tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87482113139534901322024-03-13T05:52:23.999-04:00Bastard BooksBastard Books and CrapBastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.comBlogger173125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-76873215313548775072016-10-24T08:22:00.000-04:002016-10-24T08:52:14.955-04:00Bastard Reaction: Gunmetal Magic by Ilona Andrews<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cUumLV4IFSE/WAlZfBVuZBI/AAAAAAAABxU/92j5QcJFE0wlbjPtu50BLc22N0Df4mOsgCLcB/s1600/gunmetal-magic-ilona-andrews.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cUumLV4IFSE/WAlZfBVuZBI/AAAAAAAABxU/92j5QcJFE0wlbjPtu50BLc22N0Df4mOsgCLcB/s400/gunmetal-magic-ilona-andrews.jpg" width="247" /></a></div>
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It was some years ago that I came across Ilona Andrews' interest in writing some spin-off novels in their <b><i>Kate Daniels</i></b> urban fantasy universe, a favorite of mine. As much as I would've liked to explore more of Kate Daniels' world, I was quite hesitant about a spin-off since, even though they have a myriad of great characters, I thought they'd have a tough time writing about someone who could measure up to that of Kate or Curran. I also recall that they looked for fan input to see which character we'd be most interested in; my choice was Julie (who I thought had a lot of potential). The one I wanted the least was Andrea... go figure.<br />
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Along came the authors' decision to write <b><i>Gunmetal Magic</i></b>, an Andrea-centric novel who's also Kate Daniels' best friend. I wasn't really excited about the news, in part because I really dislike Andrea's love interest Raphael in addition to my trepidation I just explained. It took some time to make peace with the idea, but I really got excited about this project eventually. I'm glad to say that my worries were for naught because Ilona Andrews wrote one kickass spin-off worthy of being included in their <b><i>Kate Daniels</i></b> sequence. As it happens, one of my favorites urban fantasy novels of 2012; best read after <b><i>Magic Slays</i></b>, the 5th <b><i>Kate Daniels</i></b> novel.</div>
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<b><i>Gunmetal Magic</i></b> follows Andrea Nash who's an emotional wreck now that she's lost her support, the rock she leaned-on in the form of The Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid ever since they found out she's a shifter. On top of that she's also dealing with her break-up with Raphael, which wasn't all that clean. She's been kicked out of The Order, dealing with her break-up, and due the particular nature of her shifting, she hasn't joined The Pack. For all intents and purposes alone with few exceptions. For the time being Kate and Andrea are working on their own new independent investigation company, and as "luck" will have it, Andrea has been hired to investigate some deaths at a location which Raphael is overseeing. And the fun goes from there.</div>
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Andrea's narrative voice is not that dissimilar from Kate's, which makes sense since they're not that different when you get down to the basics. And I'm not complaining. From that regard it brought some good continuity to the narrative style already present in the series. Andrea is a bit more unstable and emotionally expressive though, and more trigger happy...if you'll excuse the pun, which is good in my book.<br />
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I don't recall as much as I'd like since I read this 4 years ago (the above written back then as well), but I'll just say that I loved this novel. I thought the first half was stronger though, as Andrea was unhinged, kicking ass and taking names, including some sequences that are right at the top of my favorites in the whole <b><i>Kate Daniels</i></b> series.<br />
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I'll say though that I hate Raphael with a passion, not only his personality and his actions, but the actual character. More than that I hated how he influenced Andrea and changed her. There's a big contrast, at least to me, of the coolness and badassness when Andrea is by herself doing her thing, and her lesser form she somehow transforms into when Raphael is around. This was a big part of why I preferred the first half of the novel, since the later part featured their dynamic in a much more pronounced manner. Even more so when you compare it to the relationship of Kate and Curran, who are awesome by themselves but just as good (if not better) when they share a scene.<br />
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Needless to say, Raphael has been on my list of characters that need to die since his introduction.<br />
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Andrea is a good enough character to surpass these perceived limitations, and I'll certainly welcome another story about her. It certainly surpassed <i>my</i> expectations, and if not her, another spin-off novel might be more than welcomed...*cough* *cough* non-YA Badass Julie #FreeJulieLennartDaniels *cough* *cough*.<br />
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We managed to witness this world through a different set of circumstances, through a different character's eyes with different wants, worries, and challenges. That alone was worth the ticket of admission, but the novel satisfied more than that while retaining the formula that has worked so well and made <b><i>Kate Daniels</i></b> the success it's been.<br />
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Well, that's all I have for you guys. <i style="font-weight: bold;">Gunmetal Magic</i> is a very strong entry in the <b><i>Kate Daniels</i></b> series, and easily one of the best urban fantasy novels of 2012; action packed, badass, with plenty of humor... what else do you want?<br />
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Well of course, how about a signed copy! Suck it!<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5KEEzJ5LqV0/WAlYlIiu1LI/AAAAAAAABxQ/0I7mlqwE3Q8AqY7shTFsCaPHwgA8Sb82QCK4B/s1600/GunMetalMagicSignedFinal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5KEEzJ5LqV0/WAlYlIiu1LI/AAAAAAAABxQ/0I7mlqwE3Q8AqY7shTFsCaPHwgA8Sb82QCK4B/s320/GunMetalMagicSignedFinal.png" width="211" /></a></div>
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You can buy <b><i>Gunmetal Magic</i></b> on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gunmetal-Magic-Ilona-Andrews/dp/0425256138/" target="_blank">Amazon</a>.<br />
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Make sure to follow <a href="https://twitter.com/ilona_andrews" target="_blank">@ilona_andrews</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/GordonSm3" target="_blank">@GordonSm3</a> on Twitter and their <a href="http://www.ilona-andrews.com/" target="_blank">website</a> for more information.Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-71596884611643577722013-11-04T08:03:00.000-05:002013-11-04T08:03:19.131-05:00Guest Post & Giveaway: Making Different Cities by Max Gladstone, author of the Craft Sequence<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JO_b0YEglj8/UneKJ6AnkaI/AAAAAAAABm4/WvqbGTCKifk/s1600/MaxGladstone3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JO_b0YEglj8/UneKJ6AnkaI/AAAAAAAABm4/WvqbGTCKifk/s200/MaxGladstone3.jpg" width="177" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Each
city has its own music.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">I mean
that literally—blues and hip hop and jazz and rock differ from town to town—but
also figuratively. Cities have different
rhythms, different styles of driving, different prides and language
patterns. Writing urban fantasy is at
its best an exercise in writing the city's music, transcribing its crazycool
dreams and sometimes nightmares into monsters, magic, and mayhem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">That's
difficult enough for cities that actually exist, places a person can walk
around and breathe and come to know. New
York's real; you can taste it like wine on your tongue. Boston you shoot more than sample. London rolls smoky in the mouth. Beijing you drink like <i>baijiu</i>: raise it in toast with your friends in thimble-sized cups
and slam it down and exhale to avoid as much of the taste as possible, then do
it all again, and probably light a cigarette because you're dying already
aren't you? The country <i>kills </i>you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">It's
possible, I mean, to know a real city.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-20sFqGsUGVo/UneH9Gh0ibI/AAAAAAAABms/HOB9vz3TpGc/s1600/TwoSerpentsRise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-20sFqGsUGVo/UneH9Gh0ibI/AAAAAAAABms/HOB9vz3TpGc/s200/TwoSerpentsRise.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">But I
had to go set my books in a world that's not Earth. I did that for good reasons—I wanted to
depict a society where magic is woven through life, rather than Something Scary
Out There. For my first book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Three-Parts-Dead-Max-Gladstone/dp/0765333104">THREE
PARTS DEAD</a>, the task was pretty straightforward. I imagined a city, and built it. But I wanted the next book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Two-Serpents-Rise-Max-Gladstone/dp/0765333120/">TWO
SERPENTS RISE</a>, to focus on a different city in the same world, so that city
had to feel different from the one in the first book. I couldn't just go there to walk around.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Alt
Coulumb, where THREE PARTS DEAD took place, had a very Northeastern feel:
vertical lines, skyscrapers and tight alleys and central city parks and the
like. I drew off New York and Boston and
London and Shanghai. So, for the next
book, why not go to the opposite extreme?
Which meant a horizontal city, a city that sprawled, a city of low roofs
and occasional massive buildings, a city of heat and open space. My wife's from Los Angeles, so I'd visited before,
and, Tennessee boy as I am at heart, the place bowled me over with difference;
Beijing did the same when I lived there.
And both cities had trouble with water, which fed into ideas I'd been
worrying over about debt and dependency.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">So
far, so good. I started paying more attention
to Los Angeles when I visited, and I dredged up old memories of Beijing, some
pleasant. I stole stuff wholesale,
reconfigured, warped, revised. Cackled,
sometimes, to myself, when I thought no one could hear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8ghLg0QidSo/UneKrNG9j1I/AAAAAAAABnA/Zi2x1_gwnAg/s1600/ThreePartsDead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8ghLg0QidSo/UneKrNG9j1I/AAAAAAAABnA/Zi2x1_gwnAg/s200/ThreePartsDead.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">What
can I say? I wrote this book in stolen
half hours when any reasonable person would have been sleeping. If you can't cackle at your own work at one
o'clock in the morning before a long day at the office, when, I ask, are you
allowed to so cackle?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> And at the end of all that cackling and
warping and cutting and rearranging, I found myself with a city that owned its
own rhythm, and its own horror. A city
in which my characters could live—which Caleb and his friends could love, hate,
and want to defend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Excellent,
I thought. Now I have something to
destroy.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<br />
I read <b><i>Three Parts Dead</i></b> recently and really enjoyed it, a good combination of urban fantasy mystery set in a secondary world. One of the aspects I liked most of it was the world building, so glad that Max visited here and touched a bit upon his approach on creating societies and cities for his stories; thanks for stopping by.<br />
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Hope to read the sequel soon.<br />
<br />
Well, let's get on with the giveaway, one winner for physical copies the two books of the <b><i>Craft Sequence</i></b>:<b><i> Three Parts Dead</i></b> and <b><i>Two Serpents Rise</i></b>.<br />
<br />
<b>Participants have to be 18 years of age or older to participate. Void where prohibited by law. Giveaway rules are subject to change. </b><br />
<br />
The giveaway is open for US and Canada shipping addresses only, and it will run from November 4, 2013 until 11:59 pm ET on November 15, 2013.<br />
<br />
<b>How to participate:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>To participate simply log-in into to the Rafflecopter and "Enter" through the easy entry.</li>
<li>One entry per person, or face disqualification.</li>
<li>Entries accepted until 11:59pm ET on November 15, 2013.</li>
<li>There'll be ONE winner only for a physical copy of <b style="font-style: italic;">Three Parts Dead </b>and<i> </i><b>Two Serpents Rise</b>.</li>
<li>Will have to confirm email to be considered a winner within 48 hours.</li>
<li>Additional entries may be had by following the steps provided in the Rafflecopter instructions, and only by doing those steps. </li>
<li>Winners will be chosen by random selection using the Rafflecopter.</li>
</ul>
Good luck!
<br />
<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/55303935/" id="rc-55303935" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You can buy <b><i>Two Serpents Rise</i></b> at:</span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Two-Serpents-Rise-Max-Gladstone/dp/0765333120/" target="_blank"><span style="background: white;">Amazon</span></a><span style="background: white;">,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780765333124" target="_blank"><span style="background: white;">IndieBound</span></a></span><span style="background: white;">,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/two-serpents-rise-max-gladstone/1113106704?ean=9780765333124" target="_blank">Barnes and Noble</a>, <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9780765333124-0" target="_blank">Powell's</a>, and <a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Two-Serpents-Rise-Max-Gladstone/9780765333124" target="_blank">The Book Depository</a></span><span style="color: #222222;">.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="background: white;">For more information follow Max Gladstone on his <a href="http://www.maxgladstone.com/" target="_blank">blog</a> or on Twitter </span><a href="https://twitter.com/maxgladstone" target="_blank"><span style="background: white;">@maxgladstone</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-31684625634019462362013-10-28T10:15:00.000-04:002013-10-28T10:24:41.942-04:00Guest Post: Warning: Coarse Language by Skyla Dawn Cameron, author of Demons of Oblivion<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EYcs6UUK0b4/Um5YNf4yN_I/AAAAAAAABlo/VeGLnhYpKk8/s1600/SkylaDawnCameron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EYcs6UUK0b4/Um5YNf4yN_I/AAAAAAAABlo/VeGLnhYpKk8/s200/SkylaDawnCameron.jpg" width="147" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">“People
who swear just aren’t very creative.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Raise
your hand if you’ve heard someone say that as they lift their nose and take on
an air of superiority. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Look,
if you feel that way about naughty words, you’re not using them correctly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Exhibit
A: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_dirty_words">George Carlin</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbZhpf3sQxQ" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbZhpf3sQxQ</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="282" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vbZhpf3sQxQ?rel=0" width="500"></iframe>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">So...I
curse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">A
lot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">And
so do a lot of my characters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">I
think initially I got it from my mother. She could swear a blue streak, though
didn’t get particularly creative with it and usually apologized afterward (not
so now—I think I’ve influenced her in turn).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-daGJ9QylL6w/Um5u-qtiUHI/AAAAAAAABmA/LAyeDkFSl-8/s1600/1-Bloodlines.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-daGJ9QylL6w/Um5u-qtiUHI/AAAAAAAABmA/LAyeDkFSl-8/s200/1-Bloodlines.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">A
lot of kids swear for the forbidden aspect but as I grew older it stuck with
me. It’s not forbidden now; I am entirely comfortable with all manner of words.
I can say things that’ll make a sailor blush and I don’t bat an eye at any of
them. But the fact is, words have <i>power</i>. They have power that we assign
to them, and it’s impossible to ignore the gendered aspect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXk9EPxZw48">Fuck</a>’s had lots of
attention before. But let’s talk about cunt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">For
a long time, this word made me uncomfortable. It was a word even my mother
didn’t use. I know many women who will say anything <i>but</i> that word. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">But
here’s the thing: in a real life situation, I don’t want that word to scare me.
I’ve been in uncomfortable—sometimes dangerous—situations before and froze when
I heard that word. It carries a lot of baggage. When used by certain people in certain
circumstances, at the least it feels dismissive and at worst threatening. But I
don’t <i>want</i> a simple word to have power over me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">I
respect those who still refuse to use it, but for me, it was important to <a href="http://insatiablebooksluts.com/2013/08/06/i-appreciate-you-for-being-cruel-im-burning-bright-thanks-to-your-rejection-fuel/">reclaim
cunt</a>. To say it over and over and over until it stopped sounding shocking,
to use it and take the power from it. And that ends up in my writing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Although
I throw around a lot of curse words in my work, I tend to choose them with
care. Different characters will lean toward different words. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">For
Peri in <i>Lineage</i>, a mercenary, she tends toward plain, harsh language
like fuck, cocksucker, occasionally cunt. I’ve known a lot of blue-collar,
midnight-shift workers, and that’s what I modeled her language after. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LnTEO4vf2PY/Um5vUbH_IYI/AAAAAAAABmI/U107i5aCkV0/s1600/3-Lineage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LnTEO4vf2PY/Um5vUbH_IYI/AAAAAAAABmI/U107i5aCkV0/s200/3-Lineage.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Ryann
in <i>Hunter</i> is something else entirely: she’s a nun. And while it’s not
her position in the church that keeps her from swearing—plenty of her
colleagues do—it’s just her own personality that prefers not to say such things.
She won’t even use <i>darn</i>. Despite cursing by other characters peppering
the rest of her novel, when she finally utters a “Shut the hell up” at an
opportune moment, it’s all the funnier.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Zara
in <i>Bloodlines</i> and <i>Exhumed</i> is among my favourites, because she
simply <i>enjoys</i> the words. She’ll use any and all curse words to make her
point, and prefers to twist them in fun ways. (Like “fucktard.” C’mon, that
one’s just fun to say.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Including
the forbidden c-word. From <i>Exhumed</i>:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">I
blinked, just in case I missed some look of irony but nope, he was serious.
“I’m sorry, I think I’m having trouble hearing since she screamed TRAP so loud
in my ear. She’s not just a lying cunt, she’s the Supreme Lying Leader of the
Lying Cunts in Cuntania.”</span></i><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">“Cuntania”
was a word that only Zara would end up saying. And it still makes me giggle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">I
get it: words like these can draw a reader out of a story because they’re
unexpected. The more shocking they are to the reader, the more out of place
they’ll seem if used more than 2-3 times in a book. But <i>all</i> of that is
subjective. Opinion. <i>Period.</i> You know what word draws me out of books?
