This is the first of these I’ve done in a while, but there have been some pretty good articles cropping up around the internet, and I thought I would be remiss for not sharing them. I have, nevertheless, still missed plenty. Hopefully this series of posts will be back to normal from next week.
This Week: A flurry of K.J. Parker reviews and mini-interviews; Kameron Hurley discusses her first novel; Jon Sprunk is interviewed; Pornokitsch take a look at 50 Shades of Grey vs. fantasy hatred;
Bit of a mix this week: an article about authors and Library eBook loans; Amazon & Waterstone’s; Special Needs in Strange Worlds (the series just keeps on going strong); a mini-article by S.G. Browne; a great review of Railsea by China Mieville; and an article by Sarah Pinborough.
This week, I’m afraid I wasn’t online that much, so I may well have missed a few articles and posts. Nevertheless, I did stumble across a few interesting articles. So, we have Sarah Fay of The Atlantic ponders the future of book reviews online; Lev Grossman is interviewed for Far Beyond Reality; Myke Cole writes about authors and their political views, and what sort of impact that can have on readers, and when it’s ok to voice these opinions; and Bookworm Blues continues the “Special Needs in Strange Worlds” series with articles by Teresa Frohock, Daniel Goodman, Aidan Moher, Stina Leicht and Jay Lake.
This week, we have a piece by Nik Vincent writes about why she likes writing for Black Library; Bookworm Blues hosts a “Special Needs in Strange Worlds” series of guest posts (featuring Robert Jackson Bennett, Kendra Merritt, Paul Weimer); an older post from Daniel Abraham about reviews, readers and the neocortex; and Jon Courtenay Grimwood discusses Venice and Vampires; and Jeff Salyards writes about the green-eyed gremlin of writer-envy.
This week, we saw the conclusion of Justin’s excellent series of Agency guest posts (by Robert Jackson Bennett and Robin Hobb); Suzanne Johnson wrote about her Urban Fantasy novel set in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans; Ian Irvine wrote about the lessons he’s learned writing fantasy; Chuck Wendig provides some thoughts on the Big Idea behind Blackbirds; Tor US announced their eBooks were going DRM-free from July, and both Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi commented on the decision and what it might mean for readers and authors.
These are all largely from the first half of the week – I was rather busy after Wednesday – so feel free to share links in the comments of anything I missed.
Bit of a shorter selection this week, as I’ve been away and not really paying much attention to Twitter or my RSS feed. I’ll try to keep on top of things and do better with compiling a list of next week’s most interesting articles.
Terrible Minds: “25 Reasons I Hate Your Main Character” by Chuck Wendig [Article]
“The list…? Entirely personal… in the hands of a master, none of this shit applies. A masterful storyteller can break all the rules and make the breaking of the rules seem like that should’ve been the rule all along… I thought it an interesting exercise to list those things that make me want to punt your main character into a pterodactyl nest. Where he will be promptly ripped into ribbons and gobbets of man-meat.”
Some excellent advice and pointers (as always) from Mr Wendig. While I’m on the subject, I really have read altogether not enough of Chuck’s writing. I shall remedy this very soon, with Blackbirds.
Discordia 19: Neil Gaiman interviews Stephen King
A very interesting pairing.
“The article is behind a paywall and I'd usually just put some juicy parts of it here and link to the original piece but for this one the whole article is below. You can download the Sunday Times app for iOS and buy the April 8 issue if you feel bad reading it here for free.”
I did not feel bad.
Speculative Scotsman: “Justin of Staffer’s Book Review on Sex in SFF” by Justin Landon [Article]
A very amusing article, as expected, and one that shares my own opinion on sex in SFF (fiction in general, actually). It’s always a pleasure to read Justin’s commentary. I recommend you do, too. It may change forever how you look at breasts. And puppies…
As far as I can tell, The Shared Desk is a blog written by authors Philippa Ballantine and Tee Morris. This is part of Helen Lowe’s blog-tour to support the release of The Gathering of the Lost [review imminent from Alyssa].
