bel dame apocrypha

November 29, 2018

Kameron Hurley’s APOCALYPSE NYX is a world you’ll want to return to again and again

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized adrienne martini, apocalypse nyx, bel dame apocrypha, elizabeth story, god's war, ignotus award, kameron hurley, las estrellas son legión, Locus, Publishers Weekly, review, the light brigade, the stars are legion, wadim kashin

In LOCUS (October 2018), Adrienne Martini praises APOCALYPSE NYX.

Kameron Hurley’s APOCALYPSE NYX isn’t a
stand-alone novel in her God’s War serise, AKA
the Bel Dame Apocrypha series, depending on
which internet oracle you ask. And I had to ask,
because the world Hurley illustrates in the five
works of short fiction collected in APOCALYPSE NYX. is a world I want to return to again and again.

Those already familiar with Nyx and crew should
enjoy these delightfully grimy and sweaty slices of
their world. The newbies will have titles to add to
their reading lists.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY lauds Hurley’s The Light Brigade with a *starred* review.

Hugo winner Hurley’s second futuristic novel (after The Stars Are Legion) is a smart, brutal, and structurally sophisticated military science fiction tale with a time travel twist.

Like Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, this book is both a gripping story of future warfare and an incisive antiwar fable. Readers will savor this striking novel’s ambitious structure and critique of rapacious, militarized capitalism.

According to LOCUS, Hurley’s Las estrellas son legión [The Stars Are Legion] won the prestigious Spanish Ignotus Award for Foreign Novel.

For more info on APOCALYPSE NYX, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Wadim Kashin

Design by Elizabeth Story

July 31, 2018

Kameron Hurley’s APOCALYPSE NYX is grim, unapologetic science fiction at its best

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized ama, apocalypse nyx, bel dame apocrypha, david wood, elizabeth story, kameron hurley, new journal of books, reddit, review, strange alliances, tor.com, wadim kashin

The reviews keep coming for Kameron Hurley’s APOCALYPSE NYX.

David Wood for NEW YORK JOURNAL OF BOOKS praises the collection.

Apocalypse Nyx is a collection of five novellas that take place in the universe of Hurley’s Bel Dame Apocrypha series. The stories read as a series of vignettes, something akin to a Netflix series based on a movie. The stories are well paced, with enough connections to lend a sense of cohesiveness to the collection. It’s not necessary to have read the companion trilogy in order to enjoy these stories. There are universe-specific terms to pick up on (trucks are bakkies, coffee is buni), and details about the world that must be learned inductively, but it doesn’t take long to become fully immersed in Nyx’s universe.

The world Hurley has crafted is as fascinating and engrossing as it is horrifying, with elements of cyberpunk, and fantasy sprinkled atop a generous portion of science fiction. Nyx’s desert planet home bakes beneath the heat of twin suns is ravaged by centuries of Holy War, the cause long forgotten. Bugs are integrated into technology, including radios and trucks. Human bodies can be rebuilt, Frankenstein-style, or a person can be given a new body altogether. Hurley also incorporates elements of magic, including shapeshifting, lending the story a touch of the fantastic, but retaining the gritty, apocalyptic fantasy feel.

Hurley does a solid job of reflecting many of our own current societal issues and tensions in her writing, including gender roles, sexual fluidity, and racial schisms. The culture is heavily influenced by Islam, and the never-ending cycle of war is sadly familiar. Hurley does not pontificate on any topic, unlike certain sci-fi classics, but instead paints a picture upon which the reader can reflect.

Apocalypse Nyx is grim, unapologetic science fiction at its best. Don’t miss this gripping collection!

STRANGE ALLIANCES enjoys the “comfort” read.

Nyx is a brilliantly imagined character. She is full-on, ruthless, outrageous, but this merely reflects the unforgiving war-ridden world she lives in. To those on the outside of her inner circle Nyx appears uncouth and very unpleasant. To her crew she is equally verbally unsavoury, but they know she is also someone they can rely on, particularly when it comes to straight talking and not leaving any man or woman behind.

<snip>

To say this book is one of my comfort reads might seem strange, but each story played out in my head like a film in which there is much to take in visually, as well as the superb banter between Nyx’s surrogate family. The first story had me so sold on Nyx and her motley crew, I just wanted to take time out and enjoy their adventures. I hope this is not the last I read of Nyx.

Hurley recently participated in a Reddit AMA.