“Darn.” I don’t know a single person in real life who uses “darn.” I don’t see
how sticking a word in place of “damn” is any less sweary. But, again, <i>subjective</i>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Does
this language put some people off of my books? Probably.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-91OTyJhFu3Y/Um5w8t77w7I/AAAAAAAABmU/L39q10N7mjw/s1600/5-Oblivion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-91OTyJhFu3Y/Um5w8t77w7I/AAAAAAAABmU/L39q10N7mjw/s200/5-Oblivion.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">And
that’s cool. It’s a creative choice like any other. There’s also graphic
violence and vaguely sociopathic main characters; if it’s the swearing and not
the violence that puts you off, well...okay then. You might very well be my grandfather.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">My
grandfather is ninety-nine years old and insists that I should cut the swearing
out of my books as none of the popular writers (meaning <i>female</i> popular
writers) have that level of cursing in their work. So I might always wallow in
obscurity because of my cunty fucking language.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">We’ll
see, Grandpa. We’ll see.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<br />
Thanks for sharing that with us Skyla, it was <i>fucking</i> awesome. Skyla Dawn Cameron is the author of the <b><i>Demons of Oblivion</i></b> urban fantasy series which includes:<br />
<br />
<b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bloodlines-Demons-Oblivion-Skyla-Cameron-ebook/dp/B00FI83ZV0/" target="_blank">Bloodlines</a></i></b><br />
<b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hunter-Demons-Oblivion-Skyla-Cameron-ebook/dp/B00FJKE624" target="_blank">Hunter</a></i></b><br />
<b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lineage-Demons-Oblivion-Skyla-Cameron-ebook/dp/B00FO94M56" target="_blank">Lineage</a></i></b><br />
<b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Exhumed-Demons-Oblivion-Skyla-Cameron-ebook/dp/B00FWGJWW4" target="_blank">Exhumed</a></i></b><br />
<b><i>Oblivion</i></b><br />
<br />
As I understand it, she recently got the rights back to her books and she's re-releasing them. For the next few days you can buy <b><i>Bloodlines </i></b>for free, so take advantage of it while it lasts. The last one mentioned, <b><i>Oblivion</i></b>, seems to be scheduled for a 2014 release.<br />
<br />
<i style="font-weight: bold;">Demons of Oblivion</i> series is a favorite of our friend Melissa from her <a href="http://melissa-melsworld.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">My World...in books and pages</a> and she's been pestering me to read it since forever, even came to the blog to<a href="http://bastardbooks.blogspot.com/2012/04/guest-post-what-about-little-dogs-small.html" target="_blank"> share a few thoughts</a> on it. Well fine, I'll give it a read Melissa... just grabbed <b><i>Bloodlines</i></b>.<br />
<br />
In any case, this was an awesome guest post from Skyla, certainly one of my favorites... she had me at George Carlin, and with that I'll leave you with a video I've shared around here before, a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5L2S2zsCr0" target="_blank">10 minute Fuck Bomb Reel</a> from George.<br />
<br />
Please visit Skyla Dawn Cameron's <a href="http://www.skyladawncameron.com/" target="_blank">website</a> for more information and you can follow her on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/skyladawn" target="_blank">@SkylaDawn</a>.Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-50436895028480720002013-10-07T09:06:00.001-04:002013-10-07T09:06:22.601-04:00Guest Post & Giveaway: Discovering the Inclusive Badass in Urban Fantasy by Teresa Frohock author of Miserere<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfbUHLxRzSHnGjYP25qK_3HL9vUIsqhTTBD0LNAXjRdVexSdX2GAC7pu3FDG07uF_2YajNVDQ_LPoan8Ccus9orNGruqdhU2DCJwmRpYfjCo4A2cktyvjz26qxT2YJU8wQ2MnoVsaXERrF/s1600/Manifesto-UF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfbUHLxRzSHnGjYP25qK_3HL9vUIsqhTTBD0LNAXjRdVexSdX2GAC7pu3FDG07uF_2YajNVDQ_LPoan8Ccus9orNGruqdhU2DCJwmRpYfjCo4A2cktyvjz26qxT2YJU8wQ2MnoVsaXERrF/s200/Manifesto-UF.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">When I first saw Tim Marquitz's call for
stories for </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Manifesto: UF</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, I read it and thought I
couldn't possibly write an urban fantasy short story. I mean, what did I know
about the genre? I was totally intimidated by the blurb: "The time has
come to make a statement, to define a genre. This is our manifesto ..."</span></div>
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<em><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">"... to define a genre."</span></em><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">How could I help define a genre I
didn't understand at all? Were they looking for something like Ilona Andrews's
Kate Daniels series? Alex Bledsoe's Tufa series? Clive Barker's Cabal stories?
Romance, angels, demons, fairies, and cities? What ... what ... what were they
looking for in terms of stories?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I got out of there before my brain
exploded. Sometimes I overthink things and that is precisely what I did with
the Manifesto anthology. Other projects took my attention and I more or less
forgot about the anthology until my little message bar popped up on Facebook
one evening and it was Tim. He had seen an earlier status update about a short
story that I had written, and he invited me to submit a story to
Manifesto. I told him I didn't know anything about urban fantasy, but he wasn’t
put off. He offered me several very broad suggestions, and I realized that I
might be able to write something for him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I looked at the guidelines again.
The word "badass" kept jumping out at me. I realigned my thinking and
put urban fantasy in the context of badass. It was then that I realized
that the Kate Daniels series has snappy dialogue along with a badass
protagonist who is wicked-sharp; Alex's Tufa are badass in a low-slung southern
kind of way; and Clive Barker's Cabal stories were so badass they straddled the
line between urban fantasy and horror.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tMjAcTndeFo/UlKv9W7BvpI/AAAAAAAABk8/QfNwJmifs2Y/s1600/magicrises-ilonaandrews.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tMjAcTndeFo/UlKv9W7BvpI/AAAAAAAABk8/QfNwJmifs2Y/s200/magicrises-ilonaandrews.jpg" width="123" /></a><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I had an idea for a traditional
fantasy story, but I thought that the story could work just as well in the
present day. I reshaped the background and the characters to write "Naked
the Night Sings." I didn't try to ram the story into any guidelines and I
just had fun with the concept. I allowed convention to fall by the wayside and
let the story run free.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">When I was done, I saw that my story
slid closer to Barker's style of badass--urban fantasy mixed with horror. As a
matter of fact, I thought the story edged a little too close to horror to
fit in the Manifesto anthology, but I offered it up to Tim nevertheless. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">That was how "Naked the Night
Sings" found its way into the anthology, and how I rethought my
misconceptions about urban fantasy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Definitions and categories are
utilized by marketing and bookstores to show people where to look for the
stories that they like. However, definitions usually present a narrow view, a
statement of exact meaning or context. The short stories in <em>Manifesto:
UF</em> defies the confines of a definition by showing the
reader the absolute beauty and breadth of the urban fantasy genre. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The very inclusiveness of urban
fantasy is what makes it so much fun. This inhibition turns each story,
each novel into a brand new adventure. Urban fantasy opens the door to the
fantastic and the reader is never quite certain where the path will lead. The
emphasis, however, is on fun and I like that, because enjoyment and wonder are
what stories are about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I know we take our genres and
ourselves quite seriously at times. We passionately defend our viewpoints and
why this story or that story may or may not be within the guidelines of urban
fantasy or paranormal romance or traditional fantasy or dark fantasy or
whatever new and amazing thing we discover next.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wJVbc9i9L_Q/UlKwGImW0EI/AAAAAAAABlE/JNAeZ6AxTss/s1600/Miserere.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wJVbc9i9L_Q/UlKwGImW0EI/AAAAAAAABlE/JNAeZ6AxTss/s200/Miserere.jpg" width="133" /></a><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Yet there really are no rules, no
definitions, and the only manifesto is the manifesto of fun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Urban fantasy may contain aspects of
horror; angels and demons and fae and all sorts of creatures wondrous and new;
romance and pleasure and songs; stories may take place in cities
or in small towns ...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Urban fantasy holds all of these
things, some of these things, none of these things, you never know what you
will find. That is the beauty of discovery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So I've decided to make a manifesto
of my own: to read for the joy of reading and to explore new genres without
prejudice. I'll find some stories that I don't care for, but I'll also
find a gem or two. All that is required of me is to remain open to the
possibilities.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">********</span></div>
</div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lYaLy9oCutc/UlKwc-qiWEI/AAAAAAAABlQ/V4zg0GuTifE/s1600/TeresaFrohock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lYaLy9oCutc/UlKwc-qiWEI/AAAAAAAABlQ/V4zg0GuTifE/s200/TeresaFrohock.jpg" width="136" /></a><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">Teresa Frohock has turned her love of dark fantasy and horror into tales of deliciously creepy fiction. She is the author of </span><i style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Miserere-Autumn-Tale-Teresa-Frohock/dp/1597802891/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377962213&sr=8-1&keywords=miserere">Miserere: An Autumn Tale</a></i><span style="color: black;"> and has a short story, “Naked the Night Sings,” in the urban fantasy anthology </span><i style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Manifesto-UF-ebook/dp/B00EQUSJYE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377962173&sr=8-1&keywords=manifesto+uf">Manifesto: UF</a></i><span style="color: black;">. Teresa has long been accused of telling stories, which is a southern colloquialism for lying. Visit her at her website: </span><a href="file:///C:/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/OQG0QFE3/www.teresafrohock.com">www.teresafrohock.com</a></span></div>
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<br />
<hr />
<br />
Thanks for visiting Teresa and welcome to the Urban Fantasy family. For those that don't know, I'm a big fan of Teresa Frohock since I loved her debut <b><i>Miserere: An Autumn Tale</i></b> which I reviewed <a href="http://bastardbooks.blogspot.com/2013/04/review-miserere-teresa-frohock.html" target="_blank">here</a>. In it, I made mention of how <b><i>Miserere</i></b> made me feel as if I was reading a story that's not urban fantasy, but what occurs behind the curtains of such a story. Highly recommended.<br />
<br />
Make sure to follow Teresa on her <a href="http://teresafrohock.com/" target="_blank">website</a> or on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/teresafrohock" target="_blank">@TeresaFrohock</a>.<br />
<br />
And now for the giveaway, it'll be for 5 ecopies of the <b><i>Manifesto: UF</i></b> anthology edited by Tim Marquitz and Tyson Mauermann which includes Teresa Frohock's short story <b><i>Naked the Night Sings</i></b>.<br />
<blockquote>
<i>From angels to vampires, dragons to wizards, Manifesto brings together twenty-three stories full of action, snark, and unadulterated badassery.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>Featuring stories from Lucy A. Snyder, Jeff Salyards, William Meikle, Teresa Frohock, Zachary Jernigan, Betsy Dornbusch, Kirk Dougal, Karina Fabian, Adam Millard, Timothy Baker, Ryan Lawler, Andrew Moczulski, R.L. Treadway, Abhinav Jain, TSP Sweeney, Nickolas Sharps, Jonathan Pine, Kenny Soward, Joshua S. Hill, Jake Elliot, Lincoln Crisler, J.M. Martin, & Wilson Geiger.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>The time has come to make a statement, to define a genre. This is our manifesto.</i></blockquote>
<br />
<b>Participants have to be 18 years of age or older to participate. Void where prohibited by law. Giveaway rules are subject to change. </b><br />
<br />
The giveaway is open WORLD WIDE, and it will run from October 7, 2013 until 11:59 pm ET on October 14, 2013.<br />
<br />
The giveaway is for a chance to win an ecopy of 5 of the <b><i>Manifesto: UF</i></b> anthology.<br />
<br />
<b>How to participate:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>To participate simply log-in into to the Rafflecopter and "Enter" through the easy entry.</li>
<li>One entry per person, or face disqualification.</li>
<li>Entries accepted until 11:59pm ET on October 14, 2013.</li>
<li>There'll be 5 winners for 1 ecopy each of <b><i>Manifesto: UF</i></b>.</li>
<li>Will have to confirm email to be considered a winner within 48 hours.</li>
<li>Additional entries may be had by following the steps provided in the Rafflecopter instructions, and only by doing those steps. </li>
<li>Winners will be chosen by random selection using the Rafflecopter.</li>
</ul>
Good luck!
<br />
<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/55303934/" id="rc-55303934" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script>Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-38104845010076859032013-09-30T08:53:00.001-04:002013-09-30T08:53:55.128-04:00Guest Post: Life as a Serial Murderer by Anton Strout author of The Spellmason Chronicles<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eIpXQ4ot04o/Ukj-4i1BoDI/AAAAAAAABkE/iumpoYWUCfA/s1600/Anton+Midtown+Comics+030511.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eIpXQ4ot04o/Ukj-4i1BoDI/AAAAAAAABkE/iumpoYWUCfA/s200/Anton+Midtown+Comics+030511.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">I confess.
I’m a serial murderer. I can’t
help it. People have to die, and it’s my
hands that do the dark deed. And you
know what? I’m unapologetic about
that. Frankly, it’s one of the greatest
joys I have in life. It’s true—I love
being an urban fantasy writer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">I sold my first book, DEAD TO ME, back in 2007 and
at the time it was a standalone urban fantasy written basically because I
missed Buffy too much. What I hadn’t
really considered—fledgling author, I—was that the publishers were going to
want <i>more</i> Simon Canderous paranormal
detective novels from me. Yet somehow I
managed to mentally process that request and somehow produced three more in
that series before starting on a second one for them, the Spellmason
Chronicles. As we speak ALCHEMYSTIC and
the just released STONECAST are already in the can for that series, and I’m currently
fast at work on the third. How the hell did I get two series going?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2mcGoOauruU/Ukj_XfQU2II/AAAAAAAABkM/2V57yMIN09o/s1600/Dead-to-Me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2mcGoOauruU/Ukj_XfQU2II/AAAAAAAABkM/2V57yMIN09o/s200/Dead-to-Me.jpg" width="122" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Looking back, I have to marvel at the fact that
I’ve produced seven books and five tie-in stories that spread over two different
worlds. None of it came easy, believe me. I mean, I had spent a lot of time
learning how to write, how to develop everything that goes into a <i>single </i>book, but the one area none of
the classes or workshops I went to ever taught was <i>how does one write an ongoing series</i>? When Ace asked for more Simon books, I was
stumped.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Learning how to write a continuing series was
something I was absolutely unfamiliar with, and since there was no class I
could enroll myself in, my education came in trial by fire and learning through
my mistakes as I went.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">The first step was in adjusting how I thought
about my next book, which at the time was DEADER STILL. My thinking went from figuring out not just
the short term goals for my characters but what the long term ones were for the
book <i>beyond</i> DEADER STILL.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Luckily, I tend to write cinematically thanks to
years of rampant geekery and viewing, so I began to think of each book in a
series as episodes of a season. They had
their individual episodic goals as well as the longer term ones a television
season usually has. For instance, there
are a lot of individual adventures that make up season three of BUFFY THE
VAMPIRE SLAYER, but the goal of the whole season was to graduate and take down
the Big Bad, Mayor Wilkins (whose Ascension into snake form does not go <i>quite </i>as he planned). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2fYbG_93-_o/Ukj_rS3VCEI/AAAAAAAABkU/GNCDGm0xqGc/s1600/alchemystic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2fYbG_93-_o/Ukj_rS3VCEI/AAAAAAAABkU/GNCDGm0xqGc/s200/alchemystic.jpg" width="123" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">In order to get that depth into my own work as a
newfound book series writer, I came up with what I like to call The LOST Approach.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Love it or hate it, the LOST television series did
things that really were unprecedented, and fan loyalty ran high. What I specifically loved—and stole—from the
series, however, was the short and long term goals of the show. Along the way the writers of LOST planted a
lot of what I call story seeds. These
gave the show room to grow in a variety of directions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">And like all gardens, not all things grew. Some of them died on the vine, as they will
when you plant a lot of seeds. They
can’t all survive, especially for the sake of the story. You <i>have</i>
to let them die. Otherwise readers will
think every last thing means <i>something</i>
in your book, and well… where’s the fun in figuring out all the mysteries ahead
of time? You don’t want your series to become predictable, after all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">By both giving your characters a variety of traits
and setting up a detailed world, yes, you add a richness to your word, but it
also gives you a vast pool of sneaky opportunities to mine for connective
tissue when you’re scrambling to put together the larger arc of your story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7ziyF2W5oGY/Ukj_y4FeCXI/AAAAAAAABkc/cCohQAPjyoA/s1600/Stonecast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7ziyF2W5oGY/Ukj_y4FeCXI/AAAAAAAABkc/cCohQAPjyoA/s200/Stonecast.jpg" width="123" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">With the Simon Canderous series I had dropped some
unsolved mysteries into DEAD TO ME that I could use to tie in to later books,
and because your job as a writer is to hide all the seams where you’ve stitched
your monster together, the reader ends up none the wiser. In the end, you want it to seem like you
cleverly planned it all along when the truth is sometimes you’re working like
hell to shove square pegs into round holes. It’s a tricky business disguising
all that, but with practice, book by book, you get more seasoned at it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">By the time I began writing the Spellmason
Chronicles I was well primed to get a head start working on my long term goals for
that new series. In turn, knowing some
of these secrets has made it easier to steer the overall course of each
book. I think I’ve become a better
gardener after seven books, one who is better at planting good seeds and seeing
what lives and what dies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">But still, even
now? There ought to be a crash course
offered on creating an ongoing series. I
have a feeling that classroom would fill up <i>fast</i>.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><br /></span></div>
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I swear this was completely unplanned, as it now appears I am having a series of guest posts on the topic of <a href="http://bastardbooks.blogspot.com/2013/09/guest-post-going-from-debut-to-series.html" target="_blank">"writing sequels and series"</a>. Not that I'm complaining, I find it quite interesting.<br />
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Thanks Anton for coming over and giving us your perspective on how you approach writing a series, and good luck with your new release.<br />
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<b><i><a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Stonecast-Anton-Strout/9780425256404" target="_blank">Stonecast</a></i></b> is the second novel in <b><i>The Spellmason Chronicles</i></b> which is available now.<br />
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For more information you can visit Anton Strout's <a href="http://www.antonstrout.com/" target="_blank">website</a> or follow him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/antonstrout" target="_blank">@AntonStrout</a>.Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-79872470223976319272013-09-24T08:59:00.000-04:002013-09-24T08:59:06.295-04:00Guest Post: Going from Debut to Series by Michael J. Martinez author of The Daedalus Incident<div>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4pKGu8-3Z6I/UkGG0CmghYI/AAAAAAAABjI/-XKh5-TQ3s4/s1600/michael-j-martinez.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4pKGu8-3Z6I/UkGG0CmghYI/AAAAAAAABjI/-XKh5-TQ3s4/s200/michael-j-martinez.jpg" width="185" /></a>When I wrote <i>The Daedalus Incident</i>, my debut novel, I had no idea whether a space opera/historical fantasy mashup would work, or whether folks would be as jazzed as I was about sailing ships in space. Heck, I had no idea if I was even capable of writing a good novel. </div>
