News and such. . .

Hi there!

This is a little update to let you guys know what I'm currently doing and what's coming up on the Hotlist. Stay tuned for those year-end awards, coming your way at the end of the month.:-)

Reviews

I'm presently reading Sean Williams' The Crooked Letter, another quality read from Pyr. When I'm done with it, I'll likely jump to its sequel, The Blood Debt.

During the Holidays, I'll sit down and read what could be one of the most anticipated fantasy novel of 2007. Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind is being hailed by Daw Books as what could well be the next "big" thing in epic fantasy. Betsy Wollheim claims that it's the best debut she's seen in the last 30 years. Can't wait to see what the buzz is all about!

Upcoming book reviews will include Hal Duncan's Ink, Dan Simmons' The Terror, Joe Abercrombie's Before They Are Hanged, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragons of the Dwarven Depths, Katherine Kurtz's Childe Mordan, Guy Gavriel Kay's Ysabel, Peter Watts' Blindsight, and many more!;-)

Interviews

Questions have been sent to both Peter Watts and Orson Scott Card, so you can expect those interviews to appear on the Hotlist soon! I should finalize my list of questions for Brian Ruckley early this week, so this is another Q&A which should be coming your way in the near future. As I mentioned before, my interview with Guy Gavriel Kay will go live around the end of January, to promote the release of Ysabel.

As for the new year, who knows what will happen in terms of interviews. Who would you like me to interview!?!

Contests

Funny, but I never -- ever -- thought that I'd get the opportunity to run this many contests. I know how much you guys enjoy those competitions, and the publishers seem to love them as well. Hence, I guess it safe to say that there will be many more of them in 2007.

Here is a list of titles that will most probably be up for grabs in 2007:

- Steven Erikson's Reaper's Gale
- Tad Williams' Shadowplay
- Joe Abercrombie's Before They Are Hanged
- Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind
- Ian Cameron Esslemont's Night of Knives
- Dan Simmons' The Terror
- Scott Lynch's Red Seas Under Red Skies
- Hal Duncan's Ink
- Ian McDonald's Brasyl
- Raymond E. Feist's Into a Dark Realm
- Guy Gavriel Kay's Ysabel

I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but that's the way it goes. I'll be receiving many 2007 catalogues in the coming weeks, so there will be more contests to come.

As always, I welcome your comments. So please don't be shy and let me know what you like and what you don't like. Blogging is neat and all, there's no doubt about it. But it's no fun without an audience! And without you guys, I wouldn't be where I am today.

Cheers!