Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The Hanging Tree
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Aaronovitch, Ben David
BIRTHDATE: 1964
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://www.gollancz.co.uk/gollancz_authors/ben-aaronovitch/ * https://www.orionbooks.co.uk/authors/detail.page?id=crE2bAsCD5RIsUZJVs8aTQl2YXe-QGy0Jl/0uytDYUORHlyknoCgGnjf/vh/-w__ *
RESEARCHER NOTES:
SKETCHWRITER NOTES: Upgraded from B to A due to numerous books & graphic novels of popular interest. And Doctor Who connection.
Secondary writings belong under 3 separate subheads.
PERSONAL
Born 1964, in London, England; son of Sam (an economist and politician) and Lavender (a political activist) Aaronovitch; married Marie Fofana, 1992; children: one.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Waterstones, London, England, worked as a bookseller. CityRead (annual charitable reading festival), London, England, board member and regular participant.
WRITINGS
Graphic novels were originally published serially as Rivers of London comic books featuring Peter Grant, including Body Work, 2015; Night Witch, 2016; Black Mould, 2016-17; and Detective Stories, 2017; other Peter Grant comics include Rivers of London: Cry Fox, 2017. Author of short stories added to special editions of the Peter Grant novels published by bookseller Waterstones, including “The Domestic” in Whispers under Ground; “The Cockpit” in Broken Homes; and “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Granny” in Foxglove Summer; as well as “The Home Crowd Advantage” included in the special London edition of Rivers of London.
Other short stories anthologized in Short Trips: Time Signature; Something Changed; and Missing Adventures.
Author of “Results,” an episode of Casualty, 1990; and “Stonegod,” an episode of Dark Knight (also known as Fantasy Quest), 2001; coauthor of “Earth Aid,” an episode of the radio series Doctor Who, 2011.
SIDELIGHTS
Ben Aaronovitch was born in London in 1964, shortly after the debut of the popular science-fiction television series Doctor Who. Twenty-some years later, he would have the opportunity to write the four-episode arc “Remembrance of the Daleks,” which remains one of the most cherished of the Doctor’s adventures. In 1989, both the Doctor and Aaronovitch faded into a temporary leave of absence. Aaronovitch dabbled with occasional television scripts and novelizations of Doctor Who spinoffs while working at the London-based Waterstones bookshop. Then, a few years into the new century, he invented Peter Grant, and Peter Grant spun the author’s modest career in a dramatic new direction.
Peter Grant and the Rivers of London
Peter Grant is a detective of the London metropolitan police who also happens to be an apprentice wizard with the uncanny ability to see things that are invisible to everyone else. His special talent was discovered when he interviewed a witness to murder who turned out to be a ghost. Grant is the ideal candidate to pursue the arch-villain known as the Faceless Man, especially when his investigations lead him to the spirits of the rivers of London.
The Thames and its many ancient tributaries come to life in Aaronovitch’s London with personalities that animate the neighborhoods through (and beneath) which they flow. Only two people can hear their voices: Grant and his master, Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who is also the last registered wizard in the entire country. Aaronovitch’s combination of the classic police procedural with supernatural urban fantasy captivated British readers almost from the start. It was not long before Aaronovitch’s work also attracted the notice of U.S. critics and mystery fans.
Case Files of the Occult Detective
Readers first meet rookie officer Peter Grant in Midnight Riot when he is assigned to guard a crime scene at Covent Garden and inadvertently unearths the ghost who observed the gruesome murder. The killing is only one of a violent series of murders that Grant is under mounting pressure to solve. He is distracted, however, by an attraction to his lovely associate Lesley, his magical training with Master Nightingale, and the human embodiments of the river spirits, who increasingly draw him into their eternal familial squabbles. A Publishers Weekly reviewer called Aaronovitch’s debut “witty, fun, and full of vivid characters,” as well as intriguing plot threads. Several critics have marveled over what interviewer Matt Staggs described at Unbound Worlds as “Grant’s penchant for deeply ironic humor and the occasional fireball.”
One case follows another in short order. Moon over Soho finds Grant, the biracial son of a jazz musician and an immigrant from Sierra Leone, in a jazz club where many a young musician performs only to die soon afterward. Whispers under Ground immerses Grant and his mentor Nightingale in the London subway system, where the son of an American politician has suffered death by magic. In his review of Moon over Soho in the Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Charles de Lint observed: “I really appreciate the mix of police procedural with mythic/folkloric supernatural elements that actually have a sense of wonder about them. I like the humor, and I love the tone of the narrator’s voice.”
In Broken Homes, Grant is on the trail of his longtime faceless nemesis, a renegade magician who is connected to a stolen German magic manual, a mysterious housing estate called Skygarden, and a murder victim gruesomely burned to death from the inside out. Grant is working with the oddly alluring Lesley May and a lovely American detective, but a Kirkus Reviews contributor hinted that “the city itself is the main character–literally.” The Hanging Tree “is another superior blend of mystery and wry humor,” noted a reviewer in Publishers Weekly. In this episode, Grant must negotiate two worlds that are inextricably linked together. A teenage girl has died of a drug overdose, and the girl who supplied the drugs happens to be the daughter of Lady Ty, the goddess of the river Tyburn, who happens to be the sister of his earthly love interest Beverley. A contributor to Dear Author found: “There’s a lot to praise in this book, from the witty humor … to the appealingly competent female characters … to the diversity of the cast of characters.” In his review of Broken Homes in the Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy, de Lint reported: “The reason it all works … is because … Aaronovitch grounds his characters and setting before he takes them into situations that might otherwise strain credulity.” He added: “Those wonderful gods and goddesses of London’s rivers … are both awesome and down to earth.”
The Next Steps
After six successful tales of suspense and fantasy, Aaronovitch transported the supernatural detective into new dimensions, where he has continued to flourish. His first graphic novel with coauthor Andrew Cartmel and illustrator Lee Sullivan is Rivers of London: Body Work. In this adventure, a junk dealer unwittingly sells a haunted car for parts, which then spread the ancient magic to their new automotive homes. Grant and his partner Sahra Guleed must find the deadly pieces before before one murder leads to highway mayhem on a grand scale. It is a tale “of subtle intricacies,” wrote Jesse Karp in Booklist, that are “blended into the police procedural with satisfying realism.”
Rivers of London: Night Witch involves the kidnapping of a wealthy Russian politician’s daughter from her London home and the disappearance of Grant’s mentor Nightingale. A Russian witch might help, but she is behind bars in a British prison. “The art [of the graphic format] is moody and dark to suit the narrative,” de Lint commented in the Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy, “presenting a layered story in a way that you can’t pull off in a regular prose version.”
A Rare Book of Cunning Device is available only in audio-book format, a form that Aaronovitch is eager to embrace. Not only is the audio format accessible and inexpensive, he shared with Simon Brew in a Den of Geek interview, but “you can hear when [Peter Grant is] being sarcastic!” The Furthest Station is a 144-page novella, a format that Aaronovitch compares favorably to “abbreviated novels.” As he explained to Brew, “You can get quite a lot of character and action in there without having to pour so much into it.” The author has also committed himself to a public speaking role as a board member and participant in CityRead, an annual London charity festival and book giveaway intended to promote city libraries and increase participation in the art of reading.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, February 1, 2014, David Pitt, review of Broken Homes, p. 34; April 15, 2016, Jesse Karp, review of Rivers of London: Body Work, p. 41.
Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2014, review of Broken Homes.
Library Journal, February 15, 2014, review of Broken Homes, p. 78.
Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, January-February, 2013. Charles de Lint, review of Moon Over Soho, p. 35; July-August, 2014 , review of Broken Homes, p. 67; May-June, 2017, Charles de Lint, review of Rivers of London: Night Witch, p. 84.
Publishers Weekly, December 6, 2010, review of Midnight Riot, p. 34; June 18, 2012, review of Whispers Under Ground, p. 41; December 5, 2016, review of The Hanging Tree.
Xpress Reviews, May 27, 2016, Teresa Potter-Reyes, review of Rivers of London: Body Work.
ONLINE
Basil and Spice, http://basilandspice.com/ February 9, 2011, David M. Kinchen, review of Midnight Riot.
Dear Author, http://dearauthor.com/ (January 31, 2017), review of The Hanging Tree.
Den of Geek, http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/ (June 6, 2017), Simon Brew, author interview.
Gollancz, https://www.gollancz.co.uk/(October 29, 2017), “Ben Aaronovitch.”
Orion Publishing Group, https://www.orionbooks.co.uk/ (October 29, 2017), “Ben Aaronovitch.”
Speculative Herald, http://www.speculativeherald.com/ (January 23, 2017), review of The Hanging Tree.
Unbound Worlds, http://www.unboundworlds.com/ (February 1, 2011), Matt Staggs, author interview.
