news Science fiction author Larry Correia has released an early version of the upcoming new book in his popular Monster Hunter International series.
Dubbed Monster Hunter Siege, the book is slated to be released in final form in August, but readers OK with a few possible early typos can get it online now. Correia writes on his site, Monster Hunter Nation that the Electronic Advanced Reader Copy (eARC) version of the book is available online through his publisher Baen now.
“The actual book doesn’t come out until August,” Correia wrote. “eARCs are the uncorrected page proofs which would normally only go out to reviewers, but a long time ago Baen discovered that fans loved to get their hands on books early. So they went ahead and made the eARCs available for sales.”
“In an ongoing series, eARCs are really popular. I actually earned out my advance for Monster Hunter Nemesis off of eARC sales alone before the book ever came out. People always ask how close the eARC is to the finished product, but that depends entirely on the author and what shape their manuscripts are in when they get turned in. I’ve never had to make any significant changes on any of mine.”
Monster Hunter International is a popular series in the urban fantasy genre. It features a group of badass hunter-types — complete with all kinds of weaponry and spiced with a scattering of super powers — going toe to toe and often bullet to bullet with pretty much every type of evil supernatural being you could imagine.
Books in the series include Monster Hunter International (which kicked off the series in late 2007), Monster Hunter Vendetta, Monster Hunter Alpha, Monster Hunter Legion and Monster Hunter Nemesis.
There are also several further planned books in the series, including Monster Hunter Guardian and Monster Hunter Omega, as well as a spinoff series, Monster Hunter Memoirs, which Correia is co-writing with another author, John Ringo.
The eARC page description for Monster Hunter Siege gives the following plot description for the book:
“GO BIG OR GO HOME
When Monster Hunter International’s top hunter, Owen Zastava Pitt, was given a tip about some hunters who had gone missing in action, he didn’t realize their rescue mission would snowball into the single biggest operation in MHI’s history. Their men are being held prisoner in a horrific nightmare dimension, and the only way to reach them is through the radioactive ruins of a monster-infested war zone.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, it’s also the home base of the powerful creature behind the devastating attacks on the Last Dragon and Copper Lake. It turns out ancient gods of chaos really hate trespassers. But this god picked a fight with the wrong crew, and now MHI wants payback. Calling on their allies, a massive expedition is formed, and with the odds stacked against them, a legion of hunters goes to war.
It’s D-Day at the City of Monsters.”
opinion/analysis
I’m a huge fan of Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter series and will definitely be picking up Siege. Not all of Correia’s books have entirely hit the mark recently — the Monster Hunter series has waned a bit at points (although Monster Hunter Alpha was just fracking awesome), and the recent first book in his epic fantasy series, Son of the Black Sword, missed a few notes, although it was overall a good read — but I have a great deal of confidence that Correia can pull it back for Siege.
For starters, the author appears to have been taking a small break from the Monster Hunter universe for a while to write other books, perhaps having realised that he needed to do so to fire up the creative juices.
But secondly, for the past few books Correia has clearly been foreshadowing some major epic plotlines and battles, moving characters into place like chess pieces. I don’t know whether any of that will come to fruition in Siege, but I certainly believe that there will be more juicy advancements along these lines that I will be quite interested in.
Monster Hunter International is quite a few books in at this point, but I, for one, certainly haven’t heard enough from Owen Zastava Pitt just yet. Let’s hope Correia brings his ball-busting style out in full flight for Siege :)