American Craftsmen, Tom Doyle’s debut novel, is out in May from Tor. Highly recommended.

I’m currently reading American Craftsmen, Tom Doyle ‘s debut novel about occult operatives, known as “Craftsmen.” Out from Tor Books in May as the first part of a three book deal, it’s very, very good. I wish they’d toned down the Baen-ishness of the cover, which will no doubt put some folks off, because this fantasy/government conspiracy thriller has a lot of interesting stuff about powerful occult families woven through American history. Starting in the middle east in a classic op gone horribly wrong, it mines a number of spiritual, historical, literary, and political veins to create a very interesting thriller. SF of Fantasy? As the main character’s grandfather (deceased, but loquacious nonetheless) says, “Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.” If you liked Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, Charles Stross’ Laundry series, or are a 24/Jack Bauer fan, you should definitely read American Craftsmen.

One of the things that bothered me about American Gods was the way Gaimen pushed the entire Judea-Christian-Islamist god(s) off the stage to make room for a host of deities that fit better into the story, which was great, no question, but still.  Doyle, on the other hand,  has no problem mixing, pagan and Christian. In fact much of the book is about the tension between them. That’s unsurprising, as his selection is drawn from American folklore, literature, and history, providing a bit of a mash-up, but a very workable one. But then, this is a different story than American Gods was, if every bit as good. If it has a failing, it may be that the action moves the along cohesively, and that the characters have some romantic notions about duty, honor, and loyalty that may make the disaffected squeamish.

I’ll be posting a full review closer to the publishing date, and I’ll update this post with a link to it.

Discussion:  Author Tom Doyle was nice enough to quote my preview on Facebook. You can follow the discussion or add to it here: Tom Doyle’s Facebook Thread