LascaillesShroud

What advice would you give to aspiring writers who want a more inclusive and diverse cast? As a straight white-dude, there’s numerous things outside my experience—which is fine, writing and reading are how I learn about others—but if there was a common pitfall you see writers make when making their cast include POC, women, LGBTQIA, or just not a protagonist who is a rogue-ish white guy in his thirties with dark hair and a bit of a drinking problem, what would it be?

KameronHurley

AMA Author

Talk to people different than you are. If you’re in some homogenous place, hey, Youtube exists for good reason. Listen to people who aren’t like you. Take the same approach to learning about people with different cultural and sexual backgrounds as you would to those with different academic and employment backgrounds. You don’t spend ten minutes of research into writing a neuroscientist. I spent 8 years researching the God’s War universe, and I still got shit wrong. Accept that yeah, you will fuck up, but do the work. Get as close as you can. Listen to real criticism. Learn from it, and do better next time.

<snip>

Inkberrow

What’s your take on the feminist debate over the inclusion of trans women in “women”-only spaces?

KameronHurley

AMA Author

Trans women are women.

Inkberrow

Straight (!) answer appreciated.

<snip>

Chtorrr

What is the very best dessert?

KameronHurley

Booze. Gin, peaty whisky.

For TOR.COM, Hurley listed Five Books That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity.

It’s a grim, grim world out there, folks. The bad news is… Well, all the bad news is the bad news. That’s not a shocker. I won’t repeat it.

If you’re still reading this, you know why.

Humanity’s ancient obsession with battles between the darkness and the light, good and evil, exist because human beings so neatly encapsulate both. We are capable of great cruelty and horror, especially in large groups. Yet, we are also capable of great kindness and awe-inspiring collaborative works. These are the battles we fight—as individuals, as parties, as nations—the constant war between our best selves and our worst impulses. It’s why these conflicts are so pervasive in the stories we tell across every medium.

As you’ll discover based on the books I’ve chosen for this list, I’m a big fan of the “ragtag team of misfits” novel. Perhaps this is because I know that everything we’ve gotten done as human beings—whether that’s getting to the moon or the genocide of millions—has only been possible through the passionate, messy collaboration of ordinary humans trying to achieve something wonderful or terrible.

My fascination with group dynamics is likely why I wrote my own team of head-chopping adventurers in APOCALYPSE NYX, and why such books have a special place in my heart. My protagonists engage in the best and worst humanity has to offer. But for today, let’s concentrate on the good.

Humans can be good.

For more info on APOCALYPSE NYX, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Wadim Kashin

Design by Elizabeth Story

July 25, 2018

The grimdark version of a comfort read, Kameron Hurley’s APOCALYPSE NYX is a welcome return to the adventures of the author’s iconic hard-fisted anti-heroine

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized 10 bad habits, apocalypse nyx, bel dame apocrypha, brit mandelo, elizabeth story, kameron hurley, lilianny araujo, nerds of a feather flock together, nisi shawl, review, spanish, spoiler fans, the seattle review of books, tor.com, wadim kashin

More excitement surrounds Kameron Hurley’s APOCALYPSE NYX.

NERDS OF A FEATHER, FLOCK TOGETHER praises the book.

I was worried that some of the politics and technology of Nyx’s world might have escaped me in the years since I read Rapture, but I needn’t have been. Hurley is brilliant at developing worlds that makes little sense on the surface (how are all those bugs powering their cars?) but where the internal logic and the matter-of-fact acceptance from the characters makes it easy to just take everything as it comes. The plots are sufficiently twisty, though not immensely complex or original – but, again, that’s not really the point. Whether you’re coming to Nyx for the first time, or after reading one or more of the novels, what APOCALYPSE NYX offers is the grimdark version of a comfort read: action, well-placed aggression and bizarrely satisfying emotional frustration that will have you reading through your fingers.

Nisi Shawl for THE SEATTLE REVIEW OF BOOKS enjoys the return of Nyx.

Pulled together from novellas published primarily on her Patreon fundraising site, Kameron Hurley’s APOCALYPSE NYX (Tachyon)is a welcome return to the adventures of the author’s iconic hard-fisted anti-heroine.

<snip>

These five glimpses into her passage from an explosives expert fresh off a centuries-old battlefront to a bounty hunter in war-ravaged cities and villages show her being both tender and tough, both reckless and cynical. My favorite story’s the final one, in which Nyx notes how ridiculous it is for a killer like herself to have a panging conscience — but declines a ride home out of the desert from colleagues who set fire to a house full of children anyway.

