Dead Men’s Boots
You know by the end of the first paragraph if this is your sort of book or not:
‘I don’t do funerals all that often, and when I do I prefer to be either falling-down drunk or dosed up on some herbal fuzz-bomb like salvinorin to the point where I start to lose feeling from the feet on up, like a kind of rising damp of the central nervous system. Today I was sober as a judge, and that was only the start of it. The cemetery was freezing cold–cold enough to chill me even through the Russian army greatcoat I was wearing (I never fought, but poor bloody infantry is a state of mind). The sun was still locked up for winter, a gusty east wind was stropping itself sharp on my face, and guilt was working its slow way through my mind like a weighted cheese-wire through a block of ice.’
It’s up to you, but ‘rising damp of the central nervous system’ does it for me. But then this is the third in a series, and I’ve now read all three: The Devil You Know, Vicious Circle, and now Dead Men’s Boots. I was looking for the next one, and would have been groping in my wallet on sight: I didn’t need to read the first paragraph till I was already home and lying in the hot bath in a state of delicious anticipation.* These books are by Mike Carey, and they’re about a private detective-y sort of bloke in present-day London, named Felix Castor. He’s not exactly a private detective. His office door says ERADICATIONS. He’s an exorcist.
It’s not quite our present day. In Fix’s world, the dead started waking up in force and bothering the living right before the turn of the millennium. No one knows why. But it opened up exciting new career horizons for people, like Fix, who are not merely sensitive to ghosts but can see them off, when they need seeing.** Fix does it with a Clarke Original*** tin whistle†, key of D: ‘the music is a cantrip, and if it works it has the same effect on bodiless spirits as flypaper does on flies. The ghosts get wrapped up in it and they can’t get free: then, when the music stops, abracadabra, there’s nothing for them to hang on to–so they stop too. When the last note fades, they’re just not there any more. . . . In reality it’s hard and slow, and it only works at all if I can get a real fix on the ghost . . . The clearer my mental image of it, the better the tune. . . .’ The problem, as you can guess, or there wouldn’t be three books (so far) about it, and Fix wouldn’t have so many bruises, is that some ghosts are tougher than others. And there are other things out there too: a demon named Asmodeus has taken over Fix’s best friend, Rafi, with the result that Rafi lives in a special high-security cell in a small private hospital for the criminally insane. And when Fix needs fancy info from a tech head, especially illegal fancy info, he goes to a zombie named Nicky. Fix often pays for these risky favours with an expensive bottle of wine: ‘Nicky doesn’t drink the wine. He doesn’t manufacture any stomach enzymes any more, so he wouldn’t be able to metabolise it. He says he can still smell it, though–and he’s built up a nose for the expensive stuff.’
And a succubus named Juliet. Juliet, I am telling you, is the best. I love the funny, catchy, noir voice of narrator Fix anyway, but Juliet is the character that I would happily have committed major felony to have found first and nailed for one of my stories.†† You meet her in the first book, when she’s been called out of Hell by the bad guys and given a contract on Fix. Which she almost succeeds in performing. But he–with a little help from his friends–proves resourceful enough about escaping her clutches that she has time to look around at the land of the living and decide she might like to stay there for a while. For variety. All she has to do is not fulfil her contract. So instead, at the end of The Devil You Know, she comes to poor Fix’s office with a plan: ‘I was summoned for a specific task,’ Juliet said at last, her incredible shot-silk voice caressing me like the flat of a razor blade. ‘It never occurred to me before . . . that failure would bring such extensive benefits. . . . I need something else††† to occupy my time. . . . And I believe the job that you do would suit me well. But clearly there are rules, and some of them will be alien to me. So I’ve come here looking for instruction–you being the only human I’ve met who’s still alive.’‡
In the first book there’s a haunted library. In the second book there’s a haunted church. In the third book there’s a very strange take on reincarnation. The plots are clever and complicated, and Carey, having invented a tricky, messy, chaotic world, stands by his own rules, which is probably first on my Crucial Requirements for Good Fantasy Literature list‡‡: but the plots are still only there as an excuse for the story-telling and to give the characters something to do, which is also as it should be. I enjoy the hell‡‡‡ out of these books and hope there will be more of them. And they’re excellently long. Generally speaking I prefer my superior trash§ short and snappy, giving me a nice little holiday §§ without making me start to twitch about all the stuff I’m not getting done, but I really relish the fat handfuls these books make.
