Xmas & Some Cool Stuff...

I was planning to get some reviews done this week before I vanish, but I ... well ... haven't! Just going to wish everyone a very happy holiday, thank you all for visiting this blog, and say how cool it has been to hang out with you all this year :) Here's to the next! :D

Thanks also to all the publishers who've been so great -- Orbit, Pyr and Abaddon in particular -- and to all the authors who've sent me their books. If I haven't managed to get to them this year, I will next! ;) Cheers also to all my fellow bloggers (see right) who are all excellent and nice people.

I've got Elantris (thanks to SQT!), which turned up today, and it is looking good so far :)



But for a while at least (probably not that long) I'm gonna be fairly quiet! Unless I work out how to write posts and then time-stamp them into the future...

Adios. Oh... yeah, check out this cool bit of science news... And this new author blog thingy, which has some pretty impressive contributors!

Two Peter Jackson Hobbit Movies...?!

This bit of news from the nice guys at SF Crownest (who have some of my interviews up on their site!):

Peter Jackson, MGM and New Line Cinema told the Nest that they are now to produce two films, The Hobbit and a sequel to The Hobbit (doh). New Line will distribute in North America and MGM will distribute internationally. Jackson and New Line told SFcrowsnest that they have settled their legal battle over the money from the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.

Peter Jackson told SFcrowsnest.com, “I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line. ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is a legacy we proudly share with Bob and Michael, and together, we share that legacy with millions of loyal fans all over the world. We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth. I also want to thank Harry Sloan and our new friends at MGM for helping us find the common ground necessary to continue that journey.”

Bob Shaye, New Line's chairman, told us, “We are very pleased we have been able to resolve our differences, and that Peter and Fran will be actively and creatively involved with ‘The Hobbit’ movies. We know they will bring the same passion, care and talent to these films that they so ably accomplished with ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Trilogy.”



“Peter Jackson has proven himself as the filmmaker who can bring the extraordinary imagination of Tolkien to life and we full heartedly agree with the fans worldwide who know he should be making ‘The Hobbit,’” said Sloan, MGM’s CEO. “Now that we are all in agreement on ‘The Hobbit,’ we can focus on assembling the production team that will capture this phenomenal tale on film.”

“Peter is a visionary filmmaker, and he broke new ground with ‘The Lord of the Rings,’” added Michael Lynne over at New Line. “We’re delighted he’s back for ‘The Hobbit’ films and that the Tolkien saga will continue with his imprint. We greatly appreciate the efforts of Harry Sloan, who has been instrumental in helping us reach our new accord.”

The two Hobbit films – The Hobbit and its sequel – are scheduled to be shot simultaneously, with pre-production beginning as soon as possible. Principal photography is tentatively set for a 2009 start, with the intention of The Hobbit release slated for 2010 and its sequel the following year, in 2011. Jackson and Fran Walsh will serve as Executive Producers of two films based on The Hobbit. New Line will manage the production of the films, which will be shot simultaneously.

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Interesting. We'll have to wait and see!

Contest Winners!

I've had a couple of contests running ... and now they're closed! Mwuahaha.

The winner of the contest for a copy of: The One Kingdom by Sean Russell, Storm Front by Jim Butcher, The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross, and A Cavern of Black Ice by J.V. Jones, is:

Shaun Duke!

He bribed me successfully with this:

I come from the planet Calidox in the Procyon system. As such, I believe that you should be given these lovely tomes of Earth knowledge to me so that I may learn from your Earthly ways the nature of Earthian fiction. As compensation you will receive one Intergalactic Nexus V Transport Ship courtesy of the United Procyon Empire. It comes fully equipped with radiation shielding, anti-gravity floor boards, a soft, opal blue finish, and your own personal robot assistant. The Nexus V travels at four times the speed of light with an average acceleration from 0 to light speed in sixty seconds. In the event that you do not want this vehicle you can request to be refunded an amount equivalent in value in U.S. dollars. 4.7 billion dollars will be transferred to your account should this be your desire.

Please consider this plea. On behalf of the United Procyon Empire I wish you a good day.

Congratulations! ;) There were some great entries, but who can turn down 4.7 billion dollars?!

The winners of the contest for tickets to the première of I Am Legend, the sci-fi classic, are: Ryan Lin and Michael Sheehan. The première has already happened and the tickets were sent out a week ago, but I'm just late announcing it!

Ryan Lin was also around to meet Will Smith when it was being filmed!