More on CR: Interviews with Helen Lowe and Philippa Ballantine
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A little bit of a quieter week on CR, with Alyssa’s review of Timeless by Gail Carriger and an interview with Gini Koch. In addition, a review of mine appeared elsewhere: the Speculative Scotsman hosted my review of Tobias S. Buckell’s The Executioness. Big thank you to Niall for letting me stop by, and if you don’t regularly follow Speculative Scotsman already, then I heartily recommend you start doing so.
It’s been a more hectic week, one with very little time spent in front of my computer, and not so much time for proper, long reading session. Apparently, even unemployed people who blog need to decompress and step away from the internet from time to time.
Next week, I hope to have two novel reviews for you (the Gotrek & Felix Anthology edited by Christian Dunn, and The Alchemist of Souls by Anne Lyle); an interview with David Tallerman, author of Giant Thief; a couple of graphic novel reviews (Gates of Gotham by Scott Snyder and Kyle Higgins, and DMZ Vol.1 by Brian Woods – both excellent, and the latter in particular); and the usual host of comics reviews, news items, and probably some new cover artwork as well, if I can find any striking new pieces.
You know what this is all about…
Slate: “Is Game of Thrones too white?” by Saladin Ahmed [Article]
An interesting article. Some of the commenters… *disagree*… Because they’ve misunderstood the point of the article. So, read the article but not the comments. (Which is a good approach to the internet in general – especially on Rolling Stone, Slate, and HuffPost, to name but three…). While on the subject of Saladin Ahmed, check out my review of Throne of the Crescent Moon.
Mouseferatu: In Which Ari Gets Fed Up and Dives Into the Discussion” by Ari Marmell [Response]
Author Ari Marmell responds to some of the particular, ridiculous reactions to Saladin Ahmed’s article for Slate. Not the blatantly, obviously “plain stupid” response. Rather, he addresses “some of the responses that sound a lot more reasonable – and that the people who espouse them probably believe are more reasonable – but which are just as problematic.”
On an un-serious note, points for getting “rare as a bald wookiee” into the article. Ari Marmell is a favourite author of mine, so expect a lot more reviews coming up in the future (new and ‘old’ work). You can also check out my interview with him (the second on the blog).
A good article from Brad Beaulieu about moving on from one’s debut and tackling the second book in a series.
The Big Idea: “The Boxer Rebellion & the Great Game in China” by David J. Silbey [Article]
A rare moment of cross-over of two of my favourite things, in this article Silbey talks about the challenge he faced when writing his book: “The famous maxim says that history is written by the winners. But happens when the other side not only doesn’t write a history, but can’t?”
The Passionate Foodie: “Authors, Alcohol & Accolades: Volume 6” [Article]
Ok, this is cheating a little bit, as I wrote some of this post – it’s about readers and our favourite authors and tipple. Also contributing are Justin Landon of Staffer’s Musings, Sally Janin of The Qwillery, and Bastard Books.
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On CR this week, we’ve had two interviews: with Helen Lowe (with giveaway – still time to enter!) and Lyndsay Faye. On the reviews side, we’ve had Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s superb Void Stalker and Lyndsay Faye’s Gods of Gotham.
This coming week I’ll be travelling a bit, so not sure how much I’ll be able to get posted, but Alyssa reviews Timeless by Gail Carriger on Monday; I have a review over on Speculative Scotsman also on Monday (Tobias S. Buckell’s The Executioness); I hope to get the Felix & Gotrek Anthology reviewed for the latter half of the week, too. There will be the usual comics reviews and maybe a graphic novel or two featured as well. And, of course, Wednesday’s interview – this week’s with Gini Koch.
A nice, mixed bag this week. There were a lot of great articles posted this past week. Enjoy!
Jezebel: “Racist Hunger Games fans are disappointed” by Dodai Stewart [Article]
Frankly, I’m stunned there are people like this out there still. Especially people willing to air their racism in public! One fan of the series said the casting of a black actor for a character described in the books as having “dark brown skin” “ruined” the movie?! Unbelievable!
