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Title: The Translated Man and Other Stories
Author: Chris Braak
Genre: Lovecraftian police procedural novella, plus 3 short stories in the same universe
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: Coroner Beckett is slowly dying of a horrific disease and the hallucinogenic drugs used to treat it. But he's not about to let drug overdoses or the fact that his fingers are slowly turning invisible prevent him from doing his job. Someone must keep the steampunk underworld of his city safe from those who dabble in heretical sciences. With press gangs roaming the streets and the constabulary composed mostly of criminals, his only help is a blind echolocator, an overeager nobleman, a mathematical prodigy, and a boss who puts Frankenstein's monster to shame. Someone out there is trying to provoke species riots in the war-worn city. Worse, they're dabbling in Aetheric Geometry. And the last time that happened, half the city was destroyed...
Thoughts: I'm not sure whether this book was small-press or self-published. (I'm apparently too lazy to look it up.) I point this out as a warning to the appearance. The cover is rather shoddy. The layout is worse--there are hyphens strewn liberally and at random. (It looks like the line breaks started elsewhere, and any word that fell halfway at the end of the line kept its hyphen even when it moved into the middle of the line.) There are some severe indentation issues, and some of the chapter headings lost their formatting on the way to printing.
Do not be put off by this. Despite the unprofessional look, this is a fine piece of steampunk horror. Excellent world-building, intriguing characters, well-written prose, interesting plot, and good pacing.
The city of Trowth rather reminds me of Gormenghast (which is an odd complement from me, given how much I hated that series). It's a deeply weird and atmospheric city, with the schizophrenic architecture of a hundred generations of inbred aristocrats layered over ancient ruins of mysterious provenance. The dark alleys teem with overwrought gargoyles, an underclass of non-humans, and mad scientists. Everything is trying to kill you, in quite the horrific fashion. The equivalent to typhoid makes you cough up glowing green mucus, the ne'erdowells have teeth half the size of a man's thumb, and periodically hallucinogenic storms sweep the city and drive any caught in the open mad. The novel itself is more of a novella; I was grateful to have the extra short stories, as I was not ready to leave Braak's twisted and inventive world.
Beckett and his fellow coroners are equally interesting. He's quite the noir detective, only parts of his body are literally disappearing, leaving him wracked in pain. In some ways, the group reminds me a bit of Prachett's Ankh-Morpork Watch, only without the veneer of humor that keeps them from appearing as horrific as they actually are. It's a tight-knit team doing their best with little in the way of resources as they progressively deal with politics, riots, and threatened genocide.
The ending itself is quite satisfying. It's neither so dark as to be utterly hopeless but so bright as to betray the rest of the story. Most ends are tied up, and what's left dangling is appropriate.
So, well, don't judge this one by its cover. Or layout.
Author: Chris Braak
Genre: Lovecraftian police procedural novella, plus 3 short stories in the same universe
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: Coroner Beckett is slowly dying of a horrific disease and the hallucinogenic drugs used to treat it. But he's not about to let drug overdoses or the fact that his fingers are slowly turning invisible prevent him from doing his job. Someone must keep the steampunk underworld of his city safe from those who dabble in heretical sciences. With press gangs roaming the streets and the constabulary composed mostly of criminals, his only help is a blind echolocator, an overeager nobleman, a mathematical prodigy, and a boss who puts Frankenstein's monster to shame. Someone out there is trying to provoke species riots in the war-worn city. Worse, they're dabbling in Aetheric Geometry. And the last time that happened, half the city was destroyed...
Thoughts: I'm not sure whether this book was small-press or self-published. (I'm apparently too lazy to look it up.) I point this out as a warning to the appearance. The cover is rather shoddy. The layout is worse--there are hyphens strewn liberally and at random. (It looks like the line breaks started elsewhere, and any word that fell halfway at the end of the line kept its hyphen even when it moved into the middle of the line.) There are some severe indentation issues, and some of the chapter headings lost their formatting on the way to printing.
Do not be put off by this. Despite the unprofessional look, this is a fine piece of steampunk horror. Excellent world-building, intriguing characters, well-written prose, interesting plot, and good pacing.
The city of Trowth rather reminds me of Gormenghast (which is an odd complement from me, given how much I hated that series). It's a deeply weird and atmospheric city, with the schizophrenic architecture of a hundred generations of inbred aristocrats layered over ancient ruins of mysterious provenance. The dark alleys teem with overwrought gargoyles, an underclass of non-humans, and mad scientists. Everything is trying to kill you, in quite the horrific fashion. The equivalent to typhoid makes you cough up glowing green mucus, the ne'erdowells have teeth half the size of a man's thumb, and periodically hallucinogenic storms sweep the city and drive any caught in the open mad. The novel itself is more of a novella; I was grateful to have the extra short stories, as I was not ready to leave Braak's twisted and inventive world.
Beckett and his fellow coroners are equally interesting. He's quite the noir detective, only parts of his body are literally disappearing, leaving him wracked in pain. In some ways, the group reminds me a bit of Prachett's Ankh-Morpork Watch, only without the veneer of humor that keeps them from appearing as horrific as they actually are. It's a tight-knit team doing their best with little in the way of resources as they progressively deal with politics, riots, and threatened genocide.
The ending itself is quite satisfying. It's neither so dark as to be utterly hopeless but so bright as to betray the rest of the story. Most ends are tied up, and what's left dangling is appropriate.
So, well, don't judge this one by its cover. Or layout.
