A Couple of Nice Links

The first one is purely self-serving, but I can't help it. It's a little feature over as Suvudu called "George R. R. Martin Recommends David Anthony Durham".

Those are a nice collection of words to have together in one title. It's really just upping the frequency on the stellar blurb that GRRM offered me a while back.

The second one is only partially self-serving. It's a link to "A Dozen of the Best from 2011" at Locus Online. The list is compiled by Jeff VanderMeer.

I'm pleased, of course, that he included The Sacred Band on it, but I send you toward it with the other titles in mind too.

Something you missed, perhaps?

Neth Space Year in Review...

...is up, and he's got a short list of good books - in my admittedly biased opinion.

Check it out: HERE.

A Friend in Romania?

Apparently so. Or, I should say, it appears the Acacia Trilogy has a friend in Romania. I like that... Review HERE.

Stomping

I came across a fun post over at Stomping on Yeti. It's the site's fiction picks for October.

Nice selection of books. I'm particularly pleased to have made the cut as one of the two "Picks of the Month".

And I'm even more pleased to see the Aliette de Bodard is the other pick, for the conclusion to her trilogy, Master of the House of Darts: Obsidian and Blood Book 3.

I met Aliette a few years back when we were both up for the John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer. I'm very pleased that she's concluded her trilogy. I haven't read it yet, but it sounds great. Looking for an Aztec mystery/fantasy? If so, you're in luck. If not, consider it and check her out. I will.

Arms of Nemesis

I have a short piece up at Campaign for the American Reader. They asked me what I was reading at the moment, and I told them: Steven Saylor's Arms of Nemesis.

If you want to know why, the answer is a click away: HERE.

In Case You Missed It...

...there's been a bit of a firestorm recently revolving around the subject of lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and trans-gender characters in YA fiction. What started this particular, um... discussion... off was that two authors, Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith wrote a piece for the Genreville blog of Publishers Weekly, claiming that they had been told by a perspective agent that they should straighten a character's sexual orientation - or at least not disclose it. (Here's that post.)

This took off pretty fast on the internet, and shot into mainstream media quickly, as in this article in the UK's Guardian newspaper.

The two authors hadn't mentioned the agent by name, but she came out herself - Joanna Volpe - with a strongly worded denial of the claims, posted here at The Swivet.

Opinions and counter opinions have been flying ever since.

Occupation: Girl has a terrific summation of the whole situation, with lots of quotes from lots of voices. YA Highway also tackles it with a summation.

Just mentioning it...

They're Giving Away My Books? What Madness!

Yes, but it's a good kind of madness.

Want a copy of The Sacred Band for free? Go check out the giveaway at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist: Click HERE.

Hey, if you win it you don't have to buy a copy for yourself. You could buy a copy for a friend instead!

Fantasy Literature Sunday Updates

Here are signs of a little attention coming toward The Sacred Band. Over at Fantasy Literature several bloggers/reviewers have mentioned the series.

Robert Thompson of The Fantasy Book Critic has finished it. He calls it a "rewarding conclusion to THE ACACIA TRILOGY".

And right after that Stefan Raets mentions beginning the series. He was into the first book as of the post, and is planning on continuing with The Other Lands as he anticipates the release of the final book! I love that. I hope there are a few more folks out there that will start the series now that the end if confirmed.

The post is HERE.

Genreville - Best of 2011

Can you believe anyone is talking about best of the year list already? Well, over at Publishers Weekly they're not putting up lists, but they are starting a conversation about it - and looking to hear from you. Take a look if you want some suggestions of good sff books of 2011, or if you want to shout out for a title!

The discussion is HERE.

By the way, the author's prompt includes "books you're looking forward to in the next few months..."

Library Journal

So, in actual fact this day sees me crating the dog and cat and heading for the airport, flying over night and then rolling out in London the next day, and then, hopefully, getting through customs etc without stress and starting a longish drive dead north to Scotland!

That's what I'm really doing today. But I'll pretend that I'm surfing the internet and that I've just come across this piece on the current (and future) state of SFF in Library Journal. It's got a lot of interesting info, and some tips on soon to be released titles - includes The Sacred Band, of course!

You could take a look HERE.

Clarkesworld Interview Part 2

The second part in a large round table discussion on epic fantasy at Clarkesworld Magazine in online. It includes input from a wide array of authors, including James Barclay, Elizabeth Bear, Terry Brooks, Trudi Canavan, Rowena Cory Daniells, Kate Elliott, Steven Erikson and Ian C. Esslemont, N. K. Jemisin, Peter Orullian, Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson - and many others. Me too!

