News Update

Hey guys!

The weekend is just around the corner, for which most will be grateful!;-) Here's what's coming up on the Hotlist and a few other things. . .

Reading:

I'm currently reading Melanie Rawn's newest, Spellbinder, and I really like it so far. I'll reserve judgement until I reach the novel's ending, but this could well be Rawn's best book to date.

With just a few weeks to go before the end of the year, I'm trying to figure out what I'll read next. Just got my The Terror ARC, Dan Simmons' upcoming novel. The premise has piqued my curiosity enough that I'll likely give it a shot before the Holidays. High on my list are Sean Williams' The Crooked Letter and its sequel, The Blood Debt. I have also been asked to be the first to review an upcoming fantasy novel, and the fact that one of the most respected editors in the business claimed that this was the best debut she'd seen in 30 years certainly pushed this ARC near the top of the pile!;-) In addition, I really want to read George R. R. Martin's A Clash of Kings. Truth be told, I probably won't be able to read all 4 ASoIaF before the year is through, but I'll try my damnedest! I guess we'll have to wait and see which titles I'll end up reading. . . My 2006 Top 10 should be very interesting this year, as it's been a great year for speculative fiction.

I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that I'll get an ARC of Ysabel, Guy Gavriel Kay's soon-to-be released book. This one would automatically relegate anything I'm reading back to the shelf, pending my reading of Kay's newest!

Interviews:

Well, interviews with both China Miéville and Peter F. Hamilton are scheduled for early 2007, so that should be cool. I'm still waiting for Greg Keyes' answers to the questions Rob Bedford and I sent his way. I've just fired an email at Del Rey Books, to see if they have an idea when we should be hearing from the author.

Other than that, I have teamed up with William Lexner (Stego) for a Q&A with Ian McDonald, author of the excellent River of Gods. Can't wait to get his answers! Look for more collaborations in the future, as I found that it gives a different perspective to my interviews.

Still haven't heard from Voyager Books concerning that mini-interview with Raymond E. Feist. Perhaps my tepid Into a Dark Realm review put this one in the crapper. Oh well. . .

I don't know if there will be additional interviews before the end of the year. Pyr titles have been impressive thus far, so I may feel inclined to try to get a Q&A with Sean Williams if I enjoy his novels as much as other book reviewers have.

Manuscripts:

I'm in the middle of doing rewrites for both The Eye of the Serpent and Time of Your Life. Rewrites are a necessary evil, but it's not the same creative process as the actual writing. Hence, nowhere near as fun.

I was hoping that I would still like The Eye of the Serpent as much as I did when I last revised it, yet my wish didn't come true. Much to my dismay, analyzing all those novels and writing book reviews, as well as completing a brand new manuscript in the meantime, sort of changed my outlook on a lot of things. And the long and the short of it is that The Eye of the Serpent requires another polish before I feel comfortable enough to send a submission to Tad Williams' agent. Hopefully I should be all set in the coming week or so.

Things with Time of Your Life are a lot better, I'm happy to report. I made two of my test readers cry (no, not out of sheer boredom!), which is always a VERY good thing. I'm polishing the manuscript as we speak, and hope to have submissions ready for both Time of Your Life and The Eye of the Serpent soon. After that, it's out of my hands and I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that Matt Bialer enjoys those sample chapters and ask for more.:-)

Contests:

I have a few things I'm trying to set up with you guys. Stick around to find out what books you'll get a chance to win!;-) I figure I should know by early next week exactly what titles I'll have to offer for November.

Wine:

Okay, so don't expect this blog to become a wine-tasting affair any time soon! But everyone loves a good bottle of red wine that doesn't come with an expensive price tag. So if you can get your hands on it in your neck of the woods, do sample Cent'are Nero d'Avola, from Sicilia. Pretty good stuff, if you ask me!;-)