of his pocket, flicked it open, and applied the tiny light to the end of the cable. It caught immediately, burning with a cool blue flame that zipped up the way they'd come, briefly outlining a curve of light through the red-tinted darkness."
~ Chapter 4 | 16% | Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler
Long ago, a magical war destroyed an empire, and a new one was built in its ashes. But still the old grudges simmer, and two siblings will fight on opposite sides to save their world in the start of Django Wexler's new epic fantasy trilogy.
Gyre hasn't seen his beloved sister since their parents sold her to the mysterious Twilight Order. Now, twelve years after her disappearance, Gyre's sole focus is revenge, and he's willing to risk anything and anyone to claim enough power to destroy the Order.
Chasing rumors of a fabled city protecting a powerful artifact, Gyre comes face-to-face with his lost sister. But she isn't who she once was. Trained to be a warrior, Maya wields magic for the Twilight Order's cause. Standing on opposite sides of a looming civil war, the two siblings will learn that not even the ties of blood will keep them from splitting the world in two.
Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads
Teaser Tuesdays: The Man With One Name
July 14, 2020 August 24, 2020 | proxyfish
The Man with One Name
A Tale of The God Fragments (Book 0.5)
by Tom Lloyd
Fantasy | 68 Pages | Published by Gollancz on 22nd March 2018
"Heavy lumps of cloud drifted overhead, patches of moonlight sliding with silvery grace over the town. The fainter light of a half-occluded Skyriver was barely enough for them to see by – only sufficient to avoid the various puddles and patches of ice lying in their path."
~ Chapter 5 | 45% | The Man with One Name by Tom Lloyd
Salterin is a town full of fear. Fear and sheep. But mostly fear.
It lies in the north of a principality recently shattered by the Hanese war, cut off from its neighbours and warily watching the advance of winter. Bandits and wolves haunt the woods, but something worse lies within. A monster named Therian has installed himself as lord of the manor and no one is foolish enough to oppose him.
In their hour of need comes a man with one name. A man who will not suffer monsters. Or mutton. But mostly monsters.
Amazon | Goodreads
Teaser Tuesdays: How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It
July 7, 2020 August 26, 2020 | proxyfish
How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It
Book Two of Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City
by K.J. Parker
Fantasy | 384 Pages | To be published by Orbit on 18th August 2020
"Artavasdus was enjoying the blood. Fair enough; as Saloninus says, the man who's tired of killing is tired of life, and at least he made no bones, no pun intended, about it."
~ Act 1, Chapter 15 | 35% | How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It by K.J. Parker
This is the story of how the City was saved, by Notker the professional liar, written down because eventually the truth always seeps through.
The City may be under siege, but everyone still has to make a living. Take Notker, the acclaimed playwright, actor and impresario. Nobody works harder, even when he's not working. Thankfully, it turns out that people appreciate an evening at the theatre even when there are large rocks falling out of the sky.
But Notker is a man of many talents, and all the world is, apparently, a stage. It seems that the Empire needs him – or someone who looks a lot like him – for a role that will call for the performance of a lifetime. At least it will guarantee fame, fortune and immortality. If it doesn't kill him first.
This is the story of Notker, an occasionally good man and a terrible liar. With razor-sharp prose and ferocious wit, K.J. Parker has created one of fantasy's greatest heroes, and he might even get away with it.
Teaser Tuesdays: March 27
March 27, 2018 March 4, 2018 | proxyfish
| Teaser Tuesdays: March 27 |
Nevernight
Book One of The Nevernight Chronicle
by Jay Kristoff
Fantasy | 448 Pages | Published by Harper Voyager in 2016
"She stepped into the pool without a word, the blood thick and warm between her toes. The tile was smooth, and she had to walk slowly lest she slip, out waist-deep into the centre of the red."
~ Chapter 16: Walk | 38% | Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
From New York Times bestselling author, Jay Kristoff, comes a dangerous new fantasy world and a heroine edged in darkness.
Mia Corvere is only ten years old when she is given her first lesson in death.
Destined to destroy empires, the child raised in shadows made a promise on the day she lost everything: to avenge herself on those that shattered her world.
But the chance to strike against such powerful enemies will be fleeting, and Mia must become a weapon without equal. Before she seeks vengeance, she must seek training among the infamous assassins of the Red Church of Itreya.
Inside the Church's halls, Mia must prove herself against the deadliest of opponents and survive the tutelage of murderers, liars and daemons at the heart of a murder cult.
The Church is no ordinary school. But Mia is no ordinary student.
Fantasy | 306 Pages | Published by HarperCollins in 1995
"He had picked his way stealthily for some distance, when he noticed a place of dense black shadow ahead of him, black even for that forest, like a patch of midnight that had never been cleared away. As he drew nearer, he saw that it was made by spider-webs one behind and over and tangled with another."
~ Chapter VIII: Flies and Spiders | Page 156 | The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hobbit is a tale of high adventure, undertaken by a company of dwarves in search of dragon-guarded gold. A reluctant partner in this perilous quest is Bilbo Baggins, a comfort-loving unambitious hobbit, who surprises even himself by his resourcefulness and skill as a burglar.
Encounters with trolls, goblins, dwarves, elves and giant spiders, conversations with the dragon, Smaug, and a rather unwilling presence at the Battle of Five Armies are just some of the adventures that befall Bilbo.
Bilbo Baggins has taken his place among the ranks of the immortals of children's fiction. Written by Professor Tolkien for his own children, The Hobbit met with instant critical acclaim when published.
