After posting the Tad Williams update yesterday, I decided to have a look and it appears that quite a few SFF titles are still available on the cheap!

- You can download George R. R. Martin's In the House of the Worm for 3.19$ here.

- You can download Brandon Sanderson's Infinity Blade: Awakening for 2.99$ here.

- You can download John Scalzi's Questions for a Soldier for 0.99$ here.

- You can download The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 1, edited by Jonathan Strahan for 2.99$ here.

- You can download John Scalzi's An Election for 0.99$ here.

- You can download Terry Brooks' Imaginary Friends for 2.99$ here.

- You can download C. S. Friedman's new novella, Dominion, for 2.99$ here.

- You can download Brent Weeks' Perfect Shadow for 2.99$ here.

- You can download Bradley P. Beaulieu and Stephen Gaskell's Strata for 0.99$ here.

- You can download Robin Hobb's Dragon Keeper for 1.99$ here.

- You can download a combo of James S. A. Corey's excellent Leviathan Wakes and Daniel Abraham's The Dragon's Path for 2.99$ here!

- You can download Paolo Bacigalupi's The Alchemist for 2.99$ here.

- You can download Tobias S. Buckell's The Executioness for 2.99$ here.

- Cherie Priest's Clementine can be downloaded for 4.99$ here.

- The excellent Bright of the Sky by Kay Kenyon for free available here.

- Sasha by Joel Shepherd for free available here.

- The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks for 2.99$ available here.

- Child of Fire by Harry Connolly for 0.99$ available here.

- David Chandler's Den of Thieves, is available for 0.99$ here.

- Wild Cards I edited by GRRM for 2.99$ is available here.

Roll on, April 1st!!! =)

A bigot, a racist, a sexist, a religious fucktard, AND a bad reviewer???

I wasn't planning to post about this, but with all the PMs and emails I received since Friday, it looks as though I must. Don't expect a formal rebuttal from me, however. It would be pointless and do nothing but start a flame-war.

Yes, as so many of you have pointed out, too often sarcasm, cynicism, irony, and a dark sense of humor are lost on idiots. This guys drags me through shit, paints a vile picture of the sort of person he thinks I am, while he obviously ain't smart enough to realize that a lot of his accusations are based on tongue-in-cheek observations I've made over the years. I linked this on my Facebook page when author Mark Lawrence pointed it out to me on Friday morning. Interestingly enough, everyone who knows me personally and who has read it couldn't believe their eyes.

Yes, I am aware that he has taken portions of my travel blogs, the chunks of text that work for him and used them out of context, overlooking the rest. Yes, I know that this is grounds for a lawsuit. I'm a Law grad, remember?

Funny, but most of my friends and family members have all read my travel blogs over the years, and never has anyone perceived anything that could be construed as racist or sexist. Not only that, but taken as a whole, my Southeast-Asian posts are decidedly positive (take away the fact that I was rushed to the hospital in Phuket), and I've loved my time in Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapour. I've been pimping this destination to anyone who'll listen to me ever since, actually.

Yes, most of you have pointed out that he sort of implies that I condone prostitution and the sex industry, while I actively condemn it everywhere I go. Heck, every single post I've written regarding Thailand contains a few paragraphs with me bitching about them.

Yes, as everyone made quite clear, it's obvious this guy has never set foot in Thailand. Had he even a little traveling experience, he would sing another tune, sure. There's a proverb that says: Culture is like strawberry jam. The less you have, the more you spread it. And acrackedmoon sure knows how to spread it. . . Had he spent even a single day in Bangkok, he would know just how ignorant his post make him sound. It's no surprise that I've never met anyone who doesn't agree with me about the proliferation of prostitutes, bar girls, massage parlors, etc. Any man who travels through Thailand can't help but get annoyed by this. Unless they are indeed there for the sex tourism. He mentions that the country has a ton of universities (there were a little over 30 public universities when I was there in 2010), but fails to mention the fact that the average daily wages were less then US6$ at that time. Yes, these girls truly have great prospects, don't they? Yes, it's a bit odd that my personal observations are being judged by someone who, in all likelihood, has never been abroad and likely rarely leaves his parents' basement. . . I've only been to 46 countries, so what do I know?

Yes, I know, he decided to use a few words from the Kuala Lumpur post to damn me, when the entire paragraph contradicts what he is trying to convey. The whole paragraph reads like this:

Although a Muslim regime, Malaysia has always had a "live and let live" attitude. With a multi-ethnic population that gets along well, there is basically no clash of cultures here. No one quite knows how the Malay people make it work, but in KL it's something to see. Kind of gives you hope in mankind. . . Almost. . . Sadly, it's not the same everywhere.:-(

Acrackedmoon's post is so heinous and full of ignorance as to make it ridiculous. I mean, hate me as a reviewer and hate Pat's Fantasy Hotlist, fine. This guy sure does, no question! What I don't understand is where those personal attacks, of a shocking virulence, come from??? I didn't know my blog and myself could generate so much vitriol. . .

Yes, I know he would have liked for me to get knifed. But Robert Stanek said it first, so no brownie points for acrackedmoon for this.

Yes, I know that Larry has helped disseminate this personal attack against me. Funny that he didn't take the time to read the related posts and see that the better part of acrackedmoon's post is stuff taken out of context. Considering that Larry can read like 4 novels in a day, he could probably have read all my Southeast-Asian posts in about 5.2 seconds. Many of you thought that Larry and I were friends. So did I. . .

Another proof of this guy's ignorance: He takes exception that I was upset anime store staffs didn't know about Makoto Shinkai and Hayao Miyazaki. That would be like entering Forbidden Planet and not raise an eyebrow if they had never heard of Neil Gaiman and George R. R. Martin. Are you kidding me?

Yes, I like beautiful girls. Scratch that: I love them! ;-) Wasn't against the law the last time I checked. . .

My promoting the Girls of Geek calendar was +++++gross??? Since 2007, I've never concealed the fact that my mom is a breast cancer survivor. And since then, I've made a lot of efforts to raise awareness and support the cause. And since my cousin died of cancer in the summer of 2010 at the young age of 41, I've been trying to do even more. So supporting such a worthy cause is gross? WTF? Having sexy geek girls wanting to do something special to help raise funds for breast cancer research is bad? Maybe acrackedmoon could elaborate on this. He looks a bit misogynist, or at the very least extremely insecure where women are concerned. . .

In any event, yes I'm aware of all this. So please let it go. From a blog titled Requires Only That You Hate, whose motto is "Your daily dose of hatred and geekrage," would you expect anything less than such an underhanded attack? I'm at a loss as to exactly how I got under this guy's skin in such a way that made him write something so heinous, so overflowing with vitriol. But I'm not going to lose any sleep on it.

It's evident this guy is begging for attention, but I'm not going to link to his post to send traffic his way. Here's the post in its entirety:

Let me introduce you to Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist.

But scratch that. If you are an SF/F fan–which you probably are, reading this blog–you likely have heard of him before. Go over there and you’ll see endless splash banners advertising books or tie-in fiction. He’s basically a genre PR bot: all his content is little more than promotional material on top of promotional material, almost as though he is paid by publishing houses to fellate the latest-and-greatest grimdark neckbeard icon, which he might well be. Who knows.

And if you’ve read him for any length of time, you will probably have noticed that he’s a raging douche. I don’t just mean “douche” in a mild, non-specific way, oh no. We are talking about a grade-A sexist, racist fuckwad. The kind that should be put in a meat-grinder: there’d be about twenty people at the ready, vying to press the GRIND GRIND GRIND button. We’d press it until our fingers are raw and Pat nothing more than a memory of fat white meat.

He visited Thailand this one time: Bangkok: Sultry heat, temples, pollution, never-ending noise, and prostitutes. Off to a good start, and we aren’t even out of the subject line.

The upside: I have hundreds of girls after me. The downside: They’re all prostitutes! I mean, even though I knew what to expect, this goes beyond anything I could ever imagine. . .:\

I am amused that this is probably the only time in his life “hundreds of girls” would be after him in any fashion.

I got very close to punching one of them last night, but held off at the last second. You never know if the guy knows a bit of Thai boxing. And it would have done little to help me make my point if I had found myself flat on my back after a vicious kick I never saw coming, right?

I wish he had tried to punch someone and ended up knifed and bleeding from his guts in a dark corner somewhere. And nobody’d have given a shit, because this man’s douchiness is so evident it radiates off him in waves.

It’s like the jeans and T-shirt test for a girl. You know how any girl can look fantastic in a little black cocktail dress. I’ve always said that the true test is always to see her in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. If she looks good in those, she’ll look good in anything!=)

Annnnd we’re up to a sexist analogy!

To add insult to injury, I was forced to don long pants in order to visit Wat Phra Kaew, the Temple of the Emerald Buddah. The temple compound is absolutely gorgeous, but to force people to wear shoes and long pants in that kind of heat should be illegal!

Oh, no, not being expected to respect the local traditions! He is Whitey, he is Mighty, and he should be exempt from all rules and regulations!

It’s kind of odd that some aspects of Bangkok could put any Western city to shame, and all the while show you sides straight out of a Third World country when you turn around and face the other way

Fuck you, you smug little shit.

It’s kind of sad to see fat and old Western men walking hand in hand with pretty young Thai girls. They’re absolutely everywhere and not likely to go away. There are a couple of universities here, so hopefully there is a brighter future for many Thai young women.

Oh my god what the fuck. Thailand has tons of universities; Bangkok certainly has more than two and what the fuck is this patronizing bullshit.

Too bad. . . Thai girls have different facial traits than other Asian women. I can see the appeal, certainly. They are beautiful, as well as taller and more shapely than the more petite Asian girls from Japan, Korea, etc. So there will never be any shortage of horny old farts looking for cheap fucks with them. But Christ, when you can’t cross a street corner without having a group of them waving and calling out at you, well that’s a major problem. And the worst thing is that the Thai government doesn’t seem to have much of a problem with the situation. I guess that sex tourism brings in too much money.

YELLOW FEVER YELLOW FEVER RACIST LITTLE COCKSTAIN

God, honkies.

Next: Kuala Lumpur: Mixed Feelings

Poor Thai people. . . That’s the image they have of the West: Dirty old men there for the sex tourism and fucking hippies.

And you, fuckface.

We always seem to think that Asian people are very nice, polite, and reserved, so it’s nice to see them bitch about one another. Haven’t seen this in Thailand, but Malays have no qualms about it. We always see it in the West, with people bitching about Americans, Brits, French, etc. So I couldn’t help laughing when the staff at the hostel would shake their heads and mutter things like “Damned Chinese” or something like that.

Lookie! A white person celebrating Asian-vs-Asian prejudice. Awesome.

Although a Muslim regime

Oh my god what the fuck.

And anime fans, you won’t believe this. I stopped at no less than four anime stores, and NO ONE had ever heard of Makoto Shinkai (still looking for 5 cm per Second and The Place Promised in Our Early Days)!!! Are you kidding me??? I’m in Asia and no one knows shit??? Even worst, only one person knew Hayao Miyazaki!!! Who’s hiring these guys???

ASIANS SHOULD ALL KNOW ABOUT ANIMEEEE. Weeaboos, my friends.

Next, some run-of-the-mill sexism: The Privilege of the Sword. Now I think Ellen Kushner’s writing–what I’ve read of it, being Swordpoint–is shit, boring, and about as clever as cat litter, but…

I am acutely aware that some will grill me for saying this, but Ellen Kushner’s The Privilege of the Sword is, in my humble opinion (which doesn’t count for much, as some will surely point out!), fantasy chick lit.

Chick lit it really isn’t. I mean does he just think anything with a woman on the cover, written by a woman, is…

I’m all for strong and genuine female protagonists, yet this is one of the “girliest” novels I’ve ever read.

OH NOES NOT THE GIRL COOTIES.

I refer to this book as fantasy chick lit because it contains several elements that are associated with “chick lit.” There’s a very “girly” approach to the narrative. It focuses on undying/forbidden love, corny romance, flowers, jewelry, gowns, fabrics, and an inordinate amount of emo moments. For crying out loud, the characters shed more tears in this book than bridesmaids at a wedding! There is only so much crying one can take, after all. In addition, the emo male characters are not authentic.

No comment needed. Cooooooties.

Remember the Elizabeth Moon blow-up? As in, Moon was an Islamophobe and got her con invite rescinded? Well Pat has something to say about that too! Charmingly titled “Islam and Soft-Left Intellectuals: 1 Free Speech: 0.”

WTF??? It’s nice to see that in this soft-Left Obama era, democratic values such as free speech remain the cornerstone of our society. . .

This, of course, comes in response to Elizabeth Moon’s post on Islam. I also picked up the story last month in this post.

Like a fucking caricature, except dead serious. He thinks, of course, that the only people who could possibly take offense at Moon’s xenophobic fuckwaddery can only be “ultra-soft leftists.” Really, just do a search on his blog for “Islam” in general.

Last but not least: “Girls of Geek” calendar. +++++gross.

Dude also thinks Christwire is for real, citing an article by one “Susan B. Xenu” as evidence of everything wrong with America’s xtian fundies. :’)

Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist is a very popular genre blog. What does that say about the SF/F genre? Exactly.

We were talking about starting up a kickstarter project for that Pat-specific meatgrinder, by the way. Who wants to chip in?
------------

Pat's Fantasy Hotlist isn't everyone's cup of tea. And that's as it should be. I don't consider myself a very talented or insightful reviewer. Never have, never will. Pat's Fantasy Hotlist is what it is. Nothing more, nothing less.

Acrackedmoon asks: Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist is a very popular genre blog. What does that say about the SF/F genre? Exactly.

Maybe that a majority of the online SFF community likes a friendly, more casual approach to reviewing? Maybe they like to read the posts of a fan who doesn't take himself too seriously? Your guess is as good as mine. . .

So case closed, as far as I'm concerned. To acrackedmoon, I have no idea where all that pent-up anger is coming from. The passionate hatred you have for me leaves me baffled. Masturbation might help you release some of that geek rage, you know. I could even supply my complimentary copy of the Girls of Geek 2012 calendar for you to focus on. . . It's not true it will make you deaf. . .

Be forewarned I will monitor the comment section.

Peace. . .

Just to remind you that you have until January 31st to download Tad Williams' latest collection of short fiction, A Stark and Wormy Knight, for only 4.99$ here.

Here's the blurb:

A fat new collection by best-selling fantasy and science fiction author Tad Williams, containing new material original to this book.

Tad Williams is an acknowledged master of the multi-volume epic. Through such popular series as Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn and Otherland, he has acquired a huge and devoted body of readers who eagerly await each new publication. A Stark and Wormy Knight offers those readers something both special and surprising: a virtuoso demonstration of Williams's mastery of a variety of shorter forms.

The range of tone, theme, style, and content reflected in this generous volume is nothing short of amazing. The title story is a tale within a tale of dragons and knights and is notable for its wit and verbal inventiveness. "The Storm Door" uses The Tibetan Book of the Dead to forge a singular new approach to the traditional zombie story. "The Terrible Conflagration at the Quiller's Mint" offers a brief, independent glimpse into the background of Williams's Shadowmarch series. "Ants" provides an ironic account of what can happen when a marriage goes irrevocably wrong.

Two of the longer entries show Williams working, with great facility, within the fictional creations of other writers. "The Thursday Men" is a hugely entertaining foray into the world of Mike Mignolla's Hellboy comics. The wonderfully titled "The Lamentably Comical Tragedy (or the Laughably Tragic Comedy) of Lixal Laqavee" is both a first-rate fantasy and a deeply felt homage to Jack Vance's immortal Dying Earth. Two other pieces offer rare and hard-to-find glimpses into other facets of Williams's talent. "Bad Guy Factory" is the script for a proposed series of DC Comics that never came to fruition. "Black Sunshine" is the immensely readable screenplay for a movie that remains, at least for the moment, unproduced. One can only hope.

These and other stories and novellas comprise a stellar collection that really does contain something for everyone. For longtime Williams readers, and for anyone with a taste for literate imaginative fiction, A Stark and Wormy Knight is a welcome, and indispensable, volume.

(Please note: Subterranean Books will be publishing hardback and paperback editions Summer 2012.)

And although the promotion was supposed to end on December 31st, 2011, you can still download Tad Williams' Caliban's Hour for 2.99$ here.

Here's the blurb:

Caliban's Hour is a novella-length (40,000 words) Shakespearian fantasy, and the inspiration for it came from a conversation between Tad Williams and his wife Deborah Beale, where they reimagined The Tempest in the light of colonialism, and saw the suffering of the native Caliban at the heart of it. The story recounts all of Caliban's young life as the wizard Prospero and his child Miranda, shipwrecked on the island, take it all for themselves.

There is a new update concerning Scott Lynch's eagerly awaited The Republic of Thieves (Canada, USA, Europe) from The Little Red Reviewer:

Scott did a reading from Republic of Thieves. it WILL be hitting bookstore shelves this year, possibly in June. He is contracted for 5 books, and if the publishers decide they like him, he will get 2 more books (trust me, they like him). Book 3 is where things start to ramp up, with the series moving towards some type of large war.

I can’t give you any RoT spoilers, because he didn’t. He described RoT as being the “awkward teenage years” of the Gentlemen Bastards. The portion he read involved Locke and Jean, and Sabetha and the Sanza twins,and teaser: there was a bedroom scene. Locke is obviously in love with Sabetha, but hasn’t figured out how to tell her, so he basically lets her beat the crap out him whenever she wants. There was much in the way of awkward teenagedness, beautiful swear words, and giggleworthy moments. Scott even got to use his LOUD voice. Twas truly lovely.

Follow this link to read the full con report.

Most of you are well aware of where I stand when it comes to Young Adults works. There's nothing wrong with them, but they usually don't appeal to me much. Hence, you can understand my disappointment when, after reading the incredible The Dervish House, I discovered that Ian McDonald was now working on a YA novel. River of Gods, Brasyl, and The Dervish House figure among the best science fiction books I've read since creating the Hotlist, so I was a bit crestfallen by the idea that his next work would be aimed at a younger audience.

And yet, as is the case with Neil Gaiman, regardless of the audience he's writing for, Ian McDonald remains Ian McDonald. Though the plot may not show as much depth and the storylines may not be as multilayered and convoluted, I should have known that McDonald couldn't possibly dumb the tale down as to make it a travesty or a parody of his previous science fiction works. So no, it's not the mind-blowing doorstopper scifi yarn that River of Gods was. Still, Planesrunner is an intelligent, entertaining, and fast-paced book that should satisfy McDonald's fans, both old and new!

Here's the blurb:

There is not one you. There are many yous. There is not one world. There are many worlds. Ours is one among billions of parallel earths.