Accessed October 9, 2017
Author: Ben Aaronovitch Author Record # 3710
Legal Name: Aaronovitch, Ben Dylan
Birthplace: London, England, UK
Birthdate: 1964
Language: English
Webpages: Blogspot, IMDB, SFE3, the-folly.com, Wikipedia-EN
Note: When asked about the middle name of the author being Denis (as given by Wikipedia) or Dylan (as given by The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction) David Langford wrote: "Yes, Ben Aaronovitch told us in personal email that his middle name is Dylan".
Author Tags: urban fantasy (9), fantasy (3), detective (3), london (3), ghosts (2), contemporary (2), magic (2), mystery (2), supernatural (2), science fiction (1), dyson sphere (1), murder (1), police (1), wizards (1)
Series
PC Peter Grant
1. Rivers of London (2011)
aka Midnight Riot
2. Moon Over Soho (2011)
3. Whispers Under Ground (2012)
4. Broken Homes (2013)
5. Foxglove Summer (2014)
5.5. The Furthest Station (2017)
6. The Hanging Tree (2016)
PC Peter Grant Omnibus
The P C Grant Novels Books 1-3 (2013)
The PC Grant Novels Books 1-4 (2015)
Graphic Novels
Sorry, we're not listing graphic novels by this author
Series contributed to
Doctor Who : Seventh Doctor
Remembrance of the Daleks (1990)
Doctor Who : New Adventures
10. Transit (1992)
44. The Also People (1995)
56. So Vile a Sin (1996) (with Kate Orman)
Professor Bernice Summerfield
Genius Loci (2007)
Doctor Who (with Trevor Baxendale)
Remembrance of the Daleks / Prisoner of the Daleks (2016)
Ben Aaronovitch was born in 1964. Discovering in his early twenties that he had precisely one talent, he took up screenwriting at which he was an overnight success. He wrote for Doctor Who, Casualty and the world’s cheapest ever SF soap opera Jupiter Moon. He then wrote for Virgin’s New Adventures until they pulped all his books.
Then Ben entered a dark time illuminated only by an episode of Dark Knight, a book for Big Finish and the highly acclaimed but not-very-well-paying Blake’s 7 Audio dramas.
Trapped in a cycle of disappointment and despair Ben was eventually forced to support his expensive book habit by working for Waterstones as a bookseller. Ironically it was while shelving the works of others that Ben finally saw the light. He would write his own books, he would let prose into his heart and rejoice in the word. Henceforth, subsisting on nothing more than instant coffee and Japanese takeaway, Ben embarked on the epic personal journey that was to lead to Rivers of London (or Midnight Riot as it is known in the Americas).
Ben Aaronovitch currently resides in London and says that he will leave when they pry his city from his cold dead fingers.
Wiki Loves Monuments: Photograph a monument, help Wikipedia and win!
Ben Aaronovitch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Ben Aaronovitch
Aaronovitch at a Forbidden Planet event
Born
1964 (age 52–53)
London, England
Occupation
Author
Notable works
Rivers of London
Remembrance of the Daleks
Spouse
Marie Aaronovitch (née Fofana) (m. 1992)[1]
Relatives
Sam Aaronovitch, Owen Aaronovitch, David Aaronovitch
Ben Denis Aaronovitch (born 1964) is a British author. He is best known for the best-selling Rivers of London series of novels, as well as writing two Doctor Who serials in the late 1980s and other spin-off novels from the series.
Contents [hide]
1
Biography
1.1
Family
1.2
Doctor Who and television work
1.3
Rivers of London
2
Television
2.1
Doctor Who
2.2
Casualty
2.3
Jupiter Moon
2.4
Dark Knight
3
Audio dramas
3.1
Blake's 7
3.2
Doctor Who
4
Novels
4.1
Doctor Who
4.1.1
Novelisations
4.1.2
Virgin New Adventures
4.2
Rivers of London
4.3
Others
5
Comics
5.1
Rivers of London - Body Work
5.2
Rivers of London - Night Witch
5.3
Rivers of London - Black Mould
5.4
Rivers of London - Detective Stories
6
Short stories
6.1
Rivers of London series
7
References
8
External links
Biography[edit]
Family[edit]
Aaronovitch is the son of the late economist Sam Aaronovitch, a senior member of the Communist Party of Great Britain,[2] and the younger brother of actor Owen Aaronovitch and journalist David Aaronovitch.[3] He attended Holloway School.[4]
Doctor Who and television work[edit]
Aaronovitch wrote two Doctor Who serials Remembrance of the Daleks (1988) and Battlefield (1989) for BBC television, and also the novelization of the former.
He wrote one episode for Casualty (1990) and was then a regular writer on science fiction series Jupiter Moon.[5]
He subsequently wrote or co-wrote three Doctor Who spin-off novels in the Virgin Publishing New Adventures range; he created the character Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart who became a semi-regular in the New Adventures. He has also written a novel and several short stories published by Big Finish Productions featuring the character of Bernice Summerfield, who was originally developed in the New Adventures. He also co-wrote a Doctor Who audio drama for Big Finish, and has written a number of Blake's 7 spin-off audio dramas.
Rivers of London[edit]
Aaronovitch currently lives in Wimbledon and is working on a series of urban fantasy police procedurals (Rivers of London).[6]
Television[edit]
Doctor Who[edit]
Remembrance of the Daleks (1988)
Battlefield (1989)
Casualty[edit]
"Results" (1990)
Jupiter Moon[edit]
Episode 69 (1990)
Episode 70 (1990)
Episode 80 (1990)
Episode 81 (1990)
Episode 95 (1990)
Episode 119 (1996)
Episode 120 (1996)
Episode 131 (1996)
Episode 132 (1996)
Episode 148 (1996)
Dark Knight[edit]
"Stonegod" (2001)
Audio dramas[edit]
Blake's 7[edit]
Rebel (2007)
When Vila Met Gan (2008)
Eye of the Machine (2008)
Blood and Earth (2009)
Doctor Who[edit]
Earth Aid (with Andrew Cartmel; 2011)
Novels[edit]
Doctor Who[edit]
Novelisations[edit]
Remembrance of the Daleks
Virgin New Adventures[edit]
Transit
The Also People
So Vile a Sin (with Kate Orman)
Rivers of London[edit]
See also: Peter Grant (book series)
Rivers of London (known as Midnight Riot in the U.S.) (2011)[7] ISBN 9781782761877
Moon Over Soho (2011) ISBN 9780345524591
Whispers Under Ground (2012) ISBN 9780345524614
Broken Homes (2013) ISBN 9780575132467
Foxglove Summer (2014) ISBN 9780575132504
The Hanging Tree (3 November 2016 in the UK,[8] 31 January 2017 in the US[9]) ISBN 9780575132559
The Furthest Station (28 September 2017) ISBN 9781473222427
Others[edit]
Genius Loci
Comics[edit]
Rivers of London - Body Work[edit]
Body Work #1 - 16 July 2015
Body Work #2 - 19 August 2015
Body Work #3 - 16 September 2015
Body Work #4 - 21 October 2015
Body Work #5 - 20 November 2015
Body Work (Collection/Graphic Novel) - 29 March 2016
Rivers of London - Night Witch[edit]
Night Witch #1 - 16 March 2016
Night Witch #2 - 13 April 2016
Night Witch #3 - 18 May 2016
Night Witch (Collection/Graphic Novel) - 1 November 2016
Rivers of London - Black Mould[edit]
Black Mould #1 - 12 October 2016
Black Mould #2 - 16 November 2016
Black Mould #3 - 21 December 2016
Black Mould #4 - 1 February 2017
Black Mould #5 - 8 March 2017
Black Mould (Collection/Graphic Novel) - 25 July 2017
Rivers of London - Detective Stories[edit]
Detective Stories #1 - 7 June 2017
Detective Stories #2 - 12 July 2017
Detective Stories #3 - 9 August 2017
Detective Stories #4 - 13 September 2017
Detective Stories (Collection/Graphic Novel) - 29 December 2017
Short stories[edit]
Gone Fishing in Short Trips: Time Signature
Walking Backwards for Christmas in Something Changed
The Evacuation of Bernice Summerfield Considered as a Short Film by Terry Gilliam in Missing Adventures
Rivers of London series[edit]
The Home Crowd Advantage in the 'London Edition' of Rivers of London and on his official website
The Domestic in the special Waterstones edition of Whispers Under Ground
The Cockpit in the special Waterstones edition of Broken Homes
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Granny in the special Waterstones edition of Foxglove Summer
A Rare Book of Cunning Device in a special Audible-only edition read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Ben Aaronovitch interview: Cityread, Doctor Who, audiobooks, Peter Grant
Ben Aaronovitch on Peter Grant, Cityreads, Doctor Who and Dolly Parton...
