The winner is:
- Aurelien Beaulieu, from Lyon, France
Many thanks to all the particpants!
Trudi Canavan contest winner!
The winner is:
- Aurelien Beaulieu, from Lyon, France
Many thanks to all the particpants!
More inexpensive ebook goodies!
You can now download Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian: 20 Adventure Tales of Conan for only 0.99$ here. 1339 pages featuring Conan the Cimmerian for less than 2$, it doesn't get much better than this!
Here's the blurb:
Conan The Barbarian is the original stories about adventure stories of conan the cimmerian written by Robert E. Howard in 1934-1936. In this book contains 20 stories of Conan The Cimmerian.
1.The Hyborian Age, first published in The Phantagraph, February-November 1936.
2.Shadows In the Moonlight, first published in Weird Tales, April 1934.
3.Queen Of the Black Coast, first published in Weird Tales, May 1934.
4.The Devil In Iron, first published in Weird Tales, August 1934.
5.The People Of the Black Circle, first published in Weird Tales, September, October and November 1934.
6.A Witch Shall Be Born, first published in Weird Tales in 1934.
7.The Jewels Of Gwahlur, first published in Weird Tales, March 1935.
8.Beyond the Black River, first published in Weird Tales magazine circa 1935.
9.Shadows In Zamboula, first published in Weird Tales, November 1935.
10.The Hour Of the Dragon, first published in Weird Tales, December 1935-April 1936.
11.Gods Of the North, first published in Fantasy Fan, March 1934.
12.Red Nails, First Published in Weird Tales, July, August-September, October 1936.
13. The Shadow of the Vulture, First published in the pulp magazine Magic Carpet Magazine, January 1934.
14.The Phoenix on the Sword, First published in 1932.
15.The Scarlet Citadel, First published in 1933.
16.The Tower of the Elephant, First published in 1933.
17.Black Colossus, First published in 1934.
18.The Slithering Shadow, First published in 1934.
19.The Pool of the Black One, First published in 1934.
20.Rogues in the House, First published in 1935.
This week's New York Times Bestsellers (June 9th)
Jim Butcher's Skin Game debuts at number 1. For more info about this title: Canada, USA, Europe.
In paperback:
George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones is down two spots, finishing the week at number 4.
George R. R. Martin's A Dance With Dragons is down one position, ending the week at number 8.
George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones is down two spots, finishing the week at number 12 (trade paperback).
George R. R. Martin's A Clash of Kings is down six spots, finishing the week at number 16.
Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is down eight positions, ending the week at number 20.
Stephen King's Joyland debuts at number 22.
George R. R. Martin's A Storm of Swords is down nine positions, ending the week at number 24.
Quote of the Day
- ROBIN HOBB, Fool's Assassin (Canada, USA, Europe)
Win a copy of Sebastien de Castell's TRAITOR'S BLADE
Thanks to the generosity of the folks at Jo Fletcher Books, I have two Advance Reading Copies of Sebastien de Castell's Traitor's Blade up for grabs! For more info about this title: Canada, USA, Europe.
Here's the blurb:
Falcio is the first Cantor of the Greatcoats. Trained in the fighting arts and the laws of Tristia, the Greatcoats are travelling Magisters upholding King’s Law. They are heroes. Or at least they were, until they stood aside while the Dukes took the kingdom, and impaled their King’s head on a spike.
Now Tristia is on the verge of collapse and the barbarians are sniffing at the borders. The Dukes bring chaos to the land, while the Greatcoats are scattered far and wide, reviled as traitors, their legendary coats in tatters.
All they have left are the promises they made to King Paelis, to carry out one final mission. But if they have any hope of fulfilling the King’s dream, the divided Greatcoats must reunite, or they will also have to stand aside as they watch their world burn…
The rules are the same as usual. You need to send an email at reviews@(no-spam)gryphonwood.net with the header "TRAITOR." 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!
Hmmm. . .
