The other day, I heaped some praise on Angry Robot Books for their treatment of Kaaron Warren’s Walking the Tree. This time it’s a cute take on the classic short fiction competition.

From their website:

Now, to get cracking on a narrative that can be told in just 13 (very long, very run-on *wink*) sentences!

Several days ago, Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist posted an excerpt from George R.R. Martin’s upcoming novella, The Mystery Knight. I don’t think anyone was prepared for the volume of vitriol and caustic commentary that would follow. Nearly 250 comments in a matter of hours, most condemning Martin for the usual reasons: he’s fat, he’s old, he’s lazy, he likes Football, he should be writing, not sleeping or shitting. These are his most die-hard ‘fans’, remember. Pat had to turn off comments on his very popular blog, something he’s never done before.

Shawn Speakman from Suvudu first caught the attention of Martin fans a year ago with his article In Defense of George R.R. Martin. I wrote a response of my own with an article titled Why You Should Cut George RR Martin Some Slack. Now, spurred by the response to the excerpt from The Mystery Knight, Speakman and Suvudu have rounded up a few bloggers and posed a series of Martin-related questions. Is new ground tread? Likely not. But it’s a subject that keeps rearing its head with every year that passes and A Dance of Dragons is not on store shelves.

Below you will find my answers to the questions posed by Suvudu. Also involved are Adam from The Wertzone, Jeff’s Fantasy Review and, of course, Shawn from Suvudu.
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My Favourite Book of 2009

A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham was the last novel I read in 2009, but also the best novel I read in 2009. Abraham’s debut is a quiet story that follows the personal struggles of several characters as they deal with such mature themes as love and trust, abortion and alcohohlism, betrayal and justice. It manages to be a wholly adult novel while eschewing the typical blood, guts and sex that defines ‘gritty’ Fantasy these days. A Shadow in Summer shows how far the Fantasy genre can go if an author is willing to throw convention to the wind. I will absolutely be continuing with the series in 2010. (REVIEW)
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Over at The Book Smugglers, I was invited to be part of their annual Smugglivus celebration. Yesterday, my contribution went up and I talked about some of my favourite things in 2009. On top of the typical list of books I loved, I also wanted to use the space to throw some exposure to some of the blogs that I really loved this year. I thought it would be fun to bring that list over here, also.

• Stomping on Yeti is new to the blogosphere, but has quickly carved out a solid niche for itself with a terrific series of interviews called ‘Keeping an eye on…’ and it seems like every other day there’s another great author being interviewed and showcased. And hell, he even created an eye-gougingly bad cover for my recently completed novel, Through Bended Grass. I expect big things from Patrick in the year to come.
• Jeff at Fantasy Book News & Reviews is one of the most honest and genuine bloggers out there. But the thing that’ll keep you coming back to his website time and again? His daily roundups of what’s going on in the blogosphere, and his exhaustive archive of all the Fantasy reviews to cross his path.
• Many of your readers probably know The Wertzone, but it needs to be mentioned anyway. Adam seems to be an endless well of knowledge about anything related to Fantasy and Science Fiction. Movies, Books or Videogames? He’s got it covered. Sharp reviewer, too.
• Possibly my favourite blog going, Speculative Horizons is witty, acidic and smart all at once. Editor James Long might not be the most prolific blogger, but every time he posts it’s always worth reading. He’s got great insight into the genre, writes solid reviews and isn’t afraid to ruffle some feathers. There’s a lot to admire about Long and his blog.
• Mark Charan Newton, best known as the author of 2009’s Nights of Villjamur (REVIEW), but he’s also made a name for himself through his intelligent, provoking arguments on his blog. His recent series of blog posts on the ‘death’ of Science Fiction set the blogosphere on fire and brought some of the biggest names in the industry out swinging. Newton might be new(ish) to the scene, but he’s certainly doing his best to be heard loud and clear.

These are some of my favourites, the bloggers that really keep me on my toes and get me inspired to keep on trucking with A Dribble of Ink (and also supply me with a near limitless amount of ideas to steal borrow), but they certainly aren’t the only ones out there. Who would be on your list (besides A Dribble of Ink, of course!) of favourite blogs in 2009?

Two weeks ago, I finished writing my first novel.

So that’s it, I can officially say I’ve done it, I’m not a quitter. A smidge under two-and-a-half years (2 years, 4 months, and 21ish days, to be exact), from the first typed word (‘Bye’, if you’re curious) to the last (‘Man’, again for you curious types) and I’m still in bloody love with it. Sure, after a few edits and several read-throughs, it might lose some of that lovely new-car-smell, but right now I’m in that honeymoon period, and we’re very very much still in love.

