Interview With ... Me!

S.C. Flynn has been running a great series of interviews with some wonderful bloggers and influential people in the online discussion of Science Fiction and Fantasy (Fantasy Literature, Fantasy Book Critic, Stainless Steel Droppings, Dag Rambrout from SFFWorld.com, and so many more).

So in other words, you're probably asking yourselves why I've been interviewed. :) I don't make the rules, but you can find it here: Interview with Only the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy.

After just over 5 years of blogging, I guess I should thank those who've "tuned" into the blog. Thanks for all the fun discussing something I have such a great love for. I hope you take some time to read through some of the responses of those others interviewed as well. Flynn has done a great job.

Additionally, I wanted to note that I'm still running two giveaways at the moment:

1. Mark Lawrence's Prince of Fools, book 1 of The Red Queen's War - SIGNED. I've got 2 copies to giveaway. I'll give this another week or so.

2. Peter Orullian's follow up to The Unremembered, Trial of Intentions. I've got 1 copy to giveaway to one lucky winner. I'll announce the winner on Monday, so you have until then to enter.

Giveaway - Two Signed Copies of Prince of Fools (paperback) by Mark Lawrence

Some days being a blogger is just fun. This is one of 'em. (Are there even any bad blogging days?) I woke up this morning to a direct message from author, Mark Lawrence, who, among other things, offered to do a giveaway with signed copies of Prince of Fools.

I can't say that was my hardest decision of the day. Not only did I love the book (review here), but I get to give away a book that I loved to two lucky people, and it's signed!

The sequel to Prince of Fools just came out in the US and it's one of my most-anticipated books this year. The Liar's Key is book 2 in The Red Queen's War and I couldn't be more excited to jump back into Lawrence's writing. Note, this is NOT a giveaway for The Liar's Key.

The rules for those who want to enter for their chance to win one of two SIGNED, paperback copies of Mark Lawrence's Prince of Fools, Book 1 in The Red Queen's War:

1 - Send me an email to onlythebestsff@[remove this]gmail.com with your name and address.
2 - Enter the subject, "Prince of Princes!"
3 - This is an international giveaway, so ... no aliens from outer space I guess.
4 - Snark increases chances of winning future giveaways! I know I'm terrible, but how can I know how terrible I am? This is how.

(audiobook) Review - Of Bone and Thunder by Chris Evans

"Apocalypse Now meets Lord of the Rings" is an apt description of this book as long as you recognize anyone's comparison with Lord of the Rings is interchangeable with "Fantasy."

Not even high fantasy, which Lord of the Rings is, but in the case of Of Bone and Thunder it's more on the grimdark, realistic fantasy level.

The Kingdom (America) occupies the jungle of Luitox (Vietnam, pronounced Luto) and back home citizens of the Kingdom are blissfully unaware of how bad things are actually going. But, it's hard to come to grips with the fact when you already know your country can't be beat.

Chris Evans created an incredibly realistic world here with different peoples at war, humans, the slits (derogatory name for people of Luitox), and even dwarves.

The armies of the Kingdom ride dragons, or rags as they're commonly called, who have been domesticated as much as dangerous fire-breathing dragons can be. Plus, there's magic in the form of thaumaturgy and all the divided allegiances you could ask for.

What I liked about this book was the focus on the common soldier. Mostly, we follow a shield (a handful of soldiers) and their tasks on Luitox. We see their grumblings with their senior staff, their difficulties with the "slits", their treatment of the new recruits, and get to know them quite intimately. You easily feel at home with this grouping.

Also, we follow Jawn Rathim, a thaum, and later a grouping of dragon riders.

There's lots going on and it's obviously a well-thought out world. I also liked the use of the strange words that become commonplace by the end of the book. You feel part of the world and the soldiers who tend to have their own language as well.

Because it is a Vietnam-type book, there's lots of racial tension and even more focus on the grim. I have to admit to getting a little worn out by the end of the audiobook because it was constantly a downer. It's only natural given the circumstances, but it is wearing.

Speaking of the audiobook, the narrator, Todd Haberkorn, did an excellent job. He nailed the voices and quickly became unnoticeable, which is the sign of a great narrator - you forget it's being narrated. There are lots of gruff soldiers and yet he had a different voice for each and it wasn't even too difficult to recall who was talking with all those harsh voices.

Count me impressed with this book. I don't know what I expected, but Of Bone and Thunder is quite unique with its take on an unstoppable fantasy kingdom who's met its match. The world is all its own and the characters are relatable if not loveable.

3.5 out of 5 stars (recommended)

Review - Superposition by David Walton

For some reason I'm always impressed when something both entertains me and educates me. It's as if all those years of torture schooling gave me unreasonable expectations.


But that is the case here. David Walton's Superposition is a fun romp through quantum physics. Jacob Kelly is a brilliant physicist who is confronted by an old friend who pretty much destroys his life.

His old friend has some secrets, mostly involving his scientific research and he arrives at Jacob's house, uninvited, and points a gun at Jacob's wife. He shoots, but nothing happens to her. He's discovered something big, but this discovery ends up with Jacob on trial for murder.

The whole book switches back and forth between two viewpoints. One is the present time where Jacob is figuring out the mysteries surrounding his friend's odd behavior, the other time period is Jacob on trial for the murder of that same friend. All of this is told in the first person.

As an attorney, I was actually quite impressed with Walton's grasp of the courtroom. I spend quite a bit of time there and just ask my wife, she can't stand watching shows with any amount of court. But I can't help it, the stuff Hollywood does in a courtroom tends to make no sense at least half the time.

Walton does a great job, however, making the courtroom both realistic and entertaining, which is why Hollywood tends to not follow the realistic approach I'm lead to believe. And the worst part is, the District Attorney has a pretty great case against Jacob only made worse by the fact that the real explanation is absolutely ludicrous.

Throughout the entirety of the book, you're also learning a lot about how quantum physics work. How probability plays more of a role than just about anything and how that is just about impossible to wrap your mind around because how can probability have anything to do with things that exist!

And that's not to say the narrative gets bogged down in explanations, it's a smooth thriller and the science only adds to the wonder.

I quite thoroughly enjoyed Superposition and probably mostly for how much I get to bug people with my new found knowledge of particle physics. It's a fascinating concept on display in an entertaining read. Highly Recommended. The finale of this duology, Supersymmetry, comes out September 1, 2015 from Pyr.

4 out of 5 Stars.