Bastard Promotion: Yurine's Pot by Richard Auffrey

Before you go further, download Yurine's Pot by Richard Auffrey for FREE during this weekend.

Anyways, friend of the blog, Richard Auffrey has just published his first short story via Kindle called Yurine's Pot. Before I went into reading fantasy novels and the likes, my background was on things related to anime and manga, and I'm constantly surprised by how much Richard knows about the them. I'm starting to believe more than me, which is not common around my circles. So it's no surprise that this short story deals with a Japanese sake legend, and at the very least I trust that he knows quite a bit on the subject.

For those that don't know, Richard runs a blog known as The Passionate Foodie which focuses on, well, food. Wine, cheese, gourmet food, you name it, he's well informed in the subject, an expert, so I'm curious to see how he seems to mix some of his passions in prose.

Anyways, here's more info on the story:

If your son was dying of cancer, what would you do to save him?

I have taken a big step, self-publishing a new short story for the Kindle. I have always loved writing fiction, and have previously posted five of my food & wine related tales on my blog. I have written plenty of other fiction that has yet to be posted anywhere. It is time to take the next step, to start publishing my work and the advent of the e-book has made that more accessible. So this story is a pioneer, blazing a path for me which I hope will lead to a better realm.

The tale, Yurine's Pot, is a modern fantasy, revolving around an ancient Japanese legend about Sake. A father, whose son is dying of cancer, may have discovered a mystical cure but others are willing to kill for it. Is the legend real or is the father merely deluding himself? What is the father willing to sacrifice to save his son?

This short story is now available HERE and will be Free on Saturday and Sunday, before reverting back to its $0.99 price.

I hope that you enjoy this short story, and if you do, please leave a review on Amazon as well as leave me a comment here on my blog. If you have any constructive criticism, I would love to hear that as well. If this story is well received, it could be the first of more Sake-centric short stories.

Kanpai!

http://passionatefoodie.blogspot.com/2012/03/yurines-pot-new-sake-short-story.html

Kameron Hurley's free Umayman short stories (by Mihir)

Kameron Hurley is an author whose debut God’s War, first in the Bel Dame Apocrypha series, was well received for its plot ingenuity as well as for its gritty characterization. I reviewed the book earlier this year over at Fantasy Book Critic and as noted in my review I was very much impressed by her writing skills and the world created. The series also has a couple of terrific covers by David Palumbo.

I’ll be reviewing Infidel as well near its release and so to give the readers who are eager to dive in to the world of Umayma, the author has come up with a great way for readers to learn more about the characters and the world. She’s planned to release three short stories for the readers, of which the first two were released last week. The three stories are:

1] The Seams Between The Stars

2] Afterbirth

3] Angels and Avengers

The recommended reading order is the one listed above as per the author. The first one can be found at various outlets such as Scribd & Smashworlds, ditto for Afterbirth HERE (Scribd) and HERE (Smashworlds). The third one will be released soon as well.

Lastly, for those readers who happen to be awestruck by Ms. Hurley’s debut and want to read more of her work, there’s a free download of the author's entire short story collection HERE (Scribd) or HERE (Smashwords). Bastard will be posting his thoughts on God's War soon as well, until then read these short stories to know more about the terrifying and violent world of Umayma and Nyx.

Mihir's Thoughts: Curran Volumes - Companion scenes to the Magic series

Hey everyone, I’m Mihir and I’ll be joining Bastard on this blog. Bastard is a person who according to his profile grew up hating reading and later on changed his mind. I on the other hand never knew anything else besides reading, first there were comics and mythological stories and since then it’s been a gradual progression to the current SFF genre. I’m hoping to complement Bastard’s thoughts, reviews and reactions with some of my own which will be in line with this blog’s theme and name “Bastard books and other crap”.

One of my favorite author pairs are Ilona Andrews, the husband-wife team of Ilona & Andrew Gordon who have shot up within the crowded ranks of the urban fantasy sub-genre. They did it by putting out one the best series currently being written, the Kate Daniels “Magic” series. There have been five books along with three short stories out so far. I have reviewed them previously and they can be found over at Fantasy Book Critic here, here, here, and here.

What I like about this series is it has a terrific main protagonist, great characterization which includes the large character tale cast, an awesome magical-post apocalyptic world & over all a mystery at the root of the saga. This series is now in my top three urban fantasy series and one which I will follow all the way to the end.

Now there have been several reviews all over the blogosphere about the books and the short stories but I’ll be focusing on a hitherto unspoken part of the series, the Curran Volumes. There are currently two of these volumes out currently and they have been written by Gordon Andrews exclusively. These pieces feature a fascinating look in to the mind of the one of the most ferocious and scary characters in the books, the Beast Lord Curran Lennart.


In Curran Volume I, the readers are given access to four pivotal scenes spread across the first four books. The first snippet is the one wherein Kate meets Curran for the first time; the second third and fourth ones are from the remaining three books at a certain pivotal time in each of the book. Now three of these scenes have already been read by the readers of the books albeit from Kate’s viewpoint but it is refreshing to re-read them from Curran’s viewpoint. Since we are privy to his thoughts certain plot points come to the fore much more quickly than in the case of the books wherein it occurs at a slower rate, lastly the fourth scene which is not featured in the books is a scene which happens off stage during the third book and helps Curran solve some of his doubts and gives clarity to the climax of that book.

In Curran Volume II: Fathers and Sons, a short story is featured which focuses on the climax of Magic Bleeds. It basically starts in tandem with the last few paragraphs of the book and then expands beyond the book to feature a very powerful scene which showcases why Curran is the beast lord and how powerful he truly is. This event is not shown in any of the books and is not referenced so far in the saga, however it is important for fans of the series to read it as the events which occur will have powerful implications in the pack setup and for the remainder of the saga.

Both these volumes aren't that long, the first volume is of 18 pages in PDF form while the second volume is 20 pages long but even though they are on the shorter side, for fans these stories are gold as they are completely devoted to Curran, his thoughts and his way of life. The first volume has very little action but focuses more on character interactions in each of the stories.

The second volume more than compensates for the action as it has an awesome action sequence and on an emotional level it was very fulfilling to read as well. The second volume in my opinion is the better of the two but that’s just me and I would heartily recommend that fans of the series get their hands on these two volumes as soon as possible.

Both the volumes are available on the author’s website over here and here. They are available in various formats for the reader’s preference and should you be so interested there’s also a 99 cent version available for people who want to reward the authors for their efforts on the same page. Lastly I would like to add the fact that these volumes are meant to be read after reading the books as otherwise new readers will be not be able follow much of what is happening.