March 20, 2018 February 26, 2018 | proxyfish
Science Fiction | 262 Pages | Published by Head of Zeus in 2017
"Revelation clicked into place in de Sejos' head: not a pleasant moment. A second before she had been surrounded by monsters, but at least they had notional leashes; at least there was a human face somewhere behind them that she might have negotiated with."
~ Chapter 15: De Sejos| 33% | Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky
My name is Rex. I am a good dog.
Rex is also seven foot tall at the shoulder, bulletproof, bristling with heavy calibre weaponry and his voice resonates with subsonics especially designed to instil fear. With Dragon, Honey and Bees, he's part of a Multiform Assault Pack operating in the lawless anarchy of Campeche, south-eastern Mexico.
Rex is a genetically engineered Bioform, a deadly weapon in a dirty war. He has the intelligence to carry out his orders and feedback implants to reward him when he does. All he wants to be is a Good Dog. And to do that he must do exactly what Master says and Master says he's got to kill a lot of enemies.
But who, exactly, are the enemies? What happens when Master is tried as a war criminal? What rights does the Geneva Convention grant weapons? Do Rex and his fellow Bioforms even have a right to exist? And what happens when Rex slips his leash?
""That is Mr. Baggins, a hobbit of good family and impeachable reputation," said Gandalf. Bilbo bowed. He had no hat to take off, and was painfully conscious of his many missing buttons."
~ Chapter VII: Queer Lodgings | Page 117 | The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Binti
Book One of the Binti Series
by Nnedi Okarafor
Science Fiction| 96 Pages | Published by Tor in 2015
"I motioned to the shrivelled dead one two feet away; its mushy flesh had dried and begun to turn brown and opaque. It had tried to take me and then something made it die. Bits of it crumbled to dust as I spoke, the mere vibration of my voice enough to destabilise the remains."
~ 22 % | Binti by Nnedi Okarafor
Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs.
Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti's stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.
If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the gifts of her people and the wisdom enshrined within the University, itself – but first she has to make it there, alive.
"They limped along now as fast as they were able down the gentle slopes of a pine forest in a slanting path leading steadily southwards. At times they were pushing through a sea of bracken with tall fronds rising right above the hobbit's head; at times they were marching along quiet as quiet over a floor of pine-needles; and all the while the forest-gloom got heavier and the forest-silence deeper."
~ Chapter VI: Out Of The Frying-Pan Into The Fire | Page 98 | The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
March 6, 2018 February 26, 2018 | proxyfish
The Iron Ghost
Book Two of The Copper Cat Trilogy
by Jen Williams
Fantasy | 544 Pages | Published by Headline in 2015
"Reluctantly, Wydrin looked up into the snow. The foot of the mountain rose before them like an ominous storm cloud, and rising from its centre was a great wound filled with lights and stone and smoke – the city of Skaldshollow."
~ Chapter 5 | Page 30 | The Iron Ghost by Jen Williams
Beware the dawning of a new mage…
Wydrin of Crosshaven, Sir Sebastian and Lord Aaron Frith are experienced in the perils of stirring up the old gods. They are also familiar with defeating them, and the heroes of Baneswatch are now enjoying the perks of being very much in demand for their services.
When a job comes up in the distant city of Skaldshollow, it looks like easy coin – retrieve a stolen item, admire the views, get paid. But in a place twisted and haunted by ancient magic, with the most infamous mage of them all, Joah Demonsworn, making a reappearance, our heroes soon find themselves threatened by enemies on all sides, old and new. And in the frozen mountains, the stones are walking…
"There are strange things living in the pools and lakes in the hearts of mountains: fish whose fathers swam in, goodness only knows how many years ago, and never swam out again, while their eyes grew bigger and bigger and bigger from trying to see in the blackness; also there are other things more slimy than fish."
~ Chapter V: Riddles in the Dark | Page 70 | The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Teaser Tuesdays: February 27
February 27, 2018 January 24, 2018 | proxyfish
| Teaser Tuesdays: February 27 |
Lois the Witch
by Elizabeth Gaskell
Classics | 256 Pages | Published by Penguin Books in 2008
"Lois sickened and shuddered at the whole scene; and this was no intellectual shuddering at the folly and superstition of the people, but tender moral shuddering at the sight of guilt which she believed in, and at the evidence of men's hatred and abhorrence, which, when shown even to the guilty, troubled and distressed her merciful heart. She followed her aunt and cousins out into the open air, with downcast eyes and pale face."
~ Chapter 3 | 59% | Lois the Witch by Elizabeth Gaskell
Set against the backdrop of the Salem witch hunts, Elizabeth Gaskell's sombre novella reveals much about the complicity of mankind. Recently orphaned, Lois is forced to leave the English parsonage that had been her home and sail to America. A God-fearing and honest girl, she has little to concern her in this new life. Yet as she joins her distant family, she finds jealousy and dissension are rife, and her cousins quick to point the finger at the "impostor." With the whole of Salem gripped by a fear of the supernatural, it seems her new home is where she is in most danger. Lonely and afraid, the words of an old curse return to haunt her. Collaborator and friend of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell is a leading figure in Victorian literature.
"He dreamed that a crack in the wall at the back of the cave got bigger and bigger, and opened wider and wider, and he was very afraid but could not call out or do anything but lie and look. Then he dreamed that the floor of the cave was giving way, and he was slipping – beginning to fall down, down, goodness knows where to."
~ Chapter IV: Over Hill and Under Hill | Page 58 | The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien