Neil Gaiman, author of American Gods, Coraline, Stardust (all of which are incredible novels), has decided to honor his blogs’ 7th “birthday” (and an astounding 1,071,213 words!) by giving away a digital version of his novel for free.

The coolest part? We get to pick which one! Just head on over to his blog, take a look at the options and choose one! Pretty neat of Gaiman (and his publisher, Harper Collins) to do something like this for his fans!

Also, for those of you who haven’t checked Gaiman out, this is your chance to discover one of the best authors in the game. The breadth of his work (Fairy Tales, Contemporary Fantasy, Children’s Fantasy, Humourous Fantasy, etc…) is astounding and there’s surely something for everyone!

Also, check out the free audio story he’s giving away as well!

Alright, this is just too crazy/awesome not to make mention of. As a huge Firefly fan (seriously, check it out, it’s Bonanza meets Star Trek meets pure, unadulterated Awesomeness) I’m always stoked to find other Brown Coats… especially when they’re well known, prolific authors who are writing their own stories set in that universe.

Steven Brust, best known for his Vlad Taltos novels, has just released his very own Firefly novel, titled My Own Kind of Freedom under the creative commons license. Though it’s not associated officially with Joss Whedon or the owners of the Firefly copyright, essentially making it nothing more than well-written (by all accounts of those who have read it) fan-fiction, it’s still a cool little treat for fans of the sadly debunked show.

You can find more discussion and information about it on Whedonesque and you can download the short novel HERE. Browncoats should surely check it out.

Joe Abercrombie has been rather slippery about presenting any information about his upcoming novel, Best Served Cold, a follow up to his soon-to-be-finished The First Law Trilogy. This, however, hasn’t stopped a synopsis from being posted on Amazon.co.uk.

I’m not sure how new this is, but it’s the first solid details I’ve seen about the novel, so I thought I’d pass it along! I’m currently in the middle of Last Argument of Kings, the concluding volume of his first trilogy, and I’m already dreading the end. It’s good to know he’s hard at work on his next project, which takes place in the same world as The First Law Trilogy.

Sounds pretty darn good! You can check out Joe’s blog HERE, find reviews of his first two novels HERE and HERE and an interview with him HERE. Also, be on the lookout for another interview with Joe in just a couple of days. He talks a lot about Last Argument of Kings, so fans of his work should definitely mark it on their calenders!

Tor Books, the publisher of R.A. Salvatore‘s upcoming Corona novel, Saga of the First King, is hosting a contest over at the Novel’s official web site.

Up for stakes?

• A Phone call from R.A. Salvatore himself
• Signed Copies of The Ancient
• A Signed Extended Author Interview on DVD

I’m dying to get my hands on a copy of this book (if any Tor publicist’s are reading this, drop me an email!), but unfortunately it looks like the sweepstakes is only open to those who are a part of a bookclub. Which means… I’ve got to go start a book club!

You can find the nitty-gritty about the sweepstakes HERE and enter HERE.

Thanks goes out to Fantasy Book Critic for pointing this out in the first place!

Bantam, the publisher of mega-author George R.R. Martin, has just released the official blurb which will appear on the dust jacket of the novel.

It’s a sad day indeed when we have to get so excited as something as small as this, but… well, there it is. It sounds pretty damn awesome, if you ask me and Martin has yet to let me down (A Feast for Crows haters be damned) and this novel has many of my favourite characters (No Jaime = *sad face*…) and I’m looking forward to seeing Martin show us once again why he’s on top of the industry.

The blurb (which contains spoilers for the earlier novels in the series) is hidden after the jump.
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