Despite the cheesy “hooded dude” cover, this was a great bit of epic fantasy. It was recommended by a twitter follower and turned out to be one of the better “classic medieval fantasy” books I’ve read in recent years.
It’s been awhile since I read a book by Card, although in eons past I read dozens and he was one of my favorite authors. He’s certainly lost none of his talent or voice…
This was a great book and a breakout YA hit. And, of course, this is one of the most anticipated movies of the year, particularly for book lovers. I take a look at the pros and cons of both mediums.
A combination alternate history and speculative technology book, set in 330 BC. For lack of a better term: bronze-punk.
I’m frequently asked for a list of favorite novels and big influences on my own writing. So I drew up this list. In order to prevent my head exploding I kept it exclusively to adult fantasy.
Nominally, this is an issue novel, about a 15 year-old girl dealing with the fallout of having slept with a guy when she was thirteen. But really it’s just a well written and well characterized slice of teen life story.
This excellent novel was a bestseller in the 1960s and that in of itself is a sad testament to the intellectual decline of the American reader. Its a novelized biography of the fourth century Roman Emperor Julian, known as The Apostate.
Who doesn’t love FREE books? My novel The Darkening Dream is still free on Kindle until midnight. So if you missed it, grab it now! Yesterday it enjoyed massive success reaching rates of over 20 copies downloaded per minute and hitting…
This new YA time travel novel has a bit of buzz and I read it because of the superficial similarities to my second novel, Untimed. Both are YA time travel, both have a male protagonist but that’s about where it ends.
This is certainly not your everyday read, although it’s certainly a good one. Set in 1861, the protagonist is Sir Richard Francis Burton, the explorer, not the actor. But then enter, among other things, Spring-Heeled Jack, crazy time traveler, and a host of steampunk altered villains including a double-brain grafted Charles Darwin and an Iron Golemized Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
She reads minds. He controls minds. Together, they might get out alive.
This disturbing indie crime thriller is about no less a subject then a serial killer with a taste for little girls. Apparently it’s been a runaway best seller in the UK but you’d have to be a total whack-a-doodle like me to even pick up something like this.
Alex Kosmitoras may be blind, but he can still “see” things others can’t. When his unwanted visions of the future begin to suggest that the girl he likes could be in danger, he has no choice but to take on destiny and demand it reconsider.
Already dead is a contemporary New York take on the vampire myth, mated with, and steeped in the tradition of hardboiled crime fiction. Huston may be writing decades later but from the first few pages it’s obvious that he’s highly adept at the hardboiled voice.
This biography is primarily a character study. It seeks by detailing the man’s actions to try and quantify and qualify the traits that made him the iconoclast that he was. The hero of this book is not a particularly likable man or even that rational. He was a fierce demon of passionate opinion, amazing taste, and an extraordinary instance of talent at the intersection of technology and art.
The Gaia Wars: DEADLY SECRETS have been buried in the Cascade mountain wilderness for centuries. Hidden. Out of sight and out of mind. Until today…
The trailer actually looks pretty good. A hair cheesy, but not all Twilighted out or anything. For those of you who haven’t read it, the book (at least the first of the three) is pretty darn excellent. The second two devolve into pseudo-political nonsense reminiscent of the Zion scenes in the later Matrix movies. But the first is a fantastic and intense read.
The Inside Story deals with character and structure, and the relationship between these and theme. I’ve read a lot of books on writing in general and story structure in particular, and this is certainly the best on the subject of the transformational arc.
In my latest move to further build up my social online presence I’ve moved onto goodreads.com. You can find my new profile here. It’s also installed permanently on the righthand sidebar via the icon. Those of you who use goodreads, link to my profile…
Over the last two years, I’ve read lots of books on the publishing business, and this one has the largest volume of useful information. Sure it’s mixed with a lot of random other stuff and considerable repetition. But a must read and very cheap. Just skim the parts you don’t need.
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