* * *
* And preferably before 2 a.m. so I can in fact lie there and read for a while.
** ‘My careers teacher said I should go into hotel management, so exorcism it was.’
*** He tends to be kind of hard on his musical instruments, however, and the beginning of Vicious Circle has him tootling on a Sweetone.
† http://www.clarketinwhistle.com/
†† But what a good thing I didn’t, since Carey writes sequels.
††† Ie, than f—–g men to death, which is what she does. And all men want to f— her to death, because that’s what being a succubus is. Fix is not having a good time here.
‡ Juliet is just endlessly good copy. Here’s a conversation from Vicious Circle:
‘Is she okay?’
‘Juliet?’
‘Ajulutsikael. Don’t anthropomorphise her. That’ll get you in trouble somewhere down the line.’
‘Doesn’t the use of a female pronoun already anthropomorphise her?’ I asked.
Nicky scowled. ‘Anyone who can give a dead man an erection has earned that pronoun, Castor. Consider it an honorific.’
Or this one:
Juliet and I met up in the evening at a pavement café close to the refuge where she lives. She arrived late, without apology. One of the other residents had a problem with an abusive husband, she told me: and this guy had turned up out of the blue and tried to make his wife leave with him. ‘So I had to step in and help.’
‘What, you mean you ate him?’ I asked.
‘In front of everybody? No, of course not. I have to go on living there, Felix.’
‡‡ Maybe second. If you have enough style you can probably get away with what you like. But I’d rather you stuck to your rules. Back in the 60s we were desperate and would put up with anything, but the standard escape from a sticky plot problem of Mr Spock hey-presto developing a new mysterious power is no longer acceptable.
‡‡‡ especially Juliet
§ Superior Trash TM. An important and little understood genre.
§§ Probably spelled out in baths
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You are a BAD INFLUENCE! Now I have another book to go out and buy. I did love rising damp of the nervous system, and ‘My careers teacher said I should go into hotel management, so exorcism it was.’
Mwahaha!
And btw are you ready to enrol? http://www.evilleagueofevil.com/
because anyone who is such a very very bad influence should definitely make the cut!
I know Mike Carey from the comics he writes, they’re also deliciously evil with some morals in there yet. His take on John Constantine, Hellblazer is fantastic. And when he writes funny, for teens, my goodness! He’s a versatile writer. Now you’ve gone and done it again – I’ll have to search out these novels.
Yes, Felix has made *me* buy one of his Constantines. We can compare notes later. :)
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I know Mike Carey from the comics he writes
Ah, that’s why his name is so familiar. I know him from X-Men (Legacy), though.
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“Superior Trash TM. An important and little understood genre.”
Oh, yes, Superior Trash: You know your audience Robin. I too am an aficionado (not of these books – I am pressing my Amazon buttons prestissimo) but of the necessity of Superior Trash. It oils the wheels of our existence (mixing up my metaphors like mad). Thanks for recommending this, it sounds right up my alley.
Yes. Trash is NECESSARY–roughage for the mind. :) And SUPERIOR is therefore a pleasure rather than a duty.
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SOLD!
*goes to Amazon*
p.s. Chalice? Still awesome.
Oh good. :)
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Oh, wow, that sounds like a fun series. Another one for the list that never gets smaller…
That sounds like an awesome book!
As I have said to several people who liked Felix Castor, have you read Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden novels? Similar detective novel with fantasy concept, Harry is a wizard. Less dense than the Felix books and shorter, but I think more fun. Plus, there are more of them. Worth reading in order, the first one is Storm front.
My copy of Chalice finally arrived, and I was up until 1am so I could finish it. A fine tale indeed, it made me want a glass of mead and honey on my morning toast. Thank you!
