If you read French, you can now get a free sample of the first chapters of Amortels, the French edition of my novel Amortals, published by L’Atalante. I’m happy to see them pushing the book hard, including advertising the book in the header on their website.

If English is your native tongue, then head over to Voxael’s blog for a new review of Amortals. He loved the book and writes:

I’m not really a a sci-fi connoisseur in this area, but Amortals is possibly the best science fiction book that I’ve had the pleasure of reading. [H]e’s earned a place on my list … of authors that I trust to write something engaging and entertaining, even it’s it’s outside of my comfort zone.

Last week, on January 19, my novel Amortals was published in French by L’Atalante Éditions as Amortels. It features a snazzy new cover by David Demaret and was translated by Denis E. Savine. Many thanks to both of them, and I hope Denis’s text is as excellent as David’s illustration — which I trust it is, but I can’t read a lick of French.

L’Atalante is a fantastic publisher that puts Amortals in excellent company, alongside works created by a staggering list of excellent authors, including Terry Pratchett, Poul Anderson, Michael Moorcock, Glen Cook, Walter Jon Williams, Lev Grossman, and John Scalzi. I’m thrilled to see Amortels reach out to a whole new audience, and I’m looking forward to seeing how my French friends and readers take to it.

Over at Dorkland, reviewer Chris Helton loved Amortals. He starts out calling it a “a cross between Robert Heinlein and Rudy Rucker,” and he winds up saying:

If Matt Forbeck’s Amortals had come out in 1986, I would have been grouping it along side of some of the greats of the cyberpunk movement. I think this is a book that can stand beside Gibson’s Neuromancer, Sterling’s Islands in the Net, Rucker’s Ware novels, or Williams’ Hardwired.

Those are some heavy names to toss around when discussing any book, but Chris justifies it with his excellent review. Be sure to check out the whole thing.

A pair of great reviews showed up recently. The first is for Star Wars vs. Star Trek, and Earl Davis wrote it for the Empyrean. He gives the book 4 out of 5 stars and writes:

My fine and generous overlords/publishers at Angry Robot just announced a brand-new contest on their website, called “Remix the Robot.” As you might already know, the mighty John Anealio recently recorded a new song called “Angry Robot,” which I helped him write. The tune started out as the lead-in for the Angry Robot podcast hosted by the multitalented Mur Lafferty, but it’s grown into its own song, the lead track on John’s still-free-to-download The Robot E.P.

This tickled the Angry Robot folks so much, they decided to set up a contest. All you have to do is remix “Angry Robot,” using the original tracks files that John’s posted, and send it in. The Angry Robots, John, and I will listen to them all and pick the best. The creator of the winning mix gets a spot in my yet-to-be-announced next novel with Angry Robot, in which I promise to kill your fictional doppelganger in an especially gruesome way.

All you aspiring musicians and dapper DJs get your act on over to the Angry Robot site for all the details. And please spread the word! You have until April 1st — no fooling!

Over at Booklife.com, the ever-inquisitive Jeremy L.C. Jones interviews me about the ups and downs of the freelancing life and even manages to work in a reference to the opening scene of Amortals. We cover topics ranging from what my typical day is like and why I love the way I work. Check it out.

My Alliterates pal, world-famous game designer Lester Smith, went out and paid his own hard-earned money to pick up a copy of Amortals and then did me another solid by taking the time to write up a review of it. Although he’s bound to be biased, Lester loved the book and is more than eloquent enough to say why.

It spins into a veritable tourbillion of a plot that delivers wilder and wilder revelations, as security and freedom (aka law and chaos) do battle, with the main character unwittingly poised at their center. This is a plot that will remain with me, among my favorites.

(Thanks, Les!) Go read the rest of it, and check out the rest of Les’s site while you’re at it.

Amortals is already on the shelves of better bookstores and available as an ebook worldwide.

Over at Amazon UK, their Amazon Vine program has produced another two excellent reviews for Amortals. Dinky writes:

This is a blast of fresh air… This book not only throws together all the elements of a good modern thriller — shoot-outs, chases, explosions, gadgets, intrigues, a sparky agent of the opposite sex, politics, hints of exotic foreign travel (as in Mars, this being sci-fi after all) — it is also written deftly… You can enjoy this as a straightforward thriller set in a theoretical, not-so-shiny future with technologically advanced guns and transport. Or you can stop every so often, just as I did, to think: yeah, what if? … Read this, please.

Samuel Taylor writes:

Amortals is a slice of light science fiction that wraps complex ideas around an action packed thriller. The book has as many explosions, chases, and gun fights as it does science fiction concepts… It has as much in common with the likes of Lee Child as it does Iain M. Banks.

That’s fine company to be in any day.

Over at SF Signal, John DeNardo (who I met at the World Fantasy Convention) has a number of kind things to say about Amortals. He calls the book:

[T]hought-provoking rather than preachy as it deals with topics of privacy, civil liberties and caring about what happens to the world around you.

Also, the Amazon Vine program produced another great review at Amazon UK, this one from Paul Tapner. He writes:

It manages to transcend what may feel too familiar to do something new and a little different, and for that it’s worth a look.

A pair of kind Amortals reviews cropped up recently. Over at SFSite.com, Michael M. Jones says many great things, including:

The end result is a much deeper, more complex story than I was expecting, with a thought-provoking ending. What you get, thusly, is an action-filled, tense piece with plenty of cinematic moments and a heck of a payoff. Some of the story beats are reminiscent of Philip K. Dick… [A]ll I can say is that it’s a pretty intense read all on its own. Amortals is an SF action-thriller that satisfies on all levels.

On Amazon.co.uk, David Burton received a copy of Amortals through the Amazon Vine reviews program. He gives the book five stars and a short review that caps off with:

One of the more impressive sci-fi books I’ve read, and one that reminded me of the better work by William Gibson.

As a huge fan of the books of both Dick and Gibson, I’m thrilled to see such comparisons made. Thanks!