Bona Fide: Weekly Roundup #06

Hello and welcome to issue #06 of my Weekly Roundup. When you followed the blog during the week then you know that we are now a trio: Alec, Michael and Bryce. That mean three reviewers :) I hope we will cover more topics from now on. We three have a dream: A quality post per day. I promise we work on it.
But before you enjoy reading let me solve the riddle from last week:

An awesome g...... A new c...... Three r...... And the w...... is
An awesome giveaway (DROOD) A new contributor (Bryce) Three reviewers (Alec, Michael, Bryce) And the winner is Neville T. from South Africa (winner of BEST SERVED COLD & BONESHAKER)

Bona Fide's Menu

Bona Fide's Question of the Week

1. Answers to questions from last Roundup
2. Do you like and read excerpts on blogs?
   

Books

1. One more interesting debut novel: Farlander by Col Buchanan
   

Blogosphere

1. Answer: The Number is Not Important
2. Tor.com: Vilcabamba by Harry Turtledove
3. Pax Britannia: Have your say
   
4. I'm your pain in the neck: The David Gemmell Legend Award UPDATE!
   

Movies

1. Funny Money
2. Female Androids
   

Quotes

1. German proverbs, sayings and idioms Charles Babbage....

Bona Fide's Question of the Week

Answers to questions from Roundup 05
Not many answers to that question. It's a bit sad because I really wanted to know the reasons why readers don't comment.

Do you like and read book excerpts on blogs?
When I look around I see a lot of blogs who post excerpts. I must admit that I read excerpts on author websites but not on blogs.

Books

Only a few weeks to go until Farlander (2010, 384 p., hc) [US][UK] by Col Buchanan will hit the stores. On more debut novel but with less hype. And this is the blurb:

"The Heart of the World is a land in strife. For fifty years the Holy Empire of Mann, an empire and religion born from a nihilistic urban cult, has been conquering nation after nation. Their leader, Holy Matriarch Sasheen, ruthlessly maintains control through her Diplomats, priests trained as subtle predators.

The Mercian Free Ports are the only confederacy yet to fall. Their only land link to the southern continent, a long and narrow isthmus, is protected by the city of Bar-Khos. For ten years now, the great southern walls of Bar-Khos have been besieged by the Imperial Fourth Army. Ash is a member of an elite group of assassins, the R shun - who offer protection through the threat of vendetta.

Forced by his ailing health to take on an apprentice, he chooses Nico, a young man living in the besieged city of Bar-Khos. At the time, Nico is hungry, desperate, and alone in a city that finds itself teetering on the brink. When the Holy Matriarch's son deliberately murders a woman under the protection of the R shun; he forces the sect to seek his life in retribution.

As Ash and his young apprentice set out to fulfil the R shun orders - their journey takes them into the heart of the conflict between the Empire and the Free Ports ...into bloodshed and death."

Two things aroused my interest: There is a dirigible on the cover and the blurb reminded me of the Malazan Books of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson. I'm reading the first book of the series.

Blogosphere

Let's start with a quote from Harry over at Temple Library Reviews:
"I am as usual a tad late on these discussions, but since I started it for a change of pace, I will present my take on the posed question, which is ‘How many is too many?’ posed by Gav. The origin story for his question precedes my meddling, but it has to do more or less with our bet to nail six novels each month as a preemptive strike against the Leaning Pile o’ Shame, which led to Mark Charan Newton’s reply:"

It is a quite interesting question and I left my two scents over at Nextread and over at Temple Library Review. And like Harry and Gav I try to read a least six books per month. Go there, follow the discussion and don't hesitate to add your comments.

First of all I really like to read BUT my time is limited. I searched for a way how to make most of my available time for reading. And the choice of six to eight books per month in advance is a help. After the selection I don't look for other books on my TBR. From the chosen books I try to review four. Fortunately it is my own decision which book to read and to review. In the end there is one important thing: I want to enjoy reading and it doesn't matter if I read three books (like in January) or ten books.

Harry Turtledove is well known for his alternate history works including several short stories and novels.
This week he presented his new story Vilcabamba over at Tor.com. The illustration is by Jason Chan.

"The Krolp are bigger, meaner, and more technologically advanced than what remains of the Free United States. What's a President to do?" You want more? click here.

If you follow this blog regularly then you know that I'm a big fan of the steampunk series PAX BRITANNIA (my posts: The World of Pax Britannia, Review: Evolution Expects by Jonathan Green).
A few days ago Jonathan Green posted Have your say.

"To put it simply, what would you like to see happen in a Pax Britannia steampunk adventure on the Moon? ... So, if I haven't scared you off, drop me a line by replying to this blog and we'll see what happens."

For the whole post follow the link to the post. Feel free to add your ideas and comments like I did.


I posted about The David Gemmell Legend Award regularly in the past Roundups. This week you get an update!

This is the Legend Arward nomination list. You can vote here.
Following books have been added to the list:
The Last Stormlord by Glenda Larke
Beyond the Wall of Timeby Russell Kirkpatrick

This is the Morningstar Award nomination list. You can vote here.
Following books have been added to the list:
The Wounded Guardian by Duncan Lay
The Dark Griffin by Katie Taylor

I voted for Lamentation by Ken Scholes,ISBN: 0765360918, which I reviewed recently.

This is the Ravenstar Award nomination list. The poll is now open and you can vote here.

If you want to meet interesting people, talk about fantasy books, share your opinions in a friendly fantasy atmosphere, support your favorite book and SIGN IN:

Visit The David Gemmell Legend Awards
Hope to meet you soon over at The David Gemmell Legend Award ...............

Movies

I'm sorry to say but this week you don't get videos. But during my web ramble I found two wonderful post over at Dark Roasted Blend porcupined with pictures and information. Follow the links and enjoy:

Funny Money: Unusual and Fascinating Currency Paper money is still fascinating

Female Androids' Shapes & Anatomy
This post fits perfectly to the book I ordered this week: Crossover (2009) [US][UK] by Joel Shepherd (for more information look at Roundup #02)

Quotes

Every time when I think about steampunk the name of Charles Babbage comes up in my mind. This inspired me to search for quotes by Charles Babbage........

" The economy of human time is the next advantage of machinery in manufactures.”
Charles Babbage

"A tool is usually more simple than a machine; it is generally used with the hand, whilst a machine is frequently moved by animal or steam power.”
Charles Babbage

"Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all.”
Charles Babbage

"At each increase of knowledge, as well as on the contrivance of every new tool, human labour becomes abridged.”
Charles Babbage