Thank *you*!
(In a very small polite voice I will just say that I like Castor better than Dresden.)
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*(In a very small polite voice I will just say that I like Castor better than Dresden.)*
I can understand that, Castor is better written. My problem with him is that I mostly want to kick Felix, (as do most of his friends) where I like Harry. Juliet is a major saving grace though.
Laura from Melbourne You got yours ? I’ll have to call my bookstore ….. If it has hit Melbourne then we will be close behind!
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It is suddenly of the utmost importance that I obtain a copy of this book. A private detective-y sort of bloke who’s an exorcist, or say? Well, I’M sold!
Oohh. Thanks for the book suggestion. I’ve been looking for something new.
Just got Chalice today.
****You know by the end of the first paragraph if this is your sort of book or not****
Stella Gibbons refers to this in COLD COMFORT FARM as something like “the degraded art of tasting books” (I’m too lazy and it’s too late to check the quote). I call this a very useful skill and I’m sure most dedicated readers have developed it.
Thanks for posting about these. I haven’t encountered them and they do seem like my kind of book. I have the definite impression from the quotes that Mike Carey has read his Raymond Chandler.
****Superior Trash TM. An important and little understood genre.****
Yes–what you want in packable paperbacks for taking on a trip and reading in spurts. Which is just what I’ll be doing in a couple of weeks–this comes very timely. :)
Thanks for posting about these. I haven’t encountered them and they do seem like my kind of book. I have the definite impression from the quotes that Mike Carey has read his Raymond Chandler.
&&&&&&&&& Yes! And good, that the quotes do what they’re supposed to. I *always* feel that quoting from the book is the best way to intrigue people *properly*, if it happens to be at all quotable. Some books depend on slow build, which is harder to exerpt. But one of my pet peeves is reviews that are all about the REVIEWER and you get to the end and think . . . but what about the book–?
****Superior Trash TM. An important and little understood genre.****
Yes–what you want in packable paperbacks for taking on a trip and reading in spurts.
&&&&&&&&&& Or having stomach flu, etc.
Which is just what I’ll be doing in a couple of weeks–this comes very timely. :)
&&&&&&&&& You sure travel a lot! (says the woman who hasn’t been away from home for more than six hours in over a year)
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****You sure travel a lot! (says the woman who hasn’t been away from home for more than six hours in over a year)****
Well, if I didn’t have a 98-year-old aunt, I would have been home a lot more this summer! But the upcoming trip is for the Great Dane Club of America National Specialty show. The Alpha Bitch will be in the best of breed class, hopefully behaving herself because she is looking lovely.
****** The Alpha Bitch will be in the best of breed class, hopefully behaving herself because she is looking lovely.
I’ll be keeping fingers crossed for you – Go AB! Yaaaaaay!!!
Thank you! We have a couple of weeks to make sure her btains are back at work. If she wins anything at the National I will post a picture of the award!
I agree with every word on Felix Castor. According to Amazon, book 4 is imminent.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thicker-Than-Water-Felix-Castor/dp/1841496561/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222583556&sr=1-1
That’s it. I have to find these books. You have me utterly intrigued. Merely the brief exerpts you have supplied here have captured my interest. Would they be at all difficult to find in the US I wonder…? I love your books, not to mention the way you talk (write? Don’t look at me, internet conversations never cease to confuse me to no end.) and I had no idea you had a blog. Most blogs kind of irritate me to the point of wanting to throw someone through a closed double pane window (simply because it would cause more pain than an open or single pane window.), likely caused by my friends insistance to read theirs. And my tendancy to balk and dig in my heels whenever anyone tries to force me to do anything.
I do believe I have rambled on long enough. Sorry if I annoyed you.
I must find my notebook now. (begins searching through labryrinthine messenger bag)
Ja ne! (bye)
Ah these books sound so good…you’ve convinced me, I HAVE to go get the first one now.
Hah. I just discovered these last week and read the first two. (#3 doesn’t have a U.S. pub date yet.) I stayed up til all hours getting them read (and had to refill the bath 4 times!)
