Little Fuzzy
LITTLE FUZZY (Amazon), the Hugo-nominated novel by H. Beam Piper, has been getting a lot of attention recently since fan favorite author John Scalzi wrote a novel-length, Tor-published piece of fan-fic rebooting the series. Scalzi has said repeatedly that he hoped that his reboot would in turn send attention back to the original works and that people would read those books that Scalzi himself loved.
For me it worked. The book LITTLE FUZZY is available for free from multiple sources online (Amazon Kindle free version) and since I had pre-ordered Scalzi’s book FUZZY NATION (EBR Review), I thought it would be fun to read the original work and have a kind of book double-feature reading experience.
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The Scarab Path
Adrian Tchaikovsky is gold! Gold, we say! We have stated over and over in our reviews that one of the main things we look for in a series is growth. Growth in the story, growth in the characters, and especially growth in the author. The instant we began reading Tchaikovsky’s work we were hooked. Sure, EMPIRE IN BLACK AND GOLD had some problems–what authors don’t have problems in their first novel? But even with those problems, EMPIRE was awesome. With each novel he got better. The problems slowly vanished. The characters in the series matured. The setting, somehow, got infinitely better. It got to the point where we were mentioning Tchaikovsky in the same breath as our favorite authors.
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CONduit 2011
CONduit 2011 Report
CONduit, for me, was an interesting experience. For the longest time I have attended conventions solely as an attendee. I would sit in the panels and listen to the various professionals as they spoke about different topics, and mostly keep my mouth shut. I’ve learned a lot from conventions. This year, however, I went to CONduit in a completely different capacity. This time I was one of those guys on the panels sharing my wisdom (lol!) with the masses. I even was a moderator on two panels. I know, the program directors must have had a serious sense of humor.
So, I figured I would share my experiences on the panels. My impressions. What I learned. Nuggets of brilliance (usually not my own). You get the picture. The easy way to share my thoughts is to just go in order of panels I was on. Here we go:
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Iron Angel
It isn’t often that we’re completely taken by surprise by how deep the scope of a series is. After finally getting around to reading Alan Campbell’s SCAR NIGHT (EBR Review), we were left feeling complete and satisfied. The novel was fantastic, and it had a strong and definitive-feeling ending. In short, we had no idea where Campbell was going next with the story.
Just a few pages of IRON ANGEL (Amazon) will have you–as with us–saying, “Holy crap… so THAT’S where this is going.” The scope will throw you for a minute, and then you will begin devouring the pages of the novel that has raised the stakes and the bar significantly higher.
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For the Win
FOR THE WIN (Amazon) is Cory Doctorow‘s novel from last summer. If you have read and liked Doctorow’s work in the past, then this book will be just right for you. If not, then I don’t think this book will push any buttons that Doctorow’s stuff missed in the past. Basically this is the typical Cory Doctorow novel.
The novel is about a bunch of online gamers forming a union.
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The Neon Court
Matthew Swift is the epitome of the urban sorcerer. Proof: he takes the bus. But there are ways he’s not your usual sorcerer, the least of which being that he serves as the Midnight Mayor of London. He also shares a body with the blue electric angels. And he’s got a conscience.
But being the Midnight Mayor is not all roses and bon-bons. Sure he’s got a fleet of aldermen to do his bidding… assuming they’d listen to him (it’s hard to take a guy seriously when he wears grubby t-shirts). And sure he’s powerful enough to have defeated the destroyer of cities in THE MIDNIGHT MAYOR (EBR Review). But now in THE NEON COURT (Amazon), the underground Tribe and the fae Neon Court have declared war over a murder—with London as the battleground—unless Swift delivers the chosen one.
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Black Blade Blues
Sarah Beuhall is pretty sure she needs therapy. Her personal demons of doubt and self-identity keep her from being happy with her life, even though at first it appears to be going well. She’s got a job she loves (blacksmithing; props for a local B movie director), beautiful girlfriend who loves her (Katie), and a chosen family in her Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) reenactor friends–so why does everything still seem to go wrong?
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The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man
Every once in a while I come across a book, or series of books, that totally yanks the carpet out from under me. I don’t expect more than the ordinary when I pick ‘em up (other than, perhaps, noticing the amazing cover art). I plop myself down in a chair, open the thing up, and quite simply just get to it. Then it reaches out, smashes me in the face with its awesomeness, and says, “You love me!” Leaving me with naught to do but obligingly respond, “Yes. Yes I do.”
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Demonstorm
How do you end a series? We’re sure this is a question every author asks at some point during a career. We’ve read quite a few series from start to finish, and have decided that writing that satisfying ending and conclusion must be the hardest thing to do. Why? We chalk it up to expectations. This can be crippling to the final book in a series, especially when the series has been SO good.
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The Company Man
There is a scene in the show Deadwood that has stuck with us for years. A preacher has a seizure that ravages his brain. He can’t do anything about it. He can’t see straight. Can’t hardly walk or talk. It gets to the point where he can’t do anything. Enter Al Swearengen, the owner of a whorehouse, and an extremely unlikable fellow. It is one of the few moments in the show where Swearengen’s exterior is stripped away and we are left seeing the anguish he feels at the preacher’s condition. In a heart-breaking scene, Swearengen does what no one else is willing to do.
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