Apocalypse Nyx
by Kameron Hurley
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Pub Date Jul 27 2018 | Archive Date Oct 09 2018
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Description
Ex-government assassin turned bounty-hunter, Nyx, is good at solving other people’s problems. Her favorite problem-solving solution is punching people in the face. Then maybe chopping off some heads. Hey—it’s a living.
Her disreputable reputation has been well earned. To Nyx’s mind, it’s also justified. After all, she’s trying to navigate an apocalyptic world full of giant bugs, contaminated deserts, scheming magicians, and a centuries-long war that’s consuming her future. Managing her ragtag squad of misfits has required a lot of morally-gray choices.
Every new job is another day alive. Every new mission is another step toward changing a hellish future—but only if she can survive.
A Note From the Publisher
Advance Praise
Praise for Apocalypse Nyx
“If you’re new to Nyx, this
may be a good place to start, taking place before the current series of which
she’s the star. If you’re already a fan, this adds some wonderfully bloody,
emotionally sharp texture to an already intriguing world and characters—get on it.”
—Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reviews
“Apocalypse Nyx is grim,
unapologetic science fiction at its best . . . gripping.”
—New York Journal of Books
“This is a dystopia that revels in it in a big, joyous way
with cracking one-liners and tight squeezes to escape. Apocalypse Nyx
is definitely not for the squeamish, but if you like your heroines as kickass
as Dutch from the TV series Killjoys you’ll love Nyxnissa. Good, honest science
fiction fun with a feminist twist.
—Starburst
“Gritty with a
capital grit . . . In all—I love this world, I love these stories.”
—Fangs for the Fantasy
“Great for all you hard-drinking, hard punching, embittered
readers who like a lot of grit in their post-apocalyptic hard-SF Biopunk . . . Nyx
really shines darkly.”
—Bradley Horner,
author of Darkside Earther
“The five novellas that make up Apocalypse Nyx are
packed with more glare, grit, and snarl than a junkyard full of mutated
jackals, landing their punches with all the tooth-loosening, hardhat-launching,
lunchbox-swinging frankness of a noontime construction worker brawl. Hurley's
world of mercenaries, magicians, blood, and bug guts is dusty enough that you
can feel it grinding between your molars and insistent enough that it'll yank
you by the collar and not let go, a no-frills hang-the-hell-on
death-rattle-and-roll Keith Moon drum solo of staccato narrative bursts.”
—Bo Bolander, author of The Only Harmless Great Thing
“Nyx is back and just as good as ever. In this new
collection of five novellas, Kameron Hurley serves up courses of crunchy action
and intrigue, layered with tender character moments that bring real depth to
this intense, unique world.”
—JY Yang, author of The Black Tides of Heaven and
The Red Threads of Fortune
“Incorrigible and unapologetically heartless, Nyx is the
bounty hunter to call when the stakes are high, the payouts are iffy, and the
morality is optional.”
—Nicky Drayden, author of The Prey of Gods
“With Nyx, Hurley masterfully writes about a strong woman
who is also a very broken human being—something women are rarely allowed to
be.”
—Stina Leicht, author of And Blue Skies from Pain and Cold Iron
“There are no limits to the universe Ms. Hurley creates.”
—Virdea
“If your favourite action TV series were distilled in book
form, this would be it.
—British Fantasy
Society
“I devoured this book, and I’m pretty sure it ate a little
piece of my heart, too.”
—The Fantasy Inn
“Compelling and fast-paced, gruesome and titillating at
turns, presenting an approach to gender and sexuality that is appalling but
fascinating.”
— Tor.com
“Kameron Hurley’s Apocalypse Nyx (Tachyon) is a welcome
return to the adventures of the author’s iconic hard-fisted anti-heroine.”
— Seattle Review of
Books
“For all that God’s
War was nominated for every award under the sun, I enjoyed this more: Nyx’s
tempestuous life lends itself perfectly to discrete, action-packed episodes.”
— Interzone
“Fans show up for the fatalistic prose, acid-tongued banter
between hard-bitten mercenaries, over the top violence and female-centered
action storytelling—Apocalypse Nyx delivers
on all those fronts.”
—Thousand Year Plan
“Nyx is a brilliantly imagined character.”