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Well, apparently I am. It worked, folks were jazzed. I am a for-real author now. And I’m now contracted to write two more novels in the <i>Daedalus </i>series.</div>
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<a href="http://www.writing.ie/interviews/demons-at-his-heels-the-writing-life-of-peter-v-brett-by-michael-j-martinez/" target="_blank">I interviewed Peter V. Brett last spring</a>, and at the time I was surprised at the tack his attitude toward writing had taken since his success. He approached writing his books as a job, and a difficult one at that, whereas I was still of the dude-I’m-getting-a-novel-published-squee-awesome-yay mindset. </div>
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I totally get it now, Peat. </div>
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The next novel in the series, <i>The Enceladus Crisis</i>, is coming out next spring, with the third book (yet-to-be named, let alone written) due toward the end of 2014. While writing <i>The Daedalus Incident</i> was something of a lark, and a lot of fun to write, this is a business now. I have contracts. Deadlines. Obligations. These books <i>have</i> to be written.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Nq3kSYt17KQ/UkGIG7xAk6I/AAAAAAAABjU/PVaD1bEaKzA/s1600/thedaedalusincident-michaeljmartinez.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Nq3kSYt17KQ/UkGIG7xAk6I/AAAAAAAABjU/PVaD1bEaKzA/s200/thedaedalusincident-michaeljmartinez.jpg" width="132" /></a>And I also have fans. Like, at least two, possibly more. But seriously, people have read and generally enjoyed <i>The Daedalus Incident</i>, and they’ll have expectations for the next two. They’ll want to see more of the stuff that the loved about the first book, and they’ll all have opinions on where the story should go and what they want to see. </div>
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No pressure.</div>
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Finally, as utterly pretentious as it sounds, I want to grow as a writer. I know, I know…I hesitate typing it. But I do indeed want to challenge myself. Writing <i>Daedalus</i> in the first place was a personal challenge, so why stop? I think most writers want to see just how much they have in the tank. So do I. That means <i>The Enceladus Crisis</i> will be more complex. It’ll have more characters, more POVs, more subplots. And not just more of the big stuff, but more nuance as well. More interesting bits. Better writing, even. </div>
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I also want to play off any expectations set up in <i>The Daedalus Incident</i>. Yes, there will be sailing ships in space, because, you know, that’s still cool. And I’m playing with how those ships maneuver and fight in space, which means some pretty cool battles. There will also be different settings. A fair chunk of the story will happen on Earth. There will be intrigue. More setting exploration. More backstory. More of the stuff that folks commented on and liked.</div>
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And then, there’s also <i>subverting</i> expectations. I mean, I don’t want to treat <i>Daedalus</i> like a paint-by-numbers kit. Think about how <i>The Empire Strikes Back</i> was so much better than <i>Star Wars</i>, even though it was a very different movie. Same thing here. I want <i>The Enceladus Crisis</i> to have the same relationship to <i>Daedalus</i>. Difference within continuity is probably the best way to describe it.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dn9P_FsERh4/UkGIdWeIDrI/AAAAAAAABjc/YddXjVkRygg/s1600/theenceladuscrisis-michaeljmartinez-banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="110" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dn9P_FsERh4/UkGIdWeIDrI/AAAAAAAABjc/YddXjVkRygg/s200/theenceladuscrisis-michaeljmartinez-banner.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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There are definitely days where I look at what I’m writing and ponder exactly what I got myself into. But it’s totally worth it. It’s still fun, too. Turns out I created a pretty nifty sandbox, and I’m enjoying the new castles. </div>
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Plus, unlike Peat, I still have my day job, and will for the foreseeable future. I can afford to fail miserably, even though I’d quite prefer not to. That’s freeing. My kid’s going to college whether or not these are awesome successes. So I feel like I can take some risks and see how it goes. </div>
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In the end, though, there’s an edge to writing these new novels. I’m writing from a different place than I was. It’s not a bad thing, but it’ll be interesting to see what comes of it. I hope you enjoy the ride with me.</div>
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Let me be the first to point out that I have two Mikes in a row for guest posts on the blog. Don't know yet if that's a good thing, or a sign of the Apocalypse. Time will tell I guess. In any case, thanks Mike (Martinez) for stopping by. Good luck with your debut and with your series.<br />
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You can buy <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Daedalus Incident</i> on <a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Daedalus-Incident-Michael-J-Martinez/9781597804721" target="_blank">The Book Depository</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Daedalus-Incident-ebook/dp/B00B0SBF8W/" target="_blank">Amazon</a>, <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/The-Daedalus-Incident-Audiobook/B00CZGWVTU" target="_blank">Audible</a>, <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-daedalus-incident-michael-j-martinez/1113010385" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a>, <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781597804721" target="_blank">IndieBound</a>.<br />
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For more information please follow <a href="http://www.michaeljmartinez.net/" target="_blank">Michael J. Martinez</a> on his website or on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/mikemartinez72" target="_blank">@mikemartinez72</a>.Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-50675953808716271102013-09-18T09:33:00.000-04:002013-09-18T09:33:11.898-04:00Guest Post: Standing at the Crossroads from Mike Shevdon, author of The Courts of the Feyre series<div>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WqgrerZW3Q8/Ujktn_J57WI/AAAAAAAABic/0GoNO0Itrxw/s1600/mikeshevdon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WqgrerZW3Q8/Ujktn_J57WI/AAAAAAAABic/0GoNO0Itrxw/s200/mikeshevdon.jpg" width="132" /></a>With the completion of the fourth and final book in The Courts of the Feyre I find myself at a cross-roads. Up until now I’ve styled myself as an Urban Fantasy Author, because that’s what I’ve written and it makes it easier for readers who are likely to enjoy my work to find me. For most people, though, urban fantasy isn’t a genre, and the words urban and fantasy simply don’t mean anything together. I might as well say goldfish collider for all the sense it makes to them. (Now I have an image of two goldfish swimming around a giant toroidal tank in opposite directions until they collide and scales and fins fly off in spiral patterns. That’s what an imagination will do to you. Be warned.)</div>
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So, while fans of the sub-genre rejoice in the subtle nuances between paranormal romance and urban fantasy, the rest of the world looks on in bemusement. At best they’ve seen True Blood or Being Human and assume that I write about vampires and werewolves, which isn’t far enough from the truth to be useful for plausible deniability. The last ten years have been spent writing about faeries - not the little darlings with the flower petal hats invented by the Victorians but the sort of faeries that suck the marrow from your bones and leave your head on a hazel spike as a warning to others. There are shape shifters in the Courts of the Feyre, and the Wraithkin might be considered predatory. They’re not vampires, but they do prey on others.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OPqSu0Wslgk/Ujkuy6Cg8rI/AAAAAAAABio/chrM0Gd7UFo/s1600/sixty-one-nails.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OPqSu0Wslgk/Ujkuy6Cg8rI/AAAAAAAABio/chrM0Gd7UFo/s200/sixty-one-nails.jpg" width="131" /></a>In the courts series I set out to weave together history and folklore and a sense of magic and mystery in the real world, and hopefully I succeeded. I could carry on writing about faeries. There are plenty of stories left to tell, and a willing audience to read them, and though the courts are finished there are some survivors. I’m not ready to do that, though. Not yet. I’m not saying there will never be another story set in that world, or with those characters that still remain, but not now. This is the cross-roads that I’ve reached.</div>
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The problem with urban fantasy, or any sub-genre of a similar nature, is that it’s circular. Urban fantasy inspires urban fantasy, which in turn begets urban fantasy. In defining itself it is chained to a rock, and the rock won’t move. That doesn’t mean that there’s no room for innovation or originality - there are authors pushing at the boundaries and rattling the chains, but if they go too far they are no longer part of the genre and they risk ostracising themselves from their fans.</div>
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When I set out to write I made a choice. I wanted the sense of wonder that follows you wherever you go, but based in reality. That meant avoiding the love triangles and “will-she, won’t she” dilemmas of paranormal romance and the obligation-free rootless heroes and heroines the populate much of urban fantasy. There’s nothing wrong with any of that - it can make a good story - but I wanted something else.</div>
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That meant that just because people had sex it didn’t mean they were in love. It meant characters with complicated messy lives filled with failed relationships, divorces, and responsibilities they would find it hard to walk away from. It meant people who made the same mistakes again and again - because that’s what people do. Redemption is the chance to break the cycle and start again, but while we may change our lives, we may forget to change ourselves, and it’s that struggle that I find interesting.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GBfw2NYHbSI/UjkvOy5dfVI/AAAAAAAABiw/5APMp5d6dMk/s1600/The-Eighth-Court.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GBfw2NYHbSI/UjkvOy5dfVI/AAAAAAAABiw/5APMp5d6dMk/s200/The-Eighth-Court.jpg" width="131" /></a>Ten years ago I was inventing characters - people that grew with me over four books and showed themselves for who they really were. I learned to walk in those people’s shoes and see what was in their hearts. Now I need to do that again, but with new people, taking everything I’ve learned and pouring it into a new mould. It’s hard to start again. It’s hard to walk away from ten years of foundation and structure, rules and constraints that are engraved on the inside of my head. But then it was hard to write about the funeral of a child, or to step into the head of a teenage girl, or to kill characters I’ve come to know and love. Writing’s hard, and when it’s hard it gets better.</div>
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As I stand at the crossroads and look back at ten years of work, I think I can be proud of what I’ve achieved. I didn’t revolutionise the genre, but that’s not what I set out to do. I did write four separate and distinct stories, each different from the last, each a development of what came before while standing on its own merits. I know this because I’ve read the reviews of people who started at book three and then went back to books one and two to find out how it came to be. I’ve stretched myself with each successive work, and grown as a writer each time. I’ve learned so much, and yet I can see I have much to learn. It’s a beginning.</div>
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I’m still working on what comes next - I’m not short of ideas. There are some interesting avenues to explore and I want to give myself the time and the freedom to build something new. When I started down this road I wanted to write about magic in the real world. Now I want to do something else, and I haven’t decided yet what that will be. You may think I’m being coy, but I’m not the writer with a drawer full of old manuscripts. Everything is new - it’s all developed from scratch. That’s daunting because I know how much work it is, but at the same time it’s exciting because it’s new and raw.</div>
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One thing I can say is that writing has changed me. When I started writing I had no idea how difficult it would be. Becoming a writer has changed the way I see the world - it’s shifted my perspective. </div>
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I can’t undo that - and I wouldn’t want to even if I could.</div>
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Thanks Mike for stopping by, and good luck with whatever project you decide to go with next.<br />
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You can buy the books from <b><i>The Courts of the Feyre</i></b> here:<br />
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<a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Sixty-One-Nails-Mike-Shevdon/9780857662477" target="_blank">Sixty-One Nails</a><br />
<a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Road-Bedlam-Mike-Shevdon/9780857662484" target="_blank">The Road to Bedlam</a><br />
<a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Strangeness-Charm-Mike-Shevdon/9780857662248" target="_blank">Strangeness and Charm</a><br />
<a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Eighth-Court-Mike-Shevdon/9780857662279" target="_blank">The Eighth Court</a><br />
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For more information you can visit Mike Shevdon's <a href="http://shevdon.com/" target="_blank">website</a> or follow him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/shevdon" target="_blank">@Shevdon</a>.Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-46856118812130711832013-09-16T10:16:00.000-04:002013-09-16T10:16:14.200-04:00Giveaway: Kitty in the Underworld by Carrie Vaughn<div>
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<b><i>Kitty Norville</i></b> is a fun urban fantasy series that follows a werewolf DJ from author Carrie Vaughn. It's one of the first ones I began reading in the genre, which is now in its twelfth installment. This latest one is <i style="font-weight: bold;">Kitty in the Underworld</i> which was released at the end of Summer, and naturally I have a giveaway for you guys (3 copies) sponsored by Tor.</div>
<blockquote>
<i>As Denver adjusts to a new master vampire, Kitty gets word of an intruder in the Denver werewolf pack’s territory, and she investigates the challenge to her authority. She follows the scent of the lycanthrope through the mountains where she is lured into a trap, tranquilized, and captured. When she wakes up, she finds herself in a defunct silver mine: the perfect cage for a werewolf. Her captors are a mysterious cult seeking to induct Kitty into their ranks in a ritual they hope will put an end to Dux Bellorum. Though skeptical of their power, even Kitty finds herself struggling to resist joining their cause. Whatever she decides, they expect Kitty to join them in their plot . . . willingly or otherwise.</i></blockquote>
<a href="http://us.macmillan.com/kittyintheunderworld/CarrieVaughn" target="_blank">http://us.macmillan.com/kittyintheunderworld/CarrieVaughn</a><br />
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<b>Participants have to be 18 years of age or older to participate. Void where prohibited by law. Giveaway rules are subject to change. </b><br />
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The giveaway is open to US and Canada shipping addresses only, and it will run from September 16, 2013 until 11:59 pm ET on September 27, 2013.<br />
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The giveaway is for a chance to win a copy of 3 of the twelfth installment in the<b><i> Kitty Norville</i></b> urban fantasy series by Carrie Vaughn, <b><i>Kitty in the Underworld</i></b> from Tor.<br />
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<b>How to participate:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>To participate simply log-in into to the Rafflecopter and "Enter" through the easy entry.</li>
<li>One entry per person, or face disqualification.</li>
<li>Entries accepted until 11:59pm ET on September 27, 2013.</li>
<li>There'll be 3 winners for only 1 copy each of <b><i>Kitty in the Underworld</i></b>.</li>
<li>Will have to confirm email to be considered a winner within 48 hours.</li>
<li>Additional entries may be had by following the steps provided in the Rafflecopter instructions, and only by doing those steps. </li>
<li>Winners will be chosen by random selection using the Rafflecopter.</li>
</ul>
Good luck!<br />
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For more information please visit Carrie Vaughn's <a href="http://www.carrievaughn.com/" target="_blank">website</a>.<br />
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<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/55303933/" id="rc-55303933" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script>Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-36412048237341345022013-09-10T09:11:00.000-04:002013-09-10T09:11:46.225-04:00Bastard Reaction: Generation V by M. L. Brennan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This would've been an easy title to overlook; a seemingly by the numbers vampire story from a debut author with a cute guy (or so I've been told) on the cover and not much else. It screamed "Pass!" to me, a book intended for someone else. Thankfully I didn't after seeing a couple of positive reactions to it from like-minded readers, and the level of excitement editor Anne Sowards showed for the release of this novel. I can honestly say<b><i> Generation V</i></b> by M. L. Brennan is the most fun I've had reading an urban fantasy novel in the past year or more. Don't make the same mistake and judge the book by its cover, you'll thank me later. It's the first of the <b><i>American Vampire</i></b> urban fantasy series.<br />
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Fortitude is living an unfulfilling life, and even though he surely is aware of his circumstances, he doesn't seem to care much about improving his situation; content in living a life without confrontations and conflicts while remaining as willfully ignorant as possible. He has a "girlfriend" who's sleeping around, yet has him convinced that it's normal, he has dead-end job with ungrateful co-workers, and a roommate who refuses to pay the rent. If that wasn't enough he's a vampire, in the making, but hasn't manifested yet, something he's praying doesn't happen ever. His plan is to avoid becoming a full vampire like the rest of his family, cruel murderous vampires in his view responsible for a childhood tragedy that has left him traumatized for the rest of his life. This explains why he's now living the life as he is now, being as good and ethical as he possibly can, but with little ambition. What's a goody-two-shoe to do though when a maniac vampire comes to town, and no one is willing to stand against him? With the help of the kitsune Suzume, Fortitude looks to change the fortune of his life or die trying doing what's right.<br />
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<b><i>Generation V</i></b> is a multifaceted novel which took care to depict precisely what Fort's life is all about. It's fun and funny, as it's dark and tragic. We spend a few days with Fort in a story that is character focused, and are invited to experience all as he does from the dullest to the most exciting of moments. What follows is a well balanced novel which contains a mixture of slice-of-life, family drama, comedy, mystery, suspense, action, and horror. A combination that works and provides perfect contrast between the lighthearted moments and those that are surprisingly dark and horror filled.<br />
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The characters were a big plus, probably Brennan's biggest storytelling strength in my opinion. Not only did she create memorable characters, she also provided some terrific character interaction which is one of the elements I'm most interest in. That's not to say everything was smooth sailing. I mean, I spent the whole book wishing I could punch Fortitude in the balls to see if he finally grew a pair. He was living in denial and extremely naïve, to the point that is was unbelievable and frustrating. By the same token, in the end it becomes part of his charm, but still...fist meet Fort's testicles.<br />
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Besides him, we have an assortment of incredibly good secondary characters starting with Fort's siblings with similarly eccentric names: his brother Chivalry and sister Prudence. Both who are aptly named, which I'll leave at that. We also have Madeline, his mother and head vampire of the region and a character who's clearly playing the long game. Lastly we have the kitsune Suzume who easily stole the show in this book. <b><i>Generation V</i></b> was a pretty good read, but when Suzume was introduced the novel just went to a whole different level. She was awesome. Before I began reading, anime was my passion, so when anything concerning Japanese culture gets introduced I get quite excited. Bias aside, Suzume was simply amazing. She was fun and funny, as well as incredibly mischievous and quite badass. To that point, I say screw <b><i>Generation V</i></b>, when are we going to get <b><i>Generation K</i></b>? I kid I kid, but hey that's an idea... She really complemented Fort, and they made an incredible duo as the story progressed to say nothing of the fascinating banter between them. When Suzume was around, life didn't suck all that much, "even if you're a vampire".<br />