A Dribble of Ink: “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins [Review]
Related to the above post, but on the fiction side. As can be expected from Aidan, this is a great, in-depth review of the mega-selling YA novel.
A Dribble of Ink: “We All Love a Good Show” by Robert Jackson Bennett [Article]
Another good post from ADoI, but earlier in the week. I’m a big fan of Bennett’s novels and writing-style, and I thought this was a great article. [Also, while I’m at it, I really like ADoI’s new design.] If I could just carve out enough time to read The Troupe…
Fantasy Literature: “Marion Chats with Jon Courtenay-Grimwood” [Interview]
Rather self-explanatory what this is, but I loved Jon’s previous novel, The Fallen Blade, and am just waiting for the right time to read and review The Outcast Blade (the sequel). Want more from Jon? Check out his interview for Civilian Reader.
John Scalzi’s The Big Idea: “Alternative Histories” by Anne Lyle [Article]
“What if European explorers hadn’t succeeded in conquering the New World? What if they, not the Native Americans, were the ones facing an enemy they didn’t understand, an enemy they were ill-equipped to fight? That, in a nutshell, is the Big Idea behind The Alchemist of Souls, the first volume in my fantasy trilogy Night’s Masque. The roots lie farther back, however.” Really interesting article. Also made me even more eager to get to The Alchemist of Souls…
Bastard Books: Interview with Tim Marquitz
Tim Marquitz has been on my radar for a little while, now, but given how many other books I have and have received, I just haven’t managed to read anything just yet. After reading this interview, though, my interest has been piqued. Nicely done.
The Speculative Scotsman: “Becoming a New Type of Reader” by Amanda Rutter [Article]
Which type of reader are you? I’ve been many of these types. A nice article, and it’s always nice to see Amanda back on the blogosphere.
Bookworm Blues: “Author Interview – Alex Bledsoe”
As I wrote in the comments on the interview, I’ve never seen an Alex Bledsoe book on any shelf in any bookstore I’ve been in… Why?! Is he just selling out immediately, or are there just not enough people ordering his novels in? A literary mystery!
Oh, and it’s an interesting interview.
Foreign Affairs: “Game of Thrones as History” by Kelly DeVries & “Game of Thrones as Theory” by Charli Carpenter [Articles]
These two articles were an interesting surprise, and I stumbled across them only while checking for to see if there was a new FA issue…
DeVries, a medieval military historian, opens his article with a paragraph guaranteed to make some fantasy fans irritated, so just be aware before clicking through to the article that he isn’t as up on the modern Fantasy genre as he is on Military History. Moving on. The author examines the assertion that Martin’s world is a realistic and accurate representation of Medieval Europe, and comes to the conclusion that it actually isn’t very realistic, and that this is actually a very good thing: “As a historian of the period, I can assure you that the real Middle Ages were very boring – and if Martin’s epic were truly historically accurate, it would be very boring too.”
For those with a little understanding of International Relations theory, I’d also recommend Carpenter’s piece, which tries to look at the novel and HBO series through a Realist lens – while the two media “are laced with Hobbesian metaphors, Machiavellian intrigues, and Carr-like calculations of power”, the author nevertheless finds that “the deeper message is that realism alone is unsatisfying and unsuccessful”.
I should warn you that there are a few spoilers in these two articles.
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On Civilian Reader this week, things have been very busy as well. Along with the two comics reviews (#1 & #2), I’ve reviewed Stuart Woods’s Capital Crimes, James Swallow’s Garro: Legion of One, V.M. Zito’s The Return Man and James Lovegrove’s Age of Anansi. If you liked the Age of Anansi review, then have a read of this week’s interview with Lovegrove.
Next week is shaping up quite nicely, too: already lined up are interviews with both Helen Lowe (Monday) and Lyndsay Faye (Wednesday), reviews of Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Void Stalker (Tuesday – it was awesome) and Faye’s Gods of Gotham (Thursday or Friday). I’m also aiming to get a few more graphic novel reviews up there, a couple of bumper comics round-ups, and hopefully an audio-book review (Graham McNeill’s Eye of Vengeance). So a good, strong start to April.