Click the pic to see Will Smith holding a machine gun :) This blog used to be family friendly...

A Bit Of Movie & TV Stuff: #1

I don't normally mention SFF stuff in TV and the cinema, but there is quite a lot of cool stuff going on and coming up! This may or may not become a regular feature, and this may or may not depend upon reader response. (This doesn't mean that QotW isn't going ahead -- though there will be a QotW hiatus until January sometime, when I have some good stuff coming!)

The UK airing of the first series of Heroes has gone down very well and I loved pretty much every minute of it, despite the slightly lame ending and the fact that there are about 26 episodes per series! The second series (or season for you Americans!) has been getting some iffy reviews in the US, but by all accounts, it's back on the straight and narrow now, and I can't wait. It was interesting to see a new side of Sylar in the episodes before the finale -- shame he had to change his mind, and end up getting stabbed by Hiro (who is also my favourite character).

Don't die, Sylar. OK, you murder people, but you are way cool. I am having to fight so hard not to watch series 2 on the Internet!

In other news, director Francis Lawrence told reporters that he'd like to do a sequel to his 2005 supernatural movie Constantine, "but I don't know that anybody's come up with an idea yet that we're all super excited about. But it would be cool to revisit that world." I loved Constantine, starring Rachel Weisz :) and Keanu Reeves, and thought it was one of the best films that year. Fingers crossed!



There's a new trailer poster of the upcoming Indiana Jones film, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (coming May 22nd):


Looking good, but not really revealing much!

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, with Brendan Fraser again revisiting his role as action adventurer guy. I'm looking forward to this one, too. The Mummy films are good, fun stuff -- nothing scary, and nothing massively challenging, but great fun!

Synopsis:

Brendan Fraser returns as explorer Rick O'Connell to combat the resurrected Qin Emperor (Jet Li) in an epic that races from the catacombs of ancient China high into the frigid Himalayas. Rick is joined in this all-new adventure by son Alex (newcomer Luke Ford), wife Evelyn (Maria Bello) and her brother, Jonathan (John Hannah). And this time, the O’Connells must stop a mummy awoken from a 2,000-year-old curse who threatens to plunge the world into his merciless, unending service.

Doomed by a double-crossing sorceress (Michelle Yeoh) to spend eternity in suspended animation, China's ruthless Dragon Emperor and his 10,000 warriors have laid forgotten for eons, entombed in clay as a vast, silent terracotta army. But when dashing adventurer Alex O'Connell is tricked into awakening the ruler from eternal slumber, the reckless young archaeologist must seek the help of the only people who know more than he does about taking down the undead: his parents.

As the monarch roars back to life, our heroes find his quest for world domination has only intensified over the millennia. Striding the Far East with unimaginable supernatural powers, the Emperor Mummy will rouse his legion as an unstoppable, otherworldly force...unless the O’Connells can stop him first.

Y'know what?! This sounds quite similar to the first two Mummy films! No Rachel Weisz in this one, but good to see John Hannah back, and Michelle Yeoh and Jet Li should put in good performances.

And, finally:

Fox is developing an American version of the British sitcom Spaced, originally created by the Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz team of Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, about a young man and woman who pose as a couple in order to rent a cheap apartment, Variety reported; the comedy is known for its ubiquitous pop-culture references, particularly to SF, horror, comic books and video games. Simon Pegg's co-star in all of these, Nick Frost, also stars in the fantastic (and rare) BBC sci-fi comedy, Hyperdrive, which recently finished its second series.


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That's it for this little update :) Let me know whether you liked it, most of it I knew through various message boards and sites, but I thought some of might like to know!

Witch Ember

Witch Ember
John Lawson
Publish America

I'm feeling very groggy today, and while I won't quite say it's "man-flu", -- ultra dangerous, and so much worse than real flu -- I'm going to have to fight hard not to sneeze and cough, and put typos into this review. In my miserable efforts to keep my keyboard fairly un-contagious, I'll probably be having much more fun than a lot of characters in Witch Ember ...

John Lawson's Publish On Demand title is dark, and very, very nasty to it's characters. While it is good to read a nice, dark and gritty novel occasionally, -- as with films like Saw that have so much blood and limbs flying everywhere, and nothing actually scary going on -- you can quickly become desensitised to things, and Witch Ember's refreshing tell-it-like-it-is harshness, soon became a little bit to much to trudge through. As a result, I've put this book down mid-sentence, more than any I've read in recent years.