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World-building is still a work in progress, it's clear that the world being created here is quite expansive, but not much of an opportunity to get into just yet. There was a point where Brennan tried to expand by introducing a couple of minor characters as an attempt to show different supernatural beings that exist in this world, but the attempt felt a bit off to me. Like it didn't quite fit either the world that's being created, or the story that was being told in this particular book. But at the same time we met the full kitsune contingent, and that worked perfectly, so I hope that as Brennan expands on the world, things will get more interesting.<br />
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That aside, the vampire mythology was incredible and quite unique. I can honestly say I haven't seen something quite like this, so kudos to Brennan's creativeness. From the way vampires are created, to the way the have relationships, to the effects bloodsucking has, everything was well thought-out. And we can't forget how she reinvents the meaning of what it is to be a Renfield which was very intriguing.<br />
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The novel is not action packed, but there's plenty of energy and movement. And yes, it has action and it's well executed when there is. The story was quite funny at times, I think it actually made me laugh a couple of times, which the written word finds hard to do with me. It has an abundance of great confrontations though, usually in the form of Fort with his family members. Just the same, the story goes quite dark at times, disturbingly so on occasions and fascinatingly violent. This to say, that there's a little bit of everything here for all kinds of readers.<br />
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<b><i>Generation V</i></b> is a refreshingly unique novel that all urban fantasy enthusiast should read, and a book capable of encouraging even the most ardent critics of the genre. Very much a page turner, a story that has a lot of heart and much to offer. With an extremely fun novel full of charm, Brennan has written a winner. Very much looking forward to future adventures featuring Fort and Suzume. They can't come soon enough, <b><i><a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Iron-Night-M-L-Brennan/9780451418418" target="_blank">Iron Night</a></i></b> comes out next January.<br />
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Buy <b><i>Generation V</i></b> from <a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Generation-V-M-L-Brennan/9780451418401" target="_blank">The Book Depository</a>.<br />
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For more information please visit M. L. Brennan's <a href="http://mlbrennan.com/" target="_blank">website</a> or follow on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/brennanml" target="_blank">@BrennanML</a>.<br />
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Oh, and the cover for <b><i>Iron Night</i></b>, much better I say. Do you agree?<br />
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<br />Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-70968581096477475322013-07-17T10:00:00.000-04:002013-07-17T10:00:09.501-04:00Guest Post & Giveaway: Forsaken by the Others Blog Tour by Jess Haines<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><i>Retaining Humanity In A
Supernatural World</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Hello there! Jess Haines here. I’m the author of the
H&W Investigations series—urban fantasy novels about Shiarra Waynest, a
human private investigator in an alternate, present-day New York. Somehow she
keeps getting pulled into supernatural troubles way above her pay grade…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">One of the most fascinating aspects of fantasy is, of course, the
magic. Magical items, magical creatures, magical spells and locations—they all
have their place, but I think sometimes the human side is forgotten or taken a
little too much for granted. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Take some of the big players in urban fantasy—Harry Dresden, Anita
Blake, Sookie Stackhouse, Mercy Thompson, Rachel Morgan, Atticus O’Sullivan,
October Daye, just to name a few well known characters—and you’ll notice not a
one of them is human. Most of those characters’ closest friends are also not
human. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but it was one of the
factors that drove me to write a main character who was both human and had
something of a phobia of supernaturals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It’s easy to admire a character who has incredible powers at their
fingertips. Whether it’s magic spells, shapeshifting, to command the dead, to
control animals, or to be able to tease and trick the senses, those abilities
are often larger than life and more fascinating than the humdrum existence of
the mundane. It also makes it easier to save the day when you have such a leg
up on the rest of humanity. Not to mention face a bad guy whose powers might be
comparable, even if they are greater.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In urban fantasy, humans (usually) make up the bulk of the
population and shouldn’t be underestimated. Even when a minor character’s
purpose is solely to be a victim, they shouldn’t just be fodder or collateral
damage. Being food or an unintended casualty doesn’t excuse a writer from
making their humans into more than just a parody or stereotype. After all, we readers and writers are—I hope—<i>Homo sapiens</i>. We work and interact with
other humans every day. Even when the mythology of a particular series states
that the monsters are in the majority, it doesn’t mean the people in the
background shouldn’t act as… well… people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In urban fantasy, when a supernatural is faced with the general
public, the humans tend to react badly once they realize that what they’re
dealing with isn’t like them. After all, we generally fear the things we don’t
understand. Most urban fantasy takes the opportunity to present anything
different or “Other” as prompt enough for blatantly xenophobic behavior out of
the general populace. Once in a while there might be a few in the minority who
exhibit intense fascination instead. In general it seems they lean more towards
a barely contained fear displayed as covert or sometimes overt hostility.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Just because something—someone—is different doesn’t mean they’re
not worth getting to know. Just as someone who isn’t magical in nature isn’t
necessarily boring and not worth getting to know. True, it all depends on their
role in the tale, but their untold story could be every bit as gripping and
complex as that of the magical beings who feature if only they’re given an
opportunity to shine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It’s a challenge to write a main character who is vulnerable to a
werewolf’s claws, could fall under a vampire’s hypnotic gaze, or might end up
enchanted by a mage’s spell. It’s all too easy to make a normal person look
foolish or their circumstances overwhelmingly depressing when the character is
easily outshone by their supernatural counterparts. Even if you’re shooting for humor, making
every person who isn’t magical in nature into a caricature of the worst humanity
has to offer is not the way to go. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Though, on a related note, one doesn’t have to be a monster to do
monstrous things. When faced with the extraordinary, sometimes it’s easy to
forget amidst all that exoticism just how dangerous and clever we can be. Having
fur, fangs, claws or magic are not prerequisites to being tough, skilled, or
capable of dark deeds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">A person also doesn’t have to be capable of superhuman feats to
show great compassion. Humanity falls all over the spectrum and while we all
might occasionally hold someone up or tear someone down, everyone has the
capacity for great good and great evil. Even when it’s not readily apparent,
character, intelligence and competence has nothing to do with superpowers or
unnatural hungers—and the supernaturals of the world best never forget that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">For the next stop on the blog tour, be sure to visit the official <u><a href="http://jesshaines.com/blog/?p=2210)" target="_blank">FORSAKENBY THE OTHERS blog tour calendar</a></u></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">You can also visit me on the web:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.jesshaines.com/" target="_blank">www.JessHaines.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/JessHainesAuthor" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/JessHainesAuthor</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/Jess_Haines" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/#!/Jess_Haines</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Goodreads: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/jesshaines" target="_blank">http://www.goodreads.com/jesshaines</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Thanks again for having me!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">_____<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">BLOG TOUR DETAILS:<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Blog Tour Calendar
Link:</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><a href="http://jesshaines.com/blog/?p=2210" target="_blank">http://jesshaines.com/blog/?p=2210</a></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Link to Giveaway
HTML Code (for US giveaway/grand prize):</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/YmMyN2YyZjFkNTc2ZjU3YjM0OTZiNDI4NmYwNTRhOjU=/" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #2862c5;">http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/YmMyN2YyZjFkNTc2ZjU3YjM0OTZiNDI4NmYwNTRhOjU=/</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/bc27f25/" id="rc-bc27f25" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Giveaway Code
(International giveaway):</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/YmMyN2YyZjFkNTc2ZjU3YjM0OTZiNDI4NmYwNTRhOjY=/" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #2862c5;">http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/YmMyN2YyZjFkNTc2ZjU3YjM0OTZiNDI4NmYwNTRhOjY=/</span></span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/bc27f26/" id="rc-bc27f26" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7yEAnaTCp9Q/UeaQj5bIF1I/AAAAAAAABg0/M0oWJVxn8kk/s1600/Moi03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7yEAnaTCp9Q/UeaQj5bIF1I/AAAAAAAABg0/M0oWJVxn8kk/s200/Moi03.jpg" width="141" /></a><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Author Bio: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Jess Haines writes about furred
and fanged things that go bump in the night. Best known for the H&W
Investigations urban fantasy series, she's been writing since she was a
teenager and was first published in 2010. Her latest release is Forsaken by the
Others (Kensington/Zebra; July 2, 2013). Visit her at <a href="http://www.jesshaines.com/" target="_blank">www.JessHaines.com</a> for the latest news
and updates.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Forsaken by the
Others Book Description:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Others–vampires,
werewolves, things that go chomp in the night–don’t just live in nightmares
anymore. They’ve joined with the mortal world. And for private investigator
Shiarra Waynest, that means mayhem…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-style: normal;">Have a
one night stand with a vampire, and you can end up paying for it for eternity.
P.I. Shiarra Waynest, an expert on the Others, knows that better than most. Yet
here she is, waking up beside charismatic vamp Alec Royce with an aching
head…and neck. Luckily, Shia has the perfect excuse for getting out of town–namely,
a couple of irate East Coast werewolf packs who’d like to turn her into a chew
toy.</span></em><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-style: normal;">On
Royce’s suggestion, Shia temporarily relocates to Los Angeles. But something is
rotten–literally–in the state of California, where local vampires are being
attacked by zombies. Who could be powerful enough to control them–and reckless
enough to target the immortal? Following the trail will lead Shia to a
terrifying truth, and to an ancient enemy with a personal grudge…</span></em><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Buy Links:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/142012403X/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=jesshaicom-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=142012403X&adid=1M2RTXTFJSEMPD2HJJMX&" target="_blank"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #743399;">Amazon</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333;"> </span></span><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333;">/<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Forsaken-Others-Jess-Haines/dp/142012403X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358828933&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #743399;">Amazon UK</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333;"> </span></span><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333;">/<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Forsaken-The-Others-Jess-Haines/dp/142012403X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358828959&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #743399;">Amazon Canada</span></a><span style="color: #333333;"><br />
</span><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forsaken-by-the-others-jess-haines/1114038679?ean=9781420124033" target="_blank"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #743399;">Barnes & Noble</span></a><span style="color: #333333;"><br />
</span><a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Forsaken-by-Others-Jess-Haines/9781420124033" target="_blank"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #743399;">Book Depository</span></a><span style="color: #333333;"><br />
</span><a href="http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Forsaken-Others/Jess-Haines/9781420124033?id=5588290281239" target="_blank"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #743399;">Books-A-Million</span></a><span style="color: #333333;"><br />
</span><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9781420124033-0" target="_blank"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #743399;">Powells</span></a><span style="color: #333333;"><br />
</span><a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781420124033" target="_blank"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #743399;">Indiebound</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Thanks Jess for stopping by, much appreciated. This is where I usually plug some links, but they've already been taken care of above.<br />
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In any case, hope you guys enjoy her novels. Jess is a great person to talk to, so don't hesitate to say "hi" to her once in a while.Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-79981414237208826572013-06-20T09:17:00.000-04:002013-06-20T09:17:31.023-04:00Giveaway: Sea Change by S. M. Wheeler<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z5p6sqUiwF4/UcLwQCAHcTI/AAAAAAAABgA/5IrSV_5MhiE/s1600/SeaChange-Wheeler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z5p6sqUiwF4/UcLwQCAHcTI/AAAAAAAABgA/5IrSV_5MhiE/s320/SeaChange-Wheeler.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
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<b><i>Sea Change</i></b> is debut novel from S. M. Wheeler which was released 2 days ago on June 18 from Tor. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sea-Change-S-M-Wheeler/dp/0765333147" target="_blank">Reviews</a> so far seem to be very positive, and now you'll have a change to win yourself a copy.<br />
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<i>The unhappy child of two powerful parents who despise each other, young Lilly turns to the ocean to find solace, which she finds in the form of the eloquent and intelligent sea monster Octavius, a kraken. In Octavius’s many arms, Lilly learns of friendship, loyalty, and family. When Octavius, forbidden by Lilly to harm humans, is captured by seafaring traders and sold to a circus, Lilly becomes his only hope for salvation. Desperate to find him, she strikes a bargain with a witch that carries a shocking price. </i></blockquote>
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<i>Her journey to win Octavius’s freedom is difficult. The circus master wants a Coat of Illusions; the Coat tailor wants her undead husband back from a witch; the witch wants her skin back from two bandits; the bandits just want some company, but they might kill her first. Lilly's quest tests her resolve, tries her patience, and leaves her transformed in every way.</i></blockquote>
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<i>A powerfully written debut from a young fantasy author, S.M. Wheeler's Sea Change is an exhilarating tale of adventure, resilience, and selflessness in the name of friendship.</i></blockquote>
<a href="http://us.macmillan.com/seachange/SMWheeler">http://us.macmillan.com/seachange/SMWheeler</a><br />
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<b>Participants have to be 18 years of age or older to participate. Void where prohibited by law. Giveaway rules are subject to change. </b><br />
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The giveaway is open to US and Canada shipping addresses only, and it will run from June 20, 2013 until 11:59 pm ET on July 5, 2013.<br />
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The giveaway is for a chance to win a copy of 3 of debut novel <b><i>Sea Change</i></b> by S. M. Wheeler from Tor.<br />
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<b>How to participate:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>To participate simply log-in into to the Rafflecopter and "Enter" through the easy entry.</li>
<li>One entry per person, or face disqualification.</li>
<li>Entries accepted until 11:59pm ET on July 5, 2013.</li>
<li>There'll be 3 winners for only 1 copy each of <b><i>Sea Change</i></b>.</li>
<li>Will have to confirm email to be considered a winner within 48 hours.</li>
<li>Additional entries may be had by following the steps provided in the Rafflecopter instructions, and only by doing those steps. </li>
<li>Winners will be chosen by random selection using the Rafflecopter.</li>
</ul>
Good luck!<br />
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For more information please visit S. M. Wheeler's <a href="http://smwrites.dreamwidth.org/" target="_blank">website</a> and follow on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/SMWWrites" target="_blank">@SMWWrites</a>.<br />
<br />
<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/55303931/" id="rc-55303931" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script>Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-74881633950381346712013-06-05T08:35:00.000-04:002013-06-05T08:35:07.799-04:00Giveaway: Antiagon Fire by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xsa9wVbx4qA/Ua7ITOzvodI/AAAAAAAABfY/Fj4fFAa6bq8/s1600/AntiagonFire-LEModesitt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xsa9wVbx4qA/Ua7ITOzvodI/AAAAAAAABfY/Fj4fFAa6bq8/s320/AntiagonFire-LEModesitt.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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L. E. Modesitt, Jr. is an author of over 50 sci-fi and fantasy novels, including the renown <b><i>Saga of Recluse</i></b> series and more recently <b><i>The Imager Portfolio</i></b> series. A few days ago Modesitt, Jr.'s latest novel was released, <b><i>Antiagon Fire</i></b> which is the seventh in the <b><i>The Imager Portfolio</i></b> series. I've recently bought the first novel in the series, so I hope to give it a look soon. For now, Tor is offering 3 copies of <b><i>Antiagon Fire</i></b> in a giveaway.<br />
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<i>The hard-won battles fought in Imager's Battalion have earned Quaeryt a promotion to commander, as well as an assignment to convince the Pharsi High Council in the nation of Khel to submit to Lord Bhayar's rule, which is key to Bhayar's ambition to unite all of Solidar. Joined by his pregnant wife Vaelora, who is also Bhayar's sister, Quaeryt leads an army and a handful of imagers deeper into the hostile lands once held by the tyrannical Rex Kharst, facing stiff-necked High Holders, attacks by land and sea—including airborne fire launched by hostile imagers from the land of Antiago—and a mysterious order of powerful women who seem to recognize the great destiny that awaits Quareyt and Vaelora, as well as the cost of achieving it.</i></blockquote>
<a href="http://us.macmillan.com/antiagonfire/LModesitt">http://us.macmillan.com/antiagonfire/LModesitt</a><br />
<br />
<b>Participants have to be 18 years of age or older to participate. Void where prohibited by law. Giveaway rules are subject to change. </b><br />
<br />
The giveaway is open to US and Canada shipping addresses only, and it will run from June 5, 2013 until 11:59 pm ET on June 14, 2013.<br />
<br />
The giveaway is for 3 copies of <b><i>Antiagon Fire</i></b> by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. the seventh novel in <b><i>The Imager Portfolio</i></b> series.<br />
<br />
<b>How to participate:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>To participate simply log-in into to the Rafflecopter and "Enter" through the easy entry.</li>
<li>One entry per person, or face disqualification.</li>
<li>Entries accepted until 11:59pm ET on June 14, 2013.</li>
<li>There'll be 3 winners for only 1 copy each of <b><i>Antiagon Fire</i></b>.</li>
<li>Will have to confirm email to be considered a winner within 48 hours.</li>
<li>Additional entries may be had by following the steps provided in the Rafflecopter instructions, and only by doing those steps. </li>
<li>Winners will be chosen by random selection using the Rafflecopter.</li>
</ul>
Good luck!<br />
<br />
For more information please visit L. E. Modesitt, Jr.'s <a href="http://www.lemodesittjr.com/" target="_blank">website</a>.
