New Treasures: The Daedalus Series by Michael J Martinez
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I overlooked Michael J. Martinez’s The Daedalus Incident, the opening volume of The Daedalus Series, when it first appeared in 2013. That turned out to be a mistake. By the time The Enceladus Crisis arrived last May, it was clear that this was a major new science fantasy series. Tor. com called it “adventurous, original, and a blast to read,” and GeekDad summed up the second volume splendidly:
Wooden sailing ships battling it out in space, Earth astronauts discovering an ancient alien temple on one of Saturn’s moons, the Egyptian Book of the Dead, undead French soldiers, Venusian jungles, and corporate espionage… This isn’t steampunk, okay? This is something new and unique and completely entertaining.
The third volume — featuring undead soldiers, Royal Navy frigates sailing the Void between worlds, dark alchemy, alien slave trade, and extra-dimensional incursions — was published last week, bringing the story to a climax deep in the jungles of Venus. It’s hard for me to keep up with everything that crosses my desk these days, but I think I might just have to make time for this entire series. The Venusian Gambit was published by Night Shade Books on May 5, 2015. It is 320 pages, priced at $15.99 in trade paperback and $10.99 for the digital version.
The notion of frigates sailing across the vast gulfs of space reminds me of ‘Harm’s Way’ by Colin Greenland – an underrated book imo:
http://www.amazon.com/Harms-Way-Colin-Greenland/dp/0380768836/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1431337182&sr=8-3&keywords=colin+greenland
I forgot about that book! I remember Greenland primarily for his TAKE BACK PLENTY trilogy. Do you know if he’s still writing?
I’ve been interested in this series for some time as something that might scratch my _Space 1889_ fiction fix.
I love Sword and Planet fiction and am always looking for stories that play around with the tropes of traditional adventure fiction in a fantasy/sf milieu.
Doesn’t look like it, John – there are some books on GR circa 2013, but I think they’re reissues. In which case, it looks like he did most of his writing towards the end of the last millenium.
According to his wiki page his partner is Susanna Clarke of ‘Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell’ fame.
> I love Sword and Planet fiction and am always looking for stories that play
> around with the tropes of traditional adventure fiction in a fantasy/sf milieu.
Christian,
It’s a hard genre to find, that’s for sure. There was that Strange Worlds anthology published a few years ago — did you see it?
https://www.blackgate.com/2011/12/01/new-treasures-strange-worlds/
> it looks like he did most of his writing towards the end of the last millenium.
That’s a pity. His early books were filled with wonder and a lot of promise. I hope he returns to the field.
I understand he was also one of the founders of Interzone, the long-running British SF magazine:
https://www.blackgate.com/2015/03/04/interzone-256-now-on-sale/
> According to his wiki page his partner is Susanna Clarke of ‘Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell’ fame.
Wow — I had no idea. Small world!
It’s good to see Night Shade Books recovered from its rough patch.
(When Strange & Norrell was about to come out, I did hear some gossippy grumbling that Clarke had only secured her plummy publishing contract because she was Greenland’s partner. Then the book was released, and even people who didn’t find it to be their cup of tea had to admit it was a major work on its own terms.)
> It’s good to see Night Shade Books recovered from its rough patch.
Amen to that! They’ve recovered splendidly since their acquisition by Skyhorse. Their current line-up looks top notch.
Night Shade has a long tradition of publishing really important books. Here’s hoping they thrive!
[…] and a few more Gambit items. The good folks at Black Gate Magazine did a “New Treasures” piece about the Daedalus series, which was great to see. And Matt Mitrovich included Gambit in his […]