Mike has a new web site, and a fine looking thing it is too!
Head straight over there now, why don’t you? Below is an example of the kind of content that will be posted there, along with Mike’s varied and insightful thoughts on whatever takes his fancy, and – most importantly – news about his novels, short stories and public appearances. Enjoy!
(In the interests of transparency, I should add that we did actually know about this 
)
Wow!! THE DESERT SPEAR, Peter V. Brett‘s brilliant follow up to his acclaimed début THE PAINTED MAN was only released yesterday, but the enormous interest in the book and the volume of pre-orders have resulted in deservedly high bookscan figures and we’re all thrilled and delighted to see THE DESERT SPEAR in at #9 on the Sunday Times Bestseller List. Here are a few relevant links…
I’ll post further reviews in due course. Meantime, well deserved congratulations to Peat, Joshua, Emma and all the Voyager team.
Elizabeth Moon‘s The Deed of Paksenarrion omnibus has just been published by Orbit. This bumper release collects together Elizabeth’s three epic fantasy novels ; The Sheepfarmer’s Daughter, Divided Allegiance, and Oath of Gold. Great to see these reissued at long last, and in such an impressive package too.
‘Paksenarrion wasn’t planning to submit to an unwelcome marriage and a lifetime of poverty, so she left her village with a plan and her grandfather’s sword. And a few weeks later, she was installed as Duke Phelan’s newest recruit in a company of soldiers for hire, her arms training about to begin. But when Paks sees combat, she’s stabbed with an ensorcelled knife and barely survives. Then the near-misses start mounting up, raising questions about this young fighter. Is she attracting evil because she is a danger to them all? Or is there another reason malignant forces seek her life? Paks will face the spider-minions of the Webmistress Achrya, orcs and the corrupted men who serve blood mage Liart, Master of Torments. She will also earn the gratitude of elves and of her Duke. And through conflict she will learn she has powers of her own and a destiny. To become a gods-chosen Paladin of Gird, and a target for the ultimate torture.’
Be sure to check out the Orbit blog where Elizabeth has recently contributed this guest post.
And following on from the entry below, our other Angry Roboteer Lavie Tidhar has also been interviewed by Charles Tan over at his Bibliophile Stalker Blog. In this article, Lavie discusses his soon to be published project with Apex Books, anthology The Apex Book of World SF and his recently published novella (written with Nir Yaniv) The Tel Aviv Dossier. He also offers up some insight into his humdrum life out there in Laos!
What’s a day in the life of Lavie Tidhar like?
I’m practising the old Indian Bead Trick at the moment – you might know it better as the Needle Swallowing Trick that Houdini made popular. It’s when you swallow needles and thread and then bring them back out with the needles all threaded together. Wonderful illusion. I’m too chicken to put needles in my mouth though, so I’ve been using safety pins! Ha! Definitely not as glamorous.
Which is to say, very dull, really. I get excited if I go across the border to Thailand because they actually have supermarkets there! I think heaven is a supermarket, all clean and shiny and bright. And they have a Mister Donut!
I’m easily pleased.
Freda Warrington has just had a fascinating article published at the BSCreview. In the piece she addresses that age-old clichéd question of ‘where do you get your ideas from?’…
“It’s an irresistible question, because truly comprehending what goes on in someone else’s mind is impossible, intangible, and all the more fascinating for it. Truth is, I don’t always know where my own ideas come from. They seldom arrive fully formed, but tend to develop in a tree-like fashion, usually in need of considered pruning. But what makes us want to write in the first place?”
Freda’s novel Elfland, published by Tor Books is due for release mid-August.
The New Statesman web site is carrying a fascinating review by Sue Hubbard on the Diane Arbus exhibition that is currently at London’s Timothy Taylor Gallery (until 27th June).
“‘I really believe there are things which nobody would see unless I photographed them.” Diane Arbus’s photographs of people, many of whom were on the margins of life, were rooted in an understanding of the relationship between photographer and subject. Attuned to the small tragedies of contemporary life, she was to photography what Raymond Carver was to literature. As John Szarkowski, organiser of the Museum of Modern Art’s landmark 1967 “New Documents” exhibition, said: “The portraits of Diane Arbus show that all of us – the most ordinary and most exotic of us – are on closer scrutiny remarkable.’”…
Chris Schuler recently had his review of Hans Fallada‘s novel Alone in Berlin (recently published in the Penguin Hardback Classics series in a new translation by Michael Hoffman) published in the Independent on Sunday (click through to read this review online.)
“It is June 1940. In a Berlin apartment, Old Persicke, a drink-sodden retired publican, and his ambitious Nazi sons celebrate the fall of France. Their quiet, middle-aged neighbours, Otto and Anna Quangel, have just learnt that their only child has been killed in that campaign. On the top floor, an elderly Jewish lady tries to make herself as inconspicuous as possible, while in the rear tenement, Emil Borkhausen, blackmailer and pimp, is sniffing around for a chance to turn a quick profit…“
Chris Schuler has dropped us a line to tell us about the launch of his brand new blog, Notes in the Margin – “A new blog concentrating on books, publishing news, and literary anecdotes.”
Here’s a fascinating interview with Chris Roberson that was broadcast recently on the Adventures in SciFi Publishing podcast show. Amongst other things, Chris discusses his novel End of the Century, just published in the US by Pyr – a free excerpt of which you can see here.
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And here are a couple of links to an in-depth, two-part Lou Anders’ article on the Tor.com website all about Chris’s work….
Sarah Ash applies The Page 69 Test to her latest novel Flight into Darkness, published recently in the US by Bantam. Sarah says…
“A reader recently emailed me, mentioning how intrigued he was at finding a fantasy series in which gunpowder and eighteenth century weaponry can be found alongside dragons and daemons. I really appreciated that comment! Because in writing this series I wanted to evoke an Age of Reason not unlike our own and confront the enlightened thinkers and scientists with the raw forces of an ancient and powerful magic that they can neither explain away nor begin to understand.” Follow this link to read more…
And if this wets your appetite and you’d like to investigate Sarah’s wonderful fantasy novel further, follow this link for an excerpt of the first chapter, available to read free at Randomhouse.com.
The February 09 issue of Apex Magazine leads with a brand new Lavie Tidhar story entitled Dark Planet. Follow this link to read it free online. Also in this issue is the latest of Lavie’s entertaining essays in his Confessions of a Book Junkie series – be sure to check out the back issues for more of these if you missed them first time around.
Strange Meeting, Chris Schuler‘s fascinating article about his trip to Kalingrad is available to read online over at The New Statesman web site.