I did really enjoy the beginning, though, no matter how out of sync it was with the order of the rest of the story, and some of the ideas behind Witch Ember are truly brilliant. I think perhaps stronger editing to give a bit of support to the overall execution of the plot would have made this a really good book.

John Lawson went to a lot of effort to create a rich, different backdrop for his story, creating a huge slang language that was used throughout the text, and use of accents, etc, which should have made his world seem more realistic, but, sadly, only kept jolting me back to the present as I tried to decipher a term, flicking to the glossary and losing my place, before sneezing again (upon re-read, yesterday) over the page I'd been reading.

John is a really nice guy, which is why I've put off this review for so long, and I'd like nothing more than to have enjoyed the book which he'd gone to the effort of getting published. Witch Ember is certainly a better book than some God-awful things I've read published by big name companies. 4.5/10. He's done something which a lot of us always say we want to do, and for that I congratulate him. John has a Myspace, so check it out if you're interested :)


For more info:

Amazon UK
Amazon US

Brandon Sanderson To Finish WoT!!!!!!!

Tor announces that the final novel in bestselling Robert Jordan's legendary Wheel of Time® fantasy series will be completed by author Brandon Sanderson

New York, NY: Friday, December 7, 2007

Tor Books announced today that novelist Brandon Sanderson has been chosen to finish the final novel in Robert Jordan's bestselling Wheel of Time fantasy series. Robert Jordan, one of the greatest storytellers of the 20th and early 21st centuries, died September 16th after a courageous battle with the rare blood disease amyloidosis.

The new novel, A Memory of Light, will be the twelfth and final book in the beloved fantasy series which has sold over 14 million copies in North America and over 30 million copies worldwide. The last four books in the series were all 1 New York Times bestsellers, and for over a decade fans have been eagerly awaiting the final novel that would bring the epic story to its conclusion.

Harriet Popham Rigney, Jordan's beloved wife and editor, said of her decision to have Sanderson complete the last book in The Wheel of Time series: "I have chosen Brandon Sanderson to complete Robert Jordan's great work, and I am absolutely delighted that he accepted. I will of course be editing this book as I have all of the other books of The Wheel of Time."

President and Publisher of Tor Books, Tom Doherty, also expressed his happiness with Harriet's decision, saying: "I am delighted that Harriet has chosen Brandon to complete Robert Jordan's magnificent and timeless epic."

It is the perfect match for Sanderson, who gratefully acknowledges the role Jordan played as an inspiration to him as a writer. In the tribute piece "Goodbye Mr. Jordan," posted on his blog, Sanderson writes to Jordan: "Personally, I feel indebted to you. You showed me what it was to have vision and scope in a fantasy series--you showed me what could be done. I still believe that without your success, many younger authors like myself would never have had a chance at publishing their dreams. You go quietly, but leave us trembling."




Like Jordan, Sanderson was an avid reader and writer from an early age. His debut novel, Elantris, was an unagented gem discovered after Sanderson, then a college student writing during his late night shift at a local hotel, approached Tor editor Moshe Feder at a fantasy convention. Several months later, after reading the manuscript and deciding he had to have it, Feder tried to find the author, who had since moved. Using the internet, he tracked down Sanderson through a campus directory--and the rest is history.

Sanderson has since gone on to establish a loyal fan base as the author of three critically acclaimed fantasy novels: Elantris, Mistborn, and The Well of Ascension, as well as a YA novel, Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians. Publishing trade magazines Publishers Weekly and Library Journal gave Elantris starred reviews and it was the winner of the Romantic Times Award for best epic fantasy. The Washington Post also praised Sanderson for his creation of "a fascinating world" in Mistborn.

Sanderson will have large shoes to fill in his role bringing A Memory of Light to publication but will work very closely with Jordan's longtime editor, Harriet Rigney, to be sure that the writing stays true to Jordan's voice. Jordan himself worked on the novel almost daily for the last few months of his life and according to Harriet: "Some scenes were completed by Robert Jordan, and some exist in draft form; he left copious notes and hours of audio recordings."

Jordan had known the ending of the series for a long time and, according to a blog posting by his cousin, Wilson W. Grooms, Jr., on the popular Jordan fan site www.dragonmount.com, Jordan had a few months ago revealed secret details about the end of the series to close members of his family which he had never discussed before. Grooms wrote: "During a recent family sit around, he [Jordan] became the Gleeman and told the bones of it ALL to Harriet and me. You read that right, I did say ALL. Don't ask, ain't telling. Two and a half hours of story telling by the Creator himself went by in the twinkling of an eye."