I’m thrilled to hear about sequels–and I see there’s an upcoming Thicker Than Water (UK Release Date: October 15, 2008).
Lucky Britishers. You’re two ahead with these books but MORE IMPORTANTLY you get a LIVE ROBIN MCKINLEY READING in November.
Surely you’re going to have to come to the states again *some* day. Wouldn’t one reading, say in NYC, be manageable? It’s not a TOUR just a READING. I’d bring chocolates and champagne ;)
You’re NYC area, are you? I didn’t think there were any NYCers who . . . uh, stoop to read mad fantasy-writer blogs. :) (Other than one or two friends of mine who feel OBLIGED.)
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>>I didn’t think there were any NYCers who . . . uh, stoop to read mad fantasy-writer blogs.
LOL. You’re absolutely right! Hence my residence in Philadelphia, where one doesn’t have to live up to a certain level of literary snob-dom. However, NYC is just an hour-and-a-half away–close enough that I can easily toss on heels and black and go pretend I’m an elitist with the best of em.
LOL!
but the standard escape from a sticky plot problem of Mr Spock hey-presto developing a new mysterious power is no longer acceptable.
“Why yes, Dr. McCoy, we Vulcans spent centuries perfecting the art of juggling while walking backwards in a windstorm and projecting high-powered lasers from our eyes. Unlike humans, we are a highly evolved species.”
LOL! And you NEED extreme juggling skills when you go up against the Glkffhbbby!
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These books look really good, fun entertainment but not dumb, which is a relief.. And I would use a little relief right now, do I think I’ll order them. Is The Devil you know the best one to start with?
Sounds like a good read. I’ll look out for that.
Roses pictures are up. Hope you enjoy.
http://randomactsofyarn.blogspot.com/2008/09/roses-for-robin.html
Thank you! . . . I’ve just been making This Year’s Rose Orders. I’ll probably blog about that tomorrow. . . . :)
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Robin,
I went straight to my local New Orleans bookseller (Garden District Book Shop, for anyone who reads this and knows it) to check out Mike Carey for myself, and was told that he’s published in the U.K. and I am out of luck. Of course that is not going to stop me! But I had to air my frustration on such limitations in our modern world – and I refuse to go to the chain bookstores. Perhaps online Powell’s will be (as it ever is) the answer… has anyone else had luck finding Carey beyond chain-link borders here in the States?
GRRRR!
And I wish I could hop on over to your bookshop! I would NOT talk about Con. Though you’ve done a lovely job sharing him with us!
Ciao!
Michaele
This is for Michaele Shapiro. I did indeed find copies of at least one of Mike Carey in Barnes and Noble a while back. Sorry, it is a chain bookstore, … but needs must sometimes! Or you could try Amazon- or is that hopelessly “chain” too?
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Michaele,
The first TWO books have been published in the U.S. in 2007 and 2008. Try your local library if the bookstore can’t help you. These books ARE in your library system (I checked) and you can probably get them sent to the nearest branch. Here’s a link to your library system: http://nutrias.org/
Good luck & enjoy.
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The first two are available from Barnes and Noble in my area. Good luck!
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*****Dead Men’s Boots*****
Hmmm. I can’t decide if it would be for me or not … but I’m pretty sure my husband would love it, so I’ll pass the recommendation on to him and maybe take a peek at it when he’s done.
It does remind me of a series about which I’m more than crazy, and if you can’t get enough of this one, try Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden books. Harry is a private eye of the supernatural in Chicago, and extremely sexy to boot.
Judith
*adds those books to Amazon wishlist*
It had me at “The sun was still locked up for winter”…
Possibly marginally relevant – I was meeting people yesterday at a place I’d not been to before, and, what with ferry schedules and baseball games, made sure I’d arrive early. The friend who arranged the gathering didn’t mention that there’s a 2nd-hand bookstore next door. Oops.