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<br />
<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/55303929/" id="rc-55303929" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script>Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-85248171089961955542013-05-29T09:23:00.000-04:002013-05-29T09:23:43.851-04:00Guest Post: Writing a New Series by Susan Jane Bigelow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9TU-Ta6ORQE/UaVpo6M6sqI/AAAAAAAABew/PZKX3w4Td6E/s1600/THEDAUGHTERSTAR-SusanJaneBigelow-full.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9TU-Ta6ORQE/UaVpo6M6sqI/AAAAAAAABew/PZKX3w4Td6E/s320/THEDAUGHTERSTAR-SusanJaneBigelow-full.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I only ever thought I had one book in me. When I finally dragged it, kicking and screaming, out into the light I was absolutely certain that this would be it. BROKEN, which came out in 2011, would be my one and done. It wasn’t that wild a supposition, it took me six years of drafting, revisions and angst to get that book done. But then I wrote two more books in that series, so it turned out I could keep writing after all. That’s when I started to worry that I’d never really be able to write anything that wasn’t set in the world of that original series. </div>
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And yet, here we are. THE DAUGHTER STAR, which comes out on 5/28, is the first of a planned trilogy about three sisters set in a completely new universe.<br />
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It was remarkably challenging. I’d been building bits and pieces of the EXTRAHUMANS universe since I was a kid (really, I’m one of those) so the challenge for this new series was to create something new from the ground up. I started to play around with a couple of ideas I had about a heavy-gravity planet and a ternary star system, and wedded them to a few other ideas I’d had about an alien species basically buying Earth for the resources and relocating humanity. When I created the character of Marta Grayline, she and her sisters, Violet and Beth, became the glue that really held everything together. </div>
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This trilogy is about all kinds of things, from a mysterious alien species to interstellar war to faith and politics in Marta’s home country of Gideon, but at its heart it’s about the relationship between the three Grayline sisters. There’s Marta, the eldest, who is relentless, loyal to her friends, curious to a fault, impatient and only ever wants to be free to do her own thing. Then there’s middle sister Violet, who is prickly, sharp-tongued, ruthless, practical, aloof, but also capable of great sacrifice and love. Lastly, there’s youngest sister Beth, who is quiet, mysterious, sensitive, wickedly humorous and obsessed with finding the meaning in her own existence. Each sister will have her own book; Marta’s story happens in THE DAUGHTER STAR, Violet’s will be next and Beth’s story will close out the trilogy. Each sister’s story will be an integral piece of the whole arc, in which both they and their universe will be dramatically changed. I really like this style of storytelling, because I feel like I can complete a single character arc in one book and then move on to someone else, which makes each book feel very different from the last.<br />
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It’s been a real challenge to start over and create something new. It’s also been rewarding and exciting, because I’ve loved being able to do new things and stretch myself creatively. I’ve also gotten into the habit of it; I’m working on a few other projects set in other, entirely new worlds. It turns out that I have more books and more worlds in me than I thought.</div>
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Thanks so much to Bastard Books for having me here today!<br />
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Thanks Susan for stopping by. As mentioned in the post above, <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Daughter Star</i> was released yesterday so make sure to<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Daughter-Star-ebook/dp/B00D1BFIFW"> buy an eBook</a> or<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Star-Sarah-Jane-Bigelow/dp/1936460343"> paperback copy</a>. I've yet to read any of her books yet, but I've recently taken the necessary steps to remedy the situation. I've particularly seen a lot of praise for her <b><i>Extrahumans</i></b> series, and hopefully some of you will give her novels a shot.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-so5HGN7o_zk/UaVrMJYEjXI/AAAAAAAABfM/-ZqIrIVIH2A/s1600/TheDaughterStar-SusanJaneBigelow.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-so5HGN7o_zk/UaVrMJYEjXI/AAAAAAAABfM/-ZqIrIVIH2A/s320/TheDaughterStar-SusanJaneBigelow.png" width="209" /></a></div>
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<i>What a rotten way for everything to turn out. Marta Grayline’s stable, fulfilling life as a freighter pilot has been yanked out from under her, she’s stuck on her miserable home planet with her obnoxious family, her beautiful girlfriend’s now on the opposite side of an interstellar war, and she’s bored to tears. What else could go wrong?</i></blockquote>
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<i>Never ask that question.</i>
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<i>Marta’s enigmatic sister Beth offers her a way out by enlisting in the Novan Emergency Fleet, and Marta jumps at it. But it only gets worse from there; her ship is attacked and destroyed, and she finds herself stranded on a mysterious space station with a crew that won’t answer her questions.</i></blockquote>
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<i>And, of course, then there’s the aliens – the planet-destroying Abrax that somehow seem to have a hold on Beth. They’re coming for Marta, too.</i></blockquote>
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<i>Marta’s quest for answers will take her to the frozen dark side of a faraway planet, into the tense politics of a rebel base, through vast subterranean caves and into the heart of the enemy’s defenses. She’ll have to face ancient forces, her own doubts, and the inside of an alien mind if she wants to get some answers, complete her mission and unlock her own latent potential. The Daughter Star, the red beacon in the night sky, may yet be the key to the freedom and understanding Marta so desperately wants.</i></blockquote>
Once again, thanks Susan for coming around.<br />
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My blog partner Mihir has a guest post from Susan Jane Bigelow today on <a href="http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2013/05/guest-post-welcome-to-daughter-star-by.html" target="_blank">Fantasy Book Critic</a> too, hope you have a look.<br />
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For more information, please visit Susan Jane Bigelow's <a href="http://susanjanebigelow.wordpress.com/">website</a> and follow her on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/whateversusan">@whateversusan</a>.Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-12430899015798737942013-05-27T10:29:00.000-04:002013-05-27T10:29:30.914-04:00Bastard Giveaway: Generation V by M. L. Brennan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xsffvpAWuWI/UaMAy_B2sOI/AAAAAAAABeg/lmxHxFOr718/s1600/generationv-mlbrennan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xsffvpAWuWI/UaMAy_B2sOI/AAAAAAAABeg/lmxHxFOr718/s320/generationv-mlbrennan.jpg" width="198" /></a></div>
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Recently read <b><i>Generation V</i></b> by M. L. Brennan and I can honestly say that it was very refreshing and the most fun I've had reading an urban fantasy novel recently. Now I bring you a giveaway sponsored by the author for one signed physical copy of this novel, and you don't want to miss out.</div>
<blockquote>
<i><b>Reality Bites</b></i></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>Fortitude Scott’s life is a mess. A degree in film theory has left him with zero marketable skills, his job revolves around pouring coffee, his roommate hasn’t paid rent in four months, and he’s also a vampire. Well, sort of. He’s still mostly human.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>But when a new vampire comes into his family’s territory and young girls start going missing, Fort can’t ignore his heritage anymore. His mother and his older, stronger siblings think he’s crazy for wanting to get involved. So it’s up to Fort to take action, with the assistance of Suzume Hollis, a dangerous and sexy shape-shifter. Fort is determined to find a way to outsmart the deadly vamp, even if he isn’t quite sure how.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>But without having matured into full vampirehood and with Suzume ready to split if things get too risky, Fort’s rescue mission might just kill him...</i></blockquote>
<a href="http://www.us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780451418401,00.html?Generation_V_M.L._Brennan">http://www.us.penguingroup.com/</a>
<br />
<br />
<b>Participants have to be 18 years of age or older to participate. Void where prohibited by law. Giveaway rules are subject to change. </b><br />
<br />
The giveaway is open to US shipping addresses only, and it will run from May 27, 2013 until 11:59 pm ET on June 7, 2013.<br />
<br />
<b>How to participate:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>To participate simply log-in into to the Rafflecopter and "Enter" through the easy entry.</li>
<li>One entry per person, or face disqualification.</li>
<li>Entries accepted until 11:59pm ET on June 7, 2013.</li>
<li>There'll be one winner only, for a signed copy of <b><i>Generation V</i></b></li>
<li>Will have to confirm email to be considered a winner within 48 hours.</li>
<li>Additional entries may be had by following the steps provided in the Rafflecopter instructions, and only by doing those steps. </li>
<li>Winners will be chosen by random selection using the Rafflecopter.</li>
</ul>
Good luck! And thanks to everyone who has served or is currently serving in the armed forces, everything you do is appreciated.<br />
<br />
For more information please visit M. L. Brennan's <a href="http://mlbrennan.com/">website</a> or follow on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/brennanml">@BrennanML</a>.
<br />
<br />
<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/55303928/" id="rc-55303928" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script>Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-23406815943974633052013-05-26T13:59:00.000-04:002013-05-29T00:44:43.101-04:00Bastard Reaction: Hot Blooded by Amanda Carlson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhOkv4g8C0A_J0Pxa2R6Hjn2_l3dA_q95AIpvEUspQVzqFm4ig5cj931PcqocnPUaqdHFIkHOuhGOf8aY2sWjFU-LVkTWvS4BCHeAn5ZKmzc6I7jwITG78ReSFJB6nw_jBFOkx7Fr_ki3h/s1600/Hot-Blooded-Book-Cover1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhOkv4g8C0A_J0Pxa2R6Hjn2_l3dA_q95AIpvEUspQVzqFm4ig5cj931PcqocnPUaqdHFIkHOuhGOf8aY2sWjFU-LVkTWvS4BCHeAn5ZKmzc6I7jwITG78ReSFJB6nw_jBFOkx7Fr_ki3h/s320/Hot-Blooded-Book-Cover1.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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"Well I'm hot blooded, check it and see. I got a fever of a hundred and three..." sorry, couldn't help myself with a little bit of Foreigner, and I'm sure I'm not first one to lose control like this. I don't sing or dance, but I have a weak spot for 80s music. Much like a werewolf, I transform myself and this overwhelming urge just takes over. Which brings us to this novel, Jessica McClain is back and kicking ass as usual. <b><i>Hot Blooded</i></b> is the second novel in Amanda Carlson's urban fantasy series, and it doesn't disappoint.<br />
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The novel picks up right were <b><i><a href="http://bastardbooks.blogspot.com/2012/10/bastard-reaction-full-blooded-by-amanda.html" target="_blank">Full Blooded</a></i></b> left off. While Jessica's dad and Alpha goes to investigate the nature of a werewolf rebellion, she and a small group of old allies, new acquaintances, and one stubborn jackass go on a journey to save someone dear to her from the grasps of a powerful witch; a goddess. A female Lycan foreseen to create havoc in the supernatural world, her werewolf twin brother and a loyal werewolf friend, two not-so-friendly vampires, and the aforementioned jackass human detective...what can go wrong?<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Hot Blooded</i> was not what I was expecting. It's quite different in plot and structure to the first novel <i style="font-weight: bold;">Full Blooded</i>, which is good. I mean good because it conveys that Amanda Carlson is not afraid to do her own thing, and it alludes that she'll be keeping us on our toes on what to expect in future novels while keeping each installment unique and refreshing within her universe.<br />
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With a genre littered with mystery and thrillers, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Hot Blooded</i> was an invigorating Action-Adventure Urban Fantasy. It's the type of tale which we might find frequently in secondary world fantasies, the quest to save someone from the clutches of evil who is sequestered in a lair and the journey to surpass all the obstacles thrown in their way as they make progress to the destination. It had plenty of action, and as I've suggested previously, I really believe that Carlson has a knack to write good physical action sequences. It helps having a character that kicks ass and is not shy of meting a good dosage of extreme violence. And it worked.<br />
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It had a really straight-forward plot, and in this particular regard I liked the first novel better. That said, I enjoyed <b><i>Hot Blooded</i></b> more as a whole. I felt the characters came off as more comfortable in this world, the flow felt improved, and in all I thought it was better written. Plus there was a bigger focus on action this time around, so right up my alley. It helped set a brisk pace, but at the same time interposed with what I find to be long scenes.<br />
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The scenes are characterized by having an abundance of dialogue, something I always champion. I'm not entirely sure if the "correct" balance is there, but so far it's working for me, so I hesitate to encourage a different approach. I just can't help shake the feeling that if Carlson shortens some of these scenes a bit, particularly cutting a bit on some dialogue that can become a bit circuitous, that it'll provide other, and hopefully better, opportunities.<br />
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The pace doesn't seem to be affected much by it, so who knows. There was only one particular scene which I recall where the forward momentum of the novel had going for it just stopped as they reached a certain trap with some beings behaving like flying piranhas. At the same time, it was during this portion that most of the important plot elements that would increase the intrigue and tension of the story occurred. It's also during this portion that most of the character development flourished, so it doesn't feel like a wasted opportunity at all. So the only conclusion I can come up with is that I'm a bit of a walking hypocritical contradiction. Just hope that something in this babble makes a semblance of sense.<br />
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Going back to the action, this time around there was a bigger focus on magic clashes. Depicted more as a battle of wills rather than physical and explosive type of spells, not that it was absent of the latter. I wouldn't go as far as say that it became too magic focused, but it became quite apparent that it took the spotlight in this novel. Considering the plot, it fit. We're dealing with a powerful witch after all, it is my hope though that it doesn't become as common place in the future as I think it takes away some of what makes the Jessica werewolf an awesome character to read about. I mean, there's just some quite awesome of seeing Jessica take care of some of her opponents with quiet violent efficiency; a broken neck here, an armed ripped-off there. There are some hints about Jessica's potential though that sounds promising, so will be looking forward to how the character adapts to each new circumstance.<br />
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The journey to the evil lair was defined by a few traps with "random monsters". Personally, I'm not a big fan of them, as they usually seem a bit impersonal to me, but I know plenty of people love them. But once again, for this novel it worked, in particular because it enhanced the world-building immensely, and the action was good too. I particularly like some creatures that were water based, and I hope we can see them in some fashion in future novels.<br />
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There really wasn't any romance in this one at all, to the delight of some (me) and the chagrin of others. Well, can't please everyone, but I'm not complaining. I was more excited about the fact that the author appeased some of my concerns about how Jessica would react to certain developments. It had the potential to become a very angsty story, which I thought would have really ruined Jessica as a character for me, but this wasn't the case at all. I don't know what the future will hold on this regard, but I think Amanda Carlson is doing a very good job so far on balancing all the different potential elements this series has. I know some are fond of the love interest in this one, but I'm not convinced I like the guy all that much yet, so we'll see.<br />
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The novel ends with another cliffhanger, in many ways quite similar to the one which ended <b><i>Full Blooded</i></b>. I'm a fan of cliffhangers in a series though I'm quite aware that some have a strong dislike for them. The good thing is that the next novel is coming out within a few months, so the wait won't be long.<br />
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Considering the cliffhanger, Amanda Carlson is keeping Jessica quite busy with no time to breathe; jumping from one thing to another, solving one crisis just to jump into the next one. I don't see that changing any time soon considering how the novel ended and other set-ups that have been made. At some point I hope we can slow down for a bit because there's a lot of Jessica's life that I'm eager to find out about, and I think that can only be accomplished if we slow the action down for a bit, which goes against all my instincts of what I enjoy reading. But I'm very interested in seeing Jessica, even if it's for a short while, in a normal daily routine, and seeing her surrounded by her dad's pack, and see the different interactions and interplays that could go on in that environment.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Hot Blooded</i> was a great follow-up to Carlson's debut. It showed us a different side to the series, and together with the highly energetic narrating style from Jessica McClain to go with the reliable violent action, it just provides a winning combination that should be sustained for the rest of the series. Keep an eye out for <i style="font-weight: bold;">Cold Blooded</i> coming out soon, I know I'll be reading it as soon as I can get my hands on it.<br />
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Buy <b><i>Hot Blooded</i></b> from <a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Hot-Blooded-Amanda-Carlson/9780316205214" target="_blank">The Book Depository</a>.<br />
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For more information visit Amanda Carlson's <a href="http://www.amandacarlson.com/" target="_blank">website</a>, <a href="http://www.amandacarlson.com/blog/" target="_blank">blog</a>, or follow her on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/amandaccarlson" target="_blank">@AmandaCCarlson</a>.Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-89311431314719176072013-05-21T08:07:00.000-04:002013-05-21T08:07:35.539-04:00Bastard Giveaway: Blood and Bone by Ian C. Esslemont<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gZi3MEZVy1A/UZtUZqoB7-I/AAAAAAAABd0/Bbq0LFdkmfs/s1600/BloodBone_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gZi3MEZVy1A/UZtUZqoB7-I/AAAAAAAABd0/Bbq0LFdkmfs/s320/BloodBone_comp.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
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It's with great reluctance that I admit to be Malazan ignorant. My brother's best friend has been on my case for years trying to get me to read it, with obvious failure. Today we celebrate the release of <b><i><a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Blood-Bone-Ian-Esslemont/9780765329974" target="_blank">Blood and Bone</a></i></b> of the <i style="font-weight: bold;">Malazan Empire</i> by Ian C. Esslemont published by Tor, with a giveaway of course. Just so I didn't make a total fool out myself, I got my hands on <b><i>Gardens of the Moon</i></b> by Steven Erikson, which is the first novel as I understand it in the world of Malaz. Read the prologue, read the first chapter, and it looks like it'll be an awesome series to get into, which I will definitely be doing as soon as I can.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Blood and Bone</i> is the fifth novel in the <i style="font-weight: bold;">Malazan Empire</i> series written by Ian C. Esslemont, but also the fifteenth in the Malazan universe, though I personally don't know how integrated the two series are with one another; something to look into elsewhere. In any case, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Blood and Bone</i> is released today in the US, and we'll be having a giveaway here for one copy of any of the <b><i>Malazan Empire</i></b> books by Esslemont published by Tor for two winners.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AmDuRzcGxTE/UZtUmLZSKAI/AAAAAAAABd8/-iv-jC5PLbs/s1600/The+Isle+of+Jacuruku.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AmDuRzcGxTE/UZtUmLZSKAI/AAAAAAAABd8/-iv-jC5PLbs/s320/The+Isle+of+Jacuruku.jpg" width="215" /></a></div>
<blockquote>
<i>In the western sky the bright emerald banner of the Visitor descends like a portent of annihilation. On the continent of Jacuruku, the Thaumaturgs have mounted yet another expedition to tame the neighboring wild jungle. Yet this is no normal wilderness. It is called Himatan, and it is said to be half of the spirit realm and half of the earth. And it is said to be ruled by a powerful entity whom some name the Queen of Witches, and some a goddess: the ancient Ardata. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>Saeng grew up knowing only the rule of the magus Thaumaturgs—but it was the voices out of that land's forgotten past that she listened to. And when her rulers mount an invasion of the neighboring jungle, those voices send her and her brother on a desperate mission.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>To the south, the desert tribes are united by the arrival of a foreign warleader, a veteran commander in battered ashen mail whom his men call the Grey Ghost. This warleader takes the tribes on a raid like none other, deep into the heart of Thaumaturg lands. Meanwhile word comes to K'azz, and mercenary company the Crimson Guard, of a contract in Jacuruku. And their employer...none other than Ardata herself.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>
Ian Esslemont thrills again with another gripping entry into the New York Times bestselling Malazan World in Blood and Bone.</i></blockquote>
<i><a href="http://us.macmillan.com/bloodandbone/IanEsslemont" target="_blank">http://us.macmillan.com/bloodandbone/IanEsslemont</a> </i>
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Participants have to be 18 years of age or older to participate. Void where prohibited by law. Giveaway rules are subject to change. </b><br />
<br />
Giveaway will be for 1 physical copy for two winners of any of Ian C. Esslemont's <b><i>Malazan Empire</i></b> novels which include <b><i>Night of Knives</i></b>, <b><i>Return of the Crimson Guard</i></b>, <b><i>Stonewielder</i></b>,<b><i> Orb Sceptre Throne</i></b>, and <b><i>Blood and Bone</i></b> provided by Tor.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4kVfb-Mzu4A/UZtUNMe1DSI/AAAAAAAABds/srMW_V9gGkM/s1600/Series+Covers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4kVfb-Mzu4A/UZtUNMe1DSI/AAAAAAAABds/srMW_V9gGkM/s320/Series+Covers.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The giveaway is open to US, CANADA, and the UK shipping addresses only, and it will run from May 21, 2013 until 11:59 pm ET on May 30, 2013.<br />
<br />
<b>How to participate:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>To participate simply log-in into to the Rafflecopter and "Enter" through the easy entry.</li>
<li>One entry per person, or face disqualification.</li>
<li>Entries accepted until 11:59pm ET on May 30, 2013.</li>
<li>There'll be two winners only for one physical copy any of Esslemont's <b><i>Malazan Empire</i></b> novels</li>
<li>Will have to confirm email to be considered a winner within 48 hours.</li>
<li>Additional entries may be had by following the steps provided in the Rafflecopter instructions, and only by doing those steps. </li>
<li>Winners will be chosen by random selection using the Rafflecopter.</li>
</ul>
Good luck everyone!<br />
<br />
<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/55303927/" id="rc-55303927" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script>Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-2412106769837525002013-05-16T09:15:00.000-04:002013-06-09T14:28:44.447-04:00Interview & Giveaway with Wesley Chu author of The Lives of Tao<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Banzai!</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It's been a while since I've had an interview on the blog, and a good opportunity presented itself so that we could get acquainted with charming debut author Wesley Chu. It's always my goal to have an awesome and worthwhile interview, and I think we accomplished that.<br />
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That said, I want to take this moment in time to state my intent to wage war against this Chu character. I forgive him for making a fool out of me with some of his answers, even sidestepping a few of my most insightful questions, but he took it too far when he <i>dared</i> to blaspheme against the almighty god Jack Bauer, my daddy. Here I was rejoicing <a href="http://bastardbooks.blogspot.com/2013/05/update-on-24-live-another-day.html" target="_blank">the future return</a> of this great hero, when Mr. Chu with his clever words alluded to Bauer's human mortality, and diminished badassery. Unacceptable. And he didn't stop there. While last night, much as it pains me and to my repulsiveness, the <a href="http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=400464464" target="_blank">world conspired</a> to mettle a small token of revenge for this slight, I'm not ready to forgive and forget just yet.</div>
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In any case, have a look for yourselves... oh, and don't forget to enter the giveaway at the end of the post; <b><i>The Lives of Tao</i></b> was awesome.</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Bastard:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> <i>Hey
Wes, welcome to our house at Bastard Books. Looks like all the begging you did
to get invited finally paid off. I hope you don’t come to regret it as you’ve
just given me permission to invade your privacy, never a good idea. How are you
doing today?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Wesley Chu: </span></b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I’m
good. Fantastic even.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Uh, I <i>was </i>fantastic at the beginning of the
interview. By the end, I was far from fugging fantastic. Bastard’s a right
bastard when it comes to interviewing!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Bastard:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> <i>For the
record, can you tell us a bit about yourself? Make sure to state your full name
and inform us of the when and where you first got your diapers changed, as well
as your favorite color and your favorite song to dance to when you don’t </i>think<i> anyone is watching.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Wesley Chu:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> Hello all, my name is Wesley
Chu, and I’ve never had my diapers changed. You see, when you grow up in the
jungles like I did, you don’t wear diapers. After all, predators can follow
your scent. Therefore, it’s extraordinarily important to bury the feces right
away. Remember kids, one in five children don’t make it to three years old
because they don’t bury their poop.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">My
favorite color is blue. No, yellow! (One geek point if you get the reference)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Bastard:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> <i>Budweiser
has been my beer of choice for as long as I can remember, but lately I’ve been
partial to some Blue Moon with the orange slices. Which is your preferred beer,
and don’t you dare tell me you don’t drink, else we can’t be friends any longer.