Sanderson knows that fans are very anxious to read the last novel in The Wheel of Time series and says, "I'm both extremely excited and daunted by this opportunity. There is only one man who could have done this book the way it deserved to be written, and we lost him in September. However, I promise to do my very best to remain true to Mr. Jordan's vision and produce the book we have all been waiting to read."
At a recent Toastmaster's address at the World Fantasy Con this past November, author Guy Gavriel Kay saluted Jordan's enduring legacy, stating that his "impact on the place of fantasy in the culture is colossal."

Jordan has also often been referred to as Tolkien's heir and in an article about The Wheel of Time series, The New York Times lauded Jordan for his extraordinary story-telling ability: "The books' battle scenes have the breathless urgency of firsthand experience, and the ambiguities in these novels--the evil laced into the forces of good, the dangers latent in any promised salvation, the sense of the unavoidable onslaught of unpredictable events--bear the marks of American national experience during the last three decades, just as the experience of the First World War and its aftermath gave its imprint to Tolkien's work."

John Clute said of Jordan's magnum opus, "when complete, the sequence will almost certainly constitute one of the major epic narratives of modern fantasy."

Now Brandon Sanderson has signed on to complete A Memory of Light, with scheduled delivery of the manuscript in December 2008 and a planned publication date of Fall 2009. "The Wheel of Time turns and ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time?"

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Wow! Now I absolutely have to read Elantris, SQT!!! ;)

There's a brilliant interview with Brandon over at Dragonmount where he talks about the whole thing :) PS: I am aware that multiple exclamation marks are the sign of a warped mind! ;)

Interview With Patrick Rothfuss

This interview has been in the works for quite a while, but I hope it proves worth it :) There are a load of interviews that have asked Pat really good questions about the books and his writing, so you may find that some of these questions are a bit more zany, in order to ask original ones! Enjoy...

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Hello and welcome to The Book Swede! How great it is to have you here, offering you even now cookies (or if you're like Karen, and are too good for cookies ... ice-cream). Hello and welcome!

A: Howdy.

Quite a few people of late have taken to living in caves. In case they've come out and finally discovered the Internet and your name, could you give us a little overview of the Kingkiller Chronicles?

A: Oh boy. Y'know. Of all the questions that I should be good at by now.... I should have this one down pat. But I don't, I really, really suck at describing the book.

How about you do it. Then I'll chime in with something witty afterward...

Youch, hoisted by my own petard, or something similar. Let me see... Hmm... There's something decidedly wrong here, I was meant to be asking, you answering.

Kvothe kicks butt in an awesome fantasy novel made of lovely thick paper (and, in the UK edition, it has inside cover flaps which are bigger than usual, but look very cool) that smells nice, too. The story isn't bad, but it's the paper that really makes this book.

I couldn't agree more. The ink helps too. They used nice, dark ink. I don't think the book would have been nearly as good without the ink.

OK, that's that bit dealt with ;) Now... This question isn't really related to books, but I thought I'd bring your life's wisdom to bear on this long disputed subject: in a massive inter-special war, who would win – bird-kind or monkey-kind?! Any chance of a scene like this is Book 3 (which is called...)? ;)

A: Are we talking about modern birds and monkeys, or futuristic, mutated, or somehow weirded up versions of birds and monkeys?

I think a bit of both really. Just so long as the word “beak-flips” is included in your answer. I'm not sure whether to include weaponry into it, though? Could be fun, this definitely has its place in every respectable fantasy novel.

Hmmm.... It still comes down to the thumbs and brains vs. flight. I've got to with monkeys for the win.

I've recently heard that book two, A Wise Man's Fear is “a novel”. I was unaware of this until very recently ... is the same true of The Name of the Wind?! I truly hope not. I thought I was reading the autobiography of a (admittedly King-killing) man named Kvothe. True, it does sometimes have a little switch between first-person and third-person, but I thought these were merely psychotic episodes. Can you shed any light on the subject? And was I, in fact, correct?

A: There is a definite autobiographical tendency to the books. However, in the sake of full disclosure, that doesn't necessarily preclude you having a psychotic episode as well. It could be both.

Good to know, or is it? Aaah, you know it makes no sense. When people send you books to sign (normally your own books, I'd imagine) you now encourage them to send you a little present. This guy sent you a load of swag:

but what's been the weirdest thing you've received so far?

