About a week ago, John (from Grasping for the Wind) posted a well thought out and articulated article on his stance regarding the presence of swearing in Fantasy novels. This is a topic I’m constantly thinking about and I planned on writing a response… but, well, time got away from me and I never really got around to it. Then Joe Abercrombie, (author of The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged and the forthcoming Last Argument of Kings, brought his own thoughts to the table and I figured this would be a perfect time to finally add my own ideas and opinions to the mix.
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Yearly Archives: 2007
I’m a HUGE fan of R.A. Salvatore’s DemonWars Saga and anything related to it. I still rank the fourth novel, Mortalis among one of the most engaging and emotionally charged novels I’ve ever read. So, it’s understandable that I was pretty darn excited when I saw this on Remy’s Blog.
The new cover art was just released for the latest novel set in the world of Corona. Here’s what Salvatore’s official web site has to say about it:
‘The Ancient cover art has arrived. The Ancient is the first book in the Saga of the First King trilogy. This brand new book, due out in early 2008, takes place in Corona and continues the story of The Highwayman. This is the first book in a new publishing deal that New York Times Best-Selling author signed with TOR books.
For fans not familiar with the Highwayman novel a re-release will be out in paperback this year!
R.A. Salvatore’s prelude to the Demon Wars Sagas The Highwayman is a stimulating ride into the early history of Corona and the vehicle is the creation a new, Drizzt-rivaling hero. Salvatore spins the tragic tale of an Abellican missionary who returns to Honce from the desert land Behr with wonders from the ancient Jhesta Tu monastery. At his side is his wife, a Jhesta Tu mystic. His dreams of uniting the teachings of the Jhesta Tu and “The Church of Blessed Abelle” are broken against the realities of bigotry and the young Abellican Church’s struggle for political favor against the Druid-like Samhaists. But from their doomed union will rise a people’s hero–the Highwayman.’
I can’t be the only one that’s super excited for this novel!
This one’s for all the aspiring writers out there.
Pick the Brain has put together a list of 10 writing tips from some of the literary world’s biggest names. A lot of it is common sense, but it also pays to refresh yourself on what some of the best writers of all time think is worthy enough to leave behind for future writers.
“Learn as much by writing as by reading.”
-Lord Acton
“Write without pay until somebody offers to pay.”
-Mark Twain
“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
-Anton Chekhov
“I try to leave out the parts that people skip.”
-Elmore Leonard
You can find the whole list HERE.
Crystal Rain
Author – Tobias Buckell
Paperback
Pages: 384 pages
Publisher: Tor Science Fiction
Release Date: Feb 7 2006
ISBN-10: 0765350904
ISBN-13: 978-0765350909
When I first heard of Buckell’s novels, Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin, I wasn’t sure quite what to think. They were short (always an oddity in the field of Science Fiction and Fantasy), they had a strong Caribbean flair and, well… I thought the name Ragamuffin was kinda silly.
Still, the more I read about him and his novels, the more interested I became to see just exactly what they were about. So, I got my hands on copies of his two novels and quickly set to work forming an opinion of my own. And its a positive opinion, more or less.
Let me start off by saying this about Crystal Rain: Buckell manages to fit more into this lean novel than most authors do into novels twice as long. I don’t know how he does it, but other authors (and editors) need to take note; this is how you tell a lean, fast paced and frenetic story without any wasted words. Each and every one of Crystal Rain‘s 384 pages burst at the seams with creativity: a vivid world inhabited by real people all wrapped up in a plot that races towards the finish line at full steam ahead.
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RIP
1948-2007
Details HERE
- Hugo Award
Winner
- About Aidan Moher
- Bibliography