Lie if you have to, some things are just too important to ruin with unwelcomed truths.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Wesley Chu:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> I think you’re the first human
being that actually admits to drinking Budweiser. It tastes like a mixture of
armpit sweat and carbonated Robitussin. I used to like beer, being partial to
Magic Hat #9, but drinking too much of it ill fits my small bladder lifestyle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Now, I
just drink Scotch neat. My current favorite scotch (changes weekly) is Ardbeg
Uigeadail, but I like basically anything peaty that punches you in the face. If
someone forces me to drink something else, I’ll drink stuff from Speyside, but
I refuse to drink any of the Glens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Bastard:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> <i>You
mention on your website that you got into Information Technology for your
professional career, what do you actually do within it? Programming,
networking, Excel Master, Google Search specialist? Or is this an elaborate way of calling
yourself a gamer? Yes indeed, I’m well aware of all the boasting you’ve been
doing around about your elite WoW skillz.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Wesley Chu:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> I do Middleware design and
build for large financial institutions, but let’s talk about the important
stuff. <b><i>World of Warcraft</i></b> raiding is the best thing one can enroll in for
leadership training.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">As the
former recruiting officer for the #1 end game raiding guild on my server, I had
so much power in the palm of my delicate blood elf hands that it was
intoxicating, not to mention I was one of the richest guys on the server. I was
like the Jared of my server, and no, not the Subway guy, the jewelers. I’ve
managed people in real life before, but they’re nowhere as difficult to herd a
group of 150 pubescent and not so pubescent guys (and a few girls) hot for epic
loots!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Bastard:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> <i>As any
self-respecting person would do, as soon as I learned you were an actor I </i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1765089/" target="_blank"><i>IMDB</i></a><i>’ed you.
To my surprise you had a role in <b>Fred
Claus</b> as the “Banzai Chef”. I’m a very skeptical person, as I’m sure the
readers in my blog are too, so I went and gathered proof. Behold!<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">I take it you’re the one
shouting “Banzai!” Tell us a bit about your experience as an actor, is it a
career you’re still pursuing?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Wesley Chu:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> I am impressed you found this
thing. It was a dangerous job. I bled my own blood shooting that cinematic
scene. No honestly, I did. I nearly cut Rachel Weisz too. They actually had the
hot plate turned on. And no, I didn’t have any teppanyaki training.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Acting
is still there on the side, but I’m starting to fill the second class older
roles. Meh, it goes with the territory. When I was young, tuned, and limber, I
used to chase work. Now, it’s all about the writing. That and I’ve come to the
realization that there’s just not that many roles for Asian guys.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">We’re
pretty much near the bottom of the acting totem pole, relegated to token Asian
guy roles. That’s the problem with Asian male roles. Asian women are highly
sought after and can play many more roles than us dudes. Hell, even Lucy Liu
even got to play Watson sidekick in <b><i>Elementary</i></b>. Asian guys, we get to be Sulu,
and your doctor telling you that you have cancer, or the guy at Best Buy
selling you a phone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Bastard:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> <i>Don’t know
how far you went with your gymnastics, but it seems like your dreams of
becoming a professional athlete didn’t materialize, at least not yet. I assume
you’re still a sports fan though, what are your preferred sports? And what
about those Chicago Bulls and how far they’ve gone without Derrick Rose? I
sympathize with my Boston Celtics missing Rajon Rondo, but I still won’t
forgive Chicago for stealing Tom Thibodeau and Brian Scalabrine from us.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rECW0lG0mZc/UZR5MKH1PdI/AAAAAAAABcA/-IV1Szp8JGI/s1600/derrickrose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rECW0lG0mZc/UZR5MKH1PdI/AAAAAAAABcA/-IV1Szp8JGI/s320/derrickrose.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Owie</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Wesley Chu:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> Hey, don’t you mention that
Derrick !@$@ #%% !%#% piece of !#%!@& @$!%%@ #$^&$%$ that damn !@!%^ *$@!
Rose guy. I mean, he’s been !@$#% cleared ^&** since {honk} January to
play! Yo DRose, man up and go help your team in the playoffs. Otherwise, the
Bulls are aight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">I’m
really a Bears fan though, which makes my life even more tragic. I mean !@%%
dang draft !#$^@ !(&(^&%^ Long, a 2<sup>nd</sup> round !@%!$^ (&(^$
in the first? But hey, we’re gonna win it all this year!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Bastard:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> <i>I’ve
also seen that you call yourself a Kung-Fu Master, so I just know everyone is
wondering if you and Jack Bauer got into a </i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmxILPcJ6iI" target="_blank"><i>slapfight</i></a><i>, who do you
think would win? Obviously Jack Bauer would win, but I’ll give you the benefit
of the doubt. Give us a blow by blow account if necessary.</i></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NSdFgdiL9AY/UZR7gmEfJqI/AAAAAAAABcQ/b1sGpv6dzJ8/s1600/jack-bauer-sky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NSdFgdiL9AY/UZR7gmEfJqI/AAAAAAAABcQ/b1sGpv6dzJ8/s200/jack-bauer-sky.jpg" width="155" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>War has been declared!</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Wesley Chu: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">First of all, that’s a load of
BULL! Jack Bauer can’t kick my ass! He’s 47 years old and he’s been in hiding!
So that means he’s probably not eating well. Not to mention since he’s keeping
a low profile, he’s probably not working out anymore. And if we’re going to
size people’s weaknesses, heroin addicts have a higher sensitivity to pain. I
would crush him in a fight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Oh
wait, I see what you did there. Very tricky, Bastard. Very tricky. Slap fight
eh? We both know Jack Bauer’s hands can only make fists. He is physically
unable to touch another human being with an open hand. Jack Bauer does not slap.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Bastard:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> <i>Before
I became engrossed with my SF&F reading, I was mainly a manga reader and
anime watcher. I’ve seen your picture around with the Superman t-shirt, all the
talk about WoW gaming, so on that respect as you were growing up, and even now,
what has held your interests?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Wesley Chu:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> I used to play a lot of first
person shooters, and then as time went on, I realized that I sucked at them. Sure
there were a few I got pretty mediocre at, but my FPS experience usually
involves me spawning at the safe zone and getting crushed like a worm 15
seconds later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-02lmsyu3I5w/UZR_1ejXtuI/AAAAAAAABc4/IiLSjk0lHxs/s1600/Wesley-Chu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-02lmsyu3I5w/UZR_1ejXtuI/AAAAAAAABc4/IiLSjk0lHxs/s200/Wesley-Chu.jpg" width="133" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So
now, I’m all about the <b><i>Civilizations</i></b>, the <b><i>Total Wars</i></b>, and if I feel the need to
be competitive, I play <b><i>Heroes of Newerth</i></b>. And before any of you DOTA masters
challenge me, I will admit that I pretty much suck at that too. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">
<br />
However, I will challenge ANYONE to a game of <b><i>Axis & Allies</i></b> as long as I
get to be Japan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Bastard:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> <i>What’s
your tale about your trials and tribulations to get your book published, every
author seems to have one? The uncensored version please.</i></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Wesley Chu: </span></b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I’m
gonna cheat a little on this one:</span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">
<br />
<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">It all started with an expensive email. Wait, let me back track.
I’m sure the Great Angry Robots Open submission of 2011 is old news now, but in
case you don’t follow their every spoken word (like I do), here’s a quick
recap. In March 2011, AR had their first open submission ever. Nearly 1000
people submitted works, 65 were asked for full manuscripts and 24 made it to
the editors’ desk. Out of those 24, 5 received offers. The End.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; padding: 0in;">Back to the expensive email. In December of 2011, my wife and I
were vacationing in Bora Bora, which while a fantastically beautiful place, had
perfected the fine art of legalized racketeering. Yes it’s a very small island
in the middle of the ocean. We get it. But $24 for a 6oz bottle of bug spray? Yeah,
you suck, Mr. Convenience Store Owner. Don’t even ask what sunblock was going
for. I could have bought 6oz of plutonium for less. So after a week being
disconnected from the internet, we finally caved and bought access for a
whopping $40 a day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; padding: 0in;">My wife and I were watching “The Bounty” starring Mel Gibson
(ironically, the movie was filmed on the island – no wonder it came so highly
recommended) when an email popped in from a certain Mr. Lee Harris expressing
interest in publishing The Lives of Tao. I did what anyone wearing a bathrobe
in an over-water bungalow would do in that situation. I ran around the room in
circles about nine times whooping and making a fool of myself, and then I
jumped into the ocean.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; padding: 0in;">Then when I got home, I bought a bottle of scotch which I was
supposed to save for the actual signing. My friends got into most of it during
my New Year’s Party (/shakes fist at said friends). The rest I shared with my
bestie literary friend Laura Lam (of Pantomime fame) over Skype when the
contract appeared in my inbox. It was 6AM in the morning. Friendly tip folks;
scotch and toothpaste make a foul combination.</span><span style="color: #747474; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></span><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; padding: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; padding: 0in;">(Co-opted from my original signing post)</span><span style="color: #747474; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Bastard:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> <b><i>The Lives of Tao</i></b><i> is your extremely fun debut novel, one that I would describe as the bastard
child of NBC’s <b>Chuck</b> and, as you
mentioned in the novel, the <b>Invasion of
the Body Snatchers</b> film. Share with those who haven’t read it yet a bit
about the novel and advise them on why <b>The
Lives of Tao</b> should be in their next shopping basket.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l_1HWsrWqyo/UZSBfGaRjPI/AAAAAAAABdI/z1YGwcd-I24/s1600/Chuck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l_1HWsrWqyo/UZSBfGaRjPI/AAAAAAAABdI/z1YGwcd-I24/s200/Chuck.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Chuck being badass</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Wesley Chu: </span></b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><i>The
Lives of Tao</i></b> is a modern day science fiction about an alien that inhabits an
overweight loser and convinces him to fight in a civil war over humanity’s
evolution. The alien, Tao, with his millions of years of wisdom and experience,
has a slight problem. He can only talk to Roen, the overweight and highly
unmotivated loser, but can’t control him. So now, the two must learn to work
together as Roen loses weight, learns how to throw a stiff jab, find love, and
stay alive as Tao’s powerful enemies hunt them down.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Oh,
and some guy on the internet said that it’s an extremely fun debut, and a
bastard child of <b><i>Chuck</i></b> and <b><i>Invasion of the Body Snatchers</i></b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Bastard:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> <i>What is
a Quasing and what is the name of yours? What do you make of the voices inside
my head? Maybe I’m destined for greatness.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Wesley Chu:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> My Quasing’s name is Eva,
which incidentally is the name of my dog. See, that’s how my Quasing got me.
Eva spiked my brain and convinced me to get a dog and call her Eva. It’s really
confusing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">And
since I’m always with my dog, and think my dog’s talking to me, my brain has no
issues dealing with this alien in my head. Got it? Of course, for some reason,
Eva the dog and the Quasing both sound like Marge Simpson.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Bastard:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> <i> Considering that you were born in
Taiwan, and without getting
into its tricky relationship with mainland China, <b>The Lives of Tao</b> integrated plenty of Chinese history, mythology,
and folklore into its narrative. How much did your country of origin and your
family’s culture influence how you went about writing your novel? In other
words, how the heck did a typical fat loser white American end up being named
Roen </i>Tan<i>? Maybe because of his
English or German heritage?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Wesley Chu: </span></b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Ahh…but
is he white? Let me put it this way. I purposely named him Roen Tan and did not
describe his ethnicity or physical features too closely for two reasons. I
wanted him to be the common man blank enough so that any reader can think to themselves
“man, I could be this Roen guy.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Also,
in my opinion, far too often minority roles are written with stereotypes in
mind. That’s why people assume leads are white. Sure there have been lead roles
that utilize Latinos, African Americans, and other minorities, but how many
books and movies have written lead Asian males without minority stereotypes in
mind? I wanted to address that.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c8BsIlL1LWw/UZR8VIh4CWI/AAAAAAAABcY/V7qvxebIkIA/s1600/green-hornet-seth-rogen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c8BsIlL1LWw/UZR8VIh4CWI/AAAAAAAABcY/V7qvxebIkIA/s320/green-hornet-seth-rogen.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>So, what you're saying is that Seth Rogen still has a chance...</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Bastard:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> <b><i>The Lives of Tao</i></b><i> was recently released, as a rookie author you’re in the unique
position to divulge some trade secrets. What kind of hazing have you had to
endure from fellow veteran authors? It’s quite all right, you’re in a safe
environment. And so far, how has your early publishing life been treating you,
as expected?</i></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MOxVs8EP5so/UZR9PtLTLkI/AAAAAAAABco/QsSys4LS9Ms/s1600/mykecole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MOxVs8EP5so/UZR9PtLTLkI/AAAAAAAABco/QsSys4LS9Ms/s200/mykecole.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Not Jack Bauer</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Wesley Chu:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> Well, there was this one night
at Immortal Confusion when Myke Cole started handing out tequila shots like
candy. Now, I would tell you what happened next if I remembered, but I believe
Diana Rowland, who is an ex-cop, had to save my life at one point.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">But
honestly, I love the writing community. When my non-writing friends ask me what
it’s like going to all these SFF conventions, I tell them I feel like the
hobbit coming back to the shire. It’s the strangest and most unique feeling
when a guy finally finds a place he belongs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Psst…Myke
Cole is Jack Bauer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Bastard:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> <i>While
we’re at it, does this series have a name? What can you share with us about the
future of this series and the sequel you’re currently working on? Any other
projects or is writing this series holding your full focus at the moment?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Wesley Chu:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> Due to the great early
reception for <i><b>The Lives of Tao</b></i>, the
Angry Robot overlords have green lit <i><b>The
Deaths of Tao</b></i> and moved it up to Oct 29, 2013. Fans of the first book can
expect something a little different in Deaths. After all, it is five years
later and the Quasing civil war has put Roen through the ringer. He’s a little
older and a lot more pissed off. Oh yeah, and things aren’t looking too rosy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">As for
a series name…um… let me get back to you on that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Bastard:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> <i>At the
risk of a copy/paste answer, what novels and authors have had the biggest
influence in your writing and life? Any recent novels you've read you’d like to
recommend?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Wesley Chu:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> I’m gonna cheat again and just
talk about an upcoming novel dropping in August. I have the arc for Jay Posey’s
<i><b>Three</b> </i>at the moment. It’s a gritty
dystopian about a guy trying to help a woman and her son from a slew of
baddies, both human, kinda human, and some straight up weird bad shit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Now,
Jay works for Red Storm Entertainment, and he’s one of the guys who brought us
<b><i>Rainbow Six</i></b> and <b><i>Ghost Recon</i></b>. The first thing I felt about reading <i><b>Three</b></i> was how visceral the book is. I
felt like I was right there in his clusterphobic world, and I’ll be honest,
it’s not a nice place to be for someone of my low pain threshold.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Keep
an eye on for <b><i>Three</i></b>; it’s going to make a good splash.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Bastard:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";"> <i>Well
off you go, I’m sure you have other places to invade. I’d like to say it was a
pleasure… well, it actually was. Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you
around. Good luck with <b>The Lives of Tao</b>,
and any future projects you get involved in. Any parting shots?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Wesley Chu: </span></b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Thanks
much. You’re not as bad as they all said you were, even if you are a Boston
fan. By the way, how did your guys doing in the playoffs? Oh, oops. =) It’s
okay. I’m sure my Bulls will be joining you soon.</span></div>
</div>
<br />
<hr />
<br />
They sure did, Nostradamus. In the interest of not being an ungrateful host, I'll call for a temporary truce for the rest of the day.<br />
<br />
All kidding aside, thanks to Wesley Chu for stopping by, much appreciated. <b><i>The Lives of Tao</i></b> was a really good read, so go <a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Lives-Tao-Wesley-Chu/9780857663290" target="_blank">buy yourself a copy</a> as soon as you can. It's extremely fun. Or, you can try your luck and see if you can win a copy in the following giveaway (if you're honest, this is probably why you came here in the first place).<br />
<br />
For more information on Wesley Chu you can visit his <a href="http://www.chuforthought.com/" target="_blank">website</a> and follow him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wes_chu" target="_blank">@wes_chu</a>.<br />
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Participants have to be 18 years of age or older to participate. Void where prohibited by law. Giveaway rules are subject to change. </b><br />
<br />
Giveaway will be for 1 physical copy of <b><i>The Lives of Tao</i></b> by Wesley Chu provided by Angry Robot.<br />
<br />
The giveaway is open to US and CANADA shipping addresses only, and it will run from May 16, 2013 until 11:59 pm ET on May 31, 2013.<br />
<br />
<b>How to participate:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>To participate simply log-in into to the Rafflecopter and "Enter" through the easy entry.</li>
<li>One entry per person, or face disqualification.</li>
<li>Entries accepted until 11:59pm ET on May 31, 2013.</li>
<li>There'll be 1 winner only for one physical copy of <b><i>The Lives of Tao</i></b>.</li>
<li>Will have to confirm email to be considered a winner within 48 hours.</li>
<li>Additional entries may be had by following the steps provided in the Rafflecopter instructions, and only by doing those steps. </li>
<li>Winners will be chosen by random selection using the Rafflecopter.</li>
</ul>
Good luck everyone! You can follow...<br /> <a name='more'></a>
<br />
<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/55303926/" id="rc-55303926" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script>Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-71283222386367279912013-05-13T13:00:00.000-04:002013-05-13T13:00:31.575-04:00Update on 24: Live Another Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Re1utT7_qFM/UZEa3T_nFNI/AAAAAAAABbQ/AlM-7uNy390/s1600/JackBauer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Re1utT7_qFM/UZEa3T_nFNI/AAAAAAAABbQ/AlM-7uNy390/s400/JackBauer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
He's baaaaaaaaaaaaack... well not yet, but soon... in 2014, DAMN IT. Jack Bauer is set to return to the network that idiotically cancelled his show a couple of years ago. It's not the movie we were expecting, a movie that looked like it was never going to see the light of day, but an event mini-series beginning May 2014. It's not a full season either, much to my chagrin, but I'll take it. Better than a movie as far as I'm concerned, though seeing Jack with unrestrained violence has a certain appeal.<br />
<br />
<i><b>24: Live Another Day</b></i> will be 12 episodes long. Curious how they'll manage it, but I just know that as soon as I hear Jack Bauer's "Who are you working for!?" I'll be shedding tears of joy.
