Wheel-Mouse vs All The Crazy Robots

Ahoy fellow readers! I've been away a bit, slogging though books, trying to avoid real life as much as possible. I wasn't planning on posting this week, but then I saw this:

This is the link to Celyn Lawrence's blog and book. She is the daughter of Mark Lawrence, and is quite sick, All profits from the sale of the book will go to the Children's Hospice Charity, so go and buy your copy now! I have it and I've read it, it's brilliant.

This is Neil Gaiman giving a commencement speech at Philadelphia's University of the Arts. Watch it. Be inspired.

A Memory of light cover

I like this. Simple, understated, elegant.

The sacred order of Geeks

I found this funny.
Source: BCO

New book deal for Wendig!

Chuck Wendig, author of Blackbirds, which we reviewed just yesterday as luck would have it, has just signed a new two book deal with Angry Robot Books.

Via their newsletter:

A New Two-Book Deal for Chuck Wendig!


Angry Robot, the award-winning publisher of cutting-edge SF, F, and WTF?! fiction is delighted to announce that a new deal has been signed and sealed with rising star Chuck Wendig.


About the Deal


Chuck's first Angry Robot novel, Blackbirds, only hit the bookshelves for the first time a few weeks ago, but the response has already been so strong that Angry Robot moved quickly to sign him up for another two books.


The World English Rights deal, negotiated between Angry Robot editor Lee Harris and Stacia Decker of the Donald Maas Literary Agency, is for:


The Blue Blazes - the first in a new urban fantasy series in which lovable thug Mookie Pearl must contend with the criminal underworld, the supernatural underworld, a new drug that makes the invisible visible, and a rebellious teen daughter who opposes him at every turn.


Cormorant - a new tale of Miriam Black, the third book in a series that begins with Blackbirds and continues with Mockingbird (September 2012).


Both new titles are scheduled for publication in 2013.


Congratulations Chuck. I can't wait for the new novels.

Blackbirds - Chuck Wendig

The Blurb: Miriam Black knows how you are going to die.

She’s foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, and suicides. She merely needs to touch you — skin to skin contact — and she knows how and when you’ll die.

But when Miriam hitches a ride with Louis Darling and shakes his hand, she sees that in thirty days Louis will be murdered while he calls her name. Louis will die because he met her, and she will be the next victim.

No matter what she does she can’t save Louis. But if she wants to stay alive, she’ll have to try

I’ve been following Chuck Wendig’s blog and twitter feed for some time now. He’s good on both, and his writing advice he regulary offers up on his blog is worth more than it’s weight in gold.  And he’s a funny bastard, which is one of the things that I like to see in an author. When he published Blackbirds, I grabbed it as soon as it was monetary possible for me.

First off, look at that cover. It’s beautiful, attention grabbing and unique. Just like a good cover should be.

As the blurb states, the main character is Miriam Black. She can see anyone’s time and method of death as soon as she touches them. This is a damn bleak idea to base a story on, but I must say, it makes for some real gripping reading and a real interesting story.  It would really suck as a superpower though.

Miriam has a real fatalistic outlook on life, which is understandable and done really well. If you had to see death on a daily basis, it would drive most of us totally insane. Miriam does what she has to do to cope with all this insanity, and that of course includes loads of alcohol and cigarettes. If I was in her shoes, my liver would have exploded years ago.  Since most of the book is from her viewpoint it stood a real chance to spiral deep into depression and self-loathing territory, but her sarcasm and some funny moments in the story made up for this and kept me turning the pages.  

The book does contain loads of swearing and violence, but come on; if you are shocked or bothered by this after reading the blurb then you are an idiot. It all adds to the story, keeping the tension and fear levels right up there.  Any character who can go through this story and not curse isn’t real enough, if that makes sense to  you.

Wendig keeps you in the story. I felt connected to the main characters, felt their pain and hope. I felt invested in the story, and that makes a damn good book in my world. Flashbacks are used liberally throughout the book, but these just reinforce the main storyline, adding extra motivation to actions and extra layers to the characters. It didn’t distract from the story at all.

Is this a book I’ll recommend to anyone? Not really. It’s too dark and murderous for some. Would I recommend it to my friends? I already did. It’s brilliant.

A super solid 9/10.

King of Thorns Fragment XI

From the blog of Mark Lawrence, another deleted teaser for the second book in the Broken Empire series, King of Thorns.

Connie Hux, sixteen, arrow shot, Haunt, east wall.

Daughter of Samath and Greta. Born Hodd Town, Renar.

The speed of the shafts zipping over the walls didn’t scare Connie. It isn’t until you haul the bowstring back for your first shot, until you feel it bite at your fingers through the leather of the guard flap, and your bicep aches with the tension, that you remember just what rides behind the sharp iron of those arrowheads. The arrows didn’t scare her - she scared herself.

Connie loosed six shots into the men streaming to reinforce the enemy’s ram. She knew each one hit, though she didn’t stop to watch. Commonsense dropped her between shots and she’d no desire to see men die. If it were her say the gates would open and the Prince of Arrow could have her oath. But Camson was on the walls, up in arms to defend the Highlands and King Jorg. And it only stands to reason – the more who held the walls alongside him, the less likely Camson would be to get hit.

As Connie stood for her seventh shot, Camson glanced her way, a wild grin on him. Even the winter sun struck gold from his hair.

The day turned darker.

“God no . . .” A voice that creaked with age.

Old Jorna’s fingers hurt her shoulders as he helped her down. The light came flat as before a storm.

“I’m not hit.” She tried to say it.

Across the wall Camson loosed another arrow out toward the ridge, not seeing her, not looking.

 “I’m not hit.” The words wouldn’t come.

“Ah hell . . .” Something more than age cracked Jorna’s voice.

And darkness took her.