MY TOP 5 TIM LEBBON BOOKS BY JIM MCLEOD

Tim Lebbon's latest novel The Last Storm, was published last week by Titan Books, to a huge fanfare by some of the finest genre magazines and websites, and by us The Ginger Nuts of Horror, it has been a joy to see Tim's book gain so many first class reviews.  Tim was one of, if the not the first authors I connected with online, hell it was in the days before Facebook and Twitter, and maybe even MySpace.  For those of you of a younger disposition MySpace was the place to be long before Facebook and Twitter were even a glimmer in the internet's eyes.  I formed my friendship with one of the greatest multi genre writers on and old school forum.  Those were the days, forums were and in my opinion the best way to connect with people, none of this fleeting presence of a post or the fight against algorithms.   

I had scene a review of his debut novel Mesmer, in SFX Magazine, and for some reason I searched for him online (probably AOL'd it, stop laughing in the back you young folk) and found that he had a forum.  So I signed up and found Tim was always approachable, always willing to chat about books, music, and horror, even if he did swear when I recommended a band to him, that he didn't like.  ook he may be a brilliant writer, but sometimes brilliant writers can't help not having a perfect taste in music.  It was our mutual admiration for some bands that led to a massiver highlight in my life online, when Titan asked me to do the launch for his last novel Eden, I decided to reach out to some of his friends to do a sort of This is Your Life video, if you know what that was good on you, if you don't ask your parents or guardians about it.  And I reached out to Frank Turner by email, within minutes Frank had replied with a video message for Tim,  I could not believe it, and if it wasn't for Tim I would never have had the chance to talk to one of my musical heroes.  

Which brings us to why we are here today, I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH, I wanted to do something special to keep the momentum rolling for this book, it deserves to find a huge audience.  If you missed our interview with Tim last week you can read it here, and today I am going to talk about my five favourite books by Tim.  This was a hard choice and I have swapped out a few titles a few times as I couldn't decide on a firm one so this is my final choice. I've left out some of the deep cuts like Hush which Tim co-wrote with Gavin Williams, as these are as far as I can see not readily available, but these books should still be ready for purchase via most online retailers, so buckle in and get your wallets out as I take in on a book buying journey.   The books are presented in no particular order.  

THE BOOKS OF NOREELA​

"Kosar the thief senses that Rafe Baburn is no ordinary boy. After witnessing a Red Monk plunder Rafe's village and murder his parents, Kosar knows the boy needs his help. And now, for reasons he cannot fathom, others are seeking the boy's destruction. 
Uncertain where to begin Kosar turns to A'Meer, an ex-lover and Shantasi warrior whose people, unbeknownst to him, have sworn to safeguard magic's return to the land of Noreela.

It is Rafe who bears this miracle of magic.

Now Kosar and a band of unexpected allies embark on a battle to protect one special boy. But horrific dark forces are closing in, and if they take magic for themselves dusk will fall forever."

I have to admit that I am not a big fan of fantasy novels, and I haven't really read anything much in the genre since the death of David Gemmell, his death hit me hard, and I haven't even brought myself to read his final novel, if don't then I will always still have one of his to read.  However i picked up this trilogy based solely on my love of Tim's writing.  The Noreela Trilogy consists of Dusk, Dawn and Fallen, with supporting novellas and short stories, is a DARK, fantasy series that cleverly mixes horror with fantasy, hell I'll probably get shot for saying this by the fantasy crowd, but this was Grimdark before Grimdark was a thing.  Tim has always excelled with world building in his horror novels, but they are set in variations of our world, so to see Tim take the huge plunge and create a rich epic and varied world from scratch was a something that was a pure pleasure to read.  

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​The Thief of Broken Toys

"When a father loses his son and his wife leaves him, he cannot tear himself away from the small fishing village where the boy's memories reside. They're all he has left. Thinking that his life is all but over, he takes to wandering the cliffs, carrying broken things that he always promised his son he would fix, but never did. They're a sign of his failure, and they keep little Toby close. And then he meets the thief of broken toys, and everything begins to change..."