Interview
Simon Brew
Jun 6, 2017
j
13 Comments
For many who read this site, our first exposure to the work of Ben Aaronovitch came with his pair of Doctor Who stories, Remembrance Of The Daleks and Battlefield. Or maybe you've followed his best-selling series of Peter Grant novels, which keep threatening to come to television? As he releases a new audio short to help raise money for Cityread, he spared us some time for a chat...
Can you tell us what you’re up to? You’ve done this book for Cityread: perhaps start with what that is?
Cityread is a charity that used to be London-based, but now they’re setting up in other cities around the UK. Our latest is Slough!
Dolly Parton, Kelsea Ballerini & More To Be Honored By Academy Of Country Music
Coming up next
Dolly Parton, Kelsea Ballerini & More To Be Honored By Academy Of Country Music
video playing
Dolly Parton Is Proud Of Her Charitywork For...
08/05/17
Dolly Parton distributes last checks to wildfire...
05/05/17
Why Is Peter Capaldi Leaving Doctor Who?
16/04/17
Peter Capaldi Hints at Doctor Regeneration
11/04/17
Dolly Parton's Longtime Manager, Don Warden,...
14/03/17
Slough?
Yeah! One of the upcoming detective stories we’re doing is going to be set in Slough. It’s got to be done! So the idea is that it’s library-based. There are a lot of reading groups, library-based reading groups. And the idea was to get everyone in London, to get all the reading groups for one month reading the same book.
For example, this year it was Prophecy. And that’s an Elizabethan murder mystery, that’s set in London. They lowered the tone with me. It all started with Dickens about five years ago, which was a good starting point, as he was out of copyright!
They have plays, libraries in all the boroughs put on events. People put on shows. It’s all good stuff, and the idea is to promote the idea of reading.
People have a tendency to take libraries for granted. I don’t think we can take libraries for granted, because there’s a certain section of society that seems hell-bent on eliminating them. I can’t work out why they’d want to eliminate them, except that they’re just nasty people, and shouldn’t.
My colleague wrote a heartfelt, wonderful piece on libraries, and the sanctuary they offer.
My dad taught himself German in Whitechapel Library. He left school at 15, and became a well-known columnist on the basis of what he taught himself in that library. Which I think is very impressive given that I struggle to learn French! It’s really hard too, by the way, to try and teach yourself a language!
So how did Cityread and your writing come together? Was it with your first novel, Rivers Of London?
I’d never heard of them before! And they said "We want your book!" and I said "Why?!" and they said "Because it’s got London in the title!"
They liked it because it was accessible. London in the title was useful, but it’s very London-based. My publishers were also willing to print off 6000 copies and give them away for free, which I thought was a bit off [Laughs]. My publisher has the crack cocaine theory of publicity. They give away enough of the first book, enough will buy the second. Whether they buy the third…?!
It’s worked out, though!
I can’t complain! It’s not like I’m not doing very well out of the books! Then they said "Do you want to be involved further?", because I really enjoyed it. I went to every borough in London and gave a talk at each library. I’d forgotten, which is really strange when you consider there are 33 boroughs. I did two libraries a day for about three weeks.
How was that?
It was brilliant. It was knackering! I went in all ‘I’ll stand at the back’, and by the end I’d lost my stage fright. I can now go out in front of lots of people and talk with no stage fright at all. It got worn away!
I got to see every borough [of London], which is not something people really do. And every single borough had something of interest. I was making notes, chatting to people, and I found that incredibly useful for work. A very interesting thing to do, and such a huge city.
There are rivers, little marketplaces, things that just appear! A village pops up and you go 'AH! VILLAGE!' I found it very, very interesting. I thought I can get behind this. London and libraries, two of the things I like, so I’m now on the board!
[The next Cityread] is next April. I always advertise it, and I’ll make a point of putting it up on my website when it comes around.
Getting people into reading in cities, then. It’s you and Dolly Parton!
[Laughs] Yes, yes.
It’s an odd Venn diagram, but there you go!
I’ve never been in a Venn diagram with Dolly Parton!
There’s a first time for everything!
I’m going to go and draw the diagram.
Let’s look at the Peter Grant stories, then. I’m a few books behind myself at the moment, I should confess...
Get the audio books!
Ah, that’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. I was reading last week that overall book sales are up, but that it’s audio books that are leading the charge. You’ve been backing audio books for some time…
I was desperate to be on an audio book, and I thought you were supposed to! They were like, no, you have to earn a certain number of sales. The production costs by definition are actually higher.
The crucial thing is the calculation has changed. Before, you were going to have to physically dish out some discs. So the first book, it would be ten discs or something, and then it went down to one MP3 CD. Libraries still get the CDs. Everyone else in the entire universe downloads it.
You produce the physical discs for libraries now, but you don’t have to produce them in quantities. The production costs are no longer so high. CDs are still expensive to press, relatively!
Which explains the different packaging you get for audiobooks in libraries?
Yes!
Now they come in one jewel case. It went back to that in the period I’ve been writing the books. It went from everyone gets them on CD and downloads them manually, to everyone just downloads them from the internet, the rise of Audible. It means they’re much more accessible, which means more can buy them which means you don’t have to be such a bestseller to have an audiobook. Which is good news for actors, I would have thought!
Now, books that formerly wouldn’t have got Audibles will get Audibles. I think we’re heading for an equilibrium between paper, ebooks and audio books. A lot of people are like me: they have a Kindle and other things, and they also get books, and they also get audio books. With Terry Pratchett, I always used to get his book three ways! I paid three times!
I think the next change will be when you buy the hardback, you’ll get the ebook free. They’d do it now, but I think it’s technically quite difficult to do. Not everyone has a Kindle!
I also think that ebooks have led to the rise again of the novella.
And not the novella as a niche thing either. You’ve got one yourself coming out this year?
That was the first novella I’ve ever written. And they’re very tasty for an author. They’re not so long that you feel like you’re banging your head against a brick wall, but they’re not so short that you go la-la-la-TWIST! Novellas are like <
There never used to be a market for them, but now you can put them out as an ebook.
I think books are going to shorter. Some will do. I don’t want George R R Martin books to get shorter…
We just want those to get finished!
Some people aren’t suited to short books. I like reading big pages of description from Peter Hamilton because he’s got an interesting brain. Whereas if I’m on a plane, then a novella will get you from point A to point B quite nicely! I like them, and didn’t used to. It’s been a conversion for me.
Does it change how you write? Knowing that your text will also become an audio book?
For Cityread, I said to Audible, "Why don’t I write a short story to raise money for Cityread? Is that something you’d be interested in?" They said "Sure!" They’re giving it away free. They pay me to do it, and I pay Cityread, and Audible gives it away free! It’s nice publicity for Cityread, and it’s set in the British library. And it has librarians in it. That’s how that came about. I did it as a fun thing. I’ve always done short stories, for Waterstone’s special editions. They ask for an essay, and I hate essays, so I wrote a short story. Now I’m stuck with that!
For this project, then, for someone has tasted and enjoyed the Peter Grant books but isn’t up to date, is this a jumping on point?
You could. But you can pick up Rivers Of London on Audible quite cheaply now, and I’d suggest doing that. Especially for non-British people. Someone pointed this out to me, as then <
Does it alter your writing, that the delivery is going to give you such precision over the expression of dialogue?
No, no really. Although Kobna Holdbrook-Smith’s [who reads the audiobook] interpretation of some of the characters has started to creep in. There’s bound to be an interaction. I listen to them, to make sure I like them. Most of my characters tell me how they’re written though, rather than the other way around. I don’t have a choice, they make all the decisions!
Back in 2014, there was talk of a television version of Rivers Of London. Is that still happening?
Television is where it always is. Floating. I hate television! I love watching television, I really do. I’m watching American Gods at the moment. But I don’t know. You never know, it could go tomorrow. Or it might never go. That’s the thing with television, it’s either in a tearing hurry or freezeframe. There is no slow methodical progression towards being made. No stages. One day, you just scramble. It’s completely arbitrary, and it’s based on the whims of people who were beaten in private school a lot. So you never know what’s going to happen.
I have to ask about Doctor Who: did you ever come close to another go at writing for the show?
No!
Was that your choice or someone else’s?
I knew that Rona Munro would come back from the classic series. She’s an internationally famous playwright, and fits in very well with getting people like Neil Gaiman in to write scripts. That made total sense to me. I never thought it’d be me returning!
Did you want it to be?
The thing is, I can give you this speech about how I’ve moved on and so has Doctor Who and we have separated, but they wouldn’t even get to the end of the sentence before I said yes if they asked! But they’re not going to. They don’t dislike or like me or anything, it’s just the way that television works. I’m not in the television loop. I’m not a television writer anymore, so I’m not going to be considered as one. I’d be terrified to write for it now: 45 minutes, and you’re up against some stiff competition!