Last year, as many of my SFF Facebook friends (authors, for the most part) were calling for the Ender's Game boycott, I tried in vain to argue that this would give Card a lot of publicity and would be counterproductive in the long run. I was told in no uncertain terms that I was pretty much full of shit and should keep my mouth shut. . .
In retrospect, the movie, whether or not due to all the negative publicity, didn't generate as much money as Hollywood expected. Still, the domestic and foreign grosses add up to more than 125 million dollars, with a production budget of 110 million dollars. The books, however, are another matter.
Problem is, Orson Scott Card makes money from book royalties, not from the revenues of a film to which he sold the rights years ago. And as of today, the digital edition of Ender's Game has been a top 100 bestseller for 1512 consecutive days on Amazon. And the print edition has ranked quite high on the New York Times bestseller list for over a year, both in mass market paperback and in trade paperback editions. Essentially, it looks as though Ender's Game probably sold more units in the last couple of months than in the previous decade or so, making for a very lucrative year for the author.
Indeed, it appears that if you can't have the number 1 series on HBO to help generate book sales, the next best thing would be to be reviled as a homophobe by your peers. . . :/
So to all of you who called for the movie boycott and used every single social platform at your disposal to spread the word in the hope that it would hurt Orson Scott Card, I say, "Kudos for a job well-done. . ."
You know that old proverb: Hell is paved with good intentions? Case in point. . . :/
Teaser extract from Lauren Owen's THE QUICK
Here's a little teaser from Lauren Owen's The Quick, compliments of the folks at Random House! The book will be released on June 17th and already it has garnered heaps of rave reviews. For more info about this title: Canada, USA, Europe.
Here's the blurb:
For fans of Anne Rice, The Historian, and The Night Circus, an astonishing debut, a novel of epic scope and suspense that conjures up all the magic and menace of Victorian London.
1892: James Norbury, a shy would-be poet newly down from Oxford, finds lodging with a charming young aristocrat. Through this new friendship, he is introduced to the drawing-rooms of high society and finds love in an unexpected quarter. Then, suddenly, he vanishes without a trace. Alarmed, his sister, Charlotte, sets out from their crumbling country estate determined to find him. In the sinister, labyrinthine London that greets her, she uncovers a hidden, supernatural city populated by unforgettable characters: a female rope walker turned vigilante, a street urchin with a deadly secret, and the chilling “Doctor Knife.” But the answer to her brother’s disappearance ultimately lies within the doors of the exclusive, secretive Aegolius Club, whose predatory members include the most ambitious, and most bloodthirsty, men in England.
In her first novel, Lauren Owen has created a fantastical world that is both beguiling and terrifying. The Quick will establish her as one of fiction’s most dazzling talents.
Enjoy!
---------------------
There were owls in the nursery when James was a boy. The room was papered in a pattern of winding branches, amongst which great green parent owls perched in identical courting couples. Beneath each pair, a trio of green owlets huddled, their sharp beaks slightly ajar. They sat between big, thistling green flowers with tiny white blossoms which made James think of mother-of-pearl buttons, the kind on Charlotte’s Sunday dress. When he was alone in the nursery, James thought he could hear the owls chatter together softly, like monkeys, scratching and scratching their claws against the endless green branches. But when Charlotte was there, they were quiet, because she had told them that if they did not behave, she would get her box of watercolours and paint out their eyes.
At night James would hear the real owls screech outside and imagine them gliding through the dark. Sometimes there was the high sudden cry of a fox. And sometimes there was a noise from the house itself, a whispering creaking sound, as if the walls were sighing.
Often he would slip out of bed and down the corridor to Charlotte’s room. Charlotte would always be sound asleep: face down on the pillow, though Mrs. Rowley, the housekeeper, said it was unnatural and would lead to Charlotte being smothered to death one of these days. James would slip under the blankets and lie down topsy-turvy, with his head at the bottom of the bed, his feet near the top. Charlotte would sometimes murmur and kick halfheartedly against him, then fall asleep again, and James would do the same, his feet pressed against her back until they grew warm. They would lie all night like that, snug as the pair of pistols that lived in the blue-lined case in Father’s study.