A: I haven't had anything that's just been-above-the-board weird yet. Like a jar full of severed doll heads, or But there have been a lot of cool things. Someone sent me a quarter that had a bullet hole in it. That's pretty cool. I got a cool children's book about a Cowboy and an Octopus. (Called Cowboy and Octopus) and I really enjoyed that, too. A particularly cool group of fans actually made me a cloak full of little pockets, just like in the book. It was really surprisingly thoughtful....

It's about time I asked you some authory-type questions!

A: Fair enough. Hit me.

Though this may sound a bit insulting (it's not!) – if you could change one thing about The Name of the Wind now that's it's in print, what would it be?

A: Hmmm... a few typos slipped in. I'd love to go back and fix them. It's impossible to catch all the little mistakes, but it's still embarrassing. I'd like to weed out as many as possible.

Concerning the infamous "Fabio” artwork... I'm actually rather fond of it. What say you?

A: The artwork is fantastic. Donato does such incredible painting. That said, a lot of people felt that that cover was too "romance-ish" for their taste. That's the only problem I had with it. You never want to hear that people are avoiding your book based solely on a dislike of the cover.

But on the flip side, I've had a bunch of people say that the cover drew them in and made them pick up the book in the first place. Also, Kvothe is pretty hot on there. You can't deny that...

Indeed, not! Now, Kvothe, main character of your books, has red hair. For centuries, in our world, red hair has been associated with magic, deities, the arcane, etc. In Britain however, while it had this, an element of something still remains today. While most have forgotten the reasons, children can be bullied over having red hair, insulted, etc. which is plainly ridiculous. I was wondering whether anything of that sort is experienced in America, or whether it's a peculiarly English phenomenon and why you chose red hair for Kvothe?

A: I imagine that you guys have that as a cultural holdover from the Celts, who pretty much kicked the hell out of everyone in pre-history Europe. They were right in your neighbourhood. You're probably carrying around a race-memory grudge from several thousand years ago because some red-haired maniac knocked you down and ate your lunch. Metaphorically speaking of course.

There are only faint echoes of that other something here in the US. We have the little-used expression "I'm going to beat you like a redheaded stepchild." But over here in the US, red hair is mostly mythic. Plus sexy. Plus exotic.

Ahem. How have your pupils and fellow teachers reacted to your author-dom and The Name of the Wind, itself? It would be kinda awesome if one of them quoted Kvothe back at you ... or something...!

A: Most of my fellow teachers are only dimly aware that I exist. Which is how I like it for the most part. If I stay under the radar I have comfortable anonymity and relative freedom in how I run my classes. Those that do know me don't seem to be aware how well the book as been doing, the awards and nominations. *Shrug* I can't blame them. Generally speaking nothing gets noticed by literature scholars until the author's been dead for twenty years. I'd rather be alive than famous.

Most of the students don't know that I've written a book either. It's only been out for less than a year over here, so that's not terribly surprising. But in every class I have two or three students who mention it to me. And a lot of my former students have stopped by to congratulate me and get copies signed. That's a nice feeling. Any time a former student stops by your office carrying anything other than a knife, it's a nice feeling.

What was the initial inspiration that drove you to write these books?

A: Hmmmm. "Initial" is hard. I've wanted to be a writer as long as I can remember.

A lot of the reasons I wrote these books the way I did is because I was sick of a lot of the cliché fantasy conventions. Too many dragons and goblin armies and elves with bows. It was all seeming so samey to me, so I decided to see if I could tell a different sort of story, one that left a lot of those conventions behind.

Which characters have changed the most from your original idea of them to how they've appeared on the page? I got it totally wrong last time I tried to guess an author's response, but Denna ...?

A: Denna hasn't changed so much as she has evolved. She started as the unattainable love interest, but that ended up being another cliché that I wanted to avoid.

However, when I brought her into the spotlight she showed elements of her personality that weren't visible before. She had a lot more facets than you could see when she was at a distance, but she was still the same fundamental character....

No, I have to say that most of my characters haven't changed much from their original conception, they just grow. They're like seeds. A seed doesn't change into something new, it just becomes a more fully realised version of itself. Does that even make any sense?

That said, some of the seedling characters have ended up developing into things far and away more interesting than I could ever have hoped for. Auri was one of those. She is a pure delight to write. I never expected her to be so much fun.

Makes perfect sense, and Auri is very cool! From all the names Kvothe has (something that fantasy is quite fond of) it seems like you sat down and wrote out a whole list of variations on the same theme, but then made them you're own, subverting and twisting, etc. Was this the case, at all?