There’s almost universal love for Remembrance Of The Daleks, your first Doctor Who. The only person I’ve ever come across who really doesn’t like your other one, Battlefield, is you! You give a very damning DVD commentary.
I didn’t like it, because my main complaint with Battlefield is the mistakes I made as a writer. Ones you don’t know about because you weren’t there when I was making it!
For you, you can enjoy it. For me, I’m sitting there going 'WAAAAAAAAAAAAH why did I have too many characters? Why do some of them disappear half way through? What did I do that? Oh god, that didn’t work!' Leaving aside all the other problems I have with it, my main one was that it was my second script and I bollocksed it up. As far as I’m concerned, I didn’t have the necessary experience.
If I did it now, I’d go I can fix that, pull that, put that together, and I would have known how to do that. But I didn’t know how to do that because I was, what, 25? And young. And stupid. Remembrance had been written in a mad flash of inspiration and not knowing what you couldn’t do. Everyone’s writing career starts like that, charging in and going YES I AM THE GREATEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD. Then you find out, maybe script two or three, that maybe you’re not.
I remember John Grisham writing of his first novel that he said there’s lots of things in there that he’d do differently now, but he wouldn’t change a word, because it was his first book. Do you share that with your work?
Oh god. Rivers Of London. There are some howlers in there. There’s some stuff in there that I’d like to quietly go back and rewrite but I’m not going to. I don’t believe you should do that.
What’s next for you, then? I know about the novella later this year, but is it more Peter Grant books after that?
There’s another Peter Grant that I’m working on now, because the lads will come over and beat me with a stick if I stop. Then if I can get this one in on time for a change – because I’m very slow – then I’ll have carved out a little bit of space to do something else. What that will be will depend. If the TV series goes, that’ll take up all my free time, because I’m executive producer on it, and I’ll be fairly heavily involved – hopefully! If not, then I may write something else. I might write another novella, because they’re quite fun, in the gap between this one being finished and it coming out there’s a quiet gap where nobody wants you to do anything. I may do another novella then, I’ve got it banked. Break glass in case of script lateness or something!
Most of it’s going to be Peter Grant unless something else comes up!
Ben Aaronovitch, thank you very much.
Ben Aaronovitch’s new Rivers of London short story, A Rare Book of Cunning Device, is available exclusively on Audible.co.uk. All proceeds from the project are donated to CityRead London. The audiobook is free to download at www.audible.co.uk for a limited time.
A Conversation with Ben Aaronovitch, Author, “Midnight Riot”
By Matt Staggs
February 1, 2011
Barnes & Noble
Indiebound
Amazon
iBooks
SHARE
© Sabrina Aaronovitch
If you fancy urban fantasy, then Ben Aaronovitch is a name you should know. His new novel Midnight Riot (published in the UK as Rivers of London) is a fresh take on a familiar trope, a magic-infused police procedural in a distinctly British vein. Magician’s apprentice/Police Constable Peter <
First of all, I should congratulate you for creating an incredibly memorable character: Peter Grant. I loved his background – the biracial son of a jazz musician and an African immigrant – and his sense of humor, which led to some pretty amusing lines in the novel. How did you come to create him?
This is one of those tricky questions. Peter Grant sort of crept up on me while I wasn’t looking. Back when the title was Magic Cops (don’t laugh it was a working title) and I was thinking of it as TV project Peter Grant was a woman of Jamaican parentage but certain parts of her character got cannibalised for another project so I thought I’d write a guy instead. Then I thought I’d make him mixed race and the next thing I knew I’d written the line:
My name is Peter Grant and I am a member of that mighty army for justice known to all right thinking people as the Metropolitan Police and as ‘the filth’ by everyone else.
From this I knew he was from North London (the accent), that the book was going to be in the first person and that Peter was only going to stop being ironic when he was dead.
Once you get past a certain point with a character it ceases to be an act of creation and becomes one of negotiation. This is what writers mean when they say their characters take on a life of their own — it’s a very good sign. Right up until when they refuse to do something vital to the plot at which point you are just stuffed…
The mixed race aspect just felt right from the start so it became a process by which I worked out where his parents were from and what they did for a living. The thing with Peter’s father’s career and addiction came about because I wanted a melancholy stripe to run through his life — a touch of blue if you like but I didn’t want it to be debilitating or spill over into angst.
If you’re writing about an occult detective, you’re bound to run into readers comparing your books to The Dresden Files. However, having read and enjoyed Midnight Riot, I know that there’s a world of difference between Peter Grant and Harry Dresden. Did you anticipate comparisons? How have you handled them and what would you say to readers skeptical regarding your series?
The $64 thousand Dresden Question. When I was putting together Magic Cops as a TV pitch I’d never heard of Dresden. Then I was explaining the idea to a friend and he said – ‘That sounds just like that new TV series that SciFi Channel (this was pre-dyslexia) are developing.’
This happens to me a lot; for example: ‘I want to do an space opera only, like, about a tramp freighter – what do you think?’ ‘Well it’s funny you should say that…’
So I watched The Dresden Files series and, dispirited, shelved the TV version of Magic Cops. Once I’d decided to resurrect the project as a novel I thought I’d better read actual Dresden books to make sure I wasn’t going to do an expy version by accident. It’s a surprisingly easy thing to do when you’re writing within a genre, look at Harry Potter and The Worst Witch, it’s almost never intentional but it doesn’t look that way from the outside.
So I read Storm Front and then I read all the other books that were available over the course of the next week, swearing pretty much continuously as I did so. If they’d been terribly books my life would have been so much easier because the rule is that outright literary theft is perfectly acceptable providing your version is better than the version you stole it from. I didn’t make that rule, by the way, Shakespeare made that rule so take it up with him if you dare.
Paying ‘homage’ is an entirely different thing.
Anyway: I felt I was pretty safe in all but one aspect. Whereas Harry Dresden was a lone hero in the noir mould Peter Grant was going to be a policeman, part of a wider system, with rules and bureaucracies and procedures. This was going to be a Police procedural in the British mode.
That was going to be the other big difference – this was London, not Chicago, fewer guns more sarcasm and the stories were going to be spun out of the city’s long history.
I was fairly secure that the ‘voice’ of the story would be sufficiently different to avoid unfavourable comparison which just left the magic…
And that’s where I was in trouble. Television producers are simple, honest folk who really don’t like to face more than one complicated concept at a time. To avoid problems I’d kept the magic a nice generic gesture/magic word/will power system. It didn’t really change much when I started thinking about the book. It was, to be honest, Ars Magica in the 21st century which is incredibly lazy and why Jim Butcher has done me such an enormous favour – the swine.
I don’t think people realise just how sophisticated the system Jim Butcher has invented is. It is a cunning synthesis of a myriad western magical traditions (with some entirely new concepts thrown in) that solves a wide array of potential structural problems allowing Jim to throw up these extravagant soaring narratives while doing the literary equivalent of leaning against a wall and nibbling on a carrot. Ain’t he a stinker?
So I was forced to rethink my magic and that was, possibly, the best thing that could have happened. I can’t even begin to talk about how it works without huge spoilers but there are a few things I can clarify. Magic, as it is practised by Nightingale and Grant, is not something you’re born with. It is, as someone suggested, like playing a violin, anyone can be trained to do it and while some may have a natural aptitude it takes years of practise just to get a decent tune and a more than a lifetime to truly master.
So I’d like to thank Jim Butcher for forcing me to work harder and also for writing all those really good books. Dresden wasn’t the only horribly similar book. Once I was halfway through my first draft I discovered Shevdon, Carey, McLeod, Gaiman (how could I forget Gaiman). Kittredge, Shevden and of course China Meiville (who I thought had abandoned us for the dizzying heights of literary fiction).
You seem to have a very solid grasp of the fundamentals of mythology and maybe even Jungian psychology, and I really enjoyed the various gods and spirits that inhabit London. Where did all of this come from? Have you always been interested in this sort of thing? Also, how does one go about personifying a god in a way that makes him or her godlike but still understandable to readers?
I’ve always been interested in history, particularly the micro-history of place and how these things tangle up with the present. It’s what some people, rather pretentiously, call psychogeography and what I call ‘stuff’. The thing about a novel is that it eats stuff at a prodigious rate so you have to keep finding more to keep the narrative on track.
The idea of Mama Thames came from a completely different project but I can’t really discuss her origins without more spoilers. Let’s just say that she grew in stature from amusing background to a major character in her own right (she got a lot more frightening at the same time).
Taking the prize for ascended minor character is Beverley Brook who started off as the girl the opened the door… but I digress.
I started looking at the tributaries of the Thames and where they ran and asked myself if they were people who would they be. There’s a quite a big difference between the two courts of Father and Mother and not just the obvious gender and ethnicity issues – if you think about it you might figure it out before it becomes a factor in the books.