Feel free to share more interesting links in the comments, if you think there are any that I’ve missed that readers will find interesting.
I’m afraid I wasn’t paying too much attention to what was going on around the internets this week, and spent a lot more time away from my computer (some would say this is a blessing…). I did, however, catch a couple of interesting articles:
Myke visits Aidan’s Dribble of Ink to talk about blogs and their value. The flatterer even included a mention of Civilian Reader. There are some very endearing comments about his dad, too.
Mark Lawrence’s Blog: “Turning the Tables #6: Jane Johnson” [Interview]
Ok, this was actually last week, but I missed it somehow, so thought I’d share it again here. Mark interviews his editor. In case anyone’s interested, Mark also interviewed me a while back, which was a rather surreal experience.
This was a fun article that took a look at a number of interesting “geekery” around the ’net. It includes Chuck Wendig, C.E. Murphy, Kickstarter and more. Check it out.
Orbit Books: “The Origin of the (Undead) Species” by V.M. Zito [Article]
“I wonder if Charles Darwin was a zombie fan.”
I’m currently reading Zito’s novel, The Return Man, at the moment (I should finish it in about an hour, actually), and thought this was a fun little article about zombies as a species: “while biologists haggle over birds, many zombie fans are divided over what constitutes a ‘real’ zombie. Is the zombie slow or fast? Alive or dead? Mute or able to talk your ear off, right before it bites your ear off?”
Los Angeles Times: What The Hunger Games really means” by Steven Zeitchik [Article]
“Where some see support for the Occupy Wall Street Movement, others see a warning about Big Government. Or a religious message, or ...”
The novel and movie have become, Zeitchik writer, that “rare piece of Hollywood entertainment: a canvas onto which disparate and even opposing ideologies are enthusiastically projected.”
I’ve neither read the novel nor seen the movie, but I have bought the book for my Kindle. I doubt I’ll get a chance to read it before I see it, but I do intend to read the trilogy at some point in the near future. Especially since I seem to have a taste for certain YA titles. [Thief’s Covenant and Fair Coin, in case you’re wondering.]
My Awful Reviews: “Thoughts on Scott” by Sam Sykes [Article]
In which author Sam Sykes ponders about Scott Lynch. It’s a short ode to one of Sykes’s favourite authors, and I’m sure many people can appreciate that Mr Lynch is, indeed, the bee’s knees when it comes to fantasy. He’s the author who rekindled my love for the genre back in 2008, and I’ve not looked back since. Sykes writes with his trademark wit, too, so it’s a fun read.
“Like most predators, Scott Lynch came into my life at a very opportune moment…”
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The blog’s been semi-busy this week, with a few reviews: Kill Hill by Dan Abnett, Kingdoms of Dust by Amanda Downum, Garro: Oath of Moment by James Swallow, and also a guest review by Shevaun for Brandon Sanderson’s The Final Empire. There have been a few non-review posts, too, but most notable are the interview with debut novelist Aiden Harte and a piece about why zombies need brains – which had contributions from Sam Sykes, Myke Cole, Justin Landon and Bastard Books.
This last article has given me an idea for an on-going series of posts, which will fall under the banner of “I Ask You”, in which I’ll seek out comments from around the literary community (authors, bloggers, publishers, etc.) on any topic that happens to grab my fancy at some point. I’ll try for a couple each month, maybe. If you’re interested, the next topic will be:
“I Ask You: Does the Sword make the (Wo)Man?”
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Update: I forgot to mention this fantastic site/Tumblr thing, too, for some reason: T-Rex Trying… [It’s a topic I think about a lot, myself, so was delighted when Alyssa informed me of its existence!]
A more varied selection of links this week, as I venture outside of the speculative genre blogosphere (a pilgrim in a foreign, unknowable wilderness: one that featured only token mentions of Game of Thrones, Hunger Games and lots of literary fiction…). I was able to find some very interesting articles this week.
