Future Treasures: Embers of War by Gareth L. Powell
 |
 |
Gareth Powell is best known around these parts as the author of Moving Forward, a thoughtful manifesto on escaping the legacy of science fiction’s pulp roots. It generated quite a bit of discussion when it appeared at SF Signal back in 2013.
In the wider world he’s better known as the author of Ack-Ack Macaque (2012), a trilogy of SF adventure tales featuring a cigar-chomping monkey, nuclear-powered Zeppelins, and German ninjas, as well as the novel The Recollection (2011) and numerous short stories that have appeared in places like Space Opera, Solaris Rising, and Interzone. His newest novel is one of the most intriguing titles of 2018, the tale of a sentient warship stripped of her weapons and assigned to rescue operations at the end of the war. Caught up in a mysterious struggle that threatens to engulf the entire galaxy, the sentient warship Trouble Dog discovers she has to remember how to fight again, and fast. BG author Jonathan L. Howard (the Kyth the Taker series) says it “Mashes together solid space opera with big concepts, real people, and a freewheeling rock’n’roll vibe.”
Embers of War will be published by Titan Books on February 20, 2018. It is 409 pages, priced at $14.95 in trade paperback and $8.99 for the digital edition. It is the first novel in a new space opera trilogy.
Wow – I’d completely forgotten that comments thread, and my contribution to it. Re-reading Powell’s original article I’m struck by how his ‘newer’ authors have all been around a while: 20 – 30 years in most cases. Aliette de Bodard is probably the most recent and the youngest. Only two of the novels he mentions came out in the new Millennium, by my reckoning. Also – tsk, tsk – no women make it onto that particular list.
Aonghus,
True that! The field is changing so fast these days that a screed demanding attention for a new generation of writers looks outdated and quaint five years later. 🙂