I didn’t really think about the gods in terms of power, they are more like the personifications of localities — true Genius Loci than what we think of as gods. Again I can’t really give much away about the cosmology of the books without massive spoilers.
The “monsters” in your book aren’t completely evil, and even when they harm others it’s usually just that they can’t help themselves – it’s in their nature. Was this a conscious consideration for you in writing the book? How do you generally like your monsters?
I’m not a moral relativist but I don’t believe in evil as an abstract concept. People chose to do evil through action or inaction but they almost always believe they are doing good, or they have no choice or, most corrosively of all, because they tell themselves that everyone else does it (whatever it is). This philosophy is bound to permeate the way characters behave in my books.
I do introduce a very wicked person in Moon Over Soho but even they have motives that seem rational and just to them.
Grant’s master, Thomas Nightingale, is grudgingly accepted as part of the police force, and anyone who has worked in a real world bureaucracy knows that there are always “black sheep” of one sort or another in the flock. How did you come to define his relationship with the police, and will we learn more about how this relationship developed in coming books?
We will be learning more about Nightingale and some of the history behind the Folly and its relationship with the Met in later books.
I wanted it to be a typically British constitutional mash up whereby rather than there be a rational organisational plan the system had developed out of layers of petrified custom and practice that had somehow been overlain by a modern police force.
What’s next for you? And what do you have in store for Peter in Moon Over Soho?
In the next book will be Lord Grant and the Irregulars. The Pale Lady and a quick dip in the Thames. Post modernism, demon traps, a man without a face, the problem with Tigers and why certain kinds of music can get you killed.
Rivers of London: Night Witch
Charles de Lint
132.5-6 (May-June 2017): p84.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Spilogale, Inc.
http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/
Rivers of London: Night Witch, by Ben Aaronovitch & Andrew Cartmel, and Lee Sullivan, Titan Comics, 2016, $14.99, tpb.
First off, this is a graphic novel. A comic book. I mention this because I was taken to task recently by a reader who was quite interested in another graphic novel I was discussing in this column, only to find out near the end of the review that it wasn't prose. Somehow, even though everything about the book intrigued him, the delivery medium was a deal breaker.
I get it. We all have quirks in our reading habits. I have trouble reading something in second person. I can make it through a short story, but would never read a novel, because the entire time the author is telling me, "you're walking into the room," I can't shut off the voice in my head that's saying, "No, I'm not."
For some reason, first person doesn't affect me in the same way. Not because I think I'm telling the story (which is as implausible as second person, when you think about it), but because I'm able to accept as part of my suspension of disbelief that I'm reading an account that happened to someone else, as though I'm privy to their personal journal.
But I digress. Rivers of London: Night Witch is a graphic novel. If you like Ben Aaronovitch (and why wouldn't you?), you'll like this book, which is a completely new story set in his Rivers of London world, co-written with Andrew Cartmel (Doctor Who, The Vinyl Detective ) and illustrated by Lee Sullivan.
I find the best graphic stories based on established properties are those that involve the original creator in a primary role. You know you're getting the real deal, and that's certainly the case here.
Rivers of London is an urban fantasy series with a very different feel from those with which you might already be familiar. It's set in Britain (London, perhaps obviously?), and is as much police procedural as it is mythic fiction. But the magical elements are integral to the stories.
In Night Witch, the case begins with the daughter of a Russian oligarch being kidnapped from the family's new home in Kent, England, by what his wife claims is a leshy--a mythological forest creature that the Russians used in the Second World War against the Germans.
Enter PC Peter Grant, London's only wizard in training on the police force.
But the case isn't as straightforward a monster hunt/rescue as it seems. The Russian mob appears to be involved. Peter's mentor Nightingale has been abducted. And Peter's only useful aide is a Russian witch currently incarcerated in the British prison system.
If you're new to graphic novels, this is a good place to see how far they've come from the days of the Gold Key, Disney, or the superhero comics you might have grown up on. There are no superheroes bashing away at each other, and<< the art is moody and dark to suit the narrative.>> The authors also take full advantage of the medium, <
The characters are adults, facing their problems as adults, and--as often appears to be the case with a lot of British fiction I read--there's a wry sense of humor percolating away under the darker elements.
This is the second Rivers of London graphic novel Titan Comics has done, the first being Rivers of London: Body Work, and it's just as good as the one in hand. Both books, I should probably mention, are stand-alone stories that, for all their ties to Aaronovitch's body of work, still make excellent entry points into this world of his where British policework meets the supernatural.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
de Lint, Charles. "Rivers of London: Night Witch." The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May-June 2017, p. 84+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA491230378&it=r&asid=484d7ffcb7686b5725091a389bbe7cb1. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A491230378
The Hanging Tree: A Rivers of London Novel
263.50 (Dec. 5, 2016): p54.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
The Hanging Tree: A Rivers of London Novel
Ben Aaronovitch. DAW, $7.99 mass market (336p) ISBN 978-0-7564-0967-8
Aaronovitch's sixth supernatural police procedural featuring Peter Grant (after Foxglove Summer) <
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Hanging Tree: A Rivers of London Novel." Publishers Weekly, 5 Dec. 2016, p. 54+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA475224866&it=r&asid=68a25b69476120ee330ab65d24fbd0cc. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A475224866
Brokern Homes
127.1-2 (July-August 2014): p67.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 Spilogale, Inc.
http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/
Broken Homes, by Ben Aaronovitch, DAW, 2014, $7.99.
A long time ago, J.R.R. Tolkien talked about the suspension of disbelief in his essay "On Fairy Tales" (Tree and Leaf, 1964). He posited, and it's been borne out many times since, in his own work as well as that of others, that for a reader to accept the implausible parts of your story, everything else should be very grounded in the here and now, or in your secondary world's version of the here and now.
It's why The Lord of the Rings works so well. We remember it for the elves and dwarves, the magical rings, dragons and evil sorcerers, but we accept all of that because of the Hobbits and their Shire.
I could cite endless examples of when it works and when it doesn't, but let's focus on the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch, of which this is the fourth entry. In the first book Rivers of London (Midnight Riot in the States), we're introduced to new constable Peter Grant, and the book very much has the feel of a down-to-earth British police procedural.
In the opening section Grant is charged with guarding a crime scene and ends up interviewing a witness. It isn't until he's reporting the interview that he discovers the man was a ghost. That leads to him being assigned to what's basically an X-Files department in the London Metropolitan Police, and soon he's dealing not only with ghosts, but every sort of supernatural being, including the gods and goddesses of the many rivers that flow through London.
He also becomes an apprentice wizard.
<
I've discussed these books in this column before and just as I haven't given great details before, I won't do so now. There are simply too many wonderful things for you to discover should you try them. Why would I spoil that for you?
But here's why I love this series in general terms:
It takes its police procedural seriously. There aren't vampire detectives or werewolf patrolmen. There are wizards, but the magical elements are handled matter-of-factly, as science, albeit one with which we're unfamiliar, and most of the force knows nothing about the special unit and its members.
That said, when Aaronovitch does bring in the fantasy element like<
(I don't know if Aaronovitch has read either Tolkien or Swann, but it doesn't really matter. These are my touchstones, not necessarily his.)
These are standalone novels with an overall story arc that runs from book to book. This means you can start anywhere. But it also means that the characters change and grow, that the Peter Grant we meet in the first book and this latest one are quite different from one another, though not unrecognizable, and he certainly retains his dry British sense of humor.
I really appreciate the way Aaronovitch brings his characters to life through their actions, motivations, and dialogue. Love them or hate them, they come off as individual and true.
I'm also enamored with his use of language. The descriptions are rich and varied, but they never overpower the narrative flow.
I'm not a big fan of series books --there's a sense of sameness that creeps into most of them by book two, certainly by book three. The Rivers of London series remains fresh and innovative, four books in, and so long as that remains the case, I'll keep reading them.
You should, too.
De Lint, Charles
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Brokern Homes." The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July-Aug. 2014, p. 67+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA376073120&it=r&asid=2901e717fefecca707c5d08ddb655172. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A376073120
Rivers of London: Body Work
Jesse Karp
112.16 (Apr. 15, 2016): p41.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Rivers of London: Body Work. By Ben Aaronovitch and Andrew Cartmel. Illus. by Lee Sullivan and Luis Guerrero. 2016. 128p. Titan, paper, $14.99 (9781782761877). 741.5.
When something strange and inexplicable occurs in London, the Special Assessment Unit is called in to deal with it. Peter Grant is an officer of this branch and the star of Aaronovitch's Rivers of London novels, quite popular in the UK but less well-known stateside. This first comics adaptation introduces Grant and his impressively diverse supporting cast as they investigate a bizarre case of murder by car. Led to a junk dealer, Grant and his nonmagical partner, Sahra Guleed, find that the dealer has inadvertently sold off various pieces of a haunted car, which must be tracked down before they take their drivers on the worst kind of ride. The magic--or "falcon," as police slang would have it--is pleasingly grounded here, creating a world <
YA: Teens looking for a good mystery, police procedural, or supernatural adventure will find plenty to enjoy here, and the racial diversity of the cast could give it even greater appeal. JK.