<br />
<blockquote>
<i>Jack Bauer is coming back.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>Fox executives said Monday that its drama "24" is returning next May for a limited run that will stretch into the summer. The adventure series with Kiefer Sutherland starring as Jack Bauer ended its original run in 2010.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>Fox programming chief Kevin Reilly said creators had been thinking about doing a movie with the original cast. But when Fox announced it was interested in doing a big event miniseries, they realized it was the perfect format.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>“They always had this idea of maybe someday doing a feature film,” he said. “I think they all agreed 24 being compressed into two hours is not 24.”
Sutherland said he was excited to see his character return to TV.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>“The response to ‘24’ is unlike anything I have ever experienced as an actor before,” </i></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>Sutherland said in a statement. “To have the chance to reunite with the character, Jack Bauer, is like finding a lost friend. The story ideas from [producer] Howard Gordon are exciting and fresh, and will not disappoint...Make no mistake, my goal is to knock your socks off.”</i></blockquote>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/05/13/24-returning-to-fox-for-12-episodes-network-announces/" target="_blank">http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/05/13/24-returning-to-fox-for-12-episodes-network-announces/</a>Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-24247203722308792092013-05-06T07:00:00.000-04:002013-05-06T09:08:56.585-04:00D.E.M. Emrys Reviews: The Grim Company by Luke Scull<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
The Good: A promising debut set in a truly epic world, with gritty, relatable characters, and a page burner of a plot (yes, that's right, a page burner).<br />
<br />
The Bad: In my opinion I don’t think there is a lot that is BAD about ‘<b><i>The Grim Company</i></b>’ – I’ve seen the pointed finger on a lot of reviews, but I’ll try and clarify my thoughts on the ‘grimdark’ and ‘Abercrombie part-II’ here.<br />
<br />
The Ugly Truth: <b><i>The Grim Company</i></b> is a hugely impressive debut. Yes, it’s Grimdark. Yes, it’s comparable to Joe Abercrombie. But if you’re going to write a grimdark novel OF COURSE you’re going to be compared to JA. It’s like writing a novel about elves and dwarves but hoping not to be compared to Tolkien. What <b><i>The Grim Company</i></b> does do, and does very well, is entertain. It’s unashamed of its roots, which to me is all that counts. Don’t shout and scream that it’s ‘just a copy’ – it’s not. It’s a tilt of the hat, a nod in the direction of, but in my opinion it’s a very strong contender in today’s fantasy market able to stand on its own two legs (unless you’re an unfortunate mage like Eremul, of course!).<br />
<br />
For Those That Like: David Gemmell, Brian McClellan, magic based stories, grimdark, gritty characters, tyrant-overthrowing-plots, and oh alright then I’ll say it, JOE ABERCROMBIE.<br />
<blockquote>
<i>The gods are dead.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><i>Magic is dying.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><i>Freedom isn’t far off being terminal, either.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><i>Dorminia is a city under siege from within. The Tyrant of Dorminia rules with the approach of: hear no evil, see no evil, do no evil. ‘Evil’ being anyone with motive to oppose him. His mindhawks can hear the thoughts of the people, the city watch see everything, and if anyone steps out of place then Salazar’s magically powered Augmentors sort it out. Swiftly.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><i>But ‘evil’ is in the eye of the beholder. One man’s hero is another man’s villain. Salazar himself is a hero for overthrowing the gods hundreds of years ago, but what about the men who seek to overthrow Salazar?</i><br />
<i><br /></i><i>Two ageing barbarians, one with bad knees and the other with a bad temper, aren’t your typical everyday heroic pair. Nor is a cocky hot-headed youth who claims to be a hero at every opportunity. And a ‘half mage’ with no legs barely scratches at being 'half man', and there’s no such thing as a ‘half hero’. But together with a band of rebels, they seek to bring down Salazar and liberate Dorminia.</i></blockquote>
Luke Scull’s ‘<i><b>The Grim Company</b></i>’ is his debut novel, and the opening to a brand new epic fantasy series. ‘<b><i>The Grim Company</i></b>’ is a story of the unlikeliest companions thrown together to bring down an enemy that even the gods couldn’t defeat. The odds of their success are grim (see what I did there? Ok, I’ll stop!).<br />
<br />
You need a fitting start to a tale in which the gods are dead. It needs to be a cataclysmic intro, something world-shattering to live up to the epic setting. What to choose, what to choose…oh, I know! A tidal wave. Eureka. Wait… …<br />
<br />
A TIDAL WAVE?!? In the first five pages?<br />
<br />
Certainly sets the tone, doesn’t it?<br />
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‘<i><b>The Grim Company</b></i>’ comes out swinging, and throughout it doesn’t pull its punches. Look, I’m not going to go into the similarities that other reviewers have pointed out just yet, because I think that ‘<b style="font-style: italic;">The Grim Company</b>’ can stand on its own two feet and fend for itself in terms of originality. Sure it’s grimdark fantasy, which is all the trend at the minute, but it has its own unique spice. I won’t bore you to death with examples but here’s a tidbit for you. Without spoiling anything, Scull introduces the concept of deep-sea mining at one point in the story. DEEP SEA MINING IN A FANTASY?!? Stick that in your originality pipe and smoke it. Then you have the concept of the Augmentors, warriors with a specific talent or trait magically magnified. Yes, this concept (or at least the base idea of it) has been used numerous times in fantasy, but it’s execution in the story is fantastic and makes for some fantastic character development and twists.<br />
<br />
Scull shamelessly man’s his ‘<b><i>Grim Company</i></b>’ with the unlikeliest of heroes, even though each stereotype is likely to appear in every other grimdark fantasy novel out there. BUT, and I must emphasise this point, BUT Scull does it SHAMELESSLY. Ageing barbarian with aches and pains, getting too old for the life of a warrior; a crippled and bitter intellect, seated at the heart of a conspiracy yet he can’t sit down or stand up without risking sh**ting himself; and a hopeful young hero, talented, brave, destined for greatness, that is if he can stop his ego from running away from him. They’re all familiar to a fantasy fan, but don’t be put off by thinking this is a copy-paste cast. It’s a testament to Scull’s writing that he can take such familiar characters and breathe new life into them. I myself fell in love with the characters. Yes I can see the similarities. Do I care? No. They’re individual to me.<br />
<br />
The plot and the setting are fantastic. Who doesn’t like an epic backdrop to a fantasy? And it doesn’t get much better than dead gods whose corpses leak magic. Seriously, top this, go on, I dare ya.<br />
<br />
Scull’s style is refreshing. I mean when you weigh it all up he has PACKED ‘<i><b>The Grim Company</b></i>’ with ideas and characters. When you try and list them all down, it seems like it won’t work on paper. There's just so much going on. But it does. It really, really does. The pacing is fantastic, never relenting. It’s not so much a page turner as a page burner.<br />
<br />
But the heart of the matter, I guess, the thing that everyone wants to know:<br />
<br />
…is ‘<b><i>The Grim Company</i></b>’ just another grimdark, or is it (as a minority of reviews/readers suggest) a blatant copy of other things out there (He-who-shall-not-be-named!).<br />
<br />
In my opinion? NO!<br />
<br />
‘<i><b>The Grim Company</b></i>’ is its own story. I used this word earlier, SHAMELESS. It is shameless in its use of characters, tone, and even word choice. But what does it have to be ashamed of? Nothing if you ask me. It’s a damn good read from a damned good author. I’m not going to point out the similarities for you, because in my opinion that’s not me doing justice to Luke Scull or ‘<b><i>The Grim Company</i></b>’.<br />
<br />
If every reader in the known world wants to know the TRUTH about this similarity binge, I’ll give you a truth. You might not be able to handle it, but here it is.<br />
<br />
Is ‘<i><b>The Grim Company</b></i>’ a mirror of Joe Abercrombie’s ‘First Law’ series?<br />
<br />
No.<br />
<br />
As a debut novel, ‘<b><i>The Grim Company</i></b>’ is better. <br />
<br />
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<b>Guest Reviewer Info:</b> <b>D. E. M. Emrys. Author. Soldier by day, Soldier by night - Writer in between. Knows war to write war.</b> David Emrys, known as D to his friends, is a serving soldier and author.<br />
<br />
Growing up with the heroic tales written by authors such as David Gemmell and James Barclay, D was inspired to write stories of his own. After joining the army D used his free time to focus on his dream of sharing shelf-space with his idols.<br />
<br />
D lives where the army send him, but home is in Chelmsford with his fiancé. They say that behind every great man there is a woman pulling the strings, but she lets him dance to his own song whilst being the perfect partner in step. D claims that his books would not have been written without her.<br />
<br />
David Emrys is not his real name. Nor is D. <br />
<br />
You can read more about the author and his other book reviews on <a href="http://written-with-a-sword.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">his website</a>. Also read <a href="http://bastardbooks.blogspot.com/2012/10/mihirs-thoughts-from-man-to-man-by-dem.html" target="_blank">Mihir's review of <b><i>From Man To Man</i></b></a> by D.E.M. Emrys. You can order <a href="http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/luke-scull/grim-company.htm" target="_blank"><b><i>The Grim Company</i></b> over here</a>.</div>
Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12445919981713266393noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-29414284793687440182013-05-04T09:00:00.002-04:002013-05-04T09:00:48.156-04:00Obscene Language Not Included, Vanilla Ice Cream for Some, Others Chocolate PuddingThe other day I was ruminating on how I might want to scale down on how many times I use "fuck" in my reviews. Not that I think I use it that often mind you, in fact, I think I've been quite tame for what comes natural to me. But the fact remains that I have interest in re-posting my reviews on Amazon, so it means that I have to do double the work to edit some sentences so that they're vanilla enough for public consumption. But what the fuck, the trouble is worth it. So all the "shits" and "fucks" will remain as I move forward with my reviews on the blog.<br />
<br />
Accordingly, George Carlin came to mind and how long it has been since I've shared with the world just a little piece of his awesomeness. He's by far my favorite comic of all time. A person who I consider to be of high intellect, and to my pedestrian vocabulary limit, a true wordsmith.<br />
<br />
It's only fitting that I found this gem for a video that compiles George Carlin imparting fuck bombs from left to right. How awesome is that? A 10-minute video purely showcasing the different ways he's delivered the word "fuck", and it's fucking great. No one can deliver the word "fuck" as Carlin does, including such stellar favorites like "fuck Lance Armstrong" and "fuck Tiger Woods". Considering how things developed after his death in 2008, I think he was onto something.<br />
<br />
Needless to say, NSFW, but very well worth the watch. Hope you enjoy. As they say, practice makes perfect.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="282" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-5L2S2zsCr0?rel=0" width="500"></iframe>Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-36677499388971209462013-05-03T00:00:00.000-04:002013-05-03T12:24:27.413-04:00Update on ARCANE WEST, a New Series by K.A. Stewart (Mihir)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Last year I found out that one of my favorite series was dropped by its publisher because <a href="http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2012/11/series-news-jesse-james-dawson-series.html" target="_blank">they adjudged that the series wasn’t selling enough books</a>. The<b> <i>Jesse James Dawson</i> </b>series was truly a good one and I’m looking forward to the author's next book in the series whenever she <a href="http://literaryintent.blogspot.com/2013/03/naughty-secrets.html" target="_blank">releases it</a> independently.</div>
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Yesterday the author revealed a new book, which is set to be released via <a href="http://www.us.penguingroup.com/pages/intermix/" target="_blank">Intermix</a>, Penguin’s new e-book imprint in January 2014. The book is currently titled <i><b>Peacemaker</b></i> first in the <b><i>Arcane West</i></b> series and <a href="http://literaryintent.blogspot.com/2013/05/sound-trumpets.html" target="_blank">here’s the blurb</a>:<br />
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<i><b>Caleb Marcus is a Peacemaker, a roving lawman tasked with maintaining the peace and bringing control to magic users on the frontier. A Peacemaker isn’t supposed to take a life—but sometimes, it’s kill or be killed… </b></i></blockquote>
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<i>After a war injury left him half-scoured of his power, Caleb and his jackalope familiar have been shipped out West, keeping them out of sight and out of the way of more useful agents. And while life in the wild isn’t exactly Caleb’s cup of tea, he can’t deny that being amongst folk who aren’t as powerful as he is, even in his poor shape, is a bit of a relief. </i></blockquote>
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<i>But Hope isn’t like the other small towns he’s visited. The children are being mysteriously robbed of their magical capabilities. There’s something strange and dark about the local land baron who runs the school. Cheyenne tribes are raiding the outlying homesteads with increasing frequency and strange earthquakes keep shaking the very ground Hope stands on. </i></blockquote>
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<i>Something’s gone very wrong in the Wild West, and it’s up to Caleb to figure out what’s awry before he ends up at the end of the noose—or something far worse…</i></blockquote>
I have to say this alternate historical story sounds very exciting and combined with K.A. Stewart’s writing style, both Bastard and I can’t wait to get our hands on this new title from one of our favorite authors.<br />
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For those interested in knowing more about the <b><i>Jesse James Dawson</i></b> books can read the following reviews:<br />
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<ul>
<li><a href="http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2010/09/devil-in-details-by-ka-stewart-reviewed.html" target="_blank">My review of <b><i>A Devil In The Details</i></b></a></li>
<li><a href="http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2011/08/shot-in-dark-by-ka-stewart-reviewed-by.html" target="_blank">My review of <b><i>A Shot In The Dark</i></b></a></li>
<li><a href="http://bastardbooks.blogspot.com/2011/08/bastard-reaction-shot-in-dark-by-ka.html" target="_blank">Bastard's review of <b><i>A Shot In The Dark</i></b></a> </li>
<li><a href="http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-wolf-at-door-by-k-stewart-reviewed-by.html" target="_blank">My review of <b><i>A Wolf At The Door</i></b></a></li>
<li><a href="http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2011/01/interview-with-ka-stewart-interview-by.html" target="_blank">My interview with Kari A. Stewart</a></li>
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Also you can follow the author over at <a href="http://literaryintent.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">her blog</a> and via <a href="https://twitter.com/tasmin21" target="_blank">twitter</a>.</div>
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Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12445919981713266393noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-84323309879294936742013-05-01T09:22:00.000-04:002013-05-01T09:22:41.956-04:00Patremagne Reviews: Dauntless by Jack Campbell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm relatively unexplored, so to speak, in the SciFi genre. I wanted a book that would be a quick, entertaining read, and <b><i>Dauntless</i></b> looked like it would fit the bill. If you're looking for a book with a deep story with a cast of three-dimensional characters, <b><i>Dauntless</i></b> is not what you seek.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Dauntless</i> is the first in Campbell's <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Lost Fleet</i> series and it begins with John "Black Jack" Geary having been frozen in hibernation for a century. Before his hibernation began, the Alliance had been fighting a war against the Syndicate, or Syndics as Campbell often calls them, and Geary went down in a blaze of glory in holding off the Syndics in order for the rest of the fleet to escape. Only he didn't go down, he managed to jump into an escape pod and begin hibernation when no immediate rescue could be seen. Upon being rescued, he is thrust right back into the same war he had been fighting a century ago. Now obviously a century will cause some changes to everything, but Geary returns to see himself worshiped as a hero; as a model that all new recruits aspire to be. Sailors swear by his name, i.e. "Black Jack himself couldn't get us out of this mess". Needless to say, Geary is quite disturbed about how he is portrayed and continually attempts to dissuade his sailors that he is not some sort of legend.<br />
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His return is also marred by the fact that a century of war has drastically changed the way the Alliance Navy works. Sailors no longer salute, which leaves Geary baffled many times in the outset of the book. The Navy now no longer uses tactics to win battles, and instead urges captains to charge head-on as if they were Black Jack himself, claiming that the only important things were to achieve glory and honor. Throughout the book we see Geary appalled time and time again at the deteriorated state that he sees the once glorious Alliance Navy in. Not only have the traditions such as saluting vanished, Geary has to deal with insubordination as well. A few of the captains under him determine, based on the legend, that they do not like him, as if he created the legend himself. Though the story is told in third person, Campbell thrusts us into the mind of Captain Geary throughout, and we see his train of thought on certain situations as well as the possible outcomes. The third-person limited thought process allows us to feel for Geary as he tries to adjust to the change in technology.<br />
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Since there is no world to come alive before us due to the fact that the entire book is based on a single ship, the Dauntless, Campbell did a pretty good job trying to make us feel like we're inside the ship as he describes it. In the conference room, he describes the technology well enough that I can paint a solid picture in my mind on how the likenesses of other captains essentially floated in the air as if in a normal conference in person. With what he had to work with (though he gave it to himself), Campbell did a fine job putting us in the ship.<br />
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While reading reviews for SciFi books I have noticed that some are so wordy that, to use a phrase I vaguely remember from another review, you'd need to be a physicist to understand what's going on. There are some cool concepts in <b><i>Dauntless</i></b>, such as the utilization of the speed of light, especially in combat. There is no immediate scanner to pick up the exact movements of enemies and allies. There's a delay based on how far away the other ship is. This adds tension in knowing the enemy has been in the same system as you for hours now and you didn't find out until just now. Along the speed of light idea, a ship, when travelling around .2 light-speed, begins to distort the area around it in that another ship would need to predict its movements because it cannot be seen clearly on the scanner. The constant use of phrases like "Fox Five, turn three degrees and accelerate to .1 light-speed" was a little tiring during some combat scenes, but not all that overbearing, especially if you enjoy military SciFi.<br />
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The real downside to <b><i>Dauntless</i></b> that I was aware of going in was that there is no character depth. There are perhaps two real secondary characters and we somewhat learn more about them throughout, but not as well as most other books I have read. This may be a consequence of the third-person limited narrative style, but I think it has more to do with the fact that <i style="font-weight: bold;">Dauntless</i> is the first in a series. Though it isn't Campbell's debut, I find that many authors need to work out the kinks when beginning a series. The real focus is on Geary, and we struggle with him in trying to suppress this legend that he has become in his hibernation. It is a true "I didn't ask for this" story. His character develops a bit in this 293 page book, but not all that much. The combat is well done and the book sets a fast pace, but nothing really appeared to be done. The fleet traversed a few systems and participated in a few skirmishes. Though I haven't read the second book, I think that it would have been better if the first and second books were combined and perhaps slightly trimmed of some fat in order to make us feel like something significant happened. Another issue I had was the inconsistent use of vulgarity. In some situations "hell" and "damn" are used often, and then there are others i.e. "knocked us on our butt" where "knocked us on our ass" would fit the bill much better. In this inconsistency, <b><i>Dauntless</i></b> loses some of its seriousness.<br />
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The enjoyment you get from this book is based on the mindset you have when you go in. Like I said at the beginning, if you want a really deep story with really deep characters, this is not it. If you're a military SciFi fan and want a fast-paced action book that's a short, quick read, this might be for you. I went in with the latter mindset, so <b><i>Dauntless</i></b> was enjoyable for me outside of the points that I outlined because I went in expecting just these faults.<br />
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You can get <b><i>Dauntless</i></b> at <a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Dauntless-Jack-Campbell/9780441014187" target="_blank">The Book Depository</a> and you can head on over to Campbell (John G. Hemry)'s website <a href="http://www.johnghemry.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.