At the Spanish-language site SPOILER FANS, Lilianny Araujo recommends APOCALYPSE NYX.

Each story is like a wild ride through a minefield in an old truck. They are narrowly drawn, implacably violent, and without apology are light in the exhibition. The reader is pushed into chaos from the beginning, which is both challenging and brutally convincing. I admit that I did not know what was happening at the beginning. Is this real? but in the middle of the second story, Nyx had me holding on to the balls. I got into this so much that I immediately went back to reading the first two stories and was as happy as I think most fans of Grimdark’s fiction will be to read this.

<snip>

I usually talk about issues in the reviews because I think they contribute to what the reader gets from a book. Forget that. Let APOCALYPSE NYX surprise you with its deep representation of a person in constant intellectual and moral crisis, and do not worry about what it means. You will be immersed in love, lust, hatred, revenge, desire, and you will question the value of human life. You will empathize with Nyx for his faults but you will be horrified by his lack of human consciousness. It is a heady mix and very entertaining.

Is it dark night? You can bet your ass yes. Try not to support Nyx while getting rid of innocents who get in the way of the next reward. That’s impossible. And the question of gray morale itself makes a couple of discrete appearances in the stories and in the delicious jokes among your monster crew. If you are reading this review, then obviously you appreciate grimdark. Grab this good introduction to life and the world of Nyx. You will not regret. Highly recommended

(Translation from Spanish, courtesy of Google.)

On TOR.COM, Brit Mandelo appreciates the collection.

It’s a pleasure-read, a set of stories that push the same buttons, but those happen to be buttons I can appreciate. APOCALYPSE NYX isn’t the place to start for a reader unfamiliar with Hurley’s work. For that I’d recommend a more recent novel such as The Stars are Legion (reviewed here as well). However, for a reader who’s interested in seeing a bit of Nyx before the series—Nyx the total fucking disaster of a person, Nyx the monster, Nyx who can’t connect and can’t communicate and lives on the fine line between a death-wish and a death-drive—this collection will scratch the itch.

10 BAD HABITS includes the title among Favorite Reads June 2018.

I am a huge fan of Hurley’s Bel Dame series and this book is a collection of short stories that serve as something of a tangential prequel to that series. Former Bel Dame, turned mercenary Nyx is still a battered and rebuilt veteran of the ongoing brutal war on her world, and here she’s putting together the team she’ll have around her in God’s War. If there’s something of a through line to the book’s stories, it’s Nyx’s struggle to be slightly less awful than the default awfulness of her surroundings. She might not have a completely functioning moral compass, but it works from time to time. Violent bug-fueled science-fantasy is my jam.

For more info on APOCALYPSE NYX, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Wadim Kashin

Design by Elizabeth Story

July 19, 2018

The noir backdrop of Kameron Hurley’s thrilling APOCALYPSE NYX is enlivened by a double helping of gritty violence

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized apocalypse nyx, bel dame apocrypha, benjamin wald, booklist, elizabeth story, john denardo, john keogh, kameron hurley, kirkus, llama reads books, Marty Halpern, More Red Ink, review, sfrevu, the fantasy inn, wadim kashin

The recent release of Kameron Hurley’s APOCALYPSE NYX spawns some excitement.

At SFREVU, Benjamin Wald praises the collection.

The influence of noir on Nyx and her worldview was either absent or lost on me in the original novels, but is inescapable in this collection. Nyx sees the corruption and evil of the world she inhabits, where the rich profit while the poor are fed into the meat grinder of war or scrabble for survival. She likes to think she is inured to this injustice and purports to be out only for herself, but time and again she can’t help trying to protect those around her and right what injustices she can, often despite herself. Indeed, several stories feature femmes fatales who drag Nyx, against her better judgment, into intrigues that underline this message.

But this noir backdrop is enlivened by a double helping of gritty violence. Nyx is a self-admitted terrible shot, but she makes up for it with her scattergun, sword, and sheer bloody-mindedness, leaving a trail of corpses through the stories–most of whom might possibly deserve it, if you squint a bit, but some of whom just find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nyx is a killer and her tragedy is she can neither accept this in herself nor bring herself to walk away from the violence by which she makes her living.