Bastard Books: Interview with Myke Cole
Does this really need an explanation? Needless to say, Myke’s debut novel is a favourite of mine, so I’d recommend you read it if you haven’t yet. Here’s my review, another interview, and a guest post Myke wrote about Peter V. Brett’s novels.
Yglesias (an MSNBC political analyst and contributor) takes a look at the pending DoJ case that has been brought against Apple and a number of big-name publishing houses. A couple of interesting comments (of which there are many):
- “If there’s a case against the government’s actions it’s that the forces of disruption buffeting traditional publishing are much too large to be blocked by any cartel. The good news is that literary culture should survive either way.”
- “In bookstores,” Turow writes, “readers are open to trying new genres and new authors: It’s by far the best way for new works to be discovered.” – This I agree with, although it’s also possible that an eBook store could offer a similar function.
- “the Justice Department’s notion that we should fear a book publishers’ cartel is borderline absurd, on par with worrying about price-fixing in the horse-and-buggy market.”
- “the only way for these firms to stay viable is to publish books people like and to sell them at a price readers want to pay”
Yglesias’s article also has a link to…
This is a very well-written, thought-provoking article. That I imagine a lot of readers of this blog might take issue with. That being said, I think he makes a lot of good points, despite how much we may wish he was wrong. [Please come back and leave comments here, if you have any! Same goes for any of these linked-articles.]
The author takes an alternative stance on the indie bookstores-vs.-Amazon debate to what you might expect from most (if not all) book-related blogs and news-sites. He is also even-handed in his position. For one, Manjoo is not blind to Amazon’s “wantonly callous” tactics that end up “destroying its competitors”. Nor, however, is he blind to Amazon’s strengths and positive aspects of its existence:
- “As much as I despise some of its recent tactics, no company in recent years has done more than Amazon to ignite a national passion for buying, reading, and even writing new books.”
- An interesting factoid (one that my own book-buying practices support): “Amazon has said that after people buy a Kindle reader, they begin purchasing e-books at twice the rate they’d previously purchased print titles. (And they keep buying print titles.)”
This article also has a number of interesting links embedded within. I spent a pleasant while clicking through the links in this and Yglesias’s article. It also reminded me of a conversation I had with Myke Cole and Peter V. Brett back in December (and it actually was a dark and stormy night, too, which added a pleasant pathetic fallacy to proceedings…).
An author I’ve never had a chance to read, but a lot of people seem to think he’s the bee’s knees. An interesting interview with some good commentary.
American Prospect: “Hell’s Bells” by Abby McGanney Nolan [Article]
An interesting look at the rise of teen heroines in dystopian future fiction (Hunger Games, Divergent, Legend, Blood Red Road). In each of the novels looked at, Nolan explains and examines a common theme: “the teenage-girl narrator has grown up sheltered in a zone of relative comfort. Her troubles multiply as society’s flaws are revealed to her and she must fight for survival and the safety of her family.” The author also goes on about the presence of an “ideal young man” in each novel, all of whom seem perfect in every way (I haven’t read any of the novels, but do hope to read Hunger Games in the very near future, in my new-found interest in YA).
“In this recession-battered age, these four authors (including two in their mid-20s) present the wild possibility of love and social change amid the ruins. If there’s hope in dystopias, what’s impossible in our world?”
Staffer’s Musings: Interview with Anne Lyle
Again, pretty self-explanatory what this is. If you want more from Anne Lyle, check out my interview with her for this site, too. I hope to get to her debut, Alchemist of Souls, within the next week or so, depending on whether or not I get better and can start reading at a decent pace again.
I’m a huge fan of Waid’s work, as can be seen from the amount of coverage I’ve given Irredeemable and Incorruptible, not to mention a couple of his other series. I recently also bought the first volume of his run on Daredevil (volume two is released in a couple months), which I hope to read and review in the next week or so.
“Waid announced [at WorldCon] that he is selling his extensive comic book collection to fund a weekly online comic series, which will launch in May.”
Quite a surprising move, but one that sort-of makes sense in a market that is slowly coming around to embracing the digital medium (see, for example, Marvel’s decision to start packaging a free digital copy with their $3.99 comics).