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I want to take this opportunity to introduce Patrick "Patremagne" Doherty. He's interested in starting his own review blog, and while he sets it up I've invited him to provide a review, or more if he's up to it, so that he could get some experience.<br />
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For the time being he'd appreciate some feedback, and his future website will be <a href="http://abitterdraft.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">A Bitter Draft: Fantasy and Science Fiction Reviews</a>. You can also find him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/patremagne" target="_blank">@Patremagne</a> and over at <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/15703983-patremagne" target="_blank">Goodreads</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-52307993432326872702013-04-29T09:07:00.000-04:002013-05-16T03:25:22.920-04:00Guest Post & Giveaway: A Tale from the Trenches from author Tim Marquitz<div>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yIR3MO-YiqA/UX30RwnsatI/AAAAAAAABY8/ipyp7c59SDE/s1600/timandhismaster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yIR3MO-YiqA/UX30RwnsatI/AAAAAAAABY8/ipyp7c59SDE/s200/timandhismaster.jpg" width="193" /></a>The dilemma of self-publishing is the constant nagging thought of, “What do I have to offer that people can’t find elsewhere and how do I get it to them?” At least it is for me.</div>
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With the shelves of (remaining) bookstores stocked full of traditionally published books and those of the big small houses, being self-published without a traditional publishing background is a challenge. It’s not insurmountable, as many authors have shown, but it certainly puts the onus of marketing and promotion and the drive toward success squarely on the shoulders of the author. And while I’ve got the internet to spread the word and hopefully sing the praises of my books, the reality of it is more like throwing a book into the ocean and hoping it hits each and every shore. It’s an unrealistic expectation, especially at the outset; a hopeless dream that appears doomed from the onset.</div>
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And that’s exactly what it felt like when I started publishing. I’d sold a few hundred copies of <b><i>Armageddon Bound</i></b>, the first of my <b><i>Demon Squad</i></b> series, and while that was awesome, it certainly didn’t pay me back the money I’d spent on giveaways or my web page, and it definitely didn’t pay for my occasional convention trip. Not that it’s all about money, mind you. I write because I love to, but there’s an uncomfortable reality of return when you’re writing for public consumption. You can’t just constantly hemorrhage cash trying to get your name out there with no return and expect any sort of longevity.</div>
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For me, the first few years were hard as far as my aspirations were concerned. Seriously, $400 a year doesn’t go very far. I was fortunate—and still am—to have a solid, full time job with benefits. I’m no starving artist living on the street, but for me, the goal is to write for a living. $400 isn’t going to get me there. It’s not going to get anyone there.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-091HQm3qdKU/UX35VGhyZmI/AAAAAAAABZM/FEcudc898L4/s1600/BeyondtheVeil-TimMarquitz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-091HQm3qdKU/UX35VGhyZmI/AAAAAAAABZM/FEcudc898L4/s200/BeyondtheVeil-TimMarquitz.jpg" width="131" /></a>Seeing that paltry sum in return for all the long hours I’d spent writing and editing and imagining was a kick to the baby parts. The first four novels I’d written were stashed in a trunk, rejections having piled up with no substantive advice buried in them, and writing the fifth felt like taking a swim with a cannonball. I was drowning.</div>
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Early on, I was under the delusion that writing was all about the writing. Turns out I was wrong. It isn’t how good a writer you are these days, and it isn’t about how poetic your prose or awe-inspiring your plots are. Of course those matter, but they’re just one piece of the publishing puzzle. It took me a while to realize this, focused as I was on bettering my skills and storytelling.</div>
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In the end I learned it was about writing plus marketing plus promotion plus networking plus—and this is the most ephemeral piece of the puzzle—plain luck. You can be the best storyteller in the world but if no one hears you, you’re nothing. Same goes for promotion. You can pitch a sack of gussied up poo all day long but once folks figure out what it is, you’re done. A successful author has to be all things publishing-related if they hope to make a name for themselves. And they have to be lucky, right place, right time.</div>
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Once I figured that out—after plenty of mistakes and the mantric advice from more talented buddies and colleagues echoing inside my head—things changed. They changed a lot. The relationships I’d formed with bloggers—people I now consider friends—gave me a soapbox for my work, a pedestal to display it where more than just my wife and the cats got to see. It was the same with conventions. While I blew more than a year’s worth of royalties booking a flight and was forced to nickel and dime to eat while I was there, the relationships I’ve created at these conventions have more than made each and every trip worth the effort.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WkAO0syXHuE/UX35nN6ap1I/AAAAAAAABZU/HDHDfmSDKKQ/s1600/witchbane-marquitz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WkAO0syXHuE/UX35nN6ap1I/AAAAAAAABZU/HDHDfmSDKKQ/s200/witchbane-marquitz.jpg" width="133" /></a>Add this to what I learned with regards to my actual writing and I suddenly had more of a platform. People were starting to tune in. That increased as I put more effort into not being an anti-social introvert and expanded my visibility through social media. Just like in real life (if you can believe it) I made friends and met folks whose skills and willingness to help only furthered my ability to grow an audience. Word of mouth had gone from forced self-promotion to something more natural, folks talking about my books on their own, discussing them and telling their friends. It’s a great feeling seeing the tiny seed of my career sprout.</div>
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While I’m hardly one of the Michael J Sullivans or Hugh Howeys of the world, I’m finding my groove, and I know for a fact it isn’t because of just one thing I’ve done (write) but the sum of all I’ve done and has been done for me, and that elusive bit of luck I’ve managed to catch a wisp of. And as solitary as writing might seem, the long hours cooped up in front of keyboard making stuff up, it really becomes a community when you expand beyond the function of writing and step into publishing. It has to if you want to get your manuscript into the hands of someone not related to you.</div>
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Ultimately, self-publishing is a lot of work with no guarantees of success—just like life. There’s no certainty you’ll wake up every morning, and there’s definitely no certainty you’ll wake up with a contract from one of the big publishing houses in your inbox. So, if your dream is to write and be published and your options are limited, just do it. Tell your stories, make friends, dream big, and work your ass off. There are no guarantees but there’s plenty of regret to go around. And while I might not be the textbook example of success when it comes to self-publishing, the fact that I can make something of myself doing it is proof there are opportunities out there. You simply have to make the most of them.</div>
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As always a pleasure to have Tim around, author of one of my favorite urban fantasy series in <b><i>Demon Squad</i></b>. Most here should already know him as I keep inviting him over whenever I want to give free books, without having to spend my own money, and whenever he's released a new book.<br />
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His newest novel is the latest in the <b><i>Demon Squad</i></b> series, the fifth installment <i style="font-weight: bold;">Beyond the Veil</i>, which was great. To celebrate that release, he's decided to give an eBook set of all his <b><i>Demon Squad</i></b> novels to three lucky winners.<br />
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<b>Participants have to be 18 years of age or older to participate. Void where prohibited by law. Giveaway rules are subject to change. </b><br />
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Giveaway will be for 3 full eBook sets of the<b><i> Demon Squad</i></b> urban fantasy series by author Tim Marquitz.<br />
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The giveaway is open WORLDWIDE, and it will run from April 29, 2013 until 11:59 pm ET on May 10, 2013.<br />
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<b>How to participate:</b><br />
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<li>To participate simply log-in into to the Rafflecopter and "Enter" through the easy entry.</li>
<li>One entry per person, or face disqualification.</li>
<li>Entries accepted until 11:59pm ET on May 10, 2013.</li>
<li>There'll be 3 winners only for all eBook <b><i>Demon Squad</i></b> novels.</li>
<li>Will have to confirm email to be considered a winner within 48 hours.</li>
<li>Additional entries may be had by following the steps provided in the Rafflecopter instructions, and only by doing those steps. </li>
<li>Winners will be chosen by random selection using the Rafflecopter.</li>
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Good luck everyone! You can follow <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tim-Marquitz/e/B002XIZZH0/" target="_blank">Tim Marquitz</a> on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/marquitz" target="_blank">@Marquitz</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/tim.marquitz" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, his <a href="http://tmarquitz.com/" target="_blank">website</a>, and his <a href="http://tmarquitz.com/blog/" target="_blank">blog</a>.<br />
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<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/55303925/" id="rc-55303925" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
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<br />Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-18308610785539964932013-04-28T15:20:00.000-04:002013-04-28T15:30:55.837-04:00Giveaway Winners Update for Kalimpura, A Natural History of Dragons, and MiserereA quick update on the winners from my latest giveaways, 2 of them from the good folks from Tor and one from author Teresa Frohock. I just want to give thanks to everyone who has taken the time to participate. The latest one was by far the most participation I've had on a giveaway, so I hope to see more of that.<br />
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Be aware that all winners have been contacted by email, so if you didn't receive an email... well, you know what that means.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://bastardbooks.blogspot.com/2013/02/giveaway-kalimpura-jay-lake.html" target="_blank"><b><i>Kalimpura</i></b> by Jay Lake</a></span></div>
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This was a giveaway for 3 hardcover copies of <i style="font-weight: bold;">Kalimpura</i> provided by Tor, the third and final novel in the <b><i>Green Universe</i></b>. I recently read all of it, and quite enjoyed it.</div>
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<b>Tim, Sharon, and Jonathan</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://bastardbooks.blogspot.com/2013/03/giveway-excerpt-natural-history-dragons.html" target="_blank"><b><i>A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent</i></b> from Marie Brennan</a></span></div>
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Another giveaway from Tor for 3 hardcover copies, which also included an <a href="http://bastardbooks.blogspot.com/2013/03/giveway-excerpt-natural-history-dragons.html" target="_blank">excerpt</a> for <b><i>A Natural History of Dragons</i></b> by Marie Brennan.</div>
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<b>Brendan, Jessica, and Kayla</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://bastardbooks.blogspot.com/2013/04/giveaway-miserere-teresa-frohock.html" target="_blank"><b><i>Miserere: An Autumn Tale</i></b> by Teresa Frohock</a></span></div>
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A signed copy of <b><i>Miserere: An Autumn Tale</i></b> by Teresa Frohock was offered by author. This was actually the giveaway the had most participants ever on this website, almost double the previous high. Safe to say it was a success.</div>
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<b>Gary</b><br />
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Thanks once again to everyone who participated. If you didn't win, good luck on not being losers next time. Actually have a guest post with a giveaway tomorrow, so try your luck there.Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8748211313953490132.post-83544571991672044672013-04-27T15:09:00.000-04:002013-04-27T15:14:30.784-04:00Bastard Reaction: Fair Game by Patricia Briggs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Patricia Briggs was one of the first authors I read in the urban fantasy sub-genre, her <b><i>Mercy Thompson</i></b> series still remains among my favorites within it. <b><i>Alpha and Omega</i></b> is the companion series set in the same universe as Mercy Thompson, even sharing some of the same characters. The <b><i>Alpha and Omega</i></b> series is different, so it's not for every urban fantasy fan, but it adds good value to the universe. It's been my understanding that <b><i>Alpha and Omega</i></b> has a bigger focus on romance than <b><i>Mercy Thompson</i></b>, so while I hesitated to give this series a try, I ended up reading it anyways and I'm glad I did.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Fair Game</i> is the third novel in the series that feature Anna Latham, a rare Omega werewolf, and her husband Charles Cornick a native-american werewolf, shaman, enforcer, assassin, and executioner. Their marriage has hit a rough patch, Charles has become withdrawn because he's haunted by the ghosts of all the werewolves he's had to kill. He can't make peace with it, some of the kills are weighing heavily on him. Since the werewolves came out publicly, the tolerance for misbehavior is at an all-time low, which has meant non-stop work for Charles. The latest he had to kill a few werewolves because they lost a bit of control as they killed a pedophile, and Charles is having trouble justifying the need to kill those werewolves under these circumstances. The Marrock, who is also Charles' dad, is worried about his son's stability and assigns him and Anna a case in Boston were he'll be assisting several government agencies in hunting down a serial killer who's targeting supernatural beings, and the latest victim is a werewolf, in the hope that doing this good deed might help Charles cope and get his mental health righted.<br />
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Against all odds, I've quite enjoyed <b><i>Alpha and Omega</i></b> and I have to say that <b><i>Fair Game</i></b> is the best novel Patricia Briggs has written in a while. It had good character interaction, and it really pleased me that we had a very strong focus with the government agencies, which included the FBI and Homeland among others. I don't know how much of a role they'll have in future novels, but we got introduced to some good characters which I hope will become series regulars in the future.<br />
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There was one particular scene though that was ridiculous and terrible and took me out of the novel completely, until I managed to regroup later on and continue. And it will be to no surprise that it was a sex scene. One of the worst I've read. Keep in mind that I came into this novel with the full understanding that there'll be a romantic focus, and I had read the previous two novels too, so I wasn't going to come here and complain about the amount of romance this novel had. By the way, there romance in this novel was very well balanced, and quite welcomed, so I have no problem with that. In fact, I'd say it has less love drama than many of my latest urban fantasy reads.<br />
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Getting back to the sex scene, picture this. The serial killer has abducted a fey's daughter, and they have to find her and save her before she's killed. Oh, and considering the evidence from past victims, she's most probably currently being tortured in the worst of ways and raped repeatedly. After all the searching, they find the location and when they get to the vicinity of her location, for one reason or another the author concocted a scenario in which Anna and Charles just had to fuck right then and there. Not in a dark corner or in a car while alone, no they decided to fuck out in the open with the rest of the search party around. What the heck? It made no sense from a good storytelling perspective or from a romance perspective or from an erotic perspective, in all irrespective to any elements you like in your stories. This kind of scene is only welcomed in a porn movie, but was just a terrible decision and had no place in the story. Just didn't make any kind of sense, and I would think that even romance readers will agree with me. The sad thing of it was that everything else in the novel was going very well.<br />
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If I recall correctly, there was just this one sex scene, poorly executed as it was. Aside from it becoming a bit predictable in regards as to the identity of the mystery, the rest of the novel was pretty good and thoroughly enjoyed it. We had some good action, and Charles kicked major ass. Seriously, he was awesome. I lament though that Anna wasn't given much to do in this novel, particularly from an action perspective. I hope that she'll be more active in future novels. Not that she wasn't taking part of the action, but most of the action scenes we experienced via Charles' POV, so we didn't get to see much of Anna, so maybe it would be as simple as having Anna take some of that burden, even when they're sharing the same scene.<br />
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The supporting cast was a good one overall, particular the werewolves from the Boston pack, the FBI agents, a powerful witch, and an apparent fey noble. The thing I liked the most was the ending. There was a trial though that the outcome didn't feel right with me, but what ensued was worth it. One of the best endings I've encountered, and very excited to see where the story goes next as we see the repercussions of what occurred.<br />
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<b><i>Fair Game</i></b> is simply good read, I might even say great if it wasn't for the sex scene. As mentioned, one of the best urban fantasy stories Patricia Briggs has written, and a very welcomed addition to the <b><i>Alpha and Omega</i></b> series and to the <b><i>Mercy Thompson</i></b> universe. I'm sure fans of the series will love this one.<br />
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Buy <b><i>Fair Game</i></b> from <a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Fair-Game-Patricia-Briggs/9780425256183" target="_blank">The Book Depository</a><br />
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For more information, please visit Patricia Briggs <a href="http://www.patriciabriggs.com/" target="_blank">website</a>.Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262625208142078301noreply@blogger.com16