This collection starts off with two longer stories, “The Body Project” and “The Heart is Eaten Last” that do an excellent job of introducing Nyx and her team and setting a pattern that other stories will elaborate on. In each story, Nyx and her team take on a job, find out that the job is not quite what they had been led to believe, overcome danger and obstacles (often with significant injuries and moral quandaries), and finally achieve an ambiguous victory. Sometimes, victory is just survival. While this might seem formulaic, it is a perfect frame for the character moments that lie at the heart of the stories, while giving plenty of space for the gritty action scenes that Hurley does so well.

Hurley always innovates enough within the pattern for the stories to feel fresh. APOCALYPSE NYX is an excellent introduction for those wondering whether to pick up the original trilogy or a great way for those who have already read the previous books chronicling Nyx’s adventures to spend a bit more time in Nyx’s violent world.

John Keogh for BOOKLIST enjoys the book.

The plots are taut, thrilling, gritty, violent, profane, magical—everything Hurley’s readers expect. New readers will not feel lost in this world—Hurley has created one of the most engrossing environments in modern sf—but fans will delight in learning how Nix meets Khos and the first time she hires Anneke. Though there is not much personal growth, all of the characters are well realized, even in the short story format, and each story covers familiar interpersonal conflicts and emotional highs and lows. These stories were previously published online, but fans of sf adventure stories with lots of political intrigue will welcome them in print.

THE FANTASY INN delights in their introduction to Nyx.

To put it lightly, Nyx is not the easiest person to love. She is almost completely selfish. For example, in one scene a crew member saves someone’s life and leaves something valuable behind; Nyx berates them for not getting the valuables first and going back to see if the person was still alive. She is incredibly stubborn and gives off a vibe that she doesn’t really care about the majority of her crew as individual people. She just cares that she has a crew. Yet Nyx is competent and acknowledges were weaknesses. Doing something about her shortcomings, though? Nah. And while she will leave a crew member to die if it benefits her in the short run, she still does depend on them. Her character is excellently written, along with the others.

Another positive about this book is how it incorporates grimdark and new weird elements (bugpunk, for example) seamlessly in the world. Nyx’s moral seems to be, “A job is a job. If it pays well, take it.” The world is full of morally grey characters. Nyx might be extreme, but her crew isn’t innocent either. And despite the perspective being mainly hers, the other characters are still well developed.

LLAMA READS BOOKS also found interest her first meeting with Nyx.

As a first introduction to Nyx, I think it works pretty well, and it definitely made me interested in picking up the rest of the books in the series to see more of Nyx and her team. Recommended for fans of kickass flawed heroines and grimdark SF&F!

Marty Halpern on his MORE RED INK blog is excited about the book’s release.

Last week I received my contributor’s copy of APOCALYPSE NYX, Kameron Hurley’s collection of stories set in her Bel Dame Apocrypha world of God’s War. The book should have arrived within a couple days of being mailed as I live only about fifty miles south of the publisher, Tachyon Publications…but that’s not taking into account the mode of transport: the United States Postal Service! So the package was mailed in San Francisco, Tachyon’s home; upon checking tracking updates, I discovered that the package was transported to a Los Angeles USPS receiving station (about 350 miles south of me), before, eventually, making its way back to good ole San Jose, where I live. I believe it was about six days after being mailed that the package was actually delivered. Six days to really travel only about fifty miles….

In my December 11, 2017, blog post, I wrote about my work on APOCALYPSE NYX. At that time the book was scheduled for publication in July 2018 – and here we are! Aside from the quality of their books, Tachyon Publications have always met their release dates (rare for an independent publisher… I could tell you stories about other publishers….), and I’ve been working with them since 2002. In fact, I just looked up the details: my first invoice was dated February 19, 2002.

As Kirkus states at the conclusion of its review of APOCALYPSE NYX “For established fans, a bittersweet reunion with old friends; for new readers, a reasonable enticement toward the superior novels of the series.”

For KIRKUS, John DeNardo includes APOCALYPSE NYX in If You Could Read a Book a Day, These are the 31 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books You Should Read for July.

For more info on APOCALYPSE NYX, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Wadim Kashin

Design by Elizabeth Story

June 27, 2018

Kameron Hurley’s bloody-knuckled space noir APOCALYPSE NYX is your favorite action TV series in book form

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized alasdair stuart, apocalypse nyx, bel dame apocrypha, booksandpieces, elizabeth story, god's war, kameron hurley, megan leigh, review, the british fantasy society, the illustrated page, tor.com, wadim kashin, you tube

For THE BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY, Megan Leigh praises Kameron Hurley’s APOCALYPSE NYX.

