Remember this post? It was incredibly popular. Well now, thanks to Justin Landon at Staffer’s Book Review, you can watch a snippet of the now legendary D&D game featuring the likes of Jim C. Hines, Saladin Ahmed, Joe Abercrombie, Patrick Rothfuss and several other great authors. The full video is rumoured to exist and will, at some point, hit the ‘net.
From the same set as this one, via Gamesradar:
I loved this one so much that I couldn’t pass up the chance to post the rest of the set. More info on purchasing the posters can be found HERE.
Jack Glass is the murderer. We know this from the start. Yet as this extraordinary novel tells the story of three murders committed by Glass the reader will be surprised to find out that it was Glass who was the killer and how he did it. And by the end of the book our sympathies for the killer are fully engaged. Riffing on the tropes of crime fiction (the country house murder, the locked room mystery) and imbued with the feel of golden age SF, JACK GLASS is another bravura performance from Roberts. Whatever games he plays with the genre, whatever questions he asks of the reader, Roberts never loses sight of the need to entertain. JACK GLASS has some wonderfully gruesome moments, is built around three gripping HowDunnits and comes with liberal doses of sly humour. Roberts invites us to have fun and tricks us into thinking about both crime and SF via a beautifully structured novel set in a society whose depiction challanges notions of crime, punishment, power and freedom. It is an extraordinary novel.
I’ve not read any of Roberts’ work, but I’ve always been a big fan of what Gollancz does with his covers. Jack Glass is colourful and interesting, and the mix between the classic style of stained glass and the rocketship indicates that you’re looking at SF that doesn’t fall alongside its more traditional genre-mates. Roberts takes chances and challenges readers with his fiction; it’s nice to see Gollancz doing the same with his cover art.
Via Neth Space:
Shy South comes home to her farm to find a blackened shell, her brother and sister stolen, and knows she’ll have to go back to bad old ways if she’s ever to see them again. She sets off in pursuit with only her cowardly old step-father Lamb for company. But it turns out he’s hiding a bloody past of his own. None bloodier. Their journey will take them across the lawless plains, to a frontier town gripped by gold fever, through feuds, duels, and massacres, high into unmapped mountains to a reckoning with ancient enemies, and force them into alliance with Nicomo Cosca, infamous soldier of fortune, a man no one should ever have to trust…
Any guesses who Lamb turns out to be? Also looking forward to the return of Nicomo Cosca. Unfortunately there’s no mention of Darque Shadeaux, though certainly he must be hiding in the shadows somewhere. Sounds great, all around.
No, I’m not crazy enough to do it, but my good friend Justin Landon is taking submissions. He’s a sharp reviewer and a growing name in the blogosphere. It’s a good opportunity. And, who knows, maybe he’ll help you on your way to becoming the next Paolini or Theis.