YA RECOMMENDATIONS
* Young adult recommendations for adult, audio, and reference titles reviewed in this issue have been contributed by the Booklist staff and by reviewers Poornima Apte, Emily Borsa, Carolyn Ciesla, Craig Clark, Carol Haggas, Biz Hyzy, Jesse Karp, Brian Odom, Cortney Ophoff, and Emily Whitmore.
* Adult titles recommended for teens are marked with the following symbols: YA, for books of general YA interest; YA/C, for books with particular curriculum value; YA/S, for books that will appeal most to teens with a special interest in a specific subject; and YA/M, for books best suited to mature teens.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Karp, Jesse. "Rivers of London: Body Work." Booklist, 15 Apr. 2016, p. 41. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA451632248&it=r&asid=bfcc6218f983173a446bd23ddd0a1a3c. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A451632248
Aaronovitch, Ben. Broken Homes
139.3 (Feb. 15, 2014): p78.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Aaronovitch, Ben. Broken Homes. DAW. (Peter Grant, Vol. 4). Feb. 2014. 336p. ISBN 9780756409609. pap. $7.99; ebk. ISBN 9780698143715. FANTASY
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Peter Grant is still learning the ropes as both a police constable and as an apprentice to England's last official practicing wizard, DCI Thomas Nightingale. Their department, the Folly, catches all the cases in London that have a whiff of the supernatural about them, and one recent case seems to point Peter and Nightingale to the trail of the rogue magician they have been chasing, known only as the Faceless Man. VERDICT The minutia of police work combines with a unique take on a secretly magical London for one of the more original urban fantasy series around. This fourth volume (after 2013's Whispers Underground) meanders a bit, and one could wish for a little more character growth from the wisecracking Peter, but once the action picks up, it races to an exciting finish.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Aaronovitch, Ben. Broken Homes." Library Journal, 15 Feb. 2014, p. 78. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA358315260&it=r&asid=97345f24b7494b50891e54236c834d5a. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A358315260
Broken Homes
David Pitt
110.11 (Feb. 1, 2014): p34.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
* Broken Homes. By Ben Aaronovltch. Feb. 2014. 336p. DAVV, paper, $7.99 (9780756409609).
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
It's hard to understand why Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series, of which this is the fourth installment, is not more well known in the U.S. It's quite popular in Britain, and rightly so because it has everything: a plucky hero, London Metropolitan Police constable Peter Grant; clever mysteries; entertaining villains; and, just for fun, wizardry. Yes, wizardry. It seems Peter Grant, an ordinary police officer, has been recruited into a special branch of the police department, known as the Folly, which deals with matters of witchcraft, sorcery, and the supernatural. He's an apprentice wizard, too, which comes in handy when dealing with cases that are decidedly weird. Take the murdered man who might be the latest victim of the Faceless Man, a powerful rogue magician; or take the old German textbook of magic--well, you can't take that because someone already did, took it from its rightful home in Germany to England, where it turned up in the London police department's recovered-goods repository (but was never reported stolen in the first place). Oh, and let's not forget the weird goings-on at a housing estate with an odd past and, apparently, an even odder present Honestly, this series is so much fun it really deserves an enormous audience on both sides of the pond. It's a natural for grown-up Harry Potter devotees but also for urban-fantasy fans in general.--David Pitt
Pitt, David
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Pitt, David. "Broken Homes." Booklist, 1 Feb. 2014, p. 34. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA358698867&it=r&asid=8854d02c631ade1e44962163a75741a1. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A358698867
Aaronovitch, Ben: BROKEN HOMES
(Jan. 1, 2014):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Aaronovitch, Ben BROKEN HOMES DAW/Berkley (Adult Fiction) $7.99 2, 4 ISBN: 978-0-7564-0960-9
Another entry in the Rivers of London urban fantasy series (Whispers Under Ground, 2012, etc.). In a city with a thriving supernatural community, including river gods, dryads and fairies, narrator and PC Peter Grant works for the London Metropolitan Police. He's also an apprentice wizard and he, along with PC Lesley May and DCI Thomas Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, comprises the Folly, the Met's supernatural department--they're known as Isaacs after their founder, Sir Isaac Newton. The case begins with a murder in Sussex that may have magical associations, followed by a suicide that may have been magically coerced. And when a valuable stolen book of magic is recovered, the thief turns up burned to a crisp--from the inside. The book, it seems, was owned by expatriate German architect Erik Stromberg, whose masterpiece, an eccentric tower block called the Skygarden Estate, in Elephant and Castle, clearly is magically inspired--but is the development itself some sort of magical artifact? Are these seemingly unassociated elements related to the Faceless Man, a powerful rogue wizard with whom the Folly has crossed swords in the past? To find out what's really going on in Skygarden, Peter and Lesley must go undercover. All this is even more shapeless than the summary indicates--a phenomenon mystery fans will be familiar with--and it's only in the last 50 pages or so that the plot coheres and the title's significance becomes apparent. Still, you've got to like a book where <
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Aaronovitch, Ben: BROKEN HOMES." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Jan. 2014. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA354178508&it=r&asid=d660c5503517df0ffee3d7822d851742. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A354178508
Moon Over Soho
Charles De Lint
124.1-2 (January-February 2013): p35.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 Spilogale, Inc.
http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/
Moon Over Soho , by Ben Aaronovitch, Del Rey, 2011, $7.99.
Whispers Underground , by Ben Aaronovitch, Del Rey, 2012, $7.99.
We first met Constable Peter Grant in Rivers of London (issued in the States under the rather forgettable title of Midnight Riot ), where we learned the London Metropolitan Police has a department to deal with inexplicable crimes and situations (like sorting out a feud between the spirits of the many rivers that course through London, or getting rid of a nest of vampires). The unit is nicknamed the Folly and has a personnel complement of two: Grant and his boss, Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale.
Grant ended up there because the witness he questioned at a murder scene later turned out to have been a ghost. This ability to see what others can't made him a perfect candidate for the Folly.
After surviving the events in the first book, Grant is now studying magic under Nightingale when he gets involved in what has come to be known as "jazz murders," since young jazz musicians are mysteriously dying after gigs. Their deaths strike close to home for Grant, as his own father is a jazz musician.
In the third volume, a case takes Grant and Nightingale into the labyrinth of subway system tunnels that honeycomb the ancient foundations of London. (I suppose that sentence is a bit of a spoiler, but come on--it's a series; of course the protagonist will survive into the next book.)
There are any number of reasons why this series has become one of my favorites.<< I really appreciate the mix of police procedural with mythic/folkloric supernatural elements that actually have a sense of wonder about them. I like the humor, and I love the tone of the narrator's voice>> throughout. The supporting cast is fantastic; even walk-ons feel like real people.
These novels aren't quick reads in the way that many urban fantasies (or for that matter, many traditional mystery novels) are. Aaronovitch can take a little time describing a scene, or a character, but I never felt that the pace was too slow. Rather, the detail only served to immerse me more deeply into this mysterious London that he is bringing to life for us.
If you're a bit tired of the same-old that pervades a lot of books currently in the bookstores (where a highly touted fresh idea is simply a slight variation on what's been done before), I'd recommend you give this series a try. They're all stand-alones, but just for your own pleasure, start with Rivers of London .
I'll bet you can't stop after only one.
de Lint, Charles
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
De Lint, Charles. "Moon Over Soho." The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Jan.-Feb. 2013, p. 35+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA330006157&it=r&asid=515a7eb70fddb248b81fec76826e0366. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A330006157
Whispers Under Ground
259.25 (June 18, 2012): p41.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2012 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Whispers Under Ground
Ben Aaronovitch. Del Rey, $7.99 mass market (320p) ISBN 978-0-345-52461-4
One of the most refreshing things about former Doctor Who writer Aaronvitch's Rivers of London series of magical procedurals is that they are blessedly free of manufactured rivalries. Instead, Police Constable (and freshly minted wizard) Peter Grant works for a supernatural branch of the London police department that is more interested in solving crimes than creating drama. In Grant's third outing (after Moon over Soho), he gets called in to help with a magic-linked murder at an Underground station. The victim turns out to be the son of a U.S. senator, with a sketchy, not-quite-human roommate. To solve the murder, Grant and his associates, including disfigured fellow magician Lesley May and trigger-happy FBI agent Kimberley Reynolds, plumb the city's depths as well as its secret history. This fast, engrossing novel is enjoyable, cheerful, and accessible to new readers. Agent: John Parker, Zeno Agency. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Whispers Under Ground." Publishers Weekly, 18 June 2012, p. 41. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA294068580&it=r&asid=bf3ac95c13eed7dc078b624440b9c369. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A294068580
(2/2011) Book Review: Midnight Riot By Ben Aaronovitch
(Feb. 9, 2011):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 Basil & Spice
Reviewed By David M. Kinchen
'Midnight Riot': Magic plays a role in solving crimes at London's Metropolitan Police
British cops are no more likely to believe in magic and paranormal activity than their counterparts in the U.S., Canada or elsewhere, but Police Constable Peter Grant, nearing the end of his two-year probationary period, is fortunate enough to avoid a paper-pushing job at the Met when Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale becomes his mentor in Ben Aaronovitch's debut novel "Midnight Riot" (Del Rey Mass Market Original paperback, 320 pages, $7.99).