The book is a collection of short stories set between the first and second books of the Bel Dame Apocrypha series, following mercenary Nyx and her team as they complete a series of dangerous and ethically questionable jobs. Hurley delivers short, sharp tales of investigation and inevitable show-down in a format reminiscent of a case-of-the-week TV detective show. The characters and setting of the narratives complement this format, leaning heavily on pulpy tropes that made both golden age science fiction and detective stories shine. Each story gets quickly to the point and is full to bursting with action scenes.

<snip>

As with all of Hurley’s work, her biggest strength lies in her fearlessness. She doesn’t shy away from the provocative but neither does her work feel like it touches on these issues just for effect. Sex is dealt with in frank, honest terms – with women’s sexuality at the fore. Transgender and non-binary identifying characters appear with little fanfare, making them a normal part of that world. All these things Hurley covers without batting an eyelid. Few writers are so brave.

Nyxnissa, Hurley’s mercenary protagonist, is also refreshingly brazen in construction. Very often, writers hesitate to have characters that could be considered as traditionally unlikable as Nyx. Not only is she deeply flawed – she lacks self-awareness and compassion, she’s stubborn and cruel – but she is also lacking in certain skills. Nyx is not gifted at absolutely everything like far too many ‘heroes’. Instead, she’s given consistent and interesting flaws that require her to think quickly and respond in different ways.

Verdict: If your favourite action TV series were distilled in book form, this would be it. Not for the faint of heart, APOCALYPSE NYX unapologetically pulls you along for the ride.

Both THE ILLUSTRATED PAGE and BOOKSANDPIECES (beginning at 1:26) are looking forward to the collection.

From THE ILLUSTRATED PAGE:

Otherwise, I’ll certainly be reading APOCALYPSE NYX by Kameron Hurley this month. I’m so excited for this short story collection!

In Playing Favorites with the Clarke Award Shortlists, 1987-2018, Alasdair Stuart at TOR.COM discusses the first book of Hurley’s Bel Dame Apocrypha trilogy, God’s War.

And last, but by no means least, God’s War by Kameron Hurley was shortlisted for the Clarke in 2014. Hurley, like Atwood, doesn’t know how to turn in bad work. Her books are shot through with savage humour, brutal violence, relentless pragmatism, and a cheerful willingness to do the thing the reader is least expecting. That’s true of everything I’ve read of Hurley’s, starting with her the first book of her Bel Dame Apocrypha trilogy, God’s War.

Nyx is a former Bel Dame, a government assassin on a world that’s locked into a centuries-old holy war. Nyx is very good at not dying. She’s arguably better at making other people die. She’s very bad at following orders—which makes her the perfect choice for a mission that’s as vital as it is terrifying and almost impossible.

Hurley drops you in at the deep end, here, and it’s glorious. Within the first fifty pages, you’ve been introduced to the world, the bug-powered technology that drives it, the negotiable nature of biology, and everything that you need to know about Nyx, her team, and her profoundly flexible morals. It’s intoxicating, overbearing, and refuses to let you go, so you dive further in. A few hundred pages later, the novel lets you resurface having explored the horrors of Nyx’s world, the people who she chooses (and the few who choose) to stand with her, and the terrible choices she’s continually forced to make. Sand-blasted, bloody-knuckled space noir, the Bel Dame Apocrypha novels are unlike anything else I’ve read and God’s War is just the beginning. The new Nyx collection, APOCALYPSE NYX, will be out this summer, and there’s never been a better time to catch the former Bel Dame in action.

For more info on APOCALYPSE NYX, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Wadim Kashin

Design by Elizabeth Story

April 24, 2018

Kameron Hurley’s great vacation read, APOCALYPSE NYX, is wonderfully bloody and emotionally sharp

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized apocalypse nyx, bel dame apocrypha, book reviews forevermore, chris meadows, elizabeth story, god's war, kameron hurley, katie stockdale, Locus, minaret, review, sci-fi and fantasy reviews, wadim kashin

Reviews keep rolling in for Kameron Hurley’s forthcoming APOCALYPSE NYX.

For SCI-FI AND FANTASY REVIEWS, Chris Meadows praises the collection.