A: Hmmm.... I can't think of an answer to this one. Can you ask it in a different way?

What, you're dissing my questions, now?! I was in my musical mind there, with variations and themes, makes no sense in the real world. What I meant to ask was can you in fact play a musical instrument anywhere as near as good as Kvothe can?!

I can't play any sort of instrument even halfway decently. I can't even read music. I've got a pretty good singing voice though...

You've said that after this trilogy you still have more books planned in Kvothe's world. Is there anything planned outside of it? Fancy turning your hand to science-fiction...?

A: I don't think you'll see me in Sci-fi for a while, though someone recently called my book science-fantasy because the main system of magic people use is was regimented and logical.

I do have an idea for a book-length modern day faerie tale. And another idea for a series of humorous urban fantasy novels set in a college. I think I'd have a lot of fun writing those.

I also have a not-for-children-children's book coming out next year. That's going to be cool seeing it in print. I'll be posting more news on that at my website once we have the papers signed.

Thank you for taking time out of being eaten by a grue to take part in this Q&A! Really hoping The Name of the Wind goes OK for you, over here in the UK; it deserves every success. [Of course, it's now December so you know it's done very well, but I have to maintain the illusion of living in the past.]

A: Wow. Extra points for the Zork reference. I knew you were my sort of guy.

;)

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Win Some Of My Favourite Orbit Books Reviewed This Year!!

Since starting this blog, I've had a really great time, and the sense of community has been wonderful :)

I've got a few posts left before Year End, but still, that people are visiting this blog and that it hasn't all gone ... pear-shaped is something that makes me very happy. Enough of that:

As a sort of thank you for putting up with me, and due to the always lovely people at Orbit Books, I've got a couple of books from them that I've had the pleasure of reviewing this year up for grabs (or grab, singular!). They are:





The One Kingdom by Sean Russell. The One Kingdom is the first book in Sean Russell's High Fantasy trilogy, Swans' War, a trilogy which I loved. The following two volumes, The Isle of Battle and The Shadow Road proved to be just as good.












Storm Front by Jim Butcher. Storm Front is the first book in the Dresden Files. Come on, surely you've heard of it?! Well if you haven't, now's your chance!









The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross. What kind of year-end round-up would this be if I neglected to mention one of my favourite SF writers?! The Atrocity Archives is the first book in what has been unofficially labelled "The Laundry Series", an extremely fast-paced, funny sci-fi/ fantasy blend.











A Cavern of Black Ice by J.V. Jones. Finally, the book of my most recent review: A Cavern of Black Ice, a book I greatly enjoyed and one of my favourite of the year...









Which is, of course, why I picked it for this selection! And one lucky person wins the lot -- now is that a cool Christmas present or what?!

The rules:

• Send an email to: thebookswede@googlemail.com, containing the subject (aka header) "ORBIT".

• No multiple entries please :) Or I will come down there and kick your
  

• Open worldwide.
  

• Make sure your email contains your full mailing address (snail mail -- where you live).

• Because of upcoming Xmas, this contest is going to have a very short life-span before the winners are picked -- think less than a week -- so get your entries in quick!!
  

And, most importantly:

• Try to bribe/blackmail me in some way. The funniest, most original, insulting, whatever!, entry wins the entire loot! :D
  

Quote of the Week #6: Jennifer Rardin

This Quote of the Week may be the last before Christmas ... so make the most of this wonderful piece of writing :)

Picking this week's Quote of the Week: Jennifer Rardin

Jennifer Rardin is the author of two vampire novels, One Bitten, Twice Shy and Another One Bites the Dust. Two vampire novels with a difference -- the vampire is employed by the CIA! I've been meaning to get to this for ages; I don't read that many things with vampires in them (no reason, really!), so those will fit the bill perfectly!

The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.—Mark Twain

I put a lot of stock in giggles. I know that might be a radical stand to take. I am, after all, an adult. And this is a serious world. When they hand out Oscars, they don’t fall to comedies, by golly. They go to films that comment on what a craphole place we live in. Al Gore just won the Peace Prize for spreading the word about how we’re destroying our environment. And the President of Iran has made it crystal clear that if he gets half a chance he’s going to make a big, dusty hole out of Israel. Why the hell should we laugh?

Because it’s as necessary as breathing.

You may see the parallel in my writing. Some of my stuff is pretty intense and rather dark. But every once in a while you’ll come to a laugh-out-loud moment. If I didn’t give you one, I’d expect you to toss the book out the window. And even if you were the soldier-through type, who’d stand by me without relief every heart-squeezing step of the way, I couldn’t do it to you. Because I’ve lived it.

