BFS award nomination, oh my!
I had a number of possible topics lined up for today’s post, but when I got home from work last night I found this all over Twitter: That’s a screenshot from the British Fantasy Society website, where I’ve been nominated in their 2013 awards Needless to say, I’m gobsmacked and delighted—and just a little amused, since I accepted this award last year on behalf of fellow debutante Kameron Hurley, who couldn’t make it over to the UK. Ironically she’ll be at this year’s World Fantasy Convention in Brighton, where the BFS awards ceremony will take place, so it’ll be really weird if I win! Given the stiff competition, though, I’m not going to be putting any money on it…...
Read MoreNew fantasy series: follow-along
I recently went back to the forums of Holly Lisle’s online Novel Writing School, where I was somewhat abashed to discover I’m somewhat of a poster girl for the courses (well, I did get a three-book deal out of the manuscript I put through How to Revise Your Novel!). When I mentioned I was using the How to Think Sideways writing course materials to help me with the new series I was planning, one of the moderators thought that students would find it interesting to hear what I was doing. However I don’t just use Holly’s materials, and I thought it might be confusing to students on the course if I talked about my own methods on the official forum. So, if you’re here via a link from the HtTS forums (and even if you’re not), welcome!...
Read MoreMal Catlyn’s last stand
As has become traditional, over the next few months Mal will be tweeting a “prequel” to his upcoming adventures in The Prince of Lies. Previous tweets ran in real time, connecting us with events 420 years ago, but owing to an unexplained phenomenon that Mal is in the process of investigating, there’s some kind of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey thing going on that means his latest batch of tweets are arriving some months out of sync with our timeline. For clarity, the date at Mal’s end will be appended to all tweets. Please feel free to tweet back to him with your questions, but bear in mind that for reasons of national security he may not be able to answer frankly or in full. Also, please be aware that Mal is being followed by @SirRobertCecil,...
Read MoreWant to know a secret?
This week my friend Emma Newman’s second urban fantasy novel is being published. To mark the occasion she’s hidden a bunch of cool (magical?) objects on her website for readers to find, but you can steal a march by following the link below… Any Other Name is the second novel in the Split Worlds series, following on directly after the events in Between Two Thorns. Cathy is secretly seeking a way out of Nether Society by helping Max and the gargoyle to investigate the murders in the Bath Chapter. When she learns more about the mysterious Agency which oils the wheels of life in the Nether it becomes clear that the privileged few are enjoying their existence at a price far higher than they realised. It’s time to change Nether society, but with...
Read MoreFriday Reads: Last Argument of Kings, by Joe Abercrombie
While the King of the Union lies on his deathbead, the peasants revolt and the nobles scramble to steal his crown. No-one believes that the shadow of war is falling across the very heart of the Union. The First of the Magi has a plan to save the world, as he always does. But there are risks. There is no risk more terrible, after all, than to break the First Law… Warning: contains spoilers! I’ve reviewed the first two volumes of the First Law trilogy (The Blade Itself and Before They Are Hanged) already, having enjoyed both of them, and I was anxious to find out how my favourite characters would fare in this final instalment. In truth I was a little anxious, having seen a forum post by someone saying they were disappointed with the ending and felt that...
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