Through Bended Grass is the story of Rowan Hayes, a young mother searching desperately for her son, violently stolen from her home by his Fey father. Dragged halfway across the globe, she is forced to the gritty streets and wondrous countryside of modern day Ireland, but soon finds herself embroiled in the mysterious, bastardized world of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the Fey folk of ancient legend, and exposed to a host of dangerous characters she thought only Fairy Tale. Rowan soon learns that her halfbreed son is purported to be the lynchpin in a mysterious war engulfing the Fey world, and threatening to spill into hers. Travelling through both our world and the alien landscape of the Fey, Rowan must face challenges both physical and spiritual to have any hope of ever seeing her son again.

Perhaps, though, it’s easier to sum Through Bended Grass up with my submission to agent Colleen Lindsay’s ‘Query in 140 Characters or Less’ contest, in which I was selected runner-up out of over 300 entries:

I tend to think of Through Bended Grass (when I’m thinking highly of myself, and feel like an ego-stroke) as Tad Williams’ The War of the Flowers meets Mark Chadbourn’s The Age of Misrule by way of Neil Gaiman. I know, I know, setting the bar a little high, and if I become half the author those three are I’ll be lucky, but I wear those influences very clearly on my sleeve. They’ve been there since the beginning (well, except Chadbourn, I came to him late; but we must’ve been drinking from the same well, give some of the similar themes and mythology we work with) and their work made an indelible mark on Through Bended Grass.
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There may be an embargo on reviews of The Gathering Storm, the 12th volume of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, but that hasn’t stopped a few approved (read: glowingly positive, written by people close to Tor/Jordan) reviews and general impressions from popping up around the web.

Though I haven’t read far enough in the series to read The Gathering Storm, nor does it seem like I’ll receive a review copy (I guess I’m not part of the ‘hip’ crowd?), I’m still closely following the release with a fair bit of anticipation. Hey, it’s easy to get caught up in the hype! To that end, I thought it would be fun to gather together some of those early impressions here, for you guys to whet your appetite with!

Of course, I’ll stay far away from spoilers, though those are floating around the web as well, if you’re google-savvy enough.

The first reviews to break came from camps closely associated with Tor, and also holding a clear bias towards the novel succeeding. Still, these guys are mega-fans of the series, so while it’s always prudent to take what they say with a grain of salt (one of them is known for fellating Crossroads of Twilight, almost unanimously known to be the worst volume of the series, in an early review several years ago), it’s still worth seeing the novel through the eyes of the average fanboy, rather than the jaded eyes of Internet pundits.
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As perhaps you’ve noticed, the New Yorker’s list of Seven Essential Fantasy Reads caused a bit of a stir in the blogosphere when it was released a short while ago. Some people liked it (like me), some people did not (like Mark Charan Newton, author of Nights of Villjamur), and opinions popped up all over the place.

It dismayed me a bit, to see that I think some of the commentors seemed to miss the point of the thread. Adam at the Wertzone and James at Speculative Horizons and Suvudu had nice,even responses, but Newton and Larry of OF Blog of the Fallen presented lists that, while great for someone like me who’s decently well-read in the genre, are probably unstuiable for someone who’s just come off of The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.

In the spirit of the blogosphere and vanity, I figured I would throw my name into the hat, and present my own list of books I consider essential second-step Fantasy novels. Just keep in mind that my tastes (and history) in the genre tend towards Epic Fantasy, and also that we naturally want to direct people down the same path we followed into the genre we love so much. I took the Tolkien -> Brooks/Feist/Salvatore -> Goodkind/Jordan -> Martin/Erikson route into Fantasy, and my list will reflect that, if just a little. Of course, my tastes have broadened significantly, so I’ll slip a few wildcards into the mix as well, just for a bit of the variety that the New Yorker list was missing.

The List

War of the Flowers by Tad Williams

This space could be occupied by Terry Brooks’ Running with the Demon or Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, which are both fantastic examples of what Urban/Contemporary can be, but The War of the Flowers is the one that’s stuck with me the most. It’s an eerie look at the classic tale of a person from our world getting sucked into a mysterious Fey world, but told in a way unlike any other I’ve come across. Instead of a quasi-medieval setting, Williams’ version of the Fey world has progressed along with ours and is filled with Skyscrapers and and warring Fey lords, night clubs and goblins, skyscrapers and obnoxious pixies. It’s another stand-alone novel, and it’s been a huge inspiration on me as a writer. Is there any higher praise I can heap upon it?
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A couple of days ago, Patrick over at Stomping the Yeti approached me with the idea of doing a Mid-year in review. I’m not the speediest reader, so my numbers aren’t all that impressive, but it’s always nice to take a step back and reflect on some of the things I’ve read in the past six months. So, taking Patrick’s forumla, and adding some things of my own, here’s a little review of what I’ve been up to in the past six months:

Books Read and Reviewed

Read | 11 Novels

Science Fiction: 2
Fantasy: 3
Young Adult Books: 1
Fiction Writers I Hadn’t Read Before: 10
Graphic Novels: 1
Male Authors: 7
Female Authors: 1

Reviewed | 8
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Larry, of OF Blog of the Fallen, sparked a bit of debate the other day when he grumbled about blogs trending towards promotional giveaways and other easy-way-out content that leads to pageviews, but not necessarily to intelligent content. In essence, Larry’s annoyed that more and more blogs seem to be losing their voice, and replacing it with that of the publishers who send them free books.