If you're interested, take a look HERE.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Translation Awards

When I was in France a couple years back for Imaginales I met loads of very cool sff authors. Quite a few were French, and another handful were German. Talking to them about their work, I was bummed that I'd probably not be able to read it any time soon. Why? Because it's so bloody hard for non-English language writers to get translated into English. It happens, sure, but not for the majority of writers out there.

I wish that weren't so. I can only imagine that they'd bring perspectives and styles and themes that would liven up English-language sff.

Oh well... I promise to work on my French.

All of that is preface to the mention that I just got an email promoting the Science Fiction and Fantasy Translation Awards. These are for sff works written in other languages and translated into English. There's some progress! Looks like they're new.

Go check them out HERE. Maybe you'll find something you'll like...

This Guy Jamey Wants To Give You A Copy Of Acacia

Yep. It's true. Jamey Stegmaier - blogger, writer, guy, connoisseur of random things - is doing an Acacia giveaway. All you have to do is stop in there and leave a comment about your favorite summer read.

Check it out HERE.

ps - Not that this is important, but Jamey managed to get me to produce a short video saying hi, as I'm enjoying my morning green-smoothy.

Dare To Be Imperfect?

Why not? Robert VS Redick does it.

I had coffee the other day with Robert - he lives not far from me - and he mentioned this post he'd recently done for Grasping For The Wind. I checked it out, and thought you might like to as well. It's a mediation on risk-taking and personal idiosyncrasies in a publishing world that's increasingly adverse to risk-taking and personal idiosyncrasies.

Give it a read: HERE!

And consider taking a look at his Chatrand Voyage Series also, if you haven't done so already. I read and enjoyed the first book quite a bit, and I've picked up the subsequent ones. He's three books in to the series and working hard on the concluding volume now. He'll finish it, no doubt about it.

Here's what Publishers Weekly had to say about the first book, The Red Wolf Conspiracy:

Insane god-kings, miniature warriors and sentient animals fight over a powerful ancient artifact in Redick's dramatic, complex debut. The Mzithrin and Arquali Empires have been locked in a 40-year cold war over the resources and riches of the Crownless Lands on their common frontier. Now the Chathrand, a floating city built as much by sorcerer as shipwright, bears young Thasha, an unwilling bride to an enemy prince. No one seems sure whether this is a sincere attempt to bind the two empires together in peace or merely a gambit in their political games. The tense atmosphere soon erupts as various factions struggle to find and control the myth-wrapped Red Wolf. Both adult and young adult readers will find much to enjoy in this tale of sea-faring and bloody diplomacy.

Fantasy Book Critic has an in depth review: HERE.

Free Fiction Sampler

Hiya. How's 2011 treating ya?

Just wanted to mention a wee thing I was happy to participate in. It's The Free Fiction Sample at the Underword's website. Here's the description:

The Free Fiction Sampler is UNDERWORD’s way of bringing authors, books, and readers together in one convenient location. This Sampler contains 27 authors from various publishers who are offering sample chapters for 38 different books. Feel free to poke around, check out the book blurbs, read sample chapters, and find new books to love.

You'll find a few of my sample chapters there, and many, many more!

10 Things Lynn Flewelling Learned From Tolkein

Apparently, it's JRR Tolkein's birthday! That's something that gives me pause. Like... Yikes, what if he hadn't been born? Who would've done for fantasy what he did? I wonder...

Anyway, I liked this short piece by Lynn Flewelling on the great man's influence on her. Check it out.

The Word From Poland

I've not actually got my hands on the book yet, but I'm thrilled to hear the someone is reading Akacja, the Polish version of Acacia: The War With The Mein. A very kind Olga Michalik said lots of lovely things about the book: HERE. (I think.)

Take this, for example:

"W dobie wszechobecnej marnej, często nawet prymitywnej fantasy "Akacja" Davida Durhama stanowi prawdziwą perełkę. Z zalewającej nasz rynek powodzi nędznych podróbek Tolkiena "Akację" wyróżnia przede wszystkim bardzo oryginalna i dobrze dopracowana koncepcja świata."

Oh... Thank you Olga.

First Book Friday

Another post, another link to Jim C. Hines. This time it's out of self-interest, though.

Jim has posted a short piece I wrote for him for his First Book Friday series, in which authors talk about writing/publishing their first book.

It's over here if you're interested!

Thanks Jim!

Editorial Boob

I didn't make it to this year's World Fantasy, a fact which quite depresses me mightily.

Jim C Hines spent some time talking about good stuff about the con, but he's also just posted about a not so good aspect of it: incidents of sexual harassment. Worth a read.

Blog Love

I just noticed a nice Acacia: The War with the Mein review at ielerol's Interfacing blog.

Smart review. Glad she liked it.

Nice blog in general, really...