When Everett Singh’s scientist father is kidnapped from the streets of London, he leaves young Everett a mysterious app on his computer. Suddenly, this teenager has become the owner of the most valuable object in the multiverse—the Infundibulum—the map of all the parallel earths, and there are dark forces in the Ten Known Worlds who will stop at nothing to get it. They’ve got power, authority, the might of ten planets—some of them more technologically advanced than our Earth—at their fingertips. He’s got wits, intelligence, and a knack for Indian cooking.

To keep the Infundibulum safe, Everett must trick his way through the Heisenberg Gate that his dad helped build and go on the run in a parallel Earth. But to rescue his dad from Charlotte Villiers and the sinister Order, this Planesrunner’s going to need friends. Friends like Captain Anastasia Sixsmyth, her adopted daughter, Sen, and the crew of the airship Everness.

Can they rescue Everett’s father and get the Infundibulum to safety? The game is afoot!

The multiverse theory is an old trope of the science fiction genre. Parallel universes, parallel Earths; this is nothing new. Yet McDonald approaches it in a way that makes it feel fresh. I loved the idea of the Plenitude of Known Worlds and the Heisenberg Gate. The author keeps his cards pretty close to his chest in this opening volume, but there are a few tantalizing revelations which makes you want to learn a lot more about those other realities. And many of those secrets hint at the fact that this series might resound with much more depth than meets the eye. Only time will tell. . .

The characterization is particularly well-done. McDonald came up with an endearing, if disparate, cast of protagonists for Planesrunner. Although it is Everett Singh's tale from beginning to end, he shares the spotlight with a compelling group of men and women, chief among them the crew of the airship Everness. Captain Anastasia Sixsmyth, the enigmatic Sen, the God-fearing Mr.Sharkey, and the mysterious and fearsome Charlotte Villiers all add another dimension to the story. The author also created a new language for the Airish community, and there is a Palari dictionary at the end of the book.

The pace is fast and crisp, making Planesrunner a page-turner. I went through the entire novel in only two sittings. True, I was lying in a hammock about forty feet from the Caribbean Sea in Caye Caulker, Belize, sipping on rum punch as I read. It was the perfect setting to lose track of time and get lost in a novel, I know. But I would never have been able to finish this one so fast if the story had not captured my imagination from the start. Weighing in at only 274 pages in hardcover, Planesrunner is rather short. Having said that, I never felt short-changed and the tale ends exactly at the right time. A longer book would simply have meant info dumps and filler material. Hence, Planesrunner is as long as it needs to be. Not too fond of cliffhanger endings, but there was no way to get around that with this one.

All in all, Planesrunner is an interesting introduction to a series that promises to be fun and entertaining, featuring an engaging cast of characters, and may well turn out to be more complex than what one could expect from a YA work. I'm curious to see where Ian McDonald will take the story in the second installment.

The final verdict: 7.75/10

For more info about this title: Canada, USA, Europe

This post from Theshiznit.co.uk is hilarious!

Check it our here!

Even vampires now hate Twilight!!!

Thanks to the generosity of the folks at Penguin Books, I have a copy of the paperback edition of Deborah Harkness' A Discovery of Witches. For more info about this title: Canada, USA, Europe.

Here's the blurb:

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism.

The rules are the same as usual. You need to send an email at reviews@(no-spam)gryphonwood.net with the header "DISCOVERY." Remember to remove the "no spam" thingy.

Second, your email must contain your full mailing address (that's snail mail!), otherwise your message will be deleted.

Lastly, multiple entries will disqualify whoever sends them. And please include your screen name and the message boards that you frequent using it, if you do hang out on a particular MB.

Good luck to all the participants!

I took this picture this afternoon. . .

The first person who can tell me which scene from which movie features this panoramic vista, as well as where this photo was taken on our planet, gets a free book!

The comments are time-stamped, so it will be easy to monitor this. When you leave your comment, please select "Name" and enter your name if you don't have a Google account. Otherwise, I won't be able to track you down. . .

The first part of the question is easy. The second part makes for a good trivia question. . .