The Sword of the North by Luke Scull

The city-state of Dorminia has fallen to the forces of the Lady of Thelassa. Early celebrations at the fall of one tyrant become muted as it becomes clear that the people have merely swapped one yoke for another, to the fury of Eremul the Halfmage. Meanwhile, Davarus Cole labours in a prison camp and dreams of escape, whilst Brodar Kayne, the Sword of the North, must cross a thousand miles of wilderness to reach his homeland in the High Fangs.

The Sword of the North is the follow-up to The Grim Company, one of 2013's more interesting fantasy debuts. It's the middle volume of a trilogy in the Abercrombie mould, with hard and brutal events offset by occasional knowing nods and winks about the silliness of the genre (and the odd Skyrim reference).

On the negative side, it is definitely the middle book of a trilogy and falls prey to many of the classic problems of such a volume. The story doesn't really begin or end, instead just rotating the characters through a series of intermediary plot points, some of which feel vital to the overall story and others feel like they exist solely because they are expected to in a fantasy trilogy. Brodar Kayne's story involves a whole lot of walking, Eremul's involves a whole load of fairly unsatisfying politics and Davarus's involves a whole load of hanging out in a prison camp. As middle books of trilogies go, this is definitely one of the more standard.

The author, at least, recognises this and gives the book a more cohesive shape with the arrival of some new players, some substantial expansion of the backstory and a nice recurring flashback to Kayne's earlier life, which gives the novel a much-needed dramatic spine and sense of direction. There's nothing too excitingly original in these sections, but Scull's solid skills with action scenes and reasonable characterisation keep things ticking over nicely.

The Sword of the North (***½) is a reasonable successor to The Grim Company, although it lacks some of the more compelling storyline and character moments of the original novel. It sets things up nicely for the finale, but it suffers a bit too much from "middle book syndrome" to truly shine. But if you enjoyed The Grim Company, this follow-up should satisfy. The book is available now in the UK and USA.

SyFy greenlights THE MAGICIANS TV series, dates THE EXPANSE and CHILDHOOD'S END

SyFy has greenlit a TV series based on Lev Grossman's Magicians trilogy (The Magicians, The Magician King, The Magician's Land). The first season will consist of twelve episodes and will shoot in Vancouver in July, probably for a 2016 debut.

SyFy has also confirmed that its mini-series based on Arthur C. Clarke's novel Childhood's End will air in December. Surprisingly, they also confirmed that the first season of The Expanse, based on James S.A. Corey's novels, will also air in December. The Expanse started shooting in October 2014 and it was assumed would be a summer or early autumn launch. SyFy will either have to greenlight the second season before the first airs, or may envisage there being a long gap until 2017 until the second season can air. It's a slightly odd move for a show that looked ready and raring to go in the trailer released four months ago.

BATTLEFLEET GOTHIC: ARMADA trailer

Focus Home Interactive has released a teaser trailer for Battlefleet Gothic: Armada, a strategy game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe focusing on space combat.

No release date has been set so far, but the game is expected in 2016 (although hopefully it might just sneak in at the end of this year).

TV round-up: ORPHAN BLACK, JONATHAN STRANGE & MR. NORRELL and SENSE8

A bit of news from the world of SFF television:

Orphan Black has been renewed for a fourth (and penultimate) season, following high ratings for the opening episodes of Season 3 on BBC America in the USA and SPACE in Canada. BBC3 recently confirmed they will be showing the series "later this year", although with BBC3 set to close at the end of the year they need to hurry up.

The BBC mini-series version of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell has finally gotten an airdate, with the seven-part series set to start airing on Sunday 17 May in the UK on BBC1 and on 13 June on BBC America.

Netflix has released the trailer for its new TV series, Sense8. Created by The Wachowskis (of The Matrix fame) and J. Michael Straczynski (the creator-writer of Babylon 5), it's a huge-budget, epic story following the lives of eight people living around the world whose lives inexplicably blend together in one moment, giving each access to the skills and knowledge of the others. Netflix will release all twelve episodes simultaneously on 5 June.

New JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR NORRELL trailer

The BBC has released a new trailer for its upcoming seven-episode adaptation of Susanna Clarke's novel, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

The series is set to begin on BBC1 (in the UK) and BBC America in May, with a DVD and Blu-Ray release planned for August.The series stars Eddie Marsan as Mr. Norrell, the last practising magician in England. With the Napoleonic Wars in full swing, the British government calls upon Mr. Norrell's magical aid. Norrell is soon contacted by Jonathan Strange (Bertie Carvel), a young, up-and-coming magician who wants to learn from Norrell. However, their relationship soon sours. In the meantime, the mysterious Gentleman with Thistledown Hair (Marc Warren) is inadvertently summoned to England and takes an unhealthy interest in events.

The novel was originally published in 2004 and was a massive best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic. Clarke published a related short story collection, The Ladies of Grace Adieu, in 2006 and has occasionally hinted that she is working on another novel in the same universe.

TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER announced

Sega, Games Workshop and Creative Assembly have officially announced Total War: Warhammer, their new wargame which takes the Total War franchise into the fantasy arena for the first time.

