I have been woefully slow about reading Sarah Cawkwell’s full-length fiction for Black Library. I therefore decided to address this and, to get me in the mood for Valkia the Bloody, I thought I’d read the latest two (of three) short stories that feature Valkia, daemon princess and consort of the blood god Khorne (the third I have already read and reviewed). Both of these stories were considerable improvements on what I’ve read by Cawkwell in the past, and I really enjoyed both.
It’s been a while since I wrote a post highlighting a given month’s most-anticipated releases. But, given that this year is shaping up to be a real monster for new fiction, and because it’s just impossible to read everything, I thought it would be a good idea to give a hat-tip to those books I’m most looking forward to reading. I’ve stuck with UK release schedules for the most part, but a couple are US releases or books already available across the pond.
I’ve been lucky enough to get a fair few of these titles already (and have managed to read three in advance of their releases), so I have included links to my reviews where relevant, rather than exhaustive comments on those titles.
So, without further ado, here are my picks for July 2012…
Sarah Cawkwell is one of Black Library’s new stable of writers, and one with a penchant for writing great stories about the most Chaotic of characters. With a few short stories and a couple of very-well-received novels (The Gildar Rift and Valkia the Bloody) now under her belt for Black Library, I thought it was high-time I pestered her with some questions about her writing and future plans…
I’ve been wondering lately about whether or not it’s a good idea to read what you write. I don’t mean to suggest people shouldn’t edit or proof-read their own writing. What I mean is, should you read the same genre that you write in?
I’ll give you an example. I have a novel idea, which I am particularly excited about. It’s related to a specific sub-genre, which I have consciously been avoiding in order to avoid undue influenced by what is already out there. At the same time, I recognise that being familiar with the genre in which you wish to write is important. Reading widely outside of your genre could help bring outside influences into the novel, help you make something new.
There’s also the question of whether or not you should read your own work, an angle that a few authors addressed as well. How obsessively should you pay attention to your work once it’s out in the world?
So, my question to you is,
“Should you read what you write? And why?”
I sent out a general invite by email and Tweet, and received quite a bit of interest. I’ve included the responses, below, from Jennie Ivins, Sarah Cawkwell, Jon Courtenay-Grimwood, Myke Cole, Mhairi Simpson, Anne Lyle, Robert Jackson Bennett, Mark Lawrence, Gail Carriger, Paul S. Kemp, Lou Morgan, Helen Lowe, and Justin Landon.
Please feel free to contribute your own thoughts and responses (on both interpretations of the question), in the comments. There may also be more authors’ contributions coming in over the next couple of days, so I will either update this or post a second round.
A collection of dark fantasy fiction
The dark origins of the Warhammer World are soaked in blood. Epic wars between kindred races reshaped continents, vast civilisations rose and fell, the dead walked the earth in legions. This is an age of mighty heroes whose like will never be seen again, such as the mangod Sigmar and Caledor, the Phoenix King of the elves. It is also an era of dread villains like the Witch-King Malekith and Nagash, the Lord of the undead. In these troubled times, dragons still flock the skies and magic exists that can doom or save the world.
It used to be that all Warhammer fiction came in the form of short stories, so it’s nice that Black Library are maintaining output of shorter slices of Warhammer (and WH40k) action and adventure. In Age of Legends, we have ten stories from a number of established masters of the world, as well as some new blood. Overall, this is another great anthology of dark, engaging fantasy fiction, with some particularly enjoyable contributions from newer authors.
For some reason, I can’t come up with many novels coming out in December that I’m especially excited about. Or, apparently, actually aware of… So, in the month of Christmas I’ll take the opportunity to get caught up on some novels I’ve got stored up on my Kindle (Kevin Hearne, NK Jemisin, Chris Wooding, Richard Morgan, Howard Jones – to name but a handful), and also get ahead on some reviews for January and February.
There are, however, still three December novels that I’m excited about reading:
I had also anticipated James Rollins’s The Devil Colony, as it is published in the UK in December, but I’ve already managed to read and review it, thanks to the July US publication.
Here are the details for the three novels I’ve yet to read and review:
Continuing our series of guest posts about influences and inspirations (read the open invitation), I present you with our second author!
Sarah Cawkwell has written several short stories set in Games Workshop’s grim-dark 41st millennium. Her first full-length novel for the Black Library, The Gildar Rift, is due out in December 2011 (and is much anticipated here at Civilian-Reader – it features Huron Blackheart, one of the most colourful Chaos characters in Warhammer 40,000 lore).
You can catch up with the slightly obscure adventures of what it’s like to be a genre fiction writer at Sarah’s great blog, “Pyroriffic” (which is also her Twitter handle). So, without further ado, let me pass things over to Sarah…