Lets talk about that world for a minute. It’s one defined, at both the personal and macro levels, by conflict. Nyx’s nation has been waging war with one of its neighbours for what feels like generations. In pursuit of victory, they’ve used guns. Bombs. Espionage. Tailored viruses. Genetically engineered bugs. As have the enemy. All this has led to large portions of the country being uninhabitable. It’s also led to almost the entirety of the male population doing mandatory military service in fantastically lethal war zones, with a very low life expectancy. Socially, this is a world run by women, because all of the men are either fighting, or dead.

Of course, the world is broken, which makes everything a bit more difficult. It’s a world of faith – one where the call to prayer goes out on schedule, and where mullah’s are in competition for the attentions of the faithful. But also one which encourages a loss of that faith, in tragedy, in pain, in loss.

<snip>

I won’t get into the details of the stories in this collection, to avoid spoilers. But there’s a lot of great stuff here. There’s tense heists, to be sure. Then there’s comedy of errors, as Nyx’s team of badasses runs their own sense of competence up against reality. There’s moments that hint toward a larger agenda, and a lot of great background. If you’ve ever wondered how Nyx’s team got together, how they stayed together, then there are stories here to answer your questions. If you wanted to see more of the world, the bug bombs, the endless, society-breaking war, the glimpses of high technology wrapped in an enigma – there’s some of that, too. If you want to see Nyx and the gang kicking arse and taking names, painting the walls with blood, then drowning the memories in alcohol – this is one for you.

It’s fast paced sci-fi action, absolutely. It’s got enough blood and guts to satiate and satisfy, yes. But it’s also a thoughtful collection, one which gets us further into the characters heads, one which isn’t afraid to get the reader thinking about the way pain and hurt can make us act, and isn’t afraid to explore larger issues.

If you’re new to Nyx, this may be a good place to start, taking place before the current series of which she’s the star. If you’re already a fan, this adds some wonderfully bloody, emotionally sharp texture to an already intriguing world and characters – get on it.

Kate Stockdale at THE MINARET enjoys the stories.

If you’re looking for sci-fi action with a fantasy twist, APOCALYPSE NYX is a good stepping stone into the larger and longer world of the God’s War trilogy. Coming out in the middle of the summer, it’ll be a great vacation read. Just be aware that if you read it outside, you’ll probably want to head indoors thanks to the constant references to cancerous suns.

BOOK REVIEWS FOREVERMORE lauds the volume.

Recommended for fans of Bel Dame, unusual fantasy
★ ★ ★ ★

<snip>

Nyx is hard to like, but a interesting character in a complex world. Those looking for sympathetic mains would be better off looking elsewhere. These are definitely of the dark fantasy variety. I suspect these stories would work best for those who are already familiar with the Bel Dame universe and the complexities of the team’s relationships.

At LOCUS, Hurley declares “Writing is Hard, and That’s OK.”

I have never wanted to quit writing more than I have in the last two years. The process feels as if it’s gotten harder. In truth, it feels harder because I’m working on more technically difficult pieces. The knowledge doesn’t make me feel any better when I’m banging my head against the wall on a project.

I’m currently working on a time-traveling military science fiction novel called The Light Brigade, and it’s been… a struggle. I kept getting to the point at which the events in the novel need to start happening out of order, and then… getting stuck. I’d write some stuff, throw it away, endlessly revise what I had, write up a lot of circle diagrams, plug stuff into Scrivener, bang my head against the desk, rewrite stuff again… and finally I just sent what I had, with a rough outline for the rest, to my editor and agent.

I felt like a totally failure.

My agent, Hannah Bowman, got on the phone with me and said, “Listen, this first part you’ve got is damn good.” (I sighed with relief, I admit.) The rest, she said, is confusing. Sure. But we’re going to map it out. Explain it to me.

So I did.

And she was like, “Oh, wow, yeah. This is a beast. This is tough.”

Cue my second sigh of relief.

I wasn’t crazy. I wasn’t a failure. I have just been working on something hard.

For more info on APOCALYPSE NYX, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Wadim Kashin

Design by Elizabeth Story

April 11, 2018

Kameron Hurley’s bad-ass APOCALYPSE NYX packs a powerful punch

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized apocalypse nyx, bel dame apocrypha, bradley horner, elizabeth story, high fever books, jennie bailey, kameron hurley, michael patrick hicks, pat's fantasy hotlist, review, starburst, wadim kashin

With over three months before publication, positive reviews begin to appear for Kameron Hurley’s gritty APOCALYPSE NYX.

