It's News To Me #7

This just blew my mind:



There is no possible way for this to fail. Love it.

And that's the news...at least to me.

It's News To Me #6

I know I'm a couple days late on this news, but I had to make some mentions since I'm ever so excited about it. :) This week's been insane.

China Mieville gets a face-lift: A couple of my favorites are show below, but you can get a full showing at Werty, Mad Hattsalot, Dribbles of Ink, and more. I really Tor UK did a great job with these covers, representing Mieville's common theme of worlds within worlds

Peter Orullian's The Vault of Heaven Series: Publicity has ratcheted up a notch not to mention the ARC's are already making their way around. There are a few stories, Sacrifice of the First Sheason and The Great Defense of Layosah, an awesome interactive map, and even a couple videos:

Cradle of the Scar -

Part 1: Grant



Part 2: Kaela



(Thanks to The Mad Hatter for putting it all in one handy dandy place)


2010 Nebula Awards: The award that's voted on and presented by members of SFWA has posted some short lists. I've really failed this year, only having read one of the YA nominees. Ouch. :)

Novel

• The Native Star, M.K. Hobson (Spectra)
• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit UK; Orbit US)
• Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
• Echo, Jack McDevitt (Ace)
• Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor (DAW)
• Blackout/All Clear, Connie Willis (Spectra)

Short Story

• ‘‘Arvies’’, Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed Magazine 8/10)
• ‘‘How Interesting: A Tiny Man’’, Harlan Ellison® (Realms of Fantasy 2/10)
• ‘‘Ponies’’, Kij Johnson (Tor.com 1/17/10)
• ‘‘I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno’’, Vylar Kaftan (Lightspeed Magazine 6/10)
• ‘‘The Green Book’’, Amal El-Mohtar (Apex Magazine 11/1/10)
• ‘‘Ghosts of New York’’, Jennifer Pelland (Dark Faith)
• ‘‘Conditional Love’’, Felicity Shoulders (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine 1/10)

Novelette

• ‘‘Map of Seventeen’’, Christopher Barzak (The Beastly Bride)
• ‘‘The Jaguar House, in Shadow’’, Aliette de Bodard Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine 7/10)
• ‘‘The Fortuitous Meeting of Gerard van Oost and Oludara’’, Christopher Kastensmidt (Realms of Fantasy 4/10)
• “Plus or Minus’’, James Patrick Kelly (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine 12/10)
• ‘‘Pishaach’’, Shweta Narayan (The Beastly Bride)
• ‘‘That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made’’, Eric James Stone (Analog Science Fiction and Fact 9/10)
• ‘‘Stone Wall Truth’’, Caroline M. Yoachim (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine 2/10)

Novella

• The Alchemist, Paolo Bacigalupi (Audible; Subterranean)
• ‘‘Iron Shoes’’, J. Kathleen Cheney (Alembical 2)
• The Lifecycle of Software Objects, Ted Chiang (Subterranean)
• ‘‘The Sultan of the Clouds’’, Geoffrey A. Landis (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine 9/10)
• ‘‘Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance’’, Paul Park (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 1-2/10)
• ‘‘The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen’s Window’’, Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Magazine Summer ’10)

The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

• Despicable Me, Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud (directors), Ken Daurio & Cinco Paul (screenplay), Sergio Pablos (story) (Illumination Entertainment)
• Doctor Who: ‘‘Vincent and the Doctor’’, Richard Curtis (writer), Jonny Campbell (director)
• How to Train Your Dragon, Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders (directors), William Davies, Dean DeBlois, & Chris Sanders (screenplay) (DreamWorks Animation)
• Inception, Christopher Nolan (director), Christopher Nolan (screenplay) (Warner)
• Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Edgar Wright (director), Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright (screenplay) (Universal)
• Toy Story 3, Lee Unkrich (director), Michael Arndt (screenplay), John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, & Lee Unkrich (story) (Pixar/Disney)

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy

• Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown)
• White Cat, Holly Black (McElderry)
• Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press; Scholastic UK)
• Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, Barry Deutsch (Amulet)
• The Boy from Ilysies, Pearl North (Tor Teen)
• I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett (Gollancz; Harper)
• A Conspiracy of Kings, Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow)
• Behemoth, Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse; Simon & Schuster UK)

And that's the news...at least to me.

Must Read | Shatnerquake by Jeff Burk

I was tooling around Goodreads (add me if you're a member) as I do any time I get a little restless, need a break, or have actual things to do that are unpleasant and I found out about the following book, that is now in my Amazon shopping cart:


Shatnerquake by Jeff Burk [US] [UK]

After a reality bomb goes off at the first ever ShatnerCon, all of the characters ever played by William Shatner are suddenly sucked into our world. Their mission: hunt down and destroy the real William Shatner. Featuring: Captain Kirk, TJ Hooker, Denny Crane, Priceline Shatner, Cartoon Kirk, Rescue 9-1-1 Shatner, singer Shatner, and many more. No costumed con-goer will be spared in their wave of destruction, no red shirt will make it out alive, and not even the Klingons will be able to stand up to a deranged Captain Kirk with a light saber. But these Shatner- clones are about to learn a hard lesson . . . that the real William Shatner doesn't take crap from anybody. Not even himself

As Stephen Sullivan said (the person who brought this book to my attention), "If you can read the book description and not immediately buy this, you are a stronger person than me."

Review - Corvus by Paul Kearney

Corvus [US] [UK] picks up 23 years after the epic march of The Ten Thousand (from The Ten Thousand if you were having trouble keeping up :D). Rictus' Dogsheads are the best of the best in all the Macht and really the only ones keeping the mercenary life alive. Rictus has become a legend as one of the few survivors of that march.

Because of his legendary status and because of the Macht's tendency toward fighting and war, Rictus is also somewhat of a target, especially for an up-and-coming leader named Corvus who wants to hire Rictus (whether he likes it or not) for his campaign.

Corvus is not your typical Macht. He doesn't quite look right or think the same, but what he does brilliantly is conquer and that's what he plans/has already partly done to the Macht people.

He needs Rictus because while Corvus is a conqueror, he wants to do so with as much aplomb and as little blood as possible and who wouldn't give up knowing Rictus and his Dogsheads are against you.

While Rictus is legendary and war is something he does best, he is also now a family man with family concerns. Stepping away from them could cost him dear especially if anyone wanted to use them against him.

After reading Corvus, it was pretty clear that Kearney uses (at least for this series) a common plotting scheme that I showed up in The Ten Thousand as well. Not that it's a bad thing either even though the word I want to use is "predictable" because it's not that. We grow attached to the characters, a minor plot is introduced that seems not to matter, set up to climax, climax, minor plot comes back to finish the reader out in the rest of the story. This is obviously a similar scheme to plenty of other authors, but I felt it really stood out in this series and mostly because Kearney is such a direct author - nothing is superfluous.

I quite enjoyed Corvus and possibly even a bit more than The Ten Thousand. While the costs don't seem as great as in The Ten Thousand, Corvus presents problems that are even greater on a personal level regarding decisions people make with their lives and families. For me, this was a more poignant novel than The Ten Thousand.

Corvus actually represents one of the main reasons I read fantasy - to be faced with situations that make you contemplate what it is to be human and what it means to do the right thing.

Why Should You Read Corvus?

This is a great second installment and as good if not better than the first. While the world that Kearney has created is an interesting background, the characters are what set this series apart. If you need a break from complicated worlds and series' and just want something straight-forward with great plot and very little to no magic, this is for you.

I'm really looking forward to the final book in the Macht trilogy, The Kings of the Morning (June 28, 2011) [US] [UK]

4 out of 5 Stars