—Strange Alliances
Praise for the Bel Dame Apocrypha
On God’s War
“Nyxnissa would quite clearly kick Conan's ass . . . Just what the genre ordered.”
—Strange Horizons
“Are you frustrated with Mary Sue heroines? Well, here comes God's War to rock your face off . . . If you like rough, battle-scarred women who know how to regulate, you're going to love Nyx . . . she makes Han Solo look like a boy scout.”
—io9
“God's War is one of the most thought-provoking debuts I've read so far this year.”
—Locus
“God's War is a violent tale set against the backdrop of a centuries-old holy war. But beyond all the blood and violence, it's a beautifully crafted work of art that keeps astonishing you when you least expect it.”
—Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
On Infidel
“Hurley’s world-building, vivid and blissfully free of infodumps and expository lumps, was one of the great strengths of God’s War, and it’s a pleasure to return to the fascinating and messed-up world she created—one especially enjoyable for its ethnically diverse cast and freewheeling remixes of traditional gender roles.”
—Tor.com
“Infidel is a fast-paced book with a lot of action and smart character moments, mixed with cynical battlefield philosophy. I highly recommend it.”
—Strange Horizons
On Rapture
“Kameron Hurley is ferociously imaginative—with an emphasis on ferocious. She writes novels that are smart, dark, visceral and wonderfully, hectically entertaining.”
—Lauren Beukes, author of The Shining Girls
“Edge-of-the-seat action set within a strange and alien world that’s the mutant child of Frank Herbert and Roger Zelazny. At her best, Hurley’s work rivals that of Gene Wolfe, and it burns like a drug in the mind long after you’ve finished it.”
—David J. Williams, author of The Mirrored Heavens
“[Nyxnissa] is gloriously self-possessed, repellently amoral, and thoroughly original. She is a woman in a man's grimdark world.
—Strange Horizons
Praise for The Geek Feminist Revolution
“A call to arms for those who care about the future of science fiction and fantasy.”
—John Scalzi, author of Redshirts
“Kameron Hurley writes essays that piss people off, make them think, make them act. This is good stuff. Read it.”
—Kate Elliott, author of the Crown of Stars series
“Hurley’s essays are a beacon signaling to writers in the trenches that they’re not alone, and they’re not imagining how hard it is to push against the mainstream, or how the culture shoves back ten times harder.”
—K. Tempest Bradford
“Filled me with blistering hope and rage. Amazing collection.”
—Annalee Newitz, author of Autonomous
Marketing Plan
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781616962944 |
| PRICE | CA$23.95 (CAD) |
| PAGES | 288 |
Featured Reviews
Jen C, Reviewer
If you've read Hurley's Bel Dame Apocrypha novels, you know what you're getting into with this collection of stories. If you haven't read them, imagine a non-superpowered Jessica Jones running a rather sketchy bounty hunter/mercenary crew made up of a magician, a shapeshifter, a comm tech, and a sniper. Oh, and this takes place on an alien planet full of insect-based technology where its inhabitants risk cancer--or worse--from the merciless binary suns and the pollution of chemical weapons deployed in a long-running holy war. Furthermore, the country in which these stories are set is a matriarchal one, because men are used as fodder for the war while women do all the leading and politicking.
The stories are all fun. Each involves the team taking on some difficult job that quickly goes sideways. The action is fast-paced and tightly plotted. There really isn't a dud in the bunch.
You don't have to have read the novels to read these stories. If you like grimdark fiction, I highly recommend these stories (and the novels). Even if you're not a fan of grimdark--I'm normally not--you may love the truly unique and colorful world in Hurley's Bel Dame Apocrypha series.
Michael H, Reviewer
Apocalypse Nyx is exactly the kind of science fiction I like - it's dark, violent, and has, at its core, a deeply flawed heroine who is hard as steel and has whiskey running through her veins. Nyx is a gal that sees few problems that can't be solved with her scattergun, and is always a hairsbreadth away from cutting off all ties with those that work for her and, if she were a more emotionally accessible and less war-wounded woman, people she might even call friends if she were drunk enough. Nyx is rugged and mean, and this collection from Kameron Hurley serves as a wonderful introduction to the former assassin turned ultra-violent problem solver, particularly if, like me, you haven't read the Bel Dame Apocrypha series proper.