I came out with only two books – one of which is Richard Monaco’s Journey to the Flame… and on the dedication page, it lists, among others, “Thanks to Robin McKinley.” I’ve not started reading it yet – my friend gave me a copy of Elizabeth Bear’s Hell and Earth, and I’m about 2/3 through my first galloping read through it. (That series seems to require a first, rapid read to find out *what* *happens*, then a slower re-read to pick up details. And probably a third reading, in a year or so.)
Oh, and my email inbox has a missive from Amazon, telling me that Chalice has shipped (along with PTerry’s Nation). Books! Whee!
As I recall, that’s a rather, uh, off-piste thanks.
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CHALICE HAS ARRIVED!!!!!!!
Earlier than anticipated :)
Oh and I havent read these books but I read this which sounds similar and I really enjoyed
Hunters Moon by David Devereux
“My name is unimportant, but you can call me Jack. I’m a musician by choice, a magician by profession, and a bastard by disposition. I’d been doing the magic thing for about five years when they found me. They said I had a talent, that I was smart enough and fit enough and enough of a shit that I could serve my country in a way most people never even get to hear about. And I did want to serve my country, didn’t I? I didn’t really want to contemplate what might happen if I said no.”
And so Jack found himself on the front line of a secret war that most people simply wouldn’t believe was possible, working for a secret organization tasked with defending England from whatever supernatural threat faces it. MI5 know nothing about it and would laugh if they found out—but they wouldn’t laugh for long. Whether wiping out a group of demon summoners, infiltrating a coven determined to assassinate the prime minister, or rooting out a neo-Nazi sect who are trying to bring back Hitler from the dead, Jack is a very modern sort of magician—trained in a variety of the dark arts but also handy with firearms and skilled in unarmed combat and electronic surveillance. David Devereux has combined lightning action with dark supernatural thrills and produced a blistering new breed of supernatural thriller
http://www.amazon.com/Hunters-Moon-Gollancz-David-Devereux/dp/0575082240/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222644709&sr=8-1
I love these books and didn’t know the 3rd one was out! That said I’ve been listening to them (killer narrator too I must say), so I will hold out for that if isn’t done yet. Fiction can be so hit or miss in audio when you have just a single narrator but the Felix Castor books have been great.
Sorry to drop this bomb–I’m having surgery again tomorrow morning and will most likely have it again on Friday. I’ll write more about it later-it’s a good thing, I’m healing faster thhan they expected. But 3 general anesthesias in one week! A bit too much. So I’m nervous.
I got tired of waiting for Chalice to arrive so F drove me to a B&N and I bought one. Then the next day 2 of them came in the mail. I couldn’t have sworn I only ordered the one–oh well, I have a collection now! (And I’m LOVING it…)
Oh eep!
Oh good!
Oh eep!
Good luck!!!!
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****** I’m having surgery again tomorrow morning
Excellent news that you’re a quick healer, and sending lots of good thoughts your way. Keep in touch. :: Hugs ::
and isn’t CHALICE lovely? :)
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Chalice is wonderful. I get so engrossed that I stop trying to figure out the plot–and very few authors do this for me. I’m REALLY loving it, but, wah, I may not get back to it until Thursday, and if I don’t finish it then, it will be next week before I finish, which is just plain wrong.
Robin, your prose is beautiful and rich, and what with me cruising on the pain killers–it’s not a pretty picture. I keep falling asleep and rereading–but still, I’m halfway through.
OK, I’m repeating my self. I should stop for now.
Thanks for all the candles and good thoughts. It helps. (I mean, I still have a big hole in my leg…I’ll deal. What else can I do?)
And I’m back already! And quite (legally) stoned!
Just wanted to check in and say I’m OK, more spacy than usual (oh dear) but I came through it all fine. If things go as planned I will have the 3rd surgery on Friday still. I’ll find out for sure on Thursday.
After I pull out of the stoned bit, I should tell y’all about the hovercraft incident.
****Just wanted to check in and say I’m OK, more spacy than usual (oh dear) but I came through it all fine. If things go as planned I will have the 3rd surgery on Friday still. I’ll find out for sure on Thursday.****
Glad to hear that the second surgery went well, and best of luck with surgery # 3.