The Ginger Nuts of Horror website has a tagline "The Heart and Soul of Horror", I have always believed that horror once you scrape past the dead skin of the most simplistic stories that are just designed to shock (and there is nothing wrong with those I am a massive fan of these type of stories) horror has always had the power to look at the human condition in ways that allow it more freedom than many other genres.  And The Thief of Broken Toys is a perfect example of this.  Best described as a dark fairy tale, I rank this story alongside Ray Bradbury's The Halloween Tree for emotional resonance and its ability to make me cry.  


One hundred and forty  pages of sheer awe inspiring writing. I have never read a book that affected me in such profound ways. I found this a difficult read emotionally being a father, so I don't know how easy this was for Tim to write. You can feel the father's pain and despair on every page of the book. I just wanted to find him  and give him a big hug. 

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MESMER​

"Rick's girlfriend from years ago was dead. Murdered. Buried. Or was she? Who was the girl he'd seen at the motorway services? Why was he so sure he knew her? And who had started calling him in the night ... whispering his dead girlfriend's name? In the world of the Mesmer, 'alive' and 'dead' are ambiguous ... the only certainty is pain. And when Rick enters that world he must confront everything he has ever held true, all those comfortable and naive beliefs, if he wants to gets out alive."

I'll be honest here, this isn't Tim's best book, however it is the book that set me on a 22 year relationship with an author who constantly excites me, and makes me eager for the their next book.  Yes it suffers from a few "first novel" problems, there might be a few too many point of view changes, and some better editing and tightening up of the narrative would have helped.  Although I have only ever read the first edition of this book and Tim did republish it few years back so some of the editing issues might have been addressed.  Nevertheless there was enough seeds of Tim's potential to be a an amazing writing in this bleak and dark novel to keep me hooked. 

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Coldbrook 
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"‘Lebbon is quite simply the most exciting new name in horror for years.’ – SFX Magazine

THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT HAS CHANGED FOREVER
THE REASON IS COLDBROOK

The facility lay deep in Appalachian Mountains, a secret laboratory called Coldbrook. Its scientists had achieved the impossible: a gateway to a new world. Theirs was to be the greatest discovery in the history of mankind, but they had no idea what they were unleashing.

With their breakthrough comes disease and now it is out and ravaging the human population. The only hope is a cure and the only cure and the only cure is genetic resistance: an uninfected person amongst the billions dead.

In the chaos of destruction there is only one person that can save the human race.

But will they find her in time?"


And now we come to the zombie book, stop your groaning in the cheap seats, stay with me on this.  I know zombies have become bit cliched and the boring go to  for so many authors, but before they became so boring authors like Tim Lebbon, Brian Keene, and  David Wellington were producing first class, unique and exciting takes on this well worn trope.  

What makes Coldbrook stand out for the crowd is a number of things, excellent world building, an explanation for the zombie outbreak that doesn't read like a half baked attempt at pseudo science of supernatural hookum, and a powerfully emotional  and strong main narrative drive from the protagonists point of view.  Grand in it's scope, Coldbrook is Lebbon's The Stand.  

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the last storm 

"A gripping, terrifying road trip through the heat of the post-apocalyptic American desert from the author of Netflix’s The Silence. This action-packed and thought-provoking eco-nightmare will appeal to fans of Benjamin Percy, Christopher Golden and Josh Malerman.

With global warming out of control, large swathes of North America have been struck by famine and drought and are now known as the Desert. A young woman sets out across this dry, hostile landscape, gradually building an arcane apparatus she believes will bring rain to the parched earth.

Jesse lives alone, far from civilization. Once, he too made rain, but he stopped when his abilities caused fatalities, bringing down not just rain but scorpions, strange snakes and spiders. When his daughter Ash inherited this tainted gift, Jesse did his best to stop her. His attempt went tragically wrong, and he believes himself responsible for her death.
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But now his estranged wife Karina brings news that Ash is still alive. And she’s rainmaking again. Terrified of what she might bring down upon the desperate communities of the Desert, they set out to find her. But Jesse and Karina are not the only ones looking for Ash. As the storms she conjures become more violent and deadly, some follow her seeking hope. And one is hungry for revenge."


This book is simply brilliant 

"a spectacular ending to a brilliant novel, utterly cinematic and bombastic in its scope and delivery. Lebbon may have just produced the best finale of his career so far​"

Read my full review of The Last Storm here 

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