My dad had chronic severe depression that disabled him for the last fifteen years of his life. You hear a lot about experiencing that illness. For me, being the child of a person with depression brought its own kind of hell. One which was absolutely devoid of laughter. I’m telling you, once you’ve been there, you know right through to your soul what Mark Twain was talking about.

The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.—M.T.

Somehow kids know that from the start. They are certain the chicken crossed the road to tickle the stuffing out of them. They make us remember why it’s okay to just let go and howl. I didn’t experience that much in my own childhood. But, baby, now I’m on a roll. I’m finding that laughter ends arguments, cements friendships, and makes you have to pee. (Okay, that last one may just be my miniscule bladder talking.)

And the things that make me laugh are so juvenile. You’re in a sitcom and you get hit in the head by a ladder, book, megaphone. Whatever. I’m rolling on the floor. That scene in Dumb and Dumber where he got his tongue stuck to the pole? I was all about that. Probably because if I didn’t have my husband to look after me, I would constantly be falling into ditches and walking into sign posts too. (Yeah, he did physically reach out and pull me aside before I could crash into a cart rack the other day. I was thinking, okay? And thinking and walking are tough for me to accomplish at the same time. Thank God I wasn’t chewing gum too. I’d probably have spontaneously combusted!)

Like music and art, laughter is a gift we should cherish, nurture and, I think, honor. To me, Robin Williams is one of the greatest Americans of our time. And only Britain could have brought us the genius of Monty Python. No, I’m not even putting myself in their universe. Maybe at the back of the balcony, bowing down with both hands, screaming, “I’m not worthy!” I’m just saying, Mark Twain nailed it. Laughter is effective. It can heal all kinds of wounds, even those from which you thought you could never recover. And when that laughter is shared—it can change the world.

Jennifer Rardin, Author

Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Another One Bites the Dust

www.jenniferrardin.com

Thanks to Jennifer for that great, touching and funny piece! For some interesting interviews with Jennifer:

• Visit Sci-Fi Chick
• Visit Love Vampires

And for some awesome reviews:

Katie's Reading
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review

And for a sneak preview of Once Bitten, Twice Shy :D

Win Tickets To The "I Am Legend" Premiere!!

Thanks to SQT, and to the lovely Andrea at Warner Bros., I have two tickets for the New York première of the sci-fi, I Am Legend, (starring Will Smith) at Madison Square Gardens on December 11th!

One ticket is good for two people -- the winner and a guest on one ticket! And I have two tickets, for two lucky people :)

The rules (and in this case they HAVE to be obeyed!):

• Send an email to: thebookswede@googlemail.com, containing the subject (aka header) "LEGEND".

• No multiple entries.
  

• Open only in North America.
  

• Make sure your email contains your full mailing address (snail mail -- that is to say, where you live).

And, most importantly:

• ALL ENTRIES MUST BE BACK TO ME BY 7PM, TOMORROW, FRIDAY 7TH DECEMBER 2007!

A Cavern Of Black Ice

A Cavern of Black Ice
J.V. Jones
Orbit Books

804 pages
2000

With the recent publication of A Sword From Red Ice, the third part in J.V Jones' fantasy series, Sword of Shadows (originally a trilogy, but now something much larger), I decided it was time I got around to reading this exciting series, especially after her earlier trilogy, The Book of Words.

When a hunting party for the clan Bludd is viciously attacked, Raif Sevrance and his older brother, Drey, survive. They alone know of the treachery that went on, and that a fellow survivor -- Mace Blackhail -- was responsible. He is now chief, and is doing everything possible to quell their suspicions. Raif alone challenges his lies, and ends up fleeing the clan (with the help of his uncle, Angus Lok, member of a mysterious society, the Phage), breaking a sacred oath -- he is now an outcast ... and worse, he will later be held responsible for the cruelties the new chief inflicts upon the other clans, the atrocities that force them into an all-consuming war.

Some, though, remember that darker days than night lie ahead... In the city of Spire Vanis, the surlord, Penthero Iss keeps his adopted daughter (or, as he calls her, his almost-daughter), Ash March, in virtual -- if comfortable -- house arrest. Lately though he seems to be taking an unnatural amount of interest in her, and, learning of one of his machinations, she also flees. And so, the fate of a world is changed. For every thousand years, one is born with the power to free the Endlords from their prison, the Blind. If they escape, vast hordes of hellish creatures will be unleashed upon an unprepared world...

