China Mieville, "The City and the City"

By erika on 8/13/10 2:49pm
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I like China Mieville's work a lot, not least because he operates in the fantasy genre, without writing about elves and unicorns.  YOU know what I mean.  Fantasy has the potential to be so much more, and Mieville takes it there.

Mieville has announced that he wants to write one novel for each kind of genre, and this is his take on the mystery genre.  And it is, as you might expect from a China Mieville novel, mind-bendingly bizarre. 

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Charles Stross, "The Jennifer Morgue"

By erika on 8/2/10 1:29pm
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Stross has carved out a funny little niche, and he OWNS it.  If there's anyone else out there who is writing fiction where Lovecraft's mythos is real, and its threat is constantly being mitigated by a CIA-like government agency, I'm not aware of it.  (Neil Gaiman's "Study in Emerald" comes to mind, but as a stand-alone short story that isn't set in the present day, it doesn't really count.)

The Jennifer Morgue returns to the world Stross first described in "The Atrocity Archives."  Collectively these are called "the Laundry Files novels," which Wikipedia describes as "Lovecraftian spy thrillers involving a secret history of the 20th century."  A dry description, but perfectly accurate.


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On-line Gamers create Exceptional Fantasy Book without ever Meeting!

By Anonymous on 7/30/10 10:42am
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I know that this is kind of a backwards approach on this forum in reference to book reviews, however, I hope this thread makes for some interesting discussion on the forum. The Book is entitled "Sagar'un - Tales of a New World" by Crystal Rayne and Konrad Hollenstein, and is available through Amazon's Kindle Books and will be available through Amazon.com in a day or 2. This is a new book by these authors with a very interesting back story on it.

Before I begin explaining the back story, I wanted to let you know that you can read a free chapter of the book at http://sagarun.com as well as the press release that was published world-wide.

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Indy Writer seeking reviewers

By Anonymous on 7/27/10 5:02pm
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I have written a Fantasy Trilogy and the first volume is now available on Amazon, but only on Kindle.  A free Kindle for PC app is available there and the first 70 pages of my novel are available to anyone with the app as a preview.  There are hundreds of other free titles there that are complete. I would greatly appreciate any who takes the time to read the free preview and see if they are interested.   If you know who Bran, Pug, and Fitz are then you will like my novel.                                                                      &nbs

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Richard Grant, "In The Land of Winter"

By erika on 6/13/10 5:47pm
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Richard Grant is one of my favorite authors, if one of the least prolific.  Not to be confused with British actor Richard E. Grant, Maine author Richard Grant has written a mere eight books in his 25 year-long career.  But believe me, he makes each book count.

It's trite to call something "a modern fairy tale," and even more trite to try and write one.  Particularly now that the sub-sub-genre of Urban Fantasy has gained so much traction in the marketplace.  But that doesn't make In The Land of Winter any less amazing.


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Earth's Secret Inhabitants by D. Scott Rogo, Jerome Clark

By ecoscott on 6/4/10 9:39pm
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When I was younger I would go to used book stores and spend hours roaming the aisles, pulling the strangest titles I could find with the yellowest pages off of the shelves. I often found myself in the fantasy or metaphysical sections, far, far removed from the new release tables at the front. When you’re in those aisles, the ones you’re not sure if the owners even know are there, you find books that just may qualify as endangered species. If not, certainly as curiosities worth a 10 cent admission fee at an old circus sideshow. And if you’re looking for it, you find some great adventures that the Discovery Channel, with it’s rigid and strange love for interviewing the pseudo-scientists at the beginning of the program and the accredited ones at the end.

This is one of those books.

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Frank Frazetta

By dfunzy on 5/10/10 3:10pm
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Frank FrazettaFrank FrazettaOthers provided the stories. Frank Frazetta provided the pictures. He took us deeper into  the story, better than most illustrators could. Frank Frazetta was master of what he did. What he did was to bring alive fantastic worlds. He was a co- conjurer. Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon,  Li’l Abner,  Conan the Barbarian, John Carter of Mars, Tarzan,  were born in the minds of their writers and reborned  in the art  work of Frank Frazetta. He was a master of pulp art. Frankly, often his illustrations worked better for me than the stories. Often,  I brought the books for their covers,  because his cover art opened my mind to imagine fantastic stories of my own.

He died today, Monday, May 10th a hospital in Fort Myers, Fla. He was 82. The cause of death was a stroke.

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The Latest Rumor On "The Dark Tower"

By MichaelP03 on 5/7/10 2:08pm
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After J.J. Abrams confirmed that he would not be bringing Stephen King's fantasy epic series The Dark Tower to theaters, the long-rumored project returned to languish in development hell - until now. It's still in the "don't hold your breath" category, but director Ron Howard (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind) is the latest name to be attached to the idea of realizing the quest of Roland Deschain for the big screen. The studio is Universal, and the writer is Akiva Goldsman.

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Men At Arms

By akgoemans on 3/11/10 6:57am
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Men At ArmsMen At Arms
Last week I mentioned Guards Guards, the Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett that introduced the Watch to its eager readers. And from then on, everyone wanted to know all there was to know about the Watch. Or so I tell myself. This week I'll write about the follow up book to GG – Men At Arms.

Men At Arms is the 15th novel to be based in that quirky place we know as Discworld. It builds on the concept of the Watch where there is an attempt to expand its working base. A lot happens in this novel – Vimes retires, he gets married to the lovely Sybil and Carrot meets Angua. Trust me to bring up the mushy bits from all the possible aspects I could cover.

Alright, so maybe a summary of the story is in order.

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Guards! Guards!

By akgoemans on 3/5/10 5:00am
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Guards! Guards!Guards! Guards!Sir Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards! is the starting point for all Watch fans. Written in 1989, this is the novel where he introduces one of the most well-loved characters of Discworld – Samuel Vimes and Carrot Ironfoundersson. It is also the book that lays the foundation for future Watch novels whereby he introduces a vigilant police force into his quirky little imaginary world. All hell breaks loose but in entirely an unpredictable and hilarious manner. 


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