When morning came James liked to wake early, open Charlotte’s bedroom window and look down onto the grounds of Aiskew Hall, which went on for as far as he could see. There were wide lawns and gardens edged by paths and stately, lovely old trees—oaks and horse chestnuts and copper beeches and silver birches. Between the trees there were two grassy mounds. These were the icehouses, which now held gardening tools and other odd things.
At a distance, the gardens still had the illusion of being neat and well tended, as they had been before James and Charlotte were born. Long ago, in the prosperous days, there had been people to look after things: gardeners and undergardeners, two gamekeepers and a carpenter. A fire engine, too, drawn by horses. Now there was only Griswold, strange and grim-faced and sixty-three. There had been a young Griswold once—the gardener’s son, who had been expected to take over from his father and who instead went off to foreign parts and then died (fighting the Shantee, said Ann, the housemaid. James thought perhaps this was a sort of banshee).
After his son went away, Griswold had been left alone to wage a vain and bitter war against the gardens. He shot the rabbits but they came back, grazing the lawns at their leisure. The mighty rhododendron bushes flourished unchecked, and in the orchard the trees turned wild and the apples were eaten by blackbirds.
At the end of the hall gardens, the ground gave way to a sudden drop that felt like the edge of the world. Below was a ditch full of nettles, which was called a ha-ha. Beyond that there were wide flat fields for miles, green and gold in the spring, red-brown earth in the winter. There were oak trees and black sheep grazing and the ruins of a small Grecian temple, where long ago the ladies of the hall would sit to enjoy their books and needlework. Part of the roof had given way, and the pillars looked slightly crooked. It was not safe to sit there anymore.
Charlotte had heard Mrs. Rowley say that people in Aiskew village thought it was a scandal to leave the hall so neglected. Before now the hall people had always done their part in the village: there had been treats for the Sunday-school children; sometimes the hall ladies would take baskets to the villagers who were poor or ill. More than that, there was any amount of work at the hall: mouths to be fed, washing to be done, windows to be cleaned, horses to be stabled. It had been a fine place, back in the old days. Now it was mostly shut up. Everyone wondered why Charlotte and James’s father troubled himself to keep the house at all, since he did nothing with it.
From the Book, THE QUICK by Lauren Owen. Copyright © 2014 by Lauren Owen. Reprinted by arrangement with Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
More inexpensive ebook goodies!
You can now download Octavia E. Butler's Dawn, first volume in the Xenogenesis trilogy, for only 2.99$ here.
Here's the blurb:
Rescued from Earth’s destruction, one woman is called upon to revive mankind.
Lilith Iyapo has just lost her husband and son when atomic fire consumes Earth—the last stage of the planet’s final war. Hundreds of years later Lilith awakes, deep in the hold of a massive alien spacecraft piloted by the Oankali—who arrived just in time to save humanity from extinction. They have kept Lilith and other survivors asleep for centuries, as they learned whatever they could about Earth. Now it is time for Lilith to lead them back to her home world, but life among the Oankali on the newly resettled planet will be nothing like it was before.
The Oankali survive by genetically merging with primitive civilizations—whether their new hosts like it or not. For the first time since the nuclear holocaust, Earth will be inhabited. Grass will grow, animals will run, and people will learn to survive the planet’s untamed wilderness. But their children will not be human. Not exactly.
This ebook features an illustrated biography of Octavia E. Butler including rare images from the author’s estate.
Jordan photo album
You may or may not be aware of this, but I've just returned from 4 weeks spent in the Middle East. The first leg of my trip was a 10-day stint in Jordan, which turned out to be quite awesome! If you are looking for a Middle Eastern primer in a safe country where English is widely spoken, Jordan really is the way to go!
I've made my Facebook album public for about a week to give you guys an idea of everything Jordan has to offer. Understandably, the highlights were our day in Petra and the night spent in a Bedouin camp in the Wadi Rum desert. Follow this link to peruse the pics. . . =)
Win a copy of Tom Doyle's AMERICAN CRAFTSMEN
Thanks to the generosity of the folks at Tor Books, I have two copies of Tom Doyle's American Craftsmen for you to win! For more info about this title: Canada, USA, Europe.