The new game will depict a battle for control of the Old World between the forces of the Empire, Dwarves, Orcs and Undead, although if armies of Chaos don't show up halfway through the game, I'll be surprised. Creative Assembly have already said they are planning two major post-release expansions, so Bretonnian, Elf, Skaven and Lizardman fans can keep hoping.

No release date has been set, but I'd be surprised if we saw it before 2016.

ORPHAN BLACK is given its end date

Orphan Black has just started airing its third season in the USA, but the producers have already disclosed that the show has a finite lifespan. Don't panic just yet, as we have another two years of the show to enjoy after this one.

Producers and showrunners Graeme Manson and John Fawcett have confirmed that Orphan Black will conclude after its fifth season, expected to air in 2017. That won't necessarily mean the end of the universe of characters, as they moot that a spin-off or sequel of some kind may be possible, but the story of Sarah Manning and her clones will end after the fifth season.

This is a good move, as the history of genre TV is littered with the corpses of shows that went on too long (hello, The X-Files) or were simply not coherently plotted out and ended in confusing and self-contradictory ways (neo-Battlestar Galactica). By going for five leaner seasons which are already planned out in some detail, Orphan Black's creators will hopefully be able to make for a much stronger and more satisfying story.

The third season of Orphan Black is airing in the USA and Canada right now, but oddly has not yet received a UK airdate.

KJ Parker's true identity is finally revealed

Seventeen years ago, Orbit Books published the debut novel by an author named K.J. Parker, Colours in the Steel. It was a modest success. Two sequels in The Fencer Trilogy followed: The Belly of the Bow and The Proof House. These books confirmed that Parker was an unusual writer, subverting genre expectations, killing off major characters or turning the 'hero' into a psychopath without warning. Interviews were few and far between, and the author never did book signings.

Some of those early interviews hinted that Parker was female, with the author discussing "being a tomboy" and preferring swords to dolls. Publishers seemed to perpetuate the confusion: at different times I was told by those "in the know" that Parker was both male and female. Fan speculation ran rampant.

During it all, Parker continued churning out critically-acclaimed novels at a steady clip. After two further trilogies, The Scavenger and Engineer series, Parker turned to stand-alones: The Company, The Folding Knife, The Hammer, Sharps and the forthcoming Savages (not to mention The Two of Swords, a serialised novel being published in five parts). Parker also won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novella for two years running, for A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong in 2012 and then Let Map to Others a year later.

Today, Pornokitsch dropped the exclusive news: K.J. Parker is none other than British humourist and comic novelist Tom Holt. A connection between the two authors had been established many years ago, with Holt interviewing Parker and claiming to be a friend. For a while, when Parker was thought to be a female author, fans speculated that the author was really Holt's wife Kim (the initials helped with that). However, it turns out that the initials K.J. referred to one of Holt's best friends and "Parker" because it's a pen name (groan). Holt is interviewed about the punnery and pen names on the Coode Street Podcast.

Holt published his first novel, Expecting Someone Taller, in 1987. He has published 33 comic novels and five serious, semi-historical books (as Thomas Holt) apart from his work as Parker. And I suspect a lot of Parker fans might be looking at Holt's work with interest and vice versa.

Pornokitsch will have a full, in-depth interview with Holt later this week which expands more on his work.

Lucasfilm reveal details about spin-off film STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE

Hot on the heels of the Episode VII trailer, Lucasfilm have revealed more about the first Star Wars stand-alone movie, Rogue One.

These films have been given the umbrella title Star Wars Anthology, indicating that they can be set at any time in the established Star Wars timeline. Confirming earlier rumours, Rogue One will indeed be set just before the events of the original Episode IV movie and will feature a band of rebel soldiers, led by a character played by Felicity Jones. The story will revolve around the stealing of the Death Star plans and getting them to R2-D2 and Princess Leia's ship, sparking the events of the original trilogy. This will be a mostly Jedi-free movie, focusing instead on soldiers and warfare. According to director Gareth Edwards, the Anthology movies can adopt different tones and styles to the existing films and Rogue One will drawn on more realistic movies like Zero Dark Thirty for inspiration (and indeed, the director of photography on Zero Dark Thirty is working on Rogue One).


Star Wars: Rogue One will be released on 16 December 2016.

Second trailer for STAR WARS EPISODE VII

Disney and Lucasfilm have unleashed the second teaser trailer for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

Some more information has also been revealed about the film's backstory. The film will take place 30-odd years after Return of the Jedi. The galaxy is divided between surviving remnants of the Empire, including the First Order (who appear to be the bad guys in the first movie) and the descendants of the Rebel Alliance, who are now calling themselves "The Resistance". The film follows the adventures of Rey (Daisy Ridley), a scavenger who survives by (apparently) salvaging derelicts on the desert planet of Jakku. She crosses paths with Finn (John Boyega), a First Order stormtrooper who appears to be on the run for reasons unknown, and a hotshot X-wing pilot named Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac). Eventually their paths cross with the legendary smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford), his co-pilot Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), Jedi Master Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and his sister Leia (Carrie Fisher). Arrayed against them are the First Order forces, apparently led by a Dark Side Force-user named Kylo Ren (rumoured to be played by Adam Driver).

The Force Awakens is released on 18 December this year.