From his post, title When do you ever stop whoring yourself out?:

Realistically, this is both a problem and, at the same time, not a problem. Sure, it sucks that some blogs are little more than extensions of the PR departments of various publishers, but at the same time, the beautiful thing about the web is that poor content is easy to ignore. Joe Sherry, in the first reply to Larry’s post, sums it up pretty well:

I use Google Reader to browse most of the blogs I read. It’s great, it syncs with my iPod and makes keeping up with near 100 blogs rather painless. It’s also great, because I can skip all the shit content that’s thrown at me, if I so desire. I’ve got a pretty good system worked out that invovles clicking through to the blogs that post good content and forgetting about the stuff I don’t care about. Rather than damning poor content, I prefer to reward good content.
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A few weeks ago, several agents took part in #queryfail day – a twitter-driven campaign that saw the agents revealing some of the worst queries (book proposals from authors) they had received.

Diana Fox

Greg Daniel

And one of the best:

Editorial Anonymous

I thought it was all pretty funny (and a hell of a learning experience for when I finally start querying agents and publishers), but it certainly did seem like the agents weren’t aware that their shit stinks just as much as the rest of us.

Some people, apparently, failed to see the humour in all of it.

Source

Uh… lighten up, people? Besides, it’s not like they don’t also point out the good stuff. Colleen Lindsay (who spearheaded #queryfail day) recently posted this on her twitter:

So, uh, the lesson learned is that, if you’re serious about getting published, don’t write a shitty query. Could the agents have been a bit more tactful? Maybe. But the simple fact is that if you don’t follow the rules, if you’re arrogant, if you’re inarticulate, if you’re trying to completely rip off another author, you’re probably going to get laughed at. If you write a good, honest query about a well-written novel, you’re probably going to be taken seriously. The power’s in the hands on the writer, so what’s all the bellyaching about?

Learn to love #queryfail, because it’ll be your best friend when it’s time to get your own manuscript into the hands of the right people. Now, how about we see a #querywin, a glimpse at some of the best queries out there?

David B. Coe, author of the Winds of the Foreland series, wrote an interesting piece for SF Novelists about the motivations of a writer and who they truly write for.

I am a writer, which should come as no surprise. I expect almost every other blogger out there would consider call themselves writers and I also expect that many of my readers would consider themselves writers (or artists of another medium). I think it’s also safe to say that the vast majority of us are at a point where we practice our craft solely for ourselves, with little professional or monetary gain. I know I do.
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Leave it to Guy Gavriel Kay to talk some sense. In a recent article published by The Globe and Mail, Kay addresses the subject of book delays, but more importantly he tackles on the idea of what a blog means to the relationship between author and reader; and where those fans with a bloodthirsty sense of entitlement that haunt folk like George R.R. Martin and Patrick Rothfuss come from.

From The Globe and Mail:

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Lou Anders, the editorial director at Pyr Books, was recently intrigued by a quote from Tom Purdom:

Through his blog, Anders more or less agreed with the statement, but also posed a question of his readers:

Being an avid fan of fantasy, this got me thinking. What made me look even closer to the heart of the matter was the falling out I had with fantasy (of the epic variety, in particular) I had earlier this year. Part of the drive and appeal of Fantasy was lost to me, and at the time I thought long and hard about why I felt that way. Lou’s question hits close to the heart of the matter.
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Peter V. Brett, author of The Painted Man has dropped in to the recent conversations regarding George R.R. Martin. Rather than wading directly into the conversation, Brett instead has some interesting things to say about his experiences as a new author and how some of the behind the scenes things change once you’re writing under a deadline.

From Brett’s blog:

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Shawn Speakman, one of the bloggers over at Suvudu, has long been a defender of George R.R. Martin. Whenever bellyaching occurs at the Official Terry Brooks Forum (a forum dedicated to Brooks, but home to a lively discussion of other authors as well), he is the first one to jump in and defend Martin against those who think Martin owes them something.

The Terry Brooks forum is far from the only place where people complain about Martin’s ’slowness’, and Speakman has written a compelling argument about why people should give Martin a break. It’s long, but certainly worth the read.

Speakman hits the nail on the head when he alludes to the double edge of the passion wielded by Martin’s fans. It’s that passion, that desire for the world, the characters and the story of A Song of Ice and Fire, that sets Martin’s fans apart from others. Without those passionate fans, Martin’s series would not be at such soaring heights of popularity today and, ironically, he might not be afforded the luxury of taking years to finish each volume. At this point, George certainly doesn’t right for money and clearly wants to put out the best possible novel. That same passion that drives people to be such fanatics of his series is also the same passion that fuels the accusations of laziness, lack of enthusiasm of just plain ol’ football fever that are constantly leveled at Martin by his ‘fans’.
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