Here's the blurb:
In modern America, two soldiers will fight their way through the magical legacies of Poe and Hawthorne to destroy an undying evil—if they don’t kill each other first.
US Army Captain Dale Morton is a magician soldier—a “craftsman.” After a black-ops mission gone wrong, Dale is cursed by a Persian sorcerer and haunted by his good and evil ancestors. Major Michael Endicott, a Puritan craftsman, finds gruesome evidence that the evil Mortons, formerly led by the twins Roderick and Madeline, have returned, and that Dale might be one of them.
Dale uncovers treason in the Pentagon’s highest covert ranks. He hunts for his enemies before they can murder him and Scherie, a new friend who knows nothing of his magic.
Endicott pursues Dale, divided between his duty to capture a rogue soldier and his desire to protect Dale from his would-be assassins. They will discover that the demonic horrors that have corrupted American magic are not bound by family or even death itself.
In Tom Doyle's thrilling debut, American Craftsmen, Seal Team Six meets ancient magic--with the fate of the United States hanging in the balance . . .
The rules are the same as usual. You need to send an email at reviews@(no-spam)gryphonwood.net with the header "CRAFTSMEN." 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!
The most linked reviews in the history of the Hotlist
The first night I spent in Eilat, Israel, I took advantage of the fact that I had my own studio and a high-speed internet connection to watch the two Game of Thrones episodes I had missed since reaching the Middle East. And for some reason I can't remember, as I wasted them online before going to bed, I decided to go back to the beginning of this little blog of mine and see which of my reviews had been the most linked and and which had brought the Hotlist the most hits.
The results were surprising, to say the least! Given that for several years I was the only blogger getting early reads of Erikson's Malazan installments, I was expecting a number of those reviews to rank quite high. The same goes for reviews of novels by authors who are either very active on the internet and/or have huge online followings. Or midlist writers enjoying something close to a cult following.
Most shocking, for me at least, was the fact that my review of GRRM's A Feast For Crows was the one which generated the most hits. I mean, I read and reviewed the book nearly six years following its release. And yet, somehow, this one was linked all over the place. . .
So here's a list of my reviews which garnered the most link-love from author's websites, message boards, online communities, friendly/enemy blogs, yada yada yada:
1- A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin (14,999 hits)
2- Grave of Fireflies By Isao Takahata (12,521 hits)
3- The Crippled God by Steven Erikson (10,864 hits)
4- The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss (10,411 hits)
5- The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch (7416 hits)
6- A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin (6234 hits)
7- Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (5464 hits)
8- My Neighbor Totoro by Hayao Miyazaki (5411 hits)
9- Stonewielder by Ian Cameron Esslemont (4765 hits)
10- Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson (4666 hits)
11- Forge of Darkness by Steven Erikson (4393 hits)
12- Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki (4303 hits)
13- The White-Luck Warrior by R. Scott Bakker (4094 hits)
14- Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay (3948 hits)
15- Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson (3857 hits)
16- The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (3699 hits)
17- Legacy of Kings by C. S. Friedman (3449 hits)
18- The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (3350 hits)
19- A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (3005 hits)
20- Against All Things Ending by Stephen R. Donaldson (2976 hits)
21- Legion by Brandon Sanderson (2582 hits)
22- Shogun by James Clavell (2516 hits)
23- The Judging Eye by R. Scott Bakker (2465 hits)
24- The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (2116 hits)
25- The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis (2049 hits)
More inexpensive ebook goodies!
You can now download the entire Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson for only 13.99$ here.
Here's the blurb from the first volume:
Brandon Sanderson, fantasy’s newest master tale spinner, author of the acclaimed debut Elantris, dares to turn a genre on its head by asking a simple question: What if the hero of prophecy fails? What kind of world results when the Dark Lord is in charge? The answer will be found in the Mistborn Trilogy, a saga of surprises and magical martial-arts action that begins in Mistborn.