Nightingale investigates crimes involving magic, ghosts, urban paranormal activities and other manifestations of the uncanny and he's looking for an apprentice. Harry Potter not being available, Nightingale turns to mixed-race (his mother is from the former British colony, now independent West African nation of Sierra Leone, his father is a jazz musician) young copper Peter Grant.
Nightingale learned of Peter's fledgling paranormal abilities when he hears that the young constable had interviewed a ghost who witnessed a puzzling murder near the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Peter is saved from a life of paper cuts in the Case Progression Unit, which is largely devoted to data entry clerical work. He wants to be a detective, perhaps because he's watched so many crime shows on the telly, but his supervising officer is an old-school cop who doesn't think Peter fits the mold of a Metropolitan detective.
Peter Grant learns from the older man -- he thinks Nightingale is in his late 40s, but he could be older, much older -- how to create a "werelight" and begins to study the occult, while he assists his "Guv" in the investigation of a series of crimes that appear to mimic the grisly "Punch and Judy" tale.
Covent Garden, as any viewer of "My Fair Lady" knows, was once London's vegetable and fruit market. In addition to the Royal Opera House on the east end of the piazza, there is still a covered market in the center and a house of worship called St. Paul's Church on the west end. No, it's not that St. Paul's, the Cathedral designed by Inigo Jones in 1638; this more modest St. Paul's attracts actors and musicians.
Once lodged in Nightingale's Victorian house and introduced to his spookily attractive maid Molly -- from her description she sounds a lot like a British version of Morticia Addams -- Peter begins his studies in magic and urban paranormal activities, at the same time investigating with Nightingale and his fellow probationary constable Leslie May the wave of murders and assaults. He's got a crush on the attractive blonde Leslie, who tries to keep the relationship strictly professional.
In addition to riding around in Nightingale's 1967 Jaguar sedan, Peter meets the river spirits, Mother Thames, representing the tidal part of the river and her daughters, representing the ancient tributaries of the river, now mostly hidden under bricks and concrete. (The original title of "Midnight Riot", published by Gollancz in England was "Rivers of London." Del Rey is an imprint of Random House). In March, Del Rey will publish "Moon Over Soho." An excerpt is included in "Midnight Riot."
If you're a fan of "True Blood," "The Walking Dead," or even "Dexter," "Midnight Riot" will pique your interest. Aaronovitch, born in London in 1964, honed his skills as a screenwriter, including a stint with the legendary BBC-TV series "Doctor Who," the longest-running TV science fiction series -- it first aired in 1963 and is still going strong -- so he's a master of the art of entertaining those with shorter attention spans. I'm looking forward to the further adventures of Peter, Thomas Nightingale, Leslie May, Molly and Toby the dog in "Moon Over Soho."
MORE FROM DAVID M. KINCHEN
Copyright (c) 2006-2011, Basil & Spice. All rights reserved.
To view this article at basilandspice.com, click here: http://www.basilandspice.com/journal/22011-book-review-midnight-riot-by-ben-aaronovitch.html
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"(2/2011) Book Review: Midnight Riot By Ben Aaronovitch." Basilandspice.com, 9 Feb. 2011. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA248675513&it=r&asid=811c67b3d4038f372c1150cacd839064. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A248675513
Midnight Riot
257.48 (Dec. 6, 2010): p34.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2010 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Midnight Riot
Ben Aaronovitch. Del Rey, $7.99 mass market
(320p) ISBN 978-0-345-52425-6
In this fast-paced paranormal police procedural, Aaronovitch introduces Peter Grant, a rookie cop who can see ghosts. This unusual talent saves him from a potential life of office work when Chief Insp. Thomas Nightingale sends him for wizard training. Britain's police force has long known of the supernatural, and Grant is to assist Nightingale in solving many of London's magical problems--most notably, the mysterious string of violent attacks that tend to end with the perpetrator's face falling off. As the brutal epidemic spreads, Grant must race to finish his magic lessons and solve an ages-long dispute between the rivers of Britain. Though the novel sometimes feels just a little too jam-packed with plot points and adventures, it's <
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Midnight Riot." Publishers Weekly, 6 Dec. 2010, p. 34. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA243956428&it=r&asid=0c3ac0123546aab060ef92a8d656a6dc. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A243956428
Aaronovitch, Ben & Andrew Cartmel & Lee Sullivan & Luis Guerrero. Rivers of London: Body Work
Teresa Potter-Reyes
(May 27, 2016):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/reviews/xpress/884170-289/xpress_reviews-first_look_at_new.html.csp
Aaronovitch, Ben & Andrew Cartmel (text) & Lee Sullivan & Luis Guerrero (illus.). Rivers of London: Body Work. Titan Comics. Apr. 2016. 128p. ISBN 9781782761877. pap. $14.99; ebk. ISBN 9781782768418. MYS/CRIME
Rivers of London: Body Work is an extension of the universe created in Aaronovitch's "Rivers of London" urban fantasy police procedural series. Writer Cartmel (Doctor Who TV series) coauthors the story's transition to the comic format, with artists Sullivan (Doctor Who comics) and Guerrero (The Troop) providing the elegant illustrations. Supernatural forces are intrinsic to England, so naturally there is an entire branch of the Metropolitan Police to clean up the messes of that nature. Constable Peter Grant, Det. Constable Sahra Guleed, and DCI Thomas Nightingale make up the team tasked with investigating the lethal and spiritual possession of BMWs across the London metropolitan area. The special unit of the police otherwise known as the Folly or Falcon makes quick work of finding the source of an angry and tortured spirit accidentally released from the medieval depths of time. Tracing the hauntings to its origin is the group's responsibility, especially under the threat of more innocent deaths.
Verdict Fans of police investigative dramas and sf will enjoy this story, which shares similar features with Antony Johnston and Justin Greenwood's The Fuse.--Teresa Potter-Reyes, Helen Hall Lib., League City, TX
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Potter-Reyes, Teresa. "Aaronovitch, Ben & Andrew Cartmel & Lee Sullivan & Luis Guerrero. Rivers of London: Body Work." Xpress Reviews, 27 May 2016. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA458871358&it=r&asid=3a429d1cca81d1e063a2564054f3e571. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A458871358
Review: The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch
January 23, 2017
The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch
Series: Peter Grant #6
Published by DAW on January 31st 2017
Genres: Urban/Contemporary Fantasy
Pages: 336
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Thanks to DAW for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
After two years of watching the release date hover in flux and getting pushed back time and time again, I must confess waiting for this book was its own special kind of agony. That was also when I realized I was irrevocably addicted to Peter Grant.
The Hanging Tree is book six of the series which returns to London and places the main story arc back on track, following the short respite we took to the countryside with our protagonist in Foxglove Summer. The story begins with a drug-related death at a house party in one of the most exclusive residential areas in the city. Normally, the case wouldn’t have been within the purview of the Folly, which the Met’s investigative unit for all things magical and paranormal, except for the fact that one of the party goers turned out to be the daughter of Lady Ty, goddess of the river Tyburn. Suddenly, Peter is in a bind since he owes Lady Ty a favor, and as such he has reluctantly agreed to do all he can to keep her teenage daughter Olivia out of investigation. But as it turns out, his promise might be a moot point. After all, what do you do when the young lady in question is actually brazenly admitting to be the one who gave the victim the drugs which might have led to the fatal overdose?
Meanwhile, Peter and his boss Nightingale are also back on the trail of the Faceless Man, the main baddie of the series. Word on the street is that a rare book on magical properties has gotten everyone in the practitioner community in a tizzy trying to get their hands on it, including covert groups from abroad. Peter has reason to suspect that the Faceless Man has his fingers all over this one, but then there’s a lot going on here, including the fatal house party, Lady Tyburn’s daughter and the person she’s protecting, the mysterious book, a foxy thief, and the American agents who have suddenly shown up in town. Now Peter’s job is to find out how all of this is connected.
