Tag: fantasy

What I’ve Just Read: Ill Met in the Arena

Dave Duncan is one of the most consistent producers of top-notch fantasy novels in the business (and also a very nice guy). His latest, Ill Met in the Arena, isn’t my favorite of his books, but it’s still a fun read that had me devouring pages like potato chips by the end. Duncan has set …

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A book reviewers’ linkup meme

John at the SF book review site Grasping for Wind posts: My list of fantasy and sf book reviewers is woefully out of date. I need your help to fix that. But rather than go through the hassle of having you send me recommendations or sticking them in comments, what you can do is take …

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What I Just Read: Jolted: Newton Starker’s Rules for Survival

I thoroughly enjoyed Arthur Slade‘s Jolted: Newton Starker’s Rules for Survival. Slade is a terrific writer of children’s and young adult fiction (check out his Governor General Award-winning Dust) and he doesn’t disappoint with this tale of a boy who comes from a long line of people who die from lightning strikes. There aren’t any …

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What I Just Read: Backup

Backup, by Jim Butcher, is a novellette published in hardcover by Subterranean Press. It’s set in the world of famous Chicago wizard Harry Dresden, but it’s not a Harry Dresden book: it’s told from the point of view of Dresden’s big brother Thomas Raith, who happens to be a vampire of the White Court (he …

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2008 World Fantasy Award Winners

Last day of the World Fantasy Convention! The awards banquet wrapped up just an hour or so ago, and so without further ado, here are the winners of this year’s World Fantasy Awards (with pictures of the actual recipients who were present–not a very high percentage, I’m afraid). Winners, as you can probably guess, are …

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World Fantasy Convention, Day 3

A good day for me, but not much to blog about. I only attended one panel, on YA Fantasy, and I didn’t stay to the end because I thought I should drop in on the SF Canada meeting going on next door. Sharyn November, editor of Firebird Books, made a…forceful…moderator (that’s her in the centre …

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World Fantasy Convention, Day 2

I had a pretty slow day today since I didn’t go to any panels (because the ones I was interested in coincided with other things). First thing I did this morning was take the obligatory Photo From My Hotel Room Window. Once I’d been out and had coffee and all that stuff (I had a …

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World Fantasy Convention, Day 1

I arrived in Calgary about 1 p.m. today for the World Fantasy Convention, registered, and picked up the book bag. Holy library, Batman! Look at this thing. And yes, that is a copy of my very own novel Marseguro on top: DAW graciously provided 300 of them for giveaway at this con. Which I hope …

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What I Just Read: City of Ashes

I actually finished City of Ashes, the second book in the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare, the week before last, but then I headed out of town to join the Canadian Chamber Choir and haven’t had a minute to post about it until now. It continues to hold my interest with plot twists, great …

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What I’ve Just Read: City of Bones

The cover of City of Bones, a young adult fantasy by Cassandra Clare, caught my eye several months ago, but I didn’t buy it until just recently, on the strength of a snippet of dialogue quoted on somebody’s blog. (Sorry, I’d love to give a little link love, but I can’t remember whose it was.) …

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What I Just Read: Midnight Never Come

I recently (before I started blogging books) read Bill Bryson’s excellent short biography of William Shakespeare, and so I was well-prepped to enjoy Midnight Never Come, a fantasy novel by Marie Brennan, predicated on the notion that Queen Elizabeth’s court and rule over England above was mirrored by a fairy queen of equal power and …

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What I Just Read: A Darkness Forged in Fire

A Darkness Forged in Fire is a new fantasy (the first in a series collectively called The Iron Elves) by a new writer, Chris Evans. I receieved a free copy from the publisher for some reason or other, and was glad to get it. I won’t bother with a synopsis–you can get that from Amazon–but …

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