I believe most, if not all, of the stories collected within Apocalypse Nyx were initially written and published for Hurley's Patreon supporters prior to their publication by Tachyon in this single volume. Gathered here are five stories set within the original Bel Dame Apocrypha, but which do not require any prior reading. You might get more out of these stories, or welcome a reintroduction to Nyx and her world, if you've been following this character previously but it's also highly accessible to newcomers.
The world Hurley has created here is as intense as it is interesting. The alien desert world Nyx inhabits is caught up in perpetual war, and Nasheenians like her are drafted to fight against their rival, darker-skinned Chenjans. The ruling body is highly matriarchal, but also heavily influenced by Muslim doctrine, with daily routine calls for prayer and a plethora of masques. On the technology front, bugs are king. Society has adapted to and grown reliant on insect-based tech - beetles are ground up to power vehicles, and form a communications network based on pheromones and body colors. Even the bullet casings and walls are rooted in creative uses of various bug life.
Story-wise, Apocalypse Nyx has a welcoming stand-alone episodic structure to it (quick, somebody call Netflix!). Although the various jobs and missions Nyx and her crew take in order to stay solvent are unrelated, taken as a whole there is a decent, if minor, character arc at play binding these stories together. I suspect there's a deeper arc to Nyx across the main trilogy, but I also kind of suspect that Nyx may be too violent, introverted, alcoholic, and deeply set in her ways to grow too much. Besides, she's more interesting without the happily ever after, at least in this volume, and Nyx is the type of character that it's hard to even imagine a happy ending for anyway.
I've been wanting to read about Nyx for quite a long while now, but somehow never made room for her. I happy to have finally corrected that with Apocalypse Nyx, and I now feel a greater urgency in exploring the trilogy of novels focusing on her. After this book and Hurley's prior release, The Stars Are Legion, if I've learned anything it's that from here on out all new releases from Kameron Hurley are to automatically move to the top of my mountain of TBRs. Count me among the number of faithful converts, because I am officially a fan of Nyx. This lady is one serious bad-ass.
[Note: I received an advanced copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley.]
Jon A, Reviewer
I think these short stories would be a great place to start for someone who hasn't read any Nyx books. They give you an overview of the incredibly original world Hurley has created and Nyx and her team.
But, as someone who has read all of them, I was excited to read more about Nyx and her team. I was not disappointed. We need more Nyx!
Amber T, Media/Journalist
Kameron Hurley is a master world builder and her characters are, as always, a great mix of fierce, funny, and well-rounded. I didn't realize this was part of a larger series, so I was a little hamstrung in that regard, and yet I still felt like I grasped the plot for the most part--a single-volume compartmentalization that not all SFF writers are very good at. I'm looking forward...to going backward to read the rest.
Reviewer 390195
Kameron Hurley delivers with this set of five novellas from the Bel Dame Apocrypha series. Each of them centers around Nyx, who is--well--Nyx.
The book follows the various jobs that Nyx and her crew take on. Mainly, though, the focus is on Nyx herself as she struggles with a leadership role.
To put it lightly, Nyx is not the easiest person to love. She is almost completely selfish. For example, in one scene a crew member saves someone's life and leaves something valuable behind; Nyx berates them for not getting the valuables first and going back to see if the person was still alive. She is incredibly stubborn and gives off a vibe that she doesn't really care about the majority of her crew as individual people. She just cares that she has a crew. Yet Nyx is competent and acknowledges were weaknesses. Doing something about her shortcomings, though? Nah. And while she will leave a crew member to die if it benefits her in the short run, she still does depend on them. Her character is excellently written, along with the others.
Another positive about this book is how it incorporates grimdark and new weird elements (bugpunk, for example) seamlessly in the world. Nyx's moral seems to be, "A job is a job. If it pays well, take it." The world is full of morally grey characters. Nyx might be extreme, but her crew isn't innocent either. And despite the perspective being mainly hers, the other characters are still well developed.
A minor issue is that parts of the stories felt a little too slow. This will vary with taste, of course. However, these few sections (in the entire book) slightly threw off the pacing for me. I found it tended to happen just after the job was accepted but before the job actually started. Like I said, this is a minor issue.