Waid said: “They don’t want to undercut the 1,800 Diamond retailers out there in the world, and I get it… I don’t want to undercut them either. But we’re playing a different game. The more of us that know how to do this for the Web, the better off the medium is.”
I also learned that both Incorruptible and Irredeemable will come to an end in May! Even though I had a feeling it was bound to happen, this still makes me a little sad.
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On Civilian Reader this week, in case you’ve not been reading, we’ve had two interviews – with Gail Carriger and Gaie Sebold; a wealth of comic reviews (I’ve been rather under the weather this week, and they are easier to read and review), including my New 52 Catch-Ups (Batman and Bat-Family); and a review of a fun political thriller, The Run by Stuart Woods (first published in 2000). Sadly, as I was struck down in the “pribe ob libe” (as I seem to be writing everywhere)* by man-flu, my review of Kingdoms of Dust, the gothic third novel in Amanda Downum’s Necromancer Chronicles, will be postponed until Monday afternoon.
Next week, I hope to bring you more fiction reviews: a short guest review for Brandon Sanderson’s first Mistborn novel, Final Empire (on Monday morning), as well as a couple of short-story and audio-drama reviews. And maybe another thriller. Oh, and an interview with Aidan Harte, a debut author whose novel Irenicon will be published later this year by Jo Fletcher Books (and I’ll be reading and reviewing it at some point soon, too. I’m sure there will be more, but if I told you all of it, then it wouldn’t be a surprise.
* Sometimes I’m like a terrier with a joke – I keep using it and worrying at it until I think of some better quip to inflict on people across my various social media.
Here we go with the week’s links round-up… (Although, I must apologise for not paying too much attention to things in the second half of the week.)
“Locke Lamora Read-Along Bonus #1: It Came From Burger King” by Scott Lynch
This is a blog-post that I actually caught same day I posted the previous Week in Review, but I wanted to share it nevertheless. After Lynch discovered that some blogs are doing Lies of Locke Lamora read-alongs, he decided to put together some bonuses as a thank you. This is the first. Locke Lamora was the novel that got me back into fantasy, and I really must read it again sometime. If you haven’t read it yet, then I STRONGLY recommend you do so. It’s fantastic, as is its sequel, Red Seas Under Red Skies.
Iceberg Ink: “Interview with Dave Duncan”
An author I’ve not managed to read anything by, but I enjoyed the interview, so I think I’ll have to try to pick something up at some point.
Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf & Book Review: An Interview with Martha Wells
An interesting interview with an author I really wish I had the time to read! I’ll do my best to check out her novels.
Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf & Book Review: “A. Lee Martinez on Supervillains”
Another great post from Michael’s blog this week. The title’s pretty self-explanatory, so I recommend you just go over there and read it. Go on! Git!
Wired: “Michael Chabon Attacks Prejudice Against Science Fiction”
Thanks to Ellen Wright for tweeting the link to this (would probably have missed it otherwise). Chabon is one of those authors on my “Why the hell haven’t I read them yet?” – in particular, his novel Kavalier & Clay, which Alyssa and Emma both have badgered me about reading. I may well get around to it in the next month-or-so, as I’ve been intentionally reading beyond SF/F just to keep things fresh (for me and the blog). Chabon also wrote a number of nice pieces about super-heroes, which I’d recommend as well: for example, in the New Yorker.
Far Beyond Reality: “Throne of the Crescent Moon” by Saladin Ahmed (Review)
Great, in-depth review. Read my own, here.
I know I missed some, so feel free to share in the comments.
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And this week’s content from Civilian Reader: a review of Kill Alex Cross by James Patterson (a good return to form for the insanely successful author), a video interview with Adam Baker, a review of Paul S. Kemp’s Hammer & the Blade (maybe the first? Not really sure about that…), guest post on the Soulborn Saga by Kevin Breaux. Overall, a pretty good week.
Next week, I’ve got at least one review (Stuart Woods’s 2000 novel, The Run), two interviews (Gail Carriger and Gaie Sebold), more comics reviews, and hopefully a couple of graphic novel reviews.