At 804 pages, A Cavern of Black Ice is so much vaster in story, characterisation and world-building than any book I've read by Jones before, and any book I've read this year. Of the multiple Point of View characters, almost all are sufficiently fleshed out, and J.V Jones clearly put a great deal of thought into the various "back-drops" for her story. Vaylo Bludd, the Dog Lord, has definitely got to be one of my favourite characters in any book; also, at the very end, we learn the true identity of one of the characters, in a scene which will have anyone who's read the Book of Words trilogy thrilled. I hadn't actually realised the two series were related, so it'll be interesting to see whether that link is emphasised in book 2, A Fortress of Grey Ice.

"Boy running away with uncle, meeting mysterious girl", will hardly sound the most original of set-ups, but with a solid, believable plot, A Cavern of Black Ice avoids most of the clichés associated with typical Fantasy. One tiny exception, I felt, in maintaining the believability was that the one with the power to free the Endlords is born every 1000 years. It just seems a bit contrived, that's all! Minor niggle aside, I greatly enjoyed this book. The first to reach the hallowed 10/10?! Yes!

Though I enjoyed the Book of Words trilogy, J.V. Jones has grown considerably as a writer since then, and this book is proof of it.

For more information:

Amazon UK
Amazon US

--Previous review--

A Poem From Tolkien...

I was meant to be getting to a review today, but ... well, Stuff got in the way. Therefore, as a lazy cop-out, I'll let you have a look at a poem I've just discovered by J.R.R. Tolkien, an author of some note (!):


Cats:

The fat cat on the mat may seem to dream of nice mice that suffice for him, or cream; but he free, maybe, walks in thought unbowed, proud, where loud roared and fought his kin, lean and slim, or deep in den in the East feasted on beasts and tender men. The giant lion with iron claw in paw, and huge ruthless tooth in gory jaw; the pard dark-starred, fleet upon feet, that oft soft from aloft leaps upon his meat where woods loom in gloom -- far now they be, fierce and free, and tamed is he; but fat cat on the mat kept as a pet he does not forget. JRR Tolkien

:) Back tomorrow.

Beowulf: (The Book)

Beowulf
Caitlin R. Kiernan
Transworld Books

As many of you will have heard, the epic, anonymous, Old English poem Beowulf has recently been made into a film with the screenplay co-written by Neil Gaiman. The film has been having it's fair share of criticism -- I haven't seen it yet, so I'll reserve my opinion! -- mainly about the choice to take the 300 route -- filming real actors and then animating them -- and also purported anti-Christian sentiment.

The book version of Beowulf, re-imagined by Caitlin R. Kiernan, an award-winning dark fantasist who I must admit I'd never heard of -- though Robert from Fantasy Book Critic had, and was jumping for joy! -- is a dark, and entertaining new look at the ancient legend of the Scandinavian hero, Beowulf, who slays the beast Grendel and then, following the untimely demise of Hrothgar, King of the Danes, takes his place as lord and master.

After the death of Grendel, however, Beowulf is forced to confront Grendel's mother, the last, and most dangerous, powerful and cunning of the demonkind left on Earth. And also the most seductive. From then forward, he will be haunted by the choices he made that day ... and forever cursed...

Caitlin Kiernan's story retelling is, as in the original poem, rich in Norse mythology, a mythology which is, at least in my opinion, one of the most brilliant, poetic that has ever existed. The Norse ideas of the birth of the universe, the gods, etc were brilliantly interwoven into the story, and it was interesting to see Beowulf's hardships as king when people where suddenly abandoning their millennia-old religion for the new Roman god, Christ Jesus. From the book, I didn't get any sense of anti-Christian feeling, more Beowulf's lament of change and the caprice of his people, and his feeling of being left behind in an old world filled with monsters and magic which people were forgetting.

Kiernan also brought to life, more than any other depiction I've read, Grendel. A monstrous thing, surely, but I felt a certain sympathy for him, much as I did with "the monster" when I read Frankenstein. Beowulf himself was certainly an interesting character, at the beginning an arrogant, boastful man, and towards the end of the book, acceptant of his fate, and prepared to die to save a nation; "his name will live forever".

The book was paced excellently and Caitlin R. Kiernan has a talent for realistic dialogue, writing in an interesting way I've not seen before. I'm going to have to get hold of her other work ... after I've taken her advice given in the glossary and gotten hold of Norse Mythology (Oxford University Press)! Very well written. 8.5/10.