I confess that I haven't yet read God's War, so perhaps I spoiled myself for something there. However, I truly feel that this collection stands on its own very well. I devoured this book, and I'm pretty sure it ate a little piece of my heart, too.
[I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
Maxine R, Reviewer
This collection of short stories is set in the Bel Dame Apocrypha World. There is an entire series that I haven’t read. I don’t want to spoil to much of the main books for myself, but from what I could gather these are set in between the events of the main books. Even though I went in knowing nothing of the world or the previous stories, Hurley doesn’t throw you into the deep end, you quickly get a feel for the world. After all the very first line of the first story gives you a real sense of the type of world our girl Nyx is inhabiting.
I loved getting to know Nyx and her team. She is unapologetically herself. She is highly trained, willing to sacrifice her team and when the girl wants to get laid, we all know its going to happen. She has experienced a lot in her short (but long by the world’s standard) life. She has been to war, she has been broken, she has been put back together, trained as an assassin, spent a year in prison and built herself a reputation as someone you don’t want to fuck with.
These stories have betrayal, magic, romance, violence, weird creepy bugs, whisky and a whole heap of sass. If you are unsure if Kameron Hurley is for you, try this collection. There are five stories of varying length and detail, all of them are well written, bringing this war ravaged land to life.
Jo J, Reviewer
Interesting world building along with characters that fit. This is a good post-apocalypse story with a interesting plot and great edge of your seat action.
Kend M, Bookseller
These novellas are ... well, they're weird. They are capital "W" WEIRD AS FUDGE. Sludge. Bio-punk urban fantasy sludge. They're light, they're fun, they're set in a world which is implicitly matriarchal. They're the light, dark, gritty, fun follow-up to "The Stars Are Legion" that you never knew you needed, but you oh-so-definitely do.
Oh, and they're full of bugs. SO MANY BUGS.
Jacob O, Reviewer
Apocalypse Nyx takes us into the world of Hurley’s Belle Dame Apocrypha series, giving us glimpses of the hardened, masterful character across five equally impressive novellas. I haven’t read the original trilogy, and feel like this is a great introduction to Nyx. Each story is filled with fight scenes, puzzles and the dynamics of a team with vastly different backgrounds and belief systems. The novella format fits the material perfectly, giving you a chance to meet the characters fully amidst shorter plots. I strongly recommend the collection, both for newbies and for existing fans.
Full review at: https://reviewsandrobots.com/2018/12/10/apocalypse-nyx-book-review/
Kathleen R, Reviewer
Apocalypse Nyx
by Kameron Hurley
Tachyon Publications
Multicultural Interest , Sci Fi & Fantasy
Hurley is a genius in creating believable worlds down to a mote. These stories are related to a series apparently of a female mercenary/assassin and her group set in a future set of worlds with a strong feminist line where the women are definitely on top. While I really enjoyed these stories in this book on one hand there was something seriously disturbing on the other. As women and the original matriarchal societies were in many ways better and then to once again reach beyond that pint for the future one would hope we would grow beyond the lowest denominators biggest faults of a patriarchal society be it mentality,greed, criminal activity or on a larger scale wars and subjugation of other peoples. While the delight at the detail of this world wrapped me up the main character was not my favorite and led me to once against question why so many futuristic scenarios put down will show the same downfalls that the present holds, why women can't be ass kicking for good & triumph and not have the negative attribute of their male counterparts instead of showing the benefit of being female. I think if nothing else [which there was so much to love] I truly enjoyed Black Panther movie because it gave us strong and hopeful women and scenarios. This world put forth while well written and engrossing is something I hope we would learn better from now rather than continue the same road regardless of who is in charge. Just something to ponder with an added point: if you love sci fi this is a must and will probably now look up & read the series as I want more
Mike S, Book Trade Professional
You can't beat Nyx for some hard-boiled sci-fi thrill rides. Things never seem to go her way but she gets there in the end. If you like the God's War trilogy then you'll love this — a series of short adventures that throw you straight back into the mad, bug-filled sand storm of Nyx's life.
Readers who liked this book also liked:
Jane Yolen; Harry Turtledove; Premee Mohamed; Lisa Morton
Mystery & Thrillers, Sci Fi & Fantasy