Michael Patrick Hicks for HIGH FEVER BOOKS praises the collection.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

APOCALYPSE NYX is exactly the kind of science fiction I like – it’s dark, violent, and has, at its core, a deeply flawed heroine who is hard as steel and has whiskey running through her veins. Nyx is a gal that sees few problems that can’t be solved with her scattergun, and is always a hairsbreadth away from cutting off all ties with those that work for her and, if she were a more emotionally accessible and less war-wounded woman, people she might even call friends if she were drunk enough. Nyx is rugged and mean, and this collection from Kameron Hurley serves as a wonderful introduction to the former assassin turned ultra-violent problem solver, particularly if, like me, you haven’t read the Bel Dame Apocrypha series proper.

<slip>

The world Hurley has created here is as intense as it is interesting. The alien desert world Nyx inhabits is caught up in perpetual war, and Nasheenians like her are drafted to fight against their rival, darker-skinned Chenjans. The ruling body is highly matriarchal, but also heavily influenced by Muslim doctrine, with daily routine calls for prayer and a plethora of masques. On the technology front, bugs are king. Society has adapted to and grown reliant on insect-based tech – beetles are ground up to power vehicles, and form a communications network based on pheromones and body colors. Even the bullet casings and walls are rooted in creative uses of various bug life.

Story-wise, APOCALYPSE NYX has a welcoming stand-alone episodic structure to it (quick, somebody call Netflix!). Although the various jobs and missions Nyx and her crew take in order to stay solvent are unrelated, taken as a whole there is a decent, if minor, character arc at play binding these stories together. I suspect there’s a deeper arc to Nyx across the main trilogy, but I also kind of suspect that Nyx may be too violent, introverted, alcoholic, and deeply set in her ways to grow too much. Besides, she’s more interesting without the happily ever after, at least in this volume, and Nyx is the type of character that it’s hard to even imagine a happy ending for anyway.

I’ve been wanting to read about Nyx for quite a long while now, but somehow never made room for her. I happy to have finally corrected that with APOCALYPSE NYX, and I now feel a greater urgency in exploring the trilogy of novels focusing on her. After this book and Hurley’s prior release, The Stars Are Legion, if I’ve learned anything it’s that from here on out all new releases from Kameron Hurley are to automatically move to the top of my mountain of TBRs. Count me among the number of faithful converts, because I am officially a fan of Nyx. This lady is one serious bad-ass.

Bradley Horner enjoys the volume.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

<snip>

And this perfect for all us fans who loved this wild bio-punk world full of “magicians” who pull wild bioengineering stunts in the name of a religious war and mercenaries who feel like they’re losing their souls. It’s also great for all you hard-drinking, hard punching, embittered readers who like a lot of grit in their post-apocalyptic hard-SF Biopunk. 🙂

So was this good on its own, too? I think so! Short quests, jobs, and Nyx really shines darkly. Well, she’s a mess. 🙂

PAT’S FANTASY HOTLIST lauds the book.

The worldbuilding that serve as the backdrop for the Bel Dame Apocrypha was top notch. Hurley’s vision was quite unique and the world she created came alive in a manner that is seldom seen. Islam has taken to the stars, but the religion has evolved over the centuries. The author’s narrative created a vivid imagery that made the ravaged world leap off the pages. Add to that some strange insectile technology and magic, as well as some cool concepts such as the bel dames and alien gene pirates, and you realized that Kameron Hurley has created something truly special. If you are one of those jaded science-fiction reader believing to have seen it all, think again. The novella format prevents elaboration on most of the ideas introduced in the series, so in that regard existing readers might get a bit more out of each tale than newcomers. And yet, each story is written in a way that makes them accessible even if you have not read the trilogy.

<snip>

The rhythm throughout is fast-moving, making APOCALYPSE NYX another page-turner. My only complaint would be that you reach the end too quickly, thoughroughly satisfied but begging for more. Here’s to hoping that Kameron Hurley is planning additional Nyx stories, because I for one will be waiting in line to read whatever comes next for our favorite alcoholic bounty hunter!

The author’s prose is dark and brooding, the rhythm often balls-to-the-wall, yet Hurley nevertheless finds ways to hit you with touching moments that pack a powerful punch in terms of emotional impact.