For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the “Sliver of Infinity,” reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler’s most hellish prison. Kelsier “snapped” and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark.
Kelsier recruited the underworld’s elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Only then does he reveal his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot.
But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel’s plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she’s a half-Skaa orphan, but she’s lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets, and gotten it. She will have to learn to trust, if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.
Readers of Elantris thought they'd discovered someone special in Brandon Sanderson. Mistborn proves they were right.
Quote of the Day
- ROBIN HOBB, Fool's Assassin (Canada, USA, Europe)
Ah man, I can't even put into words just how much of a pleasure it is to be reunited with Fitz once again. But methinks that Hobb will make him suffer a whole lot more before this series is done. . .
Joe Abercrombie's The First Law graphic novel collection
Joe Abercrombie just announced that The Blade Itself, volume 1, the graphic novel which contains the first 4 issues of The First Law, is now available here!
Here's the blurb:
Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught up in one feud too many, he s on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian, leaving nothing behind but some bad songs, a few dead friends, and a lot of happy enemies. Captain Jezal dan Luthar has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules. Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, is cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government ... if he can stay alive long enough to follow it. The First Law is a trilogy that combines the best of fantasy adventure, mystery, magic, and an epic scale with realism, cynicism, visceral action, plenty of surprises, a focus on vivid characters, and a heavy dose of black humour. Murderous conspiracies rise to the surface, old scores are ready to be settled, bloody battles will be won and lost, and the line between hero and villain is sharp enough to draw blood. This 128-page trade paperback features the first 4 issues of The Blade Itself comic book series, along with bonus pages that include behind-the-scenes production art and sketches and a character design section with commentary by Joe Abercrombie, as well as a foreword by Peter V. Brett.
You can still enjoy these four issues online, free of charge, on the series offical website.
THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY OF THE YEAR contest winners!
The winners are:
- Lee Hulbert, from Gloversville, New York, USA
- Bruce Aron, from Stone Mountain, Georgia, USA
- Mike Toot, from Seattle, Washington, USA
Many thanks to all the participants!
More inexpensive ebook goodies!
All five volumes of Paul Kearney's The Monarchies of God are available for 3.99$ each.
- Hawkwood's Voyage
- The Heretic Kings
- The Iron Wars
- The Second Empire
- Ships from the West
Here's the blurb for the first book:
The world is in turmoil. In the east the savage Merduks, followers of the Prophet Ahrimuz, have captured the holy city of Aekir. The western kingdoms are too distracted by internecine bickering to intervene and the Church seems more obsessed with rooting out heresy. It is an age where men go to the stake for the taint of magic in their blood, where gunpowder and cannon co-exit with werewolves and sorcerers. It is the turning point when two get religions will fight to the death and the common folk will struggle to merely survive.
You should know that it's actually cheaper to buy the two omnibus edition of The Monarchies of God. . .
This week's New York Times Bestsellers (June 2nd)
George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones is up one spot, finishing the week at number 2.
George R. R. Martin's A Dance With Dragons is down one position, ending the week at number 7.
George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones is down two spots, finishing the week at number 10 (trade paperback).
George R. R. Martin's A Clash of Kings is down one spot, finishing the week at number 10.
Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is up four positions, ending the week at number 12.
George R. R. Martin's A Storm of Swords is down one position, ending the week at number 15.
George R. R. Martin's A Feast for Crows is up two positions, ending the week at number 17.
More inexpensive ebook goodies!
You can now download Dan Simmons' Ilium for only 3.99$ here!
Here's the blurb:
The Trojan War rages at the foot of Olympos Mons on Mars -- observed and influenced from on high by Zeus and his immortal family -- and twenty-first-century professor Thomas Hockenberry is there to play a role in the insidious private wars of vengeful gods and goddesses. On Earth, a small band of the few remaining humans pursues a lost past and devastating truth -- as four sentient machines depart from Jovian space to investigate, perhaps terminate, the potentially catastrophic emissions emanating from a mountaintop miles above the terraformed surface of the Red Planet.