The Hanging Tree might not be my favorite in the series, but it was still very much worth the wait. For one thing, we come closer than ever before to finding out all the answers and discovering the whole truth behind the Folly’s greatest nemesis. In addition, a complicated figure from Peter’s past also makes a return bearing surprises for our protagonist. If you’ve been following along all this time, then this book is definitely not to be missed, especially in light of the significant revelations dropped on us in the latter half of the story.
That said, I also thought it fell short of being one of the best Peter Grant books because it had a lot less of the dry, sardonic humor which has always been one of the key hallmarks of this series. While still very enjoyable, this might be the first one that didn’t make me literally laugh out loud. There also wasn’t enough of Nightingale. What I wouldn’t give to see him kick some ass again in another epic wizarding duel, instead of just hearing everyone around him talk about it. He is like the Met’s secret weapon that gets waved in front of our faces a lot, but we hardly ever get to see him in action.
In terms of criticisms though, that was probably the extent of it, which made me very happy since I had such high expectations for this book. It wasn’t always fast-paced, but as far as police procedurals go, it had just the right amount of mystery, suspense, and action. The story had so many moving parts that Aaronovitch was constantly juggling and keeping aloft, I can’t say there was really much time for anything else. Still, we got to see a little more of Peter’s relationship with Beverly, and I’m also enjoying the larger role of Sahra Guleed, another police officer who is shaping up to be the perfect partner for Peter while the two of them are on the beat. They have a great working dynamic, almost like they are of one mind when they tackle everything from suspect interviews to Falcon raids, and I’m really hoping this is the first step to Guleed becoming a series regular.
The more urban fantasy I read, the easier it gets to spot if a sequel is “filler” or an actual book where “very important things” happen. The Hanging Tree, I’m happy to report, definitely belongs in the latter category. Don’t get me wrong because I loved the previous book which was a nice break from the hunt for the Faceless Man, but I’m also pleased that this one brings us right back into thick of things and resolves some of the questions left by the shocking events at the end of Broken Homes. This book is what I would call a real game-changer. While it did end rather abruptly, it’s clear that Peter and the gang will have to tread even more carefully going forward, and the next book should be very interesting indeed. Now if I can only survive the wait…
January 31, 2017
REVIEW: The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch
JanineB Reviews / Book Reviewsbiracial hero / London / Magic / police procedural / UF / Urban-Fantasy21 Comments
Dear Mr. Aaronovich,
The sixth book in your Rivers of London series, The Hanging Tree, begins with a phone call. Peter Grant, police constable and wizard’s apprentice, is asleep in his river goddess girlfriend Beverley’s bed when his cell phone rings. On the other end is Beverley’s sister and fellow river Cecelia Tyburn, a sometime nemesis of Peter’s. And she wants a favor.
“One of my daughter’s friends has had an accident,” said Lady Ty, “I want you to ensure my daughter is not implicated in the subsequent investigation.”
Oh shit, I thought. That kind of favor.
She gave me the address and what she knew of the circumstances.
“You want me to prove your daughter wasn’t involved?” I said.
“You misunderstand,” said Lady Ty, “I don’t care what her involvement is—I want her kept out of the case.”
She really had no idea what she was asking for, but I knew better than to try and explain.
“Understood,” I said.
“And Peter,” said Lady Ty, “Nightingale is not to know about this—is that clear?”
“Crystal,” I said.
As soon as she hung up, I called the Folly.
Nightingale, Peter’s supervisor and trainer in all things magical, agrees to play ignorant until Peter needs his aid, and after a quick, sweet pause to take his leave of Beverley’s river, Peter hightails it to the crime scene, One Hyde Park, a luxury apartment building attached to a posh hotel.
There Peter meets up with fellow police constable Sahra Guleed and his boss Seawoll, neither of whom wants him or what he symbolizes—the supernatural activities police division known as the Folly’s involvement in their investigation.
Initially, the case appears to be a simple drug overdose by a seventeen-year-old girl, at a party held by a group of teens who broke into an unoccupied apartment. But forensic investigation of the girl’s brain by Dr. Walid and his trainee Dr. Jennifer Vaughan (a new addition to the Folly) shows that the dead girl, Christina Chorley, was a practitioner of magic. This puts the case squarely on Peter and company’s turf, especially since Tyburn’s teenage daughter Olivia must be arrested by Guleed and Peter once she confesses to having bought the drugs that killed Christina.
Christina’s grieving dad, Martin Chorley, doesn’t seem to know much about his daughter’s activities, but he does mention her sleepovers at her friend Albertina Pryce’s. The jazz band Peter’s dad belongs to has a gig that night, and there Peter is approached by a supernatural being named Reynard Fossman who offers to sell him Jonathan Wild’s final ledger—Wild having been an eighteenth century thief taker.
Questioning Albertina Pryce yields mention of Reynard; apparently Christina was involved with him, despite the age difference. After explaining that “Reynard the Fox” may be the embodiment of a French fairy tale trickster, Nightingale adds that Jonathan Wild’s final ledger is thought to reveal the whereabouts of Isaac Newton’s Third Principia, which in turn contains a much-coveted spell.
“Don’t tell me,” said Seawoll. “Lead into fucking gold?”
The Third Principia belonged to the Folly in an earlier era, and Nightingale wants to recover it. Seawoll and Stephanopoulos, Peter’s other boss, want Reynard Fossman as a potential material witness. So Peter sets up a meeting with Fossman for purchasing the ledger and (hopefully) then arresting Reynard. Unfortunately, said meeting is crashed by some unexpected guests, one of whom is none other than Peter’s former partner Leslie May, who betrayed him to the Faceless Man, and all hell breaks loose.
Reynard escapes, but a certain Lady Caroline Linder-Limmer, adopted daughter of Lady Helena Linder-Limmer, is captured by the police in his stead. Both ladies practice magic, and they work out a deal with Peter and Nightingale. All four will work together to obtain the ledger, and then share the knowledge in it once they have it.
But can Caroline and Helena be trusted, or are they secretly collaborating with the Faceless Man? Is Leslie and the Faceless Man’s interest merely in the ledger, or are they somehow connected to the Christina Chorley case? And what exactly is Tyburn’s daughter Olivia’s involvement, or that of FBI agent Kimberley Reynolds, from whom Peter receives an unexpected phone call?
These questions and more are answered in The Hanging Tree, and as usual for this series, it’s an entertaining outing. <
As a narrator and central character, Peter is absolutely lovely – snarky but honorable, curious and just the right amount of suspicious, capable but still human enough to make mistakes or find himself outgunned on occasion. The secondary characters are also terrific. I especially enjoyed Guleed and Lady Caroline on this outing, as both are smart and good at their jobs / roles while neither one plays the role of a damsel in distress. There is even this great this great little exchange on who, between the male and female characters in the series, comes to whose rescue:
“Does this happen a lot?” asked Caroline.
“Nope,” I said. “Sometimes Beverley rescues me, sometimes Lady Ty, occasionally Molly—I think there’s a rota.”
“Shit,” said Caroline. “You’re not joking, are you?”
“Don’t be daft,” I said. “There isn’t really a rota. We’re not that well organized.”
If there’s one thing to be desired in these books that isn’t always there, it’s the plotting. The series follows a pattern where the odd numbered books revolve around self-contained police cases that are resolved in a satisfying way, while the even number books suffer from the involvement of the series arch-villain, the Faceless Man.
Such is the case with this, book six, for a few reasons. (1) The Faceless Man is so powerful relative to Peter and Nightingale that he tends to dominate the books he appears in, and this is true here too, (2) I’m still smarting from Lesley’s defection, and (3) the resolution of this novel felt particularly dissatisfying in a way that came across as contrived.
I also have a couple of more minor peeves, the first of which is that though I have no interest in keeping up with the related Rivers of London graphic novels, there were some references to previous cases that have their roots in those, and that was distracting. I wasn’t always sure whether a reference came from something I’d read in one of the novels, or not, and trying to puzzle it out stopped me in my tracks.
The second peeve is that at one point it is stated that practicing magic doesn’t require any special abilities but is something that anyone can learn. That is not consistent with what was said about it in the first two or three books. In most ways though, the books are consistent.
Fortunately, The Hanging Tree also has a big development in the overarching series plot that comes at around the three-quarter mark of this book, and it was extremely satisfying and made up for most of the book’s weaknesses.
Additionally, there is talk of expanding the Folly which gives me hope that Guleed might be trained in magic and we might see more of her and of Caroline in the future.
I also hope you continue to include Beverley in future books as I loved seeing her with Peter in this one, even though it was a small thread. I agree with a certain character who states that Peter and Beverley “are so suited,” so please, Mr. Aaronovich, don’t mess up this good thing.
In summary, though the plot structure of this novel didn’t feel all there, the ride was still quite entertaining, enough that I’m giving it a B.
Sincerely,
Janine