If the legendary Frank Herbert, Richard Morgan, and Joe Abercrombie had ever teamed up to write something together, the Bel Dame Apocrypha is the sort of creation they would have come up with. Indeed, the trilogy deserves the highest possible recommendation and I encourage you to give the first installment a shot. Brutal, uncompromising, brilliant, enthralling: That’s God’s War in a nutshell.But if you find yourself in need of a primer, so to speak, something that works as a great introduction to one of the most badass heroines in SFF history and to one of the best science fiction series of the new millennium thus far, then APOCALYPSE NYX is just what the doctor ordered.If the legendary Frank Herbert, Richard Morgan, and Joe Abercrombie had ever teamed up to write something together, the Bel Dame Apocrypha is the sort of creation they would have come up with. Indeed, the trilogy deserves the highest possible recommendation and I encourage you to give the first installment a shot. Brutal, uncompromising, brilliant, enthralling: That’s God’s War in a nutshell.

But if you find yourself in need of a primer, so to speak, something that works as a great introduction to one of the most badass heroines in SFF history and to one of the best science fiction series of the new millennium thus far, then APOCALYPSE NYX is just what the doctor ordered.

At STARBURST, Jennie Bailey reviews it.

There are tensions between religions – there is an obvious Islam-inspired backdrop – and class; there is corruption at the highest levels and a perpetual war – one that Nyx barely made her way out of – that thunders around them. These are the sort of parallels with the real world that some of the best science fiction gestures towards and here Hurley does a cracking job. While there are many aspects that conform to expected dystopian tropes in this collection, this is a dystopia that revels in it in a big, joyous way with cracking one-liners and tight squeezes to escape. APOCALYPSE NYX is definitely not for the squeamish, but if you like your heroines as kickass as Dutch from the TV series Killjoys you’ll love Nyxnissa. Good, honest science fiction fun with a feminist twist.

For more info on APOCALYPSE NYX, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Wadim Kashin

Design by Elizabeth Story

January 26, 2018

“Nyx is back!”: Enthusiasm greets Kameron Hurley’s forthcoming APOCALYPSE NYX

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized apocalypse nyx, bel dame apocrypha, book blogger hop, books and pieces, elizabeth story, john denardo, kameron hurley, kirkus, nerds of a feather flock together, wadim kashin, you tube

NERDS OF A FEATHER, FLOCK TOGETHER is excited about Kameron Hurley’s APOCALYPSE NYX.

Nyx is back! Six years after her last novel length appearance in Rapture, Kameron Hurley has brought Nyx back in this story collection featuring stories originally available only behind Hurley’s Patreon paywall.

BOOK BLOGGER HOP is looking forward to the book.

I love Hurley’s work – The Stars Are Legion was my favorite book of 2017 – and more about her morally compromised genetically engineered assassin living in a nightmarish post-apocalyptic world is definitely something that should be good to read.

John DeNardo on KIRKUS mentions the collection among Looking Ahead: A Preview of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Books 2018 Has to Offer.

The heroine of Kameron Hurley’s APOCALYPSE NYX is a butt-kicking ex-government assassin-turned-bounty-hunter named Nyx, who leads a team of other misfits in an apocalyptic, war-torn world full of giant bugs and endless missions.

BOOKS AND PIECES discusses the Bel Dame Apocrypha/God’s War books in her video 10 Series I Want to Finish (starting at 7:06).

For more info on APOCALYPSE NYX, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Wadim Kashin

Design by Elizabeth Story

January 19, 2018

Tachyon tidbits featuring Kameron Hurley, Peter Watts, and Michael Swanwick

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized apocalypse nyx, bel dame apocrypha, elizabeth story, god's war, god's war trilogy, infidel, kameron hurley, michael swanwick, not so much said the cat, nyx, paul robichaux, Peter Watts, preview, rapture, review, the freeze frame revolution, wadim kashin, worlds in ink

The latest reviews and mentions of Tachyon titles and authors from around the web.

Kameron Hurley, Peter Watts (photo by Johan Angelmark [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons), and Michael Swanwick (Beth Gwynn)

Kameron Hurley on her eponymous site previews all the forthcoming Bel Dame Apocrypha/God’s War goodness for 2018.

GOD’S WAR, the first book of the Bel Dame Apocrypha/God’s War Trilogy has been out of print since late last year. The publisher is re-issuing the books in mmp with updated, streamlined covers – just in time for the launch of the new story collection, APOCALYPSE NYX!

Because Nyx really is the hero we need right now.

Yes, 2018 is THE YEAR OF ALL THINGS